Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, what are the seven myths of church history? Church history is important to study because God has chosen to save a people for himself and bring glory to himself in history, that is, in real time and space. Now, other religions teach that time and space are an illusion, and that history must be transcended, but not so the Bible.

Jesus came to save at a particular time in history, and he will redeem his people in history. And consequently, history is crucial to understanding your salvation, dear listener, and additionally, how God then works to save us in and through history. Well, knowing this, New Geneva is planning a church history course for the fall. And what we have planned, beginning October 14 of this year, Thursday evening, 7pm at Leo's Place in Idaho Falls. And we will be using as our guide, Church History in Plain Language by Dr. Bruce Shelley.

Order this book. We will leave room for some other material to supplement our study and fill perhaps a lot of questions. It promises to be an eye-opening year of insight into your faith, and your long connection with other saints that stretches back to the New Testament. Plan on joining us. Call me for more information at area code 208-523-0196, maybe to reserve a place to.

We will be beginning October 14. That's a Thursday evening at 7pm. Order your copy of Church History in Plain Language by Dr. Bruce Shelley. Maybe read the first chapter or two. Well, as an introduction to the course, let me tackle the seven big myths of church history.

Let me begin with number one, the number one myth. Church history doesn't matter. All that matters is what I believe today. Right? That's perhaps the chief and reigning myth of church history, is that it doesn't matter.

All that matters is what I believe. This is perhaps the most prevalent myth. Church history is just irrelevant. I'm too busy in my life to bother studying it. That's all I can do to read my Bible and go to church, pastor.

If I have the time, I'm going to study something more important like the Bible or even doctrine or theology. But church history, eh, that's way down on my list of priorities. Now, those who think this way fall into the trap, so succinctly stated by the philosopher George Santayana, that is, those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. We hear this constantly, but it's so true. Those who do not remember history, especially church history, are doomed to repeat it.

Yes. Paul himself laid out in the Bible some of these things, as did the writers of all of the Bible, but Paul himself lays it out succinctly in his history of the Red Sea crossing for the Corinthians. And then he tells them, now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. History, in this case, the Old Testament history was written down for our instruction, dear listener, lest presuming that we're okay, we fail to take heed and we end up falling.

A good example of this is the history of the church in Germany during the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in the 30s and 40s. Most Christians were passive in accepting of that tyranny, citing Romans 13, for example, as many pastors do from their pulpits today. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. And consequently, this is true, though not meant to be absolutely true. Consequently, the German church was instrumental in the rise of Nazism and the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust.

The church was silent. It was absent without leave. She was silent to Hitler's destruction of the German Republic and his grabbing of power and his brutalization of all who came under his rule. It is a shameful period in the church's history, that of Germany under Nazism. Oh, Christian, the same thing is happening in America today, and the American church is behaving like the German church did in the 30s and 40s.

Are you a part of this disgraceful time? Do you say something of the same kinds of things like, be subject to the governing authorities? There's no authority except from God, right? Meanwhile, our federal government is behaving every bit as tyrannically as Nazi Germany with its medical tyranny, and the church is silent and passive and even complicit in that tyranny. Many are Holocaust pastors telling their churches, just go to the trains, just go to the trains, believer, you're going to a better place.

Or the Holocaust pastors just saying, go to the showers, just go to the showers, cleanliness is next to godliness. That's how it was in Nazi Germany. But of course, Romans 13 is not the last word on how we are to respond to government. Daniel resisted government authorities, and the first century church resisted the tyranny of Rome as the book of Revelation documents for us. A few Germans resisted the German tyranny, and we need to be more like men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who paid for his resistance with his life.

Dear listener, this is a lesson from church history that many of us need to learn, the ignorance of which will cause us and millions of others to fall, as Paul says. But by studying church history, you will be aware of and ready to deal with situations that have happened before in the past and will happen again in your lifetime. As Solomon, excuse me, as Solomon observes in Ecclesiastes, there's nothing new under the sun. What has happened will happen again. So remember Paul's exhortation about remembering history.

Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, that is, from history, lest he fall. Well, the second myth of church history I'd like to cover with you is number two, is that I can leap over 2,000 years of church history and do things exactly like the perfect pristine New Testament church of Peter, Paul, and the apostles, as it is in the book of Acts. Oh, another favorite myth of those in the contemporary worship movement. I can leap over 2,000 years of church history and do things exactly like the perfect pristine church of the book of Acts.

Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, for example, captures this sentiment in what they say on their website. And they say, and I quote, Calvary Chapel looks to the New Testament book of Acts as the divine model for the church. We don't look simply to church history or movements, but rely on the Word of God, unquote, even though the Calvary Chapel church is a movement itself. Chuck Smith says this in a sermon on Acts as well. He says, in Calvary Chapel, we look to the book of Acts as the model for the church.

We believe that church history, for the most part, has been a sad and tragic history of failure. You can't look at church history and find a model for the church, unquote. This is so naive. There are so many errors and fallacies here that it's hard to know where to begin. If you agree with this line of thinking, tell me, by way of analogy, I use this simple analogy, whether you still look to the Wright brothers as the full and sufficient model for flight, or whether, per se, we might have learned a few things about flying since their first effort at Kitty Hawk in 1903.

Certainly, the foundational principles of flight were there in the primitive flying machine they constructed, and we incorporate those principles of flight every time a modern 747 takes off today. But there is a straight line of connection we can make between us and them, but equally so. You cannot ignore or bypass the hundred plus years of progress and practice that flight has undergone since then. Does anyone suggest that we return to those primitive flying machines of yesteryear? It is sheer lunacy and a denial of history to do so.

Well, just so, by analogy, the foundational principles of worship and church practice were there in the book of Acts, which we, for example, embody today every Sunday when we begin holy worship at New Geneva. But importantly, you cannot ignore 2,000 years of the history of the church, nor somehow separate its growth and progress from it today. Since those early days, the church as a whole, with some exceptions, I would say, has learned and grown in its worship and theology without losing the thread of the foundations of the New Testament. No, Chuck Smith, the modern-day church has not lost the thread of the foundations in the New Testament.

It is simply arrogant and naive to think it is either possible or even right to reject all that other equally sincere and gifted saints have done over the centuries to worship, preach, and teach. To those of you who think your brothers and sisters over the centuries got it all wrong and you are here to fix it, well, we say with Job, who told his judgmental friends, no doubt you are the people and wisdom will die with you. A study of church history will reveal that this strain of hubris is not new in the church either.

In fact, church historians have a term to describe what many, many others have attempted to do throughout church history as Calvary Chapel tries to do. That is, it is called primitivism. Primitivism, returning to the book of Acts, right? Disciples of Christ, for example, Seventh-day Adventists, Plymouth Brethren, modern-day Pentecostalism, all of them fall into this category.

They all thought that they could do the same thing, somehow return to those golden days of yesteryear and hold onto the coattails of the Wright brothers, if you will, as they pushed off from a sand dune and achieved several minutes of airborne flight, even as the church of Acts first began holy worship in the power of the Holy Spirit and began New Testament worship. But it is sheer lunacy and a denial of church history to think that we can hold onto the coattails of Peter Paul and the early church in the book of Acts and do things exactly like they did. A study of church history will reveal all of this to us.

I've only sampled a few of the examples of primitivism from American history as well. So we can't just pristinely and naively go back 2,000 years and do things the way they did in history. We must learn from church history. Thirdly, the third myth of church history I'd like to cover with you today is number three. The true church of Christ disappeared in apostasy at some point in history and has only been restored by me.

The true church of Christ, this is a myth of all myths. The true church of Christ disappeared in apostasy at some point in history and has only been restored by me. And of course, the me varies throughout church history. There have been countless numbers of such prophets. But for our purposes, let us take the obvious example prevalent in our region, and that is Joseph Smith.

This doctrine of the LDS church is called the great apostasy. And it asserts that soon after the close of the New Testament and the deaths of the apostles, the church fell into complete apostasy and was not seen again until it was restored by the prophet Joseph Smith. Now, this teaching is crucial to Mormonism because only if the church completely fell away can Joseph Smith's restoration and all that it implies be true. Otherwise, if there were no great apostasy, well, that means that there is still some remnant of the true church for the last 1900 years, and Joseph Smith's restoration is superfluous.

