Gospel Principles Ch16 The Church In Former Times

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The Church of Jesus

Christ in Former TimesC h a p t e r 1 6

Some Features That Identify the Church of Jesus Christ

We believe in the same organization that existed in the PrimitiveChurch, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists,and so orth (Articles o Faith 1:6)

Jesus established His Church when He was on the earth It wascalled the Church o Jesus Christ (see 3 Nephi 27:8), and the mem-bers were called Saints (see Ephesians 2:1920)

RevelationWhen Jesus established His Church, He personally instructed anddirected its leaders He, in turn, received His instructions rom HisFather in Heaven (See Hebrews 1:12) Thus the Church o JesusChrist was directed by God and not by men Jesus taught His ol-lowers that revelation was the rock upon which He would buildHis Church (see Matthew 16:1618)

Beore Jesus ascended into heaven ater His Resurrection, Hetold His Apostles, I am with you alway, even unto the end o theworld (Matthew 28:20) True to His word, He continued to guidethem rom heaven He sent the Holy Ghost to be a comorter anda revelator to them (see Luke 12:12; John 14:26) He spoke to Saulin a vision (see Acts 9:36) He revealed to Peter that the gospelshould be taught not only to the Jews but to the whole world(see Acts 10) He revealed many glorious truths to John, which

For teachers: Consider inviting each member of your family or class to study one of the sixfeatures that identify the Churchthe italicized headings such as Revelationand Authorityfrom God. (In large classes, some members will be assigned the same feature. In familiesand small classes, some members may be assigned more than one feature.) When theyhave had time to study, invite them to discuss what they have learned.


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are written in the book o Revelation The New Testament recordsmany other ways in which Jesus revealed His will to guide HisChurch and enlighten His disciples

Authority from God

The ordinances and principles o the gospel cannot be administeredand taught without the priesthood The Father gave this authority to

Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 5:46), who in turn ordained His Apostlesand gave them the power and authority o the priesthood (see Luke9:12; Mark 3:14) He reminded them, Ye have not chosen me, but Ihave chosen you, and ordained you ( John 15:16)

That there might be order in His Church, Jesus gave the greatestresponsibility and authority to the Twelve Apostles He appointedPeter chie Apostle and gave him the keys to seal blessings bothon earth and in heaven (see Matthew 16:19) Jesus also ordainedother ocers with specic duties to perorm Ater He ascendedinto heaven, the pattern o appointment and ordination was con-tinued Others were ordained to the priesthood by those who had

already received that authority Jesus made it known through theHoly Ghost that He approved o those ordinations (see Acts 1:24)

The Church Organization

The Church o Jesus Christ was a careully organized unit It wascompared to a building that was built upon the oundation o theapostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himsel being the chie corner

stone (Ephesians 2:20)Jesus appointed other priesthood leaders to assist the Apostles inthe work o the ministry He sent ocers called Seventies in pairsto preach the gospel (see Luke 10:1) Other ocers in the Church

were evangelists (patriarchs), pastors (presiding leaders), highpriests, elders, bishops, priests, teachers, and deacons (see chapter14 in this book) These ocers were all necessary to do missionary

work, perorm ordinances, and instruct and inspire Church mem-

bers These ocers helped the members come to a unity o theaith, and o the knowledge o the Son o God (Ephesians 4:13)


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The Bible does not tell us everything about the priesthood or theorganization and government o the Church However, enough othe Bible has been preserved to show the beauty and perection

o the Church organization The Apostles were commanded to gointo all the world and preach (see Matthew 28:1920) They couldnot stay in any one city to supervise new converts Thereore, localpriesthood leaders were called and ordained, and the Apostlespresided over them The Apostles and other Church leaders visitedand wrote letters to the various branches Thus, our New Testamentcontains letters written by Paul, Peter, James, John, and Jude, giving

counsel and instruction to the local priesthood leadersThe New Testament shows that this Church organization wasintended to continue For example, the death o Judas let onlyeleven Apostles Soon ater Jesus had ascended into heaven, theeleven Apostles met together to choose someone to take theplace o Judas Through revelation rom the Holy Ghost, theychose Matthias (See Acts 1:2326) Jesus had set a pattern ortwelve Apostles to govern the Church It seemed clear that theorganization was to continue as He had established it

First Principles and Ordinances

The Apostles taught two basic principles: aith in the Lord JesusChrist and repentance Ater new converts had aith in Jesus Christas the Son o God and their Redeemer and had repented o theirsins, they received two ordinances: baptism by immersion and the

laying on o hands or the git o the Holy Ghost (see Acts 19:16)These were the rst principles and ordinances o the gospel Jesushad taught, Except a man be born o water and o the Spirit, hecannot enter into the kingdom o God ( John 3:5)

