Christ’s Church

The mortal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was comparatively brief. He lived only thirty-three years, and His ministry was only three years. But in those three years he taught the human family everything that is necessary to receive all of the blessings our Father in Heaven has in store for His children. . . . One of the most important accomplishments of the Savior was the establishment of His church upon the earth.¹

The Church of Jesus Christ is the organization of believers who have taken Christ’s name upon themselves through baptism and confirmation and have covenanted to keep God’s commandments. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that whenever the gospel of Jesus Christ has been on the earth, it has been administered in and through Christ’s church.

To be the true church it must be the Lord’s church, and must have his laws, his name, and be governed by him through representatives whom he has appointed.²  

The Same Organization

The Prophet Joseph Smith, the first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, detailed the connection between the Latter-day Saint church of Christ and the Former-day Saint church of Christ: “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.”³

James E. Talmage, one of the former members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ, elaborated on this article of faith. He said:

 The existence of these officers, and particularly their operation with accompaniments of divine assistance and power, may be taken as a distinguishing characteristic of the Church in any age of the world—a crucial test, whereby the validity or falsity of any claim to divine authority may be determined. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the everlasting Gospel; its principles, law and ordinances, and the Church organization founded thereon, must be ever the same. In searching for the true Church, therefore, one must look for an organization comprising the offices established of old, the callings of apostles, prophets, evangelists, high priests, seventies, pastors, bishops, elders, priest, teachers, deacons—not men bearing these names merely, but ministers able to vindicate their claim to position as officers in the Lord’s service, through the evidences of power and authority accompanying their ministry.⁴  

When Jesus called His twelve apostles, He laid His hands upon them, ordained them, and conferred upon them the authority to act in His name and govern His church. The same authority exists in the Latter-day church.

The Aaronic Priesthood was restored on May 15, 1829, under the hands of John the Baptist, and the Melchizedek Priesthood within a month under the hands of the ancient Apostles Peter, James, and John to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Thus those possessing the priesthood today claim the power to act in the name of God through the priesthood.⁵ 

Apostasy: The Period Between Former Day and Latter Day

After the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle Peter became the chief apostle and led The Church of Jesus Christ. Peter and other church leaders had a difficult time keeping the doctrine of Christ pure. The apostles traveled extensively to congregations of Saints in order to hold the Church together. But their efforts were ultimately in vain; eventually all the apostles (except John the Beloved) were martyred.

With this falling away, priesthood keys were lost, and some precious doctrines of the Church organized by the Savior were changed. Among these were baptism by immersion; receiving the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; the nature of the Godhead—that They are three distinct personages; all mankind will be resurrected through the Atonement of Christ . . . ; continuous revelation—that the heavens are not closed; and temple work for the living and the dead.⁶

“Restoration of All Things”

Peter wrote of a coming time of “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21). It started when religious men recognized that there had been a gradual change to, or falling away from, the church that Jesus Christ organized. Reformers, such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley, sacrificed and suffered for their effort to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. “These reformers were inspired to create a religious climate in which God could restore lost truths and priesthood authority.”⁷

Mormons believe that the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Either the gospel has been restored or it has not. Either the Savior’s original church and its doctrine were lost or they were not. Either Joseph Smith had that remarkable vision [in 1820] or he did not. . . . Either the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to earth through God’s chosen latter-day prophet or it was not. The truth really is not any more complicated than that.⁸

Conclusion

The fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, with priesthood power and authority and organization, connects Latter-day Saints and Former-day Saints. Our loving Heavenly Father wants all His children who now live or who have ever lived upon the earth to enjoy the blessings available through membership in the Church of Jesus Christ. I believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a restoration of the original Church established by Jesus Christ.

