Falling away / apostasy
NowUnderwayResearch statusTrend checked
3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Read the surrounding verses
1Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Read the surrounding verses
1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
Read the surrounding verses
1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
Paul taught that the day of the Lord "shall not come, except there come a falling away first" (), and warned that "in the latter times some shall depart from the faith" (), people "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (). Christians see this in the West today. Pew Research Center found Christian identification in North America fell 14 points and in Europe 8 points between 2010 and 2020, mostly to "no religion"; in Germany nearly 20 people leave Christianity for every one who joins; and monthly church attendance in the global North fell from 63% to 26% between 1925 and 2010. At the same time the church is stable or growing in the global South, with attendance in Kenya rising from 67% to 88%: a falling away in old Christian lands alongside the spread of the gospel to new ones.
A worldwide falling away is not found: Christianity's share of the world was 32.3% in 2000 and 32.5% in 2025 on one major dataset, and 31% to 29% between 2010 and 2020 on Pew's. The Western decline in both identification and practice is real and large. The research treats identification and practice as one line of evidence, not two.
Explore the counterarguments
The texts themselves speak of "some" and "many" departing, which happens in every age, and 2 Timothy treats the people of the "last days" as already present in the writer's time. Applying the sign to the West alone is a choice made after seeing the data, and secularisation in wealthy societies is expected on any view, so the decline is not specific to prophecy. In the Greek of , "the falling away" is singular and definite and tied to the revealing of "that man of sin", so it names a single event, not a gradual trend, and cannot be tested until that figure appears.