“Moving on in the Book of Jude,” Fuller began, “the writer sets before us the reason we should contend for the faith. Something is happening to the church, and Jude sounds an alarm. Erin, please read the fourth verse of Jude for us.”

Erin smiled and read Jude 4. “‘For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.’” She frowned. “Well, that doesn’t sound good at all. This sounds like men willingly and intentionally came into the church with ill will toward those who were serving God.”

“But note what it says,” King replied. “‘Who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,’ should be made clear first of all.”

“But what does that mean?” Staci asked.

King turned to her. “It actually means that they were written of beforehand. The word ordained is prographoµ, meaning ‘to write beforehand’. It simply means that the other writers had sounded the warning about apostates.”

“Then, these men who came into the church without anyone being the wiser…” Staci paused. “…they were apostates? They were of the faith, but they turned away?”

Fronk nodded. “You’ve got it, sister.”

“These men who crept in unawares…?” Erin scowled. “They’re nothing more than creeps!”

“‘Crept in’,” King began, “is one of the most interesting phrases in the Greek language. It is pareisdunoµ. Dunoµ means ‘to enter’, the preposition eis means ‘into’, and para means ‘beside.’ It means ‘to enter alongside’. This is the way the apostates have come into the church.”

Shiva shook his head. “That’s just terrible. What we’re talking about here is that men who were once of the faith turned away and now they’ve come back into the church…These men were able to take over a church.”

Barrington nodded solemnly. “They came in the side door. They came in by professing one thing and believing another. They didn’t come in through the front door. In other words, they didn’t declare their doctrinal position. Their intentions were to come in and deceive many away from the truth. Even today, many Christians have been deceived by people like this.”

“Scripture has warned us about them.” Fuller regarded the study group. “For instance, Paul said to the Corinthians, ‘For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 1’”

“The expression ‘transforming themselves’,” King said, “in this verse is very interesting. It is in the Greek metascheµmatixontai. This is the act of an individual who is changing his outward expression by assuming an expression put on from the outside. It is a method of Satan.”

Lenox sat back and shook his head. “You know, even as a kid, I’ve seen as many as a dozen strong, outstanding churches across America fall into the hands of liberalism by this method you‘re talking about, David. It’s the most deceitful method in the world. This scene was familiar even to me as a child growing up where families went to church. I wasn’t saved at the time, but today, when I think back to those days, I can see where this kind of attack was happening. There was a church in which the Word of God was being preached, people were being saved, and hearts were being blessed. Then the pastor retired, and a new man appeared on the scene. When he met with the pulpit committee and met with the elders, they asked him about his doctrinal beliefs. He assured them that he believed in all of the great doctrines of the faith.”

Barrington nodded, remembering those times as well. “But he actually came in the side door because he really did not believe them. He only pretended to believe them and pretended to be sound in the faith. And the interesting thing was that his trial sermon sounded as though he were sound in the faith.”

“Wait, this is something you witnessed?” Staci inquired. “Both of you?”

Lenox smiled. “Al and I did grow up in the same neck of the woods together. We didn’t start out as friends, but eventually became best of friends. And even though we weren’t saved, there was a church we did like to go to. It was this kind of thing that we’re talking about that kept us…at least me, from accepting the truth.”

“You had other reasons,” Barrington pointed out.

“Yes, I did. But the point is…this preacher sounded like he knew the material well and was able to preach a good sermon. Listening to this man, the congregation thought, Oh, this young man is just fine, so they called him in as their pastor.”

“Turned out to be a huge mistake.” Barrington let out a sigh. “This man did not believe the doctrine that he preached. Before long the congregation of that church soon discovered that they had a liberal on their hands. Generally, fundamental churches considered ousting the preacher to be a bad method, so they simply tolerated him.”

“Yeah, well,” Lenox replied, “my feeling is that since he came in by the side door, he should have been booted out the back door. But they didn’t do that.”

Fronk snorted. “They couldn’t hang him either, could they?”

Lenox looked at him.

“Well…I mean, would you want to hang him?”

“Anyone who stands in the way of what God is doing is going to suffer judgment at the hands of God. Hanging this guy would have been an act of mercy.”

Shiva nodded. “Amen, brother. I really like that.”

“Getting back to the subject of our study, let’s remember that Jude said these men ‘were before of old ordained to this condemnation,’” King said. “They were written of beforehand. Jude is saying, I’m not telling you something new…others have written of this also and have warned you of that which is coming.”

“Who else wrote of this warning?” Staci inquired.

“Paul did,” Fuller answered. “Paul is one who repeatedly warned of the apostate. The last time he went by Ephesus, at his last visit with the Ephesian elders, he gave this warning…‘For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 2’ Although Paul warned them of apostates, the day came when the Ephesian church yielded to them.”

King held up a finger to emphasize a point. “Paul also warned the young preacher Timothy. ‘Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. 3’” He paused. “Listen carefully. While I don’t claim to be an authority in this field, it seems to me that a woman is built finer than a man. What I mean to say is that she has finer sensibilities and a closer perception than a man has. For this reason she needs to be treated with more care. Paul is warning about false teachers coming in the side door, and I believe that any movement today which the Spirit of God seems to be blessing needs to be watched very carefully because of the fact that the Devil is going to come in the side door if he can. And if you think he is coming in as the Devil, you are wrong. His ministers pretend to be ministers of light.”

“How do you know what it true, then?” Staci asked.

“Through the final test, the acid test,” King began with enthusiasm, “of any movement is the teaching regarding the person of Jesus Christ. If it denies the deity of Christ, you can rule it out immediately, but you have to be very careful about this matter of the deity of Christ. There are many facets by which they can deny the deity of Christ and yet give the impression that they actually believe in Him as the Savior of the world. Simon Peter warned of this when he said, ‘But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 4’ And Paul, writing to the Galatians, said, ‘And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. 5’”

“This is scary,” Staci said with a shudder. “I mean…to think that these ungodly men can just come in and deceive people away from the truth. People who aren’t saved might never get the message that their sins can be forgiven and they can come to Jesus.”

“They distort and deny the grace of God,” Erin replied, shaking her head.

“But how can they get away with it?”

“They won’t, my sister. That’s the whole point. God ain’ta gonna let them get away with such evil.” Fronk turned to Erin. “These ungodly buffoons also deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are ungodly men because they obviously leave God out of their lives.”

“Lasciviousness is a very important word,” King said. “Let’s talk about this word.”

Fronk chuckled. “You should have been an English teacher.”

“Perhaps. However, looking at this word, I suppose the best synonym is wantonness because wantonness has in it the thought of lawlessness and arrogance. It is doing as you please even if you offend the sensibilities of others. Jude says that the ungodly turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness…into immorality. The apostle Paul warned the Galatian believers about the danger of turning the grace of God into license…permitting them to live any way they pleased. Listen to Galatians 5:13. ‘For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.’ Now gross immorality characterizes the apostasy of the days leading up to the Rapture. They have thrown overboard all of the great precepts of Scripture concerning morality, and they call it the new morality. We have seen this. Jude said it was coming, and before the Rapture, there was a growing danger in this country of the church actually espousing and condoning gross immorality. The wantonness that we are seeing is marked by an arrogant recklessness of justice. Another definition is ‘willfully malicious.’ Marriage is flouted and considered unessential. You may live with whomever you wish to live with in total disregard of the morality which builds homes and thereby builds a nation.”

