Religion of the Fathers

The first and most complete religion that belonged to Adam and Eve. They lived with God, and after being cast out, they retained a memory of living in God’s presence. The first Fathers were taught they could talk with God, receive answers from Him, and return to His presence. The experience of Enoch (seven generations after Adam) records that direct contact between mankind and God was part of the true religion. After the fall of mankind, the process of the ascent of man into Heaven to commune with God has remained the heart of the religion. That process will reverse, and contact between mankind and God at the end will involve the descent of God from Heaven to visit His tabernacle.¹ Only a few will return to practice the original religion of the Fathers. Most will not be interested. But the religion of the Fathers will return at the end of the world.²

The Patriarchal Fathers are Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem/Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. These 15 generational heads stood, like Adam, as God’s Patriarchal Father and High Priest at the head of God’s family on Earth. There were many others who believed in the religion taught by Adam and the Patriarchal Fathers, but the Holy Order given to Adam was always held in its fullness by the eldest worthy descendant in each subsequent generation until (skipping generations to) Abraham.³ The first or Patriarchal Fathers learned the true religion from Adam and practiced it under his direction. Adam taught the first eight patriarchs born after him. Their religion was Adam’s religion, and their understanding reached back to the Garden of Eden.⁴

The religion of the Fathers involved direct communion, contact, and connection between mankind and God. The Holy Order is an important part of the return of that direct association. The original religion of the Patriarchs enabled the faithful to hear the Lord’s promise of eternal life directly from Him; God would seal them by covenant into His Heavenly Family. “We can, if faithful, obtain all that the original Fathers received from God at the beginning.”⁵ “It will only be through Israel that we can be sealed by a covenant with God to Heavenly Parents through the Fathers.”⁶

Our first Fathers experienced visions, ascended into Heaven, obtained promises of exaltation, and were transformed by their experiences from men into angels of God. Joseph Smith attempted to bring this back as part of the Restoration.⁷

Abraham represents the key Patriarchal Father prophesied of in Malachi. Abraham not only renews the covenant of the Fathers (including Noah and Enoch), but also, through the Abrahamic covenant, God established Abraham as the new head of the family of God on Earth. God told Abraham,… for as many as receive this gospel shall be called after your name and shall be accounted your seed, and shall rise up and bless you, as unto their Father (Abraham 3:1). “For us, connecting to Abraham is akin to the original patriarchs’ connection with Adam. Turning the heart of the children to the Fathers is a required part of the gospel. And after God’s covenant with him, salvation for all subsequent generations is dependent on being accounted Abraham’s seed.”⁸

In one sense, the religion of the Fathers is based on a direct connection to God. Reduced to one thought, it is that as long as God is speaking directly to a body of people and giving them commandments, they have the most essential element of that religion. If they remain true to that connection, all things can be restored to them.⁹ “The first Fathers had teachings and beliefs that included much more than what has been preserved from Joseph’s day. We should expect greater information to be passed along to us….The promises made to the Fathers are being vindicated. The restoration has recommenced and if we are faithful, it will not be paused or interrupted again. Although Israel’s numbers are few, there have never been great numbers willing to sacrifice everything for God.”¹⁰

God declared to Abraham that the chosen descendants — the people of God who would call Abraham their father — would need to have that same religion that belonged to the first Fathers. God explained, for as many as receive this gospel shall be called after thy name (Abraham 3:1). The term used by God (this gospel) is the original Holy Order the first Fathers (including Adam) possessed at the beginning. “Our hearts must turn to the Fathers because their religion, not apostate Christianity, or Judaism, or apostate Mormonism, or some remnant or relic of Adam’s religion, but the Order of the first Fathers must be fully restored.”¹¹See also HEARTS TURNED TO THE FATHERS.