Excerpted from David Wilkerson’s sermon “The Great Apostasy” (May 7th, 1986).
Our churches no longer have the power of God to attract the people. They go down to Egypt, borrow its music, its dancing, its entertainment, hoping for a crowd! No passion for souls—just crowds. Church growth at any cost. Look at the average church bulletin; it looks like a theater calendar. The church wants to ride the swift horses of Egypt. It is a stench in God’s nostrils.
Even the para-church ministries are falling away, apostatizing. Workers are parked in front of the TV idol. Many are reading psychology books. While some still have a passion for souls, even that often becomes worldly hype and human energy.”
“Who say to the seers, You must not see visions! And to the prophets, You must not prophesy to us what is right. Speak to us pleasant words, prophesying illusions” (Isaiah 30:10).
An apostate church wants nothing to do with the visions or prophecies of men of righteousness. They want no message that disturbs, no upsetting of their successful world. They refuse any kind of correction.
Everything is excused under the banner of love. They clamor for entertainment! They flock by the thousands to concerts, plays, social gatherings, they ridicule prophets. They mock what they call the Doomsday Preachers.
They live with Illusions. They don’t want a preacher or evangelist to tell them the hard truth—to bring forth the Sword of the Lord. They say, “Preach to us smooth things. Bless us. Make us happy. Make us feel good.”
They especially reject the message of holiness and separation. They say, “Get out of the way, turn aside from the paths…Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 30:11).
I never thought I’d live to see the day that Assembly of God pastors would write me reproachful letters telling me I am bringing confusion and gloom to the Body of Christ. For what? Preaching holiness, judgment and repentance?
Jeremiah was sent to prophesy against the apostate Jews, the Lord’s own people. God warned him, “They will fight you…the dread of the Lord is no longer in them…they prefer to drink from cisterns now, rather than living water” (Jeremiah 1-3).
Why do people embrace the prosperity message and reject correction and calls to repentance and holiness? It is because of their lifestyles. Prosperity preaching fits beautifully into their successful lifestyles.
They flock to those teachers, because they want to feel comfortable in their world of materialism. They are in no mood to give-up anything, or to sacrifice, or to hear of crosses and losses. They are into buying, acquiring, enjoying, climbing. They refuse to heed the prophetic warnings that the party will soon be over.
Words of Grace for Strength
The New Testament book of Jude gives a clear warning of the dangers of Apostasy in the church…both in the life of the early church and just as important, it is relevant for the church today. Jude encourages the believer to earnestly “contend for the faith” because of the danger of apostasy.
“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).
Jude was warning the Body of Christ that there will be a constant barrage of false teaching and false teachers who will attempt to corrupt the message and mission of the church. His exhortation is clear that it is the responsibility of every believer to be proactive in the fight against the false teaching.
Every believer should be endeavoring to be a Berean-like disciple who is so grounded in the Word so that they are able to discern the difference between Truth and the threat of growing Apostasy—as a result of the teaching of false prophets.
These false prophets have sought to corrupt the message of the gospel from the very beginning of the Church Age:
“For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4).
Look at what Jude is saying about these false prophets and their Apostasy.
• They have crept in unnoticed. In other words, they have used deceit, craftiness and elusive means to gain access into the Church. Paul says of them in 2 Corinthians 11:13-14: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”
These false prophets and teachers never appear to be divisive or distrustful, their mantra is inclusiveness, tolerance, love and prosperity. In fact, they may sound good, look good, and even have great charismatic personalities, but use their position to subvert and corrupt the Truth.
• Jude also describes them as ungodly and immoral because they turn grace into an excuse to commit unrighteousness. Verses 4-19 give a list of their ungodly attributes.
• Also in verse 4 Jude says they “deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul tells us how they do this in Titus 1:15-16:
“To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.”
Through their corrupt and unrighteous lives they expose their true nature. Peter says they also show their true nature through their false teaching.
2 Peter 2:1: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”
Eventually the false prophet or teacher will be exposed by his own works and he is revealed to have never had any true relationship with God, His Son Jesus Christ or His Holy Spirit and never understood the truth of God’s Word and His righteousness. John wrote of this in 1 John 2:19:
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”
Jude also describes three groups of people who have been influenced by or are a part of these Apostates. In verses 22-23 he writes: “And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”
These verses speak of three separate groups of people.
• To some he says we are to have compassion. These are they who have been influenced by the false teachers and moral reprobates but have not yet completely bought in to their ungodliness. They are redeemable and we need to reach out to them in Love and kindness in order to draw them back to the Truth.
• The second group have become enamored with the teachings of the false prophets, they are in real and present danger of losing their souls because of ungodliness. Drastic action is called for as we are told to react and save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. This is not a moderate or tender approach, this is confrontational and demonstrative action needed to expose to them the danger they face which has eternal consequences.
• The third group is those described as ones we should fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. They are the false prophets and teachers, the Apostates themselves. They have given themselves over to their sinful ungodliness and immorality. Are they beyond redemption? Only God knows.
However, we are warned as believers not to associate with these workers of iniquity lest we become contaminated by their false teaching and sin. We as members of the Body of Christ, the True Church, are never to lower our guard or our standards in order to do the work of evangelism. We are to be in the world but not of the world.
Friends and fellow servants, we are living in the most exciting days in the history of the earth as we listen for the sound of the trump of God and the imminent return of Christ for His Bride, the church. In these last days we have the opportunity to speak out and share the good news of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
There are more people on the earth today who need to know Christ than ever before, and it is not time for us to grow complacent, but rather it is past time for us to be proactive in the work we have been called to by our Lord and Savior.
We must stand against the growing Apostasy in the church, we must reveal the workers of iniquity who corrupt and distort the Word of God, and we must be willing to lay our very lives at the feet of Jesus.
People need to know the Truth, and the only source of Truth is the Word of God, and we know and must share that Jesus IS the Word!
We as soldiers of the Cross need to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and prepare to do spiritual battle daily for our Lord. No fear, no weakness, let no one be discouraged, having done all we need to do to stand for Christ; let us stand therefor! We must contend for the faith, speak those things which become sound doctrine, speak the truth in love, and pray without ceasing!
The little, yet powerful, book of Jude ends with this benediction in verses 24-25:
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”
Incredible, what a fantastic picture. He will keep us, He will present us with exceeding joy. He does this for us—our God and Savior! Let us know, let us speak, let us share with the world our Savior, and His glory, His majesty, His dominion and power now and forever.
Therefore Stand!
Dr. Tuck Whitaker
Rafter Cross Ministries
drwhitaker@ymail.com