“As far back as 1959,” Fuller said, “Vice Admiral Robert Goldthwaite, Chief of Naval Air Training, told a large group of leading educators, business men, law enforcement officials, and others that there was ‘a surge of immorality in civilian and military life.’ He said that moral decay is an acute national problem, and there is urgent need to improve moral leadership among youth. During the years since then, the moral decay has reached such proportions that should have been alarming. We should have been very careful about the folk who were teaching in our churches. Were they teaching a loose morality? Jude warned us to be on our guard against that. Were we?”

“The other thing that characterizes an apostate is that he denies the Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. He will talk about God and the Lord Jesus, but he denies who and what they actually are.”

“In Jude’s day the apostasy was Gnosticism.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Staci replied, nibbling on her lower lip.

“Gnosticism taught that the body was essentially evil, that all matter was evil, and that the spirit alone was good.”

“Sounds like hogwash to me,” Fronk pointed out. “Although hogs do wash themselves. Ungodly men should turn to God to become clean through the blood of Jesus.”

Fuller nodded. “They should. Absolutely. The conclusion drawn from Gnosticism was that it didn’t matter what a man did with his body. He was free to satisfy the lusts of the body. He was free to practice blatant immorality, shameless sin, and arrogantly and proudly to flout that sin publicly. That was a perversion of grace.”

“It’s a copout,” Shiva said, disgust in his voice. “It’s an excuse.”

“It’s just wrong,” Erin added.

“The fact is, these same ideas have sprung up again today.” Fuller shrugged helplessly. “Particularly before the Rapture occurred. The new morality is no newer than the old Gnosticism, the first heresy. The other facet of Gnosticism was a denial of the true God and true Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the mark of an antichrist. John calls such people antichrists in his epistle. It is always the spirit of antichrist which denies the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Now you’re talking about Tristian Salvadori,” Lenox said.

Fuller paused. “I was actually referring to those who are types of antichrist, but, yes, this pertains to the Antichrist, Tristian Salvadori. At any rate, we can now move on to the fifth verse. Would you like to read it for us, Michael?“

Lenox grinned. “I’d be glad to.”

Fuller continued the Bible study as he said, “We continue in the Book of Jude as we discover six examples of apostasy in the past.” He paused. “Before we look at this section, let me remind you of what the apostasy is. David, this is right up your alley.”

King nodded to him. “Thank you, Darren. Let me just say that Thayer gives this meaning for the Greek word aphisteµmi to remove, to withdraw, to go away, or to depart from.”

Staci raised her hand. “Uhm…David?”

King smiled at her. “Yes…?”

“Who is Thayer?”

“Ah. In short, Joseph Henry Thayer was a US Biblical scholar born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1828.”

“Okay…” She wrote something down in her notes. “Thank you.”

“Now when the word is used in II Thessalonians,” Fuller continued, “I take the position that it has a twofold meaning. It means the removal of the church since in Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians he spoke of the Rapture of the church. The Rapture must come first. The removal of believers from the earth, as we have already seen, has lead to the total apostasy…That is, the departure from the faith. Our Lord Jesus asked the question, ‘… when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? 6’”

Shiva leaned forward. “You know, the way the question is placed in the Greek demands a negative answer. Therefore, the answer is no, He will not find the faith on the earth when He returns. There will be a total departure, a total apostasy.”

“But that could not come to pass,” Lenox pointed out, “until the true believers have been removed from the earth. We’ve been left behind, and here we are, having Bible studies in a secret place. There are Christians rising up, but for the most part, we are living in the End Times where total apostasy exists.”

“Well,” Fuller began, “Jude is now going to give us six examples of apostasy in the past. What I mean by that is…six examples of departures from the faith. There is first three groups and then three individuals. When we look at Jude 5, we find the three groups. Al, why don’t you take this verse?”

Barrington nodded. “Thought you’d never ask.” He read Jude 5. “‘I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.’”

“Ooh,“ Fronk said, rubbing his hands together. “I smell a little history coming on.“

“Be specific, William,” Fuller said, a wry smile on his face. “What history are you referring to?”

“Bible history.” Fronk held up a finger for emphasis. “But to be more precise, history about the Israelites. And might I also add…” He winked at Shiva. “…a little heavy history for we have right here in this verse proof that God destroyed those Israelites in the wilderness who didn’t believe!”

Shiva nodded. “That is heavy, brother.”

“Wait,” Erin began, after she re-read the verse for herself. “God destroyed His people?”

King said, “In the wilderness, Israel in unbelief was destroyed, and it is an example that God does judge apostates. When Israel came to Kadesh-Barnea, they refused to enter the Promised Land.”

Fuller picked it up from there. “The spies had brought back a report to Kadesh-Barnea that everything God had told them about the land was accurate. However, the spies - with the exception of two - didn’t believe that God could bring them into the land, and they persuaded the people to believe that. At first they didn’t want to believe that it was a good land. After they were convinced it was a good land, they wouldn’t believe that God could bring them into the land. They preferred to stay in the wilderness rather than believe God. That is an example of apostasy, a departure from the faith. They departed from the whole basis on which they had left Egypt. God had given them a promise with two parts to it… ‘I will take you out of Egypt, and I will bring you into the land.’ But Israel’s unbelief pushed them back into the wilderness, and God left them there for thirty-eight more years until all of the adult generation had died - with the exception of Caleb and Joshua. Israel had used their children as an excuse for not going into the land, so God told them, ‘But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. 7’”

“The new generation of Israel did cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land,” King replied, “even as God had promised. However, the generation that had apostatized, that had departed from the faith, were destroyed in the wilderness, and they are the first example that Jude gives.”

“But there is more…William, please read verse 6.”

Fronk read Jude 6. “‘And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.’” He blinked. “Wow.”

“This opens up to us a truth that we don’t get with such clarity in any other section of the Word of God, although we are told that there will be a judgment of angels.” Fuller paused. “Sometime in the past, these angels didn’t keep their first estate. God created angels with a free will. Angels do not reproduce as human beings do and therefore, they do not inherit a sinful nature as humans do. Each angel is created by God with a free will. Some of these spiritual creatures were caught up in a rebellion, and now they are reserved in chains.”

“It becomes apparent to us,” King began, “that the fallen angels are divided into two groups. The group whose rebellion was so great is evidently locked up, incarcerated, and has no freedom of movement any longer. The other group of fallen angels apparently has freedom of movement and is under the leadership of Satan. It seems evident that these are the demons mentioned in Scripture and that are coming into prominence in our day.”

Staci shuddered. “That’s scary and…and it just gave me the chills.”

