The Importance of Financial Support

So, listen, for the past number of years Derrick has overseen the books and when our financial supporters credit cards expire or are closed for some reason or another he has taken the time to call them and ask what they want to do. I have recently agreed to receive the notices of when this happens but I am not nearly as dutiful as my brother Derrick. In fact, we don’t point out that there is a way to donate to CAMPUS on Sundays and sometimes people ask me why and my thinking is this: If people want to support us financially they will. They will find a way to do it. I really don’t like it when people ask me: “how do I donate to the ministry?” How do you THINK you donate to a ministry? You send the ministry a check or give it cash or have the ministry debit a card. I’m addressing this now because first, I have taken over getting notices of cancelled cards and I’m not calling anyone – you know whether you are giving us your hard earned funds or not – so it's up to you if you choose to follow-up on the card cancellation or not.

I am also addressing this because we do need your financial support and especially in our creation of the TVAR – the Transversional Apostolic Record. If you don’t know what this is about go back to our show on October 30th and watch the three videos we made that are dedicated to this purpose. That being said, to our supporters – all of you in whatever way you support HOTM, we will have a sampling of the TVAR by the first of the year. It will be our first run through on the book of mark. I’ve been churning to prepare it and am greatly enthused by its approach. We will be providing this to anyone who wants a copy and are working on the means to get it to you all – though I will give paper copies to those that can be trusted. Anyway, we want you to be involved in the process and the progress of this vitally important work. Stay tuned.

Ministries Related to Mormonism

Speaking of staying tuned, there are a number of ministries I appreciate that are out in the world relative to Mormonism – which is still a topic at the core of my heart in terms of helping to reach with the healing hands of Jesus. Some of those ministries include: Exmormonfiles.com (that’s with Bishop Earl Erskine), MRM.org, IRR.org (with Rob Bowman), UTLM.org, Whatloveisthis.tv, Adamsroadministry.com. Plenty there for all, folks. And speaking of outreaches to the LDS, take a look at this: SHOW SPOT FROM TALKING2MORMONS.com

Challenges Facing Exiting LDS Members

Having said all that in support of outreaches to the LDS, my hope for exiting LDS is that they exit knowing the LORD. We have watched SOO SOO many who are leaving over secular issues and ugly issues against humanity, exiting for atheism and or agnosticism. This is just heart-breaking to me – but I honestly understand it – I mean, look around what is being offered people in some places! Not a free, loving, unencumbered relationship with the Lord but instead MORE rhetoric (some as unsubstantiated as tales from the Book of Mormon), more rules (some as heavy as the LDS) more demands (for money, money money) and for general church playing. Folks – it may work for our elderly but this stuff is not gonna play with our youth. Been saying this for years.

The Decline of Youth Engagement in Churches

In fact, a few of you recently sent me an article that reiterates articles that have been popping up for the last five years of so. What was the point blank point of the article? Studies and statistics show that the churches are all hemorrhaging youth. Hemorrhaging. And if youth are engaging with religion, it is typically for all the wrong reasons. We have been talking about this and we are beginning to see it actually manifest itself: See, the Millennials and those before and after them are seeing religion for what it often really is – a game. They see through the money and materialism, the shows and self-indulgence, the hypocrisy, the archaic thinking, the baseless demands of human authority, and activities demanded that are ancillary to faith in Jesus – political, social, civil and the like. We have really enjoyed the way information on the internet has.

Challenges Facing Organized Faith

We have rejoiced that finally our good LDS neighbors and families are realizing that they have been lied to about their history, about the doctrines (relative to the Bible) and about their practices. But most of us have utterly FAILED to see that access to online information has put all organized faith in jeopardy, and we are quickly approaching the day when the old ways of teaching children about God – through dogmas about hell, the second coming, an incomprehensible and man-made trinity, and the need to go to church or God will be mad at you – are fading fast.

