The Perpetual Divorce

​“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our
gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled,
neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at
hand.   Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
  who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped;
so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?”

- 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5

Paul wrote this epistle to the church in Thessalonica to correct them in an error
in thinking. They mistakenly believed the return of Yeshua (Jesus) was extremely
close to being fulfilled and that it may have even already happened. One factor
leading to this misconception is the infiltration of false teachers into the church. Paul
rebukes the Thessalonians for allowing these teachers to lead them astray. Paul
instructs the church in the signs that will lead up the actual return of Messiah. He
tells the church that there must first be a falling away before the return of Yeshua.

I must admit that I have read this passage many times, but for some reason it
resonated within my spirit more vibrantly this day. I was led to hear something that I
had previously overlooked. It seems that most of the time I look at this passage, the
focus of my attention centers on the revealing of the son of perdition. This is
probably due to the dramatic nature of this subject. We all want to know who the bad
guy is and how we can stand against him. It is only human nature to want to know
our enemy in an effort to prepare for the battle ahead. We can also feel within
ourselves that time must be drawing to a close, therefore we seek to inform ourselves
of the tribulation that is written of in Scripture. While these things will come, we are
not to have a spirit of fear but one of victory because we serve a Righteous King
(Deut. 20:4; John 16:33)! Our Lord fights for us and He has overcome, already, all
things that come against those who are His!

The truth that jumped out at me as I read this passage was the falling away of
the church. More accurately my attention fell to verse three, “Let no man deceive you

by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” The return of our Messiah will
come and this son of perdition will be revealed, only when a falling away takes place
within the church. Paul clearly states that Yeshua will not come until there is
apostasy.

The word apostasy come from the Greek ἀποστασία (G646). This word
means a falling away, to forsake or a defection from truth. We can extend this
meaning in view of Scripture as a turning away from truth. Paul instructs the church
in Thessalonica, and us, that before the revealing of this anti-christ figure and before
the ultimate return of our Messiah, there will be an effort to set aside or forsake the
truth of the Word of our Father. Until this unfortunate rejection of His Word takes
place, the Messiah will not return.
The falling away also opens the door for the son of perdition as written in 2
Thessalonians 2:3. The term perdition carries the connotation of being given over to
utter destruction, eternal damnation and to be made obsolete. Those who reject the
salvation offered to us by the shed blood of Messiah, bear the weight of perdition.
They will be given over to the sinful lusts of their hearts and condemned to hell. The
son of perdition will be the one who will exalt himself above God. he will sit in the
temple of God and shew himself to be God (2 Thess 2:4). he will follow the
footsteps of his father the devil as did this abomination declare that he will ascend
above the throne of the Most High God (Isaiah 14). The son of perdition will be the
physical embodiment of the pride of mankind, the antichrist. he is and will be heir to
damnation.

The son of perdition will be revealed and the Messiah will return when the
church becomes apostate, giving up the truth for the convenience of compromise.
The prophet Zechariah warns of a time when the world will appear to be at peace
(Zechariah 1). It is during this time that the Lord will find the people at ease, though
the world breaks under the weight of sin. The Lord is provoked to anger because the
people add to, they added to the disaster about to befall the earth because of the lack
of fear of the Lord. The church will fall away. But what exactly will the church fall
away from?

In the book of Acts chapter 21, we find a cause which contributes to the fall.
In this chapter, Paul returns to Jerusalem to meet with the Elders of the Jerusalem
church. Paul returns to meet with the Elders to discuss the inclusion of Gentiles into

the faith alongside Jewish believers. Paul related to those at this council of Elders all
of the great things the Lord has been doing throughout His missionary journeys (Acts
21:19). Paul gives glory to the Father for the many Gentile’s living in pagan nations
who have come to know salvation. The council then relates to Paul the reality of the
“thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all
zealous for the Law. (Acts 21:20).” The power of the Gospel was opening the eyes
of both Jew and Gentile toward the Saving Grace of Messiah.

In verse 21, we see in the Greek the same use of the word apostasy
ἀποστασία (G646). The writer of the book of Acts (Luke) uses this term to denote
the rejection of the Mosaic Law by some of the Jews who accepted Messiah as their
Savior. Luke writes that there are Jews who are falling away, becoming apostate, from
the Law of the Most High. They are turning from the fullness of truth and rejecting
their customs.

Now, there is a lot to be said about what is happening in this short group of
verses. It would take an extensive exposition to work through all of the intricacies
that are being spoken of in this context. I do not wish to gloss over the weight of
what is being stated in verse 21, but to truly develop all that is going on would be
beyond the scope of this writing. The point that I am trying to make in this writing is
the connection of the word ἀποστασία (G646), apostasy, in both 2 Thessalonians
and in the book of Acts. I am trying to draw a theological parallel in the use of the
word apostasy. There is a greater truth that is being revealed, and this truth relates to
us this very day. Therefore, we will zero in on only the spiritual connotations
connected to the word apostasy and its impact on the contemporary church.

To reiterate, Luke points out that the Jewish believers in Messiah were
forsaking the Law of the Most High. In the original Greek the word that is translated
as forsake in English, is the word ἀποστασία (G646), apostasy (Acts 21:21). Luke
uses this word to describe the softening of the standard of faith of those Jews who
were living among the Gentiles. They were allowing the culture to draw them away
from the ordinances that distinguished them as set apart. They were becoming
apostate to the things that defined their faith. They were forsaking their covenant
with the Father.

This is where we could enter into the debate of keeping the Law and its
relevance to contemporary believers. But again, delving into this debate would divert

our attention from the weight of the matter set before us concerning apostasy. Thus,
I will again refocus the attention of the reader on the matter at hand in an effort to
draw out the urgency falling upon the modern church. The shadow of apostasy bites
at our heels; the falling away of the church looms in wait for those who give up the
fight.

To gather a more rich understanding of the term ἀποστασία (G646), we will
look a little deeper at this word as it is used in other places in Scripture. In the
Gospel of Matthew, the male counterpart of the word apostasy is used. Like many
languages, Greek words carry grammatical gender determined by contextual use. In the
following verses Matthew recounts the teaching of Yeshua regarding marriage.
Matthew writes,
“Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male
and female,   and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be
joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?    So they are no longer two,
but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”    They
said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and
send her away?”    He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted
you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.    And I say
to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman
commits adultery (Matthew 19:4-9 NASB).”
The word Matthew uses for our word divorce is ἀποστάσιον (G647). This word is
a male counterpart to the word apostasy used in 2 Thessalonians and Acts. Both of
these words translated apostasy come from the root word ἀφίστημι (G868). This
word means to remove, revolt, desist, depart or fall away. The picture we are to
gather from the use of the word apostasy is one of an active drawing away or
rejection. This is not a passive fall into ignorance, but an intentional choice to revolt.

In the context of the verses in Matthew, Yeshua is teaching that because of the
hardness of the hearts, Moses made provisions for divorce ἀποστάσιον. This
provision of divorce was allowed because of an intentional decision on the part of the
one seeking the divorce. Behaviors and attitudes that were allowed to fester within
the hearts of those seeking divorce enveloped the individual leading them to revolt
against what was once love. The certificate of divorce was a result of the rejection of
fellowship with another.

In the synoptic Gospel of Mark, the same word is used in this account of Jesus
teaching on divorce. Mark 10: 2-5 reads:

“Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it
was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.   And He answered and said to them, “What
did Moses command you?”   They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate
of divorce and send her away.”   But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of
heart he wrote you this commandment.”
In Mark’s account he adds that because of the hardness of the heart, the certificate of
divorce allowed a husband to “send her away.” The sending away does not connote a
passive action, but a determined effort to be rid of something that no longer holds a
place of honor. The commitment to grow in love for one another by entering into
the marriage covenant was extinguished and replaced with stubborn revolt as the
heart tuned to stone.

