Apostasy – The Lowedown

July 8, 2026

Did Paul Predict an Apostasy in Which the Church Would be Completely Lost?

2 Thessalonians 2

¹Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, ²not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. ³Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

⁵Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? ⁶And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. ⁹The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, ¹⁰and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹²and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-13, NIV)

The Daily DAVEotional

Not long ago, I was engaged in an online conversation with a Mormon who was explaining the necessity and legitimacy of the Mormon church.

You can read about the larger context that prompted this discussion in my blog post “Should People Take the Mormon Challenge?”

If you’re not familiar with Mormonism, you should know that it is not just another of the many Christian denominations that exist. It is something entirely different from the traditional Christianity that is represented by the many mainline Christian denominations and traditions.

Mormonism was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, who, according to his testimony, was confused by the many different Christian denominations in place at the time. He sought to determine which one was right so he could know which one he should follow.

Joseph Smith claims that he received a revelation directly from God the Father and Jesus, in which he was told that NONE of the denominations were correct and that he should not follow any of them.

Supposedly, Joseph Smith was later directed by an angel to some buried golden plates, which were subsequently translated into “The Book of Mormon”. Not long after, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism) was formed as the re-establishment of the true church that had allegedly been lost ever since the original apostles died off.

Interestingly, Mormonism today seeks to be known as “Christian” even though all of the Christian denominations of today were apparently labeled by Jesus himself as wrong.

Naturally, most Christians today do not think that they’re wrong, nor do they believe that they have fallen off the path, as Joseph Smith maintains that Jesus told him.

Hence, there is genuine debate regarding the origins of Mormonism and the truthfulness of its claims.

Click here to see a A Comprehensive List of Blog Posts Based on Bible Passage Reference

A key argument that Mormons make to support their claim that Jesus visited Joseph Smith is the assertion that the original New Testament church fell into apostasy and the original church teachings and church authority were lost….for nearly 1800 years!

This passage in 2 Thessalonians is often used as one proof text to assert that Paul himself predicted that the church would fall into apostasy.

If the church indeed fell into apostasy and it can be demonstrated that even the apostles knew this would happen, then the idea that Jesus would appear at some point to someone to re-establish the true church seems at least plausible, if not inevitable.

Unfortunately, there are quite a number of problems with the Mormon teaching on this passage as it relates to their view of a universal and cataclysmic apostasy of the church.

First of all, how does one reconcile the Mormon view that the church fell into apostasy and was lost with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 16, in which he said that he would establish his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it? Jesus taught that nothing could ultimately eliminate his church. Yet Mormons teach that the gates of hell could prevail against Christ’s church and indeed DID prevail….for nearly 1800 years!

Secondly, if the church DID fall into apostasy and was completely lost (which we assert is not possible according to Jesus), why would Jesus wait 1800 years to re-establish His church? That’s an awfully long time with a lot of lost people who ultimately had no hope, given the complete absence of the church.

Third, Mormons make the interpretive error of eisegesis (reading their preferred interpretation into the text) when they assume that passages which warn of false teachers and ideologies are evidence of a universal apostasy in which the church would be lost. While Jesus and the apostles often warned of false teachers and frequently pointed to our sinful tendencies to pursue worldly desires at the expense of following Christ and obeying His Great Commission, there are NO passages where Jesus or any of his apostles predict that the universal church and its teachings would be completely lost.

Finally, this passage in 2 Thessalonians 2 is offered up as one of several primary passages that speak to this alleged apostasy. According to Mormon teaching, Jesus, Paul and others all KNEW that the church would fall into apostasy and spoke openly about it.

The problem for Mormons is that this passage says nothing about the church being lost, nor does it even hint that there would be a universal apostasy shortly after the apostles left the scene. In short, this passage doesn’t teach what Mormons say it teaches.

It’s clear from the very first verse of this chapter that Paul is speaking about the 2nd coming of Christ. Paul had taught the Thessalonians about this subject on many occasions, as he states in verse 5.

The Thessalonians were confused about the timing of the 2nd coming and were anxious because of false reports coming from would-be prophets and random itinerant preachers who claimed that the day of the Lord had already occurred.

The Thessalonians were worried that perhaps they had missed the big day and had been left behind. Paul assures them that the “day of the Lord”, which refers to the 2nd coming of Christ, had NOT happened yet and would not happen until certain visible and identifiable events had taken place.

Paul lists these events, including the “man of lawlessness” entering the temple and calling himself god.

This event clearly has not happened yet and when it does happen, it will not lead to an apostasy of the church as Mormons claim, but it will lead to the 2nd coming of Christ as is clear from verse 1.

