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.
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.
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