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Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a

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moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith.

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Today, I want to ask you, how does your understanding of church history,

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or perhaps your lack thereof, shape what you believe about God and, in part,

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shape your eternal destiny? It is an important but neglected area of teaching

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in the life of the church today. So many of our practices in the church are conditioned upon

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about what we assume about church history. That ours is the only true church, for example,

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because it disappeared soon after the apostles died and has only been restored recently.

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Or others think that we do not need a liturgy in our worship services, for example, because

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all that superstitious stuff crept in on to the church over its history. But history does not

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always bear out our assumptions when history is studied closely. So today, I want to speak to

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three audiences in particular. That is the Latter-day Saint, the Born-Again Evangelical,

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and the Roman Catholic. I, myself, am Presbyterian, and I want to ask you some very pertinent questions

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about church history. All three groups, all three audiences have much to benefit from an impartial,

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close study of church history. We at New Geneva are preparing to launch a one-year Bible study

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into the history of the church using Dr. Bruce Shelley's excellent book, Church History in Plain

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Language. Now, for most of us out here, for most laymen, it is the only church history book that you

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will ever need. It will be the primary text that we will use in conjunction with other material that I

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will supply to illustrate and expand upon what Dr. Shelley teaches in his book. Now, our study will

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begin on Wednesday night, October 7th at 7 p.m. in our Church Fellowship Hall at 101 4th Street on the

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corner of 4th and Boulevard. This study of church history will continue thereafter on Wednesday night,

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same time, same place. If you've been curious about who and what we are, too, as a church,

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this is an excellent time to check us out and meet our people and me. Call us for more information at

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3123-0196. Let me turn now to the necessity for a proper understanding of church history to your

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soul, to those who love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, first, to my friends and neighbors in

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the Mormon Church. Have you given close, objective scrutiny to your church's teaching concerning what

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they call the Great Apostasy? Dear LDS friend and neighbor, this is the doctrine, the doctrine of the

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great apostasy that teaches that soon after the deaths of the apostles, the true church of the New

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Testament disappeared until restored by Joseph Smith. It bears great significance for the claims

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of Mormonism because only if this doctrine is true can Joseph Smith claim to have restored the true church.

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Very important to keep in mind. Only if this supposed great apostasy of the New Testament church

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actually occurred, only if this is true can Joseph Smith claim to have restored the true church with

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its vast and innumerable differences and contradictions with the Bible and with the Christian

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church of history. I quote Joseph Smith now. He says, my object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know

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which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. I was answered that I must join none of

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them for they were all wrong and the personages who addressed me said that all their creeds were an

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abomination in his sight, that those professors were all corrupt, unquote. And then to add, to fill out,

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to flesh out this LDS understanding of the Great Apostasy, let me also quote from Apostle Orson Pratt

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and his Journal of Discourses. And I quote Orson Pratt now, this great apostasy commenced about the

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close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then

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until now. A short time after the death of the last of the apostles, the Christian church, what few of

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them remained, were persecuted from mountain to mountain, from den to den, from one cave of the earth to

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another, and from nation to nation until they were entirely exterminated and rooted out of the

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earth. Well, what was left? An apostate Christianity, a Christianity without revelators, without any

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voice of God, without any prophets to unfold the future, without visions, without any communications

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from the heavens, unquote, from Apostle Orson Pratt in his Journal of Discourses. Let me ask you, sincere

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Latter-day Saint, what kind of God would do this? What kind of God would do this to his people so soon

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after promising otherwise? What kind of God would abandon the whole world for almost two millennia,

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abandon it to darkness and paganism without the supposed true church that Joseph Smith restored?

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This is from Prophet Brigham Young in his Journal of Discourses. He says,

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the time came when paganism was engrafted into Christianity, and at last, Christianity was

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converted into paganism rather than converting the pagans, unquote. Oh, I ask you, dear Mormon friend,

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what kind of God would do this? This is the God that you have, the kind of God who would abandon

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his church so soon after promising otherwise. Jesus said in Matthew 28, for example, Jesus came to them

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and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples

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of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

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teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of

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the earth. Did you hear that? Jesus promised that he would be with his church always to the very end of

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the age. The Bible presents a Savior with the authority and the commission for the church to

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make disciples of all nations with the guarantee, behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

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There's no hint of abandonment and great apostasy here, but rather of a certain and ineluctable

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growth of that church like that of a mustard seed. Jesus told this parable of the mustard seed, which

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when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown, it grows up

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and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the

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air can make nests in its shade, unquote. Nowhere in the Bible is there a hint of an aborted church,

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an abandoned church, a completely apostate church. Certainly there has been apostasy and setback

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in the life of the church over the centuries. Indeed, it was promised. Paul said, pay careful

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attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers

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to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure,

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fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise

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men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them, unquote, from Acts chapter 20. But what

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Paul said there in his warning is a far cry from the claims of Mormonism that, as Orson Pratt says,

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there has been no Christian church on the earth for a great many centuries past until the present

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century, unquote. This is a far cry from what Jesus said and from what the apostles said. Rather, the

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truth is much closer to how the Westminster divines put it in the Westminster Confession. And I quote from

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chapter 25 of that confession, and it says there, the purest churches under heaven are subject both to

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mixture and error, and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ but synagogues of Satan.

