Robert Mason Prophesied the Restoration 30 Years Before It Occurred

“I was taught by an aged man named Robert Mason, who lived in Simsbury, Connecticut. By many he was called a prophet; to my knowledge, many of his prophecies have been fulfilled. The sick were healed by him through the laying on of hands in the name of Jesus Christ, and devils were cast out. His son was a raving maniac. Father Mason did not claim that he had any authority to officiate in the ordinances of the gospel, nor did he believe that such authority existed on the earth. He did believe, however, that the Lord would raise up a people and a church, in the last days, with prophets, apostles, and all the gifts, powers and blessings, which it ever contained in any age of the world. He told me that he would not live to see it, but that I would. He said, 'There is no church of Christ, or kingdom of God upon the earth in your generation. There is no fruit of the church of Christ upon the earth. But, in the next generation, I the Lord will set up my kingdom and my church upon the earth, and the fruits of the kingdom and church of Christ, such as have followed the prophets, apostles, and saints in every dispensation, shall again be found in all their fullness upon the earth.' He was a good man and a true prophet, for his prophecies have been fulfilled. I spent many hours and days in his company, and I have often thought of his words. In the spring of 1830, the very season the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, I was in the woods, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and I was told that I should live to see the kingdom of God set up, and that I should be a conspicuous actor in it. I was baptized in 1833, and I have been a witness of the fulfillment of the words of Father Mason.”

— Wilford Woodruff, Leaves from My Journal, Chapter 1