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End Time Apostasy
by Phil Maxwell, 7/2/02
While wars near and far, famines, plagues, earthquakes, and terrifying signs
in the sky are certain to increase to fearful levels, the followers of Yahshua
know that these are necessary things that do not in themselves prompt action on
their part. The creation is preparing for the revealing of Christ amongst His
people with power.
Out of all this turmoil, however, will arise a great apostasy in the name of
Christ that saints must be watchful for, as it will snare many. This, also, must
occur before Christ can be openly revealed in this world, which He will be. It
will come with great power, but of Satan, not Yahweh’s Spirit. This is the
harvest of the tares sown amongst the saints from the apostles’ generation. It
is the oil merchants that will draw people from far and near, even many who had
formerly withdrawn from the churches. Those who fall into this apostasy will be
as those whose houses remained empty, swept, and garnished after having been
delivered from the hands of the devil by Yahshua; their latter state will be far
worse than their former as they become a habitation of numerous foul spirits.
The apostasy will be a strange mix of outward righteousness and utter
debauchery, as experienced by Community Chapel of Seattle in the 80’s. This
was a tremendous church founded and grown on loving outreach to the lost,
whoever and wherever they might have been, but their love waxed cold. They held
up high “standards” of appearance and righteousness, which led to frequent
expulsions of those who fell short. They promoted adherence to Levitical dietary
standards, and even asserted authority over who could marry who and when,
expelling members who defied their will. Teachings went forth from the pulpit
that wives were to subject to the pastor’s headship over their own believing
husbands. Two marks of the great end time apostasy are the church asserting
authority over what people eat and their marriages.
I was told in 1983 that Community Chapel was as the group addressed in the
letter to the angel of the Ephesus church in Revelation 2, though I didn’t
understand until I learned of their fall in 1989. They had let their love grow
cold and abandoned their earlier works, so their candlestick was removed from
Yahshua’s presence. Those who fell into the delusion demonstrated that they
did not love the truth as they yielded to doctrines of demons and seducing
spirits. In the end, they fell into mass fornication and adultery, and justified
themselves by endless teachings from the Bible that led them everywhere but to
the truth. It was a strong delusion that I am forever thankful to have escaped.
Yahweh destroyed their church and scattered them to the wind, but the root of
apostasy remains, as do the demons that so disrupted their assembly. Their story
foreshadows the great apostasy coming to the churches, and serves as a warning
to all who think themselves able to stand against the deceptive powers of Satan,
who comes as an angel of light and clothes his ministers in righteousness and
power.
The great apostasy facing this generation, however, will not be cut down so
quickly, though. It will rise to great power and influence, seducing governments
to do the devil’s work as Jezebel did in using her husband the king’s power
to kill the prophets, and the Jews bargained with Pilate to crucify Yahshua. They
will bring great tribulation to the saints who do speak the truth, causing them
to be persecuted, spoiled, imprisoned, and murdered. They will earnestly believe
that the Lord’s return hinges on the elimination of Christ’s servants from
the world and will zealously pursue their evil agenda.
The people called by Yahshua’s name are under siege even now. Satan himself
will assume Christ’s place as the spiritual master of the churches who have
long chosen their own will over the truth and the people who cleave to them over
the truth of God. We’ve been warned not to be fooled by claims of great and
powerful revivals, and told not to subject ourselves to those who propose that
Christ can only be found in their ranks. Christ is the Head of every man and the
only Mediator between God and man. He needs no intermediate heads over his
people. Those who say otherwise are liars.
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