Luke 18:8 haunts me.

“….However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

The Bible predicts that there will be an end time apostasy or falling away from the faith.

2 Thessalonians 2:3

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away come first, and the man of sin is revealed , the son of perdition.

There is debate as to whether it refers to an apostasy among those who once followed God, or a general worldwide rebellion. But, Paul may have both in mind since there is evidence of each in the end times (1 Timothy 4:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:1-5 and 4:3-4).

Do we not see this falling away today?

Paul in Galatians was astounded at how fast the people who heard the Word were turning to a false gospel. Paul said that this false gospel is “no gospel at all”. If the gospel being preached today is not the gospel, then the sad truth is that people are not being saved.

The epistles are full of warnings to the church. In Timothy, Paul was warning this young preacher about false doctrine, myths, and controversies.

A most read verse in Timothy that is applicable today is 1 Timothy 4:1

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

Again we see that people are abandoning the faith, or truth. Peter also writes of false teachers.

2 Peter 2:2-3

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Sovereign Lord, who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and bring the way of truth into disrepute.

Did you notice the words in bold? This warning is for the church. The false teachers are in the church. They lead people away from the truth and it is happening today. Unbelievers have their own truth, rejecting the inconvenient truth found in scripture.

Many false leaders today downplay sin and hell. But in 1 John 1:8 we find the truth.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

John also had to deal with gnosticism. This involved the Jewish mystics, or Kaballah. There is a resurgence of the Kaballah today. These centers are sadly found worldwide and in Hollywood. (Madonna) They believed they had advanced knowledge beyond the teaching of the apostles. The greek word for “knowledge” is gnosis. Many today advocate a secret or advanced knowledge, but it is either puffed-up worldly wisdom, or gained by mystical methods which the Bible calls detestable in Deuteronomy as divinations.

The warnings in scripture are clear and need to be prayed about. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal the deeper things of God’s Word for the end-time deception and apostasy. When Christ returns will He find you in the faith? The faith is the belief in Jesus Christ, The Son of God, who died for us for the forgiveness of sin, and was resurrected and is now at the right hand of the Father. When one truly believes this, he repents and turns away from his old life and is reformed. The change in our life creates a thirst for the Living Water and hunger for the Word.

Jesus is the only way of salvation for mankind.

John 14:6

I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through me.