Twisted Scripture 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses this passage to underscore their understanding that, sometime after the death of the last New Testament apostle, there was a great apostasy of Christianity. This great apostasy saw the true teachings of Christ removed from the earth and replaced by man-made teachings. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, claimed to have seen a vision of God and Jesus in 1820 and, during this vision, Jesus told Smith not to join any churches because they were all wrong, their beliefs were an abomination, and their leaders were corrupt. This supposed corruption was a result of the great apostasy and it was Smith’s mission to restore true New Testament Christianity to the earth. While it is uncertain as to the specifics of Paul’s mentions here of an apostasy and a man of lawlessness, it is certain that Christianity was not lost from the earth for 1800 years. Throughout those times, great Christian leaders taught historic, orthodox Christianity as it was taught in the gospels and believed in Acts. Indeed, heretical teachers were brought forward and their beliefs were condemned. Today, the Christian church believes the same basic, orthodox doctrines as did the early Christian church in Acts.