Introduction: Knowledge Is Not Neutral
The peace of the Lord be with you. I give thanks to the eternal God for the openness that is dispensed to us from the throne of grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, through His Word and through His Holy Spirit. These are wonderful times when we can expose ourselves to the power of the Lord’s Word and to the power of His Holy Spirit. What is the church but the result of men and women who have been born of the Word and of the power of the Holy Spirit? Therefore, those times of grace and mercy that the Lord presents to us are glorious times, times of revelation, times in which He opens the Word so that we may walk not in ignorance, but in the knowledge of His revelation.
The prophet Hosea wrote concerning the people of Israel and said on behalf of God: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). That is not merely a historical note; in many cases it describes what is also happening today. Genuine men and women of noble heart who have nevertheless not come to the knowledge of the truth, precisely because they lack the knowledge of God’s revelation.
In this teaching we will address the three major apostate doctrines currently circulating within our Christian community. This is not an exhaustive treatment of every form of doctrinal apostasy, but it does cover the three that have most deeply permeated the church and that are hindering the growth and development of God’s people.
Before addressing them, it is essential to establish a foundation developed in previous teachings: knowledge is not neutral. The knowledge we receive, regardless of its source, does not leave us indifferent. It is either positive or negative. Depending entirely on the intentions that sustain it, it will produce either liberation in those who embrace it, or slavery. This is a truth that applies not only to religious or biblical knowledge, but to all knowledge to which we are exposed.
Today, in the time we are living in, technological tools have been developed that are actively shaping the way people think, act, and even feel. It is no secret that the knowledge flowing constantly and continuously through all social media has a deliberate purpose: to guide people in how they think, act, and feel. Artificial intelligence, unfortunately, is no exception to this. Today there are ministers who have stopped preparing their sermons in the power of the Holy Spirit and instead delegate them entirely to artificial intelligence tools. The result is congregations being shaped not by the Word of God or by the power of the Holy Spirit, but by a system that, even if it uses and mentions the Bible, was not born in divine revelation.
The best example from antiquity to illustrate how knowledge proceeding from darkness can penetrate even those who walk in revelation is found in Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve walked in a purity and in an atmosphere of revelation that we today cannot attain. They had no awareness of sin. And yet, the information the serpent introduced was so persuasive, so persistent, and so compelling that it caused the spiritual eyes of Eve first, and of Adam second, to shift and to rest upon a knowledge originating from darkness. This passage warns us with absolute clarity: we cannot walk in naivety. We cannot be ignorant of what lies behind the words and knowledge that we often accept as good, that captivates us, impresses us, and leads us to share it with others.
The apostle Paul expressed it precisely in his first epistle to the Corinthians: “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:6). A piece of knowledge that filters in, even arriving as a single loose word, without appearing as a lengthy definition or an obvious slogan, eventually becomes established in a person’s conscience and begins to determine how they think, act, and feel.
Along these same lines, it is lamentable to note that much of God’s people are walking in a naivety that leads them to destruction. Not because God has abandoned them, but because they have embraced the idea that Christ did it all at the cross and therefore there is nothing more to do: simply confess His name, attend church, and stay away from obvious sin. That attitude is not seeing with spiritual eyes the reality of what surrounds and attacks them. The church must stop walking in naivety and must be grounded in the Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that no information or knowledge that arrives can become established in its conscience without first passing through the filter of divine revelation.
We now present the three most deeply rooted apostate doctrines within the people of God today. I want to give this forewarning: as soon as they are identified, many will reject them, many will dismiss them, and it is very likely that some will decide to change channels. That reaction itself shows the degree to which they are entrenched, how foundational they have become within the Christian sphere, and how deeply many defend them without realizing they are defending a doctrine not grounded in the Word of God.
