Dear friends:

You are no doubt familiar with 2 Thessalonians 2:3, which says:

Let 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 (KJV).

Note the emphasis on the words "falling away."  The Greek word for that phrase is apostasia, which Strong's defines as "a falling away, defection, apostasy."  Based on the KJV translation, we have always assumed that it means what it says: "falling away."

Certainly, the modern word "apostasy" is almost identical to the Greek word "apostasia."  However, there is growing thought that "apostasy" is not the best translation and that the verse is really referring to the rapture, or departing.  This is based on the wording in all the major English Bibles before the King James version in 1611. 

In Emil Gaverluk's book, "The Rapture before the Russian invasion of Israel," pages 173-177, the author has actual copies of original pages of seven major pre-KJV English versions of the Bible that show the Greek word apostasia translated as "departing first."  For examples, the following Bibles translate 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as shown:

1.  Wycliffe Bible (1330), "departynge first"
2.  Tyndale Bible (1525/26), "departynge first"
3.  Coverdale Bible 1535), "departynge first"
4.  Crammer Bible (1539), "departynge first"
5.  Beeches Bible (1583), "departing first"
6.  Beza Bible (1583), "departing first"
7.  Geneva Bible (1560), "departing first"

Thanks to Marilyn Agee for those dates above.

If "departing" is the correct translation of apostasia as those seven pre-KJV translations indicate, we have a totally different understanding of  2 Thessalonians 2:3, and it appears that nothing else has to happen before our "departing," glory to God!

Jim