Notes:

1. M. Russell Ballard, https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/10/restored-truth?lang=eng
2. The Bible Dictionary in the Latter-day Saint edition of the King James Version of the Bible, s.v. “Church.”
3. Sixth Article of Faith https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/a-of-f/1?lang=eng
4. James E. Talmage, A Study of the Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1890), 199.
5. James E. Faust, https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/the-resoration-of-all-things?lang=eng
6. James E. Faust, https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/the-resoration-of-all-things?lang=eng
7. M. Russell Ballard, https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/10/restored-truth?lang=eng
8. M. Russell Ballard, https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/10/restored-truth?lang=eng

Evidence of God’s love and respect for His daughters is woven throughout the scriptures where prophets recorded the dealings of God with mankind. Below are a few of my favorite scriptures depicting Divine love and concern for women.

Our Soul’s Worth: Created in God’s Image

As a Mormon, I believe that we are children of God, created in His image. Our divine heritage is one evidence of God’s love for us. “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10).

And, I God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so. And in the image of his own body, male and female, created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created and became living souls in the land upon the footstool of God (Moses 2:26, 6:9).

The immense suffering of the Savior to take away our sins shows how much He values us.

For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink— (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16, 18).

God’s Expectations For Relationships

Two stories about Mary show Deity’s utmost respect and concern for her.

[T]he angel Gabriel was sent from God unto…a virgin…whose name was…Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women…Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God (Luke 1:26-30).

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother…When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home (John 19:25-27).

The sacred marriage relationship should honor both spouses. The Lord is clear about equality between men and women.

“Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:11).  “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else.” (Genesis 2:24, Doctrine and Covenants 42:22).

God commanded Jacob, a prophet in the Book of Mormon, to call the people to repentance. Jacob’s reluctance to discuss sins in the presence of wives and children evokes God’s tenderness toward the pure in heart.

[It] grieveth me that I must use so much boldness of speech concerning you, before your wives and your children many of whose feelings are exceedingly tender and chaste before God, which thing is pleasing unto God; And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul.

Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained…to admonish you according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded, instead of consoling their wounds; and those who have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God have daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds.  But notwithstanding the greatness of the task, I must do according to the strict commands of God, and tell you concerning your wickedness and abominations, in the presence of the pure in heart, and the broken heart, and under the glance of the piercing eye of the Almighty God (Jacob 2:7-10).

Women of The Bible Have Purpose in God’s Plan

As a Mormon woman, I have wondered about my purpose on earth. The scriptures show how the Lord enables righteous women to build His kingdom on the earth.

Esther

The Babylonians carried Esther’s family into captivity.  After her parents were slain, her uncle Mordecai raised her. King Ahasuerus selected Esther to be his queen. Mordecai revealed a plot to  kill all of the Jews in the kingdom to Esther and asked her to intercede. Esther responded that anyone who approached the king without being summoned was put to death. She had not been summoned.  Mordecai answered

[If] thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:13-14).

Esther courageously responded,

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day…and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish (Esther 4:16).

She went forth with the power of God and saved her people. Her story taught me that God empowers women to overcome fear and accomplish great things.

Hannah

Barren Hannah supplicated the Lord in bitterness of soul for a child.

And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head (1 Samuel 1:11).

The priest Eli “said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad” (1 Samuel 1:17-18). Hannah conceived a son named Samuel. When Samuel was weaned, Hannah took him to the temple and gave him to Eli. Samuel became one of the great prophets of the Old Testament.

Hannah’s story shows how God answers the deepest yearnings of a woman’s heart and helps direct that yearning to fulfill His purposes.

The Widow of Zarephath

During a famine, the Lord commanded the prophet Elijah to go to Zarephath. “Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee” (1 Kings 17:8). Elijah went to Zarephath.  He found the widow woman and requested water and food. She explained that she was putting together her very last meal and then expected that she and her son would die.

And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. (1 Kings 17:13-15).

God saved the woman, her son, and the prophet Elijah.  Later in the story, Elijah also raised her son from the dead.  The Lord is mindful of His daughters! He prepares mundane and miraculous ways to save us spiritually and temporally. His Grace is sufficient.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come” (Proverbs 31:10, 25).

God loves His daughters. Through His Grace, my life is filled with purpose and meaning. To learn more about God’s plan of salvation for men and women, please contact the Mormon missionaries.

BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” BYU students take nearly a semester of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.

