Why a Restoration?

The picture in this post is from Chestnut Ridge Park in Western New York. It’s called the Eternal Flame, a natural gas fissure whose flame can continually burn due to the natural gas pocket underneath. If you visit the website, it states that if you arrive at this spot and the flame is out, go ahead and relight it. Once relit, the flame will burn continuously until something extinguishes it.

Throughout the course of human history, the Church of Christ has experienced periods of intense growth and periods of decline. The Bible and the Book of Mormon recount times when the people stopped believing and subsequently had the church removed from their midst. This was usually observed by the lack of prophets receiving the word of God and sharing it with the people. Each time the flame of Christ’s church was snuffed out, a restoration of that church followed.

I would argue that Christ’s mortal ministry was a restoration of His church on the Earth. God’s chosen people, who were supposed to run Christ’s church, had drifted away from its teachings and truths. Christ then restored His church during His ministry. He named Peter as the head of His church to lead it when He had resurrected and ascended to the Father.

Ephesians 4:11-12 states, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” This scripture shows how the church of Christ was organized and the offices it has.

As time went on, the apostles of Jesus were killed. In the first few instances, new apostles were called and ordained to replace those who perished. However, the church also went through a time of unbelief, and eventually the apostles were not replaced, and the church fell away into unbelief. This “falling away” (2 Thessalonians 2:3), then required a restoration to occur. A time of “restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21) had to happen before Christ could come again.

In “The Times of Restitution of All Things“, Elder David A. Bednar discusses the restoration and why it was necessary. He states, “The most important and glorious ‘good news’ is the message that the Lord Jesus Christ has restored His gospel and Church in the latter days.”

I’m a very logical person. I always have been. It’s probably why I studied Computer Science. Things have to make logical sense to me for me to believe them. This holds for the secular and the spiritual. Growing up, I learned that God existed, but I needed to know what that meant. Who is God? What does He look like? As I thought about it, it logically made sense to me that God had a physical body.

This very concept was one of the first things restored in the latter days. In 1820, when Joseph Smith went to pray and find out his standing before God and which church to join, he received a vision. This vision showed him “two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air” (Joseph Smith – History 1:17). The first thing that God cleared up in the restoration was His existence and makeup. Elder Bednar states, “[Joseph] also learned vital lessons about the attributes, character, and perfections of the Godhead—and that the Father and the Son are separate and distinct Beings. Jesus Christ is the literal Son of God in spirit and in the flesh.”

The next piece in restoring Christ’s Church on Earth came a few years later. Joseph was again praying to know his standing before God when the angel Moroni visited him. Moroni told Joseph about what would become the Book of Mormon and that Joseph would translate that book and publish it as another testament of Jesus Christ.

Reading the Bible can be difficult. There are a lot of places where it is easy to get confused about what is being taught. Even today, I struggle with certain parts and passages. The world needed something to help clarify and support the Bible’s truths. One of the purposes of the Book of Mormon is to “[confirm] the truthfulness of the Bible, and [restore] plain and precious truths that were lost from the Bible.”

The third area where restoration was required was in having the authority to act in the name of God. This we call the priesthood. As Joseph Smith and his scribe Oliver Cowdery were translating the Book of Mormon, they came across a passage about baptism. That sparked in them a desire to know how to be baptized. They sought answers through prayer and were visited by John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus. He told them that he was acting under the direction of Peter, James, and John, whom Christ authorized to lead His church. John then gave the priesthood to Joseph and Oliver, allowing them to baptize others. Later, Peter, James, and John came and gave Joseph and Oliver the priesthood that allowed for the laying on of hands to give the gift of the Holy Ghost. They also gave them the authority to share this priesthood with others so that God’s work could spread across the globe.

I have benefited from this part of the restoration. I was baptized by someone with priesthood authority and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have also been blessed to receive this authority that allows me to baptize and give the gift of the Holy Ghost. Priesthood authority has allowed me to bless my family and others.

The visits and conferring of priesthood authority did not end with John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John. There were other “keys” that needed to be restored to ensure that the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ was again on the Earth. In time, Moses, Elias, and Elijah conferred these keys on Joseph Smith. Once completed, all the necessary authority to administer every ordinance and make every covenant was present. That authority has been passed down to the current leadership of the church. Quoting Elder Bednar, “The Church was organized in proper sequence only after the restoration of the priesthood and the publication of the Book of Mormon.” In “The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ“, it states, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints … is Christ’s New Testament church restored. This Church is anchored in the perfect life of its chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ, and in His infinite Atonement and literal Resurrection. Jesus Christ has once again called Apostles and has given them priesthood authority. He invites all of us to come unto Him and His Church, to receive the Holy Ghost, the ordinances of salvation, and to gain enduring joy.”

For me, the organization of the church has been a giant blessing. The church exists to help me in my journey to exaltation. It also turns the focus of life to Jesus and supports the family as the basic unit of the gospel. The logical side of me knows that there has to be organization and direction for us to return to our Father in Heaven. The church is that organization and direction because it has the authority from God and the understanding of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I mentioned above that the “Eternal Flame” in Chestnut Ridge Park can be extinguished. The same has happened to the Church of Christ. However, unlike the Eternal Flame, this restoration, starting in 1820, will not be snuffed out. “In this greatest and last of all gospel dispensations, ‘a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time. And not only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world … shall be revealed … in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times.”

This restoration is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel that the Church of Christ would fill up the earth and the kingdoms of men would not be able to stand before it (Daniel 2:44-45).

I echo the invitation Elder Bednar has given: “I invite all to learn about and prove this message. I promise that individuals ‘who prayerfully study the message of the Restoration and act in faith will be blessed [through the power of the Holy Ghost] to gain their own witness of its divinity and of its purpose to prepare the world for the promised Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.’ As you pray earnestly with the expectation to both receive and act upon an answer from God, as did young Joseph Smith, your capacity to recognize and respond to that divine witness will be increased.”

I have acted upon this invitation. I have received my answer to the truthfulness of this restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you sincerely accept the invitation above, you will receive your answer.