1 00:00:04,690 --> 00:00:10,109 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:10,109 --> 00:00:14,570 moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And 3 00:00:14,570 --> 00:00:21,730 today, what are the seven myths of church history? Church history is important to study 4 00:00:21,730 --> 00:00:28,129 because God has chosen to save a people for himself and bring glory to himself in history, 5 00:00:28,129 --> 00:00:33,770 that is, in real time and space. Now, other religions teach that time and space are an 6 00:00:33,770 --> 00:00:40,710 illusion, and that history must be transcended, but not so the Bible. Jesus came to save at a 7 00:00:40,710 --> 00:00:47,570 particular time in history, and he will redeem his people in history. And consequently, history is 8 00:00:47,570 --> 00:00:53,429 crucial to understanding your salvation, dear listener, and additionally, how God then works 9 00:00:53,429 --> 00:00:59,950 to save us in and through history. Well, knowing this, New Geneva is planning a church history course 10 00:00:59,950 --> 00:01:09,549 for the fall. And what we have planned, beginning October 14 of this year, Thursday evening, 7pm at 11 00:01:09,549 --> 00:01:16,650 Leo's Place in Idaho Falls. And we will be using as our guide, Church History in Plain Language by Dr. 12 00:01:16,769 --> 00:01:23,569 Bruce Shelley. Order this book. We will leave room for some other material to supplement our study and 13 00:01:23,569 --> 00:01:29,870 fill perhaps a lot of questions. It promises to be an eye-opening year of insight into your faith, 14 00:01:29,870 --> 00:01:35,670 and your long connection with other saints that stretches back to the New Testament. Plan on joining 15 00:01:35,670 --> 00:01:46,629 us. Call me for more information at area code 208-523-0196, maybe to reserve a place to. We will be 16 00:01:46,629 --> 00:01:54,290 beginning October 14. That's a Thursday evening at 7pm. Order your copy of Church History in Plain 17 00:01:54,290 --> 00:02:00,590 Language by Dr. Bruce Shelley. Maybe read the first chapter or two. Well, as an introduction to 18 00:02:00,590 --> 00:02:07,629 the course, let me tackle the seven big myths of church history. Let me begin with number one, 19 00:02:07,730 --> 00:02:15,710 the number one myth. Church history doesn't matter. All that matters is what I believe today. Right? 20 00:02:15,810 --> 00:02:23,030 That's perhaps the chief and reigning myth of church history, is that it doesn't matter. All that matters is 21 00:02:23,030 --> 00:02:28,389 what I believe. This is perhaps the most prevalent myth. Church history is just irrelevant. I'm too 22 00:02:28,389 --> 00:02:34,009 busy in my life to bother studying it. That's all I can do to read my Bible and go to church, pastor. 23 00:02:34,689 --> 00:02:39,629 If I have the time, I'm going to study something more important like the Bible or even doctrine or 24 00:02:39,629 --> 00:02:46,430 theology. But church history, eh, that's way down on my list of priorities. Now, those who think this way 25 00:02:46,430 --> 00:02:53,389 fall into the trap, so succinctly stated by the philosopher George Santayana, that is, those who do not 26 00:02:53,389 --> 00:02:59,069 remember history are doomed to repeat it. We hear this constantly, but it's so true. Those who do not 27 00:02:59,069 --> 00:03:09,469 remember history, especially church history, are doomed to repeat it. Yes. Paul himself laid out in the Bible 28 00:03:09,469 --> 00:03:15,550 some of these things, as did the writers of all of the Bible, but Paul himself lays it out succinctly 29 00:03:15,550 --> 00:03:21,150 in his history of the Red Sea crossing for the Corinthians. And then he tells them, now these 30 00:03:21,150 --> 00:03:27,270 things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of 31 00:03:27,270 --> 00:03:33,969 the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. History, in this case, 32 00:03:33,969 --> 00:03:39,469 the Old Testament history was written down for our instruction, dear listener, lest presuming that 33 00:03:39,469 --> 00:03:46,110 we're okay, we fail to take heed and we end up falling. A good example of this is the history of the 34 00:03:46,110 --> 00:03:52,729 church in Germany during the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in the 30s and 40s. Most Christians 35 00:03:52,729 --> 00:03:59,530 were passive in accepting of that tyranny, citing Romans 13, for example, as many pastors do from their 36 00:03:59,530 --> 00:04:05,110 pulpits today. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority 37 00:04:05,110 --> 00:04:12,270 except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. And consequently, this is true, 38 00:04:12,729 --> 00:04:21,230 though not meant to be absolutely true. Consequently, the German church was instrumental in the rise of 39 00:04:21,230 --> 00:04:29,389 Nazism and the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. The church was silent. It was absent 40 00:04:29,389 --> 00:04:37,050 without leave. She was silent to Hitler's destruction of the German Republic and his grabbing of power and 41 00:04:37,050 --> 00:04:42,930 his brutalization of all who came under his rule. It is a shameful period in the church's history, 42 00:04:43,370 --> 00:04:49,329 that of Germany under Nazism. Oh, Christian, the same thing is happening in America today, 43 00:04:49,329 --> 00:04:55,290 and the American church is behaving like the German church did in the 30s and 40s. Are you a part of 44 00:04:55,290 --> 00:05:00,629 this disgraceful time? Do you say something of the same kinds of things like, be subject to the 45 00:05:00,629 --> 00:05:07,050 governing authorities? There's no authority except from God, right? Meanwhile, our federal government 46 00:05:07,050 --> 00:05:13,610 is behaving every bit as tyrannically as Nazi Germany with its medical tyranny, and the church 47 00:05:13,610 --> 00:05:21,910 is silent and passive and even complicit in that tyranny. Many are Holocaust pastors telling their churches, 48 00:05:21,910 --> 00:05:27,930 just go to the trains, just go to the trains, believer, you're going to a better place. Or the 49 00:05:27,930 --> 00:05:33,610 Holocaust pastors just saying, go to the showers, just go to the showers, cleanliness is next to 50 00:05:33,610 --> 00:05:41,129 godliness. That's how it was in Nazi Germany. But of course, Romans 13 is not the last word on how we 51 00:05:41,129 --> 00:05:46,529 are to respond to government. Daniel resisted government authorities, and the first century church 52 00:05:46,529 --> 00:05:53,230 resisted the tyranny of Rome as the book of Revelation documents for us. A few Germans resisted 53 00:05:53,230 --> 00:05:59,529 the German tyranny, and we need to be more like men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who paid for his 54 00:05:59,529 --> 00:06:06,509 resistance with his life. Dear listener, this is a lesson from church history that many of us need to 55 00:06:06,509 --> 00:06:12,889 learn, the ignorance of which will cause us and millions of others to fall, as Paul says. But by 56 00:06:12,889 --> 00:06:19,290 studying church history, you will be aware of and ready to deal with situations that have happened 57 00:06:19,290 --> 00:06:27,209 before in the past and will happen again in your lifetime. As Solomon, excuse me, as Solomon observes 58 00:06:27,209 --> 00:06:32,550 in Ecclesiastes, there's nothing new under the sun. What has happened will happen again. So remember 59 00:06:32,550 --> 00:06:38,930 Paul's exhortation about remembering history. Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, that is, 60 00:06:38,930 --> 00:06:46,269 from history, lest he fall. Well, the second myth of church history I'd like to cover with you is number 61 00:06:46,269 --> 00:06:52,509 two, is that I can leap over 2,000 years of church history and do things exactly like the perfect 62 00:06:52,509 --> 00:06:59,310 pristine New Testament church of Peter, Paul, and the apostles, as it is in the book of Acts. Oh, 63 00:06:59,649 --> 00:07:06,250 another favorite myth of those in the contemporary worship movement. I can leap over 2,000 years of 64 00:07:06,250 --> 00:07:12,670 church history and do things exactly like the perfect pristine church of the book of Acts. Chuck 65 00:07:12,670 --> 00:07:19,449 Smith of Calvary Chapel, for example, captures this sentiment in what they say on their website. And 66 00:07:19,449 --> 00:07:25,410 they say, and I quote, Calvary Chapel looks to the New Testament book of Acts as the divine model for 67 00:07:25,410 --> 00:07:31,870 the church. We don't look simply to church history or movements, but rely on the Word of God, unquote, 68 00:07:31,870 --> 00:07:39,829 even though the Calvary Chapel church is a movement itself. Chuck