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That is a great question. Let me give you some background. When Christ was on the earth 2000 years ago, He organized His own church. He ordained
His apostles and gave them the same priesthood and authority that He had. They were then instructed to go out into all the world and to preach the gospel
to everyone, which they began to do. Over the next 38 years, the apostles were killed one by one. The last of the apostles we hear of is John, who was
banished to the Isle of Patmos, at which time he wrote the Book of Revelations. The apostles were not able to get back together and choose additional
apostles over the years. Because of this, little by little, the priesthood authority of Christ was finally taken from the earth.
By 100 AD, the "followers" of
Jesus had broken off into many different sects. There were more than 100 Christian religions. By about 325 AD, there were considerably more than that.
The emperor of Rome, Constantine, who was not even a Christian, decided for the sake of unity to call all of the Christian religions together. He formed a
council at Nice, where the leaders of those various sects met for one year to determine what the official doctrine of Christianity would be. By the time
that council was concluded, many of the teachings and ordinances of Christ’s original church had been compromised or discarded altogether. The church
that appeared looked nothing like Christ’s original church, which was based on a foundation of apostles and prophets. The apostles gave their own lives
because they would not compromise the doctrines and teachings of Christ, but these supposed leaders of Christianity at 325 AD were perfectly willing to
make those compromises to try and get along.
The predominant religion that came out of this council was the Catholic Church. If they had the priesthood of Christ at that moment in time, why were
they participating in a council to determine what their beliefs would be? Why did not their church look like the same church that Christ had created?
Simply because that organization did not have the priesthood authority of Christ.
The Catholic Church continued down through the ages, and by the
1400s, there were many reformers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, the Wesley brothers, Roger Williams, and others. They broke away
from the Catholic Church, protesting the doctrine and the changes of ordinances. It was in that setting in the early 1800s that the boy Joseph Smith went
to a grove of trees and prayed, in response to a scripture found in James 1:5-6.
"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.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."
It was there that he had a glorious vision, and literally saw God, our
Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. He was told that he should join none of those other churches, and that through him, the fullness of Christ’s
gospel would be restored again to the earth.
Thank you for your interest in meeting with representatives of our church to find out more about what we believe and why. I have asked a couple of them
to call on you, and I would appreciate knowing what you think.
Sincerely,
Donny Osmond
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