The Apostate Church.

Selections from The Holy Bible and personal essays and commentary

Quotes from The Holy Bible - KJV and HNV - are in the public domain.


except where noted, all text authored and edited
Copyright © 1980-2009 by God's Peace Ministry

What are we talking about here? Are we in the last days and are we seeing the "great apostasy" - the time in which many in the church fall away from truly following faithfully after the Lord Jesus, Yeshua Ha Mashiach - Jesus the Messiah? Some have even suggested that the Greek word apostasia may refer to the Rapture of the church. A word study reveals the English translation of several related Greek words.

[apostasia ap-os-tas-ee'-ah defection from truth (properly, the state) ("apostasy"):--falling away, forsake; apostasion ap-os-tas'-ee-on something separative, a separation; aphistemi af-is'-tay-mee to remove, instigate to revolt, to desist, desert, depart, draw (fall) away, refrain, withdraw self; apo apo' a primary particle; "off," i.e. away (from something near), usually denotes separation, departure, cessation, completion, reversal.

Is it true that many of our Christian and Jewish sects and denominations have turned away from their foundations, set by God so many years ago, even at their beginnings when they left the Jewish roots and God-appointed observances of the faith behind? Passover was replaced with Easter - a pagan festival that is rooted in ancient Babylon. The actual date of the birth of Christ was most likely changed so that it might be observed on the day of the winter solstace in late December - another pagan holiday observed by ancient sun worshippers. The fourth commandment is to remember the Sabbath day - to keep it holy. Yet, the early Roman church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Sunday is the day that ancient sun worshippers celebrated their pagan god. The name of the day SUNday clearly reveals this. Yet, when the Protestant reformation began, these pagan holidays were not removed from the new churches who broke with the Roman church.

The first and second commandments are - Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before me. 4 "You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Since the beginning of the Roman church and throughout the history of the Protestant church, we have violated the first, second and fourth commandments by turning away from the Jewish appointed times. These appointed times and feast days are the Saturday Sabbath or Shabbat. In Jewish tradition, the day begins at sundown, so Saturday actually begins Friday at sundown and continues until Saturday at sundown.
In the spring, at the beginning of the Jewish new year or in the first month of Abib, is a group of Sabbaths and feasts observed over an eigth-day period. Passover or Pesach commemorates the time just before the people of Israel came out of bondage in Egypt - when the angel of death passed over the homes of the Jewish people who had the blood of the sacrificial, paschal lamb on their door posts. God told Moses to have each family slaughter an unblemished lamb, put the blood above and on the side door posts and to cook and eat the lamb that day. The Christian faith celebrates Jesus Christ as the unblemished lamb of God who was sacrificed and died to save us all from our sins. We should celebrate that wondrous gift of sacrifice at its proper time - during the time of Passover. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover - His body was taken down from the cross and quickly buried before sundown. The feast of unleavened bread is the next day. The people were told to leave the yeast or leaven out of their bread because they would have to leave Egypt quickly - no time for the bread to rise. Leaven represents sin - Jesus was buried on the feast of unleavened bread as He took our sin upon Himself, dying in our place, for our transgressions. He rose on the third day - on the feast of first fruits. The feast of first fruits was a time when the people gave God an offering of the first fruits of their harvest. In the third month, is Shavuot or Pentecost. This day is the 50th day after Passover. Jews celebrate it as an observation of the time when the spirit of God came down on Mt. Sinai, gave the Torah or law to Moses and spoke to the assembled congregation of the people through Moses. The Apostles of Yeshua (Jesus) were celebrating Shavuot in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came down from Heaven upon them as Jesus promised. They began to speak in foreign tongues and went out into the street where many heard the Gospel or the good news in their native tongue and were saved. That good news is that Jesus had paid the penalty for all our sins by dying on the cross in our place. When he arose, He overcame sin, death, hell and the grave.
The fall feasts are in the seventh month, Tishri. Rosh Hashanah, or the feast of Trumpets, is the start of the Jewish civil year, marked by the blast of the shofar or ram's horn to call the people to assemble together in Jerusalem. Ten days of awe follow during which people consider their lives in the light of God's word and commandments in preparation for the day of atonement. During the days of awe, people look to the Lord and to reveal any sin that may keep us from walking with God completely in close relationship. On the day of atonement in Biblical times, the yearly sacrifice was made to cover the sin of the people (Leviticus 16). The Cohen haGadol, or High Priest, would take the blood of the sacrifice and enter into the holy of holies to pour out the blood on the mercy seat. He would then confess the sins of the people over the scapegoat, which would carry away the sin out of the city gates. Today, people come before God for a day of prayer and confession, allowing the blood of Yeshua to cover our sin and remove them from us for all time. The final yearly feast of Sukkot (booths or tabernacles) is a time of thankfulness for the harvest, provision and a time of celebration. People spend time outside their homes in shelters to tabernacle with the Lord, to rejoice and dance, to remember when God came among us in ancient and will return again to be with us when Messiah Yeshua returns.