First Apostate Doctrine: The Rapture Prior to the Coming of Christ
The Doctrine and Its Problem
The first apostate doctrine we must address is that of the rapture of the church prior to the coming of Jesus. We state clearly: the Word of God does not establish a rapture or catching-up of the church before the coming of Christ Jesus. Although those who teach this use texts from the Bible, they rely fundamentally on interpretations of isolated verses, most of them taken from Matthew chapter 24, without respecting the agenda of events as established in Holy Scripture.
The Order of Events According to the Word
The starting point for correctly understanding the order of the final events is found in Second Thessalonians chapter 2. The apostle Paul, moved by the Spirit of God, writes:
“Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1–3)
Verse 3 defines with absolute clarity the order of events preceding the coming of Christ Jesus. Before the parousia of the Lord — as His second coming is known in biblical theology — two events must occur: first, the apostasy; second, the manifestation of the man of sin, the son of perdition, whom the apostle John identifies as the antichrist. The text requires no additional interpretation. Before the coming of Jesus: the apostasy and the manifestation of the antichrist. There is no room in the biblical agenda for a rapture prior to these events.
The Lord Jesus Himself confirms this order in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 24, where we read:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:29–30)
The order is undeniable: first the tribulation — the affliction produced by the presence of the antichrist — and then the manifestation of the Son of Man. This aligns perfectly with the text of 2 Thessalonians: apostasy, manifestation of the antichrist and the time of tribulation, and then the glorious coming of Christ Jesus.
Verse 31 of the same chapter adds:
“And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:31)
Here is the catching-up of the church: it is simultaneous with the coming of Christ Jesus. It does not occur before. And it is significant to note that those gathered at that moment are called “the elect.” Already in verse 22 of the same chapter 24, referring to the days of the great tribulation, Jesus says: “But for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22). It is God’s elect who pass through those days and who will determine the duration of the tribulation. It cannot be argued that these are the lukewarm or the less committed, as some claim in defense of the pre-tribulation rapture. They are called the elect. The Word is clear.
The Details of the Catching-Up According to First Thessalonians
First Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13 through 17, offers the most detailed description of how the catching-up of the church will take place:
“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–17)
The apostle Paul is not speaking of those who “were left behind” after a supposed prior rapture. He speaks of those who “remain”: those who arrive alive at the moment of the coming of Christ Jesus. To that simultaneous moment belong two events: the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the transformation of the living who will be present. The apostle Paul described this transformation in greater detail in First Corinthians chapter 15:
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality…” (1 Corinthians 15:51–53)
And in verse 23 of that same chapter 15, Paul establishes the order with a definitive statement: “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23). The catching-up of the church occurs at the coming of Christ, not before.
A Visible Event, Not a Silent Disappearance
The doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture is often depicted as a sudden and silent disappearance of people: the pilot of an airplane vanishes, people evaporate without a trace. That depiction is not biblical. The catching-up of the church is a visible, evident, and notable event: just as every eye will see Jesus coming in the clouds in all His glory — as the book of Revelation affirms — in the same way the catching-up of the church will be visible to all. God does not need to hide anyone.
Consequences of the Doctrinal Error
Why does it matter to correct this doctrine? Because God calls us to maturity, and maturity means not walking in naivety. It means walking according to the revelation of the Word, not according to the proposal of the denomination one belongs to. When you accept Christ Jesus, you accept Christ Jesus, not the denomination of the church where you received the message. There are people who are faithful to a denomination but not necessarily to the Word of God. Your commitment is to the Lord, to the Gospel, to the grace of Christ Jesus. Because the one who saves is Christ, not the denomination.
A plant that has insecticide poured into its soil will eventually die. A person who has come to Christ Jesus but does not have correct doctrine will reach a point of no growth, even if they attend church two, three, or four times a week. God’s people are not growing in many cases because they are not being fed with correct doctrine. That is why it is essential to break free from apostate doctrines.
Second Apostate Doctrine: The Church Will Not Go Through Tribulation
The Doctrine and Its Danger
The second apostate doctrine is closely linked to the first: the idea that the church will not go through the period of tribulation. This is the basis of what is known as the pre-tribulation rapture — the teaching that God will raise the church before the great tribulation begins so that it will not have to go through it. The Word of the Lord does not establish this. The church will go through a period of tribulation.
