Today's Favorite Verse: Acts 20:29-30
"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."
Paul warns of a coming apostasy. That great apostasy did take place, and Satan tactics remain the same today. The only difference is there has been a restoration of Christ's Church again upon the earth and there will not be another great apostasy. The Church will remain with prophets and apostles and be here when Christ returns. That does not mean however, that individual apostasy cannot happen. It can and is happening now. We still have to watch for ravenous wolves among us and guard ourselves against individual apostasy.
"As he bade farewell to the Church leaders in Ephesus, Paul warned them that an apostasy was coming and that it would be the result of forces working both outside the Church (“grievous wolves”) and inside the Church (“of your own selves”). The Greek word apostasia, which was translated as “falling away” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, is closer in meaning to “rebellion” or “revolution.” Thus, Church members themselves contributed to the Great Apostasy by rebelling against Church leaders and doctrine. Priestcraft was an important element of this internal rebellion. Paul’s words in Acts 20:30 provide a definition of priestcraft.
Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles affirmed Paul’s message: “Not only would outsiders ingratiate themselves with the saints for purposes of selfish gain—wolves entering in, and not sparing the flock,—but schisms and divisions were imminent; and these dissensions were to come through some then present—men who would aspire to leadership, and who would set up their own doctrines, thus drawing disciples away from the Church and unto themselves” (The Great Apostasy [1968], 28).
Discussing the origins of the Great Apostasy, President Joseph Fielding Smith declared that some of it was the result of evil men who moved in and displaced the authority of the Apostles: “In time all ordinances of the gospel were changed, commandments were broken, and the simple principles of the gospel were mixed with pagan philosophy by the ‘grievous wolves’ and apostate disciples who displaced the prophets and apostles who had divine communion with the heavens. Spiritual darkness set in, and unrighteous men took command and closed the heavens against themselves. Visions and contact with the heavens ceased, and the gifts of the spirit came to an end. The blessings and presence of the Twelve Apostles ceased, and the cry went forth that they were no longer needed” (Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [1957–66], 5:177)."
(New Testament Student Manual, "Chapter 33: Acts 16-20")
