Apostasy

Apostasy is turning away from or forsaking the truth. 1 Tim. 1:19, 20 Although false religion teaches it is losing one's salvation, God's Word teaches the security of the believer. John 3:16; 5:24; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:35-39. Some even teach the impossibility for the saved to be guilty of apostasy. God's Word declares any believer can turn aside from the truth to false teachers, having "itching ears." One must be in the truth in order to apostasize. When God's people in the truth "put away" the faith they once held dear, that is apostasy! It is a willful, deliberate rejection of the clear teachings of the Bible by a child of God. Some have rejected church discipline, scriptural baptism, closed communion, the local nature of the church and the truth that the Bible is the all sufficient rule of faith and practice (speaking in tongues).
Israel's apostasy involved false worship. The nation went into repeated backslidings (means the same as apostasy). Jer. 5:1-9 God's prophet predicted God's judgment upon such disloyalty to God's truth in Israel. Jer. 2:19
When the Lord's people today in His churches turn away from the truth, God's judgment is no less sure! Rev. 2, 3 in the last days (our days), we are seeing the great falling away - a great time of apostasy. Like Paul, our desire should be to be able to say, "I have kept the faith."