The Case For Restoration

I have had various questions placed before me about the need or their opinions that there is lacking the need for restoration when we speak of Christianity or Christianities church. Let me see if I can bring an example about that could illustrate what I feel is a good case for restoration. I will do this in a certain language and there will not be much talk over a church... you'll have to use your spiritual ears on this one.

If someone told you that this is a Porche, would you get excited enough to ride in it? (And I don't mean just so you could laugh about it and take a 'selfie photo' while in it to share with your friends.) Seriously though, if someone told you that this is a Porche, would you believe them?

Now if anyone could find a Drivers Manual for this Porsche, then nothing about the above image could convince me that it was being operated under its proper intended use.

Agree or disagree, the only thing that could restore this Porsche to its original glory and intended use is by the Master Mechanic or the car's creator. The car owner here might not think it needs restoration to meet his needs and besides, there really isn't any gasoline (priesthood) where he lives so it's going to run a bit differently than it's intended use. Some prefer to walk everywhere they go, have no car or belong to. (ie, no organized religion) Having a vehicle capable of taking the hopefuls to their eventual destination has just gotten a brief lesson on picking the right vehicle. To the well trained eye, one may say that this isn't a Porsche at all and they're probably right if their expectation of the Porsche is different than the one presented here.

Some may ask, "an you find that anywhere outside of LDS literature? Is there any extra-LDS documentation to show that was there originally and needed to be restored?"

One might not believe me that this is a Porsche. Likewise, when people show me this Porsche, I have a perfect knowledge of what a Porsche should look like based on seeing the newer working model. I can tell that this was once a car. It is evident in the body and the two wheels that remain and from what I read in the owner's manual. I have a "Porche Perspective" and I don't have any Non-Porsche literature available to tell me that this porsche needed restoration. I just have my own observations.

When I say that this is the Porsche which was the original Porsche, one would also say no way. I am not saying that it is an exact copy of the one that fell into ruin. I'm saying that it is made by the Manufacturer, Porsche. In like manner, people will disagree and say, "I don't see where the engine is necessary. We have a mule. This is sufficient." Not that we're trying to make that older Porsche run again... but the name Porsche has been restored. And anyone can see compared to the two images, that both were cars and meant to run on Gasoline.

Now what the world says (who only knew of the further above image currently only using the above mentioned model) "I should suppose that this new car is unnecessary because there is no place to put the mule to name just one reason why this restoration of the Porsche should be necessary."

I don't have to look into much Non-LDS published material but if I can use the Bible (also LDS used) then perhaps this is something that can shed some more light on the awareness that there would be an Apostasy and its accompanying restoration needed and foreseen. Scriptures:

Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Isaiah 11:11 - And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

Joel 2:27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28 ¶And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. 32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

Matt 17:11 - And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

Revelation 14: 6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

1 Nephi 15:13 - And now, the thing which our father meaneth concerning the grafting in of the natural branches through the fulness of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years, and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed—

Isaiah 49:22-23 - Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. 23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

I testify that God has done this thing. That upon the Lord's return, this vast effort to prepare the earth for his coming has been under way for the past 200 years, thereabouts. This would be necessary for both prophecies about his coming and the further fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy about Elijah's return to the earth and our work to remember our kindred dead. We will be quite busy in the temples, night and day, to finish that all important work for the dead. (Revelation 7:15) - this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.