Observations on Apostasy -- UPDATED

Growth and Entropy:

Ripples, as they expand-- moving further from inception --weaken and fall apart. Unless something outside the force that set them in motion intervenes, the waters will settle and become still.

--ELAshley,
"A Book of Sevens"

Renewal | Revival:

"...And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

--Genesis 1:2

Earnestly Contending for the Faith--
Six Areas of Truth Under Attack Today:

1) The Virgin Birth-- Without it there is no salvation

2) The Full Diety of Christ-- Without it there is no salvation

3) The Blood Atonement-- Without it there is no salvation

4) The Bodily Resurrection-- Without it there is no salvation

5) The Visible Return of Christ Jesus-- Without it there is no salvation

6) The Inerrancy of the Word of God-- Without it there is no salvation



Five Pictures By Which the Apostate is Recognized:

1) "These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear..." --Jude 12a

2) "...clouds they are without water, carried about of winds..." --Jude 12b

3) "...trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;" --Jude 12c

4) "Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame..." --Jude 13a

5) "...wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. " --Jude 13b

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UPDATED I: Five Pictures By Which the Apostate is Recognized

1) "...spots in your feasts of charity"

The word translated "spots" in the Greek is Spilas, which is more accurately translated as "reefs". A reef is of course a hidden danger beneath the surface that lies in wait for the careless ship to run a' ground-- pierce the hull, perhaps even sink the ship altogether. The Apostate is just such a reef to the unwary congregation.

So the first characteristic of an Apostate is that of a 'Hidden Danger' whose only purpose is to shipwreck the Church of God... to draw them down beneath the waves of sin and apostasy.


2) "...clouds they are without water, carried about of winds"

Here is a picture of promise, or rather the lack thereof. Not every cloud in the sky carries with it the promise of rain; the promise of watered fields, fat harvests, bountiful yields. Instead they are carried about "of winds". In Ephesians 4:14, the Church at Ephesus is told they have been given everything and everyone they need to perfect their faith; to cease being children, "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby [the apostate]lie in wait to deceive..." [Emphasis mine]

So the second characteristic of an Apostate is the picture of an 'Empty Vessel, Devoid of Promise'


3) "...without fruit, twice dead..."

Here the Apostate is pictured as the antithesis of Psalm 1:3-4; there is no life from which their roots can nurture the growth of fruit. Once the flower is pollenated, the fruit begins to swell, then swiftly shrivels and dies-- the tree is worthless, and uprofitable; taking up space within the orchard another tree might use to better results. Over all, such trees diminish the entire orchard's yield; it does not produce as much as it could. Furthermore, whatever disease infects the 'twice dead' tree will eventually spread to the rest of the orchard. Such trees should be, as Jude 12 suggests, "plucked up by the roots". Jesus said such trees will be cast onto the fire.

The third characteristic of an Apostate, then, is 'Fruitlessness' and it carries with it the promise of weakening the congregation's own fruitfulness, and testimony.


4) "...raging waves of the sea..."

The Greek here is 'kuma agrios thalassa' which translates as 'billows field of-sea' where the word 'field' is idiomatic of 'wild'. What is a 'wild, billowing' sea if not raging? So too is the Apostate; wild and raging in his conversation with the world, AND the congregation. Any ship sailing on such waters risks sinking; losing every man aboard. The Apostate is just such a sea, well-meaning or otherwise, upon whom the congregation risks the life of it's membership in terms of fruitfulness and the devastating reefs that will wreck a congregation's testimony and effectiveness in reaching the lost for Christ.

The fourth characteristic of an Apostate is his 'Unruliness.' Being unable to get victory over his own passions he will drag the church down with him.


5. "...wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever..."

Imagine a meteor hurtling toward Earth's atmosphere. If the angle is just right, this piece of cosmic flotsam / jetsom will skip off the bubble that surrounds our planet and speed away into the blackness of space. So too is the Apostate. 2 Timothy 3:1-9 pictures the doom of the Apostate quite well...

"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth... so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith." These same men described in the previous verse 6, as the "sort... which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts..." But verse 9 speaks of the defenses the Lord has laid upon the Truth of God, declaring, "they shall proceed no further..." And so they skip off the atmosphere and find themselves flung into outer darkness.

There is no hint of restoration in Jude 12-13. None whatsoever. The final characteristic of the Apostate is his 'Doom'


This is not to say God cannot pull such a one toward the Light and Truth of God, only that God Himself has declared the doom of such who are Apostates. God can do anything, but the inference here is that the Apostate cannot find salvation because of his greater trust for his own intellect, rather than the simple truths of God.... too simple for many intellectuals to grasp.

"Professing themselves to wise, they became fools."

Romans 1:22