“I didn’t realize this little book would have a reference to angels in it,” Erin said as she looked at verse 6. “So…these angels are the second group who are examples of those who fell into this apostasy?”

Fuller nodded. “Yes.”

“I’ve not heard very much about angels.”

“That’s because for many years, the liberal wing of the church has denied the supernatural and also denied that there were any such creatures as angels. We are living in a materialistic age, and the viewpoint was that God and the idea of angels were superstitions that we no longer needed. But man needed to find a reason for all the evil in the world, so they began to believe once more in angels, and in demons.”

Barrington let out a sigh. “Well, it really isn’t possible to deny that humanity is depraved. None of us seem to realize fully that we belong to a race that is totally depraved and that we live in a world that is under the control of Satan. Especially in these last days.”

“Hey,” Lenox encouraged, “the Bible has something to say about it all. The Bible is very much up to date. It’s the Bible that tells us about the angels which rebelled against God and about those whom ‘he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.’ Bottom line, the victory is still in God’s hands and will always be.”

“That’s very true,“ Fuller agreed. “The Word of God has a great deal to say about the judgments that are coming. People without a knowledge of the Bible speak of one great judgment day which is coming. Well, the Great White Throne judgment is coming in the future for the unsaved. Revelation 20:11 - 15 says…” He turned to the passage of scripture. “‘And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.’”

“Actually there are eight judgments mentioned in the Word of God,” King pointed out. “One of those eight judgments is the judgment of angels, which will take place during the last days.”

“In I Corinthians we are told the order of the resurrections. Who would like to read I Corinthians 15:23 - 25?”

Everyone raised their hands.

Fuller grinned. “Marc, you had your hand up first.”

“Hey,” Staci said, pretending to pout. “I had my hand up last.”

Shiva grinned at her. “That’s why I get to read it. Because I was first.”

“But the Bible does say the first will be last and the last will be first, doesn’t it?”

Everyone chuckled.

“Alright,” Shiva said, relenting. He smiled. “You can read it.”

Staci smiled. “Thank you.” She read I Corinthians 15:23 - 25. “‘But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.’”

“So during the Millennium these demonic powers will be judged,” King said with enthusiasm. “The Scriptures have a great deal to say about the judgment of angels. Let me cite this passage…‘Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 8’ You see, this is something that we would not have known if Paul hadn’t mentioned it. We will be with our Lord during the Millennium. And I believe that we’ll all probably commute back and forth from earth to the New Jerusalem which is the eternal home of the church. And at some period, probably during that thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, there will be the judgment of angels. Although we were created lower than the angels, some day we will have part in their judgment.”

Shiva let out a breath of air. “I have to say it. That is just too heavy to comprehend.”

Barrington held up a hand as he looked in his Bible. “Hey, I found a reference here…Peter gives another reference to the judgment of angels which corresponds to that of Jude. In II Peter 2:4, he writes, ‘For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment…’” He paused. “‘Chains of darkness’ could not possibly refer to our conception of chains as a series of connected metal links.”

Fronk frowned at him. “Why not? A chain is a chain, and the Bible says these angels were in chains.”

“But think about it. Angels are spiritual creatures and it would be pretty difficult to put a physical chain on them! The word chains is ‘bonds,’ indicating that they are heavily guarded in a certain place. As we have already seen, this company of angels is awaiting the judgment, which apparently will come during the last days. So the time is very close.”

“Alright, that’s good, Al.” Fuller nodded thoughtfully. “Let’s move onto the next group. The other group of fallen angels are the demons which are abroad in the world today. Demonic power, of course, is a reality. There is probably a good percentage of so-called demon activity that is phony, but certainly some of it is impossible to explain as natural phenomena. This is the reason the movie, The Exorcist, got under the skin of so many people. Although some of it was fictional, it was based on a factual case. It is an example of the forces of evil that are in the world. It actually took place, and there are other cases like it.”

Staci shook her head. “I don’t ever want to see that movie…or anything like it.”

“And that’s a good thing to take a stand against.”

Lenox sighed. “These movies are excessively violent and people love them because they like that kind of stuff. I don’t find any pleasure in sitting in the theatre, watching a film that applauds blood and guts and violence against the innocent. I’m talking about films like The Exorcist, Silent Hill, and The Hills Have Eyes. Before the Rapture, these types of movies were becoming more and more violent. Gone were the days of family films. Gone were the days where a family could go watch a film and have a decent, good time. I was in a store once, before the Rapture, where I overheard some store employees discussing The Hills Have Eyes. They glorified the horrible scene that took place in that film about what this one person did to this one woman.” He clenched his fist. “I won’t go into detail, but these employees certainly did. And right out there on the sales floor, too. They seemed to relish that scene. It was all they could talk about as being the best part of the whole film. That is what the world has come to.”

“Evil,” Barrington replied softly. "When man sees evil as good is every indication that the end times is here."

“Man’s heart is evil. It is evident now. It is clear from these films.” Lenox threw up his hands. “I’m sorry, guys. I went off on a rabbit trail, but if good, decent, God-fearing people could just realize the severity of stuff like this and get away from it, it really would make a difference in their lives.” He looked at Fuller. “Please go on, and don’t mention any more movies.”

“I understand how you feel,” Fuller assured him. “Things like that should affect you. It should affect all of us. That is the Spirit warning us against such evil. Now…the Book of Revelation has several references to the judgment of fallen angels. ‘And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 9’ This is a reference to hell, which is the lake of fire. If you want to argue about it being a literal fire, that’s all right. It’s even more literal than fire and worse than fire. Fire is a very weak symbol of how terrible it is going to be. After all, these are spiritual beings which are mentioned here, and fire as we know it would have no effect upon a spiritual being. Also, we learn from this verse that the Devil is not in hell today. A great many folk think he is there now, but instead he is very busy wherever people walk. Also, he has quite an army of helpers, both supernatural and natural. Many people are helping him today, and some of them don‘t even realize it.”

“The Devil is also responsible for the terrible persecution of believers and especially of Israel during this Great Tribulation of the last days that we are living in,” King said softly. “He was cast out of heaven. ‘And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10’ Satan will be bound during the kingdom age. ‘And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 11’ And finally he will be consigned to the lake of fire, which we have seen in Revelation 20:10.”

Shiva smiled. “That is highly encouraging to know that the Devil will in the end be cast into the Lake of Fire.”

“And on that note…” Fuller began, “let’s go into the third example of apostasy in the past.”

“I believe I shall take this verse.” Fuller read Jude 7. “‘Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.’ This is Jude’s third example of apostasy in the past. He has mentioned Israel in their unbelief, the angels which kept not their first estate…and now the people of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them are added to this list of examples. These cities were so completely judged that they probably are buried beneath the Dead Sea today. Some people believe that they have located them. I’m not sure whether or not this is true, and the exact location is really unimportant. The important thing to know is that God destroyed these cities because the people defiled their flesh. They were given over to homosexuality or sodomy.”