Well, as Joseph Smith puts it in his original vision, he says, my object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong. And the personages who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight, that those professors were all corrupt, unquote.

Well, let me ask you, dear listener, especially my friend and neighbors in the LDS church, and I'm not condemning Mormons or those of you in the LDS church, but I'm merely asking you this question because your assertion of a great apostasy has great implications for my faith and belief, too. Let me ask you, what kind of God would do this so soon after promising otherwise to his church to let them fall into apostasy? What kind of God would abandon the whole world for some two millennia, abandon it to darkness and paganism without the supposed true church that Joseph Smith would restore? Brigham Young puts it this way.

He says, the time came when paganism was engrafted into Christianity, and at last Christianity was converted into paganism rather than converting the pagans, unquote. This is what you assert about my church history, dear LDS listener. In reality, however, let me say, in reality, rather than promising apostasy to the church, our Lord himself promised the true church quite otherwise. In parting, in the book of Matthew, our Lord says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Behold, I am with you always to the very end of the age. Nowhere in the Bible, dear listener, is there evidence of an aborted church, an abandoned church, a completely apostate church. Certainly, there would be times when the church would wax and wane, when it would be tested and seem small, and almost gone from the face of the earth.

Even Paul said, from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Oh, so that's true. But that's a far cry from what the leaders of the LDS church have asserted. That is, as Orson Pratt put it, he said, and I quote, there has been no Christian church on the earth for a great many centuries past until the present century, unquote.

Rather, and I would assert, as a rock-ribbed Presbyterian Protestant believer, I would assert with our Westminster Confession of Faith in chapter 25, we assert in opposition to Orson Pratt, we say, and I quote, the purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error, and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall always be a church on earth to worship God according to his will. That is what we assert. Nevertheless, there shall always be a church on earth to worship God according to his will. And this is how it's been.

Church history has demonstrated this for us. Jesus has promised us, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Jesus assures that the church is unstoppable as well. In Matthew chapter 16, he says, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Oh, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church through her history. And the record of church history has borne out this truth. Dear listener, there is a rich treasure trove of knowledge from the past of God's faithfulness in the lives of his saints.

Men and women just like you and me, who were weak and fallible sinners, but who our Lord nevertheless bore up on his wings of faithfulness, such that there has always been a church on earth to worship God according to his will. He has not left us as orphans. He has been with us always from the death of the last apostle to you, dear listener, today. And the promise is that he will be with us always to the end of the age. Dear LDS friend and neighbor, if your church is correct, think about this.

Dear Mormon, if your church is correct, then Jesus promised not to leave us as orphans, but turned around and treated us like an absentee father for two millennia. If your church is correct, then Jesus promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age, but quickly abandon us to a great apostasy. If your church is correct, oh, then that is that he promised us that the very gates of hell would not prevail against the church. Well, if your church is correct, Satan won a great victory and hell did overcome the church. So choose your God.

One God promises to be with his church always to the end of the age, but then promptly abandoned it to a great apostasy for 1900 years. The other church has a God who demonstrates throughout redemptive history that he is with us always to the end of the age and has not left us as orphans in some great apostasy. Instead, the church can say with the psalmist David, all his work is done in faithfulness. Your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me. Oh, David found that out.

So did the apostles. So has the church since the days of the apostles, your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me. Apostasy. Again, on the other hand, apostasy has always been the cry of heretics and schismatics, dear listener. It's been a regular feature of church history since the New Testament, which is why it's a value in studying church history because we begin to see a pattern all through church history.

What does the cry of apostasy do but create separation between the true church and the new supposed teacher, condemning the old church and then offering the elixir of his new pure doctrine in its place? There has been a steady line dance, a virtual cowboy cha-cha of heretics throughout church history who have done this. I just cite for you. Look them up. Montanus or Thomas Munzer or John Nelson Darby, Sun Myung Moon and his Moonies in our day or Jehovah's Witnesses.

