1 00:00:04,660 --> 00:00:11,119 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church 2 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:17,199 with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and 3 00:00:17,199 --> 00:00:25,239 faith. And today, what are the seven myths of church history? What are the seven myths of 4 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:32,020 church history? Now, church history is important to study because God has chosen to save a people 5 00:00:32,020 --> 00:00:39,340 for himself and bring glory to himself in history, that is, in real time and space. Other religions 6 00:00:39,340 --> 00:00:46,460 of the world, like Buddhism, for example, teach that time and space are an illusion and that history 7 00:00:46,460 --> 00:00:55,219 must be transcended for salvation to be achieved. Well, not so the Bible. Jesus came to save us 8 00:00:55,219 --> 00:01:02,740 at a particular time in history and will redeem his people in history itself. And consequently, 9 00:01:03,119 --> 00:01:11,840 history is crucial to understanding your salvation and how God then works to save us in and through 10 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:20,099 history. Well, knowing this, New Geneva is planning a church history course for the fall. I'm very 11 00:01:20,099 --> 00:01:25,219 excited about this. I think this is really fun. I have fun teaching it. I've done it before. 12 00:01:25,859 --> 00:01:34,400 And we are planning a church history course for the fall. And it will be taking place on Thursdays 13 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:43,640 at 7 p.m. at Leo's Place in Idaho Falls, a great little pizza place, very friendly. We love Leo's Place. 14 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:51,760 And so we will be doing this in one of the rooms that they provide at 7 p.m. on Thursdays at Leo's 15 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:58,459 Place. And we'll be using as our guide, Church History in Plain Language. The book is called 16 00:01:58,459 --> 00:02:05,900 Church History in Plain Language, written by Dr. Bruce Shelley. And so we'll be beginning the second 17 00:02:05,900 --> 00:02:15,360 Thursday of this year, second Thursday of 2021. And during the course, we will leave room for some 18 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:22,639 other material to supplement our study. And we'll also field a lot of questions. Bring your questions, 19 00:02:22,780 --> 00:02:30,180 bring your thoughts. This course promises to be an eye-opening year of insight into your faith 20 00:02:30,180 --> 00:02:38,280 and your long connection with other saints that stretches back to the New Testament. So plan on 21 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:44,560 joining us. We'd love to have you. Call us for more information, too. And to reserve a place, 22 00:02:45,139 --> 00:02:52,300 though you don't necessarily need to do this for the course, I just want to get a feel for how many 23 00:02:52,300 --> 00:02:59,800 will be there. So if you'd like to come, please give me a call at area code 208-523-0196. 24 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:09,840 And we'll reserve a place for you at our Church History course, area code 208-523-0196. And then, 25 00:03:10,060 --> 00:03:17,439 as an introduction to the course, let me tackle the seven big myths of church history. There are 26 00:03:17,439 --> 00:03:24,780 seven big myths of church history. The first one, what is the first myth of church history? Number one, 27 00:03:24,780 --> 00:03:32,159 church history doesn't matter. Of course, you might think I would say that. That is a first myth of 28 00:03:32,159 --> 00:03:38,639 church history, but many people believe it. Number one, church history doesn't matter. All that matters 29 00:03:38,639 --> 00:03:45,360 is what I believe today, right? This is perhaps the most prevalent myth for most evangelicals. 30 00:03:45,719 --> 00:03:49,979 Church history is just irrelevant. Most evangelicals say something like this, 31 00:03:49,979 --> 00:03:55,419 I'm too busy in my life to bother studying church history. It's all I can do to read my Bible 32 00:03:55,419 --> 00:04:01,800 and go to church. If I were to have the time, I'm going to study something more important like the Bible 33 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:08,219 or even doctrine or theology. But church history, that's way down on the list of my priorities. 34 00:04:08,539 --> 00:04:14,580 These are the kinds of thoughts most evangelicals have, though they may not even admit it. 35 00:04:14,580 --> 00:04:22,040 But those who think this way fall into the trap so succinctly stated by the philosopher George 36 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:29,060 Santayana, who said, those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. That's the trap 37 00:04:29,060 --> 00:04:35,540 in this thinking. Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. And it's doubly true for 38 00:04:35,540 --> 00:04:41,240 those who fail to remember church history. And this is a biblical truth. The idea of remembering 39 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:48,819 history is a biblical truth as well. For example, the apostle Paul himself laid out the history of 40 00:04:48,819 --> 00:04:54,199 the Red Sea crossing. He did it for the Corinthians. And then he told them, and I quote, 41 00:04:54,639 --> 00:05:02,339 Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on 42 00:05:02,339 --> 00:05:08,519 whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, 43 00:05:08,519 --> 00:05:14,639 lest he fall, unquote. That's from 1 Corinthians chapter 10. So, history, in this case, the history 44 00:05:14,639 --> 00:05:21,819 of the Old Testament, was written down for our instruction, lest, presuming that we're all right, 45 00:05:22,079 --> 00:05:30,519 we fail to take heed and fall. Now, a good example of this is the history of the church, the history of 46 00:05:30,519 --> 00:05:37,060 the church in Germany during the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in the 30s and 40s. Now, 47 00:05:37,060 --> 00:05:44,980 most Christians were passive in accepting of that tyranny. Yes, in the 30s in Germany, 48 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:53,360 most Christians were passive in accepting of the tyranny rising under Adolf Hitler. But they cited 49 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,480 biblical passages like Romans 13, which says, 50 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:15,220 And consequently, the German church was instrumental in following this text. They were instrumental in the 51 00:06:15,220 --> 00:06:22,339 rise of Nazism and the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. That church, the German church, 52 00:06:22,339 --> 00:06:30,480 at that time, was silent to Hitler's destruction of the German Republic. They were silent to Hitler's 53 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:37,100 grabbing of power. The church in Germany during this time saw his brutalization of all who came 54 00:06:37,100 --> 00:06:44,319 under Hitler's rule, and they passively accepted it. And it is a shameful chapter in the church's 55 00:06:44,319 --> 00:06:52,160 history. Oh, Christian, the same thing is happening in America today. And the American church is behaving 56 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:59,500 like the German church did in the 30s and the 40s. Are you a part of it? Do you say some of the same 57 00:06:59,500 --> 00:07:06,639 things? Like, be subject to the governing authorities. There's no authority except that from God and repeat 58 00:07:06,639 --> 00:07:13,060 it over and over ad nauseum. Our federal government is behaving every bit as tyrannically 59 00:07:13,060 --> 00:07:20,660 as Nazi Germany. And it does it with a medical tyranny. And the church, the American church, is silent. 60 00:07:21,399 --> 00:07:28,899 And it is passive and even complicit in that tyranny. The German pastors would tell their people, 61 00:07:28,899 --> 00:07:38,040 Oh, just go to the trains. Go to the camps. You're going to a better place. After all, right? Be subject 62 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:43,339 to the governing authorities. They're from God, right? The pastors of those German churches would say, 63 00:07:43,500 --> 00:07:50,459 just go to the showers. Cleanliness is next to godliness. Remember, be subject to the governing 64 00:07:50,459 --> 00:07:58,279 authorities, right? Oh, dear listener. But of course, Romans 13 and those passages I just cited. 65 00:07:58,279 --> 00:08:06,339 Romans 13 is not the last word on how we are to respond to government. No. Daniel resisted government 66 00:08:06,339 --> 00:08:12,800 authorities. And also, the first century church resisted the tyranny of Rome, as the book of 67 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:19,939 Revelation documents for us. The book of Revelation is a text in many respects which documents resistance 68 00:08:19,939 --> 00:08:25,839 to governing authorities. Well, if you look at history, if you look at church history, as we'll be 69 00:08:25,839 --> 00:08:32,639 doing in our study of it beginning in October, if you look at church history, a few Germans did resist 70 00:08:32,639 --> 00:08:39,620 the government tyranny. Germans like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a German pastor who paid for his resistance 71 00:08:39,620 --> 00:08:47,480 with his life. Others like Reverend Martin Niemöller, he also resisted. But he was arrested for his activities. 72 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:56,899 He managed to live after the war. But his quote is famous for capturing the effect of not learning from 73 00:08:56,899 --> 00:09:02,240 the lessons of history, from not learning from the lessons of church history. He said famously, 74 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:09,159 first they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they 75 00:09:09,159 --> 00:09:16,960 came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came 76 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:24,559 for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one 77 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:34,659 left to speak for me, unquote. Yes, not standing up to tyranny. This is what happens. Dear listener, 78 00:09:35,059 --> 00:09:41,879 it's a lesson from church history that many of