Shipwrecked Faith: Apostasy of the Last Days
The Apostolic Scriptures warn in the latter days before the man of lawlessness or anti-messiah is revealed, first the apostasy would come. Are we witnessing this end-time phenomenon take place in our midst?
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
"Let no one in any way deceive you,
for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of
lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts
himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his
seat in the
During the past few years, various leaders within the Messianic/Hebraic community have departed from faith in Messiah Yeshua. As these leaders turned aside from Messiah, they influenced their congregations and those who subscribe to their teachings. Many have followed suit and joined with these leaders to depart from faith and turn aside from their Salvation. In the coming days, before the return of Messiah Yeshua, this departure from faith will continue to increase as it has been declared within the Apostolic Scriptures that such things will take place in the last days. Just as the Holy One of Israel has servants who prepare the way for His return by proclaiming His Word and declaring His Salvation, the man of lawlessness has workers of iniquity, deceptive spirits, and doctrines, which help prepare for his arrival by deceiving and drawing people away from faith in Messiah Yeshua and His Word. It is an alarming trend within the Messianic/Hebraic community that leaders are departing from fundamental understandings of the Scriptures, rejecting sound doctrine, and presenting an influx of what is simply the doctrine of demons (1 Timothy 4:1). These leaders are experiencing shipwrecked faith and they continue to upset the faith of others by relying on and promoting strange doctrines which lead away from Salvation in Messiah Yeshua and depart from His Word.
In the first century, Paul made
several missionary journeys outside of the
Paul encouraged Timothy to stand firm in his faith and instructed him on how to recognize and respond to the false teachers and strange doctrines that was creeping into the assembly. Paul speaks of those who experienced shipwrecked faith, as these people rejected sound doctrine within the Scriptures.
1 Timothy 1:18-20
"This command I entrust to you,
Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning
you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience,
which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.
Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so
that they will be taught not to blaspheme."
2 Timothy 2:15-18
"Be
diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to
be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty
chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread
like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray
from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they
upset the faith of some."
In our day, we are witnessing those who experience shipwreck from their faith in Messiah Yeshua. This departure from faith did not happen overnight but is the result of a gradual progression away from sound doctrine. People who formally accepted atonement and remission of sin through the atoning work of Messiah Yeshua have rejected the Blood of His Covenant. Some have converted to Orthodox Judaism, become enchanted with Chasidic Judaism, or have developed a quasi-Ephramite theology apart from faith and salvation in Messiah Yeshua. Others embrace the Gnostic view of pleroma, which is the state of God and man being indistinguishable. In this post-modern world, man has become his own god.
Holman’s Bible Dictionary defines apostasy as “the act of rebelling against, forsaking, abandoning, or falling away from what one has believed.”[1] New Webster’s Dictionary defines apostasy as an “abandonment of what one has professed; a total desertion or departure from one’s faith, principles, or party.”[2] Apostasy is a derivative of the Greek word apostasia that means “to stand away from.” This Greek word occurs twice in the Apostolic Scriptures. In Acts 21:21 Paul is erroneously charged with teaching the Jews who lived among the Gentiles to depart from faith (apostasia) in Moses or more specifically, the Torah. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul foretells a latter day departure from faith (apostasia) that would occur before the anti-messiah or man of lawlessness is revealed. In these last days of apostasy, fundamentals of faith and salvation will continue to be attacked, truth will be rejected, and falsehood embraced before the revealing of the man of lawlessness.
This article is not designed to address the validity and infallibility of the Apostolic Writings, as much as it is to demonstrate the various points of attack that the Enemy has used and is using to undermine the faith of many. However, the Apostolic Writings are the foremost area attacked, because if one could dispose of faith in these writings, the other areas (Messiah Yeshua’s blood atonement, deity, virgin birth, resurrection) would be easily discounted.
Messiah Yeshua gave us the following parable that demonstrates the fragility of the Word and the human heart. It is not that the Word is fragile, but that it, like any seed, requires the right condition in which to grow and then to eventually bear fruit. Again, the right condition is not just sun, water, and good soil, but also the lack of rocky terrain and thorns. The rocky terrain and thorns would be any other message that pollutes, corrupts, or contaminates the pure Word of the Holy One.
Luke
8:11-15
"Now
the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. And those beside the
road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word
from their heart, so that they may not believe and be saved. And those
on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and
these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation
fall away. And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the
ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries
and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
And the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an
honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with
perseverance.”
In a sporting event, such as football or basketball, one of the goals for an opposing team and its coach is to disrupt the other team’s strategy. The one team has had a plan from the beginning of the game, if which they are able to follow, as their coach has shown, will enable them to be victorious over their opponent. In order to counter this well-conceived plan, the other team will change defensive and offensive schemes to catch the first team unaware. Sometimes, the first team will then take their mind and eyes off of their coach’s plan because they think that it will not work or that it is flawed in the face of the opponents’ game plan. The players, disregarding their coach, try to come up with their own impromptu plan.
