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                            The Great Apostasy!

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By David Wilkerson
May 7, 1986
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          Before the antichrist is revealed, there will be a
          mystery of Lawlessness already at work. The one who is
          coming will appear after a furious activity of
          apostasy. Satan and all the powers of darkness will be
          setting the stage - destroying the faith of many.
          Because sin will be more rampant, the love of many of
          God's people will grow very cold. There will be
          shipwrecked believers on all sides.

          God's greatest concern is not what Christians are
          falling into - but what they are falling away from!
          Multitudes of Christians including pastors, deacons,
          ministry people of all kinds are losing their faith and
          confidence in the power of Jesus' name! They are
          turning away from Christ as the answer to everything.
          They are falling away from a childlike faith in Him
          alone as the solution to all life's problems. There is
          a wholesale turning toward methods, toward psychology,
          toward human expertise, toward the philosophies and
          doctrines of men.

          All the prophet's foresaw this last great apostasy
          Isaiah was given a message from God that deals
          specifically with our day. He foretold what is
          happening right now; he warned about a last-day people
          who would "go back to Egypt" for help and who would
          reject the Lord as their source of supply.

          God made sure there would be no mistaking who this
          prophecy was directed to. He told Isaiah: "Now go,
          write it before them on a tablet, and note it in a
          book, that it may be for the time to come forever and
          ever? (Isaiah 30:8). The literal translation is, "That
          it may be for future generations, for the latter days."
          The 30th chapter of Isaiah is God's message to this
          latter day church. How very accurate and true it is!

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                        1. The Message Begins With A
                       Revelation Of God'S Grief Over
                        The Cause Of The Apostasy!

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          "Woe to the rebellious children, declares the Lord, who
          execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but
          not of My Spirit; in order to add sin to sin; who
          proceed down to Egypt, without consulting Me, to take
          refuge in the safety of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in
          the shadow of Egypt!" (Isaiah 30:1,2).

          Why does God call them rebellious children? Because
          they have now committed the ultimate sin, causing Him
          the utmost grief! Here is introduced a sin worse than
          adultery - worse than fornication, or stealing, or
          lying, or hating one's brother. It is the ultimate sin
          of rebellion and apostasy! God calls it a compounded
          sin - adding sin upon sin!

          It is a slap in God's face - the consummate, ultimate,
          most brazen sin possible for a child of God to commit.
          It is proceeding down to egypt rather than consulting
          the lord! This was directed to the leaders of Israel,
          under Hezekiah - but also to the church of these latter
          days.

          Drug abuse, alcoholism, adultery, gambling,
          homosexuality, fornication, pornography - all these
          evil deeds are sins against the flesh, against society,
          and against the laws and commandments of God. But this
          sin is against the Lord Himself it is a personal
          indignity against a Holy God!

          Keep in mind - this is our grieved Lord who is
          speaking:

          "You now make your plans without consulting Me!"

          "You are now in league with those who lean on the arm
          of flesh, and not the Spirit!"

          "You are going back to the very thing I delivered you
          from - back to seeking help from what once caused you
          all your pain and bondage."

          "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely
          on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many,
          and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they
          do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the
          Lord!" (Isaiah 31:1)

          Remember this is all about how to be delivered from the
          enemy! It has to do with deliverance! How do we deliver
          God's people from the raging enemies! The Assyrians are
          at the gate, threatening destruction. Assyria means
          successful enemy. This represents the on-rushing tide
          of evil that seems to be so successful today! How are
          God's leaders - His shepherds - His elders going to
          face this formidable enemy at the gate? He has swept
          away everything before him; it seems as if he is
          unstoppable.

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                             Israel Panicked!

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          They got their eyes on the enemy they did not turn to
          the Lord with full confidence and trust! They turned to
          the arm of the flesh. They sent ambassadors to Egypt,
          to the government leaders and generals in Zoan and
          Hanes. They took matters in their own hands.

          Isaiah paints a vivid picture of the emptiness and
          anguish ahead of them. In going down to Egypt they were
          headed "Through a land of distress and anguish, where
          dwells the lion, viper and serpent." They would find
          nothing but emptiness, vanity. "Therefore, I have
          called her Rahab who has been exterminated" (Isaiah
          30:7).

          Rahab here in Hebrew is, 'I have called Egypt,
          Greatmouth that sits still?' Others render it, "The
          Bragging people who are idlers." (Keil, Delitzsch).

          The picture is terrible: Here are God's people, going
          backwards through the same desert they had been
          delivered from, returning for help to a boastful,
          bragging world system that could not move! They were
          willing to once again endure emptiness, pain, anguish -
          in a wilderness, looking to the world for help.

