The Great Apostasy

Iglesia ni Cristo, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventist and various other non-Catholic groups claim that in the days immediately after Jesus ’Ascension, the Catholic Church apostatized en masse. One problem with this theory is that, if it is true, then Jesus’ promise not to let the netherworld prevail against his Church (Mat. 16:15-19) was false – which we know cannot be the case. Another problem is that the early Church fathers are nearly uniform in their understandings of the faith. If their teachings are non-apostolic, then where are the writings of those who remained firm in the faith of the apostles and the disputed these false teachings? There no such writings. No, for more than a thousand years after Jesus, the understanding of Christian believers on so many of the questions that are now in dispute – infant Baptism, Jesus’ Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist, Sunday worship, Mary’s role in salvation history, etc. – were uniformly adhered to in the Church our Lord founded. There were simply no voices in the early Church that questioned them. It is impossible to conceive of these early believers undermining the faith which they received from the apostles’ own lips by developing their own doctrines. After all, in so many cases, their commitment to their faith was absolute and unwavering. Rather than compromise its purity by offering even a thimbleful of incense to the Roman gods, they chose instead to suffer torture and death as martyrs tot their faith. It is difficult to imagine a more resolute commitment to the truth than what these holy men and women demonstrated, even at the cost of their lives.

Acts 20:29-30 – “ I know that after my departure savage wolves will came among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the Disciples way after them.” Many point to this passage as a prophecy of “the great apostasy” of the early Catholic Church. However, in no way does this passage predict the apostasy of the entire early Christian Community. For the “wolves” are said said to come “among” the faithful, and since both were Catholic clergy before their apostasy. This applies to many of the other schismatics of history as well – Marcion, Lutheran, Calvin, Lefebre, etc.

2 Pet. 2:1-2 – “…There will be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who ransomed them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their licentious ways because of them the way of truth will be reviled.” Again, this cannot be a prophecy of the entire Church apostatizing, sine the “false teachers” will e found “among you” – which is to say, among the true community of believers. Thus, the teachers are false, not the community. Again, Marcion, Arius, Nestorius, Luther, Aglipay and Manalo would each seem to qualify quite nicely as fulfilling this prophecy, for each was definitely “among” the faithful, having been a member of the Catholic Church some of them are clergy before having become a founder of their pirated churches.

Mat. 28:18-20 – “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples all nations, baptizing them…teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world.” Jesus promised to be with his Church until the end of time, so we can be assured it will never fail.”