Smith says this in a sermon on Acts 69 00:07:39,829 --> 00:07:46,029 as well. He says, in Calvary Chapel, we look to the book of Acts as the model for the church. We believe 70 00:07:46,029 --> 00:07:52,670 that church history, for the most part, has been a sad and tragic history of failure. You can't look at 71 00:07:52,670 --> 00:07:59,949 church history and find a model for the church, unquote. This is so naive. There are so many errors and 72 00:07:59,949 --> 00:08:05,430 fallacies here that it's hard to know where to begin. If you agree with this line of thinking, 73 00:08:05,589 --> 00:08:11,829 tell me, by way of analogy, I use this simple analogy, whether you still look to the Wright 74 00:08:11,829 --> 00:08:18,629 brothers as the full and sufficient model for flight, or whether, per se, we might have learned a few 75 00:08:18,629 --> 00:08:26,069 things about flying since their first effort at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Certainly, the foundational 76 00:08:26,069 --> 00:08:31,790 principles of flight were there in the primitive flying machine they constructed, and we incorporate 77 00:08:31,790 --> 00:08:38,269 those principles of flight every time a modern 747 takes off today. But there is a straight line 78 00:08:38,269 --> 00:08:48,070 of connection we can make between us and them, but equally so. You cannot ignore or bypass the hundred plus 79 00:08:48,070 --> 00:08:54,409 years of progress and practice that flight has undergone since then. Does anyone suggest that we return to 80 00:08:54,409 --> 00:09:00,289 those primitive flying machines of yesteryear? It is sheer lunacy and a denial of history to do so. 81 00:09:00,409 --> 00:09:06,870 Well, just so, by analogy, the foundational principles of worship and church practice were there in the 82 00:09:06,870 --> 00:09:14,549 book of Acts, which we, for example, embody today every Sunday when we begin holy worship at New Geneva. 83 00:09:14,870 --> 00:09:22,330 But importantly, you cannot ignore 2,000 years of the history of the church, nor somehow separate its 84 00:09:22,330 --> 00:09:31,570 growth and progress from it today. Since those early days, the church as a whole, with some exceptions, 85 00:09:31,690 --> 00:09:38,370 I would say, has learned and grown in its worship and theology without losing the thread of the 86 00:09:38,370 --> 00:09:44,730 foundations of the New Testament. No, Chuck Smith, the modern-day church has not lost the thread of the 87 00:09:44,730 --> 00:09:51,950 foundations in the New Testament. It is simply arrogant and naive to think it is either possible or even 88 00:09:51,950 --> 00:09:57,870 right to reject all that other equally sincere and gifted saints have done over the centuries to 89 00:09:57,870 --> 00:10:03,570 worship, preach, and teach. To those of you who think your brothers and sisters over the centuries 90 00:10:03,570 --> 00:10:10,190 got it all wrong and you are here to fix it, well, we say with Job, who told his judgmental friends, 91 00:10:10,590 --> 00:10:17,429 no doubt you are the people and wisdom will die with you. A study of church history will reveal 92 00:10:17,429 --> 00:10:23,490 that this strain of hubris is not new in the church either. In fact, church historians have a term to 93 00:10:23,490 --> 00:10:28,909 describe what many, many others have attempted to do throughout church history as Calvary Chapel tries 94 00:10:28,909 --> 00:10:36,710 to do. That is, it is called primitivism. Primitivism, returning to the book of Acts, right? Disciples of 95 00:10:36,710 --> 00:10:43,129 Christ, for example, Seventh-day Adventists, Plymouth Brethren, modern-day Pentecostalism, 96 00:10:43,129 --> 00:10:48,909 all of them fall into this category. They all thought that they could do the same thing, somehow 97 00:10:48,909 --> 00:10:54,470 return to those golden days of yesteryear and hold onto the coattails of the Wright brothers, if you 98 00:10:54,470 --> 00:10:59,669 will, as they pushed off from a sand dune and achieved several minutes of airborne flight, even as 99 00:10:59,669 --> 00:11:05,509 the church of Acts first began holy worship in the power of the Holy Spirit and began New Testament 100 00:11:05,509 --> 00:11:11,929 worship. But it is sheer lunacy and a denial of church history to think that we can hold onto the 101 00:11:11,929 --> 00:11:18,590 coattails of Peter Paul and the early