you need to learn in our own day with the tyranny 79 00:09:41,879 --> 00:09:47,960 coming upon us, the ignorance of which church history will cause you and millions of others 80 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:56,179 to fall, as Paul says. But by studying church history, you will be aware of and ready to deal 81 00:09:56,179 --> 00:10:02,700 with situations that have happened before in the past and will most certainly happen again, 82 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:09,440 perhaps in your lifetime. As Solomon observes in Ecclesiastes, he says, there's nothing new under 83 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:15,679 the sun. What has happened will happen again. So remember Paul's exhortation to you, dear listener, 84 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:21,480 about church history, remembering history. He said, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, 85 00:10:21,620 --> 00:10:28,100 that is take heed from history, lest he fall, unquote. So dispel with that illusion that church 86 00:10:28,100 --> 00:10:35,120 history doesn't matter, that all you need to do is focus on your own salvation right here and now. 87 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:41,019 Your salvation in some sense depends on church history. Well, secondly, the second myth of church 88 00:10:41,019 --> 00:10:48,200 history we want to dispel is, number two, I can leap over 2,000 years of church history and do things 89 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:54,259 exactly like the perfect, pristine New Testament church of Peter, Paul, and the apostles in the book 90 00:10:54,259 --> 00:11:01,379 of Acts. I can leap over 2,000 years of church history and do things exactly like the perfect, 91 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:07,879 pristine New Testament church of Peter, Paul, and the apostles in the book of Acts. Oh, it's a favorite 92 00:11:07,879 --> 00:11:14,500 myth of those in the contemporary worship movement. For example, Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, 93 00:11:14,980 --> 00:11:22,559 excuse me, of Calvary Chapel, begun in the late 60s in California. Chuck Smith captures this sentiment 94 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:28,460 in what they say on their website. Calvary Chapel website says, Calvary Chapel looks to the New 95 00:11:28,460 --> 00:11:35,139 Testament book of Acts as the divine model for the church. We don't look simply to church history 96 00:11:35,139 --> 00:11:42,220 or movements, but rely on the Word of God, unquote. And then Chuck Smith also says this in a sermon 97 00:11:42,220 --> 00:11:49,039 on Acts. He says, in Calvary Chapel, we look to the book of Acts as the model for the church. 98 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:55,580 We believe that church history, for the most part, has been a sad and tragic story of failure. 99 00:11:56,279 --> 00:12:02,679 You can't look at church history and find a model for the church, unquote. Oh, dear listener, 100 00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:09,220 there are so many errors and fallacies here that it's hard to know where to begin. Well, if you agree 101 00:12:09,220 --> 00:12:15,700 with this line of thinking, tell me, dear listener, tell me by way of analogy, whether you still look 102 00:12:15,700 --> 00:12:22,200 to the Wright brothers as the full and sufficient model for flight, or whether we might have learned 103 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:28,559 a few things about flying since their first effort at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Well, certainly the 104 00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:34,320 foundational principles of flight were there in the primitive flying machine that they constructed, 105 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:41,580 and we continue to incorporate those same primitive principles of flight every time a modern 747 106 00:12:41,580 --> 00:12:48,460 takes off today. There is a straight line of connection that we can make between us and them. 107 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:55,480 But equally so, you cannot ignore or bypass the hundred plus years of progress and practice 108 00:12:55,480 --> 00:13:01,220 that flight has undergone since then. Does anyone suggest that we return to those primitive flying 109 00:13:01,220 --> 00:13:09,240 machines of yesteryear? No. It is sheer lunacy and a denial of history to do so. Well, just so, 110 00:13:09,379 --> 00:13:16,419 exactly like the foundational principles of worship and church practice were there in the book of Acts, 111 00:13:16,659 --> 00:13:24,759 which we still embody today every Sunday when we begin holy worship at New Geneva. But importantly, 112 00:13:24,759 --> 00:13:33,220 you cannot ignore 2,000 years of the history of the church, nor can you somehow separate the growth 113 00:13:33,220 --> 00:13:40,799 of that church and its progress since those early days. The church as a whole, and with some exceptions, 114 00:13:40,940 --> 00:13:47,460 of course, the church as a whole has learned and grown in its worship and theology without losing the 115 00:13:47,460 --> 00:13:54,059 