PROVO, Utah — In a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1831, the Lord referred to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth,” said President Dallin H. Oaks, quoting Doctrine and Covenants 1:30.
“The fashionable opinion of this age is that all churches are true. If that is so, then all religious messages that identify differences in religious doctrines like ours are unimportant,” President Oaks told new mission leaders Saturday, June 20. “That conclusion can cause us — and others — a serious loss of religious freedom.”
In his message at the 2026 Seminar for New Mission Leaders at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, President Oaks explored the question, “What does it mean that the restored Church of Jesus Christ is the only true church?”
President Oaks was joined by his wife, Sister Kristen M. Oaks, as he identified three overlapping characteristics of “the only true and living church.” Together they taught of Latter-day Saints’ unique testimony of Jesus Christ and what it causes Church members to affirm.
1. The Church of Jesus Christ has the fulness of His doctrine
President Oaks told the group of new mission leaders — which includes those who will serve in 55 new missions opening in July — they are called to lead missionaries “at a historic time.” He noted the more than 87,000 full-time missionaries currently serving and the incoming wave of 18-year-old sisters beginning their service.
“In coming weeks, we will have the largest number of full-time missionaries in the Church’s history,” President Oaks said. The first responsibility of these missionaries is to testify of Jesus Christ “to a world that suffers without knowledge of His divine mission.”
Many church denominations or philosophies today contain a measure of gospel truths revealed by God in earlier days, President Oaks explained. Because so much was lost in the Apostasy, the Lord needed to restore the fulness of His doctrine, which begins with God’s plan for His children.
“We lived as spirits before we came to this earth,” President Oaks taught. “This mortal life has a purpose. Our highest destiny is to become like our heavenly parents.” God’s plan provided a Savior, whose Atonement would redeem all His children from death and sin.
President Oaks said the Church of Jesus Christ is properly known as a family-centered Church. “But what is not well understood is that our family-centeredness is not just focused on our earthly relationships but is a matter of fundamental theology.”
Under God’s plan, the mission of His restored Church is to help all obtain exaltation in the celestial kingdom. “That can only be accomplished through an eternal marriage between a man and a woman,” President Oaks said.
“Knowledge of God’s plan gives Latter-day Saints a unique perspective on marriage and children,” he noted. “We look on the bearing and nurturing of children as part of God’s plan and a sacred duty of those given the power to participate in it.”
At a time of political, legal and social pressures for changes that would alter the definition of marriage, de-emphasize its importance, confuse gender or homogenize the differences between men and women, “our eternal perspective sets us against such changes,” President Oaks said.
“We believe that we must contend for the kind of families that provide the best conditions for the development and happiness of children — all of God’s children.”
President Oaks described the doctrine of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as “comprehensive, universal, merciful and true.” He taught of the resurrection in which all God’s children will be resurrected and go to a kingdom of glory “more wonderful than any mortal can comprehend. …
“All of this will occur because of God’s great love for His children. And it is made possible because of the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
2. The Church of Jesus Christ has His priesthood authority
The scriptures teach repeatedly of the necessity of priesthood authority, President Oaks pointed out, citing examples from the Old Testament and New Testament.
“Priesthood offices and its authority do not come from a desire to serve or from reading the scriptures,” President Oaks clarified. “When lost, priesthood authority had to be restored by resurrected beings who had held it in mortality and who were sent to confer it. That happened as part of the restoration of the gospel.
“That priesthood authority, together with the keys necessary to direct its operations, are in this restored Church and no other.”
All members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can experience personal revelation in their lives through the Holy Ghost, President Oaks said.
“The gift of the Holy Ghost — made effective through weekly partaking of the sacrament — entitles us to the continuous companionship of the Spirit of the Lord with its attendant blessings of personal revelation throughout our lives.”
3. The Church of Jesus Christ has a ‘unique testimony of Christ’
The Church of Jesus Christ contains revealed truth about the nature of God and one’s relationship to Him, President Oaks said.
“We have a unique and true testimony of Christ. This is the key to everything else. Our knowledge of the nature of God is what distinguishes us from the formal creeds of other Christian denominations.”
Latter-day Saints’ belief in the nature of God and “unique testimony of Christ” comes from the First Vision, in which Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Jesus told Joseph that all the “creeds” of churches of that day “were an abomination in his sight” (Joseph Smith History 1:19).
“A subsequent outpouring of modern revelation clarified the significance of this fundamental truth and also gave us the Book of Mormon, which affirms the Biblical prophecies and teachings of the nature and mission of Christ and enlarges our understanding of His gospel,” President Oaks said.
These teachings explain Latter-day Saints’ testimony of Christ and the necessity of ordinances in a temple, a “house of the Lord,” he added.
“We are not grounded in the wisdom of the world or the philosophies of men, however traditional or respected they may be,” President Oaks said. “Our testimony of Jesus Christ is based on the revelations of God to His prophets and to us individually. This makes us different, in greater or lesser measure, from the teachings of many in various Christian denominations and in other philosophies.”
Sister Oaks’ testimony
President Oaks invited Sister Oaks, a convert to the Church and a returned missionary, to teach from her point of view what a testimony of Jesus Christ causes Latter-day Saints to affirm.
Sister Oaks highlighted several truths, including that all are children of a loving God created in His image, Jesus Christ is the Son of God who knows each individual personally, He ministered globally as recorded in the Book of Mormon, and He speaks to prophets today. As individuals make and keep covenants, they progress to be like Him.
“Because of missionaries like you, I stand here today,” Sister Oaks told the mission leaders. She credits the testimony gained on her mission for keeping her strong through difficult times as a single woman into her early 50s.
“I know we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, loves each and every one of us,” Sister Oaks testified. “I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and that He atoned for our sins. I know Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God who translated the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God and organized the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth in these latter days. And I know we are led by a living Prophet today, President Dallin H. Oaks, whom I can testify prays for and loves each one of you.”
President Oaks’ testimony
President Oaks concluded with his testimony of the Savior and His restored gospel: “I solemnly join Kristen in affirming our testimony of Jesus Christ and the truth of His gospel that you mission leaders and missionaries have been called to proclaim. He lives, and His gospel is true. He is the Light and Life of the World. He is the way to immortality and eternal life.
“The Holy Ghost has given me a witness of its truthfulness, and I rejoice that I can spend my life in proclaiming it.”
