Apostasy

The Lord provides truth, priesthood authority, ordinances, and organization through His prophets.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, ^abut he ^brevealeth his ^csecret unto his servants the ^dprophets.

God has an order and a way of communicating with us here on earth. It is either by revelation given to good men that are called of God as prophets, or by revelation given to each of us personally. But it is good to know that for any major event, we can look to the prophets past or present to prophecy and tell us what we need to do to prepare.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, ^aby the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, ^aor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by ^bletter as from us, as that the ^cday of Christ is at hand.

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: ^afor that day shall not come, except there come a ^bfalling away first, and that ^cman of ^dsin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Amos 8: 11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a ^afamine of bread, nor a ^bthirst for water, but of hearing the ^cwords of the Lord:

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall ^arun to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

The day of the Lord will com after a falling away. There shall be a famine of the word of the Lord. How could we get any more obvious? This is why things needed to be restored. Seekers of truth have found that a falling away has already come to pass, and they have led others in an honest pursuit of the word of the Lord.

■ Elder M. Russell Ballard explained how God helped create an environment where the gospel could be restored:

“In 1517 the Spirit moved Martin Luther, a German priest who was disturbed at how far the church had strayed from the gospel as taught by Christ. His work led to a reformation, a movement that was taken up by such other visionaries as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, John Wesley, and John Smith.

“I believe these reformers were inspired to create a religious climate in which God could restore lost truths and priesthood authority. Similarly, God inspired the earlier explorers and colonizers of America and the framers of the Constitution of the United States to develop a land and governing principles to which the gospel could be restored” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 85; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 66).