“Our whole strength rests on the validity of that [first] vision. It either occurred or it did not occur. If it did not, then this work is a fraud. If it did, then it is the most important and wonderful work under the heavens…

“Upon that unique and wonderful experience stands the validity of this Church…

“I knew a so-called intellectual who said the Church was trapped by its history. My response was that without that history we have nothing. The truth of that unique, singular, and remarkable event is the pivotal substance of our faith.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, General Conference – October 2002, “The Marvelous Foundation of our Faith” (Salt Lake City, UT: Ensign Magazine, November 2002), 80.