On Wednesday Night, January 20th, at 6:30pm, we will discuss “Apostasy.”  According to the Holman Bible Dictionary, “apostasy is the act of rebelling against, forsaking, abandoning, or falling away from what one has believed.” The reasons for apostasy may be temptation, deception, or persecution.

In the early church, many believers became apostates through persecution. For example – during the reign of Roman Emperor Decius (~AD 250), he required all people to sacrifice (or burn incense) and declare “Caesar is Lord”. Once you had “sacrificed”, you would receive a certificate (called a libellus) which proved your loyalty to Rome. Christians who refused to “sacrifice” faced confiscation of their wealth, torture, and/or death. Decius focused special attention on Christian leaders. In order to save their lives, many Christians and Christian leaders “sacrificed” to the Roman gods. 

Later, many of these people tried to return to the church. This issue was referred to as “the problem of the lapsed.”  What do you do with Christians who lapsed – who at some point professed Christ – then under persecution denied Christ – now wants to profess Christ again?  What do you do with Pastors who preached Christ – then under persecution denied Christ – and now want to return to the church? What about the people who were led to Christ by these Apostate Pastors?  Is their Salvation and Baptism valid – or do they need to be converted and baptized again?

What about church leaders and church members TODAY – who seemed to be strong Bible Believing Christians – who under pressure from the culture around us have become supportive of the LGBTQ+ agenda, Critical Race Theory, and Socialist politics. Have these people apostasized or lapsed?  Have they lost their salvation? If so, what is the church to do with apostate church leaders and church members? Our Wednesday evening question for the week:

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