Thirteen Causes of Apostasy
18 pages, $.75
Copyright © 2025 James L. Melton
"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." (II Ths. 2:1-4)
We begin with this text because of the wording of verse three: "except there come a falling away first." As you probably know, the words "falling away" are from the Greek word "apostasía," which means "defection from truth, " or as Noah Webster tells us in his first definition of apostasy, "An abandonment of what one has professed; a total desertion, or departure from one's faith or religion." So, Paul is saying in II Thessalonians 2:3 that professing Christianity is going to abandon long-established Bible truth and embrace doctrines of devils that will eventually prepare society to worship the antichrist.
Some teach that the "day of Christ" in verse 2 is the rapture of the church, which causes some real doctrinal problems, but I do not believe that. The day of Christ is synonymous with the more familiar term "day of the Lord," which is a general reference to the second coming itself, not specifically the rapture. Paul is simply saying that as the last days of the church age unfold there will be a falling away from Bible truth that will culminate in the great tribulation with the antichrist receiving worship as God.
This falling away is not limited to the tribulation period only. All Bible dispensations end in apostasy, including the church age, which is why we are told of this falling away in other Bible passages as well:
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (II Tim. 4:3-4)
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (II Tim. 3:1-5)
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” (II Pet. 3:3-4)
"How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." (Jude 18-19)
Clearly, those passages speak of apostasy in the last days of the church age, which is why those books were given as instruction for the church and why the church has had access to this instruction for nearly 2,000 years. We were TOLD that apostasy IS coming and that the consenting spirit of the age will be to defect from long-established Bible doctrine and to embrace new doctrines and practices that are contrary to the words of God. We have NO EXCUSE, if we take part in the falling away, because we were warned about it and we were armed against it. Only if we lay down our weapons and surrender like cowards will we be a part of this end-time, ungodly defection from Bible truth.
And that's just what millions are doing! Trouble is, Satan is far more subtle than most of the brethren realize, so he slips into their camps in ways that they never expected. Then he sprinkles the leaven and patiently waits for the damage to take effect. Nothing happens overnight. These things take years, sometimes decades, but little by little the seeds are sown and the apostasy increases.
Let's look at thirteen ways in which this happens. Thirteen seems like an appropriate number for apostasy, so we'll try for that, even though many more could be mentioned. Here are some root causes for apostasy taking over our lives, our homes and our churches.
We are told that the church of the last days will be a lukewarm church. Revelation 3:16 says, "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Then he tells those people in verse 19, "be zealous therefore, and repent." When you're lukewarm instead of zealous, you always take the path of least resistance. Due to the continual reproach that comes with sound doctrine, you will drift away and become an apostate. Lukewarm people almost always decide that they would feel "more comfortable" in another church. So the sound doctrine churches shrink and the Laodicean churches increase. Trouble is, they're not usually big and strong; they're just big and fat.
If a believer has his daily prayer and Bible reading right, then everything else will line up right over time, but if he takes a lukewarm attitude to these two most basic essentials, then everything else that's spiritually important will suffer neglect. Rather than standing in the gap, he leaves the gap wide open for apostasy and loses the "kill or be killed" battle.
II. RELIGIOUS ENTERTAINMENT
There's a lot of that going around. Of course, they don't call it that. They call it all sorts things, like worship services, praise teams, song services, camp meetings, retreats, and so forth. Some of those things are fine, when done right, but more often than not they just provide occasion for the devil to lead God's people into apostasy with religious, sit-and-watch entertainment. After all, why attend Bible Believers Baptist Church and be challenged with sound doctrine when you can attend the much larger First Baptist Church and be entertained and lullabied. No reproach, no cross, no challenge; just sit and enjoy yourself and then walk out with a clear conscience, feeling like you've paid God your weekly dues. Oh, it's so subtle, and millions fall for it every week!
It is very common for deacons to suggest that the preacher limit his sermons to under thirty minutes so more time can be given to the "worship service." See how smooth that is? The unspoken assumption is that the preaching is not worship! Like I said, Satan is far more subtle than most of the brethren realize. Once the preaching time becomes a "worship SERVICE," the music often takes over and the preaching itself takes a back seat. Apostasy then creeps in. That's why the highlight of every church gathering should always be the preaching and teaching of God's word. Everything else should prepare people for and direct people to the preaching and teaching. Nothing deserves more time or attention than God's word. The highlight should always be the Book. When it isn't, apostasy is welcomed.
