Joseph Smith Reintroduced the Savior to the World

In the spring of 1820 a 14 year old Joseph, went into a grove of trees behind his house to pray. There, to quote Ezra Taft Benson “…the greatest event that has occurred in the world since the resurrection of the Master” took place. [1] Joseph Smith recorded in his history “… When the light rested upon me I saw ‍ two personages, whose brightness and glory‍ defy all description, standing‍ above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and aid, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"[2]

This event restored significant information about God the Father and His son Jesus Christ that had been lost. Throughout the history of the earth there has been a pattern of apostasy followed by restoration of eternal truths. Before Joseph Smith’s first vision, the last restoration was seen with Jesus, and his twelve apostles. With the death of the apostles went the authority to act in the name of Jesus Christ, and the fullness of His gospel. Knowledge of who the Savior is, and having a personal, direct relationship with him was taken from the earth.  That would all change through the faith of a boy with a burning question for the Lord.  He wanted to know which church to join to gain salvation for his soul.  In this one moment the veil of darkness that cloaked the world was rent, and truth about who God was and his eternal plan for His children was revealed.

According to an article written by Andrew C. Skinner, who was the Dean of Religious Education at BYU, at least 14 things were restored to the earth about God the Father and Jesus Christ:

• “· God the Father and Jesus Christ are alive and reside in heaven
• · Their relationship is a familial one—Father to Son.
• · They are separate and distinct personages, not one spiritual essence.
• · They possess a glory beyond description.
• · They look, act, and speak like human beings.
• · Humans are created in the image of the Father and the Son.
• · The Father and the Son hear and answer prayers.
• · The Father and the Son know individuals by name.
• · There is an opponent to righteousness; he is real.
• · That adversary to righteousness tries to thwart prayer.
• · Revelation was a continuing reality seventeen hundred years after the so-called era of primitive Christianity.
• · The Father testifies of His Son and the Son of God deals directly with humankind.
• · There had been an apostasy from Christ’s Church.
• · None of the churches on the earth in Joseph’s day possessed the fullness of Christ’s gospel.”[3]

Through Joseph Smith, God’s children would once again know Him. They would have access to Him, and have eternal ties with their loved ones. For the first time since Christ walked the earth, God’s children would have a fullness of knowledge, blessings and happiness. The impact of that spring day in 1820 would change millions of lives, yet powerfully and very personally affect every individual. Just as Joseph was given knowledge that God lives and Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world, we too can have a witness that we are loved and part of a great plan of happiness. This is the miracle of what happened in the grove, and the greatness of the Prophet Joseph. He reintroduced a personal, individual link to the Savior, and cleared the path home to our Heavenly Father.

The first vision was not known as the first vision to Joseph. In fact, he rarely spoke of it while alive. Historically we have four written accounts, the first one being recorded in 1832. He did not tell his family- his mother recalls that he came in to the house physically weakened she asked him what was wrong, and he replied: “Never mind all is well.—I am well enough off.” He went on to say that he had learned for himself that Presbyterianism was not true. The only person he confided in was a local minister he was good friends with. It was not until he had received instruction from Moroni that we have any accounts of his family knowing. It was not general knowledge amongst the early Saints; conversion was based on testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was not until the last people that knew Joseph personally were dead, and that living link to the prophet was gone; that the church begins to publicly tell the story of the First Vision and it becomes part of church literature. Firsthand accounts of the Prophet were no longer enough. Faithfulness demanded living testimony and a witness of the Book of Mormon from the Holy Ghost.

Ezra Taft Benson also said “Not all men will perceive the hand of God in this latter-day work. Jesus told Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3.) Without the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Ghost, there will be some who will see nothing more to the progress of the Church than a social curiosity”.

