Is the Apostasia a Spiritual or a Spatial Departure? :: By Jeff Van Hatten

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 – “But in connection with the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and our gathering together to meet him, we ask you, brothers, not to be easily shaken in your thinking or anxious because of a spirit or a spoken message or a letter supposedly from us claiming that the Day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until after the departure has come and the man who separates himself from Torah has been revealed, the one destined for doom.”

Prophecies often have dual fulfillment, so today, we will look at another topic linked to the pre-tribulation Rapture of the Bride of Yeshua – that of the apostasia to see if this word has been correctly translated or if it has been irresponsibly mistranslated. Does Paul’s use of the word apostasia indicate a spiritual departure, or a spatial departure, or both – let’s take a closer look:

Historical Translations

Several translations of the Greek New Covenant apostasia into English prior to the King James Authorized version of 1611 translate apostasia as either the departure or the departing. Those translations are:

  • The Tyndale Bible (1526 / 1534) a departynge fyrst
  • The Coverdale Bible (1539) a departynge come firft
  • The Cranmer Bible (1539) a departynge fyrst
  • and The Geneva Bible (1557) a departing first

One newer translation that also translates apostasia as departure is the Hebrew Names Version (1997).

Modern Translations

Modern translations of the Greek New Covenant apostasia into English use various words. For example:

  • The Complete Jewish Bible – apostasy
  • The New American Standard Bible – apostasy
  • The New English Translation – rebellion
  • The New Revised Standard Version – rebellion
  • The English Standard Version – rebellion
  • The King James Version – a falling away

The Word Apostasia

2 Thessalonians 2:3 – “The tribulation will not come until The Departure comes first…”

The words translated “the departure” are the Greek words he [G3588] apostasia [G646], meaning hé departure. The word hé simply means “the.” The Latin Vulgate (“ne quis vos seducat ullo modo quoniam nisi venerit discessio…“) uses the word “discessio,” which also translates as: a withdrawal, a dispersal, a separation, or a departure. A literal English translation, therefore, correctly reads “the departure comes first.”

A Spiritual Departure

2 Thessalonians 2:3 – “For the Day will not come until after the Apostasy has come…”

Apostasia [G646], formed from the conjunction of apo and stasia is defined literally as “a leaving, from a previous standing.” Today it has come to mean a defection from truth or rejection of truth; in other words, an apostasy.

Below are a couple of examples:

Genesis 6:5 – “Yahweh saw that the people on earth were very wicked, that all the imaginings of their hearts were always of evil only.” In the days of Noah, the people of the earth had departed from righteous living, which resulted in the earth being flooded and destroyed (Genesis 6:17; 9:11).

2 Chronicles 36:21 – “The land experienced its sabbatical years; it remained desolate for seventy years, as prophesied.” In the days when Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon, judgment against Israel was rendered for Israel’s departure from honoring the Sabbaths. The Temple was destroyed, and the people were exiled to Babylon.

John 11:48 – “The Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation.” By the time of Yeshua, the Pharisees and Sadducees had departed from the written Torah and were teaching primarily from the Oral Traditions of the rabbis. The Temple was destroyed again, and the people were exiled to all the nations of the world.

The First Spiritual Sequence:

First – Departure from righteous living as commanded by The Torah, Second – Destruction.

The historical patterns show a departure from scriptural or doctrinal principles prior to judgment leading to some form of destruction.

The Second Spiritual Sequence:

First – Departure, Second – Revealing.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 – “When our Lord Yeshua returns, we will be gathered up to meet him. So do not be easily upset or disturbed by people who claim that he has already come or that the Day of The Lord has begun… and do not let anyone in any way deceive you, for the tribulation will not come until The Departure comes first, and then the revealing of the Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Perdition, comes second.”

2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 – “He who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed.”

Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians describes the sequence of events regarding the gathering together of those in Mashiach (Christ) and confirms that that time had not yet happened – the Day of the Lord or tribulation period was still in the future. Paul admonishes the Thessalonians not to be deceived and then goes on to describe the future sequence of events. Note the parallel sequences in both verse three and then verses seven and eight of Second Thessalonians! First, the departure. Then, the Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Perdition, or as he is commonly known, the antichrist, is revealed.

A Spatial Departure

Apostasia is made up of two words, apo and stasia.

  • Apo [G575] means: a motion away from a place or person, the separation of apart from the whole. It is a state of separation, that is of distance – either physical: of distance of place, or temporal: of distance of time. It is graphically represented by a straight line going away from the circumference of a circle: o̸
  • Stasia means: a standing, to stand, exist, have stability. It comes from the root word: Stasis [G4714].

Together they mean a standing away from, a drawing out from, a separation away from, or a going out from among. This fits exactly with the images of the “great escape” and the “gathering together” of scripture.