King shook his head. “It is interesting that in the parlance of our day sodomy is called homosexuality, adultery is called free love, the drunkard is a respected alcoholic, and the murderer is temporarily insane. Satan is doing a good job of indoctrinating the world with a new vocabulary. Nevertheless, sodomy in God’s sight is gross immorality and the vilest sin of all. The fact that God has judged men in the past for sins of sensuality ought to be a warning. God will judge any civilization that moves too far in this direction, and I wonder if we haven’t done just that.”

“Well, the Rapture happened and we were left behind,” Barrington replied thoughtfully. “Since then, I have witnessed things I had once thought I would never see.”

The group fell into a thoughtful silence.

Finally, Fuller cleared his throat. “Let’s just move on to our fourth example.”

King cleared his throat. “Allow me to read verse 8.” He read Jude 8. “‘Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.’”

Fronk whistled.

Fuller looked at him. “What is it?”

“I’ve just got to hand it to Jude. You know, I really can’t wait to meet him. He sure is blunt in calling these people exactly what they are. I mean, this guy doesn’t hold anything back. He just looks them in the eye and calls them what they are.” He sat up. “I just think that is so cool!”

“It is,” Shiva agreed.

“This guy is kind-a like me.”

Erin shook her head. “Well, I’m not so sure about that.”

Staci held up her hand. “Who…who are these filthy dreamers Jude talks about?”

“They’re teachers,” Fuller responded.

Lenox nodded. “Probably the very ones whom Jude said ‘crept in unawares.’”

“They are apostate teachers,” King replied. “Ones all Christians of today are to beware of. They are the ones who slip in with credentials and creeds that do not match. They pretend to be something they are not.”

“There are four points of identification of apostate teachers that Jude gives to us in this verse.” Fuller referred to his notes. “Let’s go over them quickly.” He glanced at those at the table with him. “Would anyone like to venture a guess?”

“I would.” Erin paused. “They’re filthy dreamers.”

Staci shook her head. “But what does that mean exactly? These…these bad teachers have bad dreams? I…I really don’t get it.”

“It means,” Barrington began, “that they live in an unreal world, a world that does not exist.”

Fronk nodded. “Oh, I get it. Kind-a like when Fury thinks that he’s a legend in his own mind.”

Shiva looked at him. “Would you like to step outside?”

The Crazy Man paused. “Ah…No. No, not really.”

“Seriously, though, you could have something there. When I was a wrestler and I was doing well, I really did have my own little world where I was bigger than life.”

King paused. “I’m not really sure this is the same thing. My feeling is that the theological liberal has never dealt with reality. It is Liberalism that we’re talking about here and Liberalism is rather romantic because it sounds good on paper. It’s nice to be able to solve all your problems by positive thinking, but there is a lot of power in negative thinking also. We need to learn how to say no as well as to say yes. But Liberals are dreamers in the sense that they will not face up to reality.”

Lenox scowled. “Like the Liberals before the Rapture who said that if our troops would only come home and not fight with those terrorists, then maybe we’ll all be friends. We’ll sit down and have crumpets and tea and talk nicely together. Yeah, right. Liberals don’t read the Bible. God had soldiers on the battlefield every day in Bible history, like David and Samson, who if they were alive in our day would be considered Marines for God. Those men fought against the enemies of God. God used them to destroy His enemies. They lived in reality. So should we.”

Barrington agreed. “You know the best way to prolong a war?”

“Keep fighting?” Fronk suggested.

“No, man. I’m serious. The best way to prolong a war is to protest it. That’s all Liberals accomplish when they say, Oh, don’t do that! By protesting the war, they hinder the progress that could be made and this leads to the killing of a great many more of our men who have fought to keep our country safe.

“Such thinking is to not realize that we live in a big, bad world,” Fuller began, “and that reality is something you have to rub your nose into. It is something that you simply cannot ignore.”

Fronk nodded. “Yeah. Even steel-belted tires have to get down and go over the rough places, and some of them go flat, by the way.”

Erin just looked at him.

Staci frowned. “Huh?”

“These men are dreamers,” Fuller said. “That’s the bottom line. They are dealing with that which is not real at all, and they have gotten into the church and have used the church of the Lord Jesus Christ for their own purposes. Imagine making the statement that war is a denial of the teachings of Christ! The Lord Jesus made the statement, ‘When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. 12’ The way you are going to protect your own is by being armed. He also said that the king who is going to war is going to sit down and figure it out. Look at Luke 14:31.”

Lenox held up a hand. “I’ve got it.” He turned to it quickly and then read Luke 14:31. “‘Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?’”

“So what does that tell us?”

“Jesus didn’t say it was wrong to figure it out. He said the king had better figure it out, and if he’s smart, he’ll figure out how he’s going to carry on that war.”

“So these dreamers have failed to face up to what the Lord Jesus Christ really said. He told His disciples, when He first sent them out, that they were to take nothing with them, not even a pocketbook. ‘And He called unto Him the twelve, and began to send them forth two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits, and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only -- no wallet, no bread, and no money in their purse, but be shod with sandals, and not put on two coats. 13’ However, when they had returned and He was sending them out to the ends of the earth, He said, ‘Be sure and take your pocketbook. And you had better take your American Express and Diner’s Club cards and your gasoline credit cards. Also, it might be well to have a sword. You will need it to protect yourselves.’”

Staci blinked. “He really said that? Wait…No, they didn’t have those things in the Lord’s day. You…you’re paraphrasing!”

The study group shared a laugh.

King smiled. “The actual quote, Staci, is from Luke 22:35 and 36. ‘And He said unto them, When I sent you without purse and pack and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. Then said He unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it and likewise his pack; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.’”

Fuller chuckled. “I didn’t mean to throw you off.”

Staci shook her head. “You didn’t. Not really. I mean, come on, Jesus doesn’t need credit.”

That brought more laughter.

“I’m being serious.” She kicked at Lenox under the table.

Lenox yelped. “What was that for?”

“You’re in range.”

Fuller tried to hide his grin. “Okay, people. Let’s take a look at the second identification of these apostate teachers. Jude mentioned filthy dreamers. What else did he talk about?”

Barrington took this one. “Jude talks about how these teachers are those who defile the flesh. I think the thought here is that these men engage in base and abnormal immorality. This is the same as the strange flesh in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that he talked about earlier.”

“Exactly,” Fuller told him. “Who wants to take a stab at the third point?”

Lenox held up a hand and said, “They ‘despise dominion.’”

Staci hesitated. “I don’t mean to sound like a broken record…but what does that mean?”

He smiled at her. “It simply means that they reject authority.”

Fuller grinned as he looked at Lenox knowingly. “I know someone sitting right at this table who did an awful lot of that before he became saved.”

“That may be true,” Lenox began, “but this is the crowd that wants to get rid of the death penalty. At least, before the Rapture, they did. Now we have to avoid being captured or it‘s off with our heads.” He made a motion with his fingers across his throat. “But this is still the crowd that wants to turn everybody loose to do his thing in his own way. We do see this going on today. The truth is that once we thought we were a civilized people, but today we’re nothing in the world but a group of savages. And it’s because of this matter of despising dominion, of rejecting authority.”