Since it’s clear from the text that the events Paul is talking about are STILL future events, this passage cannot be legitimately offered up as evidence that the church was lost shortly after the apostles died off and therefore needed to be restored nearly 1800 years later.

The truth is, there is no evidence that the church of the New Testament was ever lost. Sure, there have been many within the church who have been led to follow a path of false teachings. That has always been the case. Even in the time of the apostles we see that there were many false teachers and many false teachings. We even see devout disciples who are led astray. But none of this proves that the church as a whole was fully and fundamentally lost.

Additionally, there is no evidence that the New Testament church’s teachings and structure resembled anything remotely mirroring the current Mormon church.

The New Testament documents are fairly well preserved and we can trace the traditions and the teachings of not only the apostles but the early church fathers. Historically, we can trace theological heresies as well as denominational splinter groups. We can compare all of it with the teachings of the New Testament to determine what is accurate and what is not.

Mormonism wants you to believe that Jesus told Joseph Smith that all the Christian denominations were wrong and that Mormonism is right.

The problem is that we cannot verify that Joseph Smith ever had a real encounter with Jesus, but we can evaluate Mormon teachings to those of Jesus and the New Testament apostles. By that metric, Mormonism fails because it teaches a gospel message that is in stark contrast to that which we know was taught by Jesus and his disciples.

Did you enjoy this post? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to like, leave a comment below, and share it with your friends or on social media if you found it helpful or interesting. Your support keeps the conversation going!

Reflection

Mormons claim that this passage teaches a universal apostasy of the church shortly after the apostles died off. Based on the plain reading of the text, do you agree that this is what Paul is teaching? Why or why not?

Mormons say that church authority and structure were lost when the church fell into apostasy. Yet Jesus taught that the gates of hell could not prevail against His church. How does one ultimately determine which view is correct? What standards or protocols do you think are needed to evaluate the veracity of each sides’ claims?

We have a record of Jesus’ teachings and the teachings of many of His disciples. We call this the New Testament. Do you think the New Testament has been accurately preserved? In other words, do you believe that the New Testament is an accurate reflection of the account of Jesus’ life and ministry as well as an accurate account of the New Testament church and its teachings? What are the reasons for the position you hold?

If the church did fall into apostasy and was completely lost as Mormons claim, when and where did the “man of lawlessness” event take place? To what is Paul referring to?

Paul says that “the secret power of lawlessness is already at work”? What is Paul referring to? What does that mean? Paul also says that “the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.” Who do you think is the one who now holds back the secret power of lawlessness?

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July 5, 2026

What is Baptism?

Romans 6

¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. ⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:1-11, NIV)

The Daily DAVEotional

Is baptism necessary for salvation?

This is the question I posed in a recent post of the same title.

My prompt for delving into this topic was a recent online conversation I had with a Mormon, who, in making his case for the legitimacy and necessity of the Mormon church, had made the claim that the Bible teaches that baptism is necessary for salvation.

Mormons teach that a great apostasy occurred shortly after the apostles died and the authoritative line for administering baptisms was lost….for nearly 1800 years! (I’ll address this theological error in a different post.) But fortunately, according to Mormonism, Jesus supposedly restored the priestly line and authority for baptisms through Joseph Smith and the Mormon church.

I argued in my post “Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?” that those who hold to this view, that baptism is necessary for salvation, often have an inaccurate understanding of what baptism is.

Many have an understanding of baptism that is informed only by their own religious experience. Hence, they think that any time the word appears in the Bible, it must be referring to the act of immersing someone in water for some efficacious religious purpose, i.e. cleansing of their sins and completing the salvation process.

But the meaning of the word “baptism” is broader than our own religious experience dictates and is often used in the Bible in ways that have nothing to do with any kind of immersive water experience.

So what is baptism exactly?

This passage in Romans is one of the clearest in terms of helping us understand exactly what baptism is and how it was understood by the apostles.

Specifically, there are two parallel statements that give clarification regarding what baptism is.

Verse 3 says, “don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

But verse 5 says, “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”

Clearly, these two parallel verses demonstrate that to be “baptized into Christ and his death” is to be “united with Christ and His death.”

Hence, baptism is union with Christ.

This fits exactly with the broader biblical meaning of the word “baptize” which is identification.

Click here to see a A Comprehensive List of Blog Posts Based on Bible Passage Reference

Paul is saying that when one identifies with Christ, they are identified with His death. This is exactly what the gospel teaches. When a person receives Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they experience a change in identity. Instead of being a person who is alienated and separated from God, the new believer enters into a union with Christ that is characterized by a new family relationship – they are now a child of God – an adopted son or daughter.

