Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Anderson
Lastly, there is a lot of understanding of End Times Prophecy that is a layer cake of assumptions. Base assumptions layered with additional assumptions then topped with some nice icing. As time has gone on, I've been breaking down the layers and finding that a decent percentage of the common understanding of End Times Prophecy is based on POTENTIALLY false assumptions.
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Matt, I wholeheartedly agree with this old post. And this weighs on my heart.
A year ago we joined Christians from numerous churches at the football stadium. So much talk about
REVIVAL! "Revival is coming, we can all feel it." The Pastor took time beforehand to provide the scriptural basis. He used a couple OT verses to support the belief that a "
great revival would soon sweep over the land."
Huh? If true, would not the NT clearly state such a prophecy? But what does the scripture say? Apostle Paul clearly states that before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, THE APOSTASY must come. (2 Thess 2.3) The words in Greek are very specific. Not just "a falling away," like a backsliding, but "the apostasy," as a determinable phenomena.
So I examined this word
apostasia in all my Bible study aids:
- The word occurs only here and Acts 21.21 where Paul was accused of being "apostate from Moses"
- The word implies that the opposition contemplated by Paul springs up from within the church rather than from without
- It must arise from the Jews or apostate Christians, either of whom might be said to fall away from God
- Politically this word would be used of a "rebel," but religiously it is used only of an "apostate"
- Signifies not the act, but the actual state of apostasy
- Apostasy involves capitulation to heretical beliefs as an eschatological phenomenon; capitulation is a surrender under certain terms or conditions
- Signifies apostasy from the faith
- Apostasy implies a falling away from a position that can be fallen from; not a falling into sin, from which grace can recover, but a relinquishing of faith
All my study was confirmed by Paul's precise prophetic word from God:
"But the Spirit expressly says that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith, they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. - I Tim 4.1"
Needless to say, this study has unsettled me to this day.