The Antidote in Dealing with Apostasy is the Provision of Life and the Revelation of Truth

The antidote in dealing with apostasy is the provision of life and the revelation of truth.

There is a strong prophecy in the Bible that, before the Lord’s coming back, there will be a great apostasy among His people; we see this happening in Christianity today, and there’s a need for the recovery of life and truth so that His people would come back to and testify the full revelation of the pure word of God.

In 2 Thes. 2:3 we are told that, before the Lord returns, the apostasy will come first; before He appears, there will be an apostasy.

The worst apostasy we have ever seen before will happen right before the Lord returns.

The day of the Lord’s coming will not come unless the apostasy comes first.

This means that, before the Lord returns, there will be a deviation from the pure revelation in God’s word; people will hire “teachers” who will teach them according to what they want to hear, and the heart of many will turn away from the Lord to good teachings and void philosophies.

The apostasy before the Lord returns will be a falling away from the straight way of God’s economy as revealed in the Scriptures (1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9).

Even today, actually, there’s a tendency among some Christians to leave the straight way of the New Testament (2 Pet. 2:15).

They still consider themselves Christians, but they follow only some good teachings, hand-picked doctrines, and positive philosophies that seem to be based on the Scriptures but are actually man-made.

The Lord’s way is a straight way, a narrow way; it is the Way, the way that the Lord walked on and the way the apostles trodded on.

But so many have left the way of God’s New Testament economy and have gone astray to many other things.

To walk in God’s way requires us to pay a price.

Today the whole world situation is getting more apostate; especially as the so-called LGBTQ movement gets more inroads into religion and even in many denominations, the truth in the Word of God is eroded.

Allowing such things in the church causes the truth in the Bible to be eroded and diluted; people are looking for what pleases them, what favours them, and what is a gain to them, even what is for their pleasure.

Instead of basing their life and work on the Word of God and walking on the way, people and even Christians seek pleasures and things that favour them and gives them some gain. The apostasy is here, and it will get worse and worse.

This is why the Lord needs the recovery of life and truth among us, so that we may return to the divine revelation in God’s word and be one with Him for the fulfilment of His economy.

The Antidote in Dealing with Apostasy is the Provision of Life and the Revelation of Truth

Peter wrote his second epistle having the background and the burden of dealing with apostasy; his second epistle offers the antidote in dealing with apostasy, which is the provision of life and the revelation of truth.

Apostasy is simply a deviation from the right track of God’s truth (2 Pet. 2:1).

The apostasy distracted the believers from the economy of God by leading them into the human logic and puzzling philosophies (Col. 2:8).

Paul warned us that we would beware that no one carries us off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.

We may say that we don’t like philosophy but actually, philosophy is in us; we have all these philosophical thoughts on how to raise up good families, how to raise up children, how to have a proper human life, etc.

Of course that we want to see healthy and positive family life, but if we have this kind of philosophy concerning raising up good families, making sure the kids are raised up, they have good grades in school, have a good career that is well blessed by the Lord – all these are human philosophies.

As we are in this last part of our journey with the Lord in this age, we need to beware not to be carried off by all these philosophical thoughts and puzzling philosophies.

The logic is distracting people from following God and remaining in His economy, to logical things and philosophical concepts.

What our family and children need is God’s dispensing. Our career needs God’s dispensing.

If we merely pay attention to the elements in our human life, we will be distracted from God’s dispensing, and there will be a veering off.

The teaching of the apostates don’t lead the believers to partake of the tree of life which gives life, but to participate in the tree of knowledge, which brings in death (Gen. 2:9, 16-17; 2 Cor. 11:2-3, 12-15).

This is why Paul in 2 Cor. 11 said that he is jealous over the believers lest they are deceived as Eve was, from the simplicity that we should have toward Christ, and from the purity of heart toward Him.

There are false prophets, false apostles, deceitful workers, who transfigure themselves and are like angels; we may not even be able to discern them, for they look so nice.

Satan will not come to us with his pitchfork and red coat, as some describe him; rather, he comes to us as angels of light. We need to beware not to be deceived.

The way to do this is by having the provision of life and the revelation of truth; these are the antidotes that Peter uses to inoculate the believers against apostasy.

We need to be vaccinated, inoculated, by having a rich provision of life and being constituted with the revelation of the truth in God’s word.

In 2 Pet. 1:3-11 Peter uses the provision of the divine life for the proper Christian life to inoculate against the apostasy.

Seeing that His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue, through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.

Praise the Lord for all the precious and exceedingly great promises given to us that we can partake of the divine nature.

This is the provision of life for us to enjoy, and it becomes the energy, the divine energy for us to escape the corruption that is in the world by the virtue of the divine life, resulting in our partaking of the divine nature and our enjoyment of the riches of what God is.

This eventually leads to the development of the divine life from one stage to another stage, from faith all the way to love. Amen!

The provision of the divine life is for being inoculated against the apostasy in our Christian life.

In 2 Pet. 1:12-21 the revelation of the divine truth is used to inoculate the believers against heresy and apostasy.

May we be those who allow the Lord to inoculate us by means of the provision of life and the revelation of the truth so that we may be those who are inoculated against the apostasy and continue on the way of God’s economy.

