The Coming Apostasy: Exposing the Sabotage of Christianity from Within

by Mark Hitchcock, Jeff Kinley

Overview

Are we on the verge of a great apostasy in the church?

“For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.” —2 Timothy 4:3-4

Jesus Christ is coming back. It is certainly a Christian’s greatest hope during these difficult times. The Bible warns us that the last days will be tumultuous—wars and rumors of wars will spread (Matthew 24:6). In our age, the world seems to be spinning out of control, creating fear, confusion, and uncertainty. In addition to violence, pestilence, and epidemics, the Bible predicts a great “falling away” from God in the end times. Bible teachers call that “the great apostasy.” Are we seeing evidence today in the church of this massive rejection of sound and wholesome teaching? Bestselling authors Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley team up to examine the evidence from the teachers of our time. Are today’s teachers allowing people to follow their own desires by telling them what they want to hear, as the Bible clearly predicts? Are major portions of the church ready to abandon sound and wholesome teaching?

Together, Mark and Jeff explore alarming trends among today’s church leaders and they are simply stunned by what they discover. The great apostasy is coming, but is it closer than we imagine? What does that mean for the future? Let Mark and Jeff be your steady guides to the difficult days ahead.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496418753
Publisher:	Tyndale House Publishers
Publication date:	03/07/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	890,841
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Mark Hitchcock thought his career was set after graduating from law school in 1984 and working with a judge at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. But after what he calls a "clear call to full-time ministry," he changed course and completed a masters degree in 1991 and a doctoral degree in 2006 at Dallas Theological Seminary. Since 1991 he has served as senior pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. He has authored more than a dozen books related to end-time Bible prophecy and was the contributing editor for the Internet-based Left Behind Prophecy Club for four years.

Jeff Kinley empowers people with God's vintage truth through writing and speaking. A bestselling author, Jeff has written twenty-five books. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and is a frequent speaker at churches across the country. See JeffKinley.com for more information about his ministry.

Read an Excerpt

The Coming Apostasy

Exposing the Sabotage of Christianity from Within

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By MARK HITCHCOCK, Jeff Kinley

Tyndale House Publishers

Copyright © 2017 Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4964-1407-6

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CHAPTER 1

GOD AND GHOST SHIPS

Some have ... suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.

1 TIMOTHY 1:19

Captain David Morehouse was accustomed to the choppy waters of the North Atlantic, but he wasn't prepared for what caught his eye this winter's day. Sailing some four hundred miles east of the Azores Islands, Morehouse encountered a disturbing sight. It was a ship, which in itself is not unusual to spot on the open sea. What was odd was that this particular two-masted brig seemed to be in great distress. Its canvas sails tattered by a relentless wind, the ship drifted aimlessly in open water. From his vantage point aboard the Dei Gratia, Captain Morehouse was unable to see anyone on deck of the wayward vessel. And so, after calling out and receiving no reply, the British captain gave orders to come alongside the mystery ship. He sent a boarding party to inspect the ship, but his first mate and two crew members failed to find a single soul aboard.

Instead, what they discovered was a full cargo containing 1,701 barrels of crude alcohol, along with a six-month supply of food and water. What was missing was the ship's only lifeboat. Gone, too, were its captain, Benjamin S. Briggs, his wife, Sarah, and their two-year-old daughter, Sophia, along with eight crew members. However, they found closets of clothes left behind, suggesting a sudden departure. During the one-hour inspection, the Dei Gratia's boarding crew also observed a disassembled pump and three and a half feet of water sloshing around in the hull. But aside from these curiosities, the 108-foot-long vessel appeared to be seaworthy.

The creaking ship discovered by Captain Morehouse on December 5, 1872, turned out to be the Mary Celeste. Records later showed the ship had set sail on November 7 from New York headed for Genoa, Italy. But something happened along the way, and the Mary Celeste was now long overdue. And those now aboard the Dei Gratia, whose Latin name means "by the Grace of God," could only hope and pray that same grace would watch over the lost ship's passengers and crew.

The tragic tale of the Mary Celeste has become one of the most puzzling mysteries in maritime history. Many theories have been offered to make sense of this perplexing story and what happened — everything from pirates to storms and high seas, even sea monsters. Experts still scratch their heads as to why Captain Briggs would give orders to abandon a ship that showed no signs of imminent danger.