Apostasia [G646] is the feminine form of apostasion [G647], which is a derivative form of aphistēmi [G868], all of which refer to a departure from someone or something. In other words, a separation of distance, either physical or temporal. Aphistēmi [G868] is translated “depart” 13 out of 16 times in the Newer Covenant scriptures, and as withdraw, drew away, or refrain from, in the other scriptures.

Below are a couple of examples:

Luke 2:37 – “Anna never departed the temple, serving night and day with fasting and prayer.”

Luke 13:27 – “And Yeshua will say, ‘Depart from me, all you evildoers.'”

Acts 12:10 – After the angel had released Peter from the prison, “immediately the angel departed from him.”

2 Corinthians 12:8 – “I implored Yeshua three times that the messenger of Satan might depart from me.”

The Spatial Sequence:

First – Departure as in the rapture, second – Destruction.

This historical pattern of rapture, or departure, before destruction can be seen in the raptures of Enoch, Elijah, and Yeshua. The Bride of Yeshua will also be raptured before the Day of the Lord, or Tribulation Period commences.

Another Apostasy (Speaking in English)

Acts 21:21 – “They have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses…”

The word apostasia (forsake) in this scripture may indeed indicate an apostasy, leaving, or rebellion of faith – a falling away from pure exposition of scriptural or doctrinal principles, or to a falling away from the Torah – a falling away from the teachings of Moses. However, it could also literally be translated to mean: “Just turn your back on Moses himself, and walk away from him.” Today we are seeing just such an abandonment or forsaking of scripture and sound doctrine, as well as a falling away from (or turning of the back on) the church and the church’s teachings as the time of Yeshua’s return draws near – in other words: a dual fulfillment.

Conclusions

Understanding the precise context of the scriptures in which the word apostasia is used clearly determines which meaning is being expressed. Paul’s Second Thessalonians letter may only be addressing the topic of a departure away from scriptural or doctrinal principles prior to the revealing of the antichrist, as in Acts 21:21.

However, If the word apostasia in Second Thessalonians is referring to the harpazō or departure of the Bride of Yeshua, this may be an additional meaning of the topic, and the Bride will also depart from earth prior to the commencement of the Tribulation Period.

In context of the harpazō (the gathering together, rapture, or departure) of the Bride of Yeshua, the Bride is gathered first, then secondly the antichrist is revealed. This agrees fully with Matthew 16:18, which states that the Church cannot be overcome by Satan or all the powers of Hell. That the apostasia is the harpazō also agrees with First Thessalonians in which Paul states that the Bride of Yeshua is to wait for Yeshua who “who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:10) and also with Paul’s statement that “Yahweh did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Yeshua Ha’Mashiach” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Website: https://raptureparty.net

Email: jeff@raptureparty.net

 

Dec 13, 2021

Covid-19: The Worst Possible Outcome at Every Turn

I am shocked to see how the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded in the last two years. It seems that this is all part of a plot because the worst possible event always happens with each passing day.

In September of last year, it looked like we were saved by the extremely rapid development of vaccines. The virus mutated so rapidly, shifting from the delta variant to the omicron variant, that vaccines could be a huge waste of time and money. The world has spent $10 trillion on prevention. In the end, we probably should have just let it burn through the population until we achieved herd immunity the hard way.

People like Bill Gates are saying that this virus may be with us for all eternity. A dozen years from now, some people may be on their 20th booster shot. I’ve already said I don’t care about the current vaccines. The one that has me concerned is the third or fourth generation of the jab that may only have a few weeks of study. When I started recommending the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, 2.5 billion people had already had the shot, and there was 10 months of research.

The omicron variant has 30 mutations on the spike proteins alone. This is such a rapid rate of mutation that we should probably change the name of the virus to COVID-20. The delta variant only had 10 mutations, and fully vaccinated people are being infected with the virus.

How quickly these variants travel across the globe is shocking. We only learned about omicron two weeks ago, and it’s now in 38 countries and ten American states. Since it takes about two weeks for people to develop symptoms, all the travel bans to South Africa were a month too late.

What makes me wonder about the most, if we’re following a game plan, is that every new variant is more contagious than the one before it. The next stage will be that they become more lethal with every new mutation.

The most regrettable outcome from the COVID-19 pandemic is the loss of freedom from the power overreach by various governments. Until recently, Australia was most famous for its sunshine and relaxed attitude. Since the Covid pandemic hit, that country has quickly turned into an Orwellian police state. Australians can’t leave the country, and returning travelers quarantining at home are forced to download an app that combines facial recognition and geolocation. The state will text them at random times, and thereafter they will have 15 minutes to take a picture of their face in the location where they are supposed to be. Aussie Police recently arrested teen ‘Fugitives’ who escaped From a Covid Internment Camp.

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern has permitted her people to use the bathroom inside their friends’ homes. A few years ago, that sort of statement was seen as a joke. This shows just how bad the world is for people to act so easily like a dictator and for the public to tolerate this absurdity.

