The Restoration

In order to understand the relationship between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the early Christian church, we need to understand three terms: apostacy, restoration, and dispensation.

An apostacy is when a group of people or an individual fall away from the true church. They reject the gospel of Jesus Christ and fail to teach it to their children.

A restoration is when God calls a new prophet to restore gospel truths that had been lost during the apostacy.

A dispensation is a period of time during which the true church is present upon the earth. The members of the church have the uncorrupted gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority to act in His name--the Priesthood.

Throughout the Bible, we become familiar with a pattern of apostacy, repentance, and restoration. God established His church through Adam, the first man. Adam taught his children to worship God and to live and obey the principles and ordinances of the gospel. His was the first dispensation. After some time, his descendents became wicked and fell away from the church. Some of them taught their own versions of the gospel, many of which included false gods and idols. And so they fell into apostacy.

Each time the people fell into apostacy, God mercifully sent prophets like Enoch and Noah to restore the gospel and set His church in order. Before Christ's ministry, the Jewish people were in a state of apostacy. They had the teachings of many prophets--Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others--but they did not understand them. The Pharisees and Sadducees bickered and argued over various points of doctrine. And so Jesus Christ restored the same church that He had established with Adam. He taught them the true gospel, called apostles to lead His disciples, and set His church in order.

As had happened so many times before, the members of the church fell into apostacy. We have evidence in the New Testament that the apostles knew this would happen:

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
"That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3)

Just as Paul prophesied, the early Christians fell into apostacy and lost many "plain and most precious" truths. Many righteous men struggled to pick up the pieces, and we enjoy the fruits of their efforts when we read the Bible. But it is apparent by the vast number of churches, all claiming to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ but unable to agree on critical points of doctrine, that the Bible is not all that is required in order to have the church of Jesus Christ. This "falling away" after the ministry of Christ is known as the Great Apostacy.

In the early 1800s, God the Father and His son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith. It was through this modern day prophet that the Church of Jesus Christ was re-established. Gospel truths and the authority to administer gospel ordinances--the Priesthood--were restored. Just as so many prophets before him, Joseph Smith was accused of being a false prophet. Jesus Christ taught:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
"Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit...
"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:15-17, 20)

I have judged Joseph Smith by his fruits--the Book of Mormon. I have read it and I have asked God if it is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God, and that the Church of Jesus Christ was restored through him. In this, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, the church is still led by Jesus Christ through a living prophet.