Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference,
where two friends who love Jesus share our own
approach to studying the most recent General
Conference talks. This is Abbey and Amy. Let's
jump into it. Today we get to discuss Elder David
A. Bednar's talk called The Times of Restitution
of All Things. We really appreciate you guys
for joining us today. In this talk, Elder Bednar
takes us through a summary of what was needed
in proper order to bring about the restitution
of all things or to restore fully the New Testament
Church of Jesus Christ to this day, which we
know as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
-day Saints. And he outlines the order that these
events happened in and draws significance to
the proper order. being a large part of how God
operated in this. I always think that's amazing.
They'd be like, if you were just going to fake
a church, that you would think of this exact
order of things that would need to be done in
sequence. Truly. Pretty amazing. Truly. Or it
could just be true that it's the true church
and that it came out in the exact right order
God wanted it to. God is a God of order. I just
thought that over and over. Yes. On April 6,
1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day
Saints was established, marking a significant
moment in history. A small group of believers
gathered to celebrate experiencing a profound
spiritual outpouring during sacrament administration.
I wonder how long that meeting was. And the conferral
of the Holy Ghost and priesthood ordinations.
Joseph Smith, at just 24 years old, was chosen
by Revelation as the church's leader. recognized
as a seer, translator, prophet, apostle, and
elder. The significance of this event and its
lasting impact is a focal point of reflection.
As Elder Bednar states, I earnestly pray for
the help of the Holy Ghost as we consider the
importance and ongoing impact of this singular
event in the history of the world. Abby, I love
that, you know, when you have a talk on your
mind or on your heart, all of a sudden you start
hearing it everywhere. You're like, oh, so today
in sacrament meeting, when a wonderful sister
of our congregation got up and started talking
about this, you know, she talked about how just
the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and was
stating her. her dying testimony about it, saying
that a 24 year old was chosen with, with a third
grade education and what he did in 60 days and
how many pages, you know, 531 pages, just the
whole thing. It was just one more time because
she did it with such, the spirit was so with
her that again, I just like, you know, kind of
cried in my heart and was just like, Heavenly
Father, I am so grateful for all the sacrifices
of every person that I guess you could say opted
in to this plan. The heavenly father had to this
order that he had and all of their efforts. Like
we get to appreciate that. We get to have that
in our lives. So. As far as the order goes, the
first vision. So the first thing that needed
to happen for the church to be restored on this
earth is a recognition by man that it needed
to be restored. This brings us to the first vision.
And this is what Elder Bednar says. The formal
organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter -day Saints was the culmination of a sequence
of miraculous experiences. The first of these
experiences occurred 10 years earlier in upstate
New York. And I love that he pointed this out.
Please note that Joseph did not pray merely to
know what was right. Rather, He prayed to know
what was right so that he could do what was right.
Joseph asked in faith and was determined to act
in accordance with the answers that he received.
So when we ask with real intent to follow through,
the Lord answers. I feel like he delights in
us following through on the knowledge that he
helps us attain. Otherwise, for what purpose
are we asking? You know, why are we asking these
things? We must act on that knowledge that he
helps us gain. He was always a good question
asker. That is his MO. That was his gift to man
that he had this question to ask that he thought
to go and offer this prayer a lot in the grove.
And then as we watched the restoration unfold
and things come about, like today we discussed
76. And so it was a question based on what happens
once we die and to get that clarity. you know,
anybody could have asked that question. And maybe
a lot of people through history did. It just
happens that we get these recorded revelations
because Joseph asked that question. Absolutely.
I don't think that God only gave that message
to Joseph. You watch some of his posterity. I
think the Smiths, I think it was in the Smith
line to ask good questions. For sure. That's
why his dad hadn't really participated in any
particular religion. He wasn't getting the answers
he was seeking. And even his mom. Yeah. Why was
she not? Oh, because it was coming later on.
Remember, she was like ready, but it just wasn't
there yet. Yeah. In response to his sincere prayer,
God the Father and his son Jesus Christ appeared
to Joseph and inaugurated the restitution of
all things, like it says in Acts 3 .21. as it
was foretold in the Bible. So there's a pretty
long list. I really like that he outlines this.
What did Joseph Smith learn from this first vision?
We've had this in a lot of, you know, lessons
at church. We talk about this a lot. These are
the things that Elder Bednar outlines. He says,
Following the death of the original apostles,
Christ's New Testament church was lost from the
earth, so he learned that. Joseph Smith, he learned
this, that he would be instrumental in restoring
once again the doctrine, the authority, and the
covenants and ordinances of the Savior's ancient
church. He came to understand that God and Jesus
Christ knew him as individual, cared about him,
his eternal salvation, and had a mission for
him to perform. He also just mentioned that it
was through this, you know, the first vision,
as we call it, and also subsequent visits and
visions that he learned this. Because I mean
the name First Vision. wasn't what Joseph considered
it as. I mean, it's years down the road. People
get like so upset about this, but it's in the
gospel topics as to, you know, what iteration
of the vision existed. And he didn't know that
these parts and pieces, we would just crave this
knowledge. We wanted to know what was the starting
point of all of this. It's in looking back that
he's like, oh, the first. What we call now is
the first vision is where it all started. Kicking
off the restitution of all things in this dispensation.
