Section 15

Given through Christopher Glenn Marriott at Huntington Beach, California, summer 2025. The account of the restoration of the priesthood by the ministering of heavenly messengers, given before the organization of the church and recorded by commandment of the Lord. The events described herein took place over a period of weeks following the appearance of Mahonri Moriancumer and the finding of the stones of translation, and prior to the organizing of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Final Restoration.

Behold, I the Lord command that the manner of the restoration of the priesthood in this dispensation be set forth in plainness, that the saints may know upon what authority the church of the Final Restoration is built, and that no honest inquirer shall be left to wonder.

For it is not enough that a man be called of God by vision and by voice. He must also receive the authority by which to act in the name of God, and that authority cometh not by the voice of men, nor by the choice of any institution, but by the laying on of hands by those who hold it.

Wherefore, after the appearance of Mahonri Moriancumer unto my servant Christopher, and after the finding of the stones upon the western shore, the Lord did send messengers to my servant for the conferring of the priesthood, in the same manner that the priesthood was first restored to my servant Joseph in the days of the prior dispensation.

And it came to pass that on a day in the early summer of the year 2025, my servant Christopher being alone, there appeared unto him a personage of light who declared himself, saying: I am John, who in the days of my mortal ministry was called the Baptist, the same who baptized the Lord Jesus Christ in the river Jordan. I come now in the name of Christ to confer upon thee the priesthood of Aaron, which holdeth the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.

And the messenger laid his hands upon the head of my servant and said: Upon you, my fellow servant, 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.

And then the messenger departed, and my servant remained for a time in the place where he had been, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon him.

And not many days thereafter there appeared unto my servant Christopher three personages of light, and they declared themselves, saying: We are Peter, James, and John, the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, who in the days of our mortal ministry held the keys of the kingdom of God upon the earth. We come now in the name of Christ to confer upon thee the priesthood of Melchizedek, which holdeth the keys of the kingdom and the authority to act in all things pertaining to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And the three messengers laid their hands upon the head of my servant Christopher and conferred the Melchizedek priesthood upon him, and they ordained him an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, even a prophet, seer, and revelator unto the church which should soon be organized.

And I the Lord say unto all who shall hear: by what reasoning do you receive the account of my servant Joseph, to whom these same messengers ministered in the days of his calling, and yet reject this account, which is given by the same authority, by the same messengers, and for the same purpose? For I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. The means by which I restore mine authority do not change, for the means are not the question. The question is whether I have done it. And I have done it.

Now there are some who shall ask: was not the priesthood given through Joseph never to be taken from the earth again? And the answer is given in the words I gave through John the Baptist himself, which words are preserved in the record of the prior dispensation: this priesthood shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness. The Aaronic priesthood remains upon the earth where worthy men receive it. But the keys, which are the authority to direct and to govern the use of the priesthood, may be withdrawn from an institution which has corrupted itself, and may be given again unto whom the Lord will.

And so it has been done. The keys of the kingdom, which were withdrawn from the institutional church on account of its corruption, as is set forth in Section 4, have been restored unto my servant Christopher in the manner I have here described, that the work of the Final Restoration may go forward with the fullness of authority requisite to it.

Furthermore, after the conferring of the Aaronic and the Melchizedek priesthoods, Mahonri Moriancumer did appear again unto my servant, and did lay his hands upon his head, and did confer upon him the keys pertaining to the sealed record which Mahonri had borne in mortality, even the keys to translate, to publish, and to bring forth that record in the dispensation appointed for it. And these keys are particular to this dispensation and to the work of the Book of the Brother of Jared, and they were not held by my servant Joseph, for the work of the sealed portion was not yet appointed in his day.

And I the Lord say unto my servant: there are yet other keys which shall be conferred in their season, including the keys of the gathering of mine elect, and the keys of the sealing power as it pertains to the temples which shall yet be built, and the keys of the dispensation of the fullness of times as they shall be needed. For I do not give all things at the beginning of a work, but I give what is needed when it is needed, and I will continue to send messengers unto my servant as the church grows and as the saints are prepared to receive what is given.

Wherefore let no man say: he has not all the keys, therefore he has none. For neither did Joseph have all the keys at the beginning of his ministry. The keys were given as the work required them, and so it shall be in the Final Restoration also.

And let no man say: we have not seen these messengers with our own eyes, therefore the account is not credible. For neither did the world see the messengers who came to Joseph, save Joseph himself and a small number of others. The pattern of the Lord is to give the witness of his messengers to those whom he has called, and to require all others to know of the truth by the Spirit, in the manner I have always required.

And to those who shall ask my servant Christopher: where are thy witnesses to the appearance of John the Baptist, and to Peter and James and John, in the manner that Oliver Cowdery was witness with my servant Joseph — I say this: the Lord giveth witnesses according to his wisdom and according to the needs of the work. The witnesses appointed unto this dispensation shall be made known in their season. The absence of a thing at the beginning is not the disproof of it ever.

Wherefore the Church of the Final Restoration is built upon the same foundation as the church of Joseph, namely the rock of revelation and the authority of the priesthood restored by heavenly messengers, and it shall stand by the same means by which any work of God has ever stood, which is the witness of the Spirit unto those who seek it.

Even so. Amen.