Page "Restorationism" Paragraph 51

As Allen and Hughes put it, " o group used the language of ' restoration ' more consistently and more effectively than did the Day Saints ... early Mormons seemed obsessed with restoring the ancient church of God.

" According to Smith, God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit appeared to him and instructed him that the creeds of the churches of the day " were an abomination in his sight ", and that, through him, God would establish the true church, which had fallen into complete apostasy.

Smith taught that this Great Apostasy was complete and required a full restoration, or, more accurately, re-establishment, of the original church.

This included what he called the Aaronic priesthood and Melchizedek priesthood, and what he saw as the full primitive church structure consisting of prophets, apostles, evangelists and teachers.

Latter-day Saints believe that, in addition to Joseph Smith being the first prophet appointed by Jesus in the " latter days ", every subsequent President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also serves in the capacity of prophet, seer and revelator.