Apostasy is rising, illuminating where we stand in a 2,000-year cycle and what comes next at the end of this age
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The End of Age Paradigm
In my last post, I wrote about a paradigm repeated near the end of each age that begins with the emergence of a rebellious antichrist. This pattern occurs as Satan attempts to thwart God’s covenants. But there is more to the paradigm than an antichrist alone. Society plays a role, believers play a role, and God has the final word. This cycle occurred in each prior age and is prophesied to be repeated again at the end of this age.
The pattern I am describing is one that has already begun in our days and will continue until the end of the 7,000 year time of man. The cycle begins with the lawless antichrist spirit and leads to a sequence of apostasy, persecution, revival, judgment, and ultimately a new age.
By examining these events from the past ages, we can better understand how the end of this age will play out and culminate in the fulfillment of prophecy. So with apostasy rising around us today, what can we expect in the coming years?
The Antichrist at the End of Each Age
The antichrist spirit is a spirit of lawlessness and rebellion. Paul tells us this in 2 Thessalonians 2, referring to this phenomenon as the mystery of lawlessness. Mankind has experienced this spirit in the prior 2,000-year ages; the Age of Creation/Chaos and the Age of Law/Torah. At the beginning of the Chaos Age, Satan himself brought rebellion to Adam and Eve. Tempting them to break the one law that God had given them and eat from the forbidden tree.
But God cursed Satan for his deception. From that point on, Satan used another spirit to oppose the coming covenants. We know this spirit by several names including the antichrist spirit. The antichrist spirit resembles Satan in nature and appearance, just as the beast of Revelation resembles the red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. His first notable appearance in the Bible was at the end of the Chaos Age.
Apostasy at the End of the Chaos Age
Near the end of the Chaos Age, Nimrod rose to power in rebellion against God. According to the non-canonical Book of Jasher, Nimrod was more wicked than any man since the flood. He bowed down to idols and brought about apostasy, instructing his subjects in wicked ways. The apostate people attempted to supplant God through their own efforts in building a tower to reach heaven. Their attempt was in direct violation of the Noahic laws against blasphemy and idolatry.
God judged the people for their apostasy, scrambling their language and scattering them across the earth.
In the next age, God gave man the law of the Torah, but this age too would end in lawlessness.
Apostasy at the End of the Torah Age
In the Age of Torah, Satan would have known the Messiah was prophesied to appear, and so he prepared another antichrist to forestall His arrival. In this case, the antichrist spirit arose in Antiochus Epiphanes.
Near the time of Antiochus, the apostasy was already rising. Jews were becoming more Hellenized, and differing theologies spread among the Jewish priests, creating competing sects. The Pharisees put great importance on oral traditions they added to Torah. The Sadducees embraced heretical beliefs dismissing the resurrection and afterlife. The Essenes are believed to have kept a purer belief system, relying on the Torah and the testimonies of the patriarchs (e.g. Adam, Noah, Abraham).
From apostasy, persecution grew, even leading to fighting and violence between the sects of Judaism. But Antiochus took the apostasy to a new level, nearly wiping out Judaism. This antichrist of the Torah Age banned the Jews from practicing Judaism, forbidding circumcision and requiring Jews to sacrifice to pagan gods and eat pork. As prophesized in Daniel 7, he altered times and laws, forcing the Jews to adopt a pagan lunar calendar that they still use today.
This great apostasy created false beliefs about the Messiah that would lead many Jews to reject Jesus. In failing to recognize their savior, Jerusalem fell to judgment and destruction.
Apostasy at the End of the Age of Grace
Each of the first three ages last 2,000 years, and we know that we are near the end of this age as we are only a few years from the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus beginning his ministry (est. 2026-2029). We should expect that we will start to see the signs of the antichrist spirit, and we certainly are.
Jesus confirms the role of apostasy at the end of ages by telling us in Matthew 24 that the first sign of the end of the age is false prophets. This corresponds to the first seal opened in Revelation 6, which releases the false prophet/Antichrist.
