A p e w y e a r s a g o , a brilliant high school leader was planning on the Christian ministry. Reared in a godly home and valedictorian of his class, he entered college and looked toward seminary. After studying human philosophy and embracing modem theology, however, he gave it all up saying, “I no longer have a message to preach.” A short time ago, four college graduates went to the same mission field. Seemingly well-prepared and dubbed by their mission as future leaders, they set about evangelizing that part of the world. How ever, within a year they left their mission saying, “We don’t believe the Gospel works here. These people need some other approach than just the Bible.” A while ago, a Canadian newspaper man en tered the gospel ministry. Like a meteor he shot across the evangelical scene, leading people to Christ. All of a sudden he announced, “I no longer believe in the deity of Christ.” These incidents illustrate the greatest problem in the church today — that of apostasy. Perhaps someone you have known, showing great promise and potential with a seemingly whole-hearted com mitment to Jesus Christ, has strangely and sudden ly thrown it all off and fallen by the wayside. In a broader sense, however, what is happening to individuals is also affecting a nation and a world. Publications grind out statistics showing declines in Sunday school and church attendance as well as attacks on the Bible and disbelief in God. Moreover, draft cards are burned, sit-ins staged, “new moral ity” encouraged and lawlessness is rampant. Wars, revolutions, and rebellion are the order of the day. Some wish they, like Rip Van Winkle, could go to sleep and avoid the modem nightmare of an age that has departed from the faith. It is in such a crisis as this, however, that the
world needs the Gospel found only in Jesus Christ. Out of all of the periods of church history, there is not a more opportune or challenging time to be a witness for our Lord than today. God has called us to this generation, not some other, and although it is difficult and sometimes discouraging, this is our responsibility. To meet this crucial need, the church must do much more than simply answer the symptomatic questions of race, war, and lawlessness. She must know what apostasy is and view its characteristics throughout the church age so she can understand it today. With this as a background, she must know how to deal with apostasy, how to live a vibrant life in the midst of it, and how to communicate her faith to this generation in such times as these. The word apostasy means departure and was used of political revolt. Religious apostasy means departure from truth once accepted, the breaking of a professed relationship with God. Our Lord illustrated this in the parable of the sower with different types of soil. Those on the rock soil who received the Word of God with joy but had no root in time of temptation apostatized (Luke 8: 13). Although we tend to accuse others of apostasy, it is professing believers that Scripture warns to avoid this Satanic trap (Heb. 3:12). In other words, there is always the possibility of a pro fessing Christian renouncing what he once pro fessed. Such a one receives the Word of God but since it does not bear fruit in his life, his experi ence proves to be merely self-reformation rather than Spirit-regeneration. Any study of Scripture reveals many who fall into such a category. The most obvious example is Satan who knew the truth and deliberately depart ed from it. The Pharisees who repudiated the Lord also fit such a description, and Christ called Judas His betrayer and adversary. Human apostasy will
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