Joseph Smith

Hello Friends and Family!                      

Serving here in Richmond Hill has been great. I am loving the people that I've had the chance to meet, and can't wait to see what more the Lord has in store. I am so happy to be able to report that Taylor and Ronaldo have both been baptized! As a reminder, they were the two YSA individuals that Elder Taylor and I had the chance to teach since January/February in Auburn. Taylor was baptized last Sunday, and Ronaldo was baptized on Saturday (June 1st). They will truly make some of the greatest members of this Church, and I'm excited to see where the Lord will take them in their lives. I am humbled at the opportunity that the Lord gave me to be apart of just a little moment of their lifelong devotion and service to Jesus Christ. Since meeting with them, I was always amazed to see how the Spirit and the Book of Mormon were the conversion tools in their process of coming to the Lord. I know and testify that the Book of Mormon is the greatest tool in Missionary Work and bringing others to Jesus Christ. 

This month, on June 27th, we will remember the 175th Anniversary of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. As this date has been weighing heavily on my mind, I have contemplated what the Prophet Joseph Smith and his ministry has meant to me in my life. To be brief, and try to summarize my deep feelings on the subject, I turn to Doctrine and Covenants Section 135, which reads in part, "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!" I know and testify that Joseph Smith was among the greatest of Prophets, Seers, and Revealers. I know that the Lord needed a pure servant to act in undefiled faith to establish that which would never be crushed, destroyed, or diminished. No other man could have done what the Prophet Joseph Smith had done (including the martyrdom) except himself. I know it was his divine and foreordained calling to establish and bring forth a Kingdom that would never be crushed or apostasize, as other dispensations had been lead to do in the past.  That is what we mean when we teach that the Prophet Joseph Smith was the "Prophet of the Restoration" or "Leader of the Last Dispensation".  Joseph Smith Prophesied, Discerned, and Healed beyond the simple capacity of a man. Here are some examples. 

Joseph Smith could discern the Spirits of others. A man acting, as it were, as an undercover agent came to Nauvoo, tried to work his way into the good graces of the Prophet, then invited him out for a walk. On the crest of a hill the Prophet stopped, called him by name, and said, “You have a boat and men in readiness to kidnap me, but you will not make out to do it.”  It was true. The man had planned to kidnap him, but instead he went away cursing.  Joseph once wrote in a letter, “It is in vain to try to hide a bad spirit from the eyes of them who are spiritual, for it will show itself in speaking and in writing, as well as in all our other conduct. It is also needless to make great pretensions when the heart is not right: the Lord will expose it to the view of faithful Saints.” I know that this ability, to be able to discern and recognize good from bad is a promise to all the of the Latter-day Saints. Many of those in the Church, and especially any individual that has served a faithful mission, would know what I talk about. The ability to feel immediate danger coming, or feel a subtle "snake in the field" towards those that seek to destroy and dismantle the testimony we have the Jesus Christ and the Restored Gospel. This ability to discern is not just a spiritual one, but also that of physical.

Joseph Smith healed by and through the Authority of the very Priesthood that he himself had restored. On the occasion now known to most as “the day of God’s power” (July 22, 1839) Joseph Smith arose from a sick bed of cholera and went across the river to Montrose, Iowa. Dozens were instantaneously healed that day. His journal says only, “Many of the sick were this day raised up by the power of God.” However, like any worthy priesthood holder, he does NOT add, “and I was the major instrument.” We learn from others’ journals, not surprisingly, that he led that procession of faith.

Elder Truman G. Madsen spoke on Joseph Smith, and said the following, "When someone who had known him was asked to name the greatest miracle she had seen in the first generation of the Church, she replied that it was Joseph Smith.  The Prophet was a God-made man. It will never do to say, as critics are beginning to say, “This man was a genius.” So saying, they wish to reduce a most remarkable movement to its leader, its founder, and, as they believe, its origin. True, he was a genius; he was a brilliant man. It takes a brilliant man even to comprehend, let alone to write, as he comprehended and wrote, the glorious insights that came to him, even granting that they came from the Lord. He was a man of superb intelligence. Nevertheless, that does not explain what the world calls "Mormonism". What explains "Mormonism" is that Joseph Smith at his greatest, as a prophet, was not merely Joseph Smith. He was a prophet, made so by the power of God. He was a modern miracle."

I take it among the highest honors and blessings to have the knowledge that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. It has been apart of my testimony in the past, but only recently the Holy Ghost has given me an even greater witness that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I know because the Lord revealed this witness to me, that any other person can receive this same witness in their own right. I invite each of you to pray and ask God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, if Joseph Smith was a Prophet! The answer will come, as it always does when we ask with proper faith.

""Joseph, this is my Beloved;

Hear him!” Oh, how sweet the word!

Joseph’s humble prayer was answered,

And he listened to the Lord.

Oh, what rapture filled his bosom,

For he saw the living God,

Oh, what rapture filled his bosom,

For he saw the living God"

Until Next Week-

Elder Robb