          Look at the church today; look at its armies of trained
          experts; look at its shepherds and workers. Where are
          most of them headed? Back to the wilderness, back to
          Great-Mouth Egypt! Turning away from the Man of
          Galilee; away from the reproach of the Cross; away from
          the power of prayer; away from faith; away from the
          Word of God. "For this is a rebellious people who
          refuse to listen to the instructions of the lord"
          (Isaiah 30:9).

          Moses prophesied this very thing would happen in the
          latter days! He foretold of the great falling away of
          God's people. "Take this book of the law and place it
          beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God,
          that it may remain there as a witness against you. For
          I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold,
          while I am still alive with you today, you have been
          rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after
          my death? Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes
          and your officers, that I may speak these words in
          their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to
          witness against them. For I know that after my death
          you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I
          have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the
          latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the
          sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work
          of your hands" (Deuteronomy 31:26-29).

          He warned, "You will turn away - evil will befall you
          in the latter days". Moses prophesied: "When I bring
          them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I
          swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and become
          prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve
          them, and spurn me and break my covenant". (Deuteronomy
          31:20).

          Let's tie it down and get to the point the prophets are
          making. What does it mean to spurn the Lord - to go
          down to Egypt? How does that interpret in these latter
          days? God is saying, "When you were first called - when
          I touched you and delivered you from the enemy, you
          wanted only Me! You prayed about everything! You had a
          childlike trust and faith in Me, that I would guide
          you, that I would miraculously supply all your needs. I
          was your joy - I alone was your satisfaction. You were
          not burned out; you had a yearning heart after Me!

          "Now you have all your experts, your how-to books. You
          have modern methods, you don't need Me to supply your
          need now. You have experts to tell you how to raise
          money, how to write letters, how to make appeals. You
          have seminars, training sessions, more experts, more
          advice, much of which incorporates the teachings of
          this world. You are learning how to do things better,
          but getting to know Me less! I am not the center of it
          all now, you do it in My name, busily engaged, hard
          working - but it leaves you weary, burned out, empty,
          because you are on the road to Egypt. You are headed in
          the wrong direction.

          Our churches no longer have the power of God to attract
          the people. They go down to Egypt, borrow its music,
          its dancing, it's entertainment, hoping for a crowd! No
          passion for souls - just crowds! Church growth at any
          cost! Look at the average church bulletin; it looks
          like a theater calendar. The church wants to ride the
          swift horses of Egypt! It is a stench in God's
          nostrils.

          Even the para-church ministries are falling away,
          apostatizing! Workers are parked in front of the TV
          idol. Many are reading psychology books. While some
          still have a passion for souls, even that often becomes
          worldly hype and human energy"!

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                      2. There Will Follow A Rejection
                        Of The Message Of Holiness,
                         Judgment And Repentance!

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          "Who say to the seers, You must not see visions! And to
          the prophets, You must not prophesy to us what is
          right. Speak to us pleasant words, prophesying
          illusions" (Isaiah 30:10).

          An apostate church wants nothing to do with the visions
          or prophecies of men of righteousness. They want no
          message that disturbs, no upsetting of their successful
          world. They refuse any kind of correction. Everything
          is excused under the banner of love.

          They clamor for entertainment! They flock by the
          thousands to concerts, plays, social gatherings, they
          ridicule prophets. They mock what they call the
          Doomsday Preachers! They live with Illusions. They
          don't want a Preacher or Evangelist to tell them the
          hard truth - to bring forth the Sword of the Lord. They
          say, "Preach to us smooth things! Bless us! Make us
          happy! Make us feel good!"

          They especially reject the message of holiness and
          separation. They say, "Get out of the way, turn aside
          from the paths .... Let us hear no more about the Holy
          One of Israel" (Isaiah 30:11).

          I never thought I'd live to see the day that Assembly
          of God pastors would write me reproachful letters,
          telling me I am bringing confusion and gloom to the
          body of Christ. For what? Preaching holiness, judgment
          and repentance?

          Jeremiah was sent to prophesy against the apostate
          Jews, the Lord's own people. God warned him, "They will
          fight you... the dread of the Lord is no longer in
          them... they prefer to drink from cisterns now, rather
          than living water" (Jeremiah 1,2,3).

          Why do people embrace the prosperity message and reject
          correction and calls to repentance and holiness? It is
          because of their lifestyles. Prosperity preaching fits
          beautifully into their successful lifestyles. They
          flock to those teachers, because they want to feel
          comfortable in their world of materialism. They are in
          no mood to give up anything, or to sacrifice, or to
          hear of crosses and losses. They are into buying,
          acquiring, enjoying, climbing. They refuse to heed the
          prophetic warnings that the party will soon be over.

