I admire greatly the people (like anabaptists, my wife's Waldensian ancestors, etc.) who lived exemplary lives throughout history and, in my opinion,
actually contributed to the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in
the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. I don't think the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ
in its entirety (as I read it in the Bible, particularly) remained
openly taught throughout the centuries leading up to the restoration of
the Gospel; hence, the concept of a Great Apostasy and a Restoration. However, I believe deeply that the Protestant Reformation was the
major, God-directed movement that allowed a restoration to occur (to
continue, to be more precise) and continue to build to this day, with
necessary pruning still happening as fast as the root can take it.
I
don't see the Restoration of the Gospel as happening simultaneous to the
restoration of the Church - or as the same thing. I see the
restoration of the Gospel as starting LONG prior to Joseph Smith's birth
(in the case of some of my wife's ancestors, as early as AD 1215 when
they were declared heretics by the Catholic Church and persecuted,
tortured and killed for nearly 700 years until her 5th great-grandfather
was baptized by Mormon missionaries in 1851and left the homeland he and
his people had vowed through blood-soaked centuries never to leave, all
in order to heed the call of a man they believed to be a prophet) and
continuing as I type this comment. I honor that terrible sacrifice of those dedicated "Christian heretics" as
part of "the restoration of the Gospel" - independent of the
establishment of the church those missionaries represented at the
tail-end of those indescribable centuries of faithful dedication to the
Gospel they understood in their hearts.
In other words, I see the restoration of the Gospel as a long process that extends
backward and forward through time longer than most people consider,
while the restoration of the Church was an event - even as the
subsequent organizational growth of the Church continues still.
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