The Present Deception and Apostasy in America

2Th 2:1-3 "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him, 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. 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;"

The Apostle Paul in writing to the church at Thessalonica believed that the Lord's return to earth was imminent even in his day. He reminds believers here of the hope of the coming of Christ. But as He does so, He warns them not to let any man deceive them and then goes on to say that the day of Christ's return will be prefaced by two things: 1) a great falling away (apostasy), and 2), and the revelation of the Antichrist (called here "the son of perdition").

Undoubtedly, we are living in a time of great deception. I am not just referring to religious deception, but a great deception is taking place in the mainstream of our culture today. If you listen to most people they do not think for themselves. Often, they are repeating the opinions or mainstream philosophies of the media (television, books, Internet, radio, music, etc.). These deceptive beliefs and philosophies of man soon war and crowd out the little truth (God's Word) that they might hear today. If we don't act on truth or be "doers" of the truth we hear, the bible tells us in the book of Hebrews that we "are hearers only" and that it leads to being deceived.

The modern deception of many in our culture is sadly leading to "a falling away" of believers adhering to sound doctrine and holy living. The evidence is everywhere around us. All throughout our country today church attendance is down. Most believers attend church one time a week where 25 years ago the average was well over two times per week. The average church attender gives less and less of their income today to their church and to missions. The average Christian family in evangelical churches only attend church 28 of the 52 weekends of the year in the America now. As far as doctrine, recently a study was published that shockingly showed that out of the most conservative Christians in America (the Evangelical movement) over 70 per cent believe that salvation is not through Jesus Christ alone...that there are other ways to be saved.

The church in America has not seen a great awakening or nationwide revival since the middle part of the 19th century to the early part of the 20th century. Since after the depression of the 1930's humanism and secularism have been growing at alarming rates in America feeding the "falling away" or apostasy in Christianity that we see today.

How will it end? The scripture tells us - the introduction to the world and the short rule of the man called the Antichrist.

Tomorrow, I will write more about this charismatic leader that will soon charm the entire world and tell you the one thing that is keeping him from making his appearance right now.

-Pastor Randy