correlation

Because God is God, He could not break the covenant. Free Agency prevented Him from requiring men to enter or keep it. It was not news to the apostles that it would be broken through apostasy and be temporarily removed from the earth.

"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; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive unto the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:19-21

Peter told us that before the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that there will be a restitution or a bring back. That implies that something first was taken away. Jesus did take things away. "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things. to draw away disciples after them." Acts 29:29-30

When wolves do not spare the flock, none are left. Why would the Savior and the Father take back all things until the times of refreshing before the Second Coming? What actions could be so grievous to withdraw the covenant?

"The earth is also defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." Isaiah 24:5-6

Isaiah had a tendency to write in the future tense. Here he tells just why the covenant was to be broken. Because men transgressed the law and changed the ordinances the covenant was broken. Every covenant has steps that must be taken to enter.

1) Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ--most know the history of the persecution of the early Christians. Eventually, peace was sought in the Roman Empire in 300 AD, where men agreed on a form of Christianity. Roman religion allowed for many gods. Christianity of one. Because of the mixing of these ideas, Christian martyrs became "saints" and were worshiped as demigods. This satisfied both parties giving men many intermediaries between God and man, The Holy Ghost, there were many. People began praying to saints, Mary the mother of Jesus, the original apostles, and so on. Faith in Jesus Christ was not totally replaced but it was corrupted and diluted.

2) Repentance--a broken heart and contrite spirit are required for repentance. Through the years as a means to raise money, churches adopted the practice of indulgences for the forgiveness of sins. This gave priest the authority to forgive sins.  According to the nature of the crime, different levels of penitence were required. A person thinking of committing a sin could even pay the price before the sin was committed. Thus repentance was replaced by priest craft. "Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins. O ye wicked and perverse and stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain? Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled." Mormon 8:32-33

3) Baptism by Immersion--It is inconvenient for priests to go into the water to baptize. Babies and those on their death beds could not be immersed. Sprinkling replaced immersion. The example of the Son of God was no longer important, because the Spirit of the Lord had ceased to abide with man.

4) The Gift of the Holy Ghost--It is clear in the Bible that receiving the Holy Ghost is of utmost importance for entrance into the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, the church determined that only priests needed this gift. Later, this idea was forgotten entirely except for occasional instances. The Holy Ghost is intended to be the constant companion of those that enter into the covenant.

Each step of entering the covenant was eroded and corrupted. To meet the needs of convenience and greed of designing men, it was changed significantly and broken. Is it any wonder that this was the beginning of the Dark Ages? Any student of scripture and history can see the correlation.