Charles Darwin succumbed to the strangler fig of apostasy

"Let no one in any way deceive you, for it [The Day of the Lord] will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction," 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Apostasy: "Abandonment of one's religious faith, a political party, one's principles, or a cause."

Paul is telling the Thessalonians that before the antichrist is revealed, there will be a falling away of the faith. There already was a falling away during his own time. Falling away in this case does not mean heresy, the Greek word hairesis which means a rejection. He used the word apostasia, to depart from the truth. Apostasy is not abrupt, one day a person gets up from the pew and never comes back. Apostasy is more subtle. It is a kind of creep, like a strangler fig, slowly overtaking the host tree until the life is absolutely choked out of the host and it perishes in a slow and agonizing death.

I would venture to guess that if there was a top five list of prominent people whose work engenders apostasy, Charles Darwin would be right up there. The UK Guardian said that he "was a man whose life's work has done more to challenge religion than anything in science..." and that is true. Darwin's falling away was proportional to the worldliness he was living in, aboard the HMS Beagle, where he wrote that the men would make fun of him for his orthodox views. Gradually, his apostasy made itself known, Darwin said:

I had gradually come by this time, [i.e. 1836 to 1839] to see that the Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos or the beliefs of any barbarian.

How did it happen that a man who was raised Christian and attended seminary, lost his faith so completely that he ended up proposing a theory that would do more to encourage apostasy and faithlessness than any other concept in the history of the world? Gradually. Like the strangler fig, satan takes a tentative hold and then if not immediately swept away, he moves his tentacles in and winds slowly around.

The new movie "Creation" attempts to answer the question about how a faithful man can lose his faith, which the movie makes out to be a good thing. It is opening this week and getting rave reviews at the Toronto Film Festival and other places where it has premiered. However, there is one place where the movie is not yet scheduled to be shown: the US. Why? We are "too religious."

"A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer. Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie. The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia. However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution. The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as "a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying. Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published. "That's what we're up against. In 2009. It's amazing," he said."

So much in that one paragraph. It is the time of apostasy in a world that embraces a 'theory'; instead of the facts of God; that America is 'too religious' (as if there is any such thing); the notion that the world has outgrown God and we must become modern. That, after all, it IS 2009.

Apostasy is a falling away from the truth. Here is some truth: Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species". There was a reason Darwin did not title it "On the Origin of Life." Science can't explain how life began on this earth. But bible believers know: God created the world and everything in it in 6 days. An even better truth are the words: "Hebrews 12:2- Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

It is through fixing our eyes on Jesus that prevents apostasy. He is the Origin of Life. Charles Darwin turned his eyes away as he spent two years aboard the less than moral atmosphere aboard the HMS Beagle. It was there his relationship with the Lord began to falter. In his letters to his fiancee and then later his wife, he expressed his doubts, which caused his sincerely Christian wife a good deal of consternation. She wrote back,

May not the habit in scientific pursuits of believing nothing till it is proved, influence your mind too much in other things which cannot be proved in the same way, and which if true are likely to be above our comprehension..

Alas, it was not to be. Apostasy had taken root in Darwin's life and he was slowly succumbing to the strangler fig. Darwin wrote:

during the five years of my voyage (& indeed I may add these two last) which from the active manner in which they have been passed, may be said to be the commencement of my real life, the whole of my pleasure was derived, from what passed in my mind, whilst admiring views by myself, travelling across the wild deserts or glorious forests, or pacing the deck of the poor little Beagle at night.

Darwin was eyeing the world's delights. He was no longer entranced with the heavenly mysteries. And when one of life's tragedies was thrust upon Charles Darwin, he no longer was standing on the rock that would have kept his head above the waters of turmoil. His beloved daughter died and that was the final push for the formerly faithful man. He sank into faithlessness.

Paul warned us that the end time would be full of apostasy. Apostasy begins when we take our eyes off the one true goal: Jesus. The second you take your eyes off Him, a clarion bell goes off in hell, and satan sends his demons to swoop at you with the strangler fig seed to plant in your mind. Beware, it comes slowly and stealthily, until pretty soon you are so choked with lies you decide that we are descended from monkeys instead of Children of God.