C1. Jesus birth was prophesied by several Old Testament prophets, most notably by Isaiah. Prophets in the ancient Americas also prophesied of Him. He was to be the divine Son of the living God, and the promised Savior sent to atone for the sins of Adam and Eve and their posterity.
C2. In the Median of Time, He was born to a young virgin in the small middle-eastern town of Bethlehem. He was raised to manhood by His mother, Mary, and by her husband, a carpenter by the name of Joseph.
C3. At a very early age, Jesus came to realize who He was and what His mission was to be. When He was barely past His childhood, Mary and Joseph found Him in the temple talking to the learned men of His day and astonishing them with His great wisdom.
C4. At the age of 30, Jesus began His earthly ministry. One of the first things He did was to go to His cousin, John, to request baptism. Although perfect and having no need for repentance, Jesus complied with His Fathers request that He receive this ordinance. He was baptized by immersion by one holding the proper authority.
C5. He chose twelve ordinary men, men with no divinity degrees or training and called them to be His Apostles. He called them and, laying His hands on their heads, ordained them to His priesthood, giving them the authority to act in His name and to perform the ordinances God had prescribed.
C6. His gospel included seven ordinances, some of which are essential to exaltation and some of which are not. These are: (1) Baptism, (2) the Laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost (i.e. Confirmation), (3) the Confession of sins, (4) the Lords Supper (referred to by the Latter-day Saints as the Sacrament), (5) Eternal Marriage, (6) Ordination to the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, and (7) the Anointing of the sick.
C7. He taught for three years, by word and by example. His gospel message was one of peace and love. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, made the crippled walk again and even raised His friend from the dead. He lived a perfect life.
C8. He established an organizational Church and structured it according to His perfect knowledge. It was built on an foundation of Prophets and Apostles, with Him as the chief cornerstone. This organization was to remain in place until all of His followers became unified in their faith. He also called and ordained others to various positions of leadership and authority.
C9. After a brief period of just over three years, at the time of the Jewish Passover, public sentiment turned strongly against Jesus. Knowing that His mission here on earth was soon to come to an end, He called His Apostles together and broke bread with them. He told them that the bread they were eating was to represent His flesh, and that the wine they were drinking was symbolic of His blood.
C10. After their meal, Jesus and His Apostles went to the Garden of Gethsemane where He prayed earnestly to His Father that, if there was any other way that His mission might be accomplished, He might be spared the agony that He knew lay ahead of Him. As always, though, He acknowledged that His Fathers will be done.
C11. In Gethsemane, as His Apostles slept, His atoning sacrifice began. It was in Gethsemane where He took upon Himself the sins of all mankind (those who would accept His gift and those who would not). There was an actual exchange of innocence for guilt as He paid the price to remove the debt we had incurred. He met the obligation He had committed to in the Pre-mortal Life.
C12. Following a mock trial, He was subjected to torture and mockery and finally death by crucifixion. He had been betrayed by one of His friends. Another had denied even knowing Him. Even while dying, He not only offered hope to a repentant thief who hung at His side, but asked His Father to forgive His murderers. His sacrifice ended with His death on the cross.
C13. His body was laid in a borrowed tomb where it remained until the morning of the third day. During this period, He visited (in spirit form) the Spirit World, a realm comprised of Paradise (where Hed told the repentant thief He would see Him) and Prison, where the spirits of the wicked awaited their punishment. He taught them His gospel and made true His statement that the Gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church. With His visit, He initiated the teaching of His gospel to the dead, to those who had died not knowing of their Savior.
C14. On the Sunday following His death, His friends discovered the tomb where He had been laid to be empty. He had risen! Life had been restored to His body and He showed His Apostles the wounds in His hand, feet and side. He was once again a living man of flesh and bones, although by His resurrection given eternal life. He was no longer mortal but immortal.
C15. He remained with His Apostles for a period of 40 days after His resurrection. There is no record of what He may have taught them during this time. It is possible, though, that it was during this time that He taught them of ordinance work for the dead and other esoteric teachings known to a portion of the early Christian community.
C16. At the end of the 40 days, He ascended to His Father in Heaven but then returned to Earth to visit His sheep in the Western Hemisphere. They, too were of the House of Israel, but were of a different fold. He spent 40 days among these people, ministering to them and preaching His gospel to them as He had in the Holy Land.
C17. The Apostles continued to direct the Church He had established until their martyrdoms, at which time the Priesthood authority they had held but had not passed on was taken from the Earth. This apostasy would last for nearly seventeen centuries. During this 1700 year period, Christianity would survive, but not in its pure form. Certain doctrines would be corrupted by the philosophies of men and the ordinances performed would have no lasting eternal significance.
) would have to be perfect. What do you think?