Thank You, Lord, for Your divine power which has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue! Hallelujah, we have been granted precious and exceedingly great promises that through these we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust. Hallelujah for the provision of life for us to enjoy and have the divine energy to escape the corruption and apostasy! Amen, Lord, we open to You to be inoculated against the apostasy by the provision of the divine life and the revelation of the divine truth!

Because Christianity is Filled with Apostasy, the Lord Needs the Recovery of Life and Truth

If we look around us today, we realize that Christianity is filled with apostasy, filled with the deviation from the divine truth as revealed in the Word of God. Because Christianity is filled with apostasy, the Lord needs a recovery – He needs a recovery of life and truth (John 1:4; 8:12; 10:10b; 14:6; Rev. 2:4, 15).

We have the divine life by which we can partake of the divine nature.

We also have the prophetic word made more firm, to which we do well to give heed as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in our heart.

This is our safeguard and protection: life and truth, the provision of the divine life and the revelation of the divine truth.

This is what protects us and preserves us throughout the generations to remain in the central line of God’s economy, not allowing us to deviate from the truth and keeping us from taking the apostate way.

Today, in a time of apostasy, we need to testify to the full revelation of the pure Word of God and we also need to fight for the deeper truths revealed in the Word of God. Amen!

Because the apostasy continues today, a number of basic truths have been given up, even by those who apparently are fundamental believers.

Because of the continual apostasy happening today, in which even the basic truths in the Bible are being questioned and put aside, we need to be those who are absolute for the truth and proclaim the truth.

The Lord needs the recovery of life and truth so that the saints would enjoy a rich provision of life and a solid revelation of truth.

Especially in this time of apostasy, we need to testify to the full revelation of the pure Word of God and to fight for the deeper truths revealed in the Word of God.

We need to fight for and proclaim the revelation concerning the eternal economy of God, that God has a divine dispensing to accomplish what is in His heart for producing the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:10; 3:9).

We need to fight for and proclaim the revelation concerning the Divine Trinity, that God is both one and three, and that He is Triune for the purpose of dispensing Himself into us (2 Cor. 13:14; Rev. 1:4-5).

We need to testify the full revelation concerning the person and work of the all-inclusive Christ, that He became a man to be a God-man, accomplished the will of the Father, died an all-inclusive and all-terminating death on the cross, and resurrected to regenerate us and make us the many sons of God (Col. 2:9, 16-17; 3:11).

We need to proclaim and fight for the revelation concerning the consummated life-giving Spirit, that God was processed and consummated to be the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit to impart His life into us (John 7:39; 1 Cor. 15:45; Rev. 22:17).

We need to proclaim and fight for the revelation concerning the eternal life of God, which is Christ Himself coming to us to be our life through our believing into Him (John 3:15-16).

Finally, we need to pay attention to, proclaim, and fight for the revelation concerning the Body of Christ, which is the church of God, the organism of the Triune God composed of Christ the Head with all the believers in Christ as the members (Eph. 1:22-23; 1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; 10:32).

This is what we believe in – the Bible is fully inspired by God word for word, and all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16).

We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, true God and true man; we believe in His incarnation and in His death on the cross for our redemption.

We believe that through His crucifixion He terminated the old creation, and in His resurrection, He became a life-giving Spirit.

We believe that the Lord is now on the throne and also in our spirit as the Spirit, mingled with our spirit and dwelling in our spirit. Hallelujah!

We believe that He is transforming us and constituting us with the element of God to conform us to the image of Christ.

We believe and stand on everything that the Bible teaches us, and we are richly fed with the provision of life and enlightened by the revelation of the truth.

Dear Lord Jesus, save us from being deceived from the simplicity and purity toward Christ. Keep us enjoying the rich provision of the divine life and seeing the solid revelation of the divine Word. Amen, Lord, we want to testify of the pure revelation of the pure Word of God and fight for the deeper truths revealed in the Word of God! We want to be absolute for the divine truth and enjoy the provision of life. We testify and fight for the revelation concerning the eternal economy of God, the Divine Trinity, the person and work of the all-inclusive Christ, the consummated life-giving Spirit, the eternal life of God, and the church as the Body of Christ! Praise the Lord for the provision of life and the revelation of the divine truth which inoculate us against the apostasy!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Peter (msgs. 2, 8-11), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 6, The Intrinsic Significance of the Book of Judges and the Apostasy of Israel in the Worshipping of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God the Lord has spoken, God has been unveiled; / All His character and persons are expressed; / Unto Adam’s sons His mystery is revealed, / Fully illustrated and made manifest. / God the Lord has spoken, and His heart disclosed, / That His Son should have pre-eminence in all, / That in His dear Son He might be glorified / Midst all His creation, either great or small. (Hymns #800)
  – Thy Word is like a storehouse, Lord, / With full provision there, / And everyone who seeks may come, / Its glorious wealth to share. / Thy Word is like a deep, deep mine, / And jewels rich and rare / Are hidden in its mighty depths / For every searcher there. (Hymns #804)
  – Given us, given us, God has given us / Precious faith, power divine, greatest promises. / We believed, we received, now we have all three; / By these we may grow unto maturity. / Precious faith in each saint, precious equally, / Precious faith holding us, holding ceaselessly. / Disagree or agree, still it holds us fast, / Day by day, eternally this faith shall last. (Hymns #1211)