Add in the sway of the world, that clearly petitions for a life of pleasures, self-will, godlessness, and the promotion of uber-humanism, and if we don’t make changes now, we will play a role in the overall spiritual demise of the human race – one that many people will rejoice in. But instead of letting go of our traditions, and breaking down our walls of dogma, and inviting all people into the light of God and His love, the powers that be are clinging to their former traditions, not realizing that, to quote George Bernard Shaw, who said: “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” Of course, those who resist change don’t want anything to change, do they? They have found what “works” for them and therefore complacently, selfishly assuming and promoting whatever it is that serves them at the moment – even if it fails to stand up to scrutiny.

The Three Broad Approaches to Christianity

I am not about destruction for destruction's sake; but I am about tearing down the most elaborate systems if the truth can be unearthed beneath them. In the face of organized religions – the wide spectrum of them from the Orthodox to the most liberal or innovative, I have yet to see any that have yet proven themselves:

• Impervious to MANipulation.
• Willing to fully liberate their members
• To fully emancipate their people from bondage
• To sustain what the Apostolic Record states are facts without human justification or equivocation.

Tonight, I am going to take the three broad Approaches to Christianity that are in place today: Orthodoxy, Protestantism, and Restorationism. And am going to begin to NOT only show how all of them fail in given circumstances, as ALL religious organizations have fails, but am going to also offer the solution God gave us through the Apostolic Record that will emancipate, liberate, sustain God’s plan, and wholly avoids human manipulation.

Tools for Disassembling Religious Fails

I want you to know that I do not need to be an expert in Orthodox, Protestant or Restorationist history or doctrine. I am coming to this table armed with three tools that I will used to disassemble the fails of these approaches:

• A pretty sound understanding of the Biblical text, especially the Apostolic Record.
• The God-Given ability to discern manipulations of religious people relative to the zeitgeist of the text,
• I also have zero fear of what people can do, of change, of poverty or of losing popularity; I cannot be bought by anyone anywhere at anytime, and thank God have a sold out allegiance and love for Truth with a capital T – meaning God through Jesus.

If this benefits you, Praise God. If it frightens you, good. So, coming to the table with these God-given, “not of my own flesh” traits, we will walk together through the jungle of the Three Main religious stances, hitting their doctrinal and practice fails one by one, AND proving what approach will work, in the future, for bringing our kids, and grandkids, and lost young adults, to the faith. NOT to Church . . . that thing is dying . . . but the faith is not.

Okay, we have had the honor of having some people on the show this year and in years past, who have devoted their lives to the things of God. I love and respect all of them and whatever their positions, consider them my brothers and sisters in Christ. So where I absolutely do not accept most of their approaches to the faith I do look at all of our guests with love and respect and as people who seek truth. This includes Matt Slick, Dave Bartosiwitz, Pastor Nathaniel Tyler, Dr. James White, Earl Erskine, Christopher Gray, Dan Ellis, Dr. Larry Norris, John Dehlin, Bill Allred, Dan Wees, Michael Imperiole, of course our sister guests, McKenna Denson and Kristy Johnson, and last week Reverend Brian Diggs. All human beings. All uniquely made. All with

Exploring Paths to Organized Christianity

I have tried to engage with them honestly and openly and believe we were able to discuss some hard matters relative to the faith (and in some cases) non-faith. Having heard from each of these men and women and their thoughts on faith and God and suffering and religion, I am going to take the liberty to wrap the year up by taking the three widest paths to organized Christianity: The path called Orthodoxy, The path called Protestantism, The path called Restorationism. And without reservation (but hopefully with tact) I seek to destroy them with reason, history, evidence and most importantly, with the contextual truths presented in the life and teachings of Jesus and His apostles. All the while explaining the most reasonable, biblical, sustainable view on earth – to the best of my limited abilities.

Please understand that I accept people of every path (and non-path) and their right to pursue them. So these things are NOT ever to be construed as personal attacks on anyone anywhere. I will admittedly let my prejudices shine through but will explain them and why they exist as they arise. Additionally, I will be using the White board a lot during this series as a means to bring some order and clarity to the enormous amount of information orbiting around the subject. In terms of supportive information and proofs for what I will present the MOST important comes not from logic, not from historical evidences, not from pragmatics, and not from the three main paths themselves.