The same is true for Joseph. What kind of a man can found a church?  What are his personality traits? What kind of charisma does it take to gather thousands of People from two continents to gather as he did? What kind of person will compel hundreds to stand for hours in the pouring rain to hear him preach? To have many offer to give their lives for him? A man who would be involved in over 225 court cases, ridiculed in public for doing housework, and helping Emma care for the children, having a consistent habit of sharpening any tool loaned him before it was returned, and being grateful to anyone that offered help to him or his family. At one point he pronounced eternal blessing upon a man that had chopped firewood for Emma while he was in jail.

Joel’s third great grandfather Ezekiel Johnson was tied to a wagon wheel and whipped until he died, because he would not renounce his testimony of Joseph Smith. Ezekiel was not even a baptized member of the church when this occurred.

People loved him because he emanated the Love of the Savior. They could feel the love of Christ, when he spoke. They felt their hearts pricked with the familiarity of a former life, and a familiar person. They knew him, and he knew them.  People, who only had brief interactions with him, would be so profoundly affected that it was remembered throughout their entire lives. Joseph had a gift from God to lift others out of this world, and give them tastes of heaven, and reminders to their spirit of what they already knew. He lifted people to Christ, and brought Christ to them. Through Joseph, Christ had indeed been restored. What rejoicing it must have been for the Savior to know that there was a man on the earth that people’s spirits would respond to, and that would stir them up in remembrance of how much he loved them.

After what Parley P Pratt said was Joseph lifting a corner of the veil for him he said. “It was Joseph Smith who taught me how to prize the endearing relationships of father and mother, husband and wife; of brother and sister, son and daughter. It was from him that I learned that the wife of my bosom might be secured to me for time and all eternity; and that the refined sympathies and affections which endeared us to each other emanated from the fountain of divine eternal love. It was from him that I learned that we might cultivate these affections, and grow and increase in the same to all eternity; while the result of our endless union would be an offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, or the sands of the sea shore. … I had loved before, but I knew not why. But now I loved—with a pureness—an intensity of elevated, exalted feeling, which would lift my soul from the transitory things of this groveling sphere and expand it as the ocean. … In short, I could now love with the spirit and with the understanding also.”2

John Taylor, Prophet of the Lord and third President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said this about the Prophet Joseph Smith:

"Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fullness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord's anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!"[4]

[1] Ezra Taft Benson, in Conference Report, April 1971, 20.

[2] Joseph Smith-History 1:17

[3] http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/joseph-smith-and-doctrinal-restoration/1-impact-doctrinal-restoration-how-world-was-different.

[4] D&C 135:3

Symbolism & Meaning in Joseph Smith's Last Dreams

Recently we published a video article on Joseph Smith's last dream.  This video is discusses the symbolisms behind this dream and others.  Narrated by Paul Thomas Smith produced by Seth Adams.

Jospeh Smith's Last Dream

Joseph Smith had what some believe to be a prophetic dream only days prior to he and his brother, Hyrum Smith's, martyrdom, that was actually recorded by W. W. Phelps. Very few people have ever heard of this incredible dream, prior to now. Thanks to the work of Seth Adam Smith, who you might be familiar with for his outstanding LDS videos, the account of Joseph Smith's Last Dreamis now ready to be told in the most unique way...

Joseph Smith's Patriarchal Blessing

This blessing was given by Joseph Smith Sr.  It was given on December 9, 1934 in Kirtland, Ohio.  Oliver Cowdery as scribe:

Joseph, my son, I lay my hands upon thy head in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to confirm upon thee a father's blessing.  The Lord thy God has called thee by name out of the heavens: thou hast heard his voice from on high from time to time, even in thy youth.  The hand of the angel of his presence has been extended toward thee by which thou hast been lifted up and sustained; yea, the Lord has delivered thee from the hands of thine enemies and thou hast been made to rejoice in his salvation:  thou has sought to know his ways, and from thy childhood thou hast meditated much upon the great things of his law.  Thou hast suffered much in thy youth, and the poverty and afflictions of thy father's family have been a grief to thy soul.  Thou hast desired to see them delivered from bondage, for thou has loved them with a perfect love.  Thou hast stood by thy father, and like Shem, would have covered his nakedness, rather than see him exposed to shame: when the daughters of the Gentiles laughed, thy heart has been moved with a just anger to avenge thy kindred. Thou hast been an obedient son: the commands of thy father and the reproofs of thy mother, thou hast respected and obeyed - for all these things the Lord my God will bless thee.  Thou hast been called, even in thy youth to the great work of the Lord: to do a work in this generation which no man would do as thyself, in all things according to the will of the Lord.  A marvelous work and a wonder has the Lord wrought by thy hand, even that which shall prepare the way for the remnants of his people to come in among the Gentiles, with their fullness, as the tribes of Israel are restored.

