Apostates, unbelievers, backsliders and heretics

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Apostates are those who have committed apostasy. Apostates used to be followers of Jesus, but they ceased to be followers along the line. Apostates are devout Christians who have abandoned Christianity and are no more Christians.

Apostates and unbelievers

In Christianity, an unbeliever is a term we use to describe a person who has not accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Though some unbelievers may have some good opinions about Jesus, they do not accept nor acknowledge Him as a God whom they shall worship and obey; neither do they acknowledge him as a Savior whom they should appreciate. Unbelievers follow an entirely different belief system.  When we are asked to cite examples of unbelievers, we are quick to mention names like Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, etc. Actually, some members of these religions are apostates of Christianity. Some Christian apostates eventually go back to become unbelievers; they were once unbelievers, then they became believers, but they apostatized later to become unbelievers again.

Apostates, unbelievers, backsliders and heretics

Muslims are examples of unbelievers. Each year hundreds of thousands of Muslims visit Mecca and go around the Kaaba seven times. You can be sure that some of the Muslims whom you see around the Kaaba, used to be Christians, but they apostatized and converted to Islam; and they are now counted among Muslims. History has quite a lot of examples of this unfortunate event of a Christian apostatizing to become an unbeliever.

Quite recently, a lady who goes by the name Sarah Ager, whose parents are Salvation Army ministers, apostatized. She grew up in the church, was in the church choir, and was well-known to be a Christian. Now for reasons not clear enough, she apostatized and became an unbeliever. She left Christianity and converted to Islam when she was studying English in Leicester. As to why she became a Muslim, her reasons were not too clear.

This is a statement by her, “Just one day I looked back and thought I wasn’t a Christian anymore,” she continued, “I can’t remember the moment when I stopped believing that Jesus was the son of God, …. .” Sarah Ager is now an apostate, but a Muslim convert, and she is counted among unbelievers.    

Apostates, unbelievers, backsliders and heretics Hindus at a festival

Hindus are examples of unbelievers. Each year they converge to celebrate their festivals in honor of their gods. Among the large numbers of Hindus who crowd up in the street for their festivals, you can be sure that some of them were once saved Christians, but they apostatized later and joined the Hindu faith. Now they are counted among Hindus.

One such example is Grete von Hausen. By her own confession, she was born and brought up a Christian. Along the line, she claimed to have found a new spiritual enlightenment, which is Hinduism. She is now an apostate, but a Hindu convert and she has added to the number of unbelievers in the world.

Apostates, unbelievers, backsliders and heretics

Jews are examples of unbelievers. However, not all of them were born into Judaism. Some converts to Judaism are apostates from Christianity. Now those apostates are not counted among Christians anymore, rather they are counted as Jews.

One good example is Ahuva Gray. Ahuva Grey is an American Jewish woman born to a Baptist family in Chicago. She became a Baptist minister and worked for 14 years in the ministry. She explained that upon studying the Bible, she found many discrepancies in the New Testament. This led her to begin a process of searching for another religion.

She found and learned about Judaism, and appreciated its teachings over that of Christianity. Eventually, in 1996, she resigned from her position as a minister and converted fully to become an Orthodox Jew, after which she took the first name Ahuva. Now Ahuva Grey, who used to be a Christian, is an apostate and a Jewish convert.

Atheists are examples of unbelievers. Atheists do not believe in God and do not affiliate with any religion; they are none religious. Some people who profess atheism today, once upon a time, were Christians, but they apostatized from Christianity and now are counted among atheists. We have had a situation where church leaders have apostatized to become atheists.

One such example is Daniel Edwin Barker. Edwin Barker was an evangelical Christian preacher and composer, who apostatized and left Christianity in 1984. Edwin Barker had a degree in religion from Azusa Pacific University and was ordained to the ministry by the Standard Community Church, California, in 1975. He served as associate pastor at the Religious Society of Friends Church and an independent Charismatic church. In 1984 he announced to his co-ministers, friends, and family that he has become an atheist. Afterward, he became an atheist activist and appeared on several TV shows. Now he is counted as an atheist.  

Eventually, apostates from Christianity become unbelievers; either they become non-religious or they join other religions, say Buddhism, Sheikism, Islam, Judaism, etc., and they are counted as members of these religions.

Apostates and Heretics

Heretics are people who believe and or practice religious heresy – where heresy is any belief or opinion or doctrine which is contrary to Biblical teachings. A heretic, in short, is one who believes and practices false doctrines.

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23, 24.

Taking this Scripture into consideration, if at any point in time, a Christian turns away from the truth or true doctrines and embraces false doctrines, he ceases to be a true worshipper and child of God; rather, he becomes an apostate. Those Christians who become apostate by embracing and practicing false doctrines do not become unbelievers as we understand the term unbelievers, for they still maintain that they are Christians, that they are part of the Christendom, and that they believe in Jesus, and that they teach from the Bible; at least they may have few opinions about Jesus or few Biblical doctrines that are true.

However, they have quite a number of false doctrines that contradict the core beliefs of the Christian faith. Christians who apostatize by embracing false doctrines form a category of apostates who are well-known as heretics. Heretics are a category of apostates who either believe and practice entirely false doctrines or believe and practice a synthesis of true and false doctrines. Heretics teach their false doctrines to other Christians and non-Christians alike to convert them to become heretics.

One notable heretic in recent history is Charles Taze Russell, founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Russel managed to teach his false doctrines to others and won as many as possible to start the denomination which is now called Jehovah’s Witnesses. Though Jehovah’s Witnesses have many unbiblical doctrines, they still count themselves as Christians. Other examples are Joseph Smith, founder of Latter-Day Saints.

