An End to Apostasy

For the past 2 months I have been helping with a Preach My Gospel class at church. It has been a good experience for all involved and more so for me when I get the chance to teach. Today we had the opportunity to hear the Elders teach a lesson and it was great.

We broke up into several groups to practice teaching any principal we wanted. My companion and I chose prayer. Almost immediately into the lesson I felt it would be a good idea to teach about the time Joseph Smith received an answer to his prayer. I had been a very long time since I had last shared that experience and even longer since I did it in English. I have the vision and whole experience down word for word in Spanish but English proved to be another beast. None the less I still did my best as the conversation carried on.

I explained to those that we were teaching that I knew prayer was true because of several experiences that I have had in my life but also because of an experience that affected humanity forever. That prayer that was answered started the end to an apostasy the world had known for over 1,000 years. Joseph Smith once wanted to know which of all these churches had the FULLNESS of the gospel. He knew of no one better to ask then God himself.

I then relayed the experience that he had word for word. He testifies that at the exact moment that he knelt down and started to pray something amazing happened. In his own words he states “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!”

Even though all four of us in that lesson were members of the church and knew of this experience very well the spirit that was in the room at that time was as if it were the first time we had heard of the experience. Everyone was edified and filled with a feeling that was so good and secure that we never wanted it to end.

All though many think otherwise, I know that Joseph Smith was called of God our Heavenly Father to restore the fullness of Jesus Christ’s gospel that has been jumbled and picked through for centuries. Through Him, God brought other testaments to clarify and simplify his gospel for our day. I know Jesus Christ if the redeemer of all mankind and that he and God the Father live and because of that he hears and answers prayers.