thread of its foundations in the New Testament. We have not lost the thread of the foundations of the 116 00:13:54,059 --> 00:14:02,320 New Testament. No. It is simply arrogant and naive to think that it is either possible or right to reject 117 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:09,200 all that other equally sincere and gifted saints have done over the centuries to worship and to preach 118 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:14,940 and to teach. To those of you who think that your brothers and sisters over the centuries got it all wrong 119 00:14:14,940 --> 00:14:21,019 and that you are here to fix it, well, we say with Job, who told his judgmental friends, he said, 120 00:14:21,019 --> 00:14:28,679 no doubt you are the people and wisdom will die with you. Kind of sarcastic, right? Well, we just say the 121 00:14:28,679 --> 00:14:35,919 same things to you who think you are going to tell us that 2,000 years of history do not matter. A study 122 00:14:35,919 --> 00:14:42,980 of church history will reveal that this strain of hubris I've just outlined for you is not new in the 123 00:14:42,980 --> 00:14:48,360 church, though. In fact, church historians have a term to describe what many, many others have attempted 124 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:54,519 to do throughout church history as Calvary Chapel tries to do. That is, it is called primitivism, 125 00:14:54,659 --> 00:15:02,120 primitive-ism. Oh, sects like the Disciples of Christ, that is the Church of Christ, the Campbellites, 126 00:15:02,639 --> 00:15:09,879 or Seventh-day Adventists, led by William Miller, or Plymouth Brethren, led by John Nelson Darby, 127 00:15:09,879 --> 00:15:16,200 all of these, many in modern Pentecostalism too, all of these thought that they could do the same 128 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:22,360 kind of thing, somehow return to those golden days of Easter year and hold on to the coattails of the 129 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,740 Wright brothers, if you will, as they pushed off from the sand dune and achieved several minutes of 130 00:15:26,740 --> 00:15:33,240 airborne flight, even as the Church of Acts first began holy worship in the power of the Holy Spirit and 131 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:40,080 began New Testament worship. Well, it is sheer lunacy and a denial of church history to think that we can 132 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:48,100 hold on to the coattails of Peter and Paul in Acts and do things the way that they did them. A sincere 133 00:15:48,100 --> 00:15:55,980 study of church history will reveal all of this to us, and I have only sampled a few of the examples 134 00:15:55,980 --> 00:16:02,740 of primitivism from American history. In the Middle Ages, groups just like Calvary Chapel thought that they 135 00:16:02,740 --> 00:16:09,139 could do the same kinds of things, like the Lollards, or the Brethren of the Common Life, or the Hussites 136 00:16:09,139 --> 00:16:15,980 in Germany. But, as every student of church history will tell you, these movements ended up stumbling over 137 00:16:15,980 --> 00:16:22,559 that monolith of reality, that is, that turning back the hands of history's clock is as fruitful as chasing 138 00:16:22,559 --> 00:16:30,940 rainbows and unicorns. And in the process, it also rejects all of the goodness and the beauty created by 139 00:16:30,940 --> 00:16:37,860 other equally intelligent and gifted and spiritual believers of the past. That's what you do when you 140 00:16:37,860 --> 00:16:44,539 go to primitivism and say we could go back 2,000 years of church history and do things the way they 141 00:16:44,539 --> 00:16:51,679 did it in the New Testament. Our history is rich with heritage, dear listener, a history that we will 142 00:16:51,679 --> 00:16:58,279 study in our course at New Geneva, and that is a church history course that we will hold then beginning 143 00:16:58,279 --> 00:17:07,119 on the second Thursday of October at 7 p.m. at Leo's Place. And we will begin our church history 144 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:12,859 course, and we'll use the textbook, Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley. Call me, 145 00:17:13,059 --> 00:17:21,819 Pastor Dave Bass, for more information at area code 208-523-0196 on this church history course. 146 00:17:21,819 --> 00:17:29,500 Well, finally, the third myth I wish to dispel is the true church of Christ disappeared. The true 147 00:17:29,500 --> 00:17:35,980 church of Christ disappeared in apostasy at some point in history and has only been restored by me. 148 00:17:36,259 --> 00:17:42,960 Yes, the true church has only been restored by me. And the me here varies throughout church history 149 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:47,680 because there have been many countless numbers of such prophets. But for our purposes, let us take 150 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:55,240 the obvious example prevalent in our region, and that's Joseph Smith. This doctrine of the LDS Church 151 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:01,380 is called the Great Apostasy, and it asserts that soon after the close of