This is the final part of a two-part blog series. You can read part one here
The word “apostasy” is never used in any English translation of the Bible. Although the Greek word “apostasia”(ἀποστασία) is used twice. It’s translated as “forsake” in Acts 21:21, and “away” in II Thessalonians 2:3. So even though the word “apostasy” isn’t found in the Bible, the doctrine can be found in a few texts that we will dissect. Apostasy can be defined as “the abandonment or renunciation of one’s religious faith or moral allegiance.” Apostasy in the Christian sense can exist on an individual, local church, or denominational level. Here is the key to understanding Biblical apostasy and where the LDS church gets it wrong. Apostasy is the abandonment of a truth standard, not the loss of a truth standard. It’s logically impossible that apostasy could be the loss of a truth standard because, without the truth standard, there could be no way to gauge the apostasy. Think about it like this; there are very clear and strict laws against murder in the U.S. and yet the CDC reported nearly 25,000 homicides nationwide in 2022.” This is a form of apostasy because thousands of people abandoned the law in order to commit murder. No one would argue that the problem is with the law itself, but with those that broke the law. Joseph Smith’s logic would argue that the law itself had become lost or corrupted and that was the reason for all of these murders, and that he had been commissioned to rewrite the law. This is unfactual and illogical, it also doesn’t fit the definition of apostasy, but this is exactly what Smith has done with Christianity.
What Joseph Smith taught about the Christian church wasn’t an apostasy, but an extinction of the very things that make the Christian church, the Christian church. Talmage seems to have recognized this distinction but chose to double down in support of his prophet anyway. He stated, “Let it be repeated that apostasy from the Church is insignificant as compared with the apostasy of the Church as an institution.” Talmage is committing intellectual treason with this quote. He is correct when he states that many people have apostatized from the church (the abandonment of a truth standard). However, when he claims that the church itself apostatized as an institution, he is no longer speaking of an apostasy, but an extinction. Unless he wants to wrestle with the question of which truth standard the church abandoned, and I don’t think he wanted to go there (hint: it’s the Bible, which is where will go to now).
There are only a handful of texts in the New Testament that speak to the idea of an apostasy. One of them is I Timothy 4:1-3- “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” First of all, I believe that most of the time it’s a gross oversimplification to say that one verse destroys an entire belief system. But in this case, I believe that one word in this text destroys the foundation of Mormonism; the word “some.” This text states that some will depart from the faith, but not all. Contrast this with Joseph Smith stating that “all their creeds were an abomination” or “those professors were all corrupt.” How does some departing from the faith line up with what Talmage said about the church being “literally driven from the earth?”, or what McConkie said about apostasy being universal?
Notice the appeal to a truth standard that Paul uses throughout this text. “In the latter times some with depart from the faith.” What is the faith? It’s the Christian faith that Jude said was “once delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3). The implication is that there would never be a need to revise or refine it because the message of the Christian faith had been perfectly delivered by the Apostles through the writings of the New Testament (more on this later). Paul doesn’t say that the Christian faith would be lost, but that some would depart from it. This is not what Smith taught.
“Giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” Instead of surrendering to the Holy Spirit, people will give heed to Satanic spirits. Instead of surrendering to the doctrines of Christ as found in the Word of God, people will give heed to false doctrines and false teachers. This in no way implies that the Holy Spirit went into hiding or that the Word of God was lost prior to Joseph Smith, but that people departed from these things.
“Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” Lies and hypocrisy cannot exist without the presence of a truth standard. A lie is the opposite of truth. It is a violation of the truth. Hypocrisy is the appearance of adhering to a truth standard, while actually not adhering to it. A conscience is the God-given moral compass that tells us right from wrong. But a conscience separated from an objective standard of moral truth is nothing but a subjective opinion. A seared conscience is dead to the truth. Paul isn’t even hinting at the idea that the truth of God’s word would be lost, but that people in their sinfulness would depart from it.
“Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” Why is wrong to forbid someone to marry? It’s because the truth standard of God’s word says, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:4). “Whose findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.” (Proverbs 18:22). What’s wrong with commanding someone to abstain from meats? It’s because the truth of the Word of God allows the eating of meat.
Paul just assumes that even in the latter times there would be the existence of a truth standard, the Word of God. Even in this same chapter, Paul repeatedly encourages Timothy to combat false doctrine with God’s Word. “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.” (I Timothy 4:6). “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” (I Timothy 4:13). “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” (I Timothy 4:15-16). Again, when we read about the great apostasy according to Joseph Smith and compare it to the departing from the faith that Paul talked about, we know that one of these things is not like the other.
Another text that is used to teach the doctrine of apostasy is II Thessalonians 2:1-3- “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” Paul states that the second coming of Christ will not take place until after there is a great falling away from the faith. Not to belabor the point, but this language again assumes a truth standard that is departed from and not destroyed. In verse 12 of this same chapter, Paul says that those who reject the faith of Christ will be “damned” because they “believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” How can they be damned for rejecting a truth standard that doesn’t exist because it has been corrupted into oblivion?
The final text that typically gets used on the subject of apostasy is II Timothy 3:1-7- “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” To be technical, the term “last days” refers to the time between the ascension of Christ and His second coming. Paul was already living in the last days when he wrote this epistle. Wickedness has always been a world staple, but what is the solution? Paul answers that very question later in this chapter. “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (II Timothy 3:14-17). The solution to the perilous times of the last days is to take heed to the God-breathed Scriptures. This would be impossible if, at any time throughout the period of the last days, the truths of God’s Word had been lost.
So What Exactly Did the Church Lose?
It has been really hard to get a straight answer from most of the LDS that I have asked this question. Maybe they honestly don’t know. Maybe it’s difficult to articulate, or maybe it’s just easier to defend vague assertions over specific realities. However, in my research and reading of LDS authorities, I found that everything the LDS church claims was lost from the Christian church can be placed into one of four categories. They are Scriptural reliability, Apostolic authority, priesthood succession, and the gospel message. As Christian pastors, this makes Dave and I’s mission really simple. Disprove these four claims and it’s game over. That’s exactly what we intend to do throughout this book.
Should we succeed in doing this, it will reveal an incredible irony. If the standard of God’s Word in the Bible hasn’t been corrupted, if the gospel message was never lost, if Apostolic authority and priesthood succession are still intact, then that means that Joseph Smith didn’t restore the truth, he rejected it. This makes Smith and the LDS church the apostates for abandoning the truth standard and principles of Christianity (I say this with nothing but love and concern in my heart). This means that Smith and the LDS prophets are the false prophets that Christ warned us about, who come in sheep’s clothing but are actually ravening wolves (Matthew 7:15). It means that the LDS church is guilty of preaching a false gospel that Paul warned us about in Galatians 1:8 (ironically warning us not to believe it, even it is delivered by an angel). It means that the teachings of the LDS church are some of the “fables” the people turn to in rejection of the truth (II Timothy 4:4). Ultimately it means that the teaching of “the great apostasy” is in fact, great apostasy.
Before I end this chapter, I thought that I would give Elder Talmage the final word;
“If the alleged apostasy of the primitive church was not a reality, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not the divine institution its name proclaims.”
I couldn’t agree more.
More to come...
Notes
1. James Talmage, The Great Apostasy (Salt Lake City, Utah, 1909)
2. Oxford English Dictionary
3. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm
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