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                         An Apostate Church Simply
                       Endures The Prophetic Voice.

                      -------------------------------

          They pass it by with a condescending smile. And that is
          worse than out-right rejection. "And they come to you
          as people come, and sit before you as My people, and
          hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do
          the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their
          heart goes after their gain. And behold, you are to
          them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful
          voice and plays well on an instrument: for they hear
          your words, but they do not practice them" (Ezekiel
          33:31,32).

          To many Christians, even those sincere, who call
          themselves "His people," the call to rid their home of
          the TV idol, to shut down Rock and Roll and Music of
          the Devils, to get serious about total surrender, is
          all a novel message. It is a little on the entertaining
          side to them - they love to hear it - to "Amen" it, but
          it does not affect them. They continue to follow the
          lusts of their hearts. You see, they are liberated, not
          under law or legalism and refuse to permit the Holy
          Spirit to probe their inner man about it's seeping
          corruption in their lives and homes.

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                  According To The Prophecy Of Isaiah, The
                   Apostate Church Of The Last Days Will
                  Totally Reject The Call To Repentance!

                      -------------------------------

          "For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
          in repentance and rest you shall be saved, in quietness
          and truth is your strength. But you were not willing
          ... You said, no!" (Isaiah 30:15,16).

          God's message to the church now is this: "Your one last
          hope, your only strength left, is to return to me with
          all your heart; repent - Trust Me Only! Turn aside from
          Egypt, the world!

          Tell that to the multi-million dollar TV ministries!
          Tell that to the busy, prosperous pastors! Tell that to
          the money-mad crowds! Tell them that their only
          salvation now is in repentance and holiness! They don't
          even have the time to consider the question, let alone
          answer it. Isaiah says they will reject the message of
          repentance; reject the thought of quietness, rest and
          simple trust - they are too busy racing about on swift
          horses, fleeing - chasing their own dreams.

          Isaiah predicts a sudden collapse of those individuals
          and ministries who reject the message of repentance.

          "Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Since you
          have rejected this Word, and have put trust in
          oppression and guile, and have relied on them,
          therefore this iniquity will be to you like a breach
          about to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse
          comes suddenly in an instant. And whose collapse is
          like the smashing of a potter's jar; so ruthlessly
          shattered" (Isaiah 30:12-14).

          There is coming a sudden, overnight, ruthless
          shattering - a collapse of ministries, churches,
          lifestyles - of those who are at ease in Zion! I have
          seen what Isaiah saw! There is coming, very soon, an
          economic calamity, so sudden, so unexpected - the money
          flow will stop! TV ministries will go bankrupt one
          after another. Many churches which are laden with debt
          will fall into bankruptcy.

          Those who preach prosperity exclusively will become the
          most hated preachers in the land. Already we receive
          mail from those who were in that camp, but now in deep
          financial trouble - and the hurting ones are turning on
          their teacher, crying, "You deceived me! Why doesn't
          your stuff work now?" The teachers themselves will be
          in terror, beholding the collapse - overnight!

          Believe me, it is all about to be shattered! Is Isaiah
          lying? Hear him: "Because you rejected this word of
          holiness, repentance and prophetic warnings, your high
          wall will develop a bulge; it will fall suddenly - it
          will all be over and done in a moment!"

          Who can believe it? Today, millions of dollars flow
          freely! They build; they buy; they sell; they go about
          their dreams as if it will never end! But the day is
          just ahead - shortly, an awesome collapse is coming! So
          ruthless! So shattering! So suddenly! Who would have
          believed the frightful collapse of the Oil Market? Who
          would have believed that our Shuttle would explode?

          Thousands of apostate shepherds and their helpless
          flocks will tremble in shame and terror! "One thousand
          will flee at the threat of one man, you shall flee at
          the threat of five; until you are left as a flag on a
          mountain top, and as a signal on a hill" (Isaiah
          30:17).

          This means that fear will overcome them. They will be
          chased about to and fro, no hiding place, no rest, no
          quiet confidence, no inner strength - terrorized! They
          will become just a shadow of what once was!

          The kingdom of self, of pride, of ambition, is coming
          down! The warnings of Isaiah will not be heeded - my
          warnings will be scoffed at. But they have been warned!
          When it come, and it will, what good will their message
          then be? Who will listen? Their dreams and illusions
          will be swept away! Their stages of entertainment
          decimated! Even the ungodly will say, "How could it be?
          Why has God done this to them?"

          These warnings will not trouble those Christians who
          are shut in with God. The warnings of Jesus were
          stronger than the warnings just read - yet to the
          trusting ones He said, "Fear not." Read on saints -
          there is a glorious side to it all!