church in the book of Acts and do things exactly like they did. 102 00:11:19,149 --> 00:11:26,009 A study of church history will reveal all of this to us. I've only sampled a few of the examples of 103 00:11:26,009 --> 00:11:34,710 primitivism from American history as well. So we can't just pristinely and naively go back 2,000 years 104 00:11:34,710 --> 00:11:41,549 and do things the way they did in history. We must learn from church history. Thirdly, the third myth of 105 00:11:41,549 --> 00:11:47,789 church history I'd like to cover with you today is number three. The true church of Christ disappeared 106 00:11:47,789 --> 00:11:55,509 in apostasy at some point in history and has only been restored by me. The true church of Christ, this 107 00:11:55,509 --> 00:12:02,350 is a myth of all myths. The true church of Christ disappeared in apostasy at some point in history 108 00:12:02,350 --> 00:12:09,570 and has only been restored by me. And of course, the me varies throughout church history. There have been 109 00:12:09,570 --> 00:12:15,870 countless numbers of such prophets. But for our purposes, let us take the obvious example prevalent 110 00:12:15,870 --> 00:12:22,970 in our region, and that is Joseph Smith. This doctrine of the LDS church is called the great 111 00:12:22,970 --> 00:12:28,830 apostasy. And it asserts that soon after the close of the New Testament and the deaths of the apostles, 112 00:12:29,490 --> 00:12:35,690 the church fell into complete apostasy and was not seen again until it was restored by the prophet 113 00:12:35,690 --> 00:12:42,610 Joseph Smith. Now, this teaching is crucial to Mormonism because only if the church completely 114 00:12:42,610 --> 00:12:50,669 fell away can Joseph Smith's restoration and all that it implies be true. Otherwise, if there were 115 00:12:50,669 --> 00:12:56,610 no great apostasy, well, that means that there is still some remnant of the true church for the last 116 00:12:56,610 --> 00:13:04,750 1900 years, and Joseph Smith's restoration is superfluous. Well, as Joseph Smith puts it in his original 117 00:13:04,750 --> 00:13:11,669 vision, he says, my object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was 118 00:13:11,669 --> 00:13:18,250 right, that I might know which to join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all 119 00:13:18,250 --> 00:13:24,889 wrong. And the personages who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight, 120 00:13:24,889 --> 00:13:33,250 that those professors were all corrupt, unquote. Well, let me ask you, dear listener, especially my 121 00:13:33,250 --> 00:13:40,549 friend and neighbors in the LDS church, and I'm not condemning Mormons or those of you in the LDS 122 00:13:40,549 --> 00:13:47,610 church, but I'm merely asking you this question because your assertion of a great apostasy has 123 00:13:47,610 --> 00:13:54,230 great implications for my faith and belief, too. Let me ask you, what kind of God would do this so 124 00:13:54,230 --> 00:14:01,330 soon after promising otherwise to his church to let them fall into apostasy? What kind of God would 125 00:14:01,330 --> 00:14:08,570 abandon the whole world for some two millennia, abandon it to darkness and paganism without the 126 00:14:08,570 --> 00:14:14,490 supposed true church that Joseph Smith would restore? Brigham Young puts it this way. He says, 127 00:14:14,570 --> 00:14:19,610 the time came when paganism was engrafted into Christianity, and at last Christianity was 128 00:14:19,610 --> 00:14:25,669 converted into paganism rather than converting the pagans, unquote. This is what you assert about my 129 00:14:25,669 --> 00:14:33,529 church history, dear LDS listener. In reality, however, let me say, in reality, rather than promising 130 00:14:33,529 --> 00:14:42,730 apostasy to the church, our Lord himself promised the true church quite otherwise. In parting, in the 131 00:14:42,730 --> 00:14:48,850 book of Matthew, our Lord says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make 132 00:14:48,850 --> 00:14:54,850 disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 133 00:14:55,210 --> 00:15:01,090 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of 134 00:15:01,090 --> 00:15:10,090 the age. Behold, I am with you always to the very end of the age. Nowhere in the Bible, dear listener, is 135 00:15:10,090 --> 00:15:17,490 there evidence of an aborted church, an