What constitutes the Great Apostasy?

by wannabe 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  wannabe

  What constitutes the Great Apostasy?

  The Greek word, for Apostasy, 'apostasis' has the connotation, of a 'defection from the Truth, or 'falling away from'. Defection, in turn, is defined, as an abandonment of loyalty, or duty; to disjoin, or to forsake."

  With that in mind, consider the words of the Apostle Paul, as he foretells this great Apostasy, that was to be in evidence, just prior to the coming of Christ in Kingdom Power. "Let no one seduce you in any manner, because it will not come unless the Apostasy comes first and the Man of Lawlessness gets revealed." {2 Thessalonians 2:3}

  Now look at the Greek word, for reveal 'Apokalupto' which means, 'to cover' conceal. "Literally to remove a veil or covering exposing to open view what was before hidden. To make manifest [known] or reveal a thing previously secret or unkown."

  So, Paul tied in this Apostasy with the activity of this man of lawlessness.

  Notice, the issue here Paul was discussing, was the coming of the Christ, and their being gathered together to him.{2Thessalonians 2:1} This Man Paul was discussing, had to be brought out right into the open for all to see, just before the arrival of the Christ in Kingdom Power. He would, as the Greek word implies, be exposed to open view, for all to see. Just prior to the Coming of Christ in Kingdom Power.

  At this point, I should mention, it is this open exposure, that creates this great Apostasy and causes all of this Man's followers, to defect, or , if you will, 'fall away' abandon, or foresake their loyalties, or duties to him. Apostatizing from him. Notice in verse eight, it is Jesus who does away with this man by 'the Spirit of his mouth.' How might this be accomplished by Jesus, who now, and since the first Century, resides in the Heavenly Spirit realm? Notice these following words: 'And after he had said this he blew upon them, and said to them: "Receive Holy Spirit!" {John 20:22} Since his ascension in the first Century, to the right hand of his Father, he has been put in contol of the Holy Spirit, and from that point on could employ said Spirit as a Teaching instrument to bring his followers to an accurate knowledge of the truth; as evidenced by the following scriptures: {John 14:15-17,26;16:13} {! John 2:27} Armed with such knowledge, those he blows upon today, who receive of the Holy Spirit will expose this Man of Lawlessness, because they now are equipped to do this work of exposure. To bring this Man out into the open, for all to see. {Acts2:33}

  Does Paul supply us with any clues, that might aid us in zeroing in on this Man, in question? Yes! He does exactly that, for note his words in verse 5 of 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2: "Do you not remember that while I was yet with you, I used to tell you these things?" Those things he mentioned, are found at 2 Corinthians 11:12-15 in these words: "Now what I am doing I will still do, that I may cut off the pretext from those who are wanting a pretext for being found equal to us in the office of which they boast. For such men are false Apostles, deceitful workers, TRANSFORMING THEMSELVES INTO APOSTLES OF CHRIST. And no wonder satan himself keeps transforming himself into an Angel of Light. It is therefore nothing great if his Ministers also transform themselves into Ministers of righteousness." He supplies us with another clue at 2 Timothy 3:13 "And Wicked Men and imposters will advance from bad to worse, misleading and being misled." So, Paul is telling us here, that certain ones would be making claim to being on equal footing with the true Anointed Class, but he warned, that they would be False Apostles, imposters who themselves were being misled, and in turn would mislead others.

  One other outstanding clue is found in verse 2 of Chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians, in these words: ..."Not to be quickly shaken from your reason nor to be excited either through an inspired expression or through A VERBAL MESSAGE or through A LETTER AS THOUGH FROM US, to the effect that the day of Jehovah is here." Paul, in so many words, is telling us, that this 'Man of Lawlessness,' would be heading a body of believers, who looked for all the World to be the one true way of worship, but were, in actuality, a pretense of imposters, whose followers actually got to believing the lie. Notice what Paul has to say about that in verse 11: "So that is why God lets an operation of error go to them, that they may get to believing the lie."

  Jesus too, zeroed right in on this 'Man of Lawlessness.' with his words at Luke 21:8: "Look out that you are not misled, for many {7 Million} will come on the basis of my name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The due time has approached. Do not go after them."

  Of course, this could be none other than the organization preaching this Good News of the Kingdom throughout all the inhabited earth for a witness to all Nations, and then the end was to come.' {Matthew 24:14} Recall the verbal message, or letter carried by this 'Man of Lawlessness,' had to do with the day of Jehovah being here? So, Jesus and Paul are talking about exactly the same thing. Is not their Watchtower Magazine, the letter Paul was making reference to? As well as all of their other reading material, on various scriptural matters?

