The Great Apostasy of the Early Christian Church
"Casting Out Satan" by Carl Bloch. Satan's rebellion against God was the first apostasy.
History is marked by a cycle of gospel dispensations followed by apostasy. Christ reveals His gospel through prophets, but then after a while people reject and/or kill the prophets and it is withdrawn for a time. Less than a century after He established His Church in person and ascended to heaven, the Great Apostasy set in as His Apostles were all killed off, resulting in the loss of priesthood authority and vital doctrinal knowledge. Even before their deaths, Greek philosophy and other sources had begun tainting the doctrine. In their absence honorable men strove to keep things running smoothly, and then to reform them to the way they were, but it couldn't be done. On the one hand their efforts led to the overwhelming 20,800+ Christian sects we know today; but on the other hand they paved the way for the true Church to be restored through Joseph Smith. This was the final period of apostasy, and now the Church will never be lost from the earth before the second coming.
Right now some will be asking, "What about Matthew 16:18?" It reads "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Catholics interpret this verse to mean that Christ's Church will always be led by descendants of Peter, because of the wordplay between the Greek for Peter (petros; small rock) and rock (petra; bedrock). Protestants generally interpret it to mean that the church would be on the Earth forever, which is very odd because their own religions broke off from Catholicism less than a thousand years ago and can make no serious claim to being the original Church.
But Latter-day Saints believe the "rock" in question is revelation from God, which is what Jesus was talking about in the previous verse. Further, the Greek word translated as "hell" would more appropriately be rendered "Hades", referring not to eternal damnation but to the land of all dead, righteous and wicked alike. This is why in the next verse Jesus alludes to vicarious ordinances for the dead: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Now, moving along with verses about the Apostasy.
Isaiah 24:5; "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." Here Isaiah is prophesying of the future even though he talks in the past tense.
Isaiah 29:13; "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men..." This leads into verse 14, which tells of the restoration of the true Church and the end of the Apostasy.
Isaiah 60:2-3; "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." He is not talking about literal darkness.
Amos 8:11-12; "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." Indeed, people have spent centuries trying unsuccessfully to find the truth. As mentioned, some people like Martin Luther tried to restore it themselves.
Matthew 13:24-25; "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." SPOILER: The tares are going to be burned at the end. Don't be one of them.
Matthew 24:5; "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
Matthew 24:24; "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Much of this is happening right now and a lot is yet to come. Joseph Smith and his successors are not false prophets, as one can tell examining the fruits they brought forth and earnestly praying about them.
John 6:66; "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." The next verse clarifies that these are other than the twelve Apostles. Yet these were men who knew Jesus, who spoke with Him, who must have heard some of His sermons and seen some of His miracles. This presents the sad fact that if a person's heart is not in the right place, no amount of spiritual experience will be enough to keep them on the right path.
Acts 20:29-30; "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." Even now, since the Church's re-establishment, many uninspired sects have broken off from it. But this time their power is very limited. The Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) was the most successful of these sects at about a million members worldwide. Then they changed several core doctrines and practices to become more popular and within a couple years their numbers dropped to about 250,000.
1 Corinthians 11:18-19; "For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." Without the apostles to clear up these divisions and heresies, they would only grow steadily worse.
Galatians 1:6-7; "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." These and the next two verses are often used to disparage Mormonism but have already been quoted and addressed above.
Galatians 3:1; "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?"
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [of Christ's return] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."
1 Timothy 1:5-7; "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm."
1 Timothy 4:1-3; "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." Being a vegetarian is okay, but being a self-righteous vegetarian who tries to make everyone else be vegetarian is not okay.
2 Timothy 1:15; "This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes." I admit I have no idea who those two people are.
2 Timothy 2:17-18; "And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some."
In 2 Timothy 3, Paul is describing the faults of men in the last days, and in verse 5 he mentions "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." That's basically what God the Father and Jesus Christ said to Joseph Smith about existing Christian sects during the First Vision. I think "denying the power thereof" refers to denying key doctrines such as continued revelation and exaltation.
2 Timothy 4:3-4; "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Fables like the Nicean Creed perhaps?
In Titus 1:10-16, Paul warns potential bishops to be wary, "For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre?s sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."
James 4:1; "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?"
2 Peter 2:1-3; "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." It could be (and is) argued that Mormons are the false prophets and teachers, except that our religion is among the most "evil spoken of". Hence it follows that not all other Christians are being condemned here; only the bad ones.
2 Peter 3:16-17; "As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness." I hope I'm not wresting the scriptures unto my own destruction.
