Apostasy Beginning Among Leadership

Something very troubling is currently underway in the body of Jesus Christ. It is the falling away or apostasy that Paul, the writer of the letters to the Thessalonians warned us about, saying, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” 2 Thess 2:3

There are those in the body of Christ who do not believe that true believers can fall away from the faith. They say something like, “If they fall away then they were never really saved, or in the faith.” To which I would reply, “How can someone fall away from something they never had?”

There are also those who through eisegesis attempt to retranslate a “falling away” into a “catching away” of the church in a secret pre-tribulation rapture. This is a totally dishonest interpretation of apostasia, which the original translators rendered a “falling away” (from the faith). See Strong’s definition below.

Strong's Concordance G646
apostasia: defection, revolt

Original Word: ἀποστασία,ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: apostasia
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-os-tas-ee'-ah)
Short Definition: defection, apostasy
Definition: defection, apostasy, revolt.

(See the Blue Letter Bible: G646 is apostasia
http://www.blbclassic.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=falling+away&t=KJV)

An exegetic interpretation is the only honest interpretation of 2 Thess 2:3. The falling away Paul warned about is a defection or revolt from the faith!

At this point I would like to momentarily expound on
2 Thess 2:1-3
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

At the bold type "falling away" is where pre-tribulationists attempt to reinterpret a "falling away" from apostasia: "defection, apostasy, revolt" to "departure". Here is a prime example:

(Quote taken from RaptureReady.com)
"I believe that there is a strong possibility that 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is speaking of the rapture. What do I mean? Some pretribulationists, like myself, think that the Greek noun apostasia, usually translated " apostasy," is a reference to the rapture and should be translated " departure." Thus, this passage would be saying that the day of the Lord will not come until the rapture comes before it. If apostasia is a reference to a physical departure, then 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is strong evidence for pretribulationism. (end qoute)

However, if we want to do a more accurate rendition of what changing apostasy to departure would read like, here it is:
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him...that day (What day? The day of our gathering together unto him) shall not come, except there come a gathering together unto him first..."

Let's look at it again:
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him...the day of our gathering together unto him shall not come, except there come a gathering together unto him first..."

Using this honest reading of what changing scripture looks like the truth becomes obvious. Apostasia means apostasy, a falling away, plain and simple!

I am curious what those who try to change apostasy to "physical departure" do with this passage: "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)

What is even more alarming is where this apostasy has already begun! It has started within the ranks of the leadership of the body of Christ!

I recently listened to a recording with Brannon Howse of Worldview Weekend Radio and Jimmy DeYoung, prophecy teacher, author, journalist, and evangelist. The topic of discussion was about a recent Q&A with the congregation of famous pastor and bible teacher John MacArthur. MacArthur was asked, “Once a man takes the mark (of the beast) is there any possibility of them coming to Christ?” John MacArthur answers, “…I think the answer to that is yes…” (I will further discuss his reasoning later.)

Here is what scripture says:

9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:9-11

I ask you, how could this be any clearer?

IF YOU TAKE THE MARK OF THE BEAST YOU WILL “drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”

IF YOU TAKE THE MARK OF THE BEAST YOU WILL BE ETERNALLY LOST!

Now let’s discover where John MacArthur and Jimmy DeYoung get their damnable doctrine that anyone who takes the “mark” can still be saved. If we listen further on in this recording we hear MacArthur, after saying yes you can take the mark, “…otherwise there would be no salvation of anybody in the end of the tribulation…”

WHAT? John, are you telling us that in order to be saved during the tribulation you must first take the mark of the beast? He continues, “…and you’ve got to have the salvation of folks in the end of the tribulation…” There you go again, equating the possibility of anyone being saved during tribulation to their willingness to take the mark! This just blows my mind!

Further, Jimmy DeYoung follows with, “…if nobody gets saved in the last three and a half years, because they have received that mark…” he goes on to reason that there would be no one left to inhabit the millennial kingdom of Christ. So, take the mark so you can survive to repent and be saved so you may enter the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ. Is that not what they are both saying? UNBELIEVABLE!

With both of these men the heresy stems from their belief and teachings of the false doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture. How so? In their minds since all Christians have already been taken off the earth in a secret pre-tribulation rapture, the only way for anyone to survive so that they may be saved is to take the mark!

Do you see how this doctrine has prepared the body of Christ to receive all manner of lies and deceit? In order to reconcile the falsehood that they have received already they must continue to pervert the word of God further and further.

Who could have imagined that the leadership of the Body would fall so low, from the high positions which they held? Scripture says, “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.” (1 Thess 5:12-13) We are also told, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

I’m not entirely certain that we should yet label these men as false prophets, but to tell you the truth I’m not sure why. They have come dangerously close to apostasy because what they are teaching is indeed false, and may result in the leading of many babes in Christ to forfeit their salvation by going directly against God’s word and taking the mark of the beast. I say ‘not yet’ because as long as they remain in Christ(?) there is yet time for them to come to repentance. In my opinion, they cannot possibly have prayed and sought God about this issue.

Here is a link to the video in question:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwaiH-LhVpA


In my next post I will expound upon MacArthur's and DeYoung's belief that only born again saints will inhabit the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ and why it is a false belief.