The End Time Apostasy May Have Already Begun
The Bible speaks of a time at the end of the age when a great apostasy will take place. The apostle warned us with these words:
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Thess. 2:3, 4).
The apostasy spoken of here by Paul is a time of spiritual rebellion when people will reject God and literally end up worshipping the one called “the man of lawlessness.” We were created by God to worship and those who don’t worship Him will worship His enemy in one form or another. The last day manifestation of him will be the Antichrist, the one who has been orchestrating lawlessness since creation.
We are told later in this passage that something called “the mystery of lawlessness” has been at work the whole time (v. 7). A mystery is a truth that is hidden from our knowledge until God reveals it to us when we are seeking Him to receive what He reveals. Satan never sleeps and has been busy pushing his lawless philosophy on the world and much of the world has fallen prey to his tactics. Paul encouraged us to act in such a way “. . . that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes” (2 Cor. 2:11). He is a schemer and he has tactics that match his purpose against God and His people. But this is no longer a mystery to us if we have opened up to God’s revelation. The mystery of lawlessness is now fully exposed for all seekers to see.
There is a worldwide movement toward one-world government. This used to be a mere conspiracy theory but it is now an observable certainty. This creeping toward a unified world government is predicted in Revelation 13:11: “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.”
This beast is the direct work of Satan in the last days when he will finally gain political control over planet earth. The dragon, Satan, will stand on the seashore where, from the sea, (the world system represented by Babylon the Great), (17:5,) will arise. He will call forth the evil government he has been inspiring for many years. The ten horns and seven heads and diadems represent the confederation of nations that will have succumbed to his decades of propaganda.
He is setting the stage for this government even now as we see the nations bowing to authoritarian forms of government. Canada has been virtually captured, much of Europe is under authoritarian rule, almost all Latin American countries and Africa have been taken over by Marxist-styled dictators. China is the most powerful player in this scheme and is, through our present administration, slowly paralyzing The United States in its web of control. Interestingly China’s primary symbol is the snake-like red dragon. One man, the Antichrist will arise from the world’s culture as the false Christ of Satan for the last days to briefly rule the world.
This Antichrist authoritarian will exercise his authority for three and a half years (13:5) during which time he will make war with the saints and overcome them and all the peoples and nations of the earth (13:7). Everyone not worshipping Christ will worship this last days false Christ (13:8). So, at the midpoint of the last seven years of this age the Antichrist will take control of the world system, destroy the system known as Babylon the Great, and begin his fateful rule over planet earth (17:1f). This process will also divide the righteous from the unrighteous. That is the good news.
If you have ears to hear and eyes with which to see, you can observe this evil growing in our midst even today. We live in a time when the president of the United States is openly cooperating with China for the downfall of America. We are living in a time when pro-abortion activists are threatening the supreme court justices because they don’t agree with a crucial vote. We have leaders, even judges, who cannot define what a woman is but believe that we can choose the sex we want to live as and that men can get pregnant. According to polls most of our citizens believe it is fine to kill one’s unborn child for the sake of convenience.
We have extreme violence in our streets while our prosecutors punish the victims of crime and release the criminals. These radicals call for defunding the police and doing away with bail laws. The obvious result is dangerous violence in our cities where observable riots are called peaceful protests. Meanwhile our city streets are filled with homeless people who defecate on the sidewalks and shoot up with drugs in public without consequences.
Our schools and public places are becoming gun free zones where the gun-carrying criminals can kill at will. Inflation is killing our country as one party does everything possible to impair its success while members of the another party are strangely quiet. Our schools from K through college have become propaganda centers for the radical left’s policies of critical race theory, social justice, open borders, gender folly and lawlessness. Our media has been captured almost completely by leftist leaders who want to totally transform our country into an authoritarian society with open borders, no Constitution and rule by elite schemers with deep pockets.
I could go on with this political information but you get the idea. Our country is in a downhill spiral toward destruction and most people don’t realize it. I don’t believe this is accidental or even caused by bad policies, as evil as they are. This destruction has its origin in the one who comes “only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). The dragon is standing on the seashore of humanity and is calling forth the political beast that will take control of the planet when the time is right. The three elements of his activity — stealing, killing and destroying — are observable all around us and most of us just shrug our shoulders as if it is normal.
“The one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,” (2 Thess. 2:9) may well be waiting for his opportunity to step onto the world scene. Many indicators point in this direction.
Meanwhile there is a drastic apostasy taking place in the organized church. We may well be in the beginning stages of what some are calling “post Christian America.” I see it as a “post organized church America” as people pull out of the institutions that are not hearing the voice of the Spirit because the voices of materialism and compromise are so much louder. Our young people are abandoning this thing called church in search of real meaning in their lives.
This apostasy is not so much about genuine Christians losing their faith as it is about a purging of the organized church and a separating between the pretenders and those who are truly seeking God. The result will be expressions of the genuine body of Christ abandoning the religion of men and embracing the abundant life Christ came to give us. You will not see it in the big buildings on the street corners of our cities but you can find it in the informal, secret places of gathering across the nation. Like the early body of Christ, they will come together not out of obligation but out of love and a sincere desire to be part of what the Holy Spirit is doing today.
Yes, the great apostasy may well be beginning. Regardless, it is time to turn to God with all of our hearts and seek to be part of what He is doing to express His eternal purpose on earth. We cannot predict the exact form this will take. It will require staying close to the Lord and hearing clearly the voice of the Holy Spirit. The enemy means all of this for evil but God will use it for His glory.
