Missionaries: In the first place, we have already proven that you do not teach any of the doctrines recorded in the Bible. The scriptures and the conditions that we live under in this present day prove that there was truly an apostasy from the divine church. Amos, along with many of the great prophets of the Old Testament foresaw this apostasy when he said there would be a "famine over the land, and not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord! Isaiah foresaw that the Church of Jesus would break the EVERLASTING COVENANT in Isa. 24:5, established by Christ. (Heb.13:20) The law of Moses was never referred to as the everlasting covenant, so it had to be Christ’s Church. Micah saw the day when the sun would go over the prophets; there would be no more visions, inspirations, or guidance from on high and then gave the reassuring hope that "in the last days" God’s church would be set up "in the tops of the mountains." And in reference to mountain tops, there are better than a dozen scriptures that tell us that the church would be established in the mountain tops including that the church would establish a choir there, ever heard of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? The Mormons are also the only church today which have their headquarters in the mountain tops. By these scriptures alone we prove who we are and where the true church is. (Micah 3:5-7, 11; Micah 4:1-3). Daniel foresaw a kingdom "which would never be destroyed, nor given to another people", yet Christ's kingdom was "given to another people", (Matt. 21:43), and later destroyed and taken from the earth. There were two causes of the apostasy, internal and external. The external came at the death of the Lord's chosen twelve apostles. Foxe, in his “Book of Martyrs”, records the fate of this chosen group, and I have added other leaders along with the apostles. Here are copies of this list; you may keep it. The number by the names mean that they were referred to in the Bible as apostles.
PERSON | METHOD OF DEATH | YEAR AD | LOCATION
1. Judas Iscariot | suicide - hanging | 34 | Jerusalem
2. James the Great (brother of John Son of Zebedee) | beheaded | 36 | Rome
3. Thomas (doubting) | run through with a lance | 52 | Calamina - East India
4. Philip | scourged, imprisoned, stoned, crucified, | 52 | Phyrgia
5. Bartholomew | dragged, flailed alive crucified, beheaded | 52 | Albinopolis, Armenia
6. Simeon Peter | crucified upside down | 56 Rome
7. Matthew (Called Levi, son of Alphaeus) | run through with a lance | 60 | Madabah, Ethiopia
8. James, the Less, son of Alphaeus | thrown from the pinnacles beaten, stoned, brains dashed out with a fullers club | 60 | ?
9. Paul | Beheaded | 66 | Rome
10. Mathias | Stoned, beheaded | 70 | Ethiopia
11. Thaddeus (brother of James; could be Jude) | shot with arrows | 72-76 | Edessa
12. Barabbas | Stoned to death | 73 | ?
- Timothy | beaten with clubs | 73 | ?
- Luke | Hanged on an olive tree | 73 | Greece
13. Barnabus | stoned to death | 73 | Salancan
- Mark | Dragged to pieces, burned to death | 74 | Egypt
14. Simon (Zelotes) | crucified | 74 | Brittan
15. Andrew (brother of Peter) | Burned to death | 74 | Patrae
16. John the beloved (brother of James the Great) | Banished to the Isle of Patmos until A.D. 82 | no record | no record
- Matthew | slain with a battle ax | ? | India
17. James (brother of Jesus) | Stoned, beaten with a fuller’s club | ? | ?
18. Judas (brother of Jesus; could be Jude) | ? | ? | Edessa
- Philip, the evangelist | ? | ? | ?
*Judas, Silas, Agabus; Acts 11:27; 13:1; 15:32; 21:10; etc…listed as Prophets
Now that list contains 17 apostles, who are also prophets, and the apostles who came after the original 12 got their authority from the living apostles. Notice in Acts 8 that the authority and power to act for the Lord in the ordinances of the gospel had to get it from someone who had it, namely the apostles. Just reading the Bible does not give you the authority to act in the name of the Lord. This points out apostolic succession and an end to it by force, not a choice. You will notice that Timothy, whom the said claim sometimes as the one who gave them their authority, not Peter, was not an apostle, and died without passing his authority to anyone. With the death of the apostles and other noted leaders, who were the foundation of the Church, and held the authority to pass on their authority, the Church began its great collapse. However, this was not accomplished until internal apostasy had begun. Paul fearing this, said, "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” What does NOT sparing the flock mean to you? “Also, of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." (Acts 20:29-30) He told the saints in Thessalonica that before Christ's second coming, there must come a falling away first and the man of sin had to be revealed. (Bible states word “apostasy" means complete falling away.) What does it mean to you? Many scriptures pointed to the times of this destruction. (2 Thes. 2:2-4; Acts 3:20-21; 2 Tim. 3:1-7; 2 Peter, 3:3; Rev. 13:7-8, etc.) In 1 Tim. 4:1-3 and Matt. 21:41-46 he taught that a sign of the apostate church would be that of "forbidding to marry" and "commanding to abstain from meats." As you know, that has been the doctrine of the Catholic Church and it was doctrines like these that Paul said is "of devils". The internal collapse of the Church came through three channels:
- The corrupting of the simple principles of the gospel by the admission of so-called philosophic systems of the times.