But it's more subtle than that! Even some preaching is little more than entertainment. Jesus said, "Feed my sheep" (John 21:16). He did NOT say to scream at them like a maniac and put on an acrobatic SHOW every week. Many people leave church meetings just as hungry as they came, because the preacher is more of a showman than a shepherd. I'm not condemning loud and dramatic preaching as long as it's well loaded with essential Bible truth, but far too often pulpit drama is used as a SUBSTITUTE for Bible truth. Hence: The less a man says, the louder he says it. That translates to less doctrine and more apostasy.
I said ESSENTIAL Bible truth. Saved people do not need to hear a salvation message screamed at them every week. That might be preaching, but it isn't ESSENTIAL preaching that helps them to grow into mature soldiers of the Lord. They need to hear a seasoned man of God open the Bible and preach all the counsel of God, not just his little pet peeves. This is terribly lacking in many churches and apostasy is spreading like wildfire.
There are millions of people who grew up in good Bible-believing homes with a good Bible foundation on which to build their lives and families, but then the devil threw them the curve ball of higher education. They sat in college classrooms and heard men and women with master degrees and doctorates speak against their beloved Bible as if it were nothing more than a fairy tale. Then, little by little, the seeds of doubt were planted and began to grow. They then reasoned that mom and dad and their parents meant well, but they were not educated and just didn't know any better.
The pride, arrogance, and pressure of intimidation that came with higher education was more than they could handle, so they caved, let down their guards that their parents had labored so hard to build, and then apostasy had free course.
Now you'll hear them say things like, "Maybe those first six days in Genesis were thousands or millions of years each." Or they will promote theistic evolution by saying, "How do we know that God didn't use the evolutionary process to bring life along to where it is today?" They didn't talk like that back home! Oh no, not until the devil separated them from their godly foundation did that trash get in their tanks! Now they're poisoned from head to foot with apostasy.
I understand that college is often required, but we should all understand that the first sin that ever entered this world came about when Satan tempted someone with higher education by saying: "ye shall be as gods, KNOWING good and evil." (Gen. 3:5) The temptation to KNOW more than others and to be KNOWN for knowing more than others is very powerful, and it has been powerful and harmful for thousands of years.
Paul said that our days would be characterized by people "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (II Tim. 3:7) That means they're learning things that aren't true from the father of lies, and that will only help to spread more apostasy, the end-time defection from truth.
For many years I have had and read many books that defend the authority of the King James Bible. Such studies have been helpful at times in strengthening by faith, but I am thankful that I have never been won over to the King James position. Call it Providence, good timing, or whatever, but I've just always believed the King James Bible and I've always been suspicious of anyone who doesn't believe it. It's kind of like what Jefferson said about how that "Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes," meaning IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT, and even if you think it might be cracked a little, LEAVE IT ALONE! God told us ask for the old paths, to look to the rock from whence we were hewn and not to be leaning to own understanding with newfangled ideas and changing times and laws. Human nature insures that "new" is almost never an improvement where truth and righteousness are concerned. If you doubt that, just look up the first occurrence of the word "new" in the Bible.
There's just something about this old Book that says, "Read me, believe me, memorize me, preach me, teach me, love me, BUT DON'T YOU EVEN THINK OF EVER CHANGING ME!" That has been in me all of my life, I guess. If I were to mess with that Book, I'd be betraying my beloved grandmother and great grandmother who both loved me and cared for me before I even knew what a Bible was. I cannot recall a single time before I was 22 years of age that I ever even knew there was any Bible other than a King James Bible. Every time I went to church, the preacher preached King James. Every time I heard a radio preacher, as far as I know, it was King James. Every time someone witnessed to me, it was King James. Every time I heard anyone quote scripture, it was King James. When I got saved from Pat Coleman witnessing to me, it was King James. When they taught me to memorize the Romans Road, it was King James. When my mother bought me a Scofield Bible, it was King James. It all just happened that way, so that's all I ever knew. My name was James, and my Bible is King James.