Both the Gospels of Matthew and Mark use the word apostasy in the context
of a discussion of divorce. And in both examples, it is implied that there were
purposed actions taken leading up to the divorce. The husband allowed his heart to
become hard toward his wife which resulted in the falling away, apostacy of the
marriage. We can therefore gather that the Father sees the pursuit of divorce as active
permission to allow the heart to turn to stone.

In the First Testament, our Almighty Father laments over His people who have
turned away from Him. The Most High speaks through the prophet Jeremiah saying:
“Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what
faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and
she was a harlot there. I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return
to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw that
for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of
divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot
also. Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed
adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did
not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the Lord
(Jeremiah 3:6-10 NASB).”
The Northern Kingdom of Israel turned from the Father and allowed the people to
practice idolatry. The Father sees this as harlotry because the people gave their heart
over to the false gods of stone and wood. God then declares that He would divorce
this people because of the harlotry they committed against Him. He gives them over
to their lusts which ultimately brings about their destruction at the hands of the
Assyrian Empire (2 Kings 17). God allowed this to happen because the people of the
Northern Kingdom refused to repent of their sins and turn back to Him. The Father
also allowed this to happen to serve as an example to the Southern Kingdom of

Judah. They too dabbled in idolatry. The Father allowed the Assyrians to overthrow
Israel in the hope that the Kingdom of Judah would realize their sins. But,
unfortunately as written by Jeremiah, the Kingdom of Judah saw the actions of the
Northern Kingdom and they did not fear the Lord. The Kingdom of Judah also
turned to harlotry against the Most High.

In the Hebrew the סֵפֶר (H5608) cepher of כְּרִיתוּת (H3748) of divorce was issued by
the Father because of the hardness of their hearts. The people who were called out,
set apart by the Most High God rejected Him as their God and they turned to
inanimate objects. They were thus, given over to the deceptions of sin and they
eventually were bound in exile.

The apostasy, the falling away, comes when we do not remember. In both
Matthew and Mark, Yeshua tells us of the husbands who did not remember the
covenant of marriage they entered into with their wives. Jeremiah speaks of the
people of God not remembering their deliverance by His grace from slavery in Egypt.
They turned to the lusts of the flesh and fornicated with the fallen gods that bring
death. In the book of Acts, the falling away, the apostacy, became a rejection of a
standard of conduct that set the people apart from other pagan peoples. Some Jews
turning to Messiah, forgot who they were, and they gave up their heritage. Yeshua did
not come to replace the heritage of the Hebrew people, He came to graft them back
into the cultivated olive tree (Romans 11). The Father, in Messiah, was offering them
an opportunity to remember the covenant He declared over them when He promised
Abraham that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4). It is a covenant
that is written on the hearts of mankind (Jeremiah 31:31-14). This is an everlasting
covenant of life for all people who call upon the true Name of Salvation. The Most
High God did not replace, He restored. All who come to Him in humility will also be
grafted into the Kingdom of the Most High.

Unfortunately, we see in the book of 2 Thessalonians that the apostasy, the
falling away, will return. The perpetual divorce will unleash havoc yet again. This will
be the final, great divorce that allows the son of perdition to boast in his pride. But,
this final apostasy will also be the catalyst that brings forth the return of our KING!

This apostasy will come when the church revolts against the instructions of the
Father. The heart of the church will be hardened to the things of God and the church
will forget the covenant that was written to restore the heritage of the people of the

