Jesus Christ taught the pure truth.
The Apostles continued to teach the pure truth.
Apostle Paul foretold of a “falling away” from the pure truth.
The Savior and the Apostles were killed and the “falling away” occurred.
34 -100 A.D. The Apostles lead, as directed by Jesus Christ, the New Testament Church.
60 -70 A.D. Peter and Paul were martyred.
325 A.D. The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great called the first ecumenical (general) church council, consisting of 300 Bishops, to deal with the disputes, to make doctrine uniform throughout the empire. The Council of Nicaea adopted a statement known as the Nicene Creed. Constantine was baptized on his deathbed.
395 A.D. The Roman Empire was split into the West and East Roman empires.
476 A.D. Christianity also had a Western and an Eastern Church. The center of the Western church was in Rome and the center of the Eastern Church was in Constantinople. The most powerful leaders were the bishops of Rome, called the pope, in the West and the patriarch of Constantinople in the East.
1095 A.D. Urban II Pope of the Roman Catholic Church called for a “Crusade” to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims.
1096-1270 A.D. The Crusades. There were 8 Crusades plus a “children Crusade” in which thousands of children from the ages of 10 to 18 died. Some Popes used the Crusades for personal and political gain. The crusaders failed to accomplish their goal of recapturing the Holy Land.
1378 A.D. A disagreement among the cardinals resulted in the election of two rival popes. For a time, three men opposed one another as the rightful pope. Bishops and clergyman elected a forth man Martin V as the single Pope in 1417 AD.
Preparing of the world for the Restoration.
1388 A.D. The first English translation of the Bible was completed by John Wycliffe an English priest and his followers.
1476 A.D. William Caxton set up the first printing press in England.
1492 A.D. Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to America.
1517 A.D. Martin Luther protested the sale of indulgences* and other practices of the Catholic Church. Thus beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
1522 A.D. The German Protestant reformer Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German.
1523 A.D. Catholic princes tried to keep people from reading Luther's German New Testament.
1604 A.D. King James I of England authorized a committee of about 50 scholars to prepare a revision of earlier English translations of the Bible. The King James Version appeared in 1611.
1775 -1783 A.D. The American Revolutionary War.
1790-1830 A.D. The second Great Awakening.
With this Bill of Rights law in place.
The 'Restoration' could now take place in the United States.
1805 A.D. Joseph Smith was born in the town of Sharon Vermont.
1820 A.D. God called a Prophet (Joseph Smith) to; Restore the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ once again upon the Earth.
Following the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ, once again upon the earth in 1830. The Lord gradually continued to reveal his will, concerning the organizing of various priesthood offices, quorums, and councils as needed to provide leadership for the growth of His Church.
(Wilford Woodruff's search for the true Church explains the Apostasy and need for the Restoration. It emphasizes four essential elements of the true Church that were lost because of the Great Apostasy.) 16:33 min.