Summary: The apostle Paul taught that before Christ comes again, there will be an apostasy, which means the church itself will fall away from the true teaching of Jesus. However, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint teaches that in 1830 Jesus reestablished his church along with its pure doctrines, once more being taught by divinely called apostles. However, this hasn’t prevented individuals from apostatizing. This article examines the reasons why people fall away from the church and how to prevent this from happening.

The apostle Paul told the saints in his day, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the second coming of Christ) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is taught that when Jesus lived on the earth, he not only preached the gospel of salvation, but he established an organization, with twelve men known as apostles to be the head of his church and to guide it. Under their leadership, the gospel was taken to the known world and many people accepted its message.

However, after the apostles had died, there was no one with divine authority to authoritatively declare what was truth and what was error, and before long, the church itself began to fall into apostasy. The word apostasy comes from the Greek apostasia which means, to rebel or to fall away. In a religious sense, it means to depart from the pure teachings of Jesus. Thus, someone who believes in a gospel doctrine that contains any kind of error in it, has “fallen away” or departed from the pure teachings of Jesus.

Those who led the church after the death of the apostles gradually began to mingle the teachings Jesus with the teachings of men, which consisted mostly of Greek philosophy, and as they did, the church itself began to fall away, or apostatize from the true faith that the apostles had once taught, and over the centuries, the teachings of the church drifted further and further away from the teachings of Jesus.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declares that this condition existed until 1830 when Jesus himself restored his gospel to the earth in its purity and re-established his church with divinely called apostles. But even though the long night of apostasy was over, and the light of the gospel was again shining brightly, that didn’t mean the falling away from Christ had ended.

In the days of the early apostles, there were people who had accepted Jesus as their Savior and were active members of his church who apostatized by believing in false doctrines. Paul told Timothy there were members who had “turned away their ears from the truth and [had] turned aside to myths” (1 Timothy 4:1). The apostle Peter talked about those who had “escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, [but] they are again entangled in them and are overcome” (2 Peter 3:17).

Jude talked about “certain men [who] crept in unawares… ungodly men [who were] turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4). And the author of Hebrews wrote, “Take care, brethren, that there not be in anyone of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12)

If this could happen in the early church when the apostles who personally knew Jesus were still alive, it can certainly happen today even though we have living apostles to teach and guide us.

There are those who accept the gospel and agree to be baptized, signifying their willingness to keep God’s commandments, but who one day decide to become entangled in the “defilements of the world” again. They once belonged to the community of saints for a season, but then left, never to return.

As one pastor explained, “An apostate is someone who’s inside God’s covenant community, is part of the visible Church, whose professed faith in Christ seems to be a believer, probably partakes of the Lord’s Supper and is a member of that congregation, and then later consciously and intentionally repudiates their belief in Christ and leaves the covenant community.” But why would people do that?

There are many reasons. Perhaps the most common is that they find the gospel prevents them from living their life as they want. These people like the ways of the world and the standard of the gospel prevents them from participating in those ways. Another reason is that their non-believing friends mock or make fun of their new way of life and the believer feels embarrassed or doesn’t want to lose the companionship of their worldly friends.

Another reason is that they’ve been offended by what someone in the church has said or done to them. They might tell themselves they’ll go to a different church or come back when the person who offended them leaves, but they rarely do. Still another reason is because of a difference in beliefs. They may read or hear something that causes them to doubt what they once felt was true, or they now understand the scriptures differently from what their church leaders say, and so they stop coming because they no longer believe they are being taught the truth as they understand it. However, in most cases, when that happens, these former believers simply fall away from church attendance and never come back.

These people tell themselves they are still a “good” Christian, even if they no longer attend church. In fact, they tell themselves that it isn’t necessary to worship God only in a physical building called a church but say they can worship him anywhere – at home, out in nature, or even at a sporting event, but their definition of “worship” is not the same as God’s.

To worship someone means you adore them, that you want to be near them and want to please them. To worship someone means you honor them, and the best way to do that is to willingly and gladly do whatever they ask. When we worship someone it’s the highest expression of our love for them.

Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), and the most important of all his commandment is “to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind” (Luke 10:27). Staying at home, taking a hike in the woods, or going to a sporting event does none of those things because our heart and our mind is rarely thinking about our love of Jesus and how we can honor and please him.

At least, when we come to church, we have more of an opportunity to have our thoughts directed toward Jesus, and we also have opportunities to be around others who help us stay focused on him. More than this, in church we are taught how to be a better follower of Jesus, and the church also provides opportunities for us to show love to others through acts of service. But when we stay away from church, we deny ourselves of all those blessings. (To gain a better understanding of the benefits of attending church, read “Belonging To The Church of Christ”)

For those who belong to the restored church of Jesus Christ, there are additional blessings for being an active, church-going member. The first is the gift of the Holy Ghost which is given to help guide us in the decisions we make, warn us of danger, help us understand the scriptures better, and to strengthen us spiritually. But, as the Lord has explained. “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated– And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20,21)..

Like the Liahona that God gave Lehi, the gift of the Holy Ghost only works according to our faith in Jesus. That is the law upon which we receive its blessings in our life. but when we fall away from following Christ, the gift of the Holy Ghost doesn’t operate as it could because we have violated the law upon which such a blessing is predicated.