Most High. The Complete Jewish Bible offers an insightful translation of this great
falling away:
“But in connection with the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and our
gathering together to meet him, we ask you, brothers, not to be easily shaken in your
thinking or anxious because of a spirit or a spoken message or a letter supposedly
from us claiming that the Day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone
deceive you in any way.
For the Day will not come until after the Apostasy has come and the man who
separates himself from Torah has been revealed, the one destined for doom. He will
oppose himself to everything that people call a god or make an object of
worship; he will put himself above them all, so that he will sit in the Temple of
God and proclaim that he himself is God.
  Don’t you remember that when I was still with you, I used to tell you these things?
And now you know what is restraining, so that he may be revealed in his own time.
For already this separating from Torah is at work secretly, but it will be secretly only
until he who is restraining is out of the way. Then the one who embodies separation
from Torah will be revealed, the one whom the Lord Yeshua will slay with the
breath of his mouth and destroy by the glory of his coming.
  When this man who avoids Torah comes, the Adversary will give him the power to
work all kinds of false miracles, signs and wonders. He will enable him to deceive, in
all kinds of wicked ways, those who are headed for destruction because they would
not receive the love of the truth that could have saved them.   This is why God is
causing them to go astray, so that they will believe the Lie. The result will be that all
who have not believed the truth, but have taken their pleasure in wickedness, will be
condemned (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 CJB).”
The son of perdition, the man of lawlessness will set himself up against Torah.
He will set himself up as a god and draw others away, to become apostate to the
Torah of the Most High. In place of the instructions of the Father, this son of
perdition will cause people to be given over to believing in a LIE. The word
translated from the Greek meaning lie is ψεῦδος (pseudos G5574). This word
means to tell a lie but more accurately this word brings forth the connotation of
intentionally creating a falsehood. Again, there will be determined effort to divorce
the truth of God’s Word from the heart of humankind. Those of faith will actively
turn away from the instructions of the Almighty. The apostasy in the church will not
come by accident, it will be voluntary. As Paul tells us in the passage above, because

people turned from the truth of the Father, they were given over to the power of the
LIE. The people rejected the love of the Father resulting in the hardening of the
heart toward the things of His Kingdom. They embraced wickedness falling under
the influence of the lawless one.
What does it mean then to turn from “the love of the truth that could have
saved them (2 Thessalonians 2:10).” In the context of Paul’s epistle, the source of the
truth is found in God’s instructions. From the passage above in the CJB translation
the word Torah is used to determine the truth. In other translations this word Torah, is
sometimes translated simply as the word law. Paul warns us that in the end there will
be a time when the people refuse to hear the Father’s Torah/Law. In other words, the
son of perdition will be revealed when the people will no longer hear the instructions
of the Father. The standard of truth comes from the Father’s instructions, not our
own.
To discuss submission to the Father’s Torah or law, often causes many to be
uncomfortable. We are saved by grace through faith because of the shed blood of our
Savior (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our salvation comes not of our own works but by a
precious gift of God. We can never speak against this gift or attempt to gain salvation
through our own works. The Gospel of Salvation through the death, resurrection and
return of our Messiah is our only hope. Yeshua (Jesus) is divine and He eternally
upholds our Salvation by the strength of His hand (John 10:28-30). Yet, while we
wait for His return, we must seek to glorify Him through our witness (Acts 1:8). We
are to be a Kingdom of Priests representing His Name (Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9).
We do not function under a democracy, but a theocracy whose authority flows only
from the Almighty throne of the Living God (2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 20:11-
15). We must seek to be in compliance with His Kingdom because we will stand
before Him.
To truly understand the true implications of Torah, and in an attempt to remove
the negative reverberations of suggesting that believers are still subject to the
instruction of the Father, through His Word, we have to examine the word Torah in
the Hebrew. In doing so, we will see that the instructions of the Father are not meant
to be oppressive. He gave us His Torah, as a means to bring light to the path.
In Hebrew the word Torah is spelled תּוֹרָה (towrah H8451). Gesenius’
Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon defines this word as: instruction, doctrine, law. The initial
meaning of this word is one of a Father’s instruction to His children. The Lord gives
us His Torah as a way of communicating His intent for our lives. In early Greek
translations of the Bible, the word Torah has been relegated to simply meaning law,
regardless of the context. This simplified translation carried over into modern

