THE APOSTASY (1-3)by Dr. Harry Bultema

THE APOSTASY *
*PART 3 OF 3*
*by Dr. Harry Bultema*

*

In my own mind, ** I am fully convinced that this is part of the
predicted Apostasy, which shall sweep everything before it, except those
who are rooted and grounded in Christ. The apostle thought of this when
he warned in Ephesians 6:13 to take on the panoply of God, that the
saints may be able to "withstand in the evil day and having done all to
stand." So strong will be the pressure from hell that even with the
all-armor of God the believer can only withstand and stand in that evil
day of apostasy. Certainly this age has always been evil, but that is
not the question; at the end of this age there will be special evils, so
we have been clearly taught.

The same apostasy is in view in I Timothy 4:1; "Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies
in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. " He has
the same thing in mind in 6:20,21, where we read: "0 Timothy keep that
which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings,
and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have
erred concerning the faith" - "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 pleasure more than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof; from such turn
away" (2 Tim. 3:1-5). As Jannes and Jambres of old withstood Moses, so
do these apostates withstand the truth. They are corrupt and reprobate
concerning the faith. These apostates wax worse and worse. They will not
endure sound doctrine. They turn their ears away from the truth and turn
unto fables of Higher Criticism and Evolutionism, and all sorts of old
wives fables. Thus, this apostasy has been clearly delineated in its
rise, character, and result. As to its rise, it will be a movement away
from the historic faith in the last days of this age, which synchronize
with the last days of the Times of the Gentiles. As to its character, it
will be antichristian; against the truth and against the ancient
standards of morality, just as we see it in our day. The very
foundations of our so called Christian society and civilization are
shaking and subsiding. Many leaders have forsaken the Word, and as
Jeremiah said of old, what wisdom is there left? As to its result, this
apostasy will bring forth the Antichrist, and this dark some personality
demands our attention next, and we shall see that the devil himself is
the source, substance, sum and summation of it all. The Apostasy and the
Antichrist shall come to their frightful climax.

My dear friend, if I would ask you where you expect to spend your winter
or summer vacation you would give me a candid reply, but if I ask you,
in the name of the crucified, coming Christ, where you will spend your
eternity, what will then your answer be? You are offered at this very
moment the gift of salvation in Christ; will you receive it? If you
refuse this gift you cannot escape the damnation of hell (Matt. 23:33).
The door of God's grace and glory is wide open with an invitation to
enter in. Oh, do not refuse the Savior, but receive Him now as the gift
of God's love and then you shall rejoice, even when soon this world will
be wrapped in the flames of judgment. Come as you are and come just now!

*
* God is the great reality. His resources are available and endless.*
* His promises are real and glorious, beyond our wildest dreams.*
* ----J. B. Phillips*
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THE APOSTASY *
*PART 2 OF 3*
*by Dr. Harry Bultema *

What is this Apostasy?

I first want to state clearly what it is not. It is not the individual
falling away of a believer or of many believers. Our life is hid with
Christ in God, and from that treasure spot Satan and all hell can never
dig it out. We read in fact that Christ Himself is our life (Col.
3:3-4), hence if our life were to be lost, our Christ would have to be
forever lost, and this is utterly unthinkable.

Second, this apostasy does not mean that the Church will fall in ruins.
Many speak of the Church this way but this is unscriptural pessimism for
the Church cannot be ruined, since it is the habitation of God in the
Spirit.

Third, this apostasy does not lie in the past as e.g. in the persecution
under the Caesars, or in the Constantinian lapse into proud
ecclesiasticism, or into Popedom, or into the Mohammedan swerving from
the truth, because Paul clearly has his eagle's eye on the future things
of the end time.

Finally this apostasy must not be sought in the mighty bulwarks of
heathendom or Buddhism, Brahmanism, or Shintoism, because the apostle is
clearly thinking of the sphere of Christendom. This word has been so
little understood because Evolutionism with its gospel of advancement
and progress and Postmillennialism with its unscriptural optimism have
done their share to close the eyes for this unpalatable truth of
Scripture. Most Christians, if thinking of the future at all, think of
it as a climax, a rising line to be culminated in a happy man made
world. Have we not fought two world wars to make a bright and joyous and
a war less world full of freedom and plenty? All this makes it hard even
for the Bible believer to fully grasp the apostasy of which the apostle
is here thinking.

