Turn on TBN or other major popular Bible teachers and you will hear “the world is worse now than it has ever been”. Not long after that they will bring up how the great falling away occurs in the end times. It is true that the falling away occurs in the end times. Here are the popular verses.
2 Thessalonians 2: Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of [a]Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of [b]sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
Matthew 24: 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
1 Timothy 4: Now the Spirit [a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
For the most part, it is believed that many people not following Jesus necessitates the great falling away. I honestly wouldn’t be offended or think one was wrong to say that America as a whole does not hold respect overall for the things of God that it once did. However, that doesn’t have one single thing to do with what any of the above verses have in mind.
Falling Away From What?
This text gets us into the “can someone lose salvation” conversation. If you are falling away that means you were identifying with it. That something would be the New Covenant. So, this rules out anyone who has never at least identified as a member of the NC. It is funny to me how so many American Christians view America as in covenant with God like OC Israel. “America is falling away”. No ma’am, America was never in covenant with God. Old Covenant Israel was. But the only people falling away from that covenant were those coming to Christ. They were not deceived, rather those attempting to remain in the OC were attempting to keep all the others there.
There were many Jews and Gentiles who were associating with the New Covenant church, but not all were true believers. They were, however, physically gathering with them. These defectors were targets of the Judaizers and why so many epistles attempt to keep the Church together.
Hebrews 10: 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Contrary to popular belief, the above text is not attempting to get people in the Bible Belt to go to church on Sundays. Rather it fits perfectly in the setting of the second exodus.
Falling Away In the First Exodus
Just as there were people who left Egypt with Moses, not all of them went into Canaan. In the New Covenant…. Jesus is the New Moses. The Church is the New Israel. OC unbelieving Israel is the new Egypt. Ad30- Ad70 is the new 40 year wilderness wandering. The New Covenant (NHNE) is the new promised land, Canaan, where men would dwell with God face to face and not in a temple.
Hebrews 3: 16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
THE ENTIRE CONTEXT OF THE FALLING AWAY IS BACK TO THE OLD COVENANT. NOTHING ELSE WILL EVER STAND THE TEST OF TIME BIBLICALLY.