Bare with me on this post. I just need to get it off my chest!
I find it interesting that in so many threads here in this forum and in others, to find the reference to “apostates”. I know that it is common practice for Jehovah's Witnesses, however, this categorization is not one that is supported either by definition of the word or by usage among the early Christians. An Apostate in Christian terms is defined as; One who has rebelled against, forsaken, abandoned, or fallen away from Christianity.
In the old testament those Israelites that rejected the Law and Jewish traditions were deemed guilty of apostasy having forsaken their belief in the Law. There were others that turned to other Gods, other Kings, turning from the word of the Law to the words of others, hence leaving their original faith and rejecting God in the eyes of the Jews. This corresponds with the account at Acts 21:21 wherein Paul is accused of apostasy because of his leading Jews to abandon the Law of Moses rejecting circumcision. So from the perspective of the Jews, all Jewish converts to Christianity were apostates guilty of leaving their faith turning to a new God and Law.
Paul, in speaking of the great apostasy that would precede the revealing of the anti-Christ defined this apostasy as ethical departures from the Truth, that truth being set out as the fundamental belief in the death, resurrection, and accession to the right hand of God by Jesus Christ, Jesus' being the promised Messiah or Savior, salvation by grace through faith, and the singularity of God .
All things being considered then, the majority of those who have been labeled as apostates by Jehovah's Witnesses truly are not. Most of those who challenge the organization have not left their faith in Christ, Christianity, or the sovereign God almighty. They have left their belief that the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is Gods appointed representative and that salvation is only possible if one maintains an “approved” status with them. This is not apostasy but rather a decision to find the “truth” not to reject it. However, this belief brings up an interesting point.
In John 14:6 Jesus states, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In fact, the general theme of the Bible is that salvation is only possible on the basis of Jesus Christ as “the way” and it is by means of ones faith in Jesus that salvation is possible as a act of Gods undeserved kindness. No where do the scriptures say that salvation is dependent on an approval of any “instrument”, “organization”, or any other “representative” of God. It does however, have something to say about those that would make such claims.
In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus, beginning in verse 4, says, “Don't let anyone fool you. 5Many will come and claim to be me. They will say that they are the Messiah, and they will fool many people.” Continuing in verse 10 he further elaborates, “Many will give up and will betray and hate each other. 11Many false prophets will come and fool a lot of people. 13But if you keep on being faithful right to the end, you will be saved. While Jesus is primarily referring to the end of the nation of Israel and the destruction of its temple, it is common for Jehovah's Witnesses to apply this prophecy to the “end of the world”. So it is then that the words of Jesus that follow also apply to the “end of days”. Verse 15 continues, “Someday you will see “an abomination that causes desolation” standing in the holy place, just as the prophet Daniel said. Everyone who reads this must try to understand!' 23Someone may say, "Here is the Messiah!" or "There he is!" But don't believe it. 24False messiahs and false prophets will come and work great miracles and signs. They will even try to fool God's chosen ones. 25But I have warned you ahead of time.
Paul sheds some light on what that “abomination” standing in a holy place is in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4; “ Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction . He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God .” This “man of lawlessness” is an anti-Christ by definition by his being an adversary of Christ opposing God leading people away from Jesus Christ denying him as “the way” while setting himself up in a false position of “savior” or the “means” by which salvation is possible.
Whether the anti-Christ is a single individual or an organization of individuals has long been open for debate. However, it is clear from the scriptures that during “the time of the end” there would be those that would display anti-Christ characteristics or traits by word and deed. We can look at most Christian religions today and see evidence of such traits within their proclamations of salvation belonging only to those in their good graces. Jehovah's Witnesses are no exception to this. In fact they have gone so far as to eliminate Jesus from their version of a Christian baptism which is in contradiction with the baptism that Jesus himself laid out for his followers (Matt. 28:19). So who really is apostate today? Those who deny salvation by means of faith in Christ alone or those who challenge those who profess such beliefs? You be the judge.