The Lord has not ordained a single pastor in all of America to preach the gospel. That they want to is admirable, but they have no commission aside from their own inclinations. Show me in the scriptures where any man ever took that honor upon himself, without being set apart by the laying on of hands by those having authority. No man is an authority unto himself, but that is what pastors would have us believe. They are wrong.
"While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction...My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for THOSE who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one..." (John 17:12, 20-21)
Question: Was Jesus' praying for "those who will believe in me through Joseph's word, or through the message of his immediate disciples' Word? (So who exactly did Jesus pray for again? I mean why would Jesus bother to pray for down-the-line "apostates" who arose from a supposedly truncated Word of God?)
So...Jesus is specifically praying here for the believers who would arise from the First Testimony of Jesus Christ. (Sounds like pretty authoritative to me)
As for the "believers" who would rise up from a supposed "Second Testimony" of Jesus Christ, those "believers" won't even pray directly to Jesus even those the supposed "Nephite" disciples did (3 Nephi 19:18, 24-26). Those "believers" won't even go around mentioning that they worship Jesus even though those supposed "Nephite" disciples did (3 Nephi 11:17). Those "believers" won't go around highlighting that Jesus Christ is "their Lord & God" even though those supposed "Nephite" disciples did (3 Nephi 19:18). (Maybe LDS need to spend more time just reading their own Book of Mormon, starting with 3 Nephi).
Also, see John 1:12: "Yet to ALL ["all" in the Greek means "all"] who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." (John 1:12-13)
Did you catch that?..nothing "human" is involved in receiving, believing Christ. The Greek word for "right" in John 1:12 is exousia and it means "authority." So to ALL who receive & believe in Jesus' name--He (not any mere human authority) gives the authority to be His children (now why would Jesus need to give this authority if all folks on earth were already his spirit-kids in heaven in some pre-mortal existence?)