abandoned church, a completely apostate church. Certainly, there would 136 00:15:17,490 --> 00:15:24,690 be times when the church would wax and wane, when it would be tested and seem small, and almost gone from the 137 00:15:24,690 --> 00:15:31,570 face of the earth. Even Paul said, from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away 138 00:15:31,570 --> 00:15:39,470 the disciples after them. Oh, so that's true. But that's a far cry from what the leaders of the LDS church have 139 00:15:39,470 --> 00:15:46,850 asserted. That is, as Orson Pratt put it, he said, and I quote, there has been no Christian church on the earth 140 00:15:46,850 --> 00:15:56,370 for a great many centuries past until the present century, unquote. Rather, and I would assert, as a 141 00:15:56,370 --> 00:16:04,409 rock-ribbed Presbyterian Protestant believer, I would assert with our Westminster Confession of Faith in 142 00:16:04,409 --> 00:16:15,289 chapter 25, we assert in opposition to Orson Pratt, we say, and I quote, the purest churches under heaven 143 00:16:15,289 --> 00:16:24,070 are subject both to mixture and error, and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, 144 00:16:24,409 --> 00:16:32,730 but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall always be a church on earth to worship God 145 00:16:32,730 --> 00:16:39,610 according to his will. That is what we assert. Nevertheless, there shall always be a church 146 00:16:39,610 --> 00:16:44,710 on earth to worship God according to his will. And this is how it's been. Church history has 147 00:16:44,710 --> 00:16:51,470 demonstrated this for us. Jesus has promised us, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. 148 00:16:52,789 --> 00:16:59,389 Jesus assures that the church is unstoppable as well. In Matthew chapter 16, he says, and I tell you, 149 00:16:59,389 --> 00:17:04,630 you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail 150 00:17:04,630 --> 00:17:10,690 against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be 151 00:17:10,690 --> 00:17:16,990 bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Oh, the gates of hell shall 152 00:17:16,990 --> 00:17:22,950 not prevail against the church through her history. And the record of church history has borne out this 153 00:17:22,950 --> 00:17:30,470 truth. Dear listener, there is a rich treasure trove of knowledge from the past of God's faithfulness 154 00:17:30,470 --> 00:17:35,549 in the lives of his saints. Men and women just like you and me, who were weak and fallible sinners, 155 00:17:35,670 --> 00:17:41,609 but who our Lord nevertheless bore up on his wings of faithfulness, such that there has always been a 156 00:17:41,609 --> 00:17:48,490 church on earth to worship God according to his will. He has not left us as orphans. He has been 157 00:17:48,490 --> 00:17:55,410 with us always from the death of the last apostle to you, dear listener, today. And the promise is that 158 00:17:55,410 --> 00:18:03,509 he will be with us always to the end of the age. Dear LDS friend and neighbor, if your church is 159 00:18:03,509 --> 00:18:10,589 correct, think about this. Dear Mormon, if your church is correct, then Jesus promised not to leave 160 00:18:10,589 --> 00:18:16,390 us as orphans, but turned around and treated us like an absentee father for two millennia. If your 161 00:18:16,390 --> 00:18:21,950 church is correct, then Jesus promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age, but quickly 162 00:18:21,950 --> 00:18:30,750 abandon us to a great apostasy. If your church is correct, oh, then that is that he promised us that 163 00:18:30,750 --> 00:18:37,410 the very gates of hell would not prevail against the church. Well, if your church is correct, Satan won 164 00:18:37,410 --> 00:18:46,390 a great victory and hell did overcome the church. So choose your God. One God promises to be with his 165 00:18:46,390 --> 00:18:51,869 church always to the end of the age, but then promptly abandoned it to a great apostasy for 1900 166 00:18:51,869 --> 00:18:57,410 years. The other church has a God who demonstrates throughout redemptive history that he is with us 167 00:18:57,410 --> 00:19:04,809 always to the end of the age and has not left us as orphans in some great apostasy. Instead, the church 168 00:19:04,809 --> 00:19:11,990 can say with the psalmist David, all his work is done in faithfulness. Your steadfast love and your 169 00:19:11,990 --> 00:19:20,789 faithfulness will ever preserve me. Oh, David found that out. So did the apostles. So has the church since 170 00:19:20,789 --> 00:19:28,690 the days of the apostles, your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me. Apostasy. 