“That brings us to the fourth point, which is…”

Shiva took Fullers pause as an opportunity. “These false teachers ‘speak evil of dignities.’ They disrespect dignities. They protest against rules and those in authority. In other words, they take it out on the police because they represent authority, or they take it out upon men in high places. The president, the governors, and the mayors are made responsible for anything that happens in the nation or the state or the city, regardless of whether they are responsible or not. Why? Because there has been a loss of respect for authority.”

“I don’t have any respect for Tristian Salvadori,” Fronk admitted, “but that’s only because…” He leaned forward and whispered loudly, “he’s the Anti-Christ.”

“He doesn’t get our respect,” Lenox pointed out, “because he is the Enemy of God. That makes him our enemy.”

Fuller paused. “Let’s notice again the characteristics of these apostates who have come into the church. They came in the side door. They’re ungodly. They turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. They deny the Lord Jesus Christ. They’re dreamers, they defile the flesh, they despise dominion, and they have disrespect for dignities. These are the things that characterize them, and they are dangerous because of the way they have come into the church.” He paused. “For ten long and weary years, the Greeks laid siege to the city of Troy, but they didn’t make a dent in the fortifications. It seemed impregnable, and they could not get an entrance into the city. Then there came forth a suggestion. The suggestion was to build a wooden horse with soldiers concealed inside, to leave it outside the gate, and then to pretend to sail away. So they made the wooden horse, the soldiers were put inside, and it was put by the gate of the city of Troy. Well, curiosity got the best of the Trojans. When they saw the Greeks sailing away, they thought the war was over. They went out, saw the horse, and decided to pull it inside the city. It certainly was a novelty, something to have. That night, the soldiers who were on the inside climbed out, and they were able to unlock the gates of the city from the inside. In the meantime, under cover of darkness, the fleet of Greek ships returned. They had only pretended to sail away. What an entire army of mighty men could not do from the outside in ten years, a few soldiers did from the inside.”

Fuller paused again. “In the same way, Christ was betrayed from the inside, not from the outside. One of His own betrayed Him over to His nation. His nation then betrayed Him over to the Romans, and the Romans brought Him to the Cross.”

Fuller continued the study by reading Jude 9. “‘Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil and disputing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee!’” He paused. “This is a most remarkable verse of Scripture. Satan is a fallen creature and an avowed enemy of God, yet Michael, when contending about the body of Moses, would not bring a sentence that would argue the dignity of Satan. Michael even respected the position of Satan.”

King referred to his notes. “Clement, one of the early church fathers, quotes from an apocryphal writing dealing with the funeral of Moses. When Michael was commissioned to bury Moses, Satan opposed it on the grounds that, since he was the master of the material and matter, the body belonged to him. Michael’s only answer was, ‘The Lord rebuke thee.’ Satan also brought the charge of murder against Moses. Also it is suggested that Satan wanted to hinder the later appearance of Moses at the Mount of Transfiguration.”

“Lucifer was a creature of God and apparently the highest creature that God created. And then evil was found in him. Don’t think that this evil means that he went out and stole something. The evil within him was that he put his will against the will of God. He was lifted up by pride, and he wanted to become independent of God. He actually thought he could dethrone God…at least from part of His universe. As far as this world is concerned, God has permitted him to carry on this rebellion, and God has a high and holy purpose in it. But this creature still believes he will be able to take a segment of God’s created universe and be the ruler over it. I’m sure that Satan wants this earth as his.”

“Yet Michael…” King replied, “‘durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.’ Michael didn’t curse Satan. He didn’t call him a long list of names. I’m sure that many of us would have been perfectly willing to have done that. We really would have read the riot act to him, but that’s not what Michael did, is it?”

Erin shook her head. “No. Not according to this verse.”

“Do you know why?”

Lenox paused, giving others a chance to speak, but when they didn’t, he did. “Michael respected Satan’s position, but not Satan himself. It was the office, so to speak. Lucifer had been, after all, created the highest creature and he was created by God. That is what Michael respected. He respected what God created.”

“This is a lesson that you and I need to learn. A great many believers have not learned to bow even to God. My brothers and sisters, you and I are creatures…and He is the Creator. What right have you and I to question anything that He does? Don’t misunderstand me. If you think that I piously accept everything that comes my way, you are wrong. I talk to Him many times, and I want to know why He lets certain things happen to me. Maybe you do that also. But we need to recognize that God is the Creator. He is also our Redeemer. He is the One who loves us. But our God is high, holy, and lifted up. He is a just and righteous God. He never makes any mistakes. He never does anything wrong. Everything He does is right and, therefore, you and I can trust Him. But do we do that? Do we respect His authority? Do we respect His person? In that day when men must give an account, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to say, ‘You said, Lord, Lord, but you didn’t do the things I commanded. Each one went his own way and did that which was right in his own eyes.’ This is the picture of mankind. How about you? How about me today? What a lesson Michael the archangel is to us!”

“Marc, can you read the next verse for us?” Fuller asked.

Shiva nodded. “Of course.” He read Jude 10. “‘But these speak evil of those things which they know not; but what they come to know naturally as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.’”

“Now I would like, as best I can, to make this verse understandable to you all because it is another very important verse in this epistle. David, talk about the Greek word here please?”

King took it from there. “When Jude says, ‘But these speak evil,’ the Greek word is blasphemeoµ which by transliteration is our English word blaspheme. The apostates actually blaspheme.”

“They blaspheme those things which they don’t know…but what they know naturally.”

Staci shook his head. “I’m sorry, Darren, but that really just went right over my head. I have no idea what you just said.”

“Okay. Just stay with me a moment.” Fuller paused. “Jude uses two different words here which are both translated as ‘know.‘ Without recognizing that, it is very difficult to determine exactly what he means here.”

“Well, I’m with you on that because I don’t know what he means here.”

“Let’s take a look at the first ‘know.’” King referred to his notes. “The first ‘know’ is eidoµ which speaks of mental comprehension and knowledge. This refers to the whole range of invisible things. Things that cannot be seen. Do you see that?”

Staci paused. “Yes, I believe so.”

“Good. Now, knowledge is not confined to what you can pour into a test tube or look at under a microscope, although a great many people think that it is. The finer things of life are things you cannot put under the microscope. You simply cannot pour them into a test tube. For example, what about a wonderful piece of music? Do you like music?”

Staci nodded. “I love music. Not that loud stuff, but music with a message or music that sings about praising God.”

“Excellent. I love this music, too. What happens if you try to stick it down a test tube or look at it under a microscope?”

Fronk looked at him. “Are you crazy? How can you put something you listen to in a tube?”

King pointed. “That’s my point, my brother. Music needs to be translated into sound, and the ear needs to hear it…why? Because you cannot see it at all. It is actually invisible. Love is also invisible. You couldn’t put love under the microscope. Now…how about faith?”

“You can’t put it under the microscope,” Erin replied, nodding her head in understanding.

“I get it,” Staci assured them.