The damage of this doctrine runs deep: if God’s people believe they will not be here to see the tribulation, they are also not preparing themselves to face it. And a people unprepared to receive persecution or tribulation is a people at risk. Jesus Himself warned of this prophetically in the parable of the sower in Matthew chapter 13: those sown among thorns are those who receive the Word with joy, but when the thorns come — persecution, tribulation — the seed is choked. That is why it is essential to address this.
Tribulation Is Part of the Gospel Message
Today so much is preached about promises and blessings that people are not receiving an essential truth of the Gospel: it is necessary to suffer and endure hardship for the name of Jesus. In the Acts of the Apostles, the apostle Paul said clearly to the elders of the church: “we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Tribulation is not an anomaly of the Christian walk; it is a constitutive part of the Gospel message.
Even the theme of revival is tied to tribulation. The greatest revivals that have taken place throughout history have been the result of periods of tribulation. If God’s people want genuine revival, they cannot avoid the processes that historically and biblically produce it. The apostle Paul and the apostle Peter agree in their respective epistles on this truth: “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Timothy 2:12).
The apostle Peter confirms it with equal clarity in his first epistle: “the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). We will all go through it. And if we are not prepared, the tribulation will drive us out, choke us, suffocate us. But if we prepare ourselves in the grace and mercy of the Lord, the time that is coming will be the most supernatural and the greatest revival we have ever known.
The confusion that many have made between tribulation, punishment, and judgment has led them to reject the very idea of going through difficult processes. But the tribulation the Gospel describes is not punishment; it is a refining process within which the Lord supernaturally protects His people, His elect.
Third Apostate Doctrine: Salvation Cannot Be Lost
The Doctrine and Its Lulling Effect
The third apostate doctrine is perhaps the most deeply rooted of all: the idea that salvation cannot be lost, that once saved, always saved. This doctrine is lulling God’s people to sleep. It is teaching them to negotiate with God, to act carelessly in the face of sin, because after all the Lord knows the heart and the blood of Christ covers all iniquity.
The Problem Is One of Perspective, Not of God’s Grace
Before presenting the texts, it is necessary to correctly frame the issue. When Jesus goes to the cross and establishes the work of redemption, God gave everything by grace. God does not act in a changeable manner: “now I give it to you, now I take it away; now I give it, now I take it.” God gave everything. The grace of God means: here, take it, it is yours. The problem is not in God. The problem lies with us, who have often not understood the dignity of what God has given us. That ambiguous attitude — in which at times we stand firm and at other times act as we did before — is what can eventually cause a man or woman who has received Christ Jesus to lose salvation. Not because God took it away. But because they themselves cast it aside, abandoned it, walked away from it, did not work to maintain it.
What Scripture Says
The text of Matthew chapter 7, verses 22 and 23 is among the most striking on this subject:
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:22–23)
Some argue that these people were never true believers. But when Jesus establishes in Mark chapter 16 the signs of those who believe, He says: “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues… they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17–18). What Matthew 7:22 describes are precisely the signs of those who have believed. These are people who walked under an apostate doctrine: the one that says salvation cannot be lost, regardless of how one lives.
First Timothy chapter 1, verse 19 clearly states that there are those who have made shipwreck of the faith: “having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck” (1 Timothy 1:19). A shipwreck is not a momentary stumble; it is getting lost, losing the route, being lost permanently. And that happened not because God abandoned them, but because they did not maintain the effort that a life of faith requires.
In chapter four of that same epistle, the Spirit of God warns through the apostle:
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith…” (1 Timothy 4:1)
To depart from the faith means to divorce oneself from the faith. Can salvation be lost or not? God kept salvation available for these people the entire time. They lost it because they did not strive, because they did not guard it, because they did not work to maintain it.
