The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 18

Posted on February 27, 2026 by Hilltop Bible Church

Apostasy From the Holiness of the Gospel

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

We live in a time when despite all the money and effort expended by modern Christianity to make itself successful, relevant, and popular, fewer and fewer people see or feel any need or value for faith and religion in general, and for true Christianity in particular. Every year we are told by pollsters and statisticians that fewer people identify themselves as being Christian, and every year more people identify themselves as having no religious affiliation whatsoever. Read more »

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The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 17

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Hilltop Bible Church

Love of This World and its Passing Pleasures: Another Cause of Apostasy

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

Before the days of GPS and satellite navigation, ships and planes were dependent upon a skilled navigator to guide them to their destination. The slightest error could cause a ship or plane to wander hundreds of miles off course from its intended destination without ever knowing until it was too late. Read more »

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The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 16

Posted on June 3, 2025 by Hilltop Bible Church

False Security: Another Cause of Apostasy

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

The divinely inspired author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, after delivering a stern and sober warning to his readers of the danger of apostasy (Hb 6:4-8), the warning which forms the foundation for this series of studies, and a danger that was all too real due to  their neglect of the gospel (Hb 2:1-3), and from their having “become dull of hearing” (Hb 5:11), and from having been Christians long enough so that they “ought to be teachers”, Read more »

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The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 15

Posted on January 18, 2025 by Hilltop Bible Church

Pride: Another Cause of Apostasy

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

If there is one thing that virtually all forms of modern Christianity have in common it is they all, in one way or another, pander to and flatter the pride of man. Some more so than others, some more subtly than others, but the difference is only a matter of degree, not practice. Read more »

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The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 14

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Hilltop Bible Church

The Third Cause of Apostasy

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

Iain Murry, in his magnificent biography of Jonathan Edwards, described the condition of the church in early 1700’s America, prior to The Great Awakening, as being, “small difference between the church and the world. Almost any degree of religious interest, or of adherence to the forms of religion, was considered enough to justify a person’s Christian profession, and all who grew up in the church were commonly treated as belonging to Christ, irrespective of evidence to the contrary …. Men were treated as saved who never knew they were lost”.[1] Read more »

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