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.

Another Testament of Jesus Christ

"In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." (2 Corinthians 13:1)

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints get their nickname, the Mormons, from a book called the Book of Mormon. It is called the Book of Mormon because it was compiled, and much of it narrated, by an inspired prophet of the Lord named Mormon. And so Mormon is no different to LDS church members than Moses, in that they were both responsible for compiling and narrating scripture. And so it should be understood that any accusations that Mormons worship Mormon are completely false. Are "mainstream" Christians accused of worshipping John because they have a book of scripture called the Gospel According to John?

Just like the Bible, the Book of Mormon contains the word of God as recorded by His prophets. It is, as proclaimed in the subtitle, another testament of Jesus Christ. One description of its purpose is written in 2 Nephi 25:26: "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

Many contemporary Christians teach that the Book of Mormon cannot be accepted into the canon of scripture because the Bible is the "only word of God." What the source of this teaching is I don't know, but it is not the Bible. It is a preconceived notion. Some men have cited the warning at the end of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, mistakenly using it as evidence that the Bible is the only word of God. John warns that nothing must be added or taken away from "the words of the prophecy of this book," referring to the prophecy found in Revelation, not the Bible as a whole. (The Bible as we know it did not even exist when John wrote those words.) The Lord knew that many people would reject the Book of Mormon saying, "A Bible! A Bible! We have already got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible." (2 Nephi 29:3) He responds:

"Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?
"Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.
"And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.
"Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written." (2 Nephi 29:7-10)

And so, how can we know whether the Book of Mormon is inspired scripture, as LDS church members claim?

"And wen ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true: and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." (Moroni 10:4)

I have read the Book of Mormon. As I read, I felt the same sweet spirit that I felt as I read the New Testament. I prayed and asked my Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon was true. I testify that He answered my prayer, by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the affirmative. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It serves alongside the Bible as a witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ.