Among the spiritual gifts received in former days and returned in present times is the gift of prophecy.  It flows from Jesus, the head of His church, and resides in His saints.  It also concentrates in the president of the church as its present-day prophet.  God called Joseph to that office and angels ordained him, endowing him with the keys of the kingdom.

Prophecy sprang from Joseph Smith, the Palmyra Seer, not only to translate the Book of Mormon, but to reveal the word of God to the church.  Those revelations began while the Book of Mormon was being translated, the first ones coming through the same instrument by which God gave the ancient American record.  After Joseph received the keys to the kingdom and was sustained by the church on its organizational day as the first elder, he received them directly from God.

Because Joseph was unlearned and unacquainted with the Bible's finer points, including the organization of the early Christian Church, he and his fellows needed specific and detailed revelation to organize the restored church as Jesus wanted it.  Most revelations that Joseph received, along with lectures that the latter-day prophet gave on faith were published as the Doctrine and Covenants during his life.  The Reorganization wisely decided to continue publishing the Doctrine and Covenants just as the church published it in 1844.  As the church received new revelations through successors to Joseph in the prophetic office, they were placed as added sections in that book of revelations.  We accept them as received and published during the time of the church's doctrinal fidelity.

The scope the enlightenment contained in latter-day revelations is vast and profound.  It discloses things fast and future as well as insights that are just now being confirmed by science.  People who receive it as divine as divine instruction and insight will find that its enlightenment helps them cling to Christ and receive the love, light and life that resides in Him.