I totally agree. He learned the vital lessons
about attributes, character, and perfections
of the Godhead. And that the Father and the Son
are separate and distinct beings. Jesus Christ
is the literal Son of God in spirit and in the
flesh. And then Elder Bednar testifies that...
The visitation of the Father and the Son to Joseph
Smith was the initiating event in the grand restoration
of all things spoken by the mouth of the holy
prophets since the world began. That's a big
deal. It's wonderful. The next point that he
makes is about the Book of Mormon. The second
in the sequence of miraculous experiences that
led to the formal organization of the Savior's
restored church was the translation and coming
forth of the Book of Mormon. How did the Book
of Mormon come to be? Well, Joseph was given
the gift and power of God to translate an ancient
record, the Book of Mormon, another testament
of Jesus Christ. The sacred text includes an
account of the personal ministry of Jesus Christ
among people in the Western Hemisphere soon after
his resurrection. The Book of Mormon teaches
of life's purpose and explains the doctrine of
Christ, which is central to that purpose. As
a companion scripture to the Bible, the Book
of Mormon testifies that all human beings are
sons and daughters of a loving Father in heaven
and that he has a divine plan for our lives.
and that His Son, Jesus Christ, speaks today
as well as in days of old. What do we believe
as far as the correctness of the Book of Mormon?
Well, that we need to not look further than the
eighth article of faith. As members of the Savior's
Restored Church, we believe the Bible to be the
Word of God as far as it is translated correctly.
We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the
Word of God. Which came up in our lesson today.
I was just going to say, hey, you referenced
that in our lesson. The Book of Mormon is another
testament of Jesus Christ, and it confirms the
truthfulness of the Bible and restores plain
and precious truths that were lost from the Bible.
So it's so great. We have them as companions,
one not trumping the other, but then them working
well together. And it's amazing how just simple
words, like that's the reason it came up. We
were discussing 76 is that as they were translating
the Bible, you know, questions would come up,
points of clarity, doctrinal points that we know
that other churches are fighting about. And so
that's what I'm saying. Joseph was good at asking
the questions like, why is that so? Then he gets
a revelation that. It blows you out of the water
about those questions of what does life look
like after. I also wanted to bear my testimony
here. that it is true. The first vision did begin
this restitution of all things, but before the
church could be efficiently organized in that
small little room with those few saints that
the Book of Mormon had to be translated. If this
was just something Joseph cooked up and it's
Joseph that we worship, why wouldn't he have
just started the church whenever he felt like
it? Why? You know? Right. And maybe a book would
come along later. Maybe. Maybe if, you know,
a book seemed important, but... For a fact, the
Book of Mormon is, it does have all of those
things that I previously mentioned. It does have
the doctrine of Christ in it and would be pointless
and very insincere to start his church without
this book that we know. Right, and having a testimony
of that to be a member of the church. Not just
like, oh, well, Joseph, what do you think on
this? And then he'd be like, well, I think it
could be such and such. So inauthentic. Yeah.
I mean, the critics are obviously going to be
like, well, no, it's definitely made up. I'm
like that. That's an incredible book to make
up in 60 days. You are in 60 days. Yeah. You
should also give him the highest literature prize
that's available. Maybe they have. Has anybody
given him prize? I don't know the translation.
I don't know. Anyway, I just wanted to bear my
testimony that. If the Book of Mormon hadn't
rolled forth, I mean, with all of its complications
and things were stalled and, you know, they were
being chased by people who apparently didn't
think that there were gold plates that he was
translating, but they were sure eager to get
their hands on them. And, you know, financially,
it was difficult, but that it was key in rolling
forth this gospel. So the third is the priesthood
was restored. This is the third in the sequence
of miraculous experiences that led to the formal
organization of the Savior's restored church.
So as part of the prophesied restoration of all
things in the latter days, ancient prophets and
apostles personally conferred priesthood authority
upon Joseph Smith and then committed priesthood
keys to him. This was the third, like we said.
So what is priesthood authority? Priesthood authority
allows God's servants to represent him and act
in his name. And then what are priesthood keys?
