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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 shape your eternal

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destiny? It is an important but neglected area of teaching in the life of the church today.

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So many of our practices in the church are conditioned upon what we assume about church

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history. That ours is the only true church, for example, because it disappeared soon after the

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apostles died and has only been restored recently. Or others think that we do not need a liturgy in

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our worship services, for example, because all that superstitious stuff crept in on to the church

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over its history. But history does not always bear out our assumptions when history is studied

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closely. So today, I want to speak to three audiences in particular. That is the Latter-day Saint,

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the Born-Again Evangelical, and the Roman Catholic. I myself am Presbyterian, and I want to ask you

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some very pertinent questions about church history. All three groups, all three audiences have much to

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benefit from an impartial, close study of church history. We at New Geneva are preparing to launch

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a one-year Bible study into the history of the church using Dr. Bruce Shelley's excellent book,

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Church History in Plain Language. Now, for most of us out here, for most laymen, it is the only church

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history book that you will ever need. It will be the primary text that we will use in conjunction with

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other material that I will supply to illustrate and expand upon what Dr. Shelley teaches in his book.

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

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at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. This study of church history will continue thereafter

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

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

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information at 523-0196. Let me turn now to the necessity for a proper understanding of church

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

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neighbors in the Mormon church, have you given close objective scrutiny to your church's teaching

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concerning what they call the great apostasy. Dear LDS friend and neighbor, this is the doctrine,

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

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church of the New Testament disappeared until restored by Joseph Smith. It bears great significance

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for the claims of Mormonism because only if this doctrine is true can Joseph Smith claim to have

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

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

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true church with its vast and innumerable differences and contradictions with the Bible and with the

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

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was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. I was answered that I must join

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none of 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, to

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flesh out this LDS understanding of the great apostasy, let me also quote from Apostle Orson Pratt and his

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Journal of Discourses. And I quote Orson Pratt now. This great apostasy commenced about the close of the

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first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now. A short

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time after the death of the last of the apostles, the Christian church, what few of them remained, were

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persecuted from mountain to mountain, from den to den, from one cave of the earth to another, and from

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nation to nation until they were entirely exterminated and rooted out of the earth. Well, what was left?

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An apostate Christianity, a Christianity without revelators, without any voice of God, without any

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prophets to unfold the future, without visions, without any communications from the heavens, unquote,

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from Apostle Orson Pratt in his Journal of Discourses. Let me ask you, sincere Latter-day Saints,

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what kind of God would do this? What kind of God would do this to his people so soon after promising

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otherwise? What kind of God would abandon the whole world for almost two millennia, abandon it to darkness

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and paganism without the supposed true church that Joseph Smith restored? This is from Prophet Brigham

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Young in his Journal of Discourses. He says, the time came when paganism was engrafted into Christianity,

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and at last Christianity was converted into paganism rather than converting the pagans, unquote.

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Oh, I ask you, dear Mormon friend, what kind of God would do this? This is the God that you have,

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the kind of God who would abandon his church so soon after promising otherwise.

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Jesus said in Matthew 28, for example, Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on

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earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the

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name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have

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commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the earth.

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

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The Bible presents a Savior with the authority and the commission for the church to make disciples of

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all nations with the guarantee, behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. There's no hint

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of abandonment and great apostasy here, but rather of a certain and ineluctable growth of that church

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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 in

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

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yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church

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of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come

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in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted

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things to draw away the disciples after them, unquote, from Acts chapter 20. But what Paul said there in his

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warning is a far cry from the claims of Mormonism that, as Orson Pratt says, there has been no Christian

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church on the earth for a great many centuries past until the present century, unquote.

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This is a far cry from what Jesus said and from what the apostles said. Rather, the truth is much

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closer to how the Westminster divines put it in the Westminster Confession. And I quote from chapter 25

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of that confession. And it says there, the purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture

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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 earth

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

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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.

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

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unstoppable in its mission such that hell itself could not stop it. Jesus said, Simon Peter replied,

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you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered Peter, blessed are you, Simon

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Bardona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And I tell you,

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you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against

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it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be

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bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, unquote, the words of

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Jesus. This is just how the record of church history bears testimony to, and we'll be studying this,

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of course, in our course on church history. With no army at its disposal, the ancient church conquered

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the Roman empire by word and sacrament rather than sword and fire, persecuted, hounded, killed, and

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tortured. The church remained steadfast in its witness such that those who saw them in that cynical,

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corrupt, and debauched age, much like our own, these came to faith in great numbers. The church

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father Cyprian put it best when he said of that age, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

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Well, the gates of Rome at that time were metaphorically speaking, the very gates of hell,

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and they did not prevail as the church stormed those gates with its best weapons, that is word

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and sacrament, powerful in the hands and mouths of the church. At the collapse of the Roman empire,