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Nevertheless, oh, and this is so important to bear in mind because the Bible and church history bears

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this out. Nevertheless, the Westminster Confession goes on to say, there shall always be a church on

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earth to worship God according to his will, unquote. To take the Bible's warning about a falling away

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and periods of declension and apostasy, which all churches and the Bible frankly admit will happen,

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and then stretch it to mean that there has been no Christian church on earth for a great many centuries

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past as Orson Pratt says, this is to distort the Bible and the record of church history. Jesus promised

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his disciples, I will not leave you as orphans. And he declared that the church would be unstoppable in

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its mission such that hell itself could not stop it. Jesus said, Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ,

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the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered Peter, blessed are you, Simon Bardona, for flesh and blood

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has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this

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rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys

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of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you

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loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, unquote, the words of Jesus. This is just how the record of church

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history bears testimony to, and we'll be studying this, of course, in our course on church history.

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With no army at its disposal, the ancient church conquered the Roman Empire by word and sacrament

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rather than sword and fire. Persecuted, hounded, killed, and tortured, the church remained steadfast

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in its witness, such that those who saw them in that cynical, corrupt, and debauched age, much like

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our own, these came to faith in great numbers. The church father Cyprian put it best when he said of

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that age, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Well, the gates of Rome at that time

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were metaphorically speaking the very gates of hell, and they did not prevail as the church stormed those

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gates with its best weapons, that is, word and sacrament, powerful in the hands and mouths.

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Of the church. At the collapse of the Roman Empire, as barbarians swept over it in invasion after

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invasion, Europe entered into what is called the Dark Ages. Oh, the Dark Ages. In reality, however,

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it was the time when the church began to build Western civilization as we know it. They began to

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build this civilization on the ashes of pagan Rome, and they began to do it on Christian principle.

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For example, one of my favorite characters of this period is Charlemagne. He lived, of course,

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during the latter half of the 8th century and the early part of the 9th century, and he fostered

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education. There was, in fact, an Enlightenment period during his reign, and where he fostered education,

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he fostered religion, he fostered strength. This is what he said to his degenerate nobles. He said,

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and I quote Charlemagne, you nobles, you sons of my chiefs, you superfine dandies, you have trusted in

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your birth and your possessions, and have set at naught my orders to your own advancement. You have

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neglected the pursuit of learning. This is what I mean by our Renaissance during the Dark Ages by

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Charlemagne. He said to his nobles, you have neglected the pursuit of learning, and you have

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given yourselves over to luxury and sport, to idleness and profitless pastimes. By the King of

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Heaven. Indeed, Charlemagne was a very religious man. He said, by the King of Heaven, I take no account of

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your noble birth and your fine looks, though others may admire you for them. Know this for certain,

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that unless you make up for your former sloth by vigorous study, you will never get any favor from

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Charles, unquote. All through this period and the time of the Middle Ages, the church nurtured things

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like science. All of the early scientists were men of the church. They nurtured humane principles of

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civilization, like the just war theory begun by St. Augustine. They nurtured things like property

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rights, the Magna Carta, for example. They nurtured things like personal liberty, the church did,

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the English Bill of Rights, for example. The church played a large role in all of these things.

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The true, vigorous church of those early centuries, slowly, imperceptibly, however,

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became almost as corrupt and decadent as the empire she had conquered before in Rome.

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This time, it was the late 15th and early 16th century, cried out for reform, and God provided a

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reformer, Martin Luther. And around him and others like him, like John Calvin and John Knox,

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coalesced a whole series of sweeping, thoroughgoing reforms in the church, that a clear protest was

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being established against the Roman Catholic Church of the time. And those who espoused that reform,

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those who espoused that protest, were called derisively Protestants or Protestants.

