WS-4 Apostasy - We're there before we know it

Students of the Bible will be talking more and more about "apostasy" because the Scriptures say there will be a great falling away, or apostasy, in the last days before Jesus returns. The phrase "a falling away" is commonly used as a synonym for "apostasy", but the Greek word "apostasia" is compounded from two words that literally mean "standing away from", indicating a departure from a position previously held and taking a position contrary to it. The apostasy is not the result of a sudden revolt, or a violent turning against one's beliefs. It is a gradual drifting away that one is not likely to realize is taking place. There's an example from railway design that is a perfect illustration.

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Greetings. I'm Ed Potter, and I thank you for meeting me at this swistle stop. My train of thought came to a sudden stop the other day when I heard the preacher say that churches go astray a little at a time by subtle shifts in doctrine and practice. I thought, that's the way curves and railroad lines are designed. Those gradual changes are essential for a railway line, but they can be fatal to our Christian walk. Picture in your mind a train turning right on red at an intersection. That maneuver may be possible in a cartoon, but engineers designing a railway line deal in real-life physics. Getting a train around the bend requires complex calculations. It's a specialized field of engineering. Before a big curve in a railway line, there are small gentle curves that begin steering the train away from the straight line it's following, but only slightly at first. Those curves are called transition curves. They lead to sharper, bigger curves. Think of arches in doorways or windows. The side frames go straight up to where the arch begins. Now a train can't go directly from a straight line into a circular arch. It must be gradually deviated from its straight line path by means of transition curves that steer it away from its original direction of travel, a little at a time, almost imperceptibly at the beginning. The train goes from one curve into another one that's just a little tighter, and from that one to another that's tighter yet, until it's headed in a new direction. The preacher was talking about apostasy, how churches and individuals fall away from the truth they've been taught and allow themselves to be led away by false teachers who promote unbiblical doctrines. A fall into apostasy is not an accident like tripping over a loose rug or falling off a cliff. Our downward journey begins as a gentle slope of minor changes in what we practice. We say, well, it's really the same thing. We're just using different words. Or our beliefs haven't changed. We're just using new ways of presenting the truth to accommodate the changing culture we live in. But that slippery downhill slope gets deeper and steeper, and only God can lift us out of the miry clay of heresy we fall into. Airplane pilots must continually correct course to maintain their intended route and not be blown off course. They use charts and navigation tools to return to the proper bearing. The Bible is our map and the Holy Spirit our navigator that keep us headed to the right destination and prevent us from being blown about by every wind of doctrine. Ephesians 3, verse 14. The dangerous part is that our departure from the truth is gradual. We suddenly realize we are nowhere near where we thought we should be. We drift away from God in small increments. Jesus said that in the last days lawlessness will abound and the love of many will grow cold. I think of the refrigerator, icemaker. Water enters the freezer compartment and surrounded by the frigid environment, it gradually adapts to the cold until it becomes hardened ice. We live in a world that's hostile to God and his word, and even the good we see in others is devoid of the warmth of the living presence of the Holy Spirit. Only a close relationship with God can keep us from freezing in the cold, lifeless spiritual environment that surrounds us. We become accustomed to the music, entertainment, and focus on material and physical well-being, which all serve as transition curves. Little by little our hearts turned away from God. Our misguided efforts to attract the world to the gospel by compromising the truth, these are transition curves that eventually lead our churches and souls into outright apostasy. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to keep check on our temperature, lest we become accustomed to the chilly environment of the world and lose the warmth of our first love. We may be convinced we're on the right train, but if that train is on the wrong track, we'd better get off while we can. That's something we need to stop and think about. Thanks for stopping by with me on this whistle stop. Be sure to listen or watch as I present God's word for our world on my other podcasts. Give me this mountain. These things were written, and in times like these, there's a lot more of God to learn about.