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Mormons and the ‘restored church.’

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Mormons claim that, following the time of the apostles, the Christian Church fell into total apostasy. They claim:

Apostasy was prophesied...2 Timothy 3:1-3

A 'Restoration' was anticipated...Acts 3:19-21

But, while apostasy was foretold, the Bible disallows total apostasy:

‘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)

 ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:19/20)

 ‘And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.’ (Ephesians 4:11-16)

The church was always going to prevail, even against the gates of hell. Jesus promised to be with the church until the end of the age, not abandoning it for nearly two millennia. The sains are to be continually built up into Christ, attaining finally a unity of faith, but we live now in the time of ‘until,’ until we attain unity of the faith.’ We don’t need a restoration, we need continuation
Apostasy was always going to be a partial:

 ‘Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some  will depart from the faith by devorting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…’ (1 Timothy 4:1)

John even assures us, ‘He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world’ (1 John 4:6) and John knew all about apostasy. It is tempting to see partial apostasy, which is surely upon us today, and think all is lost. But God keeps his promises and Jesus said, ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ I think we are safe in his hands.

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