the New Testament and the 152 00:18:01,380 --> 00:18:09,259 deaths of the apostles, the church fell into complete apostasy and was not seen again until it was restored 153 00:18:09,259 --> 00:18:16,700 by the prophet Joseph Smith. So this teaching is crucial to Mormonism because only if the church 154 00:18:16,700 --> 00:18:23,400 completely fell away can Joseph Smith's restoration and all that it implies be true. Otherwise, 155 00:18:23,839 --> 00:18:30,319 if there were no great apostasy, well, that means that there is still some remnant of the true church 156 00:18:30,319 --> 00:18:37,259 for the last 1900 years, and Joseph Smith's restoration is superfluous. Now, to the point, 157 00:18:37,539 --> 00:18:39,140 Smith says, and I quote, 158 00:18:39,140 --> 00:18:46,200 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might 159 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:52,779 know which to join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong. And the 160 00:18:52,779 --> 00:18:59,480 personages who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight, and that those 161 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,920 professors were all corrupt. Unquote. 162 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:07,859 Dear listener, especially my LDS friends and neighbors who I do not wish to offend, and I'm not 163 00:19:07,859 --> 00:19:14,880 attacking you, but I'm merely asking the question, what kind of God would do this? So soon, after 164 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:22,599 promising otherwise to his church, what kind of God would abandon the whole world for some two millennia 165 00:19:22,599 --> 00:19:28,740 for darkness and paganism without the supposed true church that Joseph Smith would restore? 166 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:33,079 Oh, in fact, Brigham Young says, and I quote Brigham Young, he said, 167 00:19:33,079 --> 00:19:39,359 the time came when paganism was engrafted into Christianity, and at last Christianity was 168 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:45,420 converted into paganism rather than converting the pagans. Unquote. Oh, this is what Brigham Young 169 00:19:45,420 --> 00:19:54,579 says about my church. But in reality, rather than promising apostasy to the church, our Lord himself 170 00:19:54,579 --> 00:20:02,000 promised the true church otherwise. Our Lord said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to 171 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:08,519 me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the 172 00:20:08,519 --> 00:20:15,119 Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with 173 00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:23,480 you always to the end of the age. Unquote. I am with you always, Jesus promised, to the end of the age. 174 00:20:24,180 --> 00:20:31,819 Nowhere in the Bible is there evidence of an aborted church, an abandoned church, a completely apostate 175 00:20:31,819 --> 00:20:38,500 church. Now, certainly we are warned that there would be times when the church would be tested and 176 00:20:38,500 --> 00:20:45,660 may seem small and maybe almost gone from the face of the earth. Paul warns the elders of Ephesus. He 177 00:20:45,660 --> 00:20:52,240 says, from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples 178 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:59,619 after them. Unquote. But that is a far cry from what the leaders of the LDS church have asserted. 179 00:21:00,140 --> 00:21:05,740 As Orson Pratt puts it, he said, there has been no Christian church on the earth for a great many 180 00:21:05,740 --> 00:21:13,180 centuries past until the present century. Unquote. That's Orson Pratt. But we assert, and once again, 181 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:20,660 I do this in a brotherly fashion. I'm not attacking the LDS people. I'm not attacking LDS. I love LDS 182 00:21:20,660 --> 00:21:28,079 people, my friends and my neighbors, but rather I merely assert, indeed, a contrary opinion. And 183 00:21:28,079 --> 00:21:33,859 our Westminster Confession of Faith, for example, in chapter 25, says this, and I quote, 184 00:21:34,079 --> 00:21:41,380 the purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error, and some have so degenerated as 185 00:21:41,380 --> 00:21:47,579 to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, this is a very important 186 00:21:47,579 --> 00:21:54,500 qualification. That makes our point. Our standards of faith say this, nevertheless, there shall always 187 00:21:54,500 --> 00:22:01,700 be a church on earth to worship God according to his will. Unquote. Jesus himself promised us, 188 00:22:01,819 --> 00:22:08,200 he said, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Christ assures that the church is 189 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:14,900 unstoppable as well. He says, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, 190 00:22:14,900 --> 00:22:21,019 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, 191 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:26,779 and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be 192 00:22:26,779 --> 00:22:34,359 loosed in heaven. Oh, dear