1 John 2:18-19; "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
I've already mentioned 1 John 4:1; "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." I have also mentioned how the next two verses puncture one argument claiming Joseph Smith as one of these false prophets.
Jude 1:3-4; "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."
Revelation 2:2-3; "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." Many have tried those Latter-day Saints which say they are apostles, but no one, in my judgment, has found them liars.
Revelation 13:6-8; "And [the dragon] opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Revelation isn't the most straightforward reading material, but three guesses who that dragon is.
Next: The Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Gospel
Right now some will be asking, "What about Matthew 16:18?" It reads "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Catholics interpret this verse to mean that Christ's Church will always be led by descendants of Peter, because of the wordplay between the Greek for Peter (petros; small rock) and rock (petra; bedrock). Protestants generally interpret it to mean that the church would be on the Earth forever, which is very odd because their own religions broke off from Catholicism less than a thousand years ago and can make no serious claim to being the original Church.
But Latter-day Saints believe the "rock" in question is revelation from God, which is what Jesus was talking about in the previous verse. Further, the Greek word translated as "hell" would more appropriately be rendered "Hades", referring not to eternal damnation but to the land of all dead, righteous and wicked alike. This is why in the next verse Jesus alludes to vicarious ordinances for the dead: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Now, moving along with verses about the Apostasy.
Isaiah 24:5; "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." Here Isaiah is prophesying of the future even though he talks in the past tense.
Isaiah 29:13; "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men..." This leads into verse 14, which tells of the restoration of the true Church and the end of the Apostasy.
Isaiah 60:2-3; "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." He is not talking about literal darkness.
Amos 8:11-12; "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." Indeed, people have spent centuries trying unsuccessfully to find the truth. As mentioned, some people like Martin Luther tried to restore it themselves.
Matthew 13:24-25; "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." SPOILER: The tares are going to be burned at the end. Don't be one of them.
Matthew 24:5; "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
Matthew 24:24; "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Much of this is happening right now and a lot is yet to come. Joseph Smith and his successors are not false prophets, as one can tell examining the fruits they brought forth and earnestly praying about them.
John 6:66; "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." The next verse clarifies that these are other than the twelve Apostles. Yet these were men who knew Jesus, who spoke with Him, who must have heard some of His sermons and seen some of His miracles. This presents the sad fact that if a person's heart is not in the right place, no amount of spiritual experience will be enough to keep them on the right path.
Acts 20:29-30; "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." Even now, since the Church's re-establishment, many uninspired sects have broken off from it. But this time their power is very limited. The Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) was the most successful of these sects at about a million members worldwide. Then they changed several core doctrines and practices to become more popular and within a couple years their numbers dropped to about 250,000.
1 Corinthians 11:18-19; "For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." Without the apostles to clear up these divisions and heresies, they would only grow steadily worse.
Galatians 1:6-7; "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." These and the next two verses are often used to disparage Mormonism but have already been quoted and addressed above.
Galatians 3:1; "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?"
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [of Christ's return] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."
1 Timothy 1:5-7; "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm."
1 Timothy 4:1-3; "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." Being a vegetarian is okay, but being a self-righteous vegetarian who tries to make everyone else be vegetarian is not okay.
2 Timothy 1:15; "This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes." I admit I have no idea who those two people are.
2 Timothy 2:17-18; "And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some."
In 2 Timothy 3, Paul is describing the faults of men in the last days, and in verse 5 he mentions "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." That's basically what God the Father and Jesus Christ said to Joseph Smith about existing Christian sects during the First Vision. I think "denying the power thereof" refers to denying key doctrines such as continued revelation and exaltation.
2 Timothy 4:3-4; "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Fables like the Nicean Creed perhaps?
In Titus 1:10-16, Paul warns potential bishops to be wary, "For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre?s sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."
James 4:1; "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?"
2 Peter 2:1-3; "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." It could be (and is) argued that Mormons are the false prophets and teachers, except that our religion is among the most "evil spoken of". Hence it follows that not all other Christians are being condemned here; only the bad ones.
2 Peter 3:16-17; "As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness." I hope I'm not wresting the scriptures unto my own destruction.
1 John 2:18-19; "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
I've already mentioned 1 John 4:1; "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." I have also mentioned how the next two verses puncture one argument claiming Joseph Smith as one of these false prophets.
Jude 1:3-4; "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."
Revelation 2:2-3; "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." Many have tried those Latter-day Saints which say they are apostles, but no one, in my judgment, has found them liars.
Revelation 13:6-8; "And [the dragon] opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Revelation isn't the most straightforward reading material, but three guesses who that dragon is.
Next: The Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Gospel