- Unauthorized additions to the ceremonies of the Church, and the introduction of vital changes in essential ordinances.
- Unauthorized changes in Church organization, government, and priesthood.
It was the councils where these "divers and strange" doctrines were often born. Hence your "incomprehensible" understanding of God, the Lord’s Supper, the Trinity, and now pomp and ceremony of the church. It meant the salvation of the Virgin Mary, who was to have been taken to heaven by God with no scriptural warranty. The adoration of the blessed virgin was quite contrary to Christ's way of thinking towards His mother. (Compare Luke 11:27-28) We have a concept of her continuous virginity as opposed to Matt. 1:25. We have a Papal claim of "Infallibility", 1800 years after the supposed first Pope of Rome. Can you find the word Pope in the scriptures? How about Cardinals or Arch Bishops? All of these things were vital in causing the complete destruction of all that was good and simple and pure. We have blasphemous statements concerning forgiveness of sin and the salvation of mortal men to exalted positions. We have fantastic claims, unscriptural and blasphemous such as was given by Pope Paul VI, New York Times, Thursday, Sept.26, 1962, where he states, "Jesus charged the Apostle Peter with being the "cornerstone", the solid and stable fundament of the entire human-divine edifice that Jesus wanted to build and that He called the church."
In answer to your questions, (Matt. 28:19-20) was not only a promise given to the Church but as verse 16 points out, ONLY TO THE APOSTLES. Eph. 3:21 has no reference to the Church of Jesus Christ in ancient times because that church referred to there was in a "world without end." This world has an end. (Matt.28:19-20) In answer to the rock of Matt. 16:15-17 it couldn't have been Peter because the gates of hell prevailed against him, (Matt. 16:23), after Christ’s announcement, and it couldn't have been his confession (Protestant belief) because the gates of hell prevailed against it. (Matt. 26:69-75) Besides, the way the grammar of the Bible puts it, the rock grammatically refers to the way Peter received the truth by revelation, hence the rock is a revelation, therefore the church is built upon revelation which is another reason why we need living prophets and apostles. In answer to Heb. 12:28, Paul probably had reference to the Kingdom of Heaven, because the kingdom of earth could be moved, (Matt. 21:43). As for Heb. 13:5, it was an identical promise given to Joshua which merely points out that the Lord will be with "all them that obey him."
That the church was to be restored is verified in Acts 3:19-21; Matt. 17:11-13; Rev. 14:6-7, and countless other places. This latter verse from Revelations is really good. John “saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on earth.” Now if the gospel was already on earth why did an angel have to bring it here again? We know that angel to be Moroni, the angel who restored the gospel to Joseph Smith. If Clement were the Pope in A.D. 96 like tradition informs us, why did not he instead of John receive the revelation of the Isle of "Patmos"? Why was not he nor the Church of Rome recognized? Why are the scriptures completely void of any "transfer of any authority" when the apostles were to guide us into "all truth" and "unity"? Why haven't the signs followed, (Mark 16:17-18) nor the power followed? (Matt.10:8) Did it get lost in the transfer? Where is he called a prophet or an apostle? Why cheap and meaningless imitations of ordinances, (1 Cor. 11:2) and "divers and strange doctrines", (Heb. 13:9), like the Virgin Mary, the Triune God, Immaculate Conception, Transubstantiation, Line of the Papacy, history and corruption of the Papacy, no revelation; yet Papal infallibility, (and that not until Pius XI).
Where do the Protestants have a leg to stand on? If they claim the Church of Rome fell, (as did the Church of England in her "Homily against Peril of Idolatry" in Book of Homilies), then they cannot be true, because Christ taught that a live branch cannot grow off a dead tree. (Matt. 7:18) If they can dare claim that it still had the truth, they should have recognized its ordinances. It was Roger Williams, considered by many to be the founder of the Baptist Church, that stated on Page 103 in Picturesque America, that there was "no regularly constituted church of Christ on earth, nor any person authorized to administer any church ordinance, nor can there be until new apostles are sent by the great head of the Church, for whose coming, I am seeking." This should be simple to understand, the only true church can be the s if you believe there was apostolic succession without evidence, the Jews if you do not believe in Christ, or the Mormons if you believe in the restoration as has just been shown to you from your scriptures. I bear you solemn testimony that there has been a restoration of all things, that there are living apostles and prophets as we have established here today, who have seen the Lord many times and heard His voice as well as receive inspiration from the Holy Ghost, and the Church is here upon the earth in its fullness in this latter-day.