The Restoration: The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

I think this principle is one of the biggest evidences of God's love for us. Second, only to the Atonement of Christ. Through out the years of spiritual darkness, not having the revelations needed, there were a lot of churches and opinions that formed. We can see this by just googling a list of churches, walking down the street, even different translations of the Bible! Well, a boy named Joseph Smith, was confused by what church to join. He read in 4:5 "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" His own family wasn't even united in religion. His father was not really part of any church, but still was a strong christian, his mother and a few of his siblings were part of the Presbyterian religion, and he himself was leaning to the Methodist sect. One day, reading the Bible, he read in James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."  In his own words Joseph says:

"Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.

After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

Joseph, saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Joseph desired to know which of all the sects were right, and which one he should join! He was told to join none of them, because they did not teach the fullness of the gospel.  That is when Joseph was called to be a prophet to restore Christ's church on the earth. A few years later, while translating the Book of Mormon, he had a question about baptism, and how it would be done. He and Oliver Cowdry knelt down on the banks of the Susquehanna River. In answer, John the Baptist appeared to them, giving them the Aaronic Priesthood, the authority to baptize. Shortly there after, Peter, James, and John, as ressurected beings, appeared to them and gave them the Melchizedek Priesthood, which gave them the authority to give the gift of the Holy Ghost, and other essential ordinances.

Knowing the world would be skeptical of the calling of Joseph, Christ revealed the Book of Mormon to Joseph. This will be next time I get on the blog, but in the mean time, I want you to pray to God, asking Him if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and if this really happened. Pay attention to your feelings, see how you feel after. Did it make you feel good? Peaceful? Joyus? I can testify to you that God cares about you, and He loves you! I know that He loves us enough to called Joseph Smith to be a prophet to restore the Church of Jesus Christ back on the earth. I know this is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.