  Do we not get a 'verbal message,' when Jehovah's Witnesses arrive at our doors? Is not the central theme of their preaching activity, that the Christ was invisibly present in the year 1914, and 'the due time had approached?' Does not the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses make claim that the surving remnant of the Brothers of Christ are in their ranks? Do they not make claim to being Jehovah's, 'Spirit Directed Organization?' Are they not, according to them, the Faithful Slave? Do not those in association with them claim to be walking in the 'way of the truth?' I can reply in the affirmative to all of that, due to my 21 year association with them.

  Jesus put his finger right on them, when he stated the following: "For False Christs and False Prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the Chosen Ones." {Matthew 24:24} Are they not the only Religious Organization on this earth, that could possibly mislead the chosen ones? If not, someone tell me what other Religious Organization is there that could do that? There are none! Other than them! They stand alone as the 'Man of Lawlessness!'

  No one can give anyone a Day/Date for it to occur, but before the Christ comes into Kingdom Power, that Global Organization must collapse in total, as 7 Million, or more are rising from their Kingdom Hall seats, and heading for the doors, as they all Apostatatize from that World-Wide Organization, and abandon their loyalties and duties to that, 'Man of Lawlessness.

  Let us remember that the Holy Spirit was to reveal, 'that which was to come.' So, to be forewarned, is to be forearmed.' Get out before it falls, or go down with it, when it goes down; and it is going down. When the Man of Lawlessness is brought out into the open for all to see. And the great Apostasy, will then, come to full bloom. {John 16:13} Shortly thereafter, the Christ will arrive in Kingdom Power, just as foretold. Wannabe
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  Cold Steel

  The Apostasy is one thing. The Restoration is another.

  For a church to be legitimate, it must be commissioned. None of this process of elimination stuff. The Jehovah's Witnesses have never really explained how their church has been adequately commissioned. If it's people have not been called and ordained of God...er...Jehovah...then Bible study is not enough. (John Calvin and Alexander Campbell both thought they could restore biblical Christianity with nothing more than a correct understanding of the Bible. Hands-on-head ordinations weren't required, you see.)

  The one thing the Jehovah's Witnesses have in common with these other churches is that they're all manmade. In other words, it takes more than just some pads of paper, a few pencils, a typewriter, a few people with courses in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic and a publishing company. You not only need to be commissioned by God, there must be witnesses and fulfillment of scripture. Oh, and you can't go with numbers, either. (Some other church will always come along and top you!)

  The church these "7 million" people are all leaving hasn't shown that it's commissioned.
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  VampireDCLXV

  What constitutes the Great Apostasy?

  This website! HAHA!

  V665
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  aqwsed12345

  The Alleged "Apostasy" Of Christendom

  A recent Watchtower magazine expounds the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ view that orthodox Christianity ("Christendom") underwent a great apostasy after the death of the apostles: "The death of the apostles removed a restraining influence, allowing a widespread apostasy to develop. (2 Thessalonians 2:7, 8) An organization grew up that unworthily professed to be God’s congregation. It falsely claimed to be the holy nation anointed with God’s spirit to rule with Jesus."

  The Witnesses believe that the influx of pagan converts brought in doctrines and concepts from Greek philosophy and religion which were then integrated into the Christian faith, resulting in such "false" teachings as the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the immortality of the soul, and eternal punishment in hell. According to the Watchtower Society, Christendom lived in darkness for 18 centuries after this apostasy. Yet they believe there were always individuals who were faithful to divine truth — a truth more fully unveiled when their founder, Charles Russell, began to study the Bible in earnest in the 1870s. To support this view, Watchtower literature regularly cites passages from the church fathers to demonstrate that, even after the apostasy, there were some who believed as Jehovah’s Witnesses do today.

  In light of this line of argumentation, it is worthwhile to examine the writings of the early church fathers. If indeed such writings reveal that early Christians believed as Jehovah’s Witnesses do today, then surely a reevaluation of orthodox Christian teachings is needed. If these writings fail to support Watchtower claims, however, then one must conclude that Jehovah’s Witnesses represent a new religious tradition of the late 19th century, with no historical connection to apostolic Christianity.

  The body of literature of the postapostolic church is substantial, and a full review would be outside of the scope of a limited survey such as this. The most critical period is that prior to the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, because it is historically closest to the apostles. Part One of this series will examine writings from this period that relate to the question of whether the church underwent a great apostasy. It will also investigate what the church fathers say about one of the most critical doctrines of the Christian faith — the divine nature of Christ. Part Two will review other important doctrines of the faith, such as the nature of the Holy Spirit, the soul, and the fate of the wicked.

