Some years ago two missionaries came
to me with what seemed to them to be a very difficult question. A young
minister had laughed at them when they had said that Apostles were necessary
today in order for the true Church to be upon the earth. They said that the
minister said, "Do you realize that when the Apostles met to choose one to
fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judas, they said it had to be one who
companied with them and had been a witness of all things pertaining to the
mission and resurrection of the Lord? How can you say you have Apostles, if
that be the measure of an Apostle?"
And so these young men said,
"What shall we answer?"
I said to them, "Go back and ask
your minister friend two questions. First, how did the Apostle Paul gain what
was necessary to be called an Apostle? He didn't know the Lord, had no personal
acquaintance. He hadn't accompanied the Apostles. He hadn't been a witness of
the ministry nor of the resurrection of the Lord. How did he gain his testimony
sufficient to be an Apostle? And the second question you ask him is, How does
he know that all who are today Apostles have not likewise received that witness?"
I bear witness to you that those who
hold the apostolic calling may, and do, know of the reality of the mission of
the Lord. (Harold B. Lee, "Born of the Spirit." Address to Seminary
and Institute Faculty, June 26, 1962, in The Teachings of Harold B. Lee,
ed. Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], 546-47)
