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The Impact of Apostasy on the Modern Christian Church · Randy Unscripted

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  Randy Black: Randy
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  Black.
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  Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. He's a troublemaker. Welcome back to Randy Unscripted.
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  I'm your host, Randy Black, and this is the podcast where
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  I just share my thoughts on whatever
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  happens to come across my brain.
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  Today,
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  we're gonna dive deep into a topic that touches the heartbeat of the church today and and challenges every believer,
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  and that's the topic of apostasy.
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  What is it? How it shows up in the modern church,
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  and how we as Christians
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  should look at it and what we should do about it.
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  Apostasy is not a new concept.
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  The apostle Paul warned the early church that that day shall not come except there came a come a falling away first,
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  referring to the great apostasy preceding the return of Christ.
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  Second Thessalonians chapter two verse three makes it clear, Let no man deceive you by any means,
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  and then identifies this falling away as a very real
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  spiritual condition.
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  So what exactly is apostasy?
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  In the simplest
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  biblical sense,
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  apostasy means a falling away, a turning away from the truth of Christ after once embracing it.
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  It's not merely doubt or struggle. It's a turning away from loyalty
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  to Jesus Christ
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  and the truths of the scripture in the Bible.
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  Let's start by
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  understanding or looking at how apostasy manifests
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  in the modern church, what we see today.
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  The first is moral relativism.
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  In our culture today, there's been a shift toward personal opinion
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  over absolute truth.
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  Where Scripture says there's right and wrong,
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  many are tempted to believe that truth is what feels right or what makes them comfortable.
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  Isaiah chapter five verse 20 warns us,
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  woe unto them that call evil good and good evil,
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  a picture of a society and and even segments of the church confusing
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  moral absolutes.
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  The second is the influence of media and entertainment.
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  Popular culture bombards us daily with messages that are that are contrary to biblical views.
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  The apostle Paul calls believers,
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  be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
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  in Romans chapter 12 verse two.
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  Yet many Christians
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  absorb secular worldviews uncritically,
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  blurring the line between biblical truth and cultural acceptance.
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  Third is the doctrinal compromise.
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  Some churches
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  emphasize acceptance
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  and relevance
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  so much that they soften
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  or even abandon clear biblical
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  teachings out there in the Bible.
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  Paul cautions against this in Galatians chapter one verses six through nine. This is where he rebukes believers for turning to another gospel.
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  True Christianity
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  isn't a brand that you tweak
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  to fit the culture.
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  Fourth is the secularism's
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  growing grip that we see.
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  Many believers today are are less committed to regular worship or discipleship.
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  Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25
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  exhorts the church to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together,
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  yet actual attendance and genuine
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  engagement with church life are declining.
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  All these trends show that apostasy
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  isn't just a theological idea.
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  It's tangible in how faith is lived, taught, and sometimes shelved in modern Christianity.
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  Now let's take a minute to talk about the consequences of this.
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  When Christians and
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  churches drift from biblical
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  truth,
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  moral decay increases all around us.
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  Solomon says in Proverbs 14 verse 34,
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  Righteousness
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  exalteth a nation,
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  but sin is a reproach to any people.
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  As biblical authority fades,
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  society's moral compass weakens.
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  We also see the church losing influence and credibility.
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  Fewer steadfast witnesses make it harder for Christianity to speak prophetically
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  and into moral and cultural issues,
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  not because the gospel lacks power,
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  but because the consistent witness of the church has been weakened.
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  And perhaps most heartbreaking in all this is spiritual confusion.
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  People may identify as spiritual without grounding in Scripture or or commitment to Christ.
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  First John chapter two verse 19 says, of those who depart from Christ,
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  they went out from us,
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  but they were not of us,
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  illustrating the danger of superficial faith that can fade under pressure or under deception.
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  To understand apostasy biblically,
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  we have to see how scripture speaks about it.
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  The New Testament paints apostasy as a serious
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  turning away from the faith,
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  not a casual disagreement, but a rebellion of the heart
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  against God's truth.
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  The Greek word apostasia
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  literally
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  means to stand away or to turn away.
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  The Bible uses this idea to describe true believers who abandoned the faith they once embraced.
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  Paul's warnings like in second Timothy four
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  verses three and four describe people who will not endure sound doctrine and instead seek teachers who tell them what they want to hear,
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  a dangerous trajectory away from biblical truth.
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  Apostasy
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  wasn't merely a future event in Paul's mind.
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  It's a present spiritual condition whenever believers or churches substitute cultural preferences
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  for God's unchanging truth.
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  So how should we as believers respond to this?
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  First,
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  strengthen our doctrinal teaching.
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  The church must be anchored in sound, unaltered biblical teaching that equips believers to recognize truth and resist compromise.
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  A well grounded congregation
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  is less likely to drift away.
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  Second is to revive discipleship
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  and evangelism.
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  Christianity
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  isn't a spectator sport.
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  Jesus' Great Commission in Matthew 28 verses nineteen and twenty calls believers to teach and make disciples,
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  not just gather but grow in faith.
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  Third, we need to engage culture wisely.
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  Christians are called to live in the world but not be of it.
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  As Jesus prayed in John chapter 17 verse 15, we remain
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  in the world while God protects us from the evil one.
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  This means being salt and light without surrendering
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  truth.
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  Before we close, let's reflect personally on this.
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  Have you compromised
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  truth for comfort or for acceptance?
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  Do you spend time daily in Scripture to discern truth from drift?
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  Are you living in a way that points others to Christ even when culture says otherwise?
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  These aren't easy questions,
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  but they matter for every single believer.
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  Apostasy in the modern church is real,
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  but the church
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  is not without hope. By returning to the Scriptures,
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  committing to discipleship,
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  and living out genuine faith, Christians can stand firm in truth.
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  Jude reminds us to earnestly
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  contend for the faith which was once delivered under the saints.
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  Let that be our charge and our prayer today.
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  Thank you for listening to this episode of Randy Unscripted.
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  If the message today in this episode
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  challenged you or encouraged you, please take the time to share it with someone else,
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  be it a believer or a nonbeliever, to see if you can have an impact upon them. And let's keep the conversation going. You can head over to the website post for this episode
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  and post comments there, or you can shoot me an email, just by sending it to Randy@RandallBlack.com,
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  and I will be glad to get your input, your feedback on what we've done here today.
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  So, again, thank you for listening to Randy Unscripted.
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  I'm Randy Black.