We are to walk with the Lord by trusting and believing in Him - being filled with the Holy Spirit - guided and directed every moment of the day and night by His word and His indwelling presence. We are not to grow cold in our love toward others. Is the church peopled with those who have been purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit? Or are there some or many who do not truly know Jesus and the full power and peace of the indwelling Spirit of God? It is the responsibility of those in authority under God in the church to teach the new and growing followers of Jesus in the way according to the Holy Scriptures. God ordains, anoints and appoints leaders and prophets in the body of Christ - the church. Graduation from a Bible college or seminary is not a guarantee of salvation or spirituality under submission to God. The true believer "tests the spirits" and knows what is of God and what is not. Who is leading the church, God - or the elders or the deacons? Is the influence of money or worldly philosophy leading the church or is the Holy Spirit of God in charge?

The church is the body of Jesus Christ here on earth. According to the old and new testaments of the Bible - also known as the old and new covenants - the church should still be observing the appointed times and the feast days found in the Torah - the first five books of the Bible. The old testament is not just for Jews or those who practice Judaism. But, followers of Yeshua - Jesus - are not still "under the law." Jesus died on the cross so that we might be free from the death penalty of breaking any of God's laws and mitzvot (commandments.) That doesn't mean that we don't suffer or feel bad when we break any of God's laws. It means that we are forgiven by God because Jesus paid the price for all our sins. All we have to do is trust and believe that and Jesus will save us and we will change over time to be more like him because the Holy Spirit of God is living inside us. Our spirit, mind, soul and body becomes the temple of God - his property and through which He does his work here on earth.
Unfortunately, since John, the last of the twelve apostles of Jesus passed into eternity (from the Meditteranean island of Patmos) after writing down, or describing for a scribe, the Revelation of the triumphant return of our Lord Yeshua, the "church" began to drift away from the teachings of Jesus and his Holy-Spirit led apostles. The Roman emperor Constantin saw a vision in the sky - he said it was a cross and that God told him to lead the Roman legions into battle under the banner of the cross. Constantin became a Christian - after a life time of living as a pagan. Rome was filled with pagans. Constantin, his mother Helena and their close associates, founded the Roman Catholic religion. They allowed many pagan rituals and idols to remain part of the religion when they made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. They also separated the Jewish appointed times and feast days from the religion. Instead of celebrating passover in the spring, Easter - a pagan observance of the fertility goddess Ishtar - was substituted as a remembrance of the sacrificial death, burial and esurrection of Jesus. Although Jesus was more likely born in September-October-November at the time of the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, Christmas or Christ Mass was subtituted as a birthday celebration for Jesus because it was on December 25th - the time of the winter solstace and the time of many pagan feasts and rituals. When the reformers broke away from Roman Catholicism, they took the same holidays with them and so the pagan observations remain in the Protestant churches to this day.

II Thessalonians 2:1 Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken in your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, saying that the day of Messiah is come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the falling away (apostasia, apostasy) comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God. Don't you remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things? Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one restrains now, until he is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the brightness of his coming; even he whose coming is according to the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn't receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Because of this, God sends them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be condemned who didn't believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth; to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter. Now our Lord Yeshua the Messiah himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.

And what of the conversation or manner of people in and out of the church in the last days and what should our attitude or responsibility be toward them?

Romans 1:1 Sha'ul, (Saul, Paul,) a servant of Yeshua the Messiah, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Yeshua the Messiah our Lord, through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake; among whom you are also called to belong to Yeshua the Messiah; to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be holy ones: Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
First, I thank my God through Yeshua the Messiah for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers, requesting if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established; that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine. Now I don't desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, and was hindered so far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Goyim (Gentiles.) I am debtor both to Yevanim (Greeks) and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Messiah, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Yehudi (Jew) first, and also for the Yevanit (Greek.) For in it is revealed God's righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, "But the righteous shall live by faith." For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse. Because, knowing God, they didn't glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for an image (icon, idol) resembling corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amein.
For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

2:1 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; who "will pay back to everyone according to their works:" to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruptibility, eternal life; but to those who are self-seeking, and don't obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation, oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, on the Yehudi (Jew) first, and also on the Yevanit (Greek.) But glory and honor and shalom to every man who works good, to the Yehudi first, and also to the Yevanit. For there is no partiality with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

The gift of eternal life is freely given to those who trust in Jesus as their savior. Those who believe, pray, read the Bible and allow themselves to grow in spirit and truth by trusting in Jesus and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit are brought into the family of God and will spend eternity with Him. You can read more about Jesus in the Gospel of John.

Topics.
The Good News - the Gospel of John.
The Sermon on the Mount
The Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Paley's Evidences of Christianity
Sherlock's The Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Words of wisdom and warning.
The Authority of the Holy Scriptures - the Bible.
The Sign of Jonah.
The Two Babylons.
Thoughts.
Thoughts for today and every day.
...a refiner and purifier of silver.
Prophecies confirming Jesus as the Messiah.
To the Jew first and to the Gentile - Come let us reason together.
The Way.
Spirit.
Atheism.
Belief in God or science?
Old fossils?
Evolution or devolution?
The Shroud and The Sudarium.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Blood and Flesh.
Christmas.
Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
How should followers of Jesus live?
A praise and worship leader gone astray?
St. Valentine's Day.
The influence of feminism, new-age and pagan philosophy in the church.
God, the Father.
Marriage is for one man and one woman.
Touchy subjects.
The apostate church.
The last days.
Ancient conflict - Isaac vs. Ishmael.
A Tale of Two Films - The da Vinci code and The Passion of The Christ.
Current events and topics.
Fascism.
To veterans and to those who serve in the armed forces.
The world.


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