Why Do Mormons Believe in A
Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ?
One of the fundamental differences between the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Christian Churches is we believe
that the Church of Jesus Christ as established by the Savior during his mortal
ministry did not survive after the Apostles were all killed. After the Apostles
died, the priesthood authority they held died with them and no one was left
that was “authorized” to administer the saving ordinances and lead the church.
The Church of Jesus Christ had ceased to exist; an apostasy had occurred.
With
the loss of the priesthood authority, changes in doctrine began and as the
Apostle Paul had warned that they would be “removed from the grace of Christ unto
another gospel . . . and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians
1:6-7). Paul also warned that “the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they
heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away
their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
Some of the perversions that those teachers with “itching
ears” brought in were the concept of the trinity, the purpose and manner of
baptism, the doctrine of predestination, the idea of selling indulgences to
absolve sin, and the idea that revelation had ceased and the heavens were
sealed. It took hundreds of years for the teachings of Jesus Christ to be
totally perverted and unrecognizable. There were many who professed differing
teaching on these principles and in 325 AD, Constantine convened the Nicaean
Council to try to come up with some agreement on what teachings were accepted
and which ones were rejected. This council was not based on revelation from
heaven but on the philosophies espoused by leaders of the church at the time.
President Gordon B. Hinckley wrote of the affect this
apostasy:
“Following the Savior’s death, the Church
He had established drifted into apostasy. Fulfilled were the words of Isaiah,
who said, “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof;
because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the
everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5).
“Paul’s letters
cried out for strength among the followers of Christ, lest they fall into the
ways of the wicked one. But a spirit of apostasy ultimately prevailed.5
“The centuries
rolled on. A cloud of darkness settled over the earth. Isaiah described it: “For,
behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people” (Isa. 60:2).
“It was a season
of plunder and suffering, marked by long and bloody conflict. … It was an age
of hopelessness, a time of masters and serfs.
“The first
thousand years passed, and the second millennium dawned. Its earlier centuries
were a continuation of the former. It was a time fraught with fear and
suffering.” (Teachings
of the Presidents: Gordon B. Hinckley Chapter 1)
Then
President Hinckley writes of the reformation and finally the restoration of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ:
“Somehow, in that long season of darkness,
a candle was lighted. The age of Renaissance brought with it a flowering of
learning, art, and science. There came a movement of bold and courageous men
and women who looked heavenward in acknowledgment of God and His divine Son. We
speak of it as the Reformation.
“Reformers
worked to change the [Christian] church, notably such men as Luther,
Melanchthon, Hus, Zwingli, and Tyndale. These were men of great courage, some
of whom suffered cruel deaths because of their beliefs. Protestantism was born
with its cry for reformation. When that reformation was not realized, the
reformers organized churches of their own. They did so without priesthood
authority. Their one desire was to find a niche in which they might worship God
as they felt He should be worshiped.
“After centuries
of darkness and pain and struggle, the time was ripe for the restoration of the
gospel. Ancient prophets had spoken of this long-awaited day.
“All of the
history of the past had pointed to this season. The centuries with all of their
suffering and all their hope had come and gone. The Almighty Judge of the
nations, the Living God, determined that the times of which the prophets had
spoken had arrived. Daniel had foreseen a stone which was cut out of the
mountain without hands and which became a great mountain and filled the whole
earth [see Daniel 2:35, 44].”
(Teachings
of the Presidents: Gordon B. Hinckley Chapter 1)
An
important principle that we need to understand is that the Church that Christ
established when he was on the earth was not the first time it had been
established. Another name for the Church of Jesus Christ is the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and it has existed from the beginning of time.
Fundamental to the beliefs of the
LDS faith is that prior to being born on this earth we lived with Heavenly Father
as his spirit children. The Lord tells Jeremiah “Before I formed thee in the
belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of
the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a
prophet unto the nations. “ (Jeremiah 1:5). We
read in the Book of Abraham of a council that was held in heaven prior to the
earth even being created that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was taught and
understood be everyone there:
Now the Lord had
shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before
the world was; and among all these there were many of
the noble and great ones;
And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood
in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood
among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto
me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast
born.
And there stood one among them that was like
unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there
is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make
an earth whereon these may dwell;
And we will prove them herewith, to see if they
will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
And they who keep their
first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first
estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first
estate; and they who keep their second estate shall
have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.
And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And
one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me.
And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said:
I will send the first.
And the second was angry, and kept not his
first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him. (Abraham 3:22-28)
These scriptures show that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has
always existed. It was taught to Adam and Eve after they were driven out of the
Garden of Eden (Moses 5:5-16),
and again to Enoch (Moses 7:7-11),
to Noah (Moses
8:19), to Abraham (Abraham 2:8-11),
and to Moses (Moses
8:19). The Lord ushered in a new dispensation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
by calling a new prophet to lead his church and each dispensation eventually
experienced an apostasy and lost the priesthood authority to administer the
gospel ordinances. Jesus Christ established his Gospel in the meridian times
and that Gospel was lost through apostasy when the Apostles died.
Because the priesthood, the authority from God to act in his
name, was lost no reformer would have been able to establish the true Gospel of
Jesus Christ. None of the reformers ever claimed authority from God to
establish his church. In the spring of 1820 a fourteen year old boy named
Joseph Smith decided to ask God which church he should join and went to pray.
That day ushered in a new dispensation when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ
appeared to Joseph and told him that none of the existing churches were true
and that he should join none of them. The Lord Jesus Christ told Joseph further
that all the existing churches “draw near to me with their lips, but their
hearts are far from me, they teach the doctrines the commandments of men,
having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof” (Joseph Smith
History).
For the first time in 1800 years the heavens were opened and
a new prophet was called and given the authority to establish the true Church
of Jesus Christ again on the earth. On May 18, 1829 John the Baptist appeared
to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and gave them the Aaronic Priesthood and the
power to baptize. John the Baptist said he was under the direction of Peter,
James, and John who held the keys to the higher priesthood and that that
priesthood would also be given to them (Doctrine and
Covenants 13). Later that same month, Peter, James and John did appear to
the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and ordained them to the
Melchizedek Priesthood (Doctrine
and Covenants 128:20)
The Prophet Joseph Smith was commanded by the Lord Jesus
Christ to officially establish his true church again on the earth and on April
6, 1830 was organized according to the laws of the state of New York. (see Doctrine
and Covenants Introduction and Doctrine
and Covenants 20:1). The Lord Jesus Christ has declared that the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is “the only true and living church upon the
face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased” (Doctrine
and Covenants 1:30)
The Apostle Peter told the people in temple in Jerusalem to “repent
and be converted that your sins may be blotted out” and that they should accept
Christ “whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all
things” (Acts
3:19-21). That time of restitution of all things is here and so is the
Church of Jesus Christ.
Why do Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints) believe in a restored gospel of Jesus Christ? The answer to
that question is because the Church of Jesus Christ that the Savior established
when he was on the earth was lost after all the Apostles were killed and the
priesthood authority that they held was taken from the earth. The only way to
re-establish the true church would be through a new dispensation of the gospel
and the calling of a new prophet and restoring the priesthood to act in God’s
name again. Members of Christ’s church again have the mandate to take his
Gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people and to prepare the earth for
the second coming of the Savior Jesus Christ.
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comments and questions are welcome.
