1 Timothy 4:1

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons”

I recently listened to an interview online with a famous scholar from a well-known public university. This famous scholar blatantly denied that Jesus believed in heaven and hell. This scholar seems to have it all together as he has all the worldly accolades that might qualify him to speak on eternal matters. The scholar comes from a background of biblical Christianity but left the faith many years ago. Now he has made it his life goal to attempt to dismantle everything that God has proclaimed in His Word. This is only one example of the apostasy that was promised in the Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:1 about this as he stated that “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…”

This departing from the faith or falling away from the faith is so widespread right now as many that grew up in a church or in a Christian home are now coming forward to proclaim that they no longer believe in God or in the Lord Jesus Christ. Apostasy is the widespread and intentional willingness to walk away from the Lord Jesus Christ and His church. Notice that the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul states that some will depart from “the faith.” This indicates that there is only one true faith. This true faith is the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible. Jesus is the Lord of all, meaning that He is the sovereign Ruler and Master of the universe. So in the later time, or in the last days, some will depart from the faith, God’s Word tells us. The period of the last days or the later times is the period between the first and second coming of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are in the last days. Hence, we are seeing so many fall away from Christ and His church. AND, Paul says, they “will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teaching of demons.” Those that willingly depart from THE faith also fill their time with the active embracing of wicked and demonic spirits and teachings. Teachings such as there is no heaven and hell. Wow. Paul would define some of the deceitful spirits and demonic teachings as those “…who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods.” (1 Timothy 4:3a). There are entire religions that teach that we are not allowed to marry, particularly those that are of the clergy, and some teach we are not allowed to eat certain foods. Those are demonic teachings of the devil. We must always be on guard to what we are consuming. The false teachers are abounding on the internet and on tv as they are leading millions of people astray. Be aware. Also, be aware that many today are abandoning the true church for entertainment and other things. This is another sign of the great apostasy. The faith is always directly speaking of the people of God in a local body of believers called the local church. Although some might not be able to attend for health reasons now, a sign of the falling away is to abandon biblical churches for heretical churches, or not churches at all. Be aware of those dangers. The Apostle John tells us in 1 John 2:19 that “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” He is speaking of false believers and false teachers who were once in the faith (externally only), but left the church. They did so because they were never truly born again. How do you know someone isn’t truly born again? If they abandon the faith and the church, it is because they never were a part of it.