In addition to this, those who remain faithful to their baptismal covenant to obey God and keep his commandments are entitled to many other blessings. One in particular that millions of members can testify to is that their life has become so much better since joining the church. As they think back on their life before being baptized, they realize that the quality of their life is much improved and is filled with greater peace, joy, and love. Many of them shudder to think what their life would have been like if they had not become a member of Christ’s true church. In addition to this, there are countless other blessings that come from actively helping to build up Christ’s church here on earth.

But when someone falls away from the commitment they made to God at the time of their baptism, they suffer more than just a loss of blessings, especially if they have children. As every parent knows, children are not easy to teach because they have a mind of their own which often causes them to be rebellious. For this reason, it takes a lot of work and effort on the part of faithful parents in the church to help their children stay close to the Lord, and even then, many of the youth still fall away. The good news is that these children have been taught the truth by word and by example that often helps them to come back to the church later in life.

However, when a parent falls away from the church, their children no longer have the training they’ll need to avail themselves of its blessings and help them return to activity should they fall away. Instead, the lure of the world will have a greater pull on them and the chances of them returning and being committed to Christ is very low. When that happens, then they are continually being denied the blessings of the gospel in their life. Worse yet, because they have never experienced those blessings, they have no idea what they’re missing and come to accept the philosophies of the world as being the only philosophy to live by. For example, if a child has never had the treat of eating ice cream on a hot summer day, they have no idea what a delicious treat they’re missing.

But this problem is magnified when we consider their children, who would be the grandchildren of the member who fell away from Christ. In most cases, they will become even more in tune with the ways of the world than their parents. But what parent would deliberately deny their children and their grandchildren the wonderful blessings that God wants to bestow on those who are willing to keep the laws on which those blessings are predicated? Yet, that is exactly what someone is doing who has turned their back on God and walked away from the commitments they made to him.

But that’s not the worst part. The scriptures teach that we will all stand before the judgment bar of Christ to give an account of our deeds. When Jacob, the son of Lehi and brother of Nephi had to call his people to repentance he told them, “And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day” (Jacob 1:19).

As parents, we have been commanded to raise our children in righteousness, teach them the gospel, and to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). If parents fail to do that after having accepted the gospel, they will have to answer for the sins of their children.

But the effects of their falling away doesn’t stop there. When someone is no longer active in the church, there is very little chance that any of their children will serve a mission, and if they don’t, there are people they could have helped come unto Christ who may never be given that chance. Therefore, someone’s inactivity not only denies the blessings of the gospel to their children and grandchildren, but it also has an effect on others they will never know.

This is called the ripple effect. What we do doesn’t just affect us, but it affects those around us, which then affects those around them, which then affects those around them. We don’t live in isolation. We are affected by what others do, either directly or indirectly, and the same is true for how we affect others, either directly or indirectly by the things we do.

Still another reason why people fall away from the church is because they don’t feel they’re getting anything out of it. They come to church, accept callings, and mingle with the saints, but their life doesn’t seem to be any better than it was before they were baptized. These members remain active for a while, going through the motions of living the gospel, but eventually they become tired of pretending to be a faithful follower of Christ, and fall away into inactivity.

The Lord refers to people like this as being “lukewarm” (Revelation 3:15). They accepted Christ into their life with their lips, but their heart was never in it. They want the blessings of the gospel, but they don’t want to put forth the effort it takes to receive them. They want to be a Christian, but they also want to be like the world, and so they try to be on both sides of the fence at the same time.

Since this can only be done for a short time, eventually they have to decide which side they want to be on, and in the great majority of cases, they choose to be on the world’s side simply because it’s much easier to live that kind of lifestyle. Even while these people appear to be active members of Christ’s church, in their heart, they never really belonged to it.

The solution to all forms of apostasy is to look to the future and prepare for it, which is what most adults do. For example, when an adult wants to go on a trip, they plan where they want to go, how they’re going to get there, and what they’ll need to enjoy themselves when they arrive at their destination. A wise adult begins planning for their future retirement when they’re young, so they’ll have plenty of time to build their retirement nest egg.

Although we live in the present, we’re all on a journey into the future and it’s coming whether we’re prepared for it or not. All of us know that at some point we’re going to die, and then what happens to us? Those who have once accepted Christ into their life have to also believe that we exist after our bodies are put in the grave. Since all of us will be going either to a place of joy and happiness or a place of great suffering when that time comes, the question a believer in God needs to ask themselves is, “Which place am I preparing myself to live in?”

Those who choose to focus on living in this present world are not preparing themselves for their future world. The apostle James tells us that in comparison to eternity, our life here on earth is no more than a vapor (James 4:14). That’s a very short time to prepare for our eternal future, therefore, a wise person will focus more of their time on where they want to be when they die and doing those things that will prepare them to live there.

If we believe that Jesus is able to save us into the kingdom of heaven, then it’s vitally important that we know the truth about how to get there. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declares it is the only one who teaches that truth about salvation. Either that is true or it isn’t. There is no middle ground. Those who have prayed about it and have received a witness that this is indeed Christ’s true church as it claims, then it is in their best interest and the best interest of their family to do whatever it takes to keep from falling away.

 

Related articles can be found at The Nature of Man