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as barbarians swept over it in invasion after invasion, Europe entered into what is called the

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Dark Ages. Oh, the Dark Ages. In reality, however, it was the time when the church began to build

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Western civilization as we know it. They began to build this civilization on the ashes of pagan Rome,

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and they began to do it on Christian principle. For example, one of my favorite characters of this

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period is Charlemagne. He lived, of course, during the latter half of the 8th century and the early

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part of the 9th century, and he fostered education. There was, in fact, an enlightenment period during

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his reign, and where he fostered education, he fostered religion, he fostered strength. This is what he said to

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his degenerate nobles. He said, and I quote Charlemagne, you nobles, you sons of my chiefs,

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you superfine dandies. You have trusted in your birth and your possessions and have set at naught

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my orders to your own advancement. You have neglected the pursuit of learning. This is what I mean by our

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Renaissance during the Dark Ages by Charlemagne. He said to his nobles, you have neglected the pursuit

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of learning, and you have given yourselves over to luxury and sport, to idleness and profitless

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pastimes. By the king of heaven. Indeed, Charlemagne was a very religious man. He said, by the king of

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heaven, I take no account of your noble birth and your fine looks, though others may admire you for

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them. Know this for certain, that unless you make up for your former sloth by vigorous study, you will

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never get any favor from Charles, unquote. All through this period and the time of the Middle Ages, the church

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

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humane principles of civilization, like the just war theory begun by St. Augustine. They nurtured

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

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

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these things. 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. This time,

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late 15th and early 16th century cried out for reform, and God provided a reformer, Martin Luther,

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and around him and others like him, like John Calvin and John Knox, coalesced a whole series of sweeping,

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thoroughgoing reforms in the church that a clear protest was being established against the Roman

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Catholic Church of the time. And those who espoused that reform, those who espoused that protest,

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were called derisively Protestants or Protestants. I consider myself still a true Protestant.

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For our purposes, it is important to note that none of the reformers wished to leave the church,

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either the church of that day. They saw elements in that church that it remained as the true church.

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Instead, they became Protestant churches, Protestant churches, names that we now know,

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like Lutheran and Reformed and Presbyterian and Baptist, because they were kicked out. They were

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excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church of the day. So, even during this stressful, desperate time

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in the church's history, God was faithful in keeping a true church upon the earth, even purifying it

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through reform. So he has done since the Reformation too, right up to our own knee. Even during the period of

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Joseph Smith's revelations, there remained a true church on the earth, that Smith must join none of

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them, as he said, for they were all wrong. And with the personages who addressed me said that all their

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creeds were an abomination in his sight, that those professors were all corrupt. Oh, this is just flat

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wrong. It flies in the face of Jesus' promises, I will not leave you as orphans. Behold, I'm with you

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always to the end of the age. I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

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Dear LDS friend and neighbor, if your church is correct, then Jesus did leave us as orphans for

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two millennia. If your church is correct, then Jesus was not with us always, much less to the end

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of the age. If your church is correct, then the gates of hell did prevail against the church,

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and Satan won a grand victory. So, note here the differences between the Christian God of the Bible

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

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

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

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end 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.

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

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

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

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at 101 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. Call us at

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

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

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to an assertion by Mormons that could easily be construed by traditional Christians as anti-Christian.

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How do you think we feel when you say that our rich and powerful heritage of the growth of the church

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by a faithful God is false, apostate, and pagan? Yet I refuse to be offended. Instead, I will respond

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in a friendly, rational manner to these arguments with arguments of my own. That second argument

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must be number two. My second argument concerning the supposed great apostasy is that apostasy has

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always been the cry of heretics and schismatics. Apostasy throughout the history of the church

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has always been the cry of heretics and schismatics. Every new prophet that comes along throughout

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church history—it's part of the value of studying church history as you begin to see this pattern—has

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been to create some historical distance and some separation from that traditional church. Oftentimes,

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the more radical that distance and separation, the better. This is done by condemning the church in its

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present state and then offering the prophet and his pure, unique gospel as the alternative.

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Montanus did this in the third century by condemning the church and anointing himself as the embodiment of

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the Holy Spirit. Thomas Munzer cried apostate over the reformers in the 16th century, and he led a

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rebellion of peasants in Germany, setting himself up as virtual prophetic dictator. And then in our own era,

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John Nelson Darby, the inventor of dispensationalism, John Nelson Darby taught that there were no true

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churches on the earth, so corrupt had they become, and that believers should hereafter gather together as

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brethren rather than as church members. On and on we could go. Seventh-day Adventists, the Moonies,

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the children of God, Jehovah's Witnesses, every sect and cult wishing to establish its own authenticity,

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its own authority must first do so by isolating the church in its present condition as apostate so that

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people will flock to them and embrace their purified gospel. Joseph Smith is no more than one of these.