translations. The point I am making is in the fact that giving a blanket definition of
the word Torah as just meaning the law disregards the context in which the word is
being used. In some cases, the word may connote the Father’s instructions (Exodus
13: 9; Romans 7:12). Sometimes the word may be referring to the Ten
Commandments (Exodus 24:12). At other times the word law may be referencing the
law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). In Romans 8:2, the term “law of sin and death” is
used in reference to the penalty of death born in the sin of Adam (Genesis 3:17). We
are all partakers of this sin (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12). Because the word Torah is
often simply translated as law, it is then imperative that when interpreting a text, the
entirety of that text is taken into account to avoid misunderstandings. The Father
never intended His instructions to be taken as a burden (1 John 5:3).
In order to draw an even deeper meaning from the word Torah, it is essential
to look at the individual Hebrew letters that make up the word itself. Hebrew is a
pictorial language. Hebrew words obviously carry contextual meaning, but
additionally the letters themselves carry imagery that adds to interpretive meaning.
The word Torah is spelled, from right to left, תּוֹרָה (Tav, Vav, Resh, Hey). Each letter
again carrying its own pictography. The letter תּ, translated our letter T, carries the
imagery of a mark, sign or a monument. The letter ו, our letter V or sometimes W,
means nail, or hook. The letter ר, our letter R, is seen as the head of a man. Finally,
the letter ה, connotes breath often symbolizing the breath of God. The letter Hey
also symbolizes a window. It is through a window that something is revealed or light
is allowed to be cast upon the darkness. The meaning that we can then draw out of
the pictograph is the Torah is meant to be a mark, hooked upon the head of the
children of God imparting upon them His breath/presence. His instructions are a
sign of His covenant with His children. His Word is meant to be a sign of those who
are called out to be His.

But there is more. Most Hebrew words are derived using three letters.
Additional letters are added to these root words to alter tense, gender or to fulfil other
grammatic necessities. The root word from which the word Torah is derived is the
Hebrew word יָרָה (yarah H3384). According to Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon
the word yarah means: to cast, to lay foundations, to sprinkle with water, or to shoot
arrows. We can see then that the root of the Torah, God’s instructions, is built upon
His desire to direct our path by establishing a firm foundation built upon His Word.
Yarah, to cast understanding like the sprinkling of water upon the head. The Father
instructs us to be guided according to His truth so that we can hit the mark.
Looking at the pictograph of the word Yarah, we find additional meaning. I
have already discussed the letters ר (resh) and ה (hey). The Hebrew spelling of yarah

incorporates these letters with the additional letter י, (yod). This is the same letter
Yeshua references in Matthew 5: 18 as He taught on the signs of the end. The letter י
(yod), in pictographic imagery means hand. We can the extrapolate from the word
יָרָה (yarah), that the hand of the Father rests upon our head/mind/thoughts, to bring
us into accord with His Spirit. The Father directs us by His Spirit into the process of
sanctification.
Obviously, the pictographic interpretations cannot be placed on the same level
as Scripture. The symbolic meaning of the Hebrew letters are merely a poetic
metaphor hidden within the language of the Father as He expresses His love for His
children. I gathered much of the information regarding the pictographic imagery
from a book titled “The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet,” written by Rabbi Michael
L. Munk. 1 There are many more resources that discuss the topic of Hebrew
pictographic letters. 2
The pictorial metaphors discussed above reveal that the Father desires for us to
be sanctified by His Word. We can clearly see in Scripture the necessity to allow the
Holy Spirit of the Father to lead us through the process of sanctification. When we
step into the doorway of Salvation in our Messiah, Jesus, we are to continue to allow
the Spirit of the Holy God to wash over us, maturing us as we walk according to our
faith. There are many verses of Scripture that describe the process of sanctification.
The prophet Isaiah:
“Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses.
Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock?
Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them,
12  Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses,
Who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name,
13  Who led them through the depths?
Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble;
14  As the cattle which go down into the valley,
The Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
So You led Your people,
To make for Yourself a glorious name (Isaiah 63:11-14 NASB).”
The Spirit of the Lord is in the midst of the people of God. His Holy Spirit both
guides and brings peace to the people. The Spirit of God makes a path for His people
to find safe passage.

