Also known as The Restitution Of All Things and The Restoration
"But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses; they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, AND NONE SAITH RESTORE. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come?" --- [Isaiah 42: 22-23 - Bible]
{Why is it that over a billion people who claim to be Christians following the teachings of Jesus Christ believe that the Catholic Church is a continuation of the Church found in the New Testament, set up by Jesus Christ, yet that continuation has not only omitted key doctrines such as The Laying On Of Hands For The Gift Of The Holy Ghost --- [Acts 8: 9-23 - Bible] / Baptism For The Dead --- [1st Corinthians 15: 29 - Bible] / The Melchizedek Priesthood --- [Hebrews 7: 15-17 & 26 and Psalm 110: 3-4 - Bible] and other doctrines; as well as adding doctrines that are not found in that first Church established by Jesus Christ - such as infant baptism, the name of the church as Catholic, and the offices of Cardinal and Pope? Furthermore, although the people of the Jews wanted The Saviour's death and crucifixion, the actual carrying out of the Saviour's crucifixion, the actual nailing of the Saviour's hands and wrists and feet to the cross, was carried out by the Romans (The Italians)! The Romans (The Italians) actually crucified The Saviour! The Italians who crucified The Saviour furthermore persecuted and murdered hundreds if not thousands of Christians for the next 200 years! Sometimes the Christians were put into gladiator arenas to face trained killers called gladiators. Of course the gladiators always won and the Christians died to the glees (laughter and entertainment) of thousands of other Italians watching them die: This is the reason that John The Beloved (The writer of Revelations) wrote: "THAT GREAT CITY, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones and pearls ..." And in her was found THE BLOOD OF PROPHETS, AND OF SAINTS, and of all that was slain upon the earth." --- [Revelation 18:16 & 24 - Bible] "And the woman that thou sawest is THAT GREAT CITY, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." ... "The seven heads are SEVEN MOUNTAINS ON WHICH THE WOMAN SITTETH." ROME sits on seven mountains and The Catholic Church in ROME is the only church that fulfills --- [Revelation 17: 6 - Bible] ---"And I saw the woman drunken with THE BLOOD OF THE SAINTS, AND WITH THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS OF JESUS ... These were Christians the cruel Romans (Italians) killed! Members of His Church were called SAINTS back then; in these Latter-Days they are called Latter-Day Saints - because all members of the true Church of Jesus Christ are called Saints, whether then or now, which is affirmed in multiple scriptures in the Bible such as, "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, CALLED TO BE SAINTS, WITH ALL THAT IN EVERY PLACE CALL UPON THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST our Lord, both theirs and ours. " --- [1st Corinthians 1:2 - Bible] Other Christians, or Saints, were dealt with more harshly, perhaps, by their cruel Italian masters: they were fed to the lions! Seriously, you really think these people killing the Saints of God could be the continuation of the Christian Church??? Heaven Forbid! And shame on you if you still think this after learning of their evil ways! What happened was that a few of the Romans (a few of the more righteous Italians) after approximately 200 years of killing Christians, including feeding them to the lions as sport, started having a little more heart for the Christians and started thinking, Perhaps the Christian faith has some merits in it after all. So some of them, including Constantine, started changing things and before long a church was formed, based loosely on the Christian religion. But since they had killed off all of the Lord's Melchizedek Priesthood authorities, and with those killings went the knowledge of what should and shouldn't be in the Church, there was no revelation from God, no Priesthood authority, no gift of the Holy Ghost, no power and miracles, nor much of a resemblance to the Church found in the New Testament, for this new church formed by men, the Catholic Church, to claim that it was a continuation of the Christian faith (yet they did!). Out with the prophets and apostles and other authorized Melchizedek Priesthood offices and in with the Cardinals and the Popes (nowhere mentioned in the New Testament)! The Church of Jesus Christ was no longer on the face of the earth. The Great Apostasy mentioned multiple times in The Bible, had deeply taken hold. "... for that day shall not come, EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST ... AND ... GOD SHALL SEND THEM STRONG DELUSION, that they should believe A LIE ..." --- [2nd Thessalonians 2: 1-12 - Bible] That "lie" (The Catholic Church with a succession of Popes pretending they are Prophets receiving revelation from God) continued without much conflict for another 1000 years, until men like Martin Luther and John Wesley and others began noticing that doctrines found in the New Testament were missing in the Catholic Church. So what happened? Protesters started dropping away from the Catholic Church. But they also made the same errors as The Mother of Harlots (The Catholic Church) had made: they thought they could form churches on their own and not allow God, not give God the prerogative, to form His own Church. Just like the Italians before them had done, these Protesters, called Protestants, Told God What He Can & Cannot Do! And thus the Lutheran Church and the Methodist Church and the Church of England and the Baptists and the Adventists and hundreds of other churches formed with bits and pieces of the Gospel in them: but NONE SAITH RESTORE.}
{But the Lord had other plans. Plans to RESTORE, RESTITUTE, REFRESH.}
"To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest: And this is THE REFRESHING: yet they would not hear." --- [Isaiah 28: 12 - Bible]
{yet they would not hear." This wonderful prophecy of the Restoration of the Church, even tells how most people will react to it: yet they would not hear." Most people reject the message of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - the message of the restored Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ; the message of THE REFRESHING and THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS, when THE GOD OF HEAVEN [SHALL] SET UP [HIS} KINGDOM.