In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.

In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)

Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.

Mormon Bible: A Book for Our Day

I posted this on a blog.

This week in Book of Mormon we finished talking about the war chapters in Alma and began to talk about Helaman. Near the end of Alma, Brother Griffin told us a quote from Abraham Lincoln. He said that when Lincoln was asked why he tried to make friends with his enemies instead of destroying them he said that by turning his enemies into friends he was destroying his enemies at the same time. This is interesting because all of us have people who we don’t get along with or who we consider “enemies.” A lot of the time we think of ways we can get back at them or “destroy” our enemies. The better way to go about this is to try to look past the things we dislike about others and try to make friends with our enemies, thus “destroying” them.

In the beginning of Helaman we talked about how the devil shifted his tactics to destroy the children of God. He introduced secret combinations which are more sneaky and subtle from within, and he was also more bold and straightforward on the outside with the example of the Lamanites walking straight through the Nephite territory to the main city and killing the king Pahoran. This shows how the Book of Mormon really is meant for our day. In the 1900’s there were a lot of wars and contentions with clear boundaries, just like the war chapters at the end of Alma. Now we face more sneaky and subtle contentions with the devil in our day where the lines that divide good and evil are harder to find, just as the devil introduced secret combinations in the beginning of Helaman. This just shows us how the Book of Mormon has so many applications to our day and will continue to help us with the struggles we will face in the future.

Where did The Book of Mormon come from?

The Book of Mormon is a collection of writings that chronicle the course of some people living in the ancient Americas from about 600 BC to 400 AD. Most were of Israelite descent through Joseph and his son, Manasseh. These words were passed from prophet to prophet, eventually ending up in the charge of Mormon, the next-to-last Book of Mormon prophet. Mormon compiled all the records he had into one set of plates and, per divine guidance, hid them in the ground.

The golden plates weren’t unearthed until 1823, when an angel guided Joseph Smith to the site.[1] The plates weren’t taken from the site until 1827 when Joseph began his translation. The translation of the Book of Mormon was made possible by divine tools and revelation; Latter-day Saints believe the translation of the Book of Mormon to be more perfect than any other book.

Why is the Book of Mormon important?

The Book of Mormon serves several purposes, the most important being that it testifies of Jesus Christ, just as the Bible does. The purpose of the Book of Mormon is to “persuade [us] to come unto Christ, and partake of the goodness of God” (Jacob 1:7). The Book of Mormon illustrates that two witnesses are more powerful than one. The Lord prophesied of the resistance the Book of Mormon would endure:

Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews? . . . 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? . . . I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever (2 Nephi 29:6–9).

The Book of Mormon is no different from the Bible: its purposes and doctrines are the same.  Both are God’s revelations to ancient prophets with contextual history.

The Book of Mormon and Bible work together

Both sets of scripture testify of Jesus Christ. Jesus actually visited the Book of Mormon peoples after His resurrection. The Bible supports this theology. In John 10:16 Jesus Himself explains that “other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”

The doctrines of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon support each other. The Book of Mormon actually acts as clarifying scripture for several doctrines presented in the Bible. Because the Bible has undergone so many translations and versions, it only makes sense that key gospel truths could be lost or distorted in those processes.

For instance, the Book of Mormon clarifies and expands on the doctrine of baptism. Jesus Christ Himself was baptized and showed by way of example that we all must be baptized. Other Christian denominations have misinterpreted this doctrine; some faiths do not baptize by full immersion and many practice baptizing infants. The Book of Mormon provides insight into the baptismal ordinance: baptism must be done by immersion, being “buried in the water” (Mosiah 18:14), and baptism should be performed only on those able to comprehend the ordinance and its covenants—“unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin” (Moroni 8:10)—, not infants.

We need both books

The Bible and Book of Mormon rely on each other. Not only do we learn of how the gospel of Christ worked in two different societies, we also learn more about the doctrine of Christ when we allow the Bible and Book of Mormon to work together. Both books testify of Christ, and both show us the processes we need to follow to return to Him. When you combine the Bible and the Book of Mormon, you see that the gospel of Jesus Christ knows no bounds—it transforms and exalts souls.

