Dawn

There have been many that take upon themselves the role of “wolves in sheep's clothing”, ranging from false prophets, pastors, advertisements, and politicians, pop-stars and even friends who want to be the center of attention.

Some have heard of Joseph Smith. Some hold the name in reverence, others in apathy, and some believe he was a false prophet who started a satanic religion concerning aliens from different worlds, coming to bring the man the scourge of high energy drinks in the forms of temples [well, something like that].

But who was Joseph Smith?

...The Farmboy who Plows the Fields...

Joseph Smith Jr was born in December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont. He was no-one special, just a farm-boy with less education then the normal American high school student of today.

The excitement of the Second Reawakening [a time of great religious revival in the upper eastern United States] caused the young Joseph [about the age of 14] to wonder as to why their were so many ideas rooting from the same text in the bible. So much conflict caused him to wonder which church God wanted him to join, or what he needed to do to save his soul.

His family made it a practice to read the bible, and it became natural for Joseph to read the text for himself. He came across a scripture in James 1:5 that reads “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

The scripture hit him hard: why wouldn't God tell him, a forgotten farm boy, what he needed to do. As it said, he would receive and answer without being chastised. He concluded that he needed to pray in earnest as the scripture directed, or remain in uncertainty and darkness.

Being a farm boy he went to the closest place he knew he could be alone; early one morning, he went into the woods near his home and began to pray vocally.

As he prayed, he relayed the following experience:

“…I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me….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 said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

This was the beginning of a new dispensation; a time of revelation and God’s works begun anew in a world of confusion and unrest.

The famine that Amos spoke of was soon to end. God called Joseph Smith as the first prophet of His restored work.

A marvelous work and a wonder…

Joseph Smith continued to serve God all his life.

In order to show the world that His gospel was restored, God [through an angel] showed Joseph where ancient records were that testified that Jesus visited his “sheep” in the Americas as well as in the old world. These records were translated under God’s supervision and were published as the Book of Mormon: Another Testimony of Jesus Christ.

In addition to supporting doctrines of the Bible, God restored the Priesthood authority and other doctrinal foundations that had been long lost or distorted through revelation.

This all was, as Issiah predicted, “...a marvelous work and a wonder....”

So…What about it?

The bible is the word of God.

A claim to being a prophet should not be taken lightly, as Christ Himself warned of false prophets in the last days. However, He tells us how to decern by saying “by their fruits, ye shall know them.”

The Book of Mormon is, metaphorically speaking, a fruit of Joseph Smith's lifelong work. It is comparable to the Bible and within it's pages shows the world that Christ is not restricted to the old world, nor is God dead or ignoring us.

The promise the Book of Mormon contains is the same as in John 14:26, that the truth is always manifest as it is received and asked upon to God in prayer.

Prayer is God's way for us to talk to Him. We knell down [in a quiet place] and begin by addressing our Heavenly Father. We then ask for strength to accept our situations, our daily needs, thanks for what He's already given, and then ask for guidance [in this case, knowing truth], and end our prayer in Christ name.

As we ponder the information before us, we can be assured that, although we may not understand everything, the spirit can testify that the gospel God gave us is true.

The Fall into Night

We see patterns in the lifestyle of mankind: nations rise and fall, crops grow and whither, we prosper and fail.

The same applies in spiritual matters. In the post “patterns”, we learn that prophets were called and people would prosper. Prophet is rejected [either slain, stoned or casted out], the people would be without the watchful and protecting aid God can provide directly.

Christ was, in essence, the greatest prophet ever to walk the earth [He had authority and communicated with God on a constant basis]. When He established His church, He left His earthly authority to His apostles.

With Christ ascended into heaven, now the great work He had set up rested upon the shoulders of His chosen followers.

However, as forewarned by prophets of old, the pure church was altered. These changes lead  came about because of external and internal causes.