Ordinances Performed for the Dead

Jesus has provided or everyone to hear the gospel, whether onearth or ater death Between His death and Resurrection, Jesus

went among the spirits o those who had died He organized mis-sionary work among those who were dead He appointed righ-teous messengers and gave them power to teach the gospel to all


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the spirits o people who had died This gave them an opportunityto accept the gospel (See 1 Peter 3:1820; 4:6; D&C 138) Livingmembers o His Church then perormed ordinances in behal o the

dead (see 1 Corinthians 15:29) Ordinances such as baptism andconrmation must be done on earth

Spiritual Gifts

All aithul members o the Church were entitled to receive gits othe Spirit These were given to them according to their individualneeds, capacities, and assignments Some o these gits were aith,including the power to heal and to be healed; prophecy; and

visions (The gits o the Spirit are discussed in more detail in chap-ter 22) Spiritual gits always exist in the true Church o Jesus Christ(see 1 Corinthians 12:411; Moroni 10:818; D&C 46:829) Jesustold His disciples that these signs or spiritual gits always ollowthem that believe (see Mark 16:1718) Many o His disciples per-ormed miracles, prophesied, or beheld visions through the powero the Holy Ghost

WhydoestheChurchofJesusChristneedthesesixfeatures?

The Church of Jesus Christ in the Americas

Ater Jesus was resurrected, He visited the people in the Americasand organized His Church among them, teaching the people orthree days and then returning oten or some time thereater (see3 Nephi 1128) Then He let them and ascended into heaven For

over 200 years they lived righteously and were among the happiestpeople whom God had created (see 4 Nephi 1:16)

Apostasy from the True Church

Whatdoesthetermapostasymean?

Throughout history, evil people have tried to destroy the work oGod This happened while the Apostles were still alive and super-

vising the young, growing Church Some members taught ideasrom their old pagan or Jewish belies instead o the simple truthstaught by Jesus Some rebelled openly In addition, there was per-secution rom outside the Church Church members were tortured


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and killed or their belies One by one, the Apostles were killed orotherwise taken rom the earth Because o wickedness and apos-tasy, the apostolic authority and priesthood keys were also taken

rom the earth The organization that Jesus Christ had establishedno longer existed, and conusion resulted More and more errorcrept into Church doctrine, and soon the dissolution o the Church

was complete The period o time when the true Church no longerexisted on earth is called the Great Apostasy

Soon pagan belies dominated the thinking o those called Chris-tians The Roman emperor adopted this alse Christianity as the state

religion This church was very dierent rom the church Jesus orga-nized It taught that God was a being without orm or substance

These people lost the understanding o Gods love or us They didnot know that we are His children They did not understand thepurpose o lie Many o the ordinances were changed because thepriesthood and revelation were no longer on the earth

The emperor chose his own leaders and sometimes called them

by the same titles used by priesthood leaders in the true Churcho Christ There were no Apostles or other priesthood leaders withpower rom God, and there were no spiritual gits The prophetIsaiah had oreseen this condition, prophesying, The earth alsois deled under the inhabitants thereo; because they have trans-gressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlastingcovenant (Isaiah 24:5) It was the Church o Jesus Christ no longer;it was a church o men Even the name had been changed In the

Americas, apostasy also occurred (see 4 Nephi)

A Restoration Foretold

WhatpropheciesintheOldandNewTestamentsforetoldtheRestoration?

God had oreseen the Apostasy and prepared or the gospel tobe restored The Apostle Peter spoke o this to the Jews: He shallsend Jesus Christ, which beore was preached unto you: whomthe heaven must receive until the times o restitution o all things,


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which God hath spoken by the mouth o all his holy prophets sincethe world began (Acts 3:2021)

John the Revelator had also oreseen the time when the gospel wouldbe restored He said, I saw another angel fy in the midst o heaven,having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on theearth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people(Revelation 14:6)

WhywastheRestorationnecessary?

ConsidertheblessingsthathavecometoyoubecausetheChurch

o Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth

Additional Scriptures

Ephesians2:19(memberscalledSaints)

1Corinthians12:1231(Churchlikenedtoabody)

Luke10:1;Acts14:23;Titus1:7;1Timothy2:7(ofcersoftheChurch identied)

John8:2629(theFatherdirectsJesus)

Luke9:1;James1:17;5:1415(spiritualgifts)

Mosiah27:13(apostasycomesasaresultoftransgression)

2Peter2:1;Matthew24:912;John16:13;Amos8:11;2Thessalo -nians 2:34 (Apostasy predicted)

Daniel2:4445;Matthew24:14;Acts3:1921;Micah4:1;Isaiah

2:24 (Restoration predicted)

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Gospel Principles Ch16 The Church In Former Times