Where Is the Evidence?
Driscoll insists that real Christianity must affirm an unbroken line of authority from the apostles down to the present. He claims the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions are united by “continuity,” while the Latter-day Saint claim of a complete apostasy and restoration makes us “non-Christian.”
But let’s replace the burden of proof:
Where does the Bible guarantee that the Church’s institutional authority would remain unbroken?
Where do the apostles teach that no general apostasy could ever occur?
If continuity is the test, which continuity? Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant—three rival claims that cannot all be right?
Until those questions are answered, the charge that the Restoration “rewrites Christian history” has no foundation.
What the Bible Actually Says
The New Testament does not promise uninterrupted institutional succession. It repeatedly predicts apostasy and also points forward to a restoration:
2 Thessalonians 2:3: “That day shall not come, except there come a falling away [apostasia] first.”
Acts 20:29–30: Paul warns of “grievous wolves” entering the flock and of men arising to “draw away disciples.” This was already happening during the time of the apostles, and correcting false doctrine was one of the primary reasons for the epistles being written in the first place. Why would we assume that would suddenly stop after the last of the apostles was martyred?
1 Timothy 4:1–3: “Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits.”
2 Timothy 4:3–4: People will “heap to themselves teachers” and “turn away their ears from the truth.”
Revelation 12:6, 14: The woman (the Church) flees into the wilderness for “a time, and times, and half a time.”
Acts 3:20–21: Heaven must receive Christ “until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”
If the Bible repeatedly warns of a sweeping apostasy, and then promises a restitution of all things, Driscoll must show why his tradition should be exempt from the first, and why it should deny the second.
Rethinking Matthew 16:18
Driscoll appeals to Jesus’ promise that “the gates of hell shall not prevail” (Matt 16:18) as proof of perpetual continuity. But the text does not say there would be continuity, it says the Kingdom of God would have victory. It means that Christ’s work, His kingdom, His authority, His people, would not ultimately be swallowed up by death and hell.
History shows the opposite of Driscoll’s claim. Apostasy, division, and corruption spread through the centuries. Councils replaced prophets, creeds replaced revelation, and Christian unity shattered into thousands of competing sects. If nothing more had happened, then yes, the gates of hell would have prevailed against Christ’s Church. Paul warned of this in Ephesians 4: without apostles and prophets as the foundation, believers would be “tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.” That scattering was the gates of hell pressing hard against the Kingdom of God.
But the gates of hell did not prevail. Why? Because of the Restoration. Christ restored His Church with living prophets, new scripture, and divine authority. The Restoration is the very reason the gates of hell have not prevailed. Far from disproving the Restoration, Matthew 16:18 requires it.
History Speaks for Itself
Even if we accept “continuity” as the standard, the historical record is divided:
Catholics claim continuity through apostolic succession.
Orthodox Christians deny papal supremacy and claim continuity through their own bishops.
Protestants deny both and insist the gospel was recovered in the Reformation, not re-created.
They cannot all be right about unbroken authority. The very fact of division is evidence that the “continuity” model has failed to preserve unity and truth.
The Biblical Pattern: Restoration
In scripture, when truth and authority are lost, God restores. He calls prophets, reveals new scripture, renews covenants, and reestablishes His work.
Ephesians 4:11–13: Apostles and prophets were given “till we all come in the unity of the faith.” That unity is not yet here.
Revelation 11:3, 10: Two prophets will yet prophesy in the last days. Even the New Testament points forward to restored prophetic authority.
Acts 3:20–21: Heaven must receive Christ “until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”
Restoration is not an invention. It is the biblical solution to apostasy.
The Restoration’s Witness
Joseph Smith’s First Vision was not the invention of a new sect. It was the reappearance of the biblical pattern: when truth was lost, God acted again.
JS-H 1:19: Christ declared that none of the existing churches had the fullness of His gospel.
D&C 1:30: God called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “the only true and living church… with which I, the Lord, am well pleased.”
Articles of Faith 1:9: “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and… that He will yet reveal many great and important things.”
The Restoration is not arrogance. It is humility, the recognition that if prophets were once needed, they are needed again.
Replacing the Burden of Proof
Questions for Mr. Driscoll:
Where does the Bible promise an unbroken institutional succession, rather than warning of a great apostasy?
How does Matthew 16:18 prove perpetual hierarchy, when the text speaks of Christ’s triumph over death, not bureaucracy?
Which “continuity” claim is correct, Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, and where does the Bible endorse one over the others?
How do you reconcile the apostasy prophecies (2 Thess 2; Acts 20; 1 Tim 4; 2 Tim 4; Rev 12) with the claim that no apostasy requiring restoration ever occurred?
Why should Augustine’s or Calvin’s traditions carry more weight than Christ’s promise of “restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21)?
- If the Bible itself predicts a “restitution of all things” before Christ’s return, why deny the very possibility of Restoration?
Until those questions are answered, the charge that the Restoration is “non-Christian” collapses. The Bible, history, and prophecy all testify that a falling away was inevitable, and that a Restoration was always God’s plan.