Why don’t we see the Holy Spirit like the olden days?

Michael Hickenbotham
B.S. in Engineering & Religion, Brigham Young University (Graduated 1973)49m

Because there was an apostacy soon after the death of the original apostles called by Jesus Christ.

An early Christian by the name of John Chrysostom (c.?347 – 407 A.D.) wrote that members of the church were always and everywhere asking him, "What has happened to the spiritual gifts? Why do we no longer have the gift of tongues? Where are the prophets? Why are men not chosen for office as they were anciently by direct revelation from above?" (Hugh Nibley, The World and the Prophets, as taken from John Chrysostom, in Patrologia Graec., 50:453; 455f, 459, 488, 51:81f, 85; 55:402; 58:479; 61:269ff, 279f; 62:526f; 63:623; etc.)

Micah in Micah 3:6-7 prophesied of a time when:

    6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

    7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.

It is clear that an apostasy was predicted by Jesus Christ and his apostles. Jesus said that he taught, despite the persecution, while it was still day but then prophesied that "the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4). Paul declared: "Be not soon shaken in mind, or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first" (2 Thes. 2:2-3). We should note that the Greek word "apostasia" was translated as "falling away" in the King James version. Thus, Paul is saying that the early Christians should not be fooled by false Christs since there would be an unmistakable apostasy before Christ's return. Consider also the following: Matt. 24:4, 9-13, 24; John 16:2-3; Acts 20:29-30; Gal. 1:6-8; 1 Cor. 1:10-13; 2 Thes. 2:1-12; 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-9, 12-13; 4:3-4; Titus 1:10-16; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; 3:3; 1 Jn. 2:18-19; Jude 3-4; Rev. 13:4-8.

During the sixteenth century, the Church of England admitted that, “Laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees, have been drowned in abominable idolatry most detested by God and damnable to men for eight hundred years and more” (Church of England “Homily on Perils of Idolatry,” p. 3).

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, observed: "It does not appear that these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were common in the Church for more than two or three centuries. We seldom hear of them after that fatal period when the Emperor Constantine called himself a Christian... From this time they almost totally ceased... The Christians had no more the Spirit of Christ than the other heathens... This was the real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian Church; because the Christians were turned heathen again, and had only a dead form left." (The More Excellent Way, Wesley's Works, Vol 7, Sermon 89, pp. 26-27)

Roger Williams, the founder of the Baptist Church of America, declared "There is no regularly constituted church on earth, nor any person qualified to administer any church ordinances; nor can there be until new apostles are sent by the Great Head of the Church for whose coming I am seeking." (Picturesque America, edited by William Cullen Bryant, D. Appleton and Co., N.Y., 1872, vol 1, pp. 500-502)

On another occasion he also proclaimed: "The apostasy... hath so far corrupted all, that there can be no recovery out of that apostasy until Christ shall send forth new apostles to plant churches anew (Struggles and Triumphs of Religious Liberty, cited in William F. Anderson, "Apostasy or Succession, Which?" pp. 238-9).

Other Bible verses such as Matthew 17:11; Acts 1:6-7; 3:19-21; Ephesians 1:10; and Revelation 14:6 confirm the LDS belief that a restoration of the gospel was prophesied to occur in these latter days. Some may be tempted to cite the Protestant reformation as the fulfillment of these prophecies, but it is clear that the promised restoration was to be accomplished not through man's effort but in spite of it (Dan. 2:44-45; Matt. 5:13; 1 Tim. 4:1-2; 2 Tim. 3:1-7; 4:3-4; Heb. 6:4-8). Such a renewal came at the time of the Savior's mortal ministry. Jesus Christ made no attempt to reform the doctrines and institutions of his day, he simply restored the true gospel to the earth. It was taught not as reformed Judaism but rather as a new alternative to it. As Jesus taught, new wine cannot be put in old bottles or both the wine and the bottles will be lost (Matt. 9:16-17). The multitude of Protestant churches existing today is proof of the fact that a reformation cannot succeed in restoring absolute truth. God has always accomplished this end through new revelation to his chosen prophets and not through self-called reformers.

It is obvious from the foregoing history and the many prophecies found throughout the remainder of the New Testament that apostasy would eventually prevail after the deaths of the apostles and prophets (see John 16:1-4; Acts 20:29; Gal. 1:6; 2 Thes. 2:3; 2 Tim. 1:15; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 2:1-2, 18-21; Rev. 13:7).

It is clear that many Old Testament prophets also foresaw a complete apostasy in the "latter days" when men would "reject knowledge" and God would reject them (Hosea 3:5; 4:1-6). Isaiah speaking of this time said: "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, [and] broken the everlasting covenant" (Isa. 24:5). The law of Moses did not contain an everlasting covenant, it was only by the blood of Christ's sacrifice that God established his everlasting covenant (Ezek. 37:26-27; Heb. 13:20). Isaiah further states, "For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people..." (Isa. 60:2). Amos spoke in like manner of a day when God would send "a famine of... hearing the words of the Lord,” that would extend "from sea to sea, and from north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." (Amos 8:11-12) Even during Israel's days of transgression they retained their scriptures and prophets. It was only during the so-called dark ages of the earth's history that the scriptures were unavailable to the majority of mankind and the prophets were absent for nearly two millennia. If a universal apostasy did not occur, then John's prophecy that he "saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth" would make no sense. The time for a "restitution of all" of God's words (Acts 3:21) has come and a restoration of his heavenly kingdom is imminent. Latter-day Saints declare with sincerity that God has raised up a prophet in our day (Deut. 18:15) to restore his true church and the fullness of the gospel of Christ. Only that church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is teaching the fullness of Christ's gospel and has God's authority to perform the saving ordinances. All others have "a form of Godliness but [deny] the power thereof..." (2 Tim 3:5).
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