But nearly 150 years past that cold December day, and after speculation in articles, books, poems, and even movies, we are today no closer to knowing what led to the Mary Celeste's fate than Morehouse was. In the absence of captain or crew, the ship had drifted off course in the open sea for some two weeks before being discovered. Instead of reaching its intended destination, the Mary Celeste has gained the enduring infamy of being history's quintessential ghost ship.

OUR CURRENT CONDITION

Unless you've spent the past few years cast away on a deserted island, you've no doubt come to the conclusion that ours is a planet in peril. We are a culture in chaos, a human race caught in the epicenter of a global storm. Like the Mary Celeste, we are adrift as a planet, lost in a turbulent sea of confusion and uncertainty. And it's no longer just the experts who recognize the imminent crises threatening our world. According to a nationwide poll, 41 percent of adults believe we are living in the "end times." An acute awareness of our world's troubles has finally filtered down to the average person. And the reigning consensus is that planet earth is showing all the signs of rapidly approaching disaster on multiple levels.

In other words, we're in deep, choppy waters here.

This moment in time is a markedly different one than our parents' or grandparents' generation knew. Though previous generations may have witnessed world war, economic recession, and political upheavals, this present dark hour carries a distinctly apocalyptic cargo. Upon first glance, the happenings in recent history may more closely resemble a bad dream or a sci-fi movie scenario. Despite some who naively imagine things getting better, an honest, open-eyed appraisal of humanity's situation reveals much more dystopia than utopia. This is reality, not some hopeful, future fantasy. Further, it's your reality. The world in which you live is becoming increasingly volatile, rising and falling like a ship's bow in a furious tempest, wildly tossed about. Instability, unrest, and uncertainty are constants in this contemporary global drama. The world is changing — and not for the better.

Of course, it's human to question and to wonder whether history's hurricane is about to make landfall. Having saturated ourselves in sin, we have to wonder, Is Revelation finally setting sail toward our shores?

Scan culture's horizon, and what do we see? Rage-filled citizens rioting in the streets, looting local businesses due to perceived injustice in their community. Immigrants and refugees embroiled in an unprecedented international crisis, the consequences of which are as yet unknown. Mass shootings, combined with an ongoing epidemic of violence and homicide, have almost anesthetized us to murder. And the body count among the unborn continues to rise, nearing 1.5 billion butchered worldwide in the name of "reproductive rights."

The ancient Canaanites got nothing on us.

But that's not all. Keep looking around, and you'll see state and federal authorities, along with Supreme Court justices, passing laws and declaring edicts sanctioning, legalizing, endorsing, promoting, and even wholeheartedly celebrating homosexual activity and same-sex marriage. Men who self-identify as women are allowed to use women's restrooms, exposing young girls to potential trauma, abuse, and attack. Our society's moral conscience has dulled to the point where we now proudly call evil "good" and good "evil." This sad commentary on our nation tragically parallels an earlier time in Israel's history when "everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Today, there's even a proposal within some psychiatric circles to destigmatize sexual offenses such as pedophilia, instead referring to people who commit these offenses as "minor-attracted persons." In our contemporary moral climate, just about anything goes — except, of course, biblical morality. Our culture's collective decadence is eclipsed only by the individual depravity of those who define it. It's a critical breach in humanity's hull, letting in a flood of lunacy disguised as "enlightenment" and "progressive thought." And the water keeps pouring in.

Political correctness has become one of our new idols, and one that demands we pay regular veneration and worship. It dare not be ignored or angered lest we feel its wrath. To merely disagree, for example, with trendy, "richer" views of morality is to be charged with hate speech or bigotry. Historical Judeo-Christian values are systematically being sandblasted from the walls of conscience with pagan, Mardi Gras morals chiseled in their place. To suggest there is still an absolute, objective morality regarding issues such as sexuality or marriage is to be instantly judged, cast into the public court of shame and ridicule, and summarily stoned to death by popular opinion and social media. As a result of this and other glaring evidences of moral decay, many believe we are witnessing in real time the systematic collapse of Western civilization. It's almost as if it were all part of a larger, sinister plan and strategy.