This new identity takes place at the moment a person believes in Jesus. They receive forgiveness precisely because they are united with Jesus in His death. Simply put, when a person receives Jesus, they are indicating that they want Jesus’ death to pay for their sins instead of having to pay the penalty for their sins on their own, which leads to judgment and eternal death.

Jesus’ death now counts for the believer. His death pays for all their sins and as a result, they experience complete and total forgiveness.

Those who hold to baptismal regeneration (the belief that baptism by immersion is necessary for salvation) might argue that this new identity doesn’t happen until a person is baptized with water by immersion.

But this contradicts what Scripture teaches, which is that a person is justified by faith alone and that believers receive the Holy Spirit (the sign that we are now members of God’s family) at the moment of belief, not at the moment of being baptized.

Furthermore, if the broader understanding of baptism is one of identification, then it makes sense that the purpose of water baptism is not to complete some salvation formula but is simply a way of identifying to the world in a physical way (being immersed in water) to a spiritual reality that has already taken place. The spiritual reality is that the person, based on their belief and trust in Jesus, now identifies with Jesus and Jesus’ death and is now a member of God’s family.

So what is baptism?

Baptism is a union with Jesus that takes place when we put our faith in Him and His death. At the very moment we do that, we become united with Jesus AND we become united with His death. Being united with His death means that His death now pays for my sins, which means I can experience forgiveness and I can escape the punishment I deserve for the sins I’ve committed.

This union with Christ means that I have a new identity – I’m a child of God!

Reflection

What was your experience with baptism growing up? Were you baptized? If so, what meaning was attributed to this religious ceremony by your religious tradition?

What do you think it means to be united with Christ?

If you think baptism is a religious ceremony that completes the salvation process, what do you think was the reason and purpose for Jesus being baptized? (See my post “Why Was Jesus Baptized?”)

If baptism was necessary for salvation, how do you explain Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross, who was never baptized, but was promised by Jesus that he would be with Jesus in paradise that very day?

Photo by Logan Gutierrez on Unsplash

March 20, 2025

Oh, How Quickly We Forget!

Judges 3

¹The LORD left certain nations in the land to test those Israelites who had not participated in the wars of Canaan. ²He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. ³These were the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the hill country of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. ⁴These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the LORD had given to their ancestors through Moses.

⁵So Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, ⁶and they intermarried with them. Israelite sons married their daughters, and Israelite daughters were given in marriage to their sons. And the Israelites worshiped their gods.

⁷The Israelites did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. They forgot about the LORD their God, and they worshiped the images of Baal and the Asherah poles. ⁸Then the LORD burned with anger against Israel, and he handed them over to King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim. And the Israelites were subject to Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.

⁹But when Israel cried out to the LORD for help, the LORD raised up a man to rescue them. His name was Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother, Kenaz. ¹⁰The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge. He went to war against King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram, and the LORD gave Othniel victory over him. ¹¹So there was peace in the land for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died. (Judges 3:1-11, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

The book of Judges is a history of the Israelites immediately after taking possession of the land of Canaan and after the death of Joshua.

The book chronicles the struggles the leaderless Israelites experienced politically, militarily and spiritually.

The Israelites had been commanded to drive out the people of the land, but we learn in Judges 1:19 that “they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.” Though not explicitly stated, the implication is that the Israelites lacked the courage to finish the job because they feared the military superiority of the other people. They lacked the faith that God could help them defeat an enemy that appeared to out-match their military strength.

So instead of occupying this land with a clean slate, they find themselves co-existing with these other people groups who don’t share their values and who don’t worship the Lord. This is not a good start to this fledgling nation.

Here in chapter 3, we learn that the Lord allowed some of these people groups to remain in order to provide an avenue to teach warfare “to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle.”

In other words, there was a strategic purpose that these other peoples weren’t displaced all at once. The Lord wanted the next generation to learn how to fight in battle and He also wanted to test them to see how obedient they would be to the commands that had been delivered by Moses.

Sadly, they utterly failed the test. They began to intermarry with the peoples with whom they were co-existing. Not surprisingly, they soon began to forsake the Lord by worshipping the gods of these foreign nations.

In His righteous anger, the Lord allowed the Israelites to experience divine punishment in the form of marauders and local foreign rulers becoming their overlords. In this case, they became subject to an Aramean king for 8 years.

The pattern in Judges is cyclical. The Israelites prostitute themselves by forsaking the Lord and worshipping foreign gods. God allows them to be raided and subject to others until the Israelites finally cry out to the Lord for mercy and for relief. The Lord then raises up a judge, a military leader who is empowered by God to rescue His people from their enemies. But soon after being delivered, the cycle repeats as the Israelites return again to their foreign gods, bringing retribution from a new source.