1 Munk, Michael L. [Rabbi] The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet (Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn, NY: 1983).
2 Additional internet resources for Hebraic word studies can be found at: biblicalhebrew.com; elshaddaiministries.us

John the Revelator writes:
“ 13  But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He
will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He
will disclose to you what is to come (John 16:13 NASB).”
The prophet John reveals to us that the Holy Spirit brings to us truth. The work of
the Spirit of the Almighty is to draw us closer in fellowship with the Father as the
Spirit speaks only of the things given by the Father.
The Apostle Paul in the book of Romans writes:
“12  So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the
flesh—  13  for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit
you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  14  For all who are being
led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  15  For you have not received a spirit of
slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by
which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”  16  The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we
are children of God,  17  and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with
Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him
(Romans 8:12-17 NASB).”
The process of sanctification convicts us of sins committed in the flesh and His Spirit
empowers us to turn from the slavery of sin to freedom in Salvation. It is under sin
that we are condemned by the law of sin and death. But upon receiving the Word of
Life, we inherit a Spirit of adoption as children of the Living God.
And finally, the psalmist and once king of God’s Holy City, David writes:
“7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9  Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.
10  Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11  Do not cast me away from Your presence

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You (Psalm 51:7-13 NASB).”
It is the work and will of our Father that we are purified unto joy and gladness. It is
His will that our brokenness is restored and we are yet again made whole. It is by His
Spirit that we are sustained in this process of sanctification to bring glory to the
Father as we walk out our faith as a witness to those who are lost.

When we enter into a covenant relationship with Messiah, we enter the process
of sanctification. We are to allow Him to lead us according to His ways, we are to die
to self, allow the presence of Messiah to live and work through us. Yet, we find that
in our “modern” iteration of faith, this definition of sanctification has become quite
blurry. I started this writing talking about the coming apostasy; it is in the denial of
repentance unto sanctification that we find the origin of the falling away. The horror
of apostasy lurks in the rejection of the authority of the Father to draw us along the
path of faith which leads to a closer walk with Him. The apostasy is the divorce of
sanctification. We revolt against the instructions of God. We reject His truth as a
standard of faith. We reject His Word as our heritage. We replace a heritage of
eternal salvation as brothers and sisters in Messiah for a heritage of conformity to the
whims of cultural relevance.
“You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble;
My breath will consume you like a fire (Isaiah 33:11 NASB).”
Oh, how we have conceived chaff and sown discord among the saints. How we have
built a house as straw which is unable to withstand even the slightest breeze of
tribulation. Like a house of cards crumbling under the weight of a pebble, His church
gives itself over to the burden of the voices of conformity.
It is not my intent in this writing to present an exhaustive list of vices within
the church. This list would be far too long to generate. I am also not attempting to
discredit the faith of anyone. The Lord knows your heart. He knows those faithful
followers who truly reciprocate His love and devotion. Nor am I placing myself upon
some self-righteous altar, I am but a sinner saved by faith through the blessed
determination of a humble King. This is our hope and He is the judge. But I do not

