Apostasy means “falling away”. Apostasy is caused by those who “want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:7). The church in the first century was warned, “there will be false teachers among you who secretly bring in destructive heresies” (2 Peter 2:1). There is an apostasy that is now occurring in many congregations of the churches of Christ. It was predicted in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.” The end result of apostasy is many will lose their souls in eternity.
Many departures have occurred during the past 2000 years, which have resulted in hundreds of different kinds of denominational churches. Paul says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). The apostasy we are facing is not caused by those outside the church but from within. Paul warned the Ephesian elders, “Also from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:30).
Many in the Lord’s church are wanting to be like the denominations around them just as the children of Israel wanted a king so they could be like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:5). The spirit of denominationalism is steadily invading many congregations of the churches of Christ. Some now claim there are faithful Christians among all the denominations, and that water baptism is not essential for salvation. We read in Galatians 1:6-7, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.”
It is being advocated that women should take a leading role in the worship of the church by leading prayer, waiting on the table, leading singing, teaching Bible classes with men present, and even preaching. They refer to themselves as a gender-neutral church of Christ. Many congregations have worship teams, also called praise teams, where women with microphones take part in leading the singing. Basically, the praise team becomes a choir and is there for the entertainment of the audience, thus God is not being worshipped “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Instrumental music is again being introduced into worship just as it was a little more than 100 years ago. To ease it in, some congregations have both an “instrumental” and an a cappella service. Some say that instrumental music is not a doctrinal or salvation issue and that it doesn’t really matter. But Jesus says, “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17), which means by His authority. Since instrumental music is by the authority of man and not of God, the worship of one who sings with the instrument is vain.