And then I started trying to study and learn that Bible, and here they came: "This word is an unfortunate translation in the authorized version." "The underlying Greek word is 'agape," which should be translated 'love," and not 'charity." "The latter clause is not supported by the oldest manuscripts." "The translators were clearly in error as the first verse states that this is "the Revelation of Jesus Christ," not "The Revelation of St. John the Divine." By God's providence, I had never heard or read anyone say such things before! Maybe it was a miracle, but I had never witnessed anyone question God's word in my life, so my entire spirit, soul and body just rejected all of that entirely! I had no defense whatsoever, but I had a stubborn steak a mile wide, and it came in quite handy. Scofield told me that there were mistakes in my Bible, but I ignored him. Larkin told me the same thing, but I ignored him. Adrian Rogers and Charles Stanley told me that, but I ignored them. By God's grace, I just accepted the KJV by faith until I would learn about all the corrupt Bible stuff over the next few years. Like many of you, I resisted the devil and didn't even know it at the time.
But many people don't handle it that way. Like Eve in the garden, they lend an ear to the "Yea, hath God said?" crowd, and then down the drain they go. Next thing you know, they ditch the King James Bible and the King James Bible churches. Goodbye sound doctrine, and hello apostasy! Anyone who will compromise the King James Bible will compromise sound doctrine and open the door for apostasy. It happens all the time.
V. THREATENING PERSECUTION
Many people fail to endure sound doctrine because that means being associated with certain kinds of people and churches, and sometimes they feel threatened by their own people and churches: "Either you stop attending that church and reading those books, or you'll not teach or preach in any of our fellowship churches anymore." Well, the man has a wife and kids to care for, so he does what he's told and never grows doctrinally; so he remains weak and unable to ward off the apostasy when it starts creeping in.
These Christian "Bible" colleges and their "alumni" churches are packed full of that kind of garbage! You be a good little robot, else all their other robots will push you over the cliff. That's the world they live in, and they're scared to death to really be independent and try anything different. They have their paychecks, their insurance, their retirement, and they get to swap pulpits and play the celebrity preacher game. They all just know to play the fundamentalist game, stay on the plantation and be content with whatever crumbs that might fall their way.
And it's the same with their members. They have their choir, their big youth department, plenty of attractive boys and girls for courting purposes, and exciting worship for everyone. There's just "no need to attend any other church." Then the Holy Spirit says, "You can REALLY learn the Bible over there at the other church." Now they have a dilemma, and many of them will make the wrong choice because they fear persecution.
Bring it on, man, because God told me, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (II Tim. 3:12) If I get persecuted, I'll be in good company. Some folks welcome it, but most folks fear it and pull back into weakness and eventual apostasy instead of stepping out on faith and growing in the Lord.
VI. INCONVENIENT REPROACH
Our natural tendency is to observe the world and to conform to the ways of the world, yet God tells us, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Rom. 12:2) You'll never know the will of God, if you are worldly, and Satan knows this. He's the "god of this world" (II Cor. 4:4), so he makes sure that the world is all cool, trendy and fashionable. He makes sure that there is no stigma and no reproach attached to worldliness. You just go with the flow, most everyone accepts you, and all is well. You can even find a worldly church that will go right along with this plan and not cramp your style.
There's just one problem: God has a different style. God said you can't be his disciple unless you deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Jesus Christ (Luke 9:23), and just to make sure you understand what that means, he tells you HOW and WHERE to follow him: "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach." (Heb. 13:13) OUCH! Your buddies won't be there. They're all back at the coffee shop or at the church movie night. But God says to BE DIFFERENT, step outside the camp and witness to someone, go street preaching, hand out some tracts, put a big scripture magnet on your vehicle, and maybe just go home and study the word of God all by yourself! Maybe carry your Bible to work or school tomorrow. Yeah, baby! That'll do the trick. You'll feel totally BAPTIZED in reproach! But it's so good for you, because it reminds you that this old world is not your home and that you're identifying with your REAL home and your real people (Heb. 11:25-26).
Some folks can't handle that, because they're weak and they refuse to become strong. They will not take up their cross and they will not bear the reproach of Jesus Christ unless fifty other people are doing it with them. That's not how reproaches work. It's YOUR reproach, YOUR cross, and no one else can have that honor. Sound doctrine and truth come packaged with unpleasant and unpopular reproach. Either you bear it, or you become dishonorable. That's where most people are, and that's why the cancerous apostasy just moves right in and takes over. The reproach is too inconvenient for them, so they surrender to gradual apostasy, the natural enemy of sound doctrinal truth.