King smiled. “You see? There are a great many things I know, and I know them without any proof from the laboratory. I know them because I have experienced them. The Holy Spirit has made them real to my own heart. Now the second word for ‘know’ which Jude uses here is epestamai, which means to understand. So these are things you can pour into the test tube.”

Staci nodded her head. “Oh…oh, I understand now.”

“All that these people know is what they can handle and what they can see. They are like brute beasts because, after all, a brute only knows about the hay or the grass or the corn or another animal that it can eat.”

“Eww,” Erin said with a shudder.

“This refers to that which they know by instinct,” Fuller added. “This generation that thinks it is so smart because it only believes what it can pour into a test tube is a poor generation. They don’t understand anything that a brute beast couldn’t understand. They have not reached the higher plane of knowledge, what Paul called epignoµsis. Paul says, ‘You can know that the Bible is the Word of God. You can know that Jesus is the Savior of the world.’ These men, knowing just physical things, think they know everything that can be known, and they corrupt themselves in these things. This is the picture of the apostates that Jude gives to us. Now, let’s take a look at individual examples of apostates.”

“Michael, and Al,” Fuller began as he regarded them for a moment. “You’ve been silent for a bit, so Michael, you take the next verse, and Al, the one after that.”

Lenox looked into his Bible and read Jude 11. “‘Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain and have run greedily after the error of Balaam for their reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.’”

“We’ll look into this verse, Al, then you take it from there.”

Barrington nodded. “I’m ready.”

Fuller paused as he referred to his notes. “Jude has already given three examples of apostate groups. Anyone remember what those groups were?”

Staci raised her hand. “The children of Israel.”

“The angels who rebelled,” Erin added.

“And the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,” Lenox supplied.

Fuller nodded. “Yes. That’s all correct. Now we are given another three by way of illustration, and these three are individuals.”

“Those individuals are in a lot of hot water,” Fronk replied.

Erin turned her head to look at him. “Why do you say that?”

“Well, did you happen to notice how the verse starts out? ‘Woe unto them!’ That is what gave it away for me.”

“The word for ‘woe’ is the Greek word ouai,” King told him. “The very pronunciation of this word is a wail…‘Ouai, ouai!’”

Everyone looked at him as if he had just lost his marbles.

“David,” Fuller began hesitantly, “I have to admit…I expect those kinds of outbursts from William, but not ever from you.”

The group shared a laugh.

King smiled. “It is an illustration. Nothing more. You see, it denotes a wail of grief or of denunciation. Here in this verse, it is more a wail of denunciation, but it is actually both. Of these apostates whom Jude has just identified, he now says, ‘Woe unto them!’”

“Because they’re in a lot of hot water,” Fronk pressed. “Especially because these men, these apostates have gone in the same direction that Cain went. It’s right there in the Bible verse Knox just read.”

“Well, what do we know of Cain?” Fuller asked.

“Cain was a religious man,” Lenox began, “but a natural man. He believed in God and believed in religion, but he did it after his own will. Not God’s. He denied that he was a sinner, rejected redemption by blood, and thought that he could come his own way to God.”

Barrington paused. “Kind of sounds a lot like Bollinger, doesn’t it?”

There was a pause in the room.

Lenox nodded. “Yeah, it does, come to think of it. Anyway, Hebrews 11:4 certainly tells the story. ‘By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.’” He looked at the others. “Cain is dead also, yet he speaks. The way of Cain is the way of a man who refused to bring a little lamb which pointed to Christ. In other words, Cain didn’t come to God by faith. He didn’t believe God when He said that man was to bring a little lamb for a sacrifice, that without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins, and that the penalty must be paid. Cain thought that he could come to God in his own way, and that is the picture of the apostate today. The apostate calls himself a liberal and a modernist, but this is as old as the Garden of Eden. Right outside the Garden of Eden, Cain was a modernist and a liberal. He believed in religion and God, but he did it all in his own way, not God’s way. He relied on number one to see him through, but in the end died in his sin.”

“These apostates also followed after the error of Balaam,” Barrington pointed out. “I’ve got a couple of verses here about this in II Peter 2:15...and then in my notes, I also have Revelation 2:14, which talks about the doctrine of Balaam.”

“By all means,” Fuller said, “continue.”

Barrington nodded as he turned in his Bible to II Peter 2:15.

“I’m already there if you’d like me to read it,” Shiva told him.

“Sure. Go ahead.”

Shiva read II Peter 2:15. “‘They have forsaken the right way and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.’”

“In II Peter,” Barrington began, “we see the thing that was the undermining of the man. What I mean is that Balaam was guilty of covetousness, which is idolatry. He was a hired preacher. He wanted to make a buck with the gift he had, a gift that was apparently God-given. This was the way of Balaam, and it was his undoing. But a man can seek for something other than money, right? He can seek for prominence, for popularity, for fame, for applause, or even for position. There are many different things which would put a man in the way of Balaam. Jude says that this marks the apostate.” He glanced at Fronk. “You look like you want to say something.”

“I just want you to know that I’m at Revelation and can read that for us all, if you don’t mind.” Fronk grinned. “Didn’t mean to interrupt ya, brother.”

“No, I was getting to that verse anyway. Go ahead and read it.”

Fronk read Revelation 2:14. “‘But I have a few things against thee…’” He grinned. “I just love it when the Lord gets right down to business.” Then, he continued, “‘…because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.’” He shook his head. “That hot water I mentioned is really beginning to boil, isn’t it?”

“I agree,“ Barrington told him. “Now here we find the doctrine of Balaam. I believe the account is in Numbers 22 – 25, which tells us that this man could not bring a curse against the nation Israel, and so he told Balak that by sending the Moabite women into the camp of Israel, he would be able to bring fornication and idolatry into their homes through mixed marriages.”

“Well, you can be sure of one thing,” King said. “From Genesis to Revelation, God warns against the intermarriage of believers and unbelievers. You cannot condone such marriages on any basis whatsoever. It is unfortunate that too many young people are not warned of this because it has resulted in a great deal of unhappiness.”

“The error of Balaam here in Jude is that he thought God would have to punish Israel for their sins. He didn’t recognize that there is a morality that is above natural morality. He thought that a righteous God had to curse Israel. He was totally unaware of the morality of the Cross. It is taught in the Old Testament that God can maintain and does enforce His authority, but He can be just and the justifier of a believing sinner. Balaam did not understand that God would forgive the nation Israel when they turned to Him. It’s sometimes difficult for someone to understand how a man can be converted. This is the problem that Balaam had.”

“What about Korah?” Shiva inquired. “What did he do? He’s also mentioned in Jude 11.”

“Korah led a rebellion against Moses,” Fuller answered. “You can read that account in Numbers 16. Basically, he came to the conclusion that Moses was not the only one around who had access to God. Korah rebelled against God’s constituted authority, who was Moses. He wanted to intrude into that which was sacred. In effect he asked, ‘Has God only spoken to Moses? Who does Moses think he is?’”