The Role of Jesus' Teachings

In fact, I do not care at all about the justifications that are frequently proffered to explain insipid practices. All religious have reasons why they do silly things so to include them in my assessment is a waste of time in this series. My resistance to all the church playing is greatly framed by what Jesus and his apostles said/promised relative to God’s revealed plan, how He saved the world through the finished work of His Son, and then what the faith would look is said to look like once His Son’s work was complete. Note these key words, “finished work” and “complete.” They play such an important role in how we can understand the Kingdom of God now and go such a long way to solving our problems facing the faith today.

I will try to be fair when I can but I admit fully that I am going to do all I can to sway you, the viewer, the listener, to assume the information and move into the fourth approach – which cannot, and has not, and never will fail – neither father or mother, son or daughter. One more point of clarification: When I speak of what has been called Orthodoxy, I am talking about the institutions that appeal to Church Traditions with equal or even greater attention to Biblical evidences. These include Roman Catholicism, All Eastern Orthodoxies, the Lutherans, Orthodox Prebyterianism, and apparently, Methodism.

Understanding Christian Denominations

When I address Protestantism, I will be speaking of all denoms that fall under this category, and there are many but the main representations will be groups like the Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, and the like. Finally, when I speak of Restorationist churches, I will be speaking of all that sort of popped up in and around the same time like The Disciples of Christ, the Shakers, the Mormons, the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Amish, and even the Christian Scientists, Christadelphians – realizing that some of these cannot be clearly called restorationist Churches but they all share the common idea that there was a need for revision and they attempted to provide it.

I will not be addressing each of the individual institutions or groups but am going to address them, rightly or wrongly, as single entities – Orthodoxy, Protestantism, and the Restorationists – unless some faction of one of the groups bears mentioning. At the end of each discussion we will wrap the fails up by detailing God’s solution written long ago which will annihilates the three fails while providing a reasonable and most importantly a BIBLICAL solution to the problems. So, let’s begin with some assumptions that have been passed along through different channels and are treated as facts but are not facts at all – they are slanted opinions.

Apostolic Succession in Church History

Remember, I am building a case and you have to consider yourself a juror who is assessing all the information as it comes, not trying to make it work or make complete sense until it comes time to make your verdict. So, first to the general assumptions we all hear that are simply not verifiable. Let’s begin with the idea of Apostolic Succession:

In Orthodoxy the claim is that Jesus established a church through His apostles who gave their apostolic priesthood and power to others who have carried it forward through the ages. Just not so. There is a magnificent gap in this theory – so while we do find a church full of Bishops and priests in 400 CE, and we do have Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus in the Apostolic Record, the LINK between the two is a fiction – a creation from what Men claim or have created- and it does not hold up to what was established in the Apostolic Record.

In other words, just because John APPARENTLY elected some men to be local leaders, or because Jesus told Peter that he would have the keys to the Kingdom does NOT means we have a succession of Popes or Apostles. One reason this is true is because of the qualifications the apostles themselves set to call other Apostles in Acts. They had to have been with Jesus during his ministry the whole time from the start, they were taught and trained by Jesus directly, they suffered death for their witness of His resurrection.

Apostolic Record and Leadership

Additionally, we do not have an apostolic succession laid out in the Record – when Peter chose to hold an election of one, and the lot fell to Mathias, that was PRIOR to Peter receiving the Holy Spirit, and was about as inspired as His chopping off the ear of Malchus. To use this example from Peter’s fleshly impulses we must use all of the example – and that means we see that shortly after Judas died the Apostles had a person replace him. If this was to be policy we would have read of James replacement who was put to death first, then the others who were dying and being put to death.

We get NOTHING. Because there was never supposed to be a succession. The foundation of the faith was apostles and prophets – something laid once and then built upon! Right? And by the way, the Record tells us who was called to be the twelfth Apostle to help lead the bride through those times – Jesus – and he called and trained Saul – and the fruit of the inspiration and effectiveness of that call is self evident. So to make the claim that because the apostles had other men elected to leadership in the church is NO support for apostolic succession.