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                     3. Out Of The Apostate Church Will
                     Arise A Holy, Repentant People Who
                        Will Yearn After The Lord!

                      -------------------------------

          How our Lord yearns to have a people here who long for
          Him only! He grieves over the apostate thing, but His
          compassion will bring forth a people who return, who
          repent - who want only Him! "Therefore the Lord longs
          to be gracious to you. And therefore He waits on high
          to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of
          justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him"
          (Isaiah 30:18).

          Isaiah was addressing now a people of the future! He
          was speaking to a people who would make up the
          spiritual Zion - Jerusalem, which can never fall or
          collapse. It is a holy people whose main characteristic
          is their yearning hearts after God!

          What was the mark of the apostate people? They did not
          yearn for the Lord, but longed after Egypt, the world,
          the flesh, the earthly. This is the sad lack of the
          church today! There is so little of this deep longing
          for Christ. So little of being shut in with Him,
          desiring Him as the fullness of life. We have a
          generation who will work for Him, we will witness, feed
          the poor, help the homeless, and minister to human
          need. But so few spend their days yearning for Him. God
          said, "My people have forgotten Me days without number"
          (Jeremiah 2:32).

          While all around there will be collapse and weeping -
          this people will not weep! God is going to hear their
          cry and answer their prayer! "O people in Zion,
          inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He
          will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your
          cry; when He hears it, He will answer you" (Ezekiel
          30:19).

          There will be privations! There will be oppression from
          Satan, from the world, from circumstances, but God will
          be manifest among this people. The presence of the Lord
          will be precious to them. "Although the Lord has given
          you bread of privation and water of oppression, He,
          your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes
          will behold your teacher" (Isaiah30:20).

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                          There Will Come Forth A
                        Pure, Clear And Holy Word.

                      -------------------------------

          God will supply this people with true revelation. They
          will see what no others have seen! They will be led
          step by step by the Lord! There will be no famine of
          the true Word then, no more need for sermon tapes or
          far off seminars. The Lord already has in place an
          array of holiness and repentance preachers, awaiting
          the hour Christians will be ready to listen. No longer
          will they be maligned and ostracized - they will stand
          in the gap and proclaim the holy and pure word of the
          Lord to a trembling nation. "And your ears will hear a
          word behind you, this is the way, walk in it, whenever
          you turn to the right or to the left" (Isaiah 30:21).

          This people will tear down all their idols! They will
          so yearn after their Lord, all the idols must go! "And
          you will defile your graven images, overlaid with
          silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You
          will scatter them as an impure thing; and say to them,
          be gone" (Isaiah 30:22).

          They will enjoy their greatest ministry when all around
          is fear, failure and shattering collapses. "Then He
          will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in
          the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and
          it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your
          livestock will graze in a roomy pasture" (Isaiah
          30:23).

          Praise God! This yearning remnant will have a glorious
          harvest in the day of ruin and calamity! They will not
          be running and hiding! They heard the sound of the
          trumpet and prepared. They hid themselves in Christ,
          the cleft of the rock.

          For the past few years, and now in greater intensity,
          God has and is preparing a people He will call upon in
          the day of slaughter! They will not be shaken when all
          else is shaken by God. They will have that quiet rest
          and strength; confidence in Him!

          They will not burn out! They will not be discouraged or
          cast down! There will be no confusion in them! They
          will know God has prepared them for this hour. They
          will be drinking from divine springs of water! "And on
          every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will
          be streams running with water on the day of the great
          slaughter, when the towers fall" (Isaiah 30:25).

          Do you believe that? In the day God tears down all the
          strongholds which men and the apostate church trusted
          in, when the great slaughter of man-centered ministries
          begins, they will be quietly drinking from streams of
          supernatural water!

          Best of all, these bruised but trusting, yearning
          saints will come into the greatest, brightest
          revelation of Jesus Christ ever given to mankind. "And
          the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,
          and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter,
          like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds
          up the fracture of his people and heals the bruise He
          has inflicted" (Isaiah 30:26).

          Each remaining day before Christ returns - this
          repentant, trusting, yearning people will behold Him
          with ever-increasing light! This body will enjoy a
          revelation of Jesus Christ seven times more intense
          than all past revelations. We will meet Him, as His
          bride, clothed in His brightness.

          If this message frightens or troubles you - better
          search your heart! This is not a message of doom or
          gloom to overcomers. Those who are trusting the Lord
          fully will rejoice - for our day of redemption draws
          near!

          I am one of the most excited preachers in the world! I
          can hardly contain my joy - because God is about to
          bring down, and shake apart, all that is of the world
          and the flesh!

          Saints - rejoice with me!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

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