The Great Deceiver

The apostate is the great deceiver of Christ’s Gospel. They date back to when Jesus walked on earth. The Pharisees and Sadducees top the list of these false teachers who had a tremendous influence on turning God’s chosen people against Christ. Their hatred of Jesus pushed the Jews to crucify Christ (Matthew 27:15-26).

Christ Identifies The Apostate

Christ identified the apostate in His Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus Said:

 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Matthew 7:15-20, NKJV

As shown above, Christ highlights false prophets as those who appear to share God’s truth but lead people away. Jesus wanted His Disciples to understand and be aware of these evil teachers because He knew they would face them after His ascension back to heaven.

Jesus clarifies these imposters by their fruits and describes their hearts as having wicked intentions. He also shows the teachers who are of sound doctrine as bearing good fruit.

For example, in his Epistle to the Galatians, Apostle Paul shared the same message as Jesus’s description of an apostate.

Paul spoke these words:

 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 1:6-7, NKJV

Paul heightens the apostate’s intention to discount Christ’s gospel by explaining that these great deceivers desecrate God’s Truth. Remember, Jesus spoke of knowing these rejecters by their fruits, and we see the fruit of deception displayed.

Paul goes on and says:

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard   Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 

Galatians 3:1-3,NIV

In these three scriptures, Paul points out that Christ’s crucifixion took place. The Galatians heard of this event through eyewitness accounts, but some apostates tried to deceive them (bewitched) by sharing false doctrine. Paul points out that the Galatians received the Holy Spirit not by the law but from hearing about Jesus. This revelation shows God’s truth concerning the origin of Salvation.

Some of these apostates used Moses’s custom of circumcision as part of Christ’s salvation to confuse the Gentiles. This motivated the Disciples to clarify Christian faith (Acts 15).

But Christ shared this about salvation:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  

John 13:16-17, NIV

As stated above, God’s gift of salvation rests squarely on believing Christ is His only Son. Anything that contradicts this Truth leads to eternal condemnation. I can’t afford to follow any other doctrine because my everlasting life depends on my faithfulness to God’s word. Either I believe this absolute reality or face the eternal consequences of rejection.

The Epistle of Jude dedicated itself to identifying the apostate. Jude, through the Holy Spirit, highlighted the apostate’s deeds. He outlines their efforts to discount Christ’s salvation message. Jude provides a laundry list of their evil actions (Jude 8^th vs 16^th vs).

This is a brief discussion on exposing the apostate. Many more of these truths are in the Bible.

Modern-Day Apostate

The modern-day apostate demonstrates the same characteristics as the ones the Disciples encountered. They spread the same false teachings, and their words are charismatic, enticing people to ignore Jesus’s truth.

One of the most profound illustrations of this devastating reality surfaced through Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple leader during the 1970s [1]. He deceived his followers by proclaiming himself as a messiah. In the end, Jim Jones led 918 (men, women, and children) to a suicidal death.

Another example emerged through Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker [2]. They founded the Praise the Lord (PTL) ministry in the 1980’s. Their televangelist approach reached millions of people through television. However, financial and sexual scandals exposed the deceitfulness of their message.

Besides those two, the recent birth of Progressive Christianity [3], Prosperity Gospel [4], and similar movements led others away from Christ. These movements take God’s words out of context by mixing worldviews with the scriptures.

Given these points, the apostate is alive and thriving.

Final Thoughts

The apostate is worth understanding. We live in an age where technology dominates the world, giving the apostate a platform to advance evil doctrine. For this reason, we must stay firm on God’s word. In Christ, our ability to discern the fruits of the apostate emerges through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Reference

[1]: Jim Jones  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/jonestown-bio-jones/

[2]: Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker https://abcnews.go.com/US/scandals-brought-bakkers-uss-famous-televangelists/story?id=60389342

[3]: https://alisachilders.com/

[4]: https://www.namb.net/apologetics/resource/the-differences-between-the-prosperity-gospel-and-the-biblical-gospel/