Yes, something is very wrong with humanity, something as a race we collectively refuse to acknowledge. In truth, the root causes of our evil obsessions go much deeper than social, psychological, or even moral causes. What lies under the surface of our universal insanity is a spiritual problem, a deadly virus, birthed in our first parents and passed down from generation to generation.

But keep looking, now internationally, and we see that global economic stability has never been so volatile, with multiple nations teetering toward default and financial collapse. According to the World Economic Forum, earth's economy is currently vulnerable on a number of fronts and more than ever at risk to suffer "global shocks." These economic tremors do not respect national borders and can potentially shake whole financial systems and societies to their foundations. Like at no other time in recorded history, the international community has become linked together. What happens financially in one nation often dramatically impacts another, with one country's economic crisis sending concentric ripple effects to ten others, or more. This has led to an unprecedented interdependence in an ever-emerging one-world financial market.

In its Global Risks 2014 Report, the World Economic Forum states, "A fiscal crisis in any major economy could easily have cascading global impacts." Put simply, this worldwide economic house of cards could collapse at any time, an unfolding scenario which seamlessly syncs with Revelation's portrayal of future economic disaster.

Look around, and you'll see that our world is also facing a number of humanitarian crises, one of which is the more than 780 million hungry people in the world today. Though the vast majority of these are from developing countries, they nevertheless represent one out of every eight people on the planet. Imagine the scale of impact when global famine eventually hits the world, as forecast in Revelation. Chances of thriving, both in third-world and developed countries, will rapidly go from unlikely to virtually impossible. Additionally, human trafficking, sex trafficking, and sex slavery together globally form a $32 billion industry involving some 21 million victims worldwide.

What on earth have we become?

From a geopolitical perspective, the Middle East remains a delicate minefield, easily set off by a single misstep. Add to this ticking time bomb Iran's stealthy efforts to develop nuclear weapons capabilities. Iran's stated desire is to remove the Jewish nation as the cancerous "tumor" in the body of the Islamic world, wiping Israel from the face of the earth. Meanwhile, Israel has its own problems as ongoing conflict with Syrian-based Hamas threatens to erupt like a powder keg at any given moment. Recurring missile strikes from both sides are now a regular part of life in the Middle East.

According to Bible prophecy, Russia is poised to be an end-times player and continues to reinforce its reputation as a world bully, having previously established its presence on Israel's border. Drunk on its own power, Russia's next move remains unknown, but this nation could very well be positioning itself for the apocalyptic war Ezekiel predicted.

But there's more.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is the latest unwelcome arrival on the world terrorist scene. Even so, it has managed to have a massive, devastating impact in a relatively short span of time. Begun as a splinter group from al-Qaeda, this barbaric death cult has become well known for military campaigns, invasions, brutal torture, and public executions, including crucifixion. It is apocalyptic Islam on steroids, a brand of jihadist ideology that believes the coming of their Mahdi (messiah) can be hastened as the world is engulfed in chaos and carnage. Ironically, their favorite method of execution is beheading. Reviving an ancient form of bloody barbarism, ISIS has branded itself as a group of modern-day human butchers. Beheadings have now happened right here in the United States, even in rural communities. And these wicked warriors do not discriminate, as they brutally slaughter hundreds of women and small children. The masked monsters of ISIS also produce their own "snuff videos," featuring selected beheadings and executions, posting them online in an attempt to bolster their cause and terrorize peace-loving people worldwide.

This growing terrorist body is well financed and organized. Its short-term goal is to create a "caliphate" (Islamic State) in Syria and Iraq. Forcing over a million Iraqis from their homes, many of them Christians, ISIS has also taken control of oil fields and seized cities in that region. But their gruesome aspirations are not confined to the Middle East. A US Army Intelligence bulletin has warned of potential attacks in America by ISIS supporters and sympathizers targeting US military personnel and their families, threatening to "show up [at their homes] and slaughter them."

Of course, the terrorist roots of this radicalism can be traced back to a several-thousand-year-old hatred of Jews. Now, like a deadly virus, this evil enmity has mutated, branching out with the goal of destroying other equally despised infidels (Christians, friends of Israel, or anyone unwilling to submit to the oppressive religious demands of these sadistic serial murderers).