In a nutshell, some apostates from Christianity, eventually, become heretics, in that they have embraced false and damnable doctrines called heresies.

Apostate and backsliders

Someone who has backslidden is called a backslider.  A backslider is one who has been saved but has since reverted to his pre-conversion sinful habits to the point that he is now spiritually lost and dead again, just like he was before becoming saved. Sin has been the age-old factor that ruins the relationship between God and man right from the days of our earliest ancestors to this day. At any point, when a Christian, saved and following Jesus, is trapped in the practice of habitual sins, he becomes an apostate and spiritually separated from God as he was before becoming a Christian.

The reasons are that anyone who is living in sin identifies himself as the child of the devil because he is doing the works of the devil. Joh 8:44

Another reason is that any Christian who is living in sin denies Jesus. In other words, a Christian living in sin tells the world that he is no more a follower of Jesus. Tit 1:16

A backslider is, obviously, an apostate. A backslider is an apostate who apostatizes through living in habitual sins. Continuously practicing sins such as theft, lasciviousness, lying, corruption, adultery, fornication, unforgiveness, etc. is tantamount to apostasy, since sin will eventually ruin the relationship between you and God.

Backsliders are another category of apostates for they are a bit different from unbelieving apostates and heretic apostates. Backsliders do not challenge Christian doctrines as heretics and unbelieving apostates would do. Backsliders do not become apostates because they have embraced false doctrines that contradict true Christian doctrines; in fact, normally, backsliders still accept the core Christian doctrines such as the Holy Trinity, the Divinity of Jesus, holiness, etc. However, they cannot stick to applying these doctrines in their life. Backsliders do not become as such by means of doctrinal differences, but, normally, it is as a result of habitual moral lapses and also a loss of interest in Christianity with the notion that the world, with its sinful pleasures, is to be desired more than Christianity.

Apostates are worse off

People who have always been unbelievers, who have never believed and experience salvation and Christianity seem to be in a better position than apostates. Unbelievers, who have never been Christians, stand the chance of getting saved than an apostate. Apostasy seems to be a much greater sin than unbelief in the sight of God. The Bible teaches that for those who have once believed, and have been saved, and have tasted of spiritual gifts, and have received the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, when they apostatize, it is impossible to restore them again to repentance. Why is apostasy so grave a sin in the eyes of God?

The Jews and their leaders rejected to believe in Jesus as the Christ and considered Him as the imposter of the true Christ. Therefore, they handed Him over to the authorities and in unison, they cried, “Crucify Him!” insisting that He should be crucified. Any Christian who apostatizes, openly rejects Jesus and he is equally as guilty as those Jews who had Jesus crucified; for if he had been there at that time, he too would have joined those who rejected Jesus and cried, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Any Christian who becomes an apostate is guilty of crucifying Jesus again and it is not possible for him to come back to Christ. Reference Hebrews 6:4-6.

When someone comes to accept Jesus, receive salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, receive spiritual gifts, fellowship with other Christians, sing praises and worship songs, etc. and if such a person who has gone through all these Christian experiences, eventually, abandons Christianity, he has put Jesus Christ to open shame, for he has created an impression to the world that something out there is better than following Jesus. The Bible says in Hebrew 6:4-8 that such a person has ‘… put Him [Christ] to open shame.’ Therefore, if a Christian abandons Christ to become, let say, a Muslim, he has shamed Jesus publicly and has created an impression that it is better to follow Muhammed than Jesus. Reference Hebrews 6:4-6  

Apostates are those who have once accepted Jesus, or have once been saved, or have once been Christians, but have fallen away later. Since an apostate has rejected Jesus who is the only way to salvation, what other thing can save him again. Paul says that he has committed a great at of disrespect deserving of punishment – 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10:28–29 ESV

Simply put, the Bible teaches that an unbeliever who has never accepted Christianity is better than an apostate, in that it is possible for him to be saved; whereas it is impossible for an apostate to be saved. The Bible continues to teach that apostates become worse sinners than what they were before they were saved. It is written that if an unbeliever and sinner repents and gives his life to Jesus and experience Christianity and then he later apostatize and goes back into his sins, he become worse off than what he used to be. And it is better for a person not to know the way of righteousness than to know it and later turn away from it. Reference 2 Peter 2:20–21.

What to do

Buddha, Mohammed, Nanak, etc. are people whose lives were tainted with many sins; they were sinners like any other person and they cannot lead anyone to salvation. Jesus is the only perfect person to ever live and He is able to save mankind. Apostasy does not pay and the consequence thereof is eternal. Therefore, Christians should abide in Christ. There is nothing better out there. The Bible is infallible and it is apt for teaching all truth; hence, Christians should rely on the Bible in all matters concerning doctrines and depend on the Holy Spirit for understanding.

Conclusion

An apostate is a Christian who has committed the sin of apostasy. After having committed apostasy, they become any of these three:

  • Unbelievers: they may join another religion such as Judaism, Hinduism, etc.
  • Heretics: some apostates are heretics because why they still profess to be Christians, they have embraced false doctrines that contradict biblical doctrines.
  • Backsliders: backsliders are the Christians who become apostates by going back to their formal sinful way of life.

 Food for thought

  • Could there possibly be anything that can make you abandon Christ and join another religion?
  • Is there anything to do to help an apostate to return to Christ?
  • How do you feel when you read in Hebrews 6:4-6 that it is impossible for apostates to repent?
  • What new thing have you learned from this article?
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