They have all followed this precise tactic, crying apostasy. It's the same modus operandi of Joseph Smith. If some of these names are new or strange to you, then rest assured we will learn of them in our church history course. Lastly, let me pose this question to my LDS friends and neighbors. If your God first made promises of faithfulness to his early church but later abandoned it to apostasy, how can you be sure that the same thing has not already happened to you and your church?

LDS teachers reassure you from the Book of Mormon that this can't happen. For example, I quote from the Book of Mosiah, and he says, Alma, arise and stand forth. For why persecuteth thou the church of God? For the Lord hath said, this is my church and I will establish it and nothing shall overthrow it, save it is the transgression of my people, unquote. Dear listener, you are expected to believe that though Jesus once promised to be with his church always to the end of the age, but abandoned it to apostasy, that now he really means it.

That now, this time, nothing will overthrow the restored church. Well, my dear LDS friend, think through what is implied on your own historical premises. How can you be so sure? The believers all through the 2,000 year history of the Christian church, who you say are apostates, where they were just like you. They all believed those promises, that Jesus would not leave them as orphans, and that their church was the true church.

They bet their souls on it. But on your own historical premises, is it not possible that the same thing has happened to you? If it happened once in church history, is it not possible that it has happened again? Despite all of the sincerity that you can muster, and even though you believe with a great burning in your bosom that Joseph Smith is a true prophet, and that your church is the true church, even if it were the real deal at first? And I'll grant you this for a moment, just for the sake of my argument.

Just grant that it was the real deal at first, that now it has fallen away into apostasy despite how sincerely you believe? Is it just not possible? It may well have fallen into apostasy, and you don't even know it, even as those first century believers didn't know it. You have no assurance that it hasn't fallen into apostasy. The church you say is apostate felt the same way you do now, today.

They felt the same way, excuse me. The church you say is apostate felt the same way that you do now, today, with the same passion, with the same belief that God was faithful for 2,000 years, but they were blind to the apostasy despite how strongly they believed. Yet on your own historical premises, you have no reason to be assured that the same thing hasn't happened to you. You've already drifted from the essential teachings of the early gospel of the LDS church, things like plural marriage or the curse of black skin, whereby no black-skinned person can hold office in the LDS church.

Having drifted from these foundational doctrines and others, excuse me, first delivered by the early prophets, is it not possible that the church has fallen into irretrievable apostasy? This is the dilemma 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, with the name of every heretic and schismatic who tried to claim this, and they, in turn, have no certainty that the very same thing hasn't or won't happen to them. Instead, instead, I suggest to you, let us study church history, see these patterns.

Let us study church history and see, indeed, as Jesus said, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age, that he has been with the historic church from the beginning and will be to the end of the age. He promised us, I will not leave you as orphans, and he has not left us as orphans throughout these 2,000 years of church history. Let us assert that as a true truth in the life of church history. Well, knowing this, let me remind you again that New Geneva is planning, once again, a church history course for the fall, beginning October 14, Thursday evening, October 14, at 7 p.m. It will be at Leo's Place in Idaho Falls.

We'll be using as our guide, Church History in Plain Language. Now, you can pick this book up on Christian book websites. It's still in print, Church History in Plain Language by Dr. Bruce Shelley. I'll try to have a few copies available, but I urge you, just ahead of time, to go ahead and order this book, and maybe read the first chapter or two. And we'll leave room, of course, for other material and a lot of questions.

It promises to be a fun and eye-opening year of insight into your faith, too, brother and sister, and also establish that long connection with other believers, other saints, just like you, that stretches back to the New Testament. Please plan on joining us as well. You can call me for more information on this at area code 208-523-0196. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, and we urge you to check us out, to come and join us for holy worship, too. Perhaps you've been thinking of joining us and finding out who we are as a church.

You'll find a warm welcome and an opportunity to worship the Lord God Almighty in spirit and in truth. We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196. We meet for holy worship once again, 10 a.m. 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Call me for more information on the Bible study or anything concerning our church at 208-523-0196.