I bless thee with the blessings of thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and even the blessings of thy father Joseph, the son of Jacob.  Behold, he looked after his posterity in the last days, when they should be scattered and driven by the Gentiles, and wept before the Lord: he sought siligently to know from whence the son should come who should bring forth the word of the Lord, by which they might be enlightened, and brought back to the true fold, and his eyes beheld thee, my son; his heart rejoiced and his soul was satisfied, and he said, As my blessings are to extend to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, as my father's blessing prevailed above the blessings of his progenitor, and as my branches are to run over the wall, and my seed are to inherit the choice land whereon the Zion of God shall stand in the last days, from among my seed, scattered with the Gentiles, shall a choice Seer arise whose bowles shall be as a fountain of truth, whose loins shall be girded with the girdle of righteousness, whose hands shall be lifted with acceptance before the God of Jacob to turn away his anger from his annointed, whose heart shall meditate great wisdom, whose intelligence shall circumscribe and comprehend the deep things of God, and whose mouth shall uter the law of the just; His feet shall stand upon the neck of his enemies, and he shall walk upon the ashes of those who seek his destruction: with wine and oil shall he be sustained, and he shall feed upon the heritage of Jacob his father: the just shall desire his society, and the upright in heart shall be his companions: No weapon formed against him shall prosper, and though the wicked mar him for a little season, he shall be like one rising up in the heat of wine - he shall roar in his strength, and the Lord shall put to flight his persecutors: he shall be blessed like the fruitful olive, and his memory shall be as sweet as the choice cluster of the first ripe grapes. Like a shief fully ripe, gathered into the garner, so shall he stand before the Lord, having produced a hundred fold. Thus spake my father Joseph. Therefore, my son, I know for a surety that those things will be fulfilled, and I confirm upon thee all these blessings.

Thou shalt like to do the work which the Lord shall command thee: Thou shalt hold the Keys of this ministry, even the presidency of this church, both in time and in eternity. Thy heart shall be enlarged, and thou shalt be able to fill up the measure of thy days according to the will of the Lord. Thou shalt speak the word of the Lord and the earth shall tremble; the mountains shall move and the rivers shall turn out of their course. Thou shalt escape the edge of the sword, and put to flight the armies of the wicked. At thy word the lame shall walk, the deaf shall hear and the blind shall see. Thou shalt be gathered to Zion and in the goodly land thou shalt enjoy thine inheritance; thy children and thy children's children to the latest generation; for thy name and the names of thy posterity shall be recorded in the book of the Lord, even in the book of blessings and genealogies, for their joy and benefit forever. And now, my son, what more shall I say? Thou art as a fruitful olive and a choice vine: thou shalt be laden with precious fruit. Thousands and tens of thousands shall come to a knowledge of the truth through thy ministry, and thou shalt rejoice with them in the Celestial Kingdom:

Thou shalt stand upon the earth when it shall reel to and fro as a drunken man, and be removed out of its place: thou shalt stand when the mighty judgments go forth to the destruction of the wicked: thou shalt stand on Mount Zion when the tribes of Jacob come shouting from the north, and with thy brethren, the sons of Ephraim, crown them in the name of Jesus Christ: Thou shalt see thy Redeemer come in the clouds of heaven, and with the just receive the hallowed throng with shouts of hallalujahs, praise the Lord. Amen

(Joseph Smith, Sr., Patriarchal Blessing Book no. 1, Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.)