"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." (I Cor. 10:12) Take heed to what? Take heed to what he's been talking about, how that the Bible is filled with good people who fell and history is filled with good people who fell.
Let me show you another one. Romans 12:3: "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
Self pride, thinking highly of self instead of denying self, will give way to carelessness and the devil will find an opening. Furthermore, it will oftentimes remove God's protection and give Satan an opening. I Peter 5:8 says that Satan seeks "whom he may devour." Who would that be? The people from verses five through seven who refuse to clothe themselves with humility.
While meeting Bro. Kim recently, he told me that he had been reading our publications since he was fourteen, and he's now thirty seven. Then after hearing him preach, I went up to tell him that I enjoyed the message. He said, "Thanks pastor. That means so much, ESPECIALLY COMING FROM YOU." I could just feel the old roaring lion circling me, looking for an opening. Bro. Kim meant it as nothing but a compliment, but the devil would sure like to plant a thing like that in my heart and get me to thinking more highly of myself than I ought to think.
Yet, some of these traveling preachers hear stuff like that all the time, and it often finds a way to their hearts. Next thing you know they're flirting with landmarkism, Calvinism, replacement theology, or maybe condemning dispensational teaching or giving the nod to contemporary music in their churches. Satan is always looking for an opening.
There's something about just staying humble that tells God, "Lord, I need you, I depend on you, and I trust you to manage my life far more than I trust myself." When that's the way it is, there's divine protection on the man, but when pride enters, God resists that man and the devil gains access to him. If he doesn't repent, it often leads to apostasy.
Sometimes bad teaching is false teaching, and sometimes it's just weak, anemic teaching that fails to arm people with solid doctrinal truth. When a man gets the truth the right way, he becomes embolden by it. That is, when he really seeks the truth and the teacher really teaches the truth, spiritual boldness is the end result. This is because truth is like muscle-building protein. It reaches the good ground of the seeking heart and then starts growing the man spiritually. As he grows, he becomes strong in the Lord and capable of combatting bad teaching with good doctrine. He knows how to rightly divide and how to study scripture with scripture, so he's far better equipped to withstand apostasy when it comes his way.
But the weak student who has only known devotions instead of doctrine is wholly incapable of opposing apostasy, because he doesn't even know what it is. He falls for the "judge not" philosophy, so he refuses to judge bad teaching. He's been taught that people are generally good, so he overlooks the menace of human nature and man's tendency to err. He's been taught open-mindedness and tolerance, so he tolerates false teachers like Roman Catholics, Charismatics and Calvinists and feels good about doing so. He cannot withstand the force of invading apostasy, because he has built no defense against it due to bad teaching. He might have had nice teaching, popular teaching, or even interesting teaching, but he wasn't taught sound doctrine; therefore he is weak and will drift into apostasy.
Paul said in II Timothy 4:3 that people would "heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears."
Some people are so spoiled by this stinking world that they refuse anything that doesn't tickle their ears in some way. Some want to hear good words and fair speeches, and others want to study only that which is wild and crazy. While being sidetracked with such non-edifying teachers and preachers, they fail to receive sound doctrine from good teachers and preachers.
I mean, who wants to be bored with black and white Clarence Larkin books from 1920 when they can watch someone's Power Point prophecy series on YouTube? Who wants to listen to Melton explain how David was a type of Christ when they can listen to some Internet quack explain how God turned demons into Dinosaurs before Adam and Eve were created or how 5G technology and chemtrails are going to kill us all? Satan has always competed with God's truth, and a great many people have fallen for his cheap counterfeit knock-offs. The hard work that is required in order to grasp sound doctrine is rejected by them, so they're weak and unable to overcome apostasy.
Jesus said, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Mat. 26:41) The flesh is lazy and weak when it comes to spiritual things like prayer and Bible reading and study, so people fail to exercise themselves and become strong enough to recognize and fight off apostasy when it comes their way. They'll go to the gym faithfully in order to stay in good shape physically, but they have no spiritual muscles for pushing away any incoming apostasy, so they fall for it.
