The Latter-Day Gentile Apostasy

​In this post, we’ll look at the latter-day Gentile apostasy. We set the stage in the previous post that America was founded on the principles of liberty set out in the Law given to ancient Israel. Therefore, rejection of the biblical laws and principles in America’s form of government underpinning Americas Constitution becomes key to this latter-day apostasy.  Topics in this review include the traditions of men, self-sovereignty and corrupted leadership.​

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Endtime Event Sequence
So as another preparatory Endtime event, we see the Gentiles reject Yeshua and the Gospel.

​America Established as a Free Nation Under Divine Law

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The Latter-Day Gentile Apostasy

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The Traditions of Men
We see in scripture that one of  the primary causes of apostasy is that men embrace human traditions that corrupt God’s truth.  One commentator defines tradition:

"Religious traditions are the laws, regulations, beliefs, doctrines and practices which are handed down (usually orally) from one generation to another.  Traditions are either true or false. If they are in accord with the scriptures, they are true; if they go contrary to the written, revealed word, they are false." (McConkie)

Yeshua criticized the Pharisees,and Scribes for perpetuating man made traditions,

"Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold to the tradition of men," (Mark 7:7,8)
 
Consider this perspective by Dr. Gileadi,
 
"Debates about the nature of God have echoed in Jewish and Christian circles over many centuries but without seeming resolution.  When prophets and apostles who knew God were persecuted to the point of extinction, their successors, who didn’t know God … decided by committees what they thought God was like and formulated their ideas in official creeds, religious doctrines and belief systems that persist to this day."
 
 
The Law was Done Away
The most glaring of these man made traditions involved promoting a replacement theology that killed the Law Yeshua gave to Israel as Jehovah - deeming it as being punitive, archaic and irrelevant, and thereby creating a different god.  And without really thinking about it, we turned Jehovah-Yeshua from a god of law and justice, yes and mercy to a “flower child”. 
 
As a doctrine of men, we accepted that the whole of the Torah as being “done away”.  When in reality it was by and large only the sacrificial system of animals that Yeshua had done away. Moreover, some of the more challenging laws found in the Torah were placed there to deal with the wicked and the unrighteous of humanity.​

Self-Sovereignty
A second factor we see in apostasy is that people “want to do their own thing”. We call this “self-sovereignty”. Where people decide for themselves what is relevant instead of the whole Word and Law of God.  Substituting their own reasoning and self-interests replacing what God requires. They also become distracted by the attractions of modern society distracting us from what is really important. We pursue these worldly attractions with our time and money as the world slowly self-destructs.

Self-sovereignty is not a new idea, we see this in ancient Israel in the Book of Judges where each man “did right in their own eyes”. Judges 17:6; 21:25. 


Corrupted Leaders
A third factor in apostasy is the corruption of leaders both politically and religiously.  Because we see leaders embrace man made traditions and enable people in their self-absorptions they corrupt God’s Law and Truth. Leaders fragment society and believing communities as people try to ascertain the truth for themselves.  The prophet Ezekiel confirms this when he prophesy during the last days that leaders scatter their flocks because they don’t feed them with the truth. Ezekiel 34​  The doctrines that these latter-day leaders promote, Isaiah calls "tables of vomit" - Isaiah 28:8 (Isaiah Institute Translation)

Our Three Prophecies

The Fourth Turning
We see in The Fourth Turning a breakdown in society as people start pursuing their own self-interests to the detriment of society - this is self-sovereignty.  The original truths that promoted a free and prosperous society that unified them starts to crack as people push their own agendas and self-interests. In the Fourth Turning, the authors use the term “individualism”.  In the second turning or the Awakening, we see rising individualism. Then in the third turning or the Unraveling, Individualism is maximized. p.105

Commenting on the rising of individualism in society, the authors observed,

“As Jimmy Carter declared that America was suffering a national malaise, the World Symposium on Humanity declared a “Manifesto of the Person”: proclaiming "a sovereign right of self-discovery” in which “the journey is the destination.” Americans were now fully absorbed into what Christopher Lasch called the “Culture of Narcissism,” feeling that the best way to approach life was not (as in the High) to start with the community and move in, but to start with the self and move out.” p. 174-175


The Book of Isaiah
In the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah prophesy that America (Egypt) leaders will lead the people astray.  Meaning that the leaders will lead the people away from the founding biblical principles that created the greatness of America.

“The ministers of Zoan have been foolish, the officials of Noph deluded; the heads of state have led Egypt astray.”  Isaiah 19:13

Commenting, Dr. Gileadi said,

“Considering themselves as wise as Egypt’s founding fathers, they act presumptuously, only to lead Egypt deeper into ruin. Deviating from well-proven principles—relying instead on their own wisdom”.


The Book of Mormon
In the Book of Mormon, statements are made that those who deny Christ, deny the prophets and the Law.  Further this passage makes clear that it is only the sacrificial system that is done away, because to toss the Law wholesale would be to abandon the biblical principles of liberty that America was founded on.  So we must conclude that it was only the sacrificial system that was done away. Hence, when the Gentiles reject the biblical principles of freedom of America, they are in reality rejecting Christ - His Law - the crux of the Gentile apostasy.

“And now behold, my people, ye are a stiffnecked people; wherefore, I have spoken plainly unto you, that ye cannot misunderstand. And the words which I have spoken shall stand as a testimony against you; for they are sufficient to teach any man the right way; for the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not; for by denying him ye also deny the prophets and the law.
And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out.
And, inasmuch as it shall be expedient, ye must keep the performances and ordinances of God until the law shall be fulfilled which was given unto Moses.”  2 Nephi 25:28-30  Also see Alma 34:13

This statement by the Mormon founder is also interesting when we consider that early converts to Mormonism all came from the protestant christian tradition that the Law had been “done away”, 

"I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions.” (Smith)​