Priesthood keys are the authority to direct and
use, oh, sorry, to direct the use. of the priesthood
on behalf of God's children? What were the visitations
from past prophets? And what was the message
that they brought to Joseph Smith? So under the
direction of the Father and the Son in 1829,
the resurrected John the Baptist restored the
authority to baptize by immersion for the remission
of sins. Also in 1829, three of the original
12 apostles, Peter, James, and John, restored
the apostleship. and additional priesthood authority
and keys. Abby, can you share what happened six
years after the organization of the church? This
is part of it because, yes, it's out of the timeline,
but it's definitely something that needed to
happen for the rest of the church to go on. Right.
Once we had the priesthood restored by the three
apostles, and then they heeded the Lord's command
to build a temple, we officially had... the kirtland
temple and in the kirtland temple moses committed
the keys of the gathering of israel elias committed
the dispensation of the gospel of abraham including
the restoration of the abrahamic covenant and
elijah committed the keys of the sealing power
meaning the power to seal on earth what is sealed
in heaven eternal marriage whereas before marriage
would be for this life with no promise after
death imagine what that would feel like to realize
that like that has changed now Before that, it
was, I know what it was like, because I, I mean,
I mean, it's the same thing, like to have a witness,
like to, to, uh, kneel across the altar from
your partner and to be sealed from time and all
eternity. I feel like those emotions are as sincere
as they would have been. Had I been there, uh,
29, 33, 1, 2, 3, 3, 35 in 19, 1835. Yeah. Like
the, there, those keys are as real to me because
in that moment, it is when I. partake of that
particular priesthood blessing. Yeah. And I mean,
there must be something in your heart because
when I'm thinking of this, I'm thinking this
is the first time they've heard of that because
before it was just you, you know, whenever the
preacher would say it, it would be like for this
life or for time or to death do you part, whatever
it is. And just thinking that there was actually
like a promise of a saving beyond the grave.
That it was real, right? I love that ceiling.
Okay, so more order. The Church of Jesus Christ
is organized. As Joseph Smith translated the
Book of Mormon, he received revelations indicating
that the Church of Jesus Christ would be re -established.
But the Lord instructed Joseph not to organize
his church immediately. Rather, by the spirit
of prophecy and revelation, the Lord revealed
to Joseph the precise day, which we know. April
6th. That he should proceed to organize his church
once again upon the earth. But in the meantime,
you know, like across the seas in England, especially,
like people are being prepared. All of it. Much
was happening, right? Like the Lord's hand was
all, like in all of these little parts. Missionary
work, like we've been talking about. Absolutely.
I'm hearing over and over, Abby, that the Lord
has a plan, an order. and that this process works
best according to his plan and order. The church
was organized in proper sequence only after the
restoration of the priesthood and, like you said
earlier, the publication of the Book of Mormon.
Did you know that the first copies of the Book
of Mormon became available on March 26, 1830,
which is... just a few days before the church
just enough time to read it through the night
right gotta read it yes so again order matters
and god's process matters um so right here if
there was a central point to this entire talk
i think that it would be this the church this
is the um This is the underlying. Yes, the underlying
message. And this is a direct quote. The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints is Christ's
New Testament Church restored. This church is
anchored in the perfect life of its chief cornerstone,
Jesus Christ, and in his infinite atonement and
literal resurrection. Jesus Christ has once again
called apostles and has given them priesthood
authority. He invites all of us to come unto
him and to his church, to receive the Holy Ghost,
the ordinances of salvation, and to gain. enduring
joy. To sum this up, Jesus Christ is the center
of the church now, the center of the church in
his day. His atonement and resurrection came
at the meridian of time or in the middle of our
time. His gospel with his ordinances of salvation
are the source of our joy now and forever. So
Christ is literally at the center of it all.
It's the truth. The dispensation of the fullness
of times, the appearance of the Father and the
Son to Joseph Smith, the translation and coming
forth of the Book of Mormon, and the restoration
of priesthood authority and keys were all necessary
prerequisites to the organization of the Lord's
restored church 195 years ago. Wow. So a question
to ask, of all the gospel dispensations or segments
of time, why would we call this the last dispensation
of the fullness of times? And in this greatest
and last of all gospel dispensations, a whole
and complete perfect union welding together of
all other dispensations, all other keys and powers
and glories should take place and be revealed
from the days of Adam, even to the present time.
