I feel compelled to write something about the so-called ‘falling away’ of the Church that is mentioned in the bible. My concern is that it’s being interpreting the wrong way.
To rectify this error is like a voice shouting in the Wilderness to a people who don’t seem to see or care that they may be wrong. The trouble is the majority of the present day Church has embraced this concept hook line and sinker and not analyzed the data. My view may not be ‘Hollywood’ enough. Many are trying to scare people into the Kingdom through graphic, dramatic unscriptural views forgetting that it’s the goodness of God that leads to repentance and not fear.
I believe its God will to have a great revival before the return of the Lord, and if you believe in a future ‘falling away’ then this teaching makes you double minded. How can you have both?
I can see that this teaching on the ‘falling away’ is destructive and has very flimsy scriptural backup.
The scriptures speak of the ‘Restoration of all things.’ Acts 3:21
The ‘Former and the Latter Rain.’ Joel 2:23 (The Former rain was Pentecost and the Latter Rain is even greater than that - amen.)
There is the Elijah Ministry before the 2nd Coming. Malachi 4:1-6
The Time of the latter Rain spoken of in James 5:7 and Zechariah 10:1.
And the 3rd Day in Hosea 6:3 just to name a few verses.
It is important to get our understanding right so that we can pray correctly. To give you an example, when the Jews were in captivity in Babylon, Daniel saw in scripture that it was time for them to go back home, as the 70 years were up. He began to fast and pray after seeing what the scriptures said and God put things into action so that it all came to pass. In the light of this I can see that if we don’t understand that there should be a great end time revival, we wont be praying for it to happen, which is exactly what the Devil wants. Our enemy is a crafty foe and has planted an idea into the Church’s doctrine that has gradually put us off track.
Believe it or not the ‘falling away’ and a future ‘Antichrist’ was not embraced by the Church until 200 years ago. It was only adopted in the mid 1800s. Ministers like Charles Spurgeon would have vehemently opposed what we now take as the gospel truth today.
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1
We seem to ignore the fact that this verse was written by Paul over 2000 years ago. It’s a wonder to me that most Christians are still waiting for the ‘falling away’ to still happen, ignoring Church history.
Was there a ‘falling away’ of the Church soon after Paul’s death? Yes, there was and he warned of its coming. So much of the power and the glory that was evident in Paul’s day was lost to traditions and religion. For 100s of years the Church was in a dark place.
Unfortunately, ‘End Time’ verses like this aren’t regarded as valid unless they happen in our day. Has God had nothing to say about the last 2000 years of Church history in the bible?
It wasn’t until the Reformation in 1517 that a light began to shine in the darkness and that which had been lost was gradually restored. This was due to the printing of the bible and the scriptures put into the hands of the common people. The truth was now able to set people free.
Since the Reformation there has been a steady rebuilding of the Church’s walls, a ‘Restoration of all Things’ that had been lost. Water Baptism has been restored, including the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the fact that God heals today, just to name a few. God’s plans for the Church are glorious, and the Devil knows this so he has sown seeds of doubt into the harvest field.
The subject at hand is huge and needs to be dismantled one layer at a time, in order to be understood correctly. There is still the subject of the Antichrist, the Mark etc. that I won’t talk about here, but it can all be explained quite easily.
If you would like me to teach more on this, please advise. I still think that the most important thing is to keep our eyes on Christ in these day, for this is the way the Spirit changes us. Many Christians are more interested in the ‘Antichrist’ than they are of the ‘Christ’ which is a shame. All that produces is fear.