>>The Holy Spirit will not allow this to happen to the church of Christ.
I hear this said quite often and to me it always begs the questions, (1) which “church of Christ” the speaker has in mind, and (2) if the Holy Ghost has His hand firmly on the tiller, why have so many of his purported disciples over the last 2,000 years been led astray and jumped ship?
RE: (1) which “church of Christ” the speaker has in mind,
The question implies that there was no a church of Christ that followed the teachings of the apostles from the beginning till the councils.
RE: and (2) if the Holy Ghost has His hand firmly on the tiller, why have so many of his purported disciples over the last 2,000 years been led astray and jumped ship?
Why should this surprise us?
Even from the beginning, we were warned by Jesus Himself that there would be wolves among sheep existing within the church to lead people astray. His warnings were repeated time and again by the Apostles Paul, Peter and John.
Why should that come as surprise?
The Holy Spirit has His hand firmly on those who are willing to follow and obey the gospels and the teaching of Christ’s apostles. The Spirit will pursue ( like He did St. Paul ) those who are outside the fold but there will be deceivers in all ages who will attempt to lead people astray.
It says so in the gospels and the epistles.