Before I ever became a writer, I was an avid reader of fiction – even as a child. Now that I write for a living, I am still on the hunt for a book, worth my time, that I can sit back and relax with. Regardless of some of my misgivings with The Apostasy, it is one of those books.
The Apostasy, initially published in 2006, is the first in a trilogy by self-published author Bill L. Copeland. The Reverend Bill Copeland has been a student of Bible Prophecy and world history for years and taught on eschatology often. He is a pastor of Pastoral Care at the Rock Church in San Bernardino, California and is a Chaplain for the county’s Sheriff’s Department.
From an Author’s Note at the very beginning of the book, Mr. Copeland stresses that it is not his intent to promote a pre-tribulation rapture timeline within the book. However, from a reader’s standpoint I had trouble looking at the eschatology in this book any other way. This story is wrapped around doctrine that speaks of a seven-year tribulation, falling-away (Apostasy) and pre-tribulation rapture.
I’ve always thought that the minute we think we have the End of the Age figured-out, it’s just like the Lord to prove us wrong. Thus, I struggled as I flipped through the recounting of much of these End Times beliefs in the form of a fictional story.
That said, I also found some very refreshing “out-of-the-box thinking” contained within the storylines. Holding the plot close to the vest, I can tell you that the book asks some hard and interesting questions:
1) In the End Times, how does the world come to the place where they “hate” Christians and the Church?
2) Is there really a One World Government coming?
3) Who are they and how could they possibly take hold in the United States?
However, perhaps the most stunning revelations contained within the book were tidbits of information that only a man who is “awake” could possibly write about. To tell you what those tidbits are would be to give too much of the book away. You’re just going to have to read it for yourself to mine for those gold nuggets.
It is because of those nuggets and the “out-of-the-box thinking” that The Apostasy is well worth the read. It can be purchased from Amazon. The sequels, Petra America and Omega Days, are coming soon to print
Thank you, Mr. Copeland for an entertaining and educational reading experience.