“He Revealeth His Secret Unto His Servants, the Prophets” (Amos 3:7)

There are varying opinions on whether God still communicates with His children through prophets today. Some Christian denominations believe that this line of communication ceased with the death of Christ, for thus the barrier between men and God was removed and there was no more need for a mediator. Yet a modern day prophet is a distinguishing feature of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and in order to understand them you must understand their doctrine on Prophets.

For the Latter Day Saint the best place to start the discussion of the necessity of prophets is to teach about dispensations. To put it simply a dispensation is a period of time that follows a predictable pattern. They begin with a restoration of truth upon the Earth (God’s truth); the people are righteous and blessed for their obedience. Then they begin to prosper, become proud and wicked. Eventually their wickedness leads to an apostasy, an event in which God removes His influence from the people because they are too wicked. That is essentially dispensations in laymen terms. To be more specific the Bible Dictionary of the King James version expounds it as “a period of time in which the Lord has at least one authorized servant on the Earth who bears the holy priesthood and the keys, and who has divine commission to dispense the Gospel to the inhabitants of the Earth” The person previously described is a prophet whom God has called

Yet what evidence have you of dispensations in the Bible? Well in Ephesians 1:10 Paul writes of “the dispensation of the fullness of times” in which the Lord “might gather together all things in Christ”. This implies that there were other dispensations prior to "the end of days". Based on what has been discussed up to this point I submit to you that you can identify at least one dispensation with Adam, one with Enoch, another with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Christ with his apostles in the Meridian of time. During these periods of time the priesthood resided upon the Earth and prophets acted as a means to warn the people and bring them to God.

However, with the dispensation of Christ you run into something that is a little unique from other dispensation. Yes in other dispensations the Lord withdrew from the people and thus a new prophet had to be called at a later time to usher in a restoration. But with the ascension of Christ into Heaven the wicked people of that time started to kill off the Apostles od the Master. The New Testament records these events for us and as they die, the priesthood dies with them. Only this isn’t any withdrawal of the priesthood. This “withdrawal” lasts thousands of years and becomes known in LDS doctrine as the Great Apostasy.

Such an event is prophesied of a great deal in the Old and New Testaments. In Amos the Lord says “The days come, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it” (Amos 8:11-12). Peter writes of “false prophets” that “shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of” (2 Peter 2:1-2). Essentially this apostasy was a starvation of God’s word and understanding of Him until God saw fit to bring about a restoration of things once again.

In another post I will discuss how God prepared the world for the Restoration of the priesthood and His Gospel but now I think it is fitting to talk of the man that God called to head this dispensation. The dispensation that Peter referred to as "the dispensation of the fullness of times."  I am speaking of Joseph Smith. In “the midst of [the] war of words and tumult of opinion” Joseph describes in his own words a time when “priest [was] contending against priest, and convert against convert” (Joseph Smith History 1:6). Joseph felt as many of us often do wondering “what is to be done?” As many of us probably would have he turned to the Bible for his answer. He explains “I was one day reading the epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse which reads: 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” (Joseph Smith History 1:10). He describes “never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine” Feeling like he’d received an answer to his prayer, or a way to find an answer, he did what I think most of us would do. He decided to ask God.

On a beautiful spring day in 1820 in the early hours of the morning, when Joseph Smith was just 14 years old he retired to a predetermined spot with the intent to ask God which religion, if  any, was right. When he knelt down to offer up the desires of his heart he explains “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” I shall take the liberty to guess that you are familiar with the very real being that is known as Lucifer or Satan. To summarize, he was cast out of heaven because he sought to take away the agency of men and take the glory for the success of all returning to the Father for himself. God the Father would not have it and Satan, even the Son of the Morning, was cast from heaven along with all those who chose to follow him.

I propose to you that if this account of a fourteen year old boy is true and God was trying to use him to restore the Gospel once again upon the Earth, Satan, who wishes to make everyone miserable like unto himself, would not want these events to transpire. Yet God will always prevail. Joseph goes on to say “exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy… and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair… to the power of some actual being from the unseen world… I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.” This magnificent light released Joseph from the hands of the evil presence that had wished to destroy him and when he looked he explains “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!”

I don’t think anyone, when they pray, anticipates an answer like this. Many critics of the Church balk claiming that God would not appear to a 14 year old boy. How could you trust such an account? Yet recall the calling of Samuel. It is clear that he was young when God called to him (see 1 Samuel 3:1-20). The ancient Jewish historian Josephus speculates that Samuel was about twelve years old. Despite exactness it is safe to assume from the verses that he was young and that the Lord did in fact speak to him. So for the Lord, calling prophets in their youth was not an unheard of practice but it seems to get the critics buzzing now a days.

Joseph Smith records that Christ told him that he “must join none of [the Churches], for they were all wrong; and… all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof.” [reference Isaiah 29:13] Just as God had in prior dispensations He had called another prophet to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all the organization, powers, and doctrines that existed in Christ’s time; a beacon for all those searching for answers and truth. So why do we need prophets today? The answer is really rather simple. To guide in Christ’s stead until the Messiah, the anointed one, returns to reign in all His resurrected glory. Thank you for taking the time to read my dear readers and may God never cease to bless you, until you read again.