3. The Great Apostasy

3A. What is the Great Apostasy according to Joseph Smith?

Joseph Smith asked the Personages which of the sects were right and which should he join.

18. "My object in going to inquire of the lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join..."
19. "I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight;"


Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 2:18, 19

3B. Was there a need to restore the church? Did everyone fall away from the faith?

No,
Jesus said His church would stand forever:

"...and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Matthew 16:18

Jesus said He would be with man until the end of the world.

"...I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
Matthew 28:20

3C. Is there a need for a modern day prophet?

No,

"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds."
Hebrews 1:1, 2

3D. What has the Son told his followers to do?

We are to contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."
Jude 1:3

3E. Was the Gospel fully preached before Joseph Smith?

Yes, because Paul had fully preached the gospel of Christ.

"Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."
Romans 15:19

3F. What is the gospel that Paul preached?

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."
I Corinthians 15:1-4

3G. What is the gospel of the Mormon Church?

That man can become a god.

"I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was god from all eternity, I will refute that ideas, and take away the veil, so that you may see.

It is the FIRST PRINCIPAL OF THE GOSPEL to know for certainty the character of God, to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us, yea that God Himself the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ did...Here then is eternal life-to know the only wise and true God, and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, the same as all Gods have done before you."

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp 346, 347.

3H. What does the Bible tell us to do when a false gospel is presented to us?

We are not to follow them.

"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
Galatians 1:8, 9

As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do."
I Timothy 1:3, 4

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."
Ephesians 5:11