The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
- 1 Timothy 4
So we know that people will turn away from God and turn towards seductive, deceiving spirits in the last days.
But the meaning of the Greek word apostasy should be examined more closely.
Strong’s 646
apostasía (from 868 /aphístēmi, “leave, depart,” which is derived from 575 /apó, “away from” and 2476 /histémi, “stand”) – properly, departure (implying desertion); apostasy – literally, “a leaving, from a previous standing.”
It doesn’t just mean falling away, as in falling away from the faith, but actually means ‘to depart’, to ‘go away from’.
Keep that in mind when reading Thessalonians 2:1
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first…”
If we use the definition for apostasy of ‘departure’ or ‘leaving’ here, then the passage would seem to be speaking of the Rapture, not a large scale ‘falling away’ from the faith.