Look at Hebrews 5:13-14: "For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." He said "exercised," which is a spiritual exercise that builds spiritual muscles in the mind and equips the man to identify and combat apostasy when it shows up. But if a man is spiritually lazy, then he only exercises the flesh and loses the spiritual battles, thus giving in to apostasy.
Paul warned about this in I Timothy 6:5: "Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself." He said to withdraw thyself from people who think that gain is godliness, but many folks will rush to join their ranks so that they can play the gain-is-godliness game as well. When they do this, they become "destitute of the truth," which means they traded off the truth in order to have the prestige of impressive numbers. Now they'll have to keep opposing truth in order to keep the numbers up. Hence: "The bigger the church the smaller the Bible," and vise versa.
Obviously, not majoring in Bible truth brings weakness and the inability to ward off apostasy, so the devil marches right in.
Paul said, "But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." (I Tim. 5:6) No dead person has the ability to fight anything, so worldly people have no defense against apostasy, against the massive waves of compromise and heresies of the end-time. That's why all the WORLD wonders after the beast (Rev. 13:3).
Jesus said it this way: "He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful." (Mat. 13:22) Even though he might hear the word of God, it never becomes fruitful in the life of a worldly man because it gets choked by the world. The wise believer understands this and has no interest in worldly pleasure. Self denial and cross bearing is his way of life, and it is the means by which he overcomes the world instead of being overcome by the world and its many elements of apostasy.
XIII. EVIL COMMUNICATIONS
Finally, some people just can't separate themselves from bad company. David said, "I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top." (Psa. 102:7) Jeremiah said, "I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation." George Washington said that it's better to be alone than in bad company. Trouble is, folks refuse to admit that they're in bad company. Their standards are so low that anyone who isn't a child molester or a serial killer can be their friend. "Oh, but he's a Christian!" Yeah, he's also a five point Calvinist who will poison you from head to foot. "Oh, she's such a sweet lady who loves the Lord." Yeah, and by the way she dresses and sways her body all over the place during the contemporary "worship service," she looks like she loves her flesh a good bit as well.
You see, the spiritual man can spot that stuff a mile away, but the carnal man (or woman) is as blind as a bat and will allow almost anything to slip through, including end-time apostasy. A person can look nice, talk nice, act nice and even smell nice, but still be deadly. "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." (II Cor. 11:14) It's incredible how we keep forgetting that and falling for such bad company.
I won't use any names, but there's this younger preacher who I've just never liked. He's overly ambitious and very mouthy, and I've just never liked him. Yet, many of my preacher friends like him and have him in for meetings. I just keep my mouth shut and mind my own business, but I do wonder how some of them can be so blind. Recently a good preacher friend asked me about this guy, so I gave him my opinion. Then he gave me his: "I personally think he's a nut." LOL! Now, how is it that two Bible-believing preachers think so negatively about a guy when others are inviting him in to preach? It really makes me question their spiritual discernment, which is scary, because that's where apostasy often finds an opening. Someone gets a pass because they know how to smile and laugh and be friendly, and then they bring the leaven in with them.
I took some heat last week for opposing tattoos. That's fine. I expected that. But I still oppose tattoos. I still say that if you have one, keep it covered. Don't be a bad example for anyone. Keep the thing covered.
About twenty-five or thirty years ago we attended a particular Southern Baptist church for something special that they were doing, and this youth choir sang a few numbers. Best I recall, all of the kids had a fairly clean and neat appearance, except for one. One young man stood out like a sore thumb, because he had hair clear down his back, probably longer than most of the girls. Now, I have no problem with such a young man attending the church, but he needs to stay in the pew until he sees the need to cut his hair. I guess their preacher didn't see it that way, so he allowed the young man to show-off his pretty hair to everyone, something that God's word says is a SHAME. Then he should FEEL some shame by staying in the pew! "Oh, but he might get offended and leave." Maybe so, but the church stays holy and the apostasy stays OUT.
Friend, that's how apostasy spreads. It finds an opening, works its way in, and then gradually increases like a cancer. Either we keep the standard high and fight it or we fall for it and become part of the "falling away" of the last days. I want to stand honorably before the Lord in that day and hear the words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant . . .", but that won't happen, if I lay down my sword before the war is over. God help us to fight on and oppose the oncoming apostasy as the devil turns up the heat. Apostasy might be all around us, but it doesn't have to be in us.
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