The Great Apostasy Myth: Bearing False Witness Against God and the Early Church

In this post we are addressing the claim that early Christians corrupted the faith by appropriating pagan practices and handing down to us a false Gospel. This view is most popular among groups like the Hebrew Roots Movement, Atheist and Muslims.

The myth involves the doctrine of the Great Apostasy – the straying and falling away of Churches and Christians that we see happening today. However, the claim is that the Apostasy began in the late first century.

It is illogical to believe that the Christian communities fell away in the first few centuries for reasoning we list below:

In the book of Malachi we read that the “gentiles” would know and worship God, “from the rising of the sun even to the going down, hereof my name has been glorified among the Gentiles”. However, according to those who believe an early entrance of the Great Apostasy,   this prophecy never came true.

The logic of this is, if the early church failed, God failed. Thus, an early Great Apostasy is a lie against God, since we know these prophecies did come true:

Malachi 1:11: “For from the rising of the sun even to the going down thereof my name has been glorified among the Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord Almighty.”

Isaiah 42:4: “He shall shine out, and shall not be discouraged, until he have set judgement on the earth: and in his name shall the Gentiles trust.”

Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Logically think about it, what makes more sense?

– The prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled and the “gentiles” did/do trust and worship God as promised. The early church spread the knowledge of God to all people on Earth. Thus, God was in control as He designed, and lovingly guided His plan for our salvation. He was and is still in control.

Or real Christianity was lost in an early Great Apostasy, which means:

– The early Christians who God had foretold would worship Him and help spread His name across the Earth, instead took His sacred plan for the salvation of mankind and corrupted it with paganism soon after the Apostles died. The true Gospel was never spread across the Earth. Instead,  Christians since the last Apostle died have believed a false Gospel.

Now if this were true, God lost control. Mere,  insignificant,  mortal man took the most important event in human history (the fullness of the Gospel of Christ) and destroyed God’s plan only handing down to us partial truths from the start. This makes God seem helpless and incompetent while at the mercy of His own creation. How can we take serious a God who would so easily allow something so important to be corrupted so quickly? He wants mankind to be saved, gives His son over to defeat death for us, but then allows this plan of salvation to be skewed?

If this is the case, few were saved and Jesus’ sacrifice is profaned. Salvation is limited to the first century to only a few centuries later in some circles views, and then to modern times. Everyone in between missed out.

Or another way to look at it is that God,  who wanted man to worship Him in truth, who wanted man to be saved and reconciled to Him, sat back and cruelly allowed the Gospel to be skewed and infused with paganism from the start thus, deceiving countless numbers of Christians down through the ages. Christians who had such strong faith in His son that they willingly went to their deaths in martyrdom in His name as the early Church did, did so for a false religion. And many still die in His name today! Mostly those who do so are of the Churches that stem from the early Church or in other words the Churches that are claimed to teach doctrines from the Great Apostasy.

So let’s be realistic. Jesus is our one and only redeemer. There is no other way man can be saved. Therefore, Christ must have been extremely important to God. He is God’s Son after all. We know that God is love and God so loved the world that He gave His only son for us (John 3:16). Christ was God’s plan the whole time. The Old Testament pointed to Jesus’ incarnation. All prophecies in the Old Testament are about Him. So obviously the salvation of mankind was and is still very important to God.

Remember God GAVE HIS SON FOR US!

To say that He allowed the Gospel and our salvation to be corrupted so early and so easily, before it spread across the as promised, is not only ridiculous,  but can be seen as blasphemy against God. Furthermore, to claim that the early Church corrupted Christianity with paganism is to lie against their own testimony and rebuttal of pagan practices.

For more Myths on Christianity:

For more on the Myths about Christianity see below:

Christmas and Paganism

Ishtar and the Easter Connection

The Sabbath, Sunday Observance and the Early Church

The Crucifixion is a Historical Fact

Modern Scholarship Proves the New Testament is More Accurate than Any Other Historical Text

Extra Biblical Evidence for Jesus

“Jesus is a copy of pagan deities” Myth

The Great Apostasy Myth