Introduction‍ ‍

Where did all of these Christian churches come from?  

Welcome to the Mormon Mann channel. I am Kendall, the Mormon Mann. Today, we are here to have a bit of a history lesson.  

In my years of being in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sharing the gospel and learning from other great Christians, I have run across wonderful people that would ask:

“Where did all of these Christian churches come from?”

Estimations show

• Over more than 200 Christian denominations in the United States

• Over 45,000 denominations worldwide.  

The Early Church

Having, in chapter 1 and 2a, of this series reviewed the prophecies of Jesus Christ, the apostles, Isaiah and Amos concerning the falling away and the restoration of Christ’s church, I will now introduce a brief history of the different Christian religions.

Much of the history that I will be showing here comes from the pamphlet “Christian Religions – A Comparative Chart Vol. II,” by Rex Bennett.[1]

Under the direction of God the Father, Christ organized His church.  Christ gave the twelve apostles the responsibility to spread the gospel to the whole known world at that time.  The apostles accomplished this over the next forty to fifty years until they were martyred. 

Once the original apostles had all died there was a second generation of church leaders that led the churches.  As did the original apostles, these church leaders wrote letters and visited the different congregations.

They all gave their lives as a testimony of Jesus Christ. 

This began the period of feeding the Christians to the lions in the Roman arenas.   

Early Writings‍ ‍

The writings of the second generation of church leaders are translated, published and available in many bookstores. 

One set of writings is “The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers.”  These writings also record some of the early teachings and expected behavior of the general membership.

During this 200–250-year period, one can see how, not having revelations from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, the teachings, ordinances and commandments where changed or stopped altogether.

Constantine and State Christianity

In the period 307-337 A.D., the Roman Emperor Constantine I, having trouble hanging onto the Roman empire, decided to adopt the belief of the Christians as the state’s organized church.

This is where Rome’s war against the Christians was lost!

I personally believe that the Roman Empire never failed. This is where the Roman Empire transitioned from military power to a religious power.

Constantine himself was a sun worshiper.  After this state adoption of Christianity, the Roman Emperors in Constantinople had complete power and control over the Christian religion for about 700 years. 

The Great Division - 1054 A.D.

In 1054 A.D. the first real apostasy occurred. This is when Rome and Constantinople split and the Roman Catholic Church was created. 

• The Roman Catholic Church in the west, based out of Rome (The Vatican).

• The Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church in the east, based out of Constantinople.   

The Protestant Reformation

The early 1500’s began yet another apostasy, which was called the Protestant Reformation.  This is after Martin Luther began his questioning of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. 

The Roman Catholic Church viewed this as an apostasy from Christ’s church and Martin Luther was subsequently excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.  

This incident led to the separation of the:

• Church of England,

• the branching off of Calvinism

• Other “radical sects”

These other churches and sects wanted to teach what they thought was the correct teachings of Jesus Christ.  

1500 Year Period of Darkness and Famine of Hearing the Words of Christ

With all of these Christian churches, professing that the “Heavens are Closed…There is No Modern Day Revelation” there became an approximate 1,500-year period of “darkness” and a “famine of hearing the words of the Lord” as prophesied by the following Old Testament prophets.

Reviewing my video on the Apostasy and then looking at this history for the next 250 years after Christ’s death and resurrection, the apostle Paul could not have been more exact!  

New Testament Fulfillment

2 Thessalonians 2:3

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:

In this timeline graph, following the 1,700 year period of darkness and the “famine of hearing the words of the Lord,” our ancient prophets Isaiah and Amos were also right on!  

Isaiah 60:2

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.‍ ‍‍ ‍

Amos 8:11

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

Restoration Prophecies

Continuing on with the prophecies in Matthew and Acts, the first vision of Joseph Smith fits in perfectly.  

Matthew 17:11

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.‍ ‍‍ ‍

Acts 3:19, 20

19.Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 

20.  And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

The Angel Flys with the Everlasting Gospel

Then we have the Angel prophecy in the Book of Revelations.  

Revelation 14:6

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

The Restoration — 1830

Which brings us to the 1830 restoration of the original Church of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith.

With the fulfilling of the Acts 3:19 prophecy where Jesus Christ was sent to personally appear to Joseph Smith. This visitation commenced the “restoration of all things!”  

These prophecies are what Christ meant when he said that every “Jot and Tiddle” will be fulfilled!  

The Protestant Reformation

Now, moving on to the Reformation Period and the apostacies from the Roman Catholic Church.  

The Evolution of the Lutheran Church.

After Martin Luther’s excommunication from the Catholic Church, he did not immediately establish the Lutheran church. There was a group of people who started an apostate church, which adopted Martin Luther’s name for their church.

