Apostasy and Heresy in Today's Christianity

Today I want to change topic in order to scratch the itch the Lord put on my heart. I look at today’s churches and see a great falling away, apostasy. And another problem that contributes to the first one is the rampant heresy in church circles, which leads those who follow into a path directly away from God. The last days of this present age are drawing to a close, and those who do not hold fast to the faith handed down to us from Christ through His apostles and their descendants in the spirit will find themselves locked out of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in that day.

Let us touch on the second problem first since it leads the gullible into the first one. Heresy has plagued the Christian Church from the day after Pentecost AD 30. Just what is heresy and how do we recognize it? The most basic definition of heresy is the linguistic one derived from its etymology. The Greek word α͑ίρεσις (hairesis) means to chose. In the usage of the Christian Church throughout the ages it has the meaning to chose from among the truth and falsehoods a hodgepodge of doctrines to create a faith foreign to the truth. The many Pagan sects of Gnosticism filtered doctrines into the early Church to form many hybrid, heterodox beliefs that negated the truth of Christ for their followers. At the same time there were Christians who taught that one needed to convert to the Jewish faith before one could become a Christian. They placed supreme emphasis on keeping the feasts and Sabbaths of the Law of Moses.

We can see these and many others in operation in the United States of America and all over the world today. Most modern heresies cloak their heterodox doctrines in truthy sounding phrases and reason. To rationalize the truth is to negate it. For example, there is a teaching that has become popular among many practitioners of the Western Contemplative Prayer movement that states everyone and everything is a part of God. It is quite logical in its formulation, and just as completely wrong. To be separate from God is death, but it does not show that to be in God is to be a part of God any more than to build a house and enter it is to be a part of the house.

The essence of God is so different from the essence of humanity that it takes divine intervention just to commune with God. The Church has always taught from the beginning that the goal of Christ in His ministry and sacrifice is to make us become by grace what God is by nature. Not that we will ever share in God’s essence, but rather that we will share in God’s work. It is a false reasoning that to be in the image of God is to be a part of God. A mannequin is in the image of a person, yet I don’t see anyone arguing that a mannequin is a part of the person it resembles. The semblance of God in humanity is not physical, since God created that semblance before Christ became a human. Therefore, we can’t argue that we physically look like God. The semblance is rather a spiritual one, and there are parts of a human God did not possess before the Incarnation. Most remarkable is the human soul, the only created bridge between the spiritual and physical aspects of creation.

The insidious thing about this heresy is that it is a gateway to other heresies like universalism, the heresy of Origin, and deism, the teaching that everything is god. People who follow this heresy stop spreading the Gospel because they assume that all faiths lead to God (an idea that makes Jesus a liar when He said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”). In fact there is no heresy that is safe to follow if your goal is to satisfy God and become the person He planned for you to be.

All of these heresies lead people astray, a form of apostasy. Others are disillusioned by them and quit the Church to avoid the heretics. Apostasy comes from the Greek word ͗αποστάσις, which is a compound word meaning out of place, or off level. One commits apostasy whenever one leaves the true faith for any reason, whether to follow a heresy or to simply quit. You don’t have to become a Pagan or join a cult to commit apostasy. There are people in church every Sunday who are in a state of apostasy. Jesus said to hold fast to His teachings until He returns. And He promised rewards only for those who continue the course to the end. So if you sit on the sidelines and make no further progress in your pilgrimage, you are just as apostate as one who quit going to all church and renounced to faith.

How does one recognize heresy to avoid apostasy? First, know your faith. Saint Vincent of Larens wrote a book, Against the Heresies, that addresses these issues. In that book he put forth a method of recognizing the truth. Anything that was held from the beginning, by all Christians, in all places is the Orthodox faith. Some things may not be essential to that faith but remain harmless. But anything that contradicts that faith in any way is heresy. We Christians must study the faith as handed down from Christ, through the Apostles and their spiritual descendants, to us today in order to avoid being led astray by pretty words that satisfy some itch in our minds. It is easy to rationalize and misquote the Scriptures. The devil did it when he tempted Jesus in the desert after He was baptized. But only someone who is willing to submit to those in authority in the Church (who are not necessarily those running an apostate church) and study to show themselves approved is able to remain unswayed by the tides of heretical doctrine that sweep through the world.

How do you do it? Read. Read the Bible and the writings of the ancient Church fathers and mothers that are recognized as faithful and true. Pray. Not just recitation of someone else’s words written down in a book of prayers, or giving God a list of things you want Him to do for you. But pray from your heart, and listen to God when He answers you. A prayer done right is a conversation between you and God, not a monologue of you dictating to God. Know God as you know your friends and family. Not just a passing acquaintance, but a deep sharing of inner thoughts.

Just because the rest of the world is jumping off the cliff into the abyss is no reason to join them. Proverbs says, “There is a way that seems right to men, but the end of it is the way of death.” Don’t find yourself on the road to perdition, but continue to walk in the way of salvation. That is all I have to say on the matter.