Was there a Great Apostasy?

Was There Really a Great Apostasy or LDS Restoration?

One of the most foundational beliefs of the LDS Church is “The Great Apostasy”. The church claims that the “keys of the priesthood” conferred on the first Apostles by Jesus were lost from the earth shortly after they died. So for many centuries there was no Priesthood Authority on earth to exercise and pass on the most important practices and teachings of the Christian Faith.

Mormons believe that authority was finally restored by God through a young Joseph Smith in the early 1800s. So, the LDS church is considered to be a Restoration of what was lost during that period of history.

So the “Great Apostasy” is an essential belief in Mormonism, because there would be no justification for a Restoration of anything that wasn’t lost in the first place.

But the simple truth is: There was NO Great Apostasy.

What does the Bible Say about an Apostasy?

First, Jesus teaches that His Kingdom would grow from tiny to vast, without interruption, in the face of persecution, even when that growth is hard for us to perceive.

Teaching about the growth of His Kingdom on earth Jesus said:

Let both [the wheat and weeds] grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matthew 13:30)

With this parable Jesus taught that both His Church and its opposition would continue to grow until His return.

He also said:

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32)

Through this parable He taught that that his Church would grow from small to widespread without any interlude.

And again Jesus said:

“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (Matthew 13:22)

With this parable He explained that even when we don’t perceive that there is progress, His Church will continue to grow without fail.

Jesus promises His church victory, not defeat!

Jesus said,

“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.” (Matthew 16:18)

The Church’s resilience to defeat is grounded in the fact that Jesus promises, “I will build my church!” This advancement of His Kingdom is so certain that Jesus even says that the Gates of hell shall not prevail against it!

Finally,
Jesus promises His disciples before His ascension, that He will be with us even to the end of the age!

“Surely I am with you, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Jesus did not fail His mission to establish His church and to make certain its growth until He returns. And God did not need someone better suited than Jesus to finally make things stick. Everything has been working out exactly as Jesus said it would.

The Great Apostasy never happened.