Actress Roma Downey, best known for her role in CBS’ “Touched by an Angel,” and her husband, Mark Burnett, producer of reality TV shows “The Apprentice” and “Survivor,” used their combined expertise to executive produce the 10-hour miniseries, according to the article. They started making plans for the project that would eventually become “The Bible” in 2009, according to the article.

“All the other things we’ve done— all the experience and the wisdom and the gifts that we’ve picked up along the way— have brought us to this moment,” Downey said in the article. “We made ‘The Bible’ to glorify God, and it will go out across the globe and it will touch people’s lives— people we may never meet, in places we may never visit.”

Downey said that “The Bible” was created with both Christians and non-believers in mind, according to the article. “We wanted to tell these stories in a way that would emotionally connect, be exciting and feel epic in scope on the one hand but still have the intimacy and the emotional connection on the other hand.”

“The Bible,” Burnett said in the article, has received much support from Christians. “Across all denominations of Christianity, we have been supported. Mormon, Catholic, evangelical, Methodist, Presbyterian—what unites us for Jesus and faith and the Bible is greater than the differences that may at times divide us. Really, that’s so important.”

The first of five episodes aired March 3, 2013, and approximately 14.8 million Americans tuned in, according to the article— “easily outdistancing ratings stalwarts like CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ (11.9 million viewers) and NBC’s ‘Dateline’ (6.1 million).”

Conservative television and radio personality Glenn Beck said everyone in his demographically diverse family had a positive reaction to the show, according to the article.

“I watched the first four hours with the whole family—with my 24-year-old daughter all the way down to my 6-year-old daughter. Every single person in the family loved it for a different reason. … My in-laws who are Catholic watched it with us; most of my family is LDS; my 21-year-old daughter is non-denominational, and her husband is more of an agnostic. And we all found our way to (love) it. It is the story of us all— in Western civilization, this is the story of how it started,” Beck said in the article.

Hollywood has been dramatizing the Bible “ever since the advent of motion-picture technology,” according to the article, and that can pose challenges. Director Cecil B. DeMille is “one of the all-time giants of film adaptations,” and his credits include “The Ten Commandments” (1923), “The King of Kings” (1927), “Samson and Delilah” (1949) and a 1956 re-make of “The Ten Commandments,” according to the article.

“The biggest obstacles (to Bible adaptations) were ones that DeMille freely admitted when he was making his ‘Ten Commandments,’ both the first version in 1923 and the second version released in 1956,” said James D’Arc, author, film historian and curator of Brigham Young University’s Motion Picture Archive, according to the article. “And that is (insufficient) details of a story to make a seamless motion picture. He admitted that the early life of Moses in Egypt was one that presented some very perplexing problems: What was it like growing up? And why exactly was he banished?”

While “the 1956 movie ‘The Ten Commandments’ had to account for a lot of unknown details in order to stretch the dramatization of a single life across 220 minutes,” according to the article, “The Bible” miniseries had the opposite dilemma— the story “runs the gauntlet from Genesis to Revelations in 10 hours. Thus, Downey and Burnett were more burdened with selecting which stories to include in their work than figuring out how to account for circumstances and situations unrecorded in scripture,” according to the article. Makers of “The Bible” consulted a team of 40 religious scholars and theologians on an ongoing basis to ensure historical accuracy, according to the article.

“The Bible” miniseries sets itself apart from its counterparts of yesteryear with cutting-edge chops, according to the article. England-based Lola studio— which created special effects for “Gladiator” and “Troy”— rendered the CGI animation for the miniseries “that brings stories like Noah’s Ark to life like never before,” according to the article. Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer scored “The Bible.”

“This looks like it’s a $100-million movie,” Downey said.

“This is not cheesy,” Beck said. “I see a lot of cheesy Bible stuff; this is not one of those things. This is (for people) who believe in the Bible and want to see really good, quality stories that reflect who we are.”

This article was written by Lisa Montague, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Additional Resource:

Holy Bible Online