This is similar to that of the modern believer throwing out the Apostolic Writings (New Testament) because of erroneous beliefs. Some insist, that these writings had to originally be written in Hebrew, that they cannot be reconciled with the writings of the TaNaKh (Old Testament), or that they cannot answer basic questions from anti-missionary groups. Many are taking their eyes away from their coach (Messiah Yeshua) and His Word. At the end of the game, they will discover their plans have failed and the adversary has defeated them.
The enemy of our souls has a desire to shake everyone from their faith in Messiah Yeshua. The best way to do this is to discount or discredit the Writings which speak of His coming, sacrifice, resurrection, and plan for our lives. The attack on the original Greek manuscripts has caused many to doubt the inerrancy and inspiration Apostolic Scriptures. All it takes is a little doubt, a little leaven, to be introduced and all can be ruined. The remedy for the introduction of leavening in the batch is to quickly remove it. It is when it is left unchecked that it leavens the whole loaf (I Cor. 5:6-7). Likewise, to leave doubt unchecked can cause a ruined belief system. Please understand that doubt is natural and that nobody should feel any condemnation if they have doubts about what they believe. Believers should not let the doubts lay unattended, but should examine everything in the light of Scripture. Thus, the believer not only will be acting as a good and noble Berean (Acts 17:11) but will be taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Messiah (2 Cor. 10:5).
Influx of Strange Doctrines
Another emerging trend within the last days is the increase of occultist arts. Society as a whole has embraced the occult and rejected the Word of God. This has infiltrated even Messianic/Hebraic assemblies under the guise of Jewish mysticism or kabbalah. During the Middle Ages, when kabbalah became popular among Jewish mystics, traditional Judaism rejected the strange doctrines. In the latter days, kabbalah has been repackaged and marketed under the guise of “new” revelation and “secret” wisdom and gullible believers have swallowed the strange doctrines and many have departed from faith in Messiah Yeshua. Paul warned us that such things would take place:
1
Timothy 4:1-2
“But
the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the
faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by
means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a
branding iron…”
Why would people embrace strange doctrines and depart from what is clearly presented in the Scriptures? Sadly, many are not content with the simplicity of faith in Messiah Yeshua and the salvation and atonement He provides. They seek “deeper things” and “secret” understandings. Some seek to have their “ears tickled” as Paul has written:
2
Timothy 4:3-4
"For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have
their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in
accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth
and will turn aside to myths."
Kabbalah (Qabala) is the mystical
and esoterical body of writings that were recorded in the 12th century
in
“The most famous work of kabbalah, the Zohar, was revealed to
the Jewish world in the thirteenth century by Moses De Leon, who claimed that
the book contained the mystical writings of the second-century rabbi Simeon bar
Yochai. Almost all modern Jewish academic scholars believe that De Leon himself
authored the Zohar, although many Orthodox kabbalists continue to accept De
Two other kabbalistic texts include the The Sepher Yitzirah, or “book of creation,” and the Sepher Bahir, or “brilliant.”[5]
Should we study from this mystical body of writings? Could it be dangerous?
In the Middle Ages, certain Jewish mystics warned that kabbalah was not intended for everyone, but rather a select few who were “initiated” or “enlightened” and capable of receiving its wisdom. Some mystics warned that the Sefirotic Tree of kabbalah also had a demonic parallel tree. It was considered dangerous for the average person to journey in kabbalah because they might tap into the wrong power. Kabbalah teachers of today (within the Messianic/Hebraic world) would lead people to believe there is a difference between "Hermetic (occult) kabbalah" and "Biblical kabbalah" but this is simply not so. They have presented a syncretism of kabbalah with Torah and the sowing of false doctrines has damaged the faith of those who once trusted in Messiah Yeshua for salvation. Kabbalah is one and the same as evidenced by the usage of the Seifirotic Tree and the common terminology. Messianic/Hebraic teachers that promote kabbalah do not warn people of the dangers of occult and the possible demonic connections. They simply sell more materials under the guise of "new revelation" or "secret insight" which is tragic. With all things, we must inspect the fruit. Many people who are teaching or studying kabbalah are not exhibiting good fruit.
Even though kabbalah was formally published in the Middle Ages, its origins are from old. It might even be able to be traced right back to the very beginning with the Tree of Knowlege of Good and Evil. Although many would state the Seifirotic Tree is the Tree of Life, this is not the case. The Torah is the Tree of Life. Interestingly enough, the middle pillar of the Sefirotic Tree is known as the tree of knowlege. Why do people desire to study all the mysteries within kabbalah? Are they not satisfied with their Scriptures? Sadly, men want to know the secrets of the universe. Mankind wants to be like God. Mankind does not want to humble themselves and become servants. Mankind does not want to have child-like faith. Things really have not changed much since the beginning.
Genesis 3:1-5; 12
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had
made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat
from any tree of the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent,
“From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit
of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not
eat from it or touch it, or you will die.' "The serpent said to the
woman, "You surely will not die!”For God knows that in the day you
eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil…" Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is
this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me,
and I ate."
The adversary is quite busy in our day deceiving people and many go astray. We surely must be careful what fruit we partake of.
Some Messianic/Hebraic teachers
choose to redefine the nature of Messiah Yeshua in a manner that is not
consistent with the Scriptures. They present interpretations that are quite
similar to that of Joseph Smith of Mormonism, because the false teachings share
the same root of kabbalah. Smith founded the largest cult in
Smith began studying under Alexander Neibaur, a European Jew in 1841. Neibaur possessed many kabbalistic works and shared them with Smith as the false prophet was emerging on the American frontier. Smith adopted many kabbalistic understandings and even quoted almost word-for-word from the Zohar in his greatest sermon “The King Follet Discourse” which he delivered before 10,000 people in 1844.
Modern scholars recognize the link between the teachings of Smith and kabbalah. Harold Bloom, a prominent scholar and professor at Yale connects the doctrines of Joseph Smith with kabbalistic interpretations of God:
Enoch-Metatron…may
be regarded as the authentic angel of
Bloom recognizes the syncretism of
kabbalistic thoughts with Mormon doctrine and the impact that Joseph Smith had on
religious thought in
What is clear is that Smith and his apostles restated what Moshe Idel, our great living scholar of Kabbalah, persuades me was the archaic or original Jewish religion…My observation certainly does find enormous validity in Smith’s imaginative recapture of crucial elements, elements evaded by normative Judaism and by the Church after it. The God of Joseph Smith is a daring revival of the God of some of the Kabbalists and Gnostics, prophetic sages, who like Smith himself, asserted that they had returned to the true religion.[7]
During the Middle Ages, the concept of Greater and Lesser Yahweh emerged among a sect of Merkabah Mystics. The sages within traditional Judaism denounced the idea as heresy. Elisha ben Abuyah was a mystic who claimed to have a vision of Heaven and saw Metatron on the throne. He concluded: “Perhaps there are two Gods in Heaven” and he was recorded in the Talmud as being heretical.[8]
Should we accept a kabbalistic
interpretation of the Holy One of Israel that has been considered heresy by
traditional and orthodox Jewish thought and cannot be substantiated from
Scripture? The false prophet Joseph Smith touted these same kabbalistic
interpretations as he developed what grew to be the largest cult in
2 Peter 2:1-3
"But false prophets also arose
among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will
secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who
bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their
sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in
their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long
ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep."
As the assembly in
2 Timothy 3:13-17
"But evil
men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of,
knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known
the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to
salvation through faith which is in Messiah Yeshua. All Scripture is
inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for
training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for
every good work."
Another kabbalistic understanding embraced by Joseph Smith and promoted with Messianic/Hebraic circles of our day is the concept Adam Kadom. This view is erroneously attributed to the Holy One of Israel as Messiah Yeshua. One Hebraic teacher defines Adam Kadom as the:
Anthropomorphic allusion to Vast
Face as the Celestial Man “created (i.e. World of B’riyah) in the
image of Elohim”;
depicted in Merkabah literature as riding upon the Celestial Chariot, or seated
upon the Throne of El Shaddai.
Adam, as the archetype of the first man in the Garden of Eden, reflects the
male aspect of Small Face in the Lower World of Yetzirah, with Chawah (Eve)
representing the feminine aspect of Small Face as the energy of consciousness.
With the allusion of the eating of the apple of the knowledge of good and evil,
the action drops down into the World of Asiyah, and consciousness becomes
dualistic.[9]
Adam Kadom is Divine Man or Anthropos, the primordial Adam of Kabbalism. Bloom, a classic Gnostic and a respected scholar, rejects the idea of the Creator-God of the Torah, the Creation accounts and the fall of man and describes rather succinctly the Gnostic view of Adam Kadom:
Ancient Jewish myths and
theosophies had long anticipated Gnosticism, and these speculations were
revived during the formative first century of Jewish Gnosticism. The most
important of them concerned the original or Primordial Adam, the Anthropos, or
Man, as Greek-speaking Jews called him, a being at once Adam and God, whose
enormous body took up the entire cosmos, but who actually transcended the
cosmos. Our world, even before it fell (or shrank into the Creation of Genesis
1) was actually contained inside the frame of Adam, Anthropos, Man, who was
indistinguishable from God.[10]
Bloom quotes the ancient Hermetic Corpus, the writings of pagan Alexandrian Gnostics under Jewish kabbalistic influence to sum up the understanding of Adam Kadom:
…the true Man is above even
the gods, or at least fully their equal. After all, none of the celestial gods
will leave the heavenly frontiers and descend to earth; yet
Man…establishes himself on high without leaving the earth, so far does
his power extend. We must presume then to say that earthly Man is a mortal god,
and that the celestial God is an immortal man.[11]
Although
Messianic/Hebraic teachers use the concept of Adam Kadom to define and describe
Messiah Yeshua, we discover through researching the works of scholars that this
concept is quite heretical and does not line up with Scripture. This is the
basis of Gnosticism and Mormonism and has led many to depart from Scripture.