  Did a Great Apostasy Occur?

  Was the true faith taught by the apostles lost or corrupted within the first generation after the apostles? If so, then the true faith was not successfully transmitted anywhere in the evangelized world of the first and second centuries — including churches established by the apostles, with leadership appointed personally by them. A "great apostasy" would require an extraordinary event: the simultaneous loss of faith by an entire generation of Christians throughout the civilized world. Included in this apostasy would be disciples of the apostles themselves, as well as those who witnessed the thousands of martyrs who, just a short time previously, refused to deny Christ, either explicitly or by worshiping pagan gods.

  A great apostasy, wherein the doctrines of Greek pagan philosophy replaced apostolic teaching, would most likely have begun in areas where the church was accepting a large number of converts with backgrounds in Greek religion and philosophy, such as Alexandria, Egypt. The prominent western churches established directly by the apostles, such as those in Rome and Antioch, would likely have fallen into heresy more slowly. But the historical facts do not support this (or any other) scenario of a "great apostasy." Had a great apostasy begun immediately after the death of the apostles, as the Watchtower claims, a mixture of "true Christianity" (i.e., Watchtower–type teachings) and "pagan heresy" (i.e., orthodox Christian teachings) would be discernible in the literature of the early church, which was widespread in its geographical points of origin.

  Is it possible that all the writings of the followers of the "true faith" were completely destroyed by the paganized church? Such a view is highly improbable. Many manuscripts have survived from Gnosticism (a widespread religious movement of this period which combined elements of Greek paganism and eastern mystery religions), despite several centuries of concerted attack and condemnation by the church. Yet not a single document exists pointing to a group who believed as the Jehovah’s Witnesses do today.

  The absence of such early "Watchtower" literature causes one to doubt the existence of the so-called "faithful and discrete servant class." After all, the stated purpose of these 144,000 anointed servants in Jehovah’s plan is to provide "meat in due season" — that is, literature that imparts "accurate knowledge" about the Bible. If these early Jehovah’s Witnesses were true to the kingdom gospel, handed down to them by the apostles, they would have written sufficiently to provide the faithful with an understanding of the Scriptures. Keep in mind that the Watchtower Society teaches that the Scriptures cannot be properly understood without such aids. Yet where is the Watchtower literature of the first and second centuries — or for that matter, of any century prior to the 1870s? Its absence is most telling, and highly damaging to the claim of a general apostasy with just a few of the dedicated faithful surviving.

  Perhaps the most compelling argument against a universal early apostasy may be found in the commissioning and empowering of the apostles themselves. If a universal apostasy occurred immediately after the death of the apostles, we would have to judge the apostles as incompetent or negligent evangelists who utterly failed to accomplish Jesus’ commission to make disciples. Such an apostasy would reflect poorly on Jehovah God as well, whose "holy spirit" was unable to preserve His followers for even a single generation.

  There is, therefore, no reason to believe that a great apostasy occurred following the death of the apostles, with the resulting loss of the "true" Christian faith for over 1800 years. This conclusion seems undeniable in view of the Great Commission, the power of the Holy Spirit, the absence of literary evidence for an alternative group of believers with a gospel similar to that preached by Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the implausibility of the required simultaneous loss of faith by an entire generation of geographically dispersed Christians.
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  aqwsed12345

  Were the Early Christians Jehovah’s Witnesses?

  http://www.cephas-library.com/jw_faith_of_our_fathers_1.html

  http://www.cephas-library.com/jw_faith_of_our_fathers_2.html
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  cameo-d

  Wannabe: "Look out that you are not misled, for many {7 Million} will come on the basis of my name, saying

  So, Jesus and Paul are talking about exactly the same thing. Is not their Watchtower Magazine, the letter Paul was making reference to? As well as all of their other reading material, on various scriptural matters?

  Are they not the only Religious Organization on this earth, that could possibly mislead the chosen ones? If not, someone tell me what other Religious Organization is there that could do that? There are none! Other than them! They stand alone as the 'Man of Lawlessness!'

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  wow. Some JWs never get past their personal arrogance. You would think JW is the only religion in the world. This tripe is as gross as the WT. I certainly do not think so highly of the JW cult as to give them credit for that much power. Nor do I believe that Jesus saw into the future and specifically had the WT in mind.

  "They (WT) stand alone as the Man of Lawlessness?" I guess living in a bubble has really screwed up your thinking. If you could get past your own arrogance and your hatred, you might be able to see more clearly.