Apostasy

ILLUSTRATION: I read a story about a man who lived in Atlanta who noticed an ad in the Yellow

Pages, under restaurants, for the Church of God Grill. The name aroused his curiosity do he dialed

the number and asked them how they came by the name Church of God Grill. The man on the other

end of the line began explaining how the name came about.

It started out as a Church of God mission in downtown Atlanta, and in order to help pay the bills they

started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday. The man said that the people liked the

chicken so much and that they did so much business, that they eventually cut back on the church

service and finally ended up closing the church altogether. The man said that they decided to pursue

the restaurant business and they just kept the name they began with.

This incident is not unlike many well-meaning Christians who over time, just drift away from their

original purpose. No one begins the Christian life with any thoughts of drifting away from the Lord

and going the way of the world. But it can, and it does happen everyday to people just like you and I.