First John chapter 2, verses 18 and 19 adds another important dimension:
“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” (1 John 2:18–19)
The apostle John reaches the conclusion that “they were not of us” not because they had never belonged to the people of God, but because they did not remain. They did not guard salvation. They did not work to maintain it. And the Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 through 4, warns with this solemn question:
“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…?” (Hebrews 2:1–4)
Salvation is lost if one does not work to maintain it, if one does not feed it, if one does not strive to hold on to it. The life of faith does not consist of “the Lord already did it all.” It consists of striving, of persevering day by day, of growing.
The Life of Faith Demands Personal Effort
The apostle Paul expresses it clearly in Ephesians chapter 4: putting on the new man implies an attitude, an activity, a commitment, a genuine effort on the part of the individual. Even in the book of Job, a character from the Old Testament who lived before the preaching of the Gospel, Job declares: “I have made a covenant with my eyes,” acknowledging that a deliberate effort, an inner commitment, is necessary in order not to yield to temptation. Salvation is worked, salvation is built, salvation is fought for. First Timothy expresses it this way: the athlete works to obtain results; the farmer works to see fruit. A faith that does not strive will make shipwreck.
Many offer excuses such as: “there is something that overpowers me.” But in Genesis chapter 4, before the Gospel had even been preached, God says to Cain: “sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). Do not say that something overpowers you. It is not that something overpowers you; it is that you chose to surrender to it because you did not seek help, because you did not strive, because you did not work, because you suppressed it all. The life of faith consists of rising out of the states in which we find ourselves, by the power of the Spirit of God, actively working through the process the apostle describes in Ephesians chapter 4: “putting off the old man.”
Salvation can indeed be lost. Not because God withdraws it. But because the man or woman who does not guard it, who does not work to maintain it, who does not feed it, will eventually lose it. Do not play with sin. Do not negotiate with God. Salvation is a gift of incomparable dignity, and that dignity demands a response of genuine commitment, day by day, without exception.
Conclusion: Reject What Is Not in Accordance with the Word
In summary, the three major apostate doctrines that are firmly present today within the people of God are the following:
- The church will not be raised before the coming of Jesus. The Bible does not establish a rapture prior to His parousia. The catching-up of the church is simultaneous with the coming of Christ Jesus.
- The church will go through the tribulation. Many have confused tribulation with punishment and punitive judgment, but the Word makes clear that judgment begins at the house of God and that we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of heaven. A people that does not prepare will be overwhelmed by the tribulation.
- Salvation can be lost. Not because God withdraws it, but because those who do not work for it, who do not guard it, who do not strive to remain in the faith, will reach the point of spiritual shipwreck.
These three doctrines have taken hold of much of God’s people and are preventing their growth. They are like insecticide in the soil where a plant is sown: instead of providing nourishment and life, they produce deterioration and spiritual death. God does not want the wicked to perish; this has been established since the Old Testament. In His grace and mercy, He has extended the knowledge of the truth so that we may be free. But if we despise that truth, if we cling to doctrines that give us comfort yet lead us away from the Word, we will ultimately find destruction.
If you have identified any of these doctrines — or any other you have embraced and walked in for a long time — and you see that it does not align with the Word of the Lord: reject it. If you truly want to grow, if you truly want to prosper, if you truly want revival and spiritual awakening: reject it. Because otherwise there will come a point of no return. Do not let that point be yours. The peace of the Lord be with you.
Review Questions
- What is the order of the final events established in Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 3? Why does that order refute the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture?
- How do Matthew 24:29–31 and First Thessalonians 4:13–17 confirm that the catching-up of the church is simultaneous with the coming of Christ, and not prior to it?
- In Matthew 24:22, those who remain during the days of the great tribulation are called “the elect.” What does that term tell us about the spiritual state of those who will pass through that time?
- Why is the teaching that “the church will not go through the tribulation” spiritually dangerous for the believer, according to this teaching? What relationship does Scripture establish between tribulation and genuine revival?
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