The Church of Jesus Christ in All Dispensations

During August, Priesthood brethren and Relief Society sisters should study lesson #16 in our lesson manual, Gospel Principles, entitled “The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times.” I was delighted to see this lesson title inasmuch as we spend precious little time discussing this topic. As I read the lesson, my delight diminished. “Former times” as used in the lesson title is interpreted to mean the two Churches organized by the Savior in Asia and America during the meridian of time. Unfortunately, this lesson will tend to perpetuate the mistaken notion that the Church of Jesus Christ did not exist on the earth before the Lord’s birth. This situation is only slightly mitigated by the contents of lesson #15 that concerns the subjects of covenants and the Abrahamic covenant in particular. The purpose of this writing is to set forth materials that substantiate that the Church of Jesus Christ has existed on the earth since the days of Adam.

An individual might begin his or her consideration of this subject by turning to the “Bible Dictionary” that is located near the back of the Holy Bible published by the LDS Church. It is well worth the space needed here to quote from the material that appears there under the topic heading “Church.” “The church is the organized body of believers who have taken upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ by baptism and confirmation. To be the true church it must be the Lord’s church, and must have his laws, his name, and be governed by him through representatives whom he has appointed. In this sense, the church began with the days of Adam, and has been on the earth among mankind whenever there were a group of believers who had the priesthood and revelations of heaven. . . . The O.T. uses the term congregation for church. The word kingdom is often used in the scriptures to mean the church, since the church is literally the kingdom of God on the earth.”

The Prophet Joseph Smith bore testimony to the truthfulness of this statement. “I say, in the name of the Lord, that the kingdom of God was set up on the earth from the days of Adam to the present time. Whenever there has been a righteous man on earth unto whom God revealed His word and gave power and authority to administer in His name, and where there is a priest of God--a minister who has power and authority from God to administer in the ordinances of the gospel and officiate in the priesthood of God, there is the kingdom of God; . . . Where there is no kingdom of God there is no salvation” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 271-272). Unless I am misreading the Prophet’s first sentence, we may assume that somewhere on the earth the Kingdom of God has existed unabated from the days of Adam to our very day.

In what the Prophet Joseph Smith called “a revelation on priesthood,” he was instructed concerning the lineage through which the Melchizedek Priesthood passed from Adam to Abraham. The Lord concludes this discussion by saying, “Which priesthood continueth in the church of God in all generations, and is without beginning of days or end of years” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:17). About three years later in another revelation on the Priesthood, the Lord explained the reason for the renaming of the High Priesthood. “Before [Melchizedek’s] day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood” (D&C 107:3-4).

Book of Mormon prophets spoke clearly upon this subject. Nephi taught his people concerning the baptism of Jesus Christ and the importance of following His example. “Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost. . . . And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there in none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end” (2 Nephi 31:17 & 21) In all dispensations beginning with Adam, baptism and confirmation have been the necessary means by which all individuals were required to enter the Kingdom of God or His Church on the earth. Nephi’s teachings preceded the condescension of Jesus Christ as savior by well more than five hundred years.

And if the point has not been made sufficiently, then I will conclude this writing with the words of God spoken to Adam: “I am God. I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you” (Moses 6:51-52).