One of several main differences between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and other churches is that other churches ALL have only bits and pieces of The Bible in them, bits and pieces of the doctrines of The Bible in them, whereas, the Church of Jesus Christ, because it is the Church which Jesus Himself established, has all the doctrines of The Bible in it! This is one of several real validaties that you can use to recognize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as the true Church --- because all the pieces of the puzzle are there ... If you see a doctrine of salvation in The Bible that is not in the Church, there is a reason for it not being there: in the Catholic Church and all Protestant Churches such as Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc. --- the reason such doctrines are not in their churches is because they are NOT The Church that Jesus Christ himself established! They are churches built up by men, and thus do not have all of the doctrines of Jesus Christ in them. The true Church of Jesus Christ will be BUILT by Jesus Christ himself AND because it is BUILT by Jesus Christ himself, He will not forget what doctrines it has in it, nor will He forget the prophecies that need to be fulfilled as promised ... such as the prophecy of Elijah the Prophet coming before the dreadful day of the Lord or else the earth will be cursed (see Malachi 4: 5-6). Nor will He forget the prophecies of THE GOD OF HEAVEN SETTING UP [HIS OWN} KINGDOM, and THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS, and THE REFRESHING.
{Now pay attention again to the phrase in the above prophecy by Isaiah THE REFRESHING.
THE REFRESHING is paramount to understanding the below prophecies. Let's make it easy for you and repeat it: }
"To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest: And this is THE REFRESHING: yet they would not hear." --- [Isaiah 28: 12 - Bible]
"But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He {Christ} hath SO FULFILLED. {Things like bringing the Gospel to the people of the Jews; the Atonement; His dying and being Resurrected. These He suffered and SO FULFILLED. }
Repent ye therefore, and BE CONVERTED,
{Converted to what? Converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! And why?}
that your sins may be blotted out,
{Only in the true Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is there the power to blot out sins! Only Jesus can forgive sins, and Jesus does not forgive sins in false churches! What does it take for you to understand this?! If you are not in the Church that Jesus Himself built, no matter how many "Mother of God, please forgive us of our sins" that you recite, it won't happen: your sins are still there! Unforgiven! For God is a God of ORDER, and that ORDER is reserved for members of The Church that He Himself, Jesus Christ, SET UP. Repent ye therefore, and BE CONVERTED, }
WHEN THE TIMES OF REFRESHING SHALL COME FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD;
{Who else could it COME from? It has to be FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD;
{ THE REFRESHING is another way of saying RESTORE.
It also means and is another way of saying, The RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS
To REFRESH means to make FRESH again. To make it alive again, or if you like, to make it smell sweet again after it smelled foul. The Catholic Church made things smell foul, because they had killed the truth and were claiming a dead body, the dead body of the Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ was still alive. But it wasn't. They had killed it with 200 years of killing Christians in gladiator arenas and feeding them to the lions. It was a corpse, manner of speaking. And the Protestant Churches continued with this stink of trying to make a dead corpse into the living Gospel and Church which had been killed over a thousand years before Martin Luther started the Lutheran Church, etc. etc. Only could a complete and total REFRESHING, RESTORATION, and RESTITUTION of all things bring back the same Church and Gospel found in the New Testament. And this could only COME FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD; }
And He shall send Jesus Christ, WHICH BEFORE WAS PREACHED UNTO YOU:
{The BEFORE referred to here means His preaching in The Bible, as found in The New Testament.}
WHOM THE HEAVEN MUST RECEIVE UNTIL THE TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS,
{ THE HEAVEN MUST RECEIVE (Jesus) UNTIL THE TIMES (That He Jesus would come back and REFRESH, RESTORE, and RESTITUTE His Church that the Jews, and the Romans who became the Italians who became the Catholics, had destroyed). That REFRESHING, RESTORATION, AND RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS is what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is all about ...}
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." --- [Acts 3: 18-21 - Bible]
"But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the kind Nebuchadnezzar WHