There is a true religion, and it was revealed first to Adam. Adam and Eve lived with God, and after being cast out, they retained a memory of living in God's presence. Adam taught the first eight patriarchs born after him the religion of the Fathers, which involved direct communion, contact, and connection between mankind and God. It enabled the faithful patriarchal fathers to hear directly from the Lord His promise of eternal life, to seal them by covenant into His Heavenly Family, and establish them as God's messengers to their posterity. Despite nearly universal apostasy and rebellion against God while Adam lived, for 15 generations from Adam to Shem (Melchizedek) and Abraham to Joseph, the first Fathers were taught they could walk and talk with God, receive answers from Him, and return to His presence.
From the time of Adam, most people who have been given the opportunity to receive the fullness of the gospel in their respective dispensations have dwindled in unbelief. The restoration of the Holy Order will return that lost knowledge to the earth. The specifics have been withheld from Scripture, but the scope of that knowledge has been referred to often. Knowledge to be revealed through the Holy Order will include information about the religious significance of the planets and stars as "signs" to establish "seasons," as well as information about the beginning of this creation.
Restoration of this true religion has begun, preliminary to winding up God's great work. God is very active at present and has offered to complete the Restoration. Although we may understand some few things about the Lord's plans, what we know at present is relatively small in comparison with the fullness of the revelations yet to be restored. To return a complete Restoration, a temple will be required. The required temple in Nauvoo was never completed. The fullness was not restored during Joseph Smith's lifetime.
We have a daunting challenge before us. It will require minds, hearts, hands, and backs to accomplish it. Preparation needs to begin now. It will be followed by an orderly gathering-not in haste but with guidance from above. The Lord is offering an opportunity. He has promised to labor alongside to help us reach the prophesied Zion. But we can fail-and Zion be left for another people in another time.
Preparing people to welcome God remains the Restoration's great objective. That will require all of us to humble ourselves before God and eagerly respond to the opportunity He offers us.
God intends to re-establish the civilization on the other side of the Second Coming that will finally be one in which men are at peace with one another and with nature. That accomplishment needs to be achieved with a population of people that He preserves, that He has watched over, and that He intends to use to rebuild His kingdom on Earth. So, don't think-wherever you are-that you're not in plain sight of the Lord and that the Lord isn't keenly aware of you, with an intention to include you in what His future plans are-because God is more aware of you individually than maybe you are even of Him.
To keep the promises, God will lead faithful people from all over the world to be gathered into one body of believers who will be commanded to begin building up of the New Jerusalem. We can, if faithful, obtain all that the original Fathers received from God at the beginning.
As a servant of God, I say with His authority that these promises are true, and He intends to fulfill them for His covenant people Israel. The Lord's "strange act" is approaching completion. The promises made to the first Fathers are being vindicated. The Restoration has recommenced, and if we are faithful, it will not be paused or interrupted again. But there is much yet to be taught, and therefore much yet to learn.
