Scripture Told Us This Was Coming
A well-known preacher denies the faith. A denomination votes away what its founders believed. A friend you prayed with for years posts that he has left Christ. When these things come close, it can feel as though the ground is moving. Scripture says this was always coming. The Holy Spirit told the church in advance, in plain words, so that we would not be shaken.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;”1 TIMOTHY 4:1 · KJV
Paul says the Spirit speaketh expressly, and that sentence is a mercy. A warning given ahead of time steadies a believer when the thing arrives. This study looks at what Jesus and the apostles foretold, how it has played out, why it gives us no dates, and why Christ's church will stand. What the word apostasy means, and why it does not undo a new birth, is covered in What Is Apostasy?
When people around you leave the faith, what will you be standing on?
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For Deeper Study
- Christianity and LiberalismAmazon J. Gresham MachenThe 1923 classic arguing that theological liberalism is a different religion from Christianity. Machen was Presbyterian, and we differ with him on baptism and church order.
- The Down Grade ControversyAmazon C. H. SpurgeonSpurgeon's own articles from *The Sword and the Trowel*, gathered in one volume. A Baptist pastor's warning about doctrinal drift.
- Another Gospel?Amazon Alisa ChildersA lifelong Christian's account of how a progressive pastor's class shook her faith, and how she tested its claims against Scripture and history.
- Things to ComeAmazon J. Dwight PentecostA classic dispensational, premillennial study (1958) that sets the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the Second Coming in order.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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What Is Apostasy?
Apostasy is a falling away from the faith a person once professed; it does not undo a new birth but reveals the truth, so its warnings stay sharp, the believer stays secure, and only God can say who is His.
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