As if this weren't enough, on American soil, lone-wolf terrorist attacks (sometimes erroneously labeled "workplace violence") have burst the bubble of our assumed protective insulation from this threat. A new tentacle of terrorism has developed as individuals now self- radicalize with bloody vendettas targeting non-Muslims. Unfortunately, there is no guaranteed and effective preventative measure against such rampages.

Negotiation has proved impossible with an ideology whose adherents believe they've been given a "holy mandate" to subjugate or kill outsiders. They do not debate, argue, barter, or waver in fulfilling their mission but are wholly committed to their unholy cause. And there is every indication this brand of terrorism will continue gaining momentum as sleeper cells infiltrate free societies in order to conquer and destroy them. Who would have ever dreamed words like jihad and terrorism would earn permanent places in our national vocabulary? The imminent threat of another terrorist attack, whether on a local or large scale, is not a matter of if but rather when, as our military and intelligence leaders believe these jihadists are already on American soil. We do know there are currently some thirty-five Islamic terrorist training camps scattered all across America. These Muslim extremists have also pledged to one day "raise the flag of Allah in the White House."

We have officially passed through the looking glass and into another reality altogether. And there is every indication our world is drifting toward destruction.

But this is what happens when mutiny ensues and humanity defiantly casts God overboard. These are the consequences to resisting and rejecting Him, ripple effects from refusing to acknowledge the Creator's existence and regal right to rule His own creation. God turns us over to ourselves. Billions of people, bound by an enslaving depravity.

However, if our eyes are fixed only on humanity and world events, we could easily be overcome with fear and uncertainty, and often this fear leads to unhealthy isolation and reclusiveness as we withdraw from engaging culture and being Christ's witnesses in the world. Weathering this current sin-storm, Christ's disciples can also default to self-reliance instead of dependence on our Lord, as what's wrong with our world can have a debilitating effect on our faith in God. Looking at the chaos surrounding us, we may even wonder if He is still at the helm. Is God really guiding history? Is He still in charge? Or has He abandoned us altogether?

Were it not for the reality of a sovereign God who superintends both history and humanity, we would surely despair. Thankfully, Scripture assures us the God of heaven is still in control. The real question is, Do we believe that? Daniel 4:35 proclaims, "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'"

In light of the darkness around us, the prophet Isaiah delivers much-needed perspective in Isaiah 40:6-31. Open your Bible and read it for yourself, allowing his words to marinate in your mind.

MEANWHILE, AT HOME ...

All across the world, abandoned ships rust on shores and beaches. Some are half sunken while others lie fully submerged under oceans and lakes. These are vessels that suffered shipwreck due to neglect, abandonment, or mutiny. Some were left to drift, sailing aimlessly at the unpredictable whim of the wind and the waves. Many met their fate at the hands of pirates. Forcibly boarding unsuspecting ships, these sea terrorists seized cargo, killing passengers and crew before either scuttling the vessel or leaving it to the ocean's mercy. Still other ships found themselves wandering upon the waters or resting on the ocean floor because of war, storms, fire, disease, a damaged rudder, or running out of fuel or food. Bad winds or no winds easily contribute to the demise of once-worthy ships. Even so, the common denominator for these ghost ships is that they are all lost, adrift in the ocean's vast expanse, without help or hope, and with no helmsman to guide them toward safe harbor.

Sadly, what is true of ships can also be true of people. The same perilous danger that threatens seagoing vessels also endangers those who call themselves Christians. It's why the apostle Paul admonished the Corinthians, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?"

Peter, writing to the scattered believers living in a decadent society under the rule of a pagan government, urged, "Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Coming Apostasy by MARK HITCHCOCK, Jeff Kinley. Copyright © 2017 Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley. Excerpted by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction vii

Chapter 1 God and Ghost Ships 1

Chapter 2 The Fifth Column 21

Chapter 3 Faith of Our Fathers 41

Chapter 4 Culture of Compromise 63

Chapter 5 When Tolerance Is Intolerable 83

Chapter 6 Moral Freefall 103

Chapter 7 The Watershed Moment for the Church 115

Chapter 8 Will the Real Jesus Stand Up? 137

Chapter 9 Acts of the Apostates 155

Chapter 10 Surviving the Last Days of Apostasy 177

Notes 189

About the Authors 205