Early Church Figures and Authority

Conversely, in the Protestant tradition, we have an even greater difficulty – which we will get to in a minute – but at least with Orthodoxy they have a few people they can loosely create this illusion of authority upon, namely: Clement of Rome (called Pope Clement BTW), Ignatius of Antioch (said to be a student of John the Beloved), Polycarp of Smyrna (born in?69CE and died in 155 CE – who is also reported to have been a disciple of John) and finally Papias of Hierapolis whose work is dated between 95–120 CE.

But all of these dudes were not contemporaries of Paul or Peter and only ONE – ONE scant reference by Eusebius 300 years later ties Polycarp to John. Its as myth-making as Joseph Smith receiving a priesthood by Peter, James and John. And as a point of reference, all the early church Fathers (ahem) we frequently hear cited started popping up in the second century and later, like Justin Martyr (2nd century), Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen (born?185 – died?254), Athanasius (c.?293 – 373). He is remembered for his role in the conflict with Arianism and for his affirmation of the Trinity. At the First Council of Nicaea (325!!), Athanasius argued against the Arian doctrine that Christ is of a distinct substance from the Father.

How about the Cappadocian Fathers? They are Basil the Great (330–379), Basil's younger brother Gregory of Nyssa (c.?332 – 395), a close friend, Gregory of Nazianzus (329–389). They also made major contributions to the definition of the Trinity finalized at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 and the final version of the Nicene Creed. Then so as to not skip over the Latin Fathers though – we have Tertullian (c.?155 – c.?222), Jerome (

Challenges of Apostolic Succession

Cooks in the Patristic kitchen none of them play into succession. They only play into the myth-making. Remember, the legend of Apostolic succession exists shakily on four men but there is zero biblical affirmation of their role in the church. So those are some of the problems with what we are calling Orthodoxy, not to mention the Great Schism of 1056 between the east and the west. I mean, imagine if we read that Jesus twelve Apostles split once he ascended? Ridiculous. And it doesn’t matter if you side with Roman Catholics or Orthodoxy – there was a schism and nobody on earth can say who was on the right side. That’s all sectarian opinion.

Protestant Claims to Authority

However, the Protestants as a whole are in much worse shape because they have zero claims to any authority whatsoever. Zero. This is entirely forgotten by the masses who generally assume that the men and women who stand over them in the denominations have rights to govern them. There is not a Protestant on earth that can rightfully show that they have the authority of Jesus Christ to do and say what they do and say. And let’s be clear – the Apostolic Record makes it VERY clear that IF there is to be a Church of Jesus Christ on earth it is to be governed by His Apostles – there is no getting around that.

Protestants like to say: We’ll we have the apostles WORDS in the Bible to govern the church. To that we can point out so many reasonable things, like: That Bible wasn’t available for hundreds of years to people. And when it did actually become available, and in languages people could understand and read, what has the written words done to the Church that is supposed to be one? In other words, the letters of the Apostles is no substitute for living breathing apostles because the letter kill. And letters – even of the original apostles – have killed – they have killed the unity in the body of believers, they have killed the Spirit, they have killed the love that should abide. This is because written words have proven to be so utterly up to interpretation that we have yet to see the written words unite the faith like the living apostles did when they were on earth.

Restorationist Churches and Authority

So what Protestants lean on in reaction to this is their education which they claim qualifies them to interpret the written words of the Apostles “better” than others. And this thinking brings us all the way back around to Jesus day where the learned men (called Sadducees and Pharisees) could not comprehend the teachings of the King. Bottom line, the Protestants play church without any authority or right and the fruit of that has amounted to each man building an empire unto himself – which inevitably lends to an us verses them mentality – sort of like what existed in the Great Schizm of 1056 in Orthodoxy.

