Mormons consider Joseph Smith to be a prophet like Moses, a man through whom Jesus Christ restored His church as it existed anciently. In 1820, at the age of fourteen, Joseph was deeply perplexed about which church he should join. After reading a passage in the Bible that instructed any who lacked wisdom to "ask of God" (James 1:5), Joseph decided to turn directly to God for guidance. Early one morning in the spring of 1820, Joseph went to secluded woods to ask God which church he should join. As he was praying, God the Father and the Son appeared to him. Through this divine visitation, called by Mormons the "first vision," God restored the ancient Christian church.
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