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I consider myself still a true Protestant. For our purposes, it is important to note that none of the

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reformers wished to leave the church either, the church of that day. They saw elements in that church

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that it remained as the true church. Instead, they became Protestant churches, Protestant churches,

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names that we now know, like Lutheran and Reformed and Presbyterian and Baptist, because they were

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kicked out. They were excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church of the day. So, even during this

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stressful, desperate time in the church's history, God was faithful in keeping a true church upon the

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earth, even purifying it through reform. So he has done, since the Reformation too, right up to our own

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day. Even during the period of Joseph Smith's revelations, there remained a true church on the

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earth, that Smith must join none of them, as he said, for they were all wrong. And with the personages who

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addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight, that those professors were all

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corrupt. Oh, this is just flat wrong. It flies in the face of Jesus' promises, I will not leave you as

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orphans. Behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. I will build my church, and the gates of hell

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shall not prevail against it. Dear LDS friend and neighbor, if your church is correct, then Jesus did

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leave us as orphans for two millennia. If your church is correct, then Jesus was not with us always,

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much less to the end of the age. If your church is correct, then the gates of hell did prevail

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against the church, and Satan won a grand victory. So, note here the differences between the Christian

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God of the Bible and that of Mormonism. That is, one church has a God who promises to be with his church

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always, but abandons it for two millennia and lets it slide into apostasy. The other church has a God

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who promises faithfulness throughout the generations of the church and is with her always, even to the end

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of the age. As the church can say with the psalmist David, David said, all his work is done in

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faithfulness. Oh, Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me, and your steadfast love and your

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faithfulness will ever preserve me. Oh, that he has done with his church, dear listener. Before we

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proceed, though, let me remind you that we at New Geneva are preparing to launch a one-year Bible study

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into the history of the church. We're going to use the book Church History in Plain Language.

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Our study will begin on Wednesday night, October 7 at 7 p.m. in our church fellowship hall at 101

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4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard, and it will continue thereafter on Wednesday night.

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You don't need to be at the previous lesson to understand the lesson of that night, and if you've

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been curious about who and what we are as a church, this is an excellent time to check us out.

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Call us at 523-0196 for more information. Also, let me say a word about potential criticism of this

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message as perhaps being somehow anti-Mormon. I'm not anti-Mormon. I'm responding in a calm,

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rational manner to an assertion by Mormons that could easily be construed by traditional Christians

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as anti-Christian. How do you think we feel when you say that our rich and powerful heritage of the

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growth of the church by a faithful God is false, apostate, and pagan? Yet I refuse to be offended.

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Instead, I will respond in a friendly, rational manner to these arguments with arguments of my

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own. That second argument must be number two. My second argument concerning the supposed great

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apostasy is that apostasy has always been the cry of heretics and schismatics. Apostasy throughout the

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history of the church has always been the cry of heretics and schismatics. Every new prophet that

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comes along throughout church history, it's part of the value of studying church history as you begin

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to see this pattern, has been to create some historical distance and some separation from

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that traditional church. Oftentimes, the more radical that distance and separation, the better

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this is done by condemning the church in its present state and then offering the prophet and his pure,

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unique gospel as the alternative. Montanus did this in the third century by condemning the church and

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anointing himself as the embodiment of the Holy Spirit. Thomas Munzer cried apostate over the reformers

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in the 16th century, and he led a rebellion of peasants in Germany, setting himself up as virtual

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prophetic dictator. And then in our own era, John Nelson Darby, the inventor of dispensationalism,

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John Nelson Darby taught that there were no true churches on the earth, so corrupt had they become,

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and that believers should hereafter gather together as brethren rather than as church members. On and on

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we could go. Seventh-day Adventists, the Moonies, the Children of God, Jehovah's Witnesses,

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every sect and cult wishing to establish its own authenticity, its own authority, must first do so

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by isolating the church in its present condition as apostate, so that people will flock to them

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and embrace their purified gospel. Joseph Smith is no more than one of these. Thirdly, my third argument

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for my LDS friends and neighbors, that is number three, if your God first made promises of faithfulness,

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but later abandoned his church to apostasy, how can you be sure the same has not happened to you?

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Many of my LDS friends are fond of quoting from their scriptures, for example, that the same thing

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that happened to the church of the first century won't happen to them. For example, I quote from

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the book of Mosiah of the LDS scriptures. He says, Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecute

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thou the church of God? For the Lord hath said, this is my church, and I will establish it, and nothing

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shall overthrow it, save it as the transgression of my people, unquote. So, while God apparently

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promised through Jesus that he would not leave his church as orphans, and that he would be with them

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always, even to the end of the age, but then promptly abandoned them to a great apostasy for 2,000

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years, we are now expected to believe that he really means the promises given to Joseph Smith and

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the Mormon church, that this is my church, and I will establish it, and nothing shall overthrow it.

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Dear LDS friend, how can you be so sure? After all, he made the same promises to the apostle

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in the first century. Did he not? Might he not break them again with you? The believers all through

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the 2,000-year history of the Christian church that you say as apostate, they were just like you.