think it is difficult to look out upon the landscape of the modern church and notice
the decay of what was once beautiful. Many churches are bowing to the pressure of
the secular culture. Many churches are embracing sin as a viable lifestyle regardless of
the Biblical mandate. The curse of sin is death and the stench of death permeates the
minds of some in the modern church.
The church was never and will never be perfect. The church is made up of
people, thus the church inherits our faults. Yet there was a time when repentance of
sin was preached. There was a time when the Word of God was held up as the
standard of conduct not only within the church but within the culture. There was a
time when we beheld the Holy Name of the Father in Awe and Reverence.
“Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2  They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak (Psalm 12:1-2 NKJV).”
Do we bear the Holy Name of the Almighty God in vain? Do we speak words
of affection from our lips but harbor deceit in the depths of our heart? Do we cling
to both the blessing and the curse satiating our desires of the flesh, pious in
proclamations but egotistical in actions? Are we a reflection of His immaculate light
to a world plagued by darkness? There is only One Lord and One faith; only One
who loves us to the fullness of love. He tasted death in our place, taking upon
Himself the wrath directed toward sin.
There is no reconciliation between death and life. Choose therefore LIFE!
Turn back to God. Return to the purity of His instructions. For many have divorced
themselves from their first love (Revelation 2:4). Many have given up the
determination to remain set apart and holy as He is Holy (Leviticus 11:45). He has
delivered us from the slavery of sin, bringing us into the inheritance of His grace.
Like Abraham, we are called out of darkness to walk in His Holy Light. Like
Israel, we are delivered from bondage and reborn into Promise. Let us not fall away.
Let us not become apostate, giving up our heritage in Salvation for a heritage of
separation. For this is the perpetual divorce. The pattern that it too often played out
is this: grace is expressed by God. Grace is received by those who are lost. The
source of the grace is forgotten and trodden under the feet of those whom the Father

expressed His grace to lift up. The unfortunate divorce repeated in the pages of our
Bible as the people of God continually fall away. We also see in the words of
Scripture the veracity of the Father as He pursued His people. He sent prophets and
priests, teachers and kings. Ultimately, He came as Jesus, God in the flesh to bring
the eternal message of Salvation, yet the people divorced themselves from their
heritage.
The Bible tells us, though we know God, we do not honor Him or give thanks
for the blessings poured out by Him. In futility, the wise are made to be fools
(Romans 1:21-22). We become fools in the falling away of our heritage as the people
of the Almighty God. We are wise in our own deceit and disrespectful irreverence of
the Holiness of The Most High God.
I began this writing by quoting Paul in his letters to Thessalonica. Paul warns
the church of this great apostasy. He warns of a day when the church will reject the
revelation of Salvation and divorce themselves from foundational truth in the Word.
The term apostasy is one that is somewhat abstract to our modern ears. We read of
the apostasy of the church. We speculate as to when this great falling away will occur.
We peer off into the horizon waiting for this terrible day to dawn. My friends, I tell
you, this day has already come. The apostasy written about in Scripture darkens the
doors of the church this very day.
 “ 9  The coming of the lawless one is connected to the activity of satan, with all power
and signs and false wonders,  10  and with every kind of wicked deception toward those
who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth so as
to be saved.  11  For this reason God sends them a delusional force, to lead them to
believe what is false,  12  so that they may be judged—all those who did not believe the
truth but delighted in wickedness (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 TLV).”
A strong delusion is washing over the people who once knew God, but have
slowly been turning away from His Word. The modern church is adopting the
patterns of Israel in the mistake of rejecting the Word of the Lord as the only
foundation for doctrine. The walls that once stood as a fortification for the church
are again being eroded by the corruption of the culture. They are crumbling under
the weight of this great apostasy.
This letter that I am writing is not meant to be a discouragement, though it
bears a somber message. This letter is meant to be a call to action. It is a call to take

back our faith from the one, our enemy, who strives to strip us of our heritage. We
are the children of God, and we are purchased by the precious blood of our Messiah.
Let us not forget who fights for us. Let us not forget that we serve an Almighty,
Omnipotent KING! Therefore, do not lose faith. Do not lose heart even as the day
draws dark. Cling to your hope in He who was and is and is to come (Revelation 1:8).
Be ever watchful and determined to preserve the heritage of God.

“ The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still (Exodus 14:14 NIV).”
Rest in His peace. He is our God. He fights for those who are determined to
be faithful. Do not be distraught, but confident in the Eternal Covenant of Love
poured out for those who will receive.

Blog Post Courtesy of Philia Contributor Corby Shuey @ Becoming Bereans Ministry
www.becomingbereans.com