The antichrist spirit will attempt to deceive the elect, so Jesus warns us not to follow these prophets. However, many will follow false teachings as Paul tells Timothy, that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith, following the doctrines of demons.
Though we do not know who the Antichrist will be, the antichrist spirit has started to rise as evidenced by the manifestation of lawlessness and apostasy in the world.
Apostasy Rising
Today, lawlessness is covering the globe. Even in the U.S., lawlessness extends from rebellious youth in groups like Antifa up to the elderly President, Biden. Immigration laws are ignored, rioters are treated like festival-goers, criminals are released from prison, drugs are legalized, voting laws are skirted, and the authority of the police is undermined. Groups like BLM and Antifa are defended from any criticism yet parents defending their children from obscene books and LGBTQ indoctrination in schools are deemed to be domestic terrorists.
As the lawlessness in society grows, portions of the church are following societal trends, leading to apostasy. We see churches such as the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church splitting over LGBTQ views. While other churches such as the Lutherans have outright adopted homosexuality and transgenderism, even appointing a transgender bishop. There are also reports of Catholic churches having gay masses in the U.K.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis seems to embrace pantheistic beliefs and pagan ideas. One of many examples is his co-founding of the Document on Human Fraternity. Among other objectional statements, this document states God actually wills the pluralism and diversity of religions. In other words, God wills that the peoples of many nations follow the doctrines of demons and false gods on a path to hell. Has the Pope forgotten that Jesus is the only way?
And the Christians are not exclusive to apostasy. Most of the Jews still suffer from the sins of their fathers, being blinded to see their Messiah in Jesus. As Paul said, “a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”
But these heresies are part of this ages-old paradigm, for Paul tells us that the apostasy must come first.
As apostate churches join lawless societal beliefs, what happens to the churches that hold fast to the Word?
Persecution Coming
The faithful churches that remain true to the Word of God, will face persecution from society. The views of these churches become unpalatable to societies’ sensibilities which leads to persecution. This is already happening with Christians facing legal consequences for simply choosing not to involve themselves in gay weddings.
We also saw persecution rise under the guise of COVID. Church gatherings in various states were prohibited by lawmakers and disbanded by police while liberal protestors were allowed to congregate unfettered.
Simultaneously, society has been embracing apostate religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and pantheistic New Age beliefs. They are turning to Christians to ask, “where is your God?” (Joel 2:17)
At the same time, Jews around the world are suffering increased persecution among rising antisemitism. And the nations are turning against Israel as prophesied. Just this week, 129 nations consented to a UN resolution that only referred to the temple mount by its Arab name, denying the claim of the Jews to its most holy site.
But persecution stirs the passions of believers and ignites the flames of revival. As unprecedented persecution hits God’s people at the end of this age, repentance will result and the flames of revival should be just as fervent. (Joel 2:12-13, Joel 2:28-29, Daniel 12:3)
And though believers will face trials and persecution, they will lead many to righteousness, and God will rescue them from His wrath. (Joel 2:32, Daniel 12:1, 1 Thessalonians 1:10)
Then, judgment will befall the wicked. (Joel 30-31)
The Apostasy Around Us
We sit today in the midst of the final apostasy of this age. Looking around, we must ask ourselves if society meets the description Paul listed for the last days: “lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power…”
Our society seems to more closely fit these descriptions with each passing decade.
Already, persecution is heightening and will increase more according to Matthew 24 and Revelation 6. However, as persecution grows in this hour of testing, we can be assured that revival will soon follow.
This is where we stand today. Apostasy is here, persecution is growing, revival is pending, and judgment is coming. But the promises of the next age are amazing as Jesus will rule the earth from the throne of David for 1,000 years. Then the paradigm will play out a final time at the end of the Millennial Age, and God will fulfill His promises with a new heaven and a new earth, free of evil.
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See Related Posts:
Antichrist Spirit Rising: The Paradigm at the End of the Ages
Is the Modern-Day Prophecy of a Great End-Times Revival in The Bible?