The government has already done tremendous damage to the economy with lockdowns and free money handouts. If omicron or another variant triggers a new round of stimmy checks, I think it’s very likely that we will have a supply-chain meltdown. About every time I go to the grocery store, there is at least one item I would like to buy that is out of stock. The American people have no idea how quickly we could degrade into the old Soviet Union, where you go to the store to buy what they have and trade with your neighbors for what you need.

The Soviet Union collapsed because ordinary people who lived under that system understood that it did not work. We are turning into the USSR because the socialist plans we have put in place have failed, and we are turning towards more socialism for the solution. The Soviet Union had a 69-year history. Since America is transforming into a socialist state, it may take decades for our fellow citizens to fully realize it doesn’t work. One possible good thing about Covid is it is rapidly speeding up the process.

“When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan” (Proverbs 29:2).

–Todd


The Blueprint

Throughout the past weeks, months and even years, we’ve looked at the evil of the principalities and powers of Ephesians 6: 12.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

We’ve addressed how the wickedness within this cabal is ratcheting up for the conclusion of the age. The cabal includes both demonic and human diabolists that are determined to lay groundwork of the most disastrous kind. It is preparing the way for the reign of Antichrist, which will be the most despotic, tyrannical regimes of all human history.

The human minions within the high places have little to no idea that they are working to help Satan complete his destructive mission. However, these are every bit as much his Tribulation demolition force as the demonic principalities and powers of the supernatural sort.

There is no doubt that the stage is being set for Daniel’s seventieth week—the seven years of Tribulation leading up to Christ’s Second Advent. The avalanche of deception and wickedness that we see being foisted upon end-times mankind we term “Satan’s blueprint,” and it is drawn up and implemented by the ultimate architect of evil.

We’ve looked at how the US is the number-one holdup to this luciferian plan coming to full construction. By that, I mean that in human terms, this is the case. It is, of course, God the Holy Spirit resident within the Church (all born again believers) who restrains the evil, as pointed out in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

But in human terms—in geopolitical terms—it is America and our constitutional adherence to national sovereignty that offers most resistance to the New World Order builders. That’s who brings the hellish drive to deconstruct national borders that we see plaguing our country. It is why the present presidential administration is sometimes openly, sometimes covertly, bringing illegal aliens across our borders and flying others in the early morning hours into places like Florida from places like Afghanistan. Satan wants no national borders. He is determined to establish one-world rule as soon as his blueprint is fully implemented.

The devil’s blueprint has been cleverly drawn, and was begun earnestly, in modern times, during the mid-twentieth century. With Hitler and Tojo defeated in 1945, the minions of Ephesians 6: 12 created the United Nations in succeeding years. Where Wilson and the one-worlders had failed with the League of Nations following WWI, the UN sprang to life and now makes its powerful presence known in every aspect of life on planet earth.

Satan even had in his blueprint to plant this one-world organization in America’s most influential city—influential not only within the US, but effectively in most every nation on earth.

The devil’s determination to tear down America’s boundaries–in every area of existence, not just in terms of geography—includes in his blueprint the following you will recognize.

In terms of society and culture, the satanic plan has divided the nation to an ever-increasing extent. He has fomented racial, political, class, religious, and economic chaos and division in other ways. The “seas and waves” are roaring in this nation that once was the world’s greatest experiment in liberty of human history. The republic that Benjamin Franklin once was said to have told a woman: “We have given you your republic, if you can keep it,” we have now lost.

One of Satan’s human minions, whom we are told is most notorious in helping create this condition of decline–George Soros, along with other ultra-rich one-worlders—has completely corrupted our lawmakers (Congress) and our constitutional guardians (Supreme Court judges). Washington, DC, has rightly been called “the Swamp.”

The satanic blueprint has replaced the Bible and moral coding with educational corrosiveness that has caused the majority of college students to hate America rather than claim it proudly as that great experiment in liberty Franklin and the other founders intended. This deception and wickedness have separated the young from their parents in many cases. Even the youngest students in kindergarten are now taught disgusting things about their sexuality and that one race is superior over another. The mainstream media glorifies the burning and looting of cities and the killing of police—a thing that is also acclaimed by the party of the political left. At the same time, anyone with a countervailing political, social, or cultural view can be placed in prison and vilified–held in an unconstitutional gulag—for months, even years. Not a governmental finger is lifted to help in their plight.

The blueprint has deceived much of the nation in the matter of what is right. The blueprint says one can be whatsoever gender they want to be. Anyone who disagrees is held up to ridicule and, in some cases, is threatened with physical harm and even death.

The devil and his blueprint have arranged for a very small percentage that makes up LGBTQ, etc., to completely dominate the national landscape. Mainstream news and entertainment powers that be seem to be all in with the insanity. And insanity is what the nation has come down to–the reprobate mind of Romans 1: 28.

So we are now, perhaps, at the point Jesus spoke about in framing the very end of the age. His words tip off those who are watching for Him to rescue them/us from the fulfillment of Satan’s blueprint.

Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:28–30)

—Terry