listener, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church, and the 193 00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:40,579 record of church history has borne out this truth. Dear listener, there's a rich treasure trove, if you 194 00:22:40,579 --> 00:22:47,599 will, of knowledge from the past of God's faithfulness in the lives of his saints, men and women just like 195 00:22:47,599 --> 00:22:54,079 you, just like me, who were weak and fallible sinners, but who the Lord nevertheless bore up on 196 00:22:54,079 --> 00:23:00,480 his wings of faithfulness such that there has always been a church on earth to worship God according to 197 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:08,039 his will. He has not left us as orphans. He has been with us always from the death of the last apostle 198 00:23:08,039 --> 00:23:15,359 to you, dear listener, today, to you today, and the promise is that he will be with us always with our 199 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:22,579 children and our children's children to the end of the age. So, dear LDS friend and neighbor, if your 200 00:23:22,579 --> 00:23:28,859 church is correct, then Jesus promised not to leave us as orphans, but turned around and treated us 201 00:23:28,859 --> 00:23:35,700 like an absentee father for two millennia. If, as your church asserts, then Jesus promised to be with 202 00:23:35,700 --> 00:23:42,640 us always, even to the end of the age, but quickly abandoned us to a great apostasy. If, then, as your 203 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:49,180 church teaches that he promised us that the very gates of hell would not prevail against the church, 204 00:23:49,279 --> 00:23:56,700 but instead hell did overcome the church and Satan won a great victory. Oh, choose your God. One God 205 00:23:56,700 --> 00:24:02,480 promises to be with his church always to the end of the age, but then promptly abandons it to the great 206 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:08,940 apostasy for 1900 years. The other church has a God who demonstrates throughout redemptive history 207 00:24:08,940 --> 00:24:16,779 that he is with us always to the end of the age and has not left us as orphans in some great apostasy. 208 00:24:17,380 --> 00:24:22,900 Instead, the church can say with the psalmist David, all his work is done in faithfulness. 209 00:24:22,900 --> 00:24:30,720 Your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me. Oh, lastly, let me pose this 210 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:36,940 question to my LDS friends and neighbors. If your God first made promises of faithfulness to his early 211 00:24:36,940 --> 00:24:44,359 church, but later abandoned it to apostasy, how can you be sure the same thing has not already happened 212 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:52,099 to you and to your church? Now, LDS teachers reassure you from the Book of Mormon that this can't happen. 213 00:24:52,099 --> 00:24:59,819 And I quote from the Book of Mosiah, which says, Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecuteth thou the 214 00:24:59,819 --> 00:25:06,220 church of God? And for the Lord has said, this is my church and I will establish it, and nothing shall 215 00:25:06,220 --> 00:25:12,940 overthrow it, save it is the transgression of my people, unquote. Oh, dear listener, you are expected 216 00:25:12,940 --> 00:25:19,839 to believe that though Jesus once promised to be with his church always to the end of the age, but now 217 00:25:19,839 --> 00:25:27,039 abandoned it to apostasy, that now he really means it, that now, this time, nothing will overthrow the 218 00:25:27,039 --> 00:25:33,920 restored church. My dear LDS friend, think through what is implied on your own historical premises. 219 00:25:34,799 --> 00:25:41,559 How can you be so sure? The believers all through the 2,000-year history of the Christian church 220 00:25:41,559 --> 00:25:48,240 that you call apostates were just like you. They all believed those promises that Jesus would not leave 221 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:54,799 them as orphans and that their church was a true church. They bet their souls on it, on your own 222 00:25:54,799 --> 00:26:02,759 historical premises. Is it not possible that the same thing has happened to you? Oh, this is the 223 00:26:02,759 --> 00:26:09,819 dilemma of those who teach that there is or was no true church on the earth until I came along. Of 224 00:26:09,819 --> 00:26:15,819 course, the I, you can fill in with the name of every heretic and schismatic who tried to claim 225 00:26:15,819 --> 00:26:22,359 this. Oh, dear listener, we will be teaching on the history of the church and these things and these 226 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:27,519 principles, and we will be doing this in our church history course. New Geneva will be teaching 227 00:26:27,519 --> 00:26:34,019 on the history of the church, of the Christian church, and we'll begin doing this then on the 228 00:26:34,019 --> 00:26:40,980 second Thursday of October at 7 p.m. at Leo's Place. And you can call us for more information 229 00:26:40,980 --> 00:26:49,779 on the course at area code 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.