171 00:19:29,589 --> 00:19:36,349 Again, on the other hand, apostasy has always been the cry of heretics and schismatics, dear listener. 172 00:19:36,990 --> 00:19:42,210 It's been a regular feature of church history since the New Testament, which is why it's a value in 173 00:19:42,210 --> 00:19:46,150 studying church history because we begin to see a pattern all through church history. 174 00:19:46,150 --> 00:19:54,109 What does the cry of apostasy do but create separation between the true church and the new 175 00:19:54,109 --> 00:20:02,450 supposed teacher, condemning the old church and then offering the elixir of his new pure doctrine in 176 00:20:02,450 --> 00:20:10,170 its place? There has been a steady line dance, a virtual cowboy cha-cha of heretics throughout church 177 00:20:10,170 --> 00:20:17,410 history who have done this. I just cite for you. Look them up. Montanus or Thomas Munzer or John Nelson 178 00:20:17,410 --> 00:20:24,730 Darby, Sun Myung Moon and his Moonies in our day or Jehovah's Witnesses. They have all followed this 179 00:20:24,730 --> 00:20:34,309 precise tactic, crying apostasy. It's the same modus operandi of Joseph Smith. If some of these names are 180 00:20:34,309 --> 00:20:38,869 new or strange to you, then rest assured we will learn of them in our church history course. 181 00:20:38,869 --> 00:20:46,269 Lastly, let me pose this question to my LDS friends and neighbors. If your God first made promises of 182 00:20:46,269 --> 00:20:53,250 faithfulness to his early church but later abandoned it to apostasy, how can you be sure that the same 183 00:20:53,250 --> 00:21:00,829 thing has not already happened to you and your church? LDS teachers reassure you from the Book of 184 00:21:00,829 --> 00:21:06,630 Mormon that this can't happen. For example, I quote from the Book of Mosiah, and he says, 185 00:21:06,630 --> 00:21:15,289 Alma, arise and stand forth. For why persecuteth thou the church of God? For the Lord hath said, 186 00:21:15,569 --> 00:21:21,789 this is my church and I will establish it and nothing shall overthrow it, save it is the transgression of 187 00:21:21,789 --> 00:21:29,450 my people, unquote. Dear listener, you are expected to believe that though Jesus once promised to be with 188 00:21:29,450 --> 00:21:37,690 his church always to the end of the age, but abandoned it to apostasy, that now he really means it. That now, 189 00:21:37,809 --> 00:21:45,450 this time, nothing will overthrow the restored church. Well, my dear LDS friend, think through what 190 00:21:45,450 --> 00:21:52,849 is implied on your own historical premises. How can you be so sure? The believers all through the 191 00:21:52,849 --> 00:21:58,650 2,000 year history of the Christian church, who you say are apostates, where they were just like you. 192 00:21:58,809 --> 00:22:04,210 They all believed those promises, that Jesus would not leave them as orphans, and that their church was 193 00:22:04,210 --> 00:22:10,869 the true church. They bet their souls on it. But on your own historical premises, is it not possible 194 00:22:10,869 --> 00:22:17,289 that the same thing has happened to you? If it happened once in church history, is it not possible 195 00:22:17,289 --> 00:22:24,089 that it has happened again? Despite all of the sincerity that you can muster, and even though you 196 00:22:24,089 --> 00:22:29,170 believe with a great burning in your bosom that Joseph Smith is a true prophet, and that your church 197 00:22:29,170 --> 00:22:36,230 is the true church, even if it were the real deal at first? And I'll grant you this for a moment, just for 198 00:22:36,230 --> 00:22:42,049 the sake of my argument. Just grant that it was the real deal at first, that now it has fallen away 199 00:22:42,049 --> 00:22:49,009 into apostasy despite how sincerely you believe? Is it just not possible? It may well have fallen into 200 00:22:49,009 --> 00:22:54,789 apostasy, and you don't even know it, even as those first century believers didn't know it. You have no 201 00:22:54,789 --> 00:23:01,450 assurance that it hasn't fallen into apostasy. The church