The definite article shows that he is thinking of a definite and clearly
revealed apostasy. The Scriptural idea is that before the Lord reveals
Himself to Israel and the world, there will be an open rebellion against
His truth. Ere the nations will fight Him in Armageddon, they will
generally fight His truth on earth, and it is this general decline from
and antipathy to His truth that is called The Apostasy. It is a hostile
standing away from the truth by those who had it in the Bible, now
translated in a thousand tongues. This Apostasy will be a "not obeying
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," by Jew and Gentile, a not
receiving of the love for the truth. It is a most remarkable fact that
in the last half century we see a parallel movement in Judaism and
Christendom. The Jews have in the majority broken with Moses and the
Prophets, and those who bear the name of Christ have completely swerved
away from the truth of the Gospel, and both Jews and Gentiles now try to
find each other in a bloodless humanitarian gospel of brotherhood!


"Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He
will not stand by us."

--- Oswald Chambers

THE APOSTASY *
*PART 1 OF 3*
*by Dr. Harry Bultema *
*
The Thessalonian letters were written first and placed last. Many in our
day say: "This position is all wrong for since they were written first,
they should be placed before all the other Epistles," but let us be
careful and not monkey with God's Word. Whenever man in the realm of
nature tries to alter God's order, things go wrong. If he dams the
rivers, there are floods in other places; if he uproots the prairies and
plows the forest lands, there are choking sandstorms as a result, and
this is especially true of God's Word. Not only were the books
crystallized into the one canon by a special providence, but every book
was divinely put in the right order. Regarding Paul's letters, the mono-
gram in Christ binds them all together, but with this bond of union
there is, at the same time, a remarkable order and progress of thought.

Romans: in Christ justified by faith.
I Corinthians: in Christ sanctified in church life.
II Corinthians: in Christ fellowship in church life.
Galatians: in Christ crucified to the world and law.
Ephesians: in Christ seated and blessed in the heavenlies.
Philippians: in Christ satisfied and beautified with joy.
Colossians: in Christ, the Head, complete.
Thessalonians: in Christ glorified and triumphant.

Now do you not see that you could not put the glory and the triumph, the
victory and vindication of the believers first? Here was progressive
revelation. High manifestations of truth as there may be in Romans,
Ephesians, and Colossians, there is, nevertheless, an elevation of truth
divinely revealed in Thessalonians which is still higher; the saints not
only glorified in Christ but Christ glorified in His saints and to be
admired by all believers in that day.

The apostle finds nothing to rebuke in this letter, except a wrong
application of the second coming truth, just as we see this so often
today. He starts this chapter with a prayer by the coming, /parousia,/

The Thessalonian saints had been shaken by a seducing spirit, acting
through false words and even a falsified letter pretending to be from
Paul as that the day of the Lord was present. (The unfortunate
mistranslation: day of Christ at hand, has led to confusion.) Some
thought that the terrible day of the Lord was actually present. He tells
them that the awful day of the Lord could not come until there be first
a falling away, an apostasy, the word he actually uses.

**
When we take time to read God's Word, Our heart is filled with pleasure;
So let's relate the truth we've heard- With others share the treasure.
*
*THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK*
*
Nearly 5 centuries ago and German theologian and a former Johann
Bugenhagen expressed it very succinctly: if you really know the Lord
Jesus personally, then what you do not know does not really matter; but
if you do not know the Lord Jesus personally, whatever you do know is
worth nothing.

** Our Purpose and Mission

The ministry of "Grace and The Truth" has the purpose of encouraging
Christians to believe what God says.

Message "CHRIST" Rom. 16:25, Col. 1:28
Material "All Scripture, 2 Tim. 3:16, 17
Method "Rightly Dividing The Word of Truth, 2 Tim. 2:15
Mission "To Make All See" Eph. 3:9

"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ." Eph.2:13.

**We are dedicated to helping Christians to a fuller knowledge of Him,
and the Grace of God. Until we all come into the Unity, Ephesians 4:13
"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ:"

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