“Actually,” Erin began hesitantly, “I believe Moses didn’t think too much of himself or that he had any great qualifications. Didn’t Moses want to disqualify himself as the leader of the people out of Egypt?”

“Yes, but God had called Moses, and this man Korah rebelled against him. He contradicted the authority of Moses. He intruded into the office of the priests, and he died. In other words, he was a rebellious man, rebelling against God. Jude says that such rebellion characterizes the apostate. Before Al reads to us verse 12 of Jude, I want you to notice that the things which are true of these three individuals from the Old Testament are also the things which are true of apostates. Cain did not believe that you need to come to God by faith and that you need a bloody sacrifice because man is a sinner. He believed that if you have a religion, that is all you need. The apostate goes along with that. The error of Balaam is to think that a holy God must punish sin and that sinners cannot be forgiven. The apostate makes the same mistake. He says, ‘How in the world can the sacrifice of Christ save anyone? A man has to do this for himself.’ And the apostate rebels against God as Korah did. They assume an authority that is not theirs. They stand in the pulpit and give out politics instead of giving out the Word of God. Instead of telling what God says, they tell people what they say and what they think. These three men from the Old Testament illustrate this to us today, even in these last days.”

Fuller turned to Barrington. “Al, I’d like you to read verses 12 through 16, because this passage refers directly to modern apostate teachers.”

Barrington read Jude 12 - 16. "‘These are spots on your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about by winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all who are ungodly among them of all their godless deeds which they have godlessly committed, and of all the harsh speeches which godless sinners have spoken against Him. These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, giving admiration to men's persons to gain advantage.’”

“In the next few verses the modern apostate teachers are defined and described. You’ll not find anywhere else a language more vivid, more graphic, more dramatic, and more frightening than the description of the apostate in the last days. Let me share with you Dr. Wuest’s translation, which makes the description of the apostate teachers even more vivid. ‘These are the hidden rocks in your love feasts, sumptuously feasting with you without fear, as shepherds leading themselves to pasture, waterless clouds carried past by winds, autumn trees without fruit, having died twice, rooted up.’ What a picture we have here!”

King nodded. “The picture here is of hidden rocks which wreck a ship. They make what Paul calls shipwreck of the faith, and Paul names two men who evidently ran into an apostate, a hidden rock, and made a shipwreck of the faith.”

“Where is that found?” Erin asked.

“It is I Timothy 1:19 and 20. ‘Holding faith and a good conscience which some, having put aside, have suffered shipwreck concerning faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.’”

“Wow,” Shiva said with a whistle.

Fronk nodded. “Yeah. We know, Fury. That’s heavy.”

“It is.” He agreed with a nod. “Think about it, man. An apostate may be compared to the tip of an iceberg. Very little of it is visible, but if a ship runs into it, the ship will go to the bottom of the sea. Today, look at how many people there are, especially young people, whose faith has not only been shaken but wrecked by a person who is an apostate! That carries a lot of weight. Because one apostate can kill the message of Christ where no one will be able to hear it.”

Staci raised her hand. “I have a question. What does verse 12 mean by feasts of charity?”

King turned to her. “They were love feasts which were held in the early church before the communion service. Basically, it was a time of fellowship when believers brought food and shared a meal together. The poor could bring very little, but it was a time of sharing what they had.”

Fuller sighed. “But the apostates came in with ravenous appetites. They could eat more than anyone else, and they fed themselves without fear. They were shepherds who were feeding themselves instead of their flock. Not only in the matter of food but also in their failure to teach the Word of God to their flock, it was evident that they were concerned only about themselves.”

“They may look as if they are filled with the Word of God, but they are empty and dry, like clouds without water.” Barrington shook his head. “They may wear robes and speak in pompous, pontifical voices with great authority, like the False Prophet does. They have had courses in public speaking and homiletics, and they know how to spiritualize a text of Scripture and make it mean something entirely different from what God had intended. They are like beautiful clouds that drift across the sky without giving any refreshment to the earth. To me, this is Jude’s picture of apostates. They don’t have the water of life. They actually know nothing about the Word of God.”

“When the Lord Jesus gave the warning against false teachers,” Lenox began, referring to notes he had written down earlier, “He said, ‘…by their fruits ye shall know them. 14’ Jude says that the apostate has withered fruit. He is ‘twice dead, plucked up by the roots.’”

Fuller sat up. “It was Dwight L. Moody who said that when a man is born once, he will have to die twice and that when a man is born twice, he will have to die only once.”

Staci blinked. “Huh?”

“Jude says that the apostates are spiritually dead, dead in trespasses and sins…and yet trying to lead others! Also the apostate’s body will have to die, so he is twice dead. He dies physically. Then, he dies spiritually. What a picture of the apostate! And Jude isn’t even through with him. ‘Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.’ In the previous verse he said they were like clouds carried about by the wind. These men generally speak on current events rather than the Word of God. They pick up something out of the newspaper or something they have seen on television, and that becomes their subject for the coming Lord’s Day. They don’t really give the interpretation of the Word of God which would be applicable for the day. Now here Jude says that they are like raging waves of the sea. They just stand in the pulpit and rant. These false teachers are impelled by their restless passions. They unblushingly exhibit in word and deed, their base and abandoned spirit.”

“The verse here says they are wandering stars.” Fronk let out a loud hoot that made Erin jump. “Yeah. They’re wandering stars alright. They just wander through space, and since there is a lot of it, I guess they‘ll be lost forever. They are lawless in that they follow no course whatsoever.”

Erin scowled. “Stop hooting!”

He grinned at her.

“What is this blackness about?” Staci wanted to know. “The blackness that is reserved for these…apostates.”

“This refers to hell,” King answered.

“Oh.”

“One symbol of hell is fire,” Lenox added, “and another pitch, black darkness.”

“The great emphasis has been placed upon the symbol of fire.” King paused. “Hell is literal, of course, but to say it is literal fire isn’t quite adequate for this reason…There will be spiritual creatures there as well as man. And the worst sins of man are spiritual sins such as unbelief. Therefore, physical punishment wouldn’t be quite adequate. My feeling is that man will wish it were literal fire because it will be so much worse than fire. The other symbol, ‘blackness of darkness,’ is to me far more frightening. And I believe that a lost man carries his darkness with him…not only physical darkness but spiritual darkness.”

Fuller nodded in agreement. “The horrors of hell will be increased by those who go there. For instance, there is a place on earth called Hell’s Kitchen. Is the difference in the kind of real estate that is there? No, the difference is in the people who are there. This, together with the concept of physical darkness, is frightful beyond words. If you have ever been down in Carlsbad Caverns 15 when the lights are turned out, you know what real darkness is. I’d hate to be down there forever! Wouldn’t you agree?”

Staci shuddered. “I would.”

“You’ve been to Carlsbad Caverns?” Lenox asked her.

“No…but if it is like Hell with the lights out, I don’t ever want to be there either.”

He grinned at her.