Here in chapter 3, we see the start of this pattern that repeats throughout the book. What I think is most interesting is who the first judge is that is raised up to rescue the people from the Aramean King Cushan-rishathaim.

The text says that Othniel was raised up as Israel’s first judge. Now if the name Othniel seems familiar, it’s because he was mentioned back in Joshua 15 and also again in Judges chapter 1.

Caleb offered his daughter Acsah in marriage to anyone who would attack and capture Kiriath-sepher, a village in the Judean hills that later became known as Debir. We learn that Othniel stepped up to the challenge, captured the city and won the hand of Caleb’s daughter.

Translators are not completely clear on the relationship between Othniel and Caleb. It’s not clear from the original text whether the phrase “brother of Caleb” refers to Othniel or Kenaz. Either translation is possible. Hence, Othniel was either Caleb’s younger half-brother (same mother but with a different father, Kenaz) or he was Caleb’s nephew (with Kenaz being Caleb’s younger brother). Whichever is the case, we know for certain that Othniel, though younger than Caleb, was a contemporary. In other words, they lived in generally the same era.

But here in the beginning chapters of Judges, Joshua has died and it’s likely that Caleb has died too. Othniel, however, is still around. The point is that this is less than one generation removed from the death of Joshua and the Israelites are already forsaking the Lord.

Joshua, before his passing, had urged the people in Joshua 24, to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve….But as for me and my household we will serve the LORD.” And now, just a few short years after his passing, the Israelites have already forsaken the Lord to chase after foreign gods.

There are a number of relevant takeaways from this story. First, we see the consequences of disobedience and a lack of faith. The Israelites lack of faith in facing an enemy that is perceived to be stronger leads to a co-existence that has long-lasting and far-reaching implications. These people, who were supposed to be displaced, became a thorn in the side of the Israelites for centuries.

Secondly, despite all their good intentions in Joshua 24, where they swore up and down that they would serve the Lord and not chase after other gods, we see that the apostasy of the Israelites comes rather quickly, during the actual lifetime of those who had been involved in the initial conquest of the land.

We don’t need to look too far to confirm that this is the nature and the pattern of people with respect to loyalty and allegiance to the Lord. During my life-time, we have seen the exponential erosion of the influence of the church on our culture.

Just as the Israelites of the Judges era were influenced by the cultures around them, so we today see that many Christians are more influenced by the gods and ideas of the culture than they are the God of the Bible and its values.

The process of “deconstructing” one’s faith has become popular today as people wrestle with the differences and disparities that exist between the biblical narrative and the secular worldview that dominates our culture. (See my post “Dealing with Doubts about God” for a deeper dive on this idea of deconstructing one’s faith.)

For some, the process of deconstruction leads to a complete abandonment of God and the faith. It seems almost commonplace these days when we hear of a prominent Christian leader who has “left the faith”.

For others, deconstruction leads to a re-imagining of God – what I call “Salad Bar Religion”, which is simply a syncretic, or progressive version of Christianity in which God is completely redefined in such a way that suits my preferences and is less offensive to the culture around us. (See my post “The Recipe for Salad Bar Religion” for a deeper explanation of this approach).

There is no doubt that cultural forces make devotion to the one true God extremely difficult. The first step to avoiding our own spiritual apostasy is to recognize that we, just like the Israelites in the time of the Judges, are not immune to these same outcomes, if we are not proactive to take steps to safeguard ourselves from those ideologies and philosophies that would seek to draw us away from the one true God.

So how do we safeguard ourselves?

That’s probably another full blog post but maintaining a strong spiritual community is a must, as well as developing a strong foundational understanding of the nature of God, which will enable us to more easily identify the many false gods being promoted by the culture.

Reflection

What are some examples in your own life of people you have known who, at one time, seemed like strong Christians, but who now don’t believe at all, or have opted for an alternative view of God that isn’t biblical?

What do you think are some factors that can more easily lead to people abandoning their faith or redefining it in a way that is no longer faithful to God as revealed in the Bible?

What are some of the cultural forces or ideas that challenge your beliefs? How have you addressed those challenges, doubts and questions?

There were a couple of steps mentioned at the end of the blog to help safeguard ourselves from being taken captive by the ideologies of the culture. What are some other ideas you have for protecting yourself spiritually from being a spiritual casualty in your devotion to God alone?

Photo by Eric Smart: https://www.pexels.com/photo/lest-we-forget-tombstone-2233388/