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They believed sincerely in their hearts that this church was the true church, and they bet their

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souls, so to speak, that this was true. The evidence is abundant throughout church history,

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an advantage of studying it, as we shall see as we study church history this fall in our

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Wednesday night Bible study. But yet now, Joseph Smith comes along, and he tells this church that,

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no, you were believing a lie. What you call a church is really apostasy. You've been deceived

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and deluded. I have the real thing. Well, let me ask you, dear Mormon friend and neighbor,

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is it not possible that the same thing has happened to you, if it happened once already in church history?

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Is it not possible that despite all of the sincerity you can muster, that you believe in

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your heart of hearts that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the LDS church is the only true church,

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is it not possible that, even if it were the real deal at first, and we'll grant this just for the

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sake of argument, even if the Mormon church was the real deal at first, that now it has fallen away

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into apostasy, no matter how strongly you may feel to the contrary? Oh, is it not just within the realm

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of possibility? On your premises, you have no assurance that your church is the only true church.

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On your own premises, you have no assurance that the LDS church has not fallen into apostasy

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over the course of its history. It may well have fallen into apostasy, and you do not even know it.

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In fact, there's good evidence that this might indeed be so. There are other sects of Mormonism

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that practice perhaps a purer form of Mormonism than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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The Latter-day Church of Christ, the Apostolic Brethren, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ

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of Latter-day Saints, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all practice the

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essential doctrine of plural marriage, for example. They believe with Orson Pratt, and I quote him now

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from his Journal of Discourses. He said, it will be seen that the Messiah, who was the founder of the

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Christian religion, was a polygamist. The Messiah chose by marrying many honorable wives himself to show

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all future generations that he approved of the plurality of wives under the Christian dispensation

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in which his polygamist ancestors lived, unquote. These various sects are faithful to this doctrine.

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not. Dear listener, you may well belong to an apostate

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church on your own historical premises and not even know it. There are also many sects, these same

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sects of Latter-day Saints, who still hold to the doctrine of the curse of black skin, for example.

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Originally, a universally accepted teaching of the LDS Church, this idea of the curse of black skin was

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politically embarrassing, was it not, during the civil rights movement. Owing to this curse, blacks were

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an inherently inferior class of member who could not hold the priesthood. Thus, in 1978, LDS President

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Spencer Kimball announced that God had removed the curse, despite the weight of LDS teaching to the

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contrary. The curse will not be removed in this life, said Brigham Young. Bruce McConkie said Negroes

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in this life are denied the priesthood. Under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of

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authority from the Almighty, unquote. Dear LDS friend and neighbor, in many ways, there is enough evidence

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to question whether Joseph Smith or Brigham Young would recognize the church that they founded. Any

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honest Mormon has to question whether, indeed, his church has remained faithful to its founding principles

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or whether it is, dare I say it, apostate. If, on LDS premises, if, on LDS premises, the church once

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lapped into a great apostasy so swiftly after being promised, I will not leave you as orphans,

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behold, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age, well, then it can happen again. And all

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promises given to the church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-day Saints, to the contrary. All of these

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conditions are warranted given the church's view of church history. This is why a close study of

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church history is so important to our faith. In addition to that of the Bible, church history,

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while not infallible scripture, does show us the panorama of God's faithfulness over the period of

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redemptive history. God redeems in real history, and the study of history will reveal that faithfulness.

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For this reason, we at New Geneva are preparing to launch a one-year Bible study into the history of

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the church using Dr. Bruce Shelley's excellent book, Church History in Plain Language. Now, for most of us,

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it's the only church history book that we'll ever need. So buy it and read it. Come with us and study. You can

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question me on my understanding of the great apostasy as well. Our study will begin on Wednesday night,

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October 7, at 7 p.m. in our Church Fellowship Hall at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. It will

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continue every Wednesday night thereafter. If you've been curious about who and what we are as a church, too, it's an

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excellent time to check us out, meet our people, meet me, Pastor Dave Bass. Call us for more information at

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523-0196. In future weeks, we hope to show why the study of church history is also crucial for our

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evangelical as well as our Roman Catholic friends. Our understanding of church history, or lack of it,

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helps to shape our understanding of the Bible and worship, even the particular church that we attend.

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Join us for this study. New Geneva also meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street

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on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Call us at 523-0196. Once again, if you've been wondering who and what we

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are as a church, perhaps you've been reluctant to check us out, well, this is the time to cross our

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threshold and visit us as a church. We'd love to see you. You'll find a warm welcome. You'll also find a

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very traditional worship service, fidelity to the Bible in our preaching, and also fidelity to the

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basic principles of the church. Once again, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox

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Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner

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of 4th and Boulevard. Our telephone number is 523-0196.