Roger Williams Noted the Apostacy and Hoped for the Restoration!

When Christ was fulfilling His earthly ministry, He chose apostles by the authority of the priesthood and they were given authority to baptize, heal, cast out evil spirits and speak with power and authority and given the privileges of revelation. After Jesus ascended into heaven, the apostles continued to spread the word and run the affairs of the Church, but they were persecuted and slain for their beliefs. So great was their persecution, that this authority and the priesthood disappeared from the earth, the Gospel of Jesus Christ being corrupted by wicked men as recently portrayed in a movie, the events that took place during the Council of Nicea. Doctrine was born out of contention, strife and political rangling. For hundreds of years, people searched for the truth, but could not find it, fulfilling the biblical prophecy, that "the days come saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea , and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it."
There were good people throughout this dark age from about 300 a.d to the early 1800s that recognized that the Church, as established by the Redeemer of the World, no longer existed. Roger Williams, a very righteous man, who was noted for his deep love of the Native-Americans and who founded the first state in modern history with separation of church and state (Rhode Island) said in the 1600s "nothing in the poor span of my life has convinced me that the true Church of Christ as instituted by the Savior, still remains and extant". He had seen what men had done over the long dark ages of "Christianity" in the name of God, he'd seen the atrocities the puritans had wrought upon the Native-Americans in the name of God and he had seen men burnt at the stake for "heresy". Therefore he deduced from his lifetime of scripture study and contemplative prayer that in order for a church to be the truly authorized and authentic Church of Christ, first, the Church would not have a "hireling ministry" or in other words, men that depended on preaching popular and accepted precepts of men in order to gain a livelihood or else they could never accept truth when it presented itself. 2. the Church must have the courage to "purge itself of false worship" even at the risk of incurring persecution by the rest of the world if its teachings were not in line with earthly standards. 3. it must have the authority to perform sacred ordinances (Roger Williams denounced his own baptism of an early Anabaptist congregation, because he concluded he lacked the authority). And the Church must trace an apostolic succession (or an unbroken authority passing from one priesthood holder to the next) and for this to occur, he deemed it necessary for Christ to appear again to man and renew this authority and choose new apostles. 4. the true Church of Christ would endure persecution, but not be the persecutors of others for perceived falsehoods. The people of God throughout biblical history were always persecuted for His sake.
Two hundred years after Roger Williams, the true Church of Christ was restored and does extant!! Christ has chosen new apostles who possess the authority to act in his name, revelation continues and a prophet is on the earth. The faithful are being gathered again. Learn more about this by going to http://www.lds.org/.