This was Lutheranism and began approximately 1517 AD. The Lutheran Church was established in about 1526 AD.  This church eventually sponsored the American Lutheran Conference of 1878 and 1900.  The religious movement eventually became the United Lutheran Church in America in 1918.  

The Evolution of the Church of England.

The political leadership in England, in short, wanted its own power over the people, so for political reasons, in 1534, the King of England broke off from the Roman Catholic Church and named their movement The Church of England.

The American branches of the Church of England became the Methodist church in 1739 and the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1789.

As the church progressed in America it branched into several different faiths of the Methodist Church that are listed in here in the chart. It included the:

• Methodist Episcopal Church

• The Salvation Army

• The African Methodist Episcopal

• The Methodists Protestant

• and etc.  

The Calvinist Movement.

The Calvinism movement in approximately 1536, introduced the Reformed Churches, the Presbyterian Church, the United Presbyterian Church, and the Evangelical Churches.   

The Radical Sects.

The last major break from the Roman Catholic Church was the “Radical Sects” in approximately 1520.  They began with the:

• Anabaptists that sprung forth the Baptists

• Southern Baptist Convention

• Northern Baptist Convention

• Free Will Baptists

• Churches of Christ

• Mennonites

• Church of the Brethren

• Disciples of Christ

• National Baptist Convention U.S.A.

• Adventist movement (the Seventh Day Adventists)

• Congregational (Brownists) churches

• Unitarian churches.  

The Baptists vs The Catholics

It is history that the Baptist church apostatized from the Roman Catholic Church.  The Baptist’s official position is that the Roman Catholic Church had lost many of the original truths that Jesus Christ set up while on the earth.   

These Churches Started By Men

After reviewing the history and evolution of most of the Christian churches since the apostacy from the Roman Catholic Church, known as the Reformation, all these churches were started by men.

I believe each one of these men were sincere in their desires to follow Christ the best way that they knew how.

Heavens Are Closed

Each of these religions have in the past and continually have the official policy that “the heavens are closed! There is no direct revelation from Christ.”  

Here are three quotes from the major reformers. 

The first is from John Wesley who lived from 1703 to 1791 A. D. and ranks as chief among the founders of Methodism.  John Wesley comments on the apostasy of the Christian Church as evidenced by the early decline of spiritual power and the cessation of the gifts of the Spirit of God within the Church: 

• “It does not appear that these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians, chapter 12) were common in the Church for more than two or three centuries.  We seldom hear of them after that fatal period when the Emperor Constantine called himself a Christian, and from a vain imagination of promoting the Christian cause thereby heaped riches and power and honor upon Christians in general, but in particular upon the Christian clergy.

The second quote is one of the official declarations of the Church of England when it first broke from the Catholic Church in the middle of the 16th century.  This quote is found in the Book of Homilies.  

• “The Church of England makes declaration of degeneracy and loss of divine authority in these words: “Laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees, have been drowned in abominable idolatry most detested by God and damnable to man for eight hundred years and more.” 

One last quote is in the current ‘livescience.com” article, “Why does Christianity have so many denominations?” They write:  

• “A cursory look shows that differences in belief, power grabs and corruption all had a part to play. But on some level, differentiation and variety have been markers of Christianity since the very beginning…”

Key Question

Does it really make you wonder why, when Joseph Smith asked Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, which church should he join? …and Christ answered that he should join none of them:    

That: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Claims

This brings us back to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the only existing church with a direct line back to Jesus Christ’s original church.

Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and commenced his “restoration of all things!” There has been a modern-day prophet from the time of Joseph Smith.

We in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon Church have continual guidance from Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Confirmation

I know a few of you are wondering how you can know if these things are true. There is a spiritual way of confirming the truth of this great restoration. There is a promise from the Angel Moroni that he gave us in the last chapter of the Book of Mormon. It is: 

Moroni 10:3-5

3. Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.‍ ‍

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.‍ ‍

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

I would like to share my testimony with you that this promise works! You can know the “truth of all things!” Millions of people have, through this promise, come to know the truth of all things.  

Conclusion

This brings this video on the History of the Churches to a conclusion. If you liked what you learned, then please press the like button below.  

My next video in this series is Chapter 3 – The The Church As One. I will delve deeply into the organization of the original Church of Jesus Christ as well as the organization of the current Mormon Church, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

You may be astonished at how detailed the Old and New Testaments are in how Christ’s church should be organized and run. Thank you for staying tuned in with me. I hope that you learned more about where all these Christian churches came from. I wish you God Speed!  

‍ Footnote ‍

[1] “Christian Religions – A Comparative Chart Vol. II”, Rex Bennettt, Copyright 1985, 3080-148th Avenue S.E., Suite 112, Bellevue, Washington 98007.