Complex sentence: With the exception of a few Lutheran bodies the great majority of Protestant churches do not consider themselves apostolic in the sense of a literal apostolic succession and so do not accept the fundamental premises of the Branch Theory which, in fact, excludes them.
Split into simpler sentences: With the exception of a few Lutheran bodies the great majority of Protestant churches do not consider themselves apostolic in the sense of a literal apostolic succession. Therefore, such churches do not accept the fundamental premises of the Branch Theory which, in and of itself, excludes them.