Many people who reject the Creator-God of
One of the first things that each
believer needs to do is to make certain that we are trusting in the plan of the
Holy One. The Israelites which were about to enter into the
Please carefully read the next two
passages of Scripture. Keep in mind that throughout the pages of the
Bible,
Hebrews 3:7-12
"Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit
says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when
they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers
tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was
angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their
heart; and they did not know My ways’; as I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ Take care, brethren, lest
there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling
away from the living God."
Isaiah 30:1-2
“Woe to the rebellious
children,” declares the LORD, “who execute a plan, but not
Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, in order to add sin to
sin; who proceed down to Egypt, without consulting Me, to take refuge in
the safety of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.”
It is clear from the above
passages that we are to rely upon the Holy One for our provision:
physical, emotional, and spiritual. We are to consult His Book and not
anything from
From this point on, we must do several things, each of which with love and discernment from the Holy Spirit:
We
must fight the good fight and proclaim the Word.
2 Tim. 4:7-8
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have
kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that
day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
We must occupy until He comes.
Luke 19:13
‘Do business with this until I come back.'
We must contend for the faith
Jude 1:3-4
“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common
salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend
earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For
certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny
the only Lord God and our Lord Messiah Yeshua.”
We must rebuke false teachers and false doctrines.
1 Timothy 5:19-20
“Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two
or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all,
so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.”
We must protect the flock.
Acts 20:28-30
"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy
Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of God which He
purchased with His own blood. "I know that after my departure savage
wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own
selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples
after them.”
We must present our testimony.
Revelation 12:11
"And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the
word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with
death.”
We are living in the last days. Apostasy is rampant and will continue to wax worse. In the Dark Ages, men were ignorant of truth. In these latter days, men mock God and reject truth. Paul summed it up best:
2 Timothy 3:1-5;7
“But realize this, that in
the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers
of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful,
unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control,
brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have
denied its power; Avoid such men as these…always learning and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
If we do a quick survey of the
world, we can witness moral filth and degradation, gross immorality and open
denial of God and His Word. If we observe many of the mainstream Christian
churches, we will find entertainment-centered, watered-down, feel-good theology
that rejects the eternal Torah of God. If we observe the Messianic/Hebraic
world, we will find various divisions and factions. Much of Messianic Judaism
has created a two-class, dual covenant system that proclaims Torah is not for
non-Jews. Many of those who accept a Two-House understanding of
We have painted a bleak picture as we have presented an analysis of the current state of the world and the Body of Messiah but we are not without hope. The storms of the latter day apostasy are upon us. Many people are experiencing shipwrecked faith because they did not rely on the Anchor. Anchors are secure and stable and they prevent ships from drifting in the raging waters of storms. Those who are in Blood Covenant with Messiah Yeshua and rely upon the Word of God (Genesis to Revelation) will not be in danger of shipwrecked faith in the last days. He the Hope and the Anchor and all who trust in Him are secure.
Hebrews 6:18-20
"We who have taken
refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This
hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and
one which enters within the veil, where Yeshua has entered as a forerunner for
us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."
NOTES
[1] Quickverse 6.0: Holman’s Bible Dictionary.
[2] New Webster’s Dictionary, College Edition (New York: Consolidated Book Publishers, 1975), 76.
[3] http://www.jewfaq.org/kabbalah.htm
[4] Telushkin, Joseph, Jewish Literacy (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1991), 200-201.
[5] 1911 Edition Encyclopedia “Kabbalah” http://35.1911encyclopedia.org/
[6] Harold Bloom, Omens of Millennium (New York: Riverhead Books, 1996), 46.
[7] Harold Bloom, The American Religion (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1992), 99, 105.
[8] Harold Bloom, Omens of Millennium, 236.
[9] Nydle, Ed. “Glossary of Kabbalistic Terms”
[10] Harold Bloom, Omens of Millennium, 236.
[11] Ibid, 238.