Why John? Why?

     There are so many churches out there in this world. They are all teaching great things. They teach us that we must follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized in-order to return to live in the presence of God. I have always thought it was interesting that there are so many different ways that churches perform a baptism. I wondered as I thought of this..."How was Jesus baptized?" Well, the bible tells us this: 

13 ¶Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be^abaptized of him.

 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

 15 ^aAnd Jesus answering said unto him, ^bSuffer it to be so now: for thus it ^cbecometh us to ^dfulfil all ^erighteousness. Then he suffered him.

 16 And Jesus, when he was ^abaptized, went up ^bstraightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the ^cSpirit of God descending like a ^ddove, and lighting upon him:

 17 And lo a ^avoice from heaven, saying, This is my ^bbeloved ^cSon, in whom I am well pleased.   

     I read this scripture and thought again, "Why did Jesus go to John to be baptized?" I am sure that at this time in Jerusalem there were many people in the city that were baptizing people. The Pharisees and the Sadducees had to have been performing what they thought was baptism so... Why did Jesus have to go to John to be baptized?

     I found the answer and the church that had the answer. The church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the answer they have is this, "John The Baptist had something called The Priesthood, which is the power and the authority to perform ordinances in the name of God." No one else at the time had this Priesthood authority, and when Christ and his Apostles were all killed that same Priesthood ceased to exist on the earth for that time.

     So why does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints claim that they have this same Priesthood and how did they get it?

     Early in the spring of 1820 A.D. a young farm boy named Joseph Smith was wondering which church was correct. He was reading in The Bible and this is the account that he gave of his experience. 

10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be^aright, which is it, and how shall I know it?

 11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the ^aEpistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack ^bwisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

 12 Never did any passage of ^ascripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed ^bwisdomfrom God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects ^cunderstood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

 13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in^adarkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would ^bgive liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

 14 So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the ^awoods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a ^bbeautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to ^cpray ^dvocally.

 15 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was ^aseized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick ^bdarkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

 16 But, exerting all my powers to ^acall upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into ^bdespair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of ^clight exactly over my head, above the brightness of the ^dsun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

 17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself ^adelivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I^bsaw two ^cPersonages, whose brightness and ^dglory defy all description, ^estanding above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My^fBeloved ^gSon. Hear Him!

 18 My object in going to ^ainquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.

 19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all^awrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those ^bprofessorswere all ^ccorrupt; that: “they ^ddraw near to me with their lips, but their ^ehearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the^fcommandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the ^gpower thereof.”     

     After this event had taken place Joseph Smith was commanded by God to translate an ancient record of scripture called "The Book of Mormon". While translating it he came across a verse of scripture that talked about baptism and so he and his companion Oliver Cowdry went out to the Susquehanna river to inquire of The Lord as to how they should be baptized. In an answer to their prayer God sent down Heavenly messengers to bestow upon them the Priesthood authority of God.

This event was absolutely incredible to read about. After reading this I had prayed to ask God if it was true. Did this even really happen. I Know that you too can receive an answer to your prayers if you sincerely ask God for an answer.