Many people do not believe there was a need for the lifetime. Many deny The Great Apostasy ever took place, but I promise you that it did.
First, let’s discuss the definition of apostasy:
When individuals or groups of people turn away from the principles of the gospel, they are in a state of apostasy. One example is the Great Apostasy, which occurred after the Savior established His Church. After the deaths of the Savior and His Apostles, men corrupted the principles of the gospel and made unauthorized changes in Church organization and priesthood ordinances. Because of this widespread apostasy, the Lord withdrew the authority of the priesthood from the earth. This apostasy lasted until Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820 and initiated the restoration of the fulness of the gospel. — The Great Apostacy, Gospel Topics, www.lds.org.
The Twelve Apostles, along with their chosen disciples, tried desperately to keep the gospel of Jesus Christ as pure as it was when He taught them. With so many factions of Christians spreading across the Middle East, it was impossible to stay ahead of what was coming . . . corruption of the gospel as doctrines were discarded when they interfered in the lifestyle of those reputing to be Christians. As one apostle after another was killed the gospel of Jesus Christ slowly faded away until it became the gospel of mankind with a few teachings of the Savior’s sprinkled amongst them.
As the last man who held priesthood authority was killed, the gospel of Jesus Christ ceased to exist. Authority was gone, as were the keys of the priesthood, and darkness spread over the earth until that spring morning in 1820.
Elder Dallin H. Oakes, apostle and former Supreme Court Justice of Utah, said of the apostasy:
“In the process of what we call the Apostasy, the tangible, personal God described in the Old and New Testaments was replaced by the abstract, incomprehensible deity defined by compromise with the speculative principles of Greek philosophy. The received language of the Bible remained, but the so-called “hidden meanings” of scriptural words were now explained in the vocabulary of a philosophy alien to their origins. In the language of that philosophy, God the Father ceased to be a Father in any but an allegorical sense. He ceased to exist as a comprehensible and compassionate being. And the separate identity of his Only Begotten Son was swallowed up in a philosophical abstraction that attempted to define a common substance and an incomprehensible relationship.” Dallin H. Oaks, “Apostasy and Restoration,” Ensign, May 1995, 84
This, I believe, is one the saddest parts of the apostasy. Truth, authority and power were lost, but our Lord and Savior, the Redeemer of the World, was reduced to an ethereal being who was big enough to be everywhere, yet small enough to fit in your heart. The descriptions of the physical, resurrected body were swept away and dismissed. Why, I do not know. But our God is a living God. Jesus Christ was born into this world, descending from on high, to fulfill the mission our Father in Heaven had given Him. He redeemed mankind and broke the bands of death with His resurrection. Had he not been resurrected we would have forever been trapped in death. Each part of His life had meaning and purposes, and this was the greatest of all.
When Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to a fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith, the darkness was broken and heavenly light shone upon the earth once again. From 1820 to 1830 the lost keys and authority were restored, and the gospel, as Jesus Christ had organized it, was restored in its entirety by the time Joseph Smith, Jr. was assassinated.
The Lord has promised it will never be taken from the world again, and I cling to this promise with my whole heart. I listen to the words of the prophets and apostles and try to follow and live my life as Jesus Christ would have me live.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is restored. Truth, peace and redemption await all who will come unto Him.
