Prophets and Apostasy

October 20th, 2008
Prophets and Apostasy
Principle 1: The Lord provides truth, priesthood authority, ordinances, and organization through His prophets.
Alma 12:27-30
Many people on the earth lived in darkness, they did not know Heavenly Father's Plan. Heavenly Father loves us, he sent Prophets to help and guide us on the earth. The Prophets teach us the plan of salvation, teach us the things we should do to go back to Heavenly Father. We had prophets on the earth to guide us since the days of Adam. Now, we have a living prophet President to tell us the words of God. We should be grateful for the works prophets have done for us. We should sustain the Lord's Prophets.

D&C 1:38
God cannot speak to us, he chooses a prophet to help communicate, deliver messages to us.
Prophets feels and knows the things that God wants us to know and do. When a prophet speaks for God, it is as if God were speaking. He teaches the truth and interprets the word of God. We should listen to the Prophets and follow their words, because the words are from God.

Principle 2: Throughout history there has been a recurring pattern of apostasy and restoration.
Amos 8:11-12
From the scriptures, we know that we have prophets teaching us the gospel from Old times. Some people rejected the words of Prophets, therefore, prophets, ordinances, and priesthood authority were taken away. Then, people started to live in the darkness. Without the Prophet's guidance, we will not know the things which God wants us to do. For me, the organization of the Church is perfect, is better than any other organization. It is because the prophets, without them, the organization will be messed up.

2 Nephi 25:17
When some people rejects the message of Prophets, the Prophets were taken away from the earth. People lived in the darkness for a period. That period is Apostasy. Heavenly Father loves us, he does not want us to live in the darkness. So he sent Prophet Joseph Smith to restore the Gospel again. Joseph Smith restored the Gospel, and we started to have Prophets lead and guide us again.