And not only this, but those things which never
have been revealed from the foundation of the
world shall be revealed in this, the dispensation
of the fullness of times, which the prophet Joseph
further explained. all the ordinances and duties
that ever have been required by the priesthood
under the directions and commandments of the
almighty in any of the dispensations shall all
be had in the last dispensation bringing to pass
the restoration spoken of by the mouth of all
the holy prophets isn't that amazing Yeah, I
feel like we're living right in the middle of
that. Right? Like when I hear the words, you
know, of the first paragraph that you just shared,
how it's a welding together of dispensations,
the keys, powers, glories, all of this. Like
you look around right now and it's a pretty miserable
time to live in a lot of ways. And then exactly
parallel to that is this happening at the exact
same time, which makes me say, oh my gosh, I'm
so grateful. The talk that we kept saying again
and again. There's never been a better time to
be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter -day Saints. For real, right? And we were
talking before the podcast. Last year was a record
year. We have never had more baptisms. We've
never had more people join the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter -day Saints than we did last
year. Which to me, I'm like, I don't think that's
where it caps. I think 2026, 2025, 2026, they'll
all strike bigger numbers because people are
craving in the chaos and the madness. People
are craving truth. You know, I sure am. Yeah.
At the same time, you feel like, OK, there's
good content out there. There's a ton of anti
content out there. It only seems to be propelling
God's work because sitting and spending your
time just bashing somebody else's religion instead
of standing on your own two feet of your own
doctrines doesn't seem to be hitting the mark
for people. We don't sit and say, oh, so -and
-so is wrong about us. This is really they should
say this about us. We just we. Put that aside,
and we just testify of the things that we know
to be true. Yeah, put the truth out there. Yeah,
and I need my husband to tell me, who was it
back in the early days of the church, the Restoration,
and there was a whole congregation. Was it John
Taylor? But they were studying, and they were
like, if Christ's church existed on this earth,
it would be blah, blah, blah. Who was it? And
they had this list of prerequisites. If the church
were to be true, that it would be on this thing.
And then come to find out, you know, the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints has all
of those points. Like you would say, we would
need to have baptism by immersion. It would need
to have apostles and prophets. I know you would
know this. We've got to find it. It feels like
either like Wilford Woodruff, like a John Taylor,
like somebody like that. And it was like this
entire congregation were ready for it. Probably
Sidney Rigdon. Let's go with that one, because
I have been in his church, and he was pretty
powerful. It could have been Sidney, but I don't
know. I feel terrible. I should know this better,
but the story is still true. I can't think of
the exact person. A missionary, one of the earlies,
went in, and yes, it was the entire congregation
that was fully prepared, knew what they were
looking for, and recognized the truth. Amazing.
I love it. I've just taken for granted. Like
I've been born in the church. I'm like, yeah,
we get baptized today. And this is the prayer
that we say. Like today, something I was like,
I was studying my Jesus Christ stuff. And I was
like, yeah, that's exactly how we baptize. That
was a New Testament reading. And I was like,
I love that we say in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Ghost. I mean, that's
a simple thing. But what I'm saying is what if
the church, I didn't know about the church and
that I was making a list of things that I would
require in the church that I were to join. I'm
just glad we have all the things we have. I am
too, Abby. But I'm also excited. I know that
there's more to come. We're still restoring.
It's pretty exciting stuff. Like in my heart,
I do feel like a joyful anticipation. Do I know
it's coming? I have no idea, but I have a joyful
anticipation and I know that's from the Spirit.
Yeah. Do you have any other things to add? No,
just my testimony that I think when you're talking
about the sweet sister that testimony today and
the little piece about bearing testimony of the
young boy Joseph and the work that he was able
to accomplish. I think that was so special for
all of us because we all sat and reflected on
the moment that we had a testimony of these things.
So these things were restored. These truths,
they weren't just for the one boy who said that
first prayer that opened this dispensation. All
of the things that came forth from him with great
sacrifice and these early members of the church
and these. things that have been restored line
upon line, precept upon precept. They didn't
come easily. They came with a lot of hard work
and effort. And it's my privilege to have been
raised with those truths, to raise my children
with those truths, and know that I have a part
in making sure that we appreciate the significance
of being members of Christ Church on this earth
at this time. It comes with responsibility. It
does. That's a great way to put it. Yeah. We
just need to share this message with everybody
because it's such a message of peace and joy,
especially in turbulent times. Absolutely. That
goes right to your heart. You have to have the
ears to hear and the eyes to see. Thank you for
sharing that. I really appreciate it. I am going
to end. There's an invitation. This is what Elder
Bednar said. I invite all to learn about and
prove this message. And then he promises, I promise
that individuals who prayerfully study the message
of the restoration and act in faith will be blessed
through the power of the Holy Ghost to gain their
own witness of its divinity and of its purpose
to prepare the world for the promised second
coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And then he promises this. As you pray earnestly
with the expectation to both receive and act
upon an answer from God, as did young Joseph
Smith, your capacity to recognize and to respond
to that divine witness will be increased. I add
my witness to that. And again, just a joyful
anticipation of what these last days are going
to bring. um i know that the lord will take care
of us and i know that there are wonderful beautiful
glor glorious things that are coming and i say
that in the name of jesus christ amen thanks
for being with us today