Are we in the great "falling away?"

Let us understand the times.

Last week, Gallup released new polling data showing that Americans’ belief in five spiritual entities has declined sharply in this century. Gallup asked people whether they accepted the concepts of God, Heaven, angels, Hell, and the Devil. Belief in God among all Americans has declined sharply since 2001, from 90% to 74%.

This troubling survey raises the question of whether we are living through the times of apostasy prophesied in the Scriptures. Is this the “great falling away?”

Certainly, the West is rejecting Christianity on a scale never seen before. It is no exaggeration to say that the social order has been largely overthrown, transformed into something that would have surprised even pagan Greeks and Romans. We agree with those preachers who warn that falling from greater light will lead to a greater depravity: remember that it was a post-Christian society that birthed the industrial-scale evils of Nazism.

But is this the Great Apostasy of which the Holy Spirit warned us? No, not yet. I believe we are in a period of general apostasy (although it’s coupled with a great harvest of souls in many places). The New Testament warns us of this dynamic at the end of the age:

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth (1 Timothy 4:1-3).”

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away (2 Timothy 3:1-5)!”

But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit (Jude 17-19).”

The Apostles warn us that apostasy is something we ought to expect, and we shouldn’t be surprised to see it. However, continuing to stand strong in faith in these times will require us to lean on God. And it will be necessary to resist the temptation to respond to political and social changes with inappropriate anger or—God forbid— violence, which is not the way of Christ. People in formerly Christianized societies are at special risk, as they continue to witness things they cherished their entire lives being mocked, undermined, and finally cast aside.

The apostasy we’ve been experiencing for decades is already challenging, and we can only expect it to accelerate. However, a more deadly apostasy is coming – a moment of ultimate challenge for believers. It is THE Great Apostasy.

Jesus ties this great apostasy to the final challenges of the age. (Biblical futurists will see these events as taking place during the “70th Week of Daniel,” a final seven-year period immediately preceding the return of Christ to the earth.)

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:9-14).”

“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God…. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, 9-12).”

The final apostasy is connected to the end-time regime of the “Beast.” It is a unique event, likely connected to the False Prophet causing people to worship the Antichrist. In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul refers to it in Greek as THE Apostasy. It is not a generalized decline in the faith; rather, it is a singular event, a singular trial in history. It involves a fearful judgment of God, as He gives over to deception people who have not received a love for the truth.

So, what we see today, as shocking as it can sometimes be, is not the Great Apostasy. That still awaits us. But what is happening today is still dangerous. What people are being asked to embrace today will defile their consciences and sever their connection to the Living Christ, who calls for our love and commands our obedience and our allegiance. Let us cast ourselves afresh upon Jesus now, while we still have time and peace to do so with relative ease.

The prophet Jeremiah warned not only his countrymen, but us who live today: if we can barely contend with what is facing us now, what will we do as the days continue to darken – and what will we do in the time of the ultimate apostasy?

“If you have run with infantrymen and they have tired you out,
How can you compete with horses?
If you fall down in a land of peace,
How will you do in the thicket by the Jordan?”

(Jeremiah 12:5 NASB20)