Quote Originally Posted by Apologette View Post

So, you disagree with this article by a BYU professor that was printed in the official cult magazine, The Ensign?
Let me p**** what the BYU professor said and was published in the Ensign. I do not disagree with him, but you misunderstand him.

1.
"“Of historical and theological significance is the fact that in Paul’s prophecy the church structure survives.
" The church started by Christ survives.

2.
"But God is not at its head, making that church—following the appearance in it of Satan—no longer the church of God."
The church left God. This can also be read about in Revelation. In other word, the leaders of the church turned away from God. This thinking is also confirmed by other great leaders such as Martin Luther and others who recognized that the church had left the teachings of Christ.

3.
"To say that Satan sits in the place of God in Christianity after the time of the Apostles is not to say that all that is in it is satanic."
This statement recognizes the "church" and "Christianity" are two different things. While the church leaders were engaging in such things as indulgences and the worship of Mary, Christianity, or the belief in Christ survived as well as those who followed Christ.

4.
"Indeed, Latter-day Saints should rejoice—as the heavens undoubtedly do—at the great works of righteousness and faith, and the leavening influence on the world, of those whose lives are touched in any degree by Him whose gospel the Saints enjoy in its fulness."
Latter-day Saints (Mormons) rejoice that the belief in Christ remained regardless of what was happening in the church at that time.

5.
"Still, ‘the power of God unto salvation’ (Rom. 1:16) is absent from all but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which the Lord himself has proclaimed to be ‘the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth’ (D&C 1:30)."
However, because the leadership of the church turned away from God, the power of God was not with the church as a whole. This can be read to mean the priesthood, or those who had authority to act in God's name.

6.
"Satan’s goal of hindering many of God’s children from returning to their Father’s glory is thus realized."
Therefore, if people believe in Christ, but do not have leaders who are called of God, Satan has more power over the children of men. They know truth, but are dispersed to and fro from one religion to the next. Hence, we see many divisions in the "body" of Christ.

7.
"How appropriate, therefore, is Paul’s description of him sitting in the place of God in the church of the apostasía.” Kent P. Jackson, "Early Signs of Apostasy,” Ensign, Dec. 1984.
In other words, when Paul used Greek term "apostatia" meaning apostasy when referring to the church, it was appropriate. the King James Version uses the term "a falling away".



So, no, I don't disagree with the professor. But I clearly understand that you did not understand what he wrote. I hope the above helps.