Appearances of the Resurrected Savior Jesus Christ in the Dispensation of the Fulness of TImes

After literally a few years of searching, I finally found enough information to write a post about Jesus Christ's post-mortal appearances to Prophets and Apostles in the dispensation of the fulness of times (see Ephesians 1:10). I will cite instances of a few appearances to Prophets and Apostles except for Joseph Smith, because I assume most visitors to this site know of his many visions of Messiah. Here goes nothing!

I will go in order, from earliest ordination date to the Apostleship to latest date of ordination thereto. The appearances of Christ, as He appeared to His servants the Prophets anciently, in modern times are both in revelatory dreams and in daylight visions; both will be represented here.

President Wilford Woodruff
At the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple in April of 1893, Woodruff stated, "Our Savior had appeard unto [me] in the East Room in the Holy of Holies, & told [me] that He had accepted of the Temple & of the dedication services, & that the Lord forgave us His Saints who had assisted in any manner towards the erection and completion of the Temple."[1]

President Lorenzo Snow
This is a more-well known account, which occurred in the House of the Lord at Salt Lake City immediately after the death of Woodruff. President Snow said that "the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me at the time of the death of President Woodruff. He instructed me to go right ahead and reorganize the First Presidency of the Church at once and not wait as had been done after the death of the previous presidents."[2]

President George Q. Cannon
This experience also occurred during the almost month-long dedication of the House of the Lord in 1893. President Cannon said, "My mind has been rapt in vision and have saw [sic] the bea[u]ties and Glory of God. I have saw [sic] and conversed with the Savior face to face."[3]

Elder Orson F. Whitney
Elder Whitney was ordained an Apostle in 1906, along with David O. McKay and George F. Richards. His experience happened while he was on his first mission as a youth. He recollected, "One night I dreamed … that I was in the Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Savior’s agony. . . . As He prayed the tears streamed down His face, which was [turned] toward me. . . . Three times this happened, until I was perfectly familiar with His appearance—face, form, and movements. He was of noble stature and of majestic mien . . . the very God that He was and is, yet as meek and lowly as a little child. . . . I could endure it no longer. I ran from behind the tree, fell at His feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with Him. I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped and raised me up and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real that I felt the very warmth of His bosom against which I rested."

Elder Melvin J. Ballard
Elder Melvin J. Ballard was ordained an Apostle in 1919, serving until 1939. Incidentally, he is the grandfather and namesake of current LDS Apostle M. Russell Ballard. Elder Melvin Ballard had this vision while he was a Mission President in Portland, Oregon, shortly before his ordination to the Apostleship. He remembered, "'I saw, seated on a raised platform, the most glorious Being my eyes have ever beheld or that I ever conceived existed in all the eternal worlds. As I approached to be introduced, He arose and stepped towards me with extended arms, and He smiled as He softly spoke my name. If I shall live to be a million years old, I shall never forget that smile. He took me into his arms and kissed me, pressed me to His bosom, and blessed me, until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt! When He had finished, I fell at His feet, and, as I bathed them with my tears and kisses, I saw the prints of the nails in the feet of the Redeemer of the world. The feeling that I had in the presence of Him who hath all things in His hands, to have His love, His affection, and His blessing was such that if I ever can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, I would give all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, to feel what I then felt!' (quoted by Bryant S. Hinckley, in Sermons and Missionary Service of Melvin J. Ballard [1949], 156)."

Elder David B. Haight
This is the most recent, given in a 1989 General Conference talk, wherein the Apostle recollected his comatose-induced vision he had after a heart attack. Elder Haight said, "I was shown a panoramic view of His earthly ministry: His baptism, His teaching, His healing the sick and lame, the mock trial, His crucifixion, His resurrection and ascension. There followed scenes of His earthly ministry to my mind in impressive detail, confirming scriptural eyewitness accounts. . . . I was given, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, a more perfect knowledge of His mission. . . . I cannot begin to convey to you the deep impact that these scenes have confirmed upon my soul."

I hope this information is helpful in helping you understand the true meaning of what it means to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Stuy, Brian H., "Come, Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord": The Salt Lake Temple Dedication", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 31 (Fall 1998), no. 3, 111.
2. Madsen, Susan Arrington. "Lorenzo Snow and the Sacred Vision." Friend, August 1, 1993.
3. Stuy, "Mountain of the Lord", 119.

Mormon Theology no. 38 - The Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood by John the Baptist

The foundation of the Latter-day Saints' claim, which is legitimate, of being the only Church on Earth recognized by God as having proper Priesthood Authority, is laid by John the Baptist.  This is the same John the Baptist who baptized Jesus of Nazareth in the river Jordan.