Perhaps worst of all are what I am calling the “Restorationist churches” who, with upstart flare and brazenness, either ignore lines of authority all together (like the Protestants generally do) or they claim an authority that has come to them (or usually, one of them), by the Spirit or inspiration (meaning they just say God has called them to reveal the restored truth to the world). In the case of the Mormons, Joseph Smith was smart enough to see the fail in Protestantism, and the failures of Orthodoxy through their supposed Apostolic succession, so he did what any genius religious synthesizer would do – he drew Peter James and John and John the Baptist out of heaven and had them bestow an apostolic authority on his head! Fortunately, his claims have been proven to be historical fabrications as well as in conflict with the biblical definition of priesthood. More importantly, all of the attempts to prove the need for a restoration of all things utterly fail in light of reasonable biblical exegesis.

When we read the Apostolic Record (what people errantly call the New Testament) there is a clear place for apostolic leadership in the Christian Church Jesus founded. Clear. And mandated. This cannot be denied and a contextual reading of the Bible shows that Jesus was NOT kidding around when he called, and trained, His original 12 . . . and then Paul. We see enormous evidence in their writings of their authority to do miracles, to preach the Good News, and to set the affairs of the Church-Bride in.

The Role of Apostles in the Church

To suggest that Jesus would have a church on earth – meaning an institution that would remain impervious to corruption and vice in terms of doctrine and practice – without specially appointed, inspired, and spiritually gifted Apostles is like believing a shipping magnet would send her ships out to sea without a crew. All you have to do is read the epistles and Gospels to see what Jesus expected of them, the weight that was on them, and the reality that if there is to be a physical church known as the Church of Jesus Christ on earth, it would have called, trained Apostles in charge.

So fundamental are His twelve apostles that Revelation says that their names will be on the twelve pillars that uphold the New Jerusalem. So right off the bat, if you are serious about truth, understand that the need, purpose, and value of Apostles to govern and guide Jesus' material church was purposeful and an absolute reality of what He established. Therefore, that anyone has the right to establish themselves in the faith without Apostolic authority and/or to think that their brick-and-mortar church can exist without apostolic leadership is ridiculous – and the history of the church over the past 2000 years proves this.

The Problem of Apostolic Authority

In the face of this, we are left with a problem. Orthodoxy, realizing the import of living Apostles and their guidance, gifts, and leadership in Jesus’ church, have tried to create their own direct line – without any substantive proof – either from the Bible that says that this would be the case or by evidence that this was the case as the Apostles were killed off and replaced. Needless to say, both Protestantism and Restorationist movements have nothing to stand on – unless you buy into their myths. So, what is the solution in the face of these three major fails?

Before we answer this, let me quickly mention the results of the three main views over the centuries doing church without any real apostolic authority. First, let’s look to Orthodoxy. What has their false claim of apostolic authority done for them? Just ask yourselves, would Jesus’s genuinely called and trained apostles endorse the practices – even the doctrines – that have been allowed to flourish over the past two millennia in a Church where the gates of hell were not supposed to prevail against?

The Impact of Lacking Apostolic Authority

How would Peter and Paul receive the veneration of “Saints?” Really, think about it, those of you who know your Bibles? What about inner apostolic politicking? Are you aware of how fugly the religious politics are within Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism? What would Jesus' Apostles think of the meeting places that the modern “Apostle apparents” have allowed in the name of Jesus? And as was mentioned last week with Bryan, what about something as simple as the clothing and outfits these dudes have adorned themselves with, let alone the candle lighting, the incense burning, the festivals and fastings and feasts? What about saving rites? Iconography? And I am only talking about Orthodoxy here?

What about the Catholic lines of apostolic authority? What have they allowed? Major fails in light of what the apostles clearly described in scripture – major – and while there are justifications and rationalizations through the nose on why such things exist or have happened, no true apostles would allow these things to exist. But when we look to the Protestants, we fail on the other end of the spectrum. Where Orthodoxy with their apparent apostolic leadership has introduced all sorts of symbolic rituals and practices, the Protestants, claiming sola scriptura as their apostolic authority, have got so much bullshit orbiting around the faith I can’t keep track of it. What I can keep track of is the fact that without real Apostles guiding Protestantism, we’ve got abuse upon abuse, and justification upon justification for the abuses.

