The Bible warns about a great apostasy -- a falling away form the biblical faith -- in the end-times. And, this falling away will be a warning sign to us and precede the appearing of the Antichrist (Matthew 24:10-11, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 1 John 2:18).

While reading from First Corinthians this morning, I noticed how, in this early church in Greece, this apostasy was already at work. And, it appeared to have two faces -- an unhealthy seeking after signs, and an unhealthy seeking after wisdom. That's why the Apostle Paul was writing his letter -- he was attempting to stop it.. 

Paul put it this way:

"For indeed, Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:22-24 New American Standard Bible).

You see, in Paul's day the Jews were the people of faith and believed in a sovereign God who could, and would, do miracles. The Greeks, on the other hand, considered themselves more educated than the Jews and they placed more value on logic and wisdom.

As I thought about this, I realized these two faces of the apostasy that existed in Paul's day remains much the same today. We're also being tempted into two basic camps. On one side we have those who believe in a God who can, and will, do miracles. And, on the other side, we have those who place more importance on higher education and self improvement.

Unfortunately, both sides can be wrong. In fact, as I said before, I believe these two extremes are two faces of the same apostasy. And, like the two sides of a tossed coin, they are both heading in the same direction.

You see, Satan's purpose for both extremes is to ultimately lead God's people back into bondage. Those who have an unhealthy desire for signs will be ultimately led into accepting the authority of modern day apostles and prophets -- such as is found in the Apostolic Reformation Movement (Read about it here)

And, those who place too much value on higher education and self effort will be likewise lead into accepting the authority of certain individuals within the Church who claim to have this higher education to interpret things for us. One example of this are all those so-called spiritual leaders today who are deigning America's unique spiritual heritage (Read about it here).

In this camp, we also find those clergy who denying God's special purpose for Israel. And, I fear it is this influence on our president that may be leading him to the creation of a Palestinian state -- which I believe amounts to the forbidden dividing up of God's land (Joel 3:1-2).

Yes, the Bible clearly tells us, in the end-times, a great apostasy will precede the appearing of the Antichrist. This apostasy will have two faces -- an unhealthy desire for signs, and an unhealthy dependence on higher education. And, either side of this apostasy we chose, it will ultimately lead us all to the same place. It will separate us from our simple, personal devotion to Christ and bring us back under the bondage of men (2 Corinthians 11:3, Galatians 4:17).

That is, if we let it.