The Coming Apostasy

The Coming Apostasy: Exposing the Sabotage of Christianity from Within
by Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley
Tyndale House Publishers: 3/7/17
eBook review copy; 224 pages
ISBN-13: 9781496414076

The Coming Apostasy: Exposing the Sabotage of Christianity from Within by Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley is a very highly recommended plea to the church to return to sound Biblical teaching.

Apostasy is falling away from the faith. It is the rejection of sound and wholesome teaching that is based on the Bible. The Bible warns that, "For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths." 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NLT)


"Apostasy represents an abandonment of faith, and it can happen over time without a person realizing it. In fact, just the opposite may occur, as pride mixed with false doctrine leads to an attitude of superiority, complacency, and self-righteousness." Authors Hitchcock and Kinley have four purposes for writing this book: (1) to help Christians understand what apostasy is; (2) to help us understand that it’s surging all around us and is a serious sign of the end times; (3) to guard us from spiritual shipwreck and the danger of sinking; and (4) to help us understand the truth so that we stay on course as we await Christ’s return.

Many Christians can see that we are living in a time when sound doctrine is under siege and the Bible is being reduced to an outdated book of suggestions. It seems that people are more concerned with how they feel about whatever moral or theological topic is under consideration rather than what the Bible says. As pride mixes with false doctrine, it "leads to an attitude of superiority, complacency, and self-righteousness." Individuals, churches, and whole denominations are subject to a falling away from sound doctrine. Our guide to what is right and wrong should be the Bible.

The word of God does not change - people do. God does not compromise or rewrite his truth - people do. And in our quest to be relevant and up-to-date we are trying to please unbelievers by compromising the very inerrant and infallible word of God. Bringing home the point that it is currently unconscionable that we are even considering negotiating with a certain ideology that believes they have "holy mandate" to subjugate or kill outsiders. Right now Hitchcock and Kinley are spot on in their observation that: "The war in the East is to establish a religion. The war in the West is to eradicate a religion."

The Coming Apostasy is well written and organized, making it easy for readers to follow and understand the points being made. I agree with everything written in it, although I would prefer one or maybe two translations of the Bible be used rather than five, or at least do a parallel version to see/compare alternate translations. This is just a personal preference, but I also understand why different translations can make points easier to comprehend for a wide variety of people.

 
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Tyndale House Publishers.