you say is apostate felt the same way 202 00:23:01,450 --> 00:23:09,109 you do now, today. They felt the same way, excuse me. The church you say is apostate felt the same way 203 00:23:09,109 --> 00:23:15,190 that you do now, today, with the same passion, with the same belief that God was faithful for 2,000 years, 204 00:23:15,289 --> 00:23:23,009 but they were blind to the apostasy despite how strongly they believed. Yet on your own historical 205 00:23:23,009 --> 00:23:28,390 premises, you have no reason to be assured that the same thing hasn't happened to you. You've already 206 00:23:28,390 --> 00:23:34,230 drifted from the essential teachings of the early gospel of the LDS church, things like plural marriage 207 00:23:34,230 --> 00:23:40,890 or the curse of black skin, whereby no black-skinned person can hold office in the LDS church. 208 00:23:41,289 --> 00:23:47,809 Having drifted from these foundational doctrines and others, excuse me, first delivered by the early 209 00:23:47,809 --> 00:23:55,869 prophets, is it not possible that the church has fallen into irretrievable apostasy? This is the dilemma 210 00:23:55,869 --> 00:24:04,210 of those who teach that there is or was no true church on the earth until I came along. Of course, the I, you can fill in, 211 00:24:04,230 --> 00:24:10,690 with the name of every heretic and schismatic who tried to claim this, and they, in turn, have no 212 00:24:10,690 --> 00:24:18,529 certainty that the very same thing hasn't or won't happen to them. Instead, instead, I suggest to you, 213 00:24:18,690 --> 00:24:24,970 let us study church history, see these patterns. Let us study church history and see, indeed, as Jesus said, 214 00:24:25,069 --> 00:24:30,049 lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age, that he has been with the historic church 215 00:24:30,049 --> 00:24:35,950 from the beginning and will be to the end of the age. He promised us, I will not leave you as orphans, 216 00:24:36,009 --> 00:24:41,789 and he has not left us as orphans throughout these 2,000 years of church history. Let us assert 217 00:24:41,789 --> 00:24:52,910 that as a true truth in the life of church history. Well, knowing this, let me remind you again that New 218 00:24:52,910 --> 00:24:58,930 Geneva is planning, once again, a church history course for the fall, beginning October 14, 219 00:24:59,289 --> 00:25:07,410 Thursday evening, October 14, at 7 p.m. It will be at Leo's Place in Idaho Falls. We'll be using as our 220 00:25:07,410 --> 00:25:13,009 guide, Church History in Plain Language. Now, you can pick this book up on Christian book websites. 221 00:25:13,549 --> 00:25:18,930 It's still in print, Church History in Plain Language by Dr. Bruce Shelley. I'll try to have a few 222 00:25:18,930 --> 00:25:24,130 copies available, but I urge you, just ahead of time, to go ahead and order this book, and maybe 223 00:25:24,130 --> 00:25:29,809 read the first chapter or two. And we'll leave room, of course, for other material and a lot of 224 00:25:29,809 --> 00:25:37,430 questions. It promises to be a fun and eye-opening year of insight into your faith, too, brother and 225 00:25:37,430 --> 00:25:43,349 sister, and also establish that long connection with other believers, other saints, just like you, 226 00:25:43,410 --> 00:25:48,829 that stretches back to the New Testament. Please plan on joining us as well. You can 227 00:25:48,829 --> 00:25:58,490 call me for more information on this at area code 208-523-0196. This has been Pastor David Bass 228 00:25:58,490 --> 00:26:05,369 at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, and we urge you to check us out, 229 00:26:05,430 --> 00:26:10,849 to come and join us for holy worship, too. Perhaps you've been thinking of joining us and finding out 230 00:26:10,849 --> 00:26:17,509 who we are as a church. You'll find a warm welcome and an opportunity to worship the Lord 231 00:26:17,509 --> 00:26:25,369 God Almighty in spirit and in truth. We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street 232 00:26:25,369 --> 00:26:33,849 on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196. 233 00:26:34,069 --> 00:26:40,109 We meet for holy worship once again, 10 a.m. 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. 234 00:26:40,109 --> 00:26:49,309 Call me for more information on the Bible study or anything concerning our church at 208-523-0196.