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The key passage on apostasy is 2 Timothy 3-4. Consider some of its characteristics:

Self-focused (“men shall be lovers of their own selves,” 2 Ti. 3:2). This is a major characteristic of modern society and its global pop culture: My music, my fashion, my Facebook, iPhone, iTunes, Youtube, advertising slogans such as “you can have it your way.” In 2006, Time magazine’s Person of the Year was “You.” The cover featured a plastic reflective mirror so the reader could see his own image and celebrate himself. It is the age of the Selfie. In 2015, Kim Kardashian published 500 selfies and titled it “Selfish.”

Worldly (2 Ti. 3:2-4). This list of wickedness is a description of professing Christians! It has been true of a large number of professing Christians since the apostasy that produced the Roman Catholic Church in the early centuries. The Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations are filled with homosexuals and lesbians. The Roman Catholic Church has spent billions of dollars to satisfy lawsuits caused by its perverted priests. The pop evangelicalism of the late 20th and 21st centuries is a fulfillment of 2 Timothy 3:2-4. In 1978, Richard Quebedeux documented the unholiness that was permeating “evangelical Christianity.” He listed R-rated movies, abortion, profanity, pornography, homosexuality, drinking, and marijuana (The Worldly Evangelicals, pp. 14, 16, 17, 118, 119). The unholiness has progressed much more since then.

Having Christian religion but denying the power thereof (“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” 2 Ti. 3:5). The power of godliness is regeneration by the sound gospel (Ro. 1:16) and the infallible Scriptures (Heb. 4:12). Consider the Roman Catholic Church. It is Christianized heathenism. It is a form of godliness that denies the power thereof. The new birth is baptism, and salvation is the sacraments. Consider the World Council of Churches which is composed of 340 denominations representing 500 million professing Christians. In November 1993, the World Council of Churches sponsored a Re-imaging conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, attended by 2,000 women “seeking to change Christianity.” They worshipped Sophia “the biblical goddess of creation,” prayed to trees for energy, and had a standing ovation for lesbians. They were “celebrating the miracle of being lesbian, out, and Christian.” Delores Williams of Union Theological Seminary said: “I don’t think we need a theory of atonement at all. ... I don’t think we need folks hanging on crosses and blood dripping and weird stuff ... we just need to listen to the God within.” Virginia Mollenkott said, “[Jesus] is our elder brother ... ultimately among many brothers and sisters in an eternal, equally worthy sibling-hood. First born only in the sense that he was the first to show us that it is possible to live in oneness with the divine source while we are here on this planet. ... I can no longer worship in a theological context that depicts God as an abusive parent and Jesus as the obedient, trusting child.” The 6th Assembly of the World Council in Vancouver, British Columbia, opened with native Americans dancing around a “sacred flame” and making pagan offerings of tobacco and fish. There were readings from Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim scriptures. Dirk Mulder, moderator of the WCC interfaith dialogue program, said he “does not believe people are lost forever if they are not evangelized.” In an interview with Mulder, M.H. Reynolds, Jr., asked, “Would you feel that a Buddhist or Hindu could be saved without believing in Christ?” Mulder’s answer was, “Sure, sure!” (Foundation, Vol. IV, Issue III, 1983).

“Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Ti. 3:7). This is true for the Roman Catholic Church, which has been in a perpetual process of change, depending on the proclamation of doctors and popes and councils. This is true for Christian philosophy and theological modernism. Consider the JEDP theory or documentary theory that says the first books of the Bible were not written by Moses but were pieced together from a hodgepodge of documents by unknown editors. The one theory proposed by Julius Wellhausen in the 19th century has gradually morphed into a bewildering number of conflicting theories.

Rejection of sound Bible teaching (“they will not endure sound doctrine ... they shall turn away their ears from the truth,” 2 Ti. 4:3-4). This is the definition of apostasy. It is a problem of the heart, not the intellect. “Turn away” is apostrépho, “to remove, to revolt, to reject, to desert” (Mounce). The apostate turns his own ears away from the truth and refuses to submit. He wants some type of Christianity, but he doesn’t want the sound, authoritative doctrine of God’s Word.

“walking after their own lusts” (2 Ti. 4:3). This is the motivation for apostasy. It is compelled by a desire to live as one pleases. This is a perfect description of rock & roll Christianity. Strict standards of holy living are called a “grace killer”; rules are considered legalistic. Berean Christianity (Acts 17:11) is considered Pharisaical. The “walking after their own lusts” Christianity is called “cultural liberalism.” Mark Driscoll said, “We are theologically conservative and culturally liberal.” He was referring to the freedom to participate in the sensual aspects of the pop culture, such as R-rated movies, drinking, and filthy music. Donald Miller’s popular book Blue Like Jazz (2003) describes it. He wasn’t happy in a traditional Bible church, because he wanted to drink beer and watch raunchy movies and talk trashy and hang out with atheists and hippies. He found this “liberty” in cultural liberalism. David Foster describes this in A Renegade’s Guide to God: Finding Life Outside Conventional Christianity. He says, “We won’t be told what to do or commanded how to behave.”

Affection for ear-tickling teachers (“heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears,” 2 Ti. 4:3). These teachers preach a new Christianity for new times (the emerging church). They tell the people what they want to hear. There is no call to repentance, no rebuking, no discipline, no separation, no emphasis on a pilgrim lifestyle. Observe that there will be “heaps” of these teachers.

Love of fables (“shall be turned unto fables,” 2 Ti. 4:4). In this context, a fable is any teaching that is contrary to God’s Word, any teaching to which apostate people turn when they reject God’s Word. Examples are Mariolatry (e.g., Mary hanging on the cross and Mary seated on the throne with Jesus at the Major Mary Church in Rome), the Papacy, infant baptism, tongues-speaking as an unintelligible babble, Spirit slaying, The Shack god (female, non-judgmental), theistic evolution, contemplative mysticism, universalism, Christian rock, people can go to heaven without personal faith in Christ (Billy Graham taught this).
Note that the apostasy is first willful; it is a choice (“they will not endure sound doctrine ... they [shall] heap to themselves. ... they shall turn away their ears”). Then the apostasy takes control. “Shall be turned” indicates that they are being acted upon. The Greek ektrépo “is used in the passive voice” (Vine). When someone rejects the truth of God’s Word, he becomes a slave to the spirit of apostasy, and it will carry him wherever it will.