The External Bludgeon

All throughout Christ ministry, The Sanhedrin [composed of the Sadducee, Pharisees and other Jewish parties] saw Jesus as a threat to their well-being. After killing the savior, the Sanhedrin continued their persecution against Christ followers in order to stamp it out.

Aside from the Sanhedrin, the roman empire later became the greatest outside threat to the rising religion. Although they did not see Christ as a threat, the later Emperor Nero used Christians as a scapegoat. Anyone publicly calling themselves Christian were killed or used in entertainment in arenas. Apostles were killed, and anyone else baring the priesthood with it. Those who were not killed lost the authority because of internal reasons.

The Internal Virus

The latter end of the New Testament attest to this, as the apostles struggled to maintain a vastly growing and hated church in an age of slow messengers and greed.

Although not new, these doctrines were introduced to a different array of people who considered it fantastic, and even beneficial.

They embraced the ideas, but small practices of their past lives lead to small changes of the doctrines in their minds.

Either through evil designs or simple misunderstanding, the pure gospel was distorted among its believers, and when the last Apostle disappeared it was left in man's hands.

The Dreary Night.

With no authority running Christ church, the Gospel in records were left to be destroyed or interpreted by unauthorized men. Members of this church were forced into hiding. Nothing could be practiced in the open. For centuries later, man fell into bondage of kings and corrupt priest.

A Fire Reigniting...

Indeed, many gospel principles were distorted.

However, the light of the gospel was not extinguished.

Although long persecuted, the remnant members of Christ church were saved by Constantine, one of Rome's last emperors.

Christianity became the center of interest during the dark ages; scholars, philosophers and monks came together to compile and translate the ancient Hebrew scrolls and put them together into a codex format [or book] that would be the first bibles.

But more needed to be done.

The age of Reformation* came about when men such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and others saw further need to bring back the gospel.

With the new invention of the printing press, the bible was able to be mass produced, and translation work from people like William Tyndale sacrificed* much to allow the common farmer to read its sacred text.

The burning desire to come closer to God burst* throughout Europe, but more still had to be done.

Due to increasing pressures in Europe and the discovery of the Americas, pilgrims left where they could practice religious freedom without persecution.

The Enlightenment [the age after the Renaissance and Reformation] lead to new ideas that promoted freedom of thought and religion in several countries, including England, the United States, France, and eventually to the continuing push for religious freedom around the world.

But through these powerful centuries of trial and fire, simple but important Gospel principles were still missing.

Like days of old, God through great men pushed the world in a time of great struggle and opened up a new Dawn.

Coming in Dawn....

When the time was right, God prepared a prophet to seal and restore the lost pieces. The prophet's name is both a word of reverence and disgust among all nations, a name that belonged to a boy who only wanted to know the truth.

This prophet's name is Joseph Smith.

* These links are not officially endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The links from BYU are part of a documentary on the creation and translation of the KJV Bible.

The Man Named Christ

God's Gospel has been on the earth since the beginning, and by the time Christ came into the world, the foundation of the Gospel had been rooted deep in many cultures [knowingly or not]

As last week’s post pointed out, God provides living witnesses to provide and expound on solid truths.

However, ancient prophets have pointed to the day that Jesus Christ Himself would come.

So who exactly is Jesus Christ, and what was His purpose for coming to earth?

This week’s post’s aim is to simply review Christ life and his purpose not only for reestablishing His church [as prophets of old did] but to redeem mankind from their fallen state.

The Life of Christ in a Nutshell

Around 2000 years ago, Christ was born in humble beginnings in a small town at Jerusalem called Bethlehem.

He grew up as a carpenter, and grew in knowledge since youth.

He went to a man named John [a cousin of his] who himself was a prophet to be baptized. After being baptized, Christ continued to spend time preparing for his earthly ministry.

When he was old enough, Christ began to teach the Gospel among his people [the Jews] and people not of the covenant [the Gentiles].

He taught his disciples [followers] eternal truths, reestablished His gospel after years of tradition and corruption.

