Why Protestants Agree With Mormons? Part Five

"Here are some examples. [Part four of eight]

The Great Apostasy

The LDS Church believes that the Priesthood and parts of the true gospel established by Jesus Christ during His mortal ministry were lost in the centuries following the deaths of the Apostles. There were still faithful believers during this time that kept Christianity alive. However, some truths were lost, ordinances were changed, leaders became corrupt and The Church fell away as Paul prophesied it would in Thessalonians 2. This period is referred to as the great apostasy. The Greek word for "falling away" is Apostasia---Apostasy.

Why do Protestants believe in the Apostasy?

If it ain't broken why fix it, right? If there was not an apostasy, why have a Reformation?..... Other Reformers also sought to re-establish the "true gospel"..... Today, Protestants church shop [stop] believing one church's teachings are more in line with the Bible than others. Protestantism exists because of the apostasy." (Kelly Bingham, Why Protestants Agree With Mormons (They Just Don't Realize It), www.moroni10.com, December 7, 2007, Brackets added)

Apostasy-total desertion of one's professed principles, faith, or party.
Reformation-a change for the better.

"To the Mormon, only the Mormon church is true; therefore all other churches are "great and abominable."....Mormons teach that the power and authority was taken away from earth and was not restored until Joseph Smith made physical contact in a grove of trees with the almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth.
Implicit in the LDS church's argument is the idea that the church collapsed (or apostasized) soon after the death of the apostles and the world was separated from God. Bruce R. McConkie in Doctrine, pp. 43-44, puts that situation into Mormon perspective:

This universal apostasy began in the days of the ancient apostles themselves (2 Peter 2:1-2; and it was known to and foretold by them. Paul recorded specifically that the Second Coming would not be until this great falling away took place (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). He warned of the 'perilous times" that should come "in the last days"; times when men would have "a form of godliness, "but would deny "the power thereof"; times when they would be "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:1-7); times in which they would be turned 'from the truth unto fables' (2 Timothy 4:1-4). Our Lord foretold the perplexities, calamities, and apostate wickedness of these same days (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21).
With the loss of the gospel, the nations of the earth went into a moral eclipse called the Dark Ages. Apostasy was universal. "Darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the mends of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face" (Doctrine and Covenants 112:23). And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, pp. 265-326).

The Biblical View

All this contradicts the Bible, for Jesus said He would be "with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20), and also that "upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). The divinely inspired Paul also wrote, "Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, would without end. Amen" (Ephesians 3:21).
Now if Jesus promised He would be with us always and that the gates of hell could never prevail against His church, how could there have been such a universal apostasy as Joseph Smith taught? How could Jesus be glorified by His church "throughout all ages" if from A.D. 300-1830 it was drowning in apostasy ? Certainly there have been times when the church was not all it should be, but Jesus was still with it totally and prevented hell from crushing it." (Deckers Complete Handbook on Mormonism, Ed Decker, Harvest House Publishers, 1995, pp.48,49)
Ever sense the beginning prophets, apostles, and Jesus spent countless hours defending the faith. Satan has had a foot hold on the people of this world right from its beginning. After the apostles came, a continual stream of saints courageously defended the cause of Christ. It was through those who didn't give up the fight for preserving the gospel of Christ that the body of Christ was able to be continued "throughout all ages."
"No real Christian church believes that it is the "one true church." The true church is an organism, not an organization. It is the body of Christ, made up of Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, etcetera, all of whom worship the same God and believe the same essential truths. They may differ in minor things, but in the essentials they are one. They are the living body of Christ and always have been." (Ibid., pp. 49-50)
Protestantism does not exist because of an apostasy. Why? Because there never was an apostasy to begin with.
Sorry, Mormons and Protestants do not agree here either.