The event occurred on 15 May 1829.  The Prophet Joseph Smith had continued to translate, by the power of God, the Book of Mormon, and Oliver Cowdery had continued to write for Joseph.  I now quote from Joseph Smith's own account:

We still continued the work of translation, when, in the ensuing month (May, 1829), we on a certain day went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates.  While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying: Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness. (JS-H 1:68-69)

Now, this event, according to the Law of Witnesses, actually occurred, because there is more than one witness attesting to the truth thereof.  Oliver Cowdery wrote, 

On a sudden, as from the midst of eternity, the voice of the Redeemer spake peace to us, while the veil was parted and the angel of God came down clothed with glory, and delivered the anxiously looked for message, and the keys of the Gospel of repentance. What joy! what wonder! what amazement! While the world was racked and distracted—while millions were groping as the blind for the wall, and while all men were resting upon uncertainty, as a general mass, our eyes beheld, our ears heard, as in the ‘blaze of day’; yes, more—above the glitter of the May sunbeam, which then shed its brilliancy over the face of nature! Then his voice, though mild, pierced to the center, and his words, ‘I am thy fellow-servant,’ dispelled every fear. We listened, we gazed, we admired! . . . we received under his hand the Holy Priesthood as he said, ‘Upon you my fellow-servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer this Priesthood and this authority, which shall remain upon earth, that the Sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness!’ . . . The assurance that we were in the presence of an angel, the certainty that we heard the voice of Jesus, and the truth unsullied as it flowed from a pure personage, dictated by the will of God, is to me past description, and I shall ever look upon this expression of the Savior’s goodness with wonder and thanksgiving while I am permitted to tarry. (Messenger and Advocate, vol. 1 (October 1834), p. 14–16)

To further illuminate the necessity of the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood, and to also further prove that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only authorized Church of God on the earth, I quote President Joseph Fielding Smith.  Said he, "It is contrary to the order of heaven for those who have passed beyond the veil to officiate and labor for the living on the earth, only wherein mortal man cannot act, and thereby it becomes necessary for those who have passed through the resurrection to act for them. (Essentials in Church History, 27th ed. (1974), p. 58)"  

President Oliver Cowdery further testified, 

He [Joseph Smith] was ordained by the angel John, unto the lesser or Aaronic priesthood, in company with myself, in the town of Harmony, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, on Fryday, the 15th day of May, 1829. . . . our souls were drawn out in mighty prayer—to know how we might obtain the blessings of baptism and of the Holy Spirit, according to the order of God, and we diligently sought for the right of the fathers and the authority of the holy priesthood, and the power to admin[ister] in the same: … the Lord … answered us out of the heavens, and while we were in the heavenly vision the angel came down and bestowed upon us this priesthood. (Patriarchal Blessing Book 1, p. 8–9, Historical Dept., Archives Division, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City)

The foregoing quotations seem sufficient enough to give credence to the Latter-day Saint argument concerning Priesthood and the rightful claim thereto.  I add my witness that I know the Priesthood of Aaron was restored by John the Baptist on the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.  I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living Church on the face of the whole earth.  I know the Book of Mormon is true and testifies of Jesus Christ the Son of God.  In the Name of Jesus Christ, amen!

Mormon Theology no. 19 - The Keys of the Priesthood and the Succession Crisis

On 27 June 1844 at approximately 5pm, the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jun. and his brother Hyrum Smith, the Patriarch to the Church, were murdered in the jail at Carthage, Illinois.  On 8 August 1844 a meeting was held to discuss with the Church who is the rightful successor in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Herein I present testimonies of those who were given Priesthood Keys by President Joseph Smith, Jun. before he was killed, thus showing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only holder of the Priesthood of God within the Latter-day Saint movement as well as in the whole world.

Of his giving the Priesthood Keys to the Quorum of the Twelve, President Joseph Smith, Jun. said, "I have lived until I have seen this burden, which has rested on my shoulders, rolled on to the shoulders of other men; . . . the keys of the kingdom are planted on the earth to be taken away no more for ever. . . . No matter what becomes of me" (Deseret News, Dec. 21, 1869, p. 2).

From Elder Orson Hyde we have the following words.  "Before I went east on the fourth of April last, we were in council with Brother Joseph almost every day for weeks. . . . He conducted us through every ordinance of the holy priesthood, and when he had got through with all the ordinances he rejoiced very much and says: `Now if they kill me you have got all the keys . . ." (Times and Seasons 5:651).

President Wilford Woodruff said,

I bear my testimony that in the early spring of 1844, in Nauvoo, the Prophet Joseph Smith called the Apostles together and he delivered unto them the ordinances of the church and kingdom of God; and all the keys and powers that God had bestowed upon him, he sealed upon our heads, and he told us we must round up our shoulders and bear off this kingdom, or we would be damned. … His face was as clear as amber, and he was covered with a power that I had never seen in any man in the flesh before. (Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mar. 12, 1897, p. 2.  See also Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel and Smoot, Stephen H., “Wilford Woodruff’s 1897 Testimony”, Banner of the Gospel: Wilford Woodruff, ed. Alexander L. Baugh and Susan Easton Black (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2010).

President Brigham Young spoke of the bestowal of keys by Joseph Smith.  Said he, "Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and powers belonging to the Apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away, and no man or set of men can get between Joseph and the Twelve in this world or in the world to come" (History of the Church, 7:230).

Three of these men (Elder Hyde and Presidents Young and Woodruff) I have quoted were at the same meeting.  But that is beside the point.  This is the point: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (2 Cor. 13:1).  Since there are no witnesses from the Community of Christ, they haven't a leg to stand on, nor do any other "Restorationist" churches.  The only legitimate successor when concerned with Priesthood Keys is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!