He gave his apostles [or prophets] authority to act in His name, to heal and serve just as He did when he was out and about.

He did not, however, come to destroy the truth that existed, but to “fulfill” and bring more light and knowledge to man.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Long before Christ, God commanded his people to sacrifice their best livestock without blemish to point to the Sacrifice that would ultimately save man from their everlasting guilt, pain and death both physical and spiritual.

Christ was symbolically that best livestock without blemish. He had to be perfect in order to pay man’s eternal debt.

At the end of His life, Christ suffered in a secluded garden near Jerusalem for the guilt and sins of EVERY HUMAN BEING, past, present and future.

Christ was shortly afterward killed by the people he served to overcome one of man’s greatest fears: Christ had overcome physical death.

Upon defeating both spiritual and physical death, Christ ascended back to his Heavenly Father, with a charge to his apostles to carry on His saving work.

Epilogue

Christ had forever changed the course of mankind, and had left a miraculous legacy that still inspires millions both within and without Christianity. Man from every era, creed, faith, nation, ethnicity and background can leap for joy, knowing that death will NEVER be final.

However, this greatest leap to mankind also dove into the darkest times in human history.

Next week's post will go into the dark ages, when pressures within and without the church would distort the purity of the Gospel.

Patterns

Last week, we find out that God is a loving being who cares for us.

So if He communicates with us, how does He?

God declares the truth [and his plans] by three ways:

1) Testimony of the spirit [or the Holy Ghost, the most credential witness]

2) Testimony of records/individuals with experiences of the spirit [other parties with good credentials]

3) Testimony of living witnesses given the authority to reinforce the testimony of records, individuals, and of the spirit. [second to most credible source]

The goal of this weeks post is to help focus on understanding the need for prophets [or those living witnesses given the authority]

Messengers and Messages

Since the beginning of man’s time on earth, God gave certain men authority to act in his name [that authority is known as the Holy Priesthood]. These valiant men, although not perfect, were called as prophets to declare God’s word.

History shows that when people follow the message the prophets have, they are blessed. When people don’t follow the message and choose to rely on their own wisdom, nations struggle/ fail.

Riding the Choice Cycle

The Old Testament in the bible is a prime example of these patterns:

Adam was the first prophet, but his children began to stray and become disobedient. Saddened and concerned for the future, God cleaned the earth by water but spared Noah and his family for remaining true to his commandments.

Noah’s descendants prospered, but again fell into unbelief.

Abraham, another prophet, was blessed himself to have a covenanted people [who would be blessed if righteous].

His children prospered, and were later given a land to live in. But again rejected the prophet’s judgment and chose to have kings like the surrounding nations.

With those kings, the Israelites [Abraham’s children] found themselves in a cycle of good kings who lead to prosperity verses wicked kings who took away many freedoms and choices of the people.

These are but a few instances where God has extended his authority when times were right, and when He had to withdraw.

Revoked. Renewed.

Picture a doctor who frequently does more harm then help; as law dictates, in order to protect the community, the bad doctor must have his license taken away.

To prevent false prophets to act in His name, God withdraws his authority [or priesthood] and restores it at the right time, place and with the right person.

When the time is right and man is ready to listen and change, God brings back his authority and gives them to new prophets and worthy men.

Video Illustrations

Just like last week, here's another movie to tighten up loose ends:

[click here in case the video does not show up, or switch browsers with Adobe Flash installed]

Although this movie is outdated [Thomas S. Monson is our current prophet], it shows that God gives us fellow human beings to stand as witnesses of both the dangers and the blessings that come from following His gospel.

To finish this post, consider this one last short clip: it is a clip from a modern prophet who puts things into perspective.

[click here in case the video does not show up, or switch browsers with Adobe Flash installed]

The message is simple. To some, it may even seem obvious. But consider in the simplicity the feeling in association with that video; Such feelings come because they are true and they are told by a true messenger from God.

And when we heed the message of the prophet's voice, we heed the message of God.