“We come now to another remarkable passage of Scripture,” Fuller began, “and the only place it occurs in the Word of God is here in Jude. Verses 14 and 15, which Al read to us a while ago, talks about Enoch. This prophecy of Enoch is not found in the Old Testament. In Genesis 5, we have the record of Enoch, but are told nothing about his prophecy. Enoch is not a common name, so we may be sure that the man Jude mentions in these verses is Enoch of the antediluvian period, the man who walked with God and God took him. Does anyone know what Enoch prophesied about?“

“Enoch prophesied about false teachers of the last days,” Lenox answered.

“Among other things, yes. Isn’t that a remarkable thing! But here is one prophecy that God wanted put into His holy Word. It is a prophecy concerning the coming of Christ with His saints. We know fro m the record in Genesis that Enoch was translated.” He saw the puzzled look on Staci’s face and smiled. “He was removed from the earth without dying.”

She smiled back. “You mean he was raptured?”

“We saw the church, the true believers, removed from the earth without dying, didn‘t we?” Fuller nodded. “We were left behind, but they were all translated, like Enoch was.”

Fronk looked at Shiva. “You can say it if you want to because it’s true. It’s heavy. It really is.”

Shiva laughed. “Well, I for one find this all exciting. I mean, wow. Come on, Todd. Don’t stop now.”

Fuller nodded. “I have no intention of stopping now.” He paused. “Through the centuries since the time of Christ, believers have been dying so that right up to the Rapture, most of the church had already passed through the doorway of death. Then, when the Rapture occurred, they were caught up together with the living believers to meet the Lord in the air.”

“Yeah,” Barrington said with a nod, “we missed that.”

Lenox shrugged. “We didn’t miss the opportunity to come to Him during these great times of tribulation. Face it, Al. God has put us right where He wants us to be, so we’ll just keep going forward for Him until He appears to set up the Millennium.”

“Amen to that, brother,” Erin agreed.

“Sorry, Todd. Go on, please.”

Fuller grinned. “Alright. As I was saying, this teaching is not in the Old Testament at all, yet Enoch is a type or a representative of the believers who did take part in the Rapture. Enoch was removed from the earthly scene before the judgment of the Flood came upon the earth. And the believers who compose the true church were removed from this earth, were caught up to meet the Lord in the air, before the judgment of the Great Tribulation broke out upon the earth. Now, after the Great Tribulation…and I know we’re all looking forward to that…the Lord Jesus will return to the earth.”

“Wasn’t there some confusion as to when exactly His second coming was going to be?” Shiva asked.

“Some people believed the Rapture was to be His Second Coming,” King replied, “but we know that this is not the case. The Rapture was only the removal of the Church. After the Rapture - and this is where total apostasy came in - the so-called visible church which is left on the earth, composed of people who are not true believers, have totally departed from the faith and entered into the Great Tribulation Period. Now at the end of the Tribulation, the Lord Jesus will actually come to the earth ‘to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed,’ as Jude has prophesied. This is a remarkable passage of Scripture. And when He comes then, that will be His Second Coming.”

Lenox grinned. “I like the way Jude emphasized the word ‘ungodly’. It was as if he didn’t want anyone to miss that point.”

“It is quite interesting that the Church, which was raptured, will come back with Christ when He returns to the earth.”

“When Christ returns to the earth,” Barrington replied, “He is going to execute judgment. Jesus Himself said this in His Olivet Discourse. It is mentioned again and again in the Word of God, and we’ve seen it in the Old Testament. These apostates are ungodly in the sense that they leave God out. And they will be judged for it.”

“Their works are actually anti-God,” Lenox added.

“Okay,“ Fuller said, holding his hand up. “Getting back on topic, this prophecy of Enoch, and it is a great prophecy, deals with the judgment upon the organized church which will be in total apostasy after the Rapture. As we have seen, the Rapture completely ruptured the Church. The true believers have left the earth, and the make-believers remained. We finally saw the truth and hope others will, too, but if we survive the Great Tribulation, then we will be here when Christ comes to judge men in that day.”

“I’m looking forward to that day,” Shiva said.

Staci nodded. “Me, too.”

Fuller agreed. “Now let’s talk about verse 16, which says, ‘These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.’ In this verse, we have five additional identifications of apostates. What are they?”

Staci held up her hand. “The first one is murmurers.”

Fuller smiled at her. “Right. Murmuring means to mutter complaints. This is not loud, outspoken dissatisfaction but muttering against God in an undertone. Okay…what‘s the next one?”

“Complainers,” Erin replied.

“Absolutely, They are complainers, complaining about their lot in life, discontented, never satisfied. If they recognize God at all, they blame Him for everything that has happened to them. Another characteristic of apostates is that…” He trailed off, hoping someone would pick it up from there.

Shiva did with a nod. “They walk after their own lusts or desires.”

“Good. Now those desires could be good or bad. Not necessarily desires which are base like immorality. It could be anything that leaves God out. It could be a sailing boat, good music, or literature, or even religion in which they find a certain amount of satisfaction, but in their hearts they are discontented. Okay…what is number four?”

“Their mouth’s speak great swelling words,” Fronk said, waving his finger tips in front of his mouth. “They are immoderate and arrogant, that’s what they are! They use extravagant language, which is nothing more than fizz and foam that has absolutely no content to it whatsoever. In fact, this reminds me of something. I was rather amused by listening to a politician being interviewed. Now this politician used a great many modern expressions which are being extremely overworked, if you ask me. When he had finally finished with his babbling, I analyzed what he had said and realized that he hadn’t said anything at all! He had been just talking. He hadn’t committed himself to anything whatsoever. I’d like to call a speech like this politicians the Blah Blah speech. Kind-a like the school teacher on the Charlie Brown cartoons.”

“Thank you, William.” Fuller paused. “Who can tell us the last one?”

Lenox nodded to him. “I can. I think it has to do with admiring each other. In other words, they’re great at applauding others…and they say a lot of things which aren’t true because they’re looking to men for their promotion, their advantage. I believe James said, ‘My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect for him that weareth the grand clothing and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor man, Stand thou there, or, Sit here under my footstool, are ye not then partial in yourselves and have become judges with evil thoughts?’”

“Absolutely, Michael,“ Fuller agreed. “We see this kind of thing going on all the time. Especially in these last days. These are the methods of apostates. They do not look to God. They’re not concerned whether or not the Lord Jesus will say to them, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’ They’re far more concerned to have the applause of the crowd. Having men’s persons in admiration because of some advantage they will get from it, looking to men for promotion instead of looking to God for promotion, is certainly a condemnation and the mark of an apostate.”

1 - II Corinthians 11:13–15
2 - Acts 20:29–31
3 - II Tim. 3:5–6
4 - II Peter 2:1
5 - Galatians 2:5
6 - Luke 18:8
7 - Numbers 14:31
8 - I Corinthians 6:3
9 - Revelation 20:10
10 - Revelation 12:9
11 - Revelation 20:1 - 3
12 - Luke 11:21
13 - Mark 6:7 - 9
14 - Matthew 7:20
15 - Carlsbad Caverns National Park - New Mexico
16 - James 2:1 - 4