7 Ways to Escape the Great Falling Away
There is much talk about Christ’s soon Second Coming. But we know that Jesus will not return for a church without spot or wrinkle unless the falling away comes first…
I wrote those words about 18 months ago in an article in which I asked the question: “Is the Great Falling Away Already Underway?“ I was deeply concerned then that we could be witnessing the first fruits of the Great Falling Away about which the apostle Paul prophesies in 1 Thess. 2:3. I was concerned that we were at least seeing a shadow of the Great Apostasy.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article called “Apostasy Rising: 4 Denominations in Less Than a Week Defy God’s Word” that went massively viral. All this has stirred my heart and the Lord has mantled me to pray—and inspire others to pray—for a Third Great Awakening in America. In yet another column on our Prophetic Insight blog, I shared what the Lord told me in 2007 about a Great Awakening coming to this nation.
With all that said, I want also want to equip folks—or open their eyes to any level of deception in which they may already be walking—so they can avoid the Great Falling Away. As I read 2 Peter I found what I believe are keys and safety nets that will guard our hearts from any and all deceptions in the days ahead. Although you can find these same concepts throughout Scripture, Peter outlines what looks like a road map to working out our salvation with fear and trembling (see Phil. 2:12).
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:2-4).
1. Pursuing Virtue
Peter writes, “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue” (2 Peter 2:5). The word virtue in that verse comes from the Greek word arête. The New Testament Greek Lexicon defines it as: “a virtuous course of thought, feeling and action, virtue, moral goodness, any particular moral excellence, as modesty, purity.”
How do you pursue virtue? It starts in your thought life: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Phil. 4:8).