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Thirdly, my third argument for my LDS friends and neighbors, that is number three, if your God first

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made promises of faithfulness but later abandoned his church to apostasy, how can you be sure the same

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has not happened to you? Many of my LDS friends are fond of quoting from their scriptures, for

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example, that the same thing that happened to the church of the first century won't happen to them.

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For example, I quote from the book of Mosiah of the LDS scriptures, he says,

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Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecutest thou the church of God? For the Lord hath said,

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this is my church, and I will establish it, and nothing shall overthrow it, save it as the

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transgression of my people, unquote. So, while God apparently promised through Jesus that he would

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not leave his church as orphans, and that he would be with them always, even to the end of the age,

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but then promptly abandon them to a great apostasy for 2,000 years, we are now expected to believe

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that he really means the promises given to Joseph Smith and the Mormon church, that this is my church,

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and I will establish it, and nothing shall overthrow it. Dear LDS friend, how can you be so sure?

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After all, he made the same promises to the apostles in the first century, did he not? Might he not break

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them again with you? The believers all through the 2,000-year history of the Christian church that

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you say is apostate, they were just like you. They believed sincerely in their hearts that this church

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was the true church, and they bet their souls, so to speak, that this was true. The evidence is abundant

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throughout church history, an advantage of studying it, as we shall see as we study church history

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this fall in our Wednesday night Bible study, but yet now, Joseph Smith comes along, and he tells this

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church that, 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, is it not

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

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possible that despite all of the sincerity you can muster, that you believe in your heart of hearts

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that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the LDS church is the only true church, is it not possible

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that even if it were the real deal at first, and we'll grant this just for the sake of argument,

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even if the Mormon church was the real deal at first, that now it has fallen away into apostasy,

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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, all practice the essential doctrine of plural marriage, for example.

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They believe with Orson Pratt, and I quote him now from his Journal of Discourses, he said,

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it will be seen that the Messiah, who was the founder of the Christian religion, was a polygamist.

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The Messiah chose by marrying many honorable wives himself to show all future generations

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that he approved of the plurality of wives under the Christian dispensation

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in which his polygamist ancestors lived, unquote.

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These various sects are faithful to this doctrine. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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is not. Dear listener, you may well belong to an apostate church on your own historical premises

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and not even know it. There are also many sects, these same sects of Latter-day Saints,

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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

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was politically embarrassing, was it not, during the civil rights movement?

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Owing to this curse, blacks were an inherently inferior class of member who could not hold the priesthood.

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Thus, in 1978, LDS President Spencer Kimball announced that God had removed the curse,

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despite the weight of LDS teaching to the contrary.

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The curse will not be removed in this life, said Brigham Young.

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Bruce McConkie said, Negroes in this life are denied the priesthood.

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Under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty, unquote.

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Dear LDS friend and neighbor,

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in many ways, there is enough evidence to question whether Joseph Smith or Brigham Young

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would recognize the church that they founded.

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Any honest Mormon has to question whether, indeed, his church has remained faithful

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to its founding principles or whether it is, dare I say it, apostate.

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If, on LDS premises, if, on LDS premises, the church once lapped into a great apostasy

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so swiftly after being promised, I will not leave you as orphans,

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behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,

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well, then it can happen again.

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And all promises given to the Church of Jesus Christ,

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of Latter-day Saints, to the contrary.

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All of these conditions are warranted given the Church's view of Church history.

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This is why a close study of Church history is so important to our faith.

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In addition to that of the Bible, Church history, while not infallible Scripture,

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does show us the panorama of God's faithfulness over the period of redemptive history.

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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

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into the history of the Church using Dr. Bruce Shelley's excellent book,

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Church History in Plain Language.

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Now, for most of us, it's the only church history book that we'll ever need.

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So buy it and read it.

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Come with us and study.

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You can question me on my understanding of the great apostasy as well.

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Our study will begin on Wednesday night, October 7, at 7 p.m.,

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in our Church Fellowship Hall at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.

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It will continue every Wednesday night thereafter.

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

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it's an excellent time to check us out, meet our people, meet me, Pastor Dave Bass.

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Call us for more information at 523-0196.

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In future weeks, we hope to show why the study of church history is also crucial for our evangelical

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as well as our Roman Catholic friends.

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Our understanding of church history, or lack of it, helps to shape our understanding of the Bible

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and worship, even the particular church that we attend.

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Join us for this study.

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New Geneva also meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.

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Call us at 523-0196.

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Once again, if you've been wondering who and what we are as a church,

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perhaps you've been reluctant to check us out,

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well, this is the time to cross our threshold and visit us as a church.

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We'd love to see you.

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You'll find a warm welcome.

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You'll also find a very traditional worship service,

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fidelity to the Bible in our preaching,

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and also fidelity to the basic principles of the church.

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Once again, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

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We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.

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Our telephone number is 523-0196.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.