Look at the materialism, the money mongering, the cheap grace, the domineering legalisms, the shaming, the conform to us or be cast from us – all of it. Look and listen to the demands for total allegiance to a person, a teaching, a practice, or a church. And all the justifications for it. Worst of all, look at the lack of love, the lack of the fruit of the Spirit, and worst of all, the presence of discipline exacted out upon others by men and women without any authority!

Apostolic Authority and the Restoration of True Church

Restorationists, we see much of the same thing except often there is the presence of much more cult-like control. Because their system, inspired by something that restores the true church back to the earth, there is typically more of a cult-like mentality that comes with such. Again, this is the unfortunate fallout of start-up religious movements without any true Apostolic governance. What is in place biblically that can confront all of these fails that we find extant in the world of Christianity today?

It is really simple. And I didn’t create it. It is hiding in plain sight within the pages of the Apostolic Record. Why it hasn’t been seen and embraced must be because we live in a fallen world where the truth struggles really hard to remain lit. But when it comes to Apostolic authority here is the simplicity of the whole thing. After 400 years of silence, the Apostolic Record opens up describing the one prophesied in Malachi to prepare the way of the promised Messiah. What were the very first recorded words of this chosen one named John the Baptist, when he entered Jerusalem? When he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Two verses later he added, “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” These words were to them/then – not to us now. To them/then.

The Coming of the Messiah

Yeshua was baptized and His called, and trained Apostles. Twelve of them. Their job was to preach that the Good News had come, to receive it, and to be saved from the wrath to come that John talked about. That all the prophets said was coming in those last days. Before Jesus was killed – the night before actually – he took Peter, James, John, and Andrew and presented them the Olivet discourse. Prior to going to Olivet Jesus had unleashed on the Pharisees and even told the apostles that the temple was coming down. At Olivet these Apostles asked Jesus point blank: When will these things be, and what is the sign of your coming, and the end of this age? And Jesus delivered to them the infamous Matthew 23 – a list of everything they ought to look for in his coming. Coming with or for what? His coming with judgment or reward and FOR His Bride.

Listen closely, everything that Jesus described to them as coming has been recorded as happening by either the historians Seutonius, Cassius Dio, Tacitus, or Josephus in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Jesus also promised that all of it would happen to them within a generation (which in the Bible is a 40-year period). Then He was put to death, resurrected, and ascended in the clouds – with an angel promising the Apostles that he would return in the same way he left. In the Apostles' writings, all of them – every one of them – expected, reassured the believers in that day – that Jesus was coming back. In most cases that he was coming back soon. And guess what? They were correct – and so was He – He came back as promised with judgment on His Brethren and their world, and with reward for those who believed.

A New Age Begins

They were His Bride. And he took her up from that mess into the New Jerusalem. And guess what? At that time, a new age began, with a new heaven and a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. Now here’s the thing – all of this is verifiable through scripture and secular history – but the Record also has God describing for us what would be ONCE Jesus came and took His bride. And what he describes is NOT religion, is not brick and mortar, is not a priesthood or external laws and rites. To summarize, it is a day when “nothing that can be shaken in heaven or earth will remain,” a day when God would write “His laws on the hearts and minds of those who are his,” not “in ink.” In this new age, He will reign – not man – by his spirit. The church is gone, His body remains. It's an age where all sin has been paid for the world; an age where Satan and hell and death would end. And in this age, which started in 70 AD after He took His bride, the landscape of faith was forever changed.

Freedom to Choose

His bride, victory has already been had, and everyone is now free to choose to recognize God and His Son – or not. With him writing his laws on individuals' hearts and minds, the faith is subjective, all people are at liberty, and God is now all in all. With this description in hand, we can see the foolishness of all of the churches, and that they claim and demand, can’t we? We can see that the authority claimed by any and all is anachronistic, we can see the truth in context of when it was given.

Upcoming Discussion on Sin

Next week, we are going to talk about the religious ideas of sin, and how the three stances foolishly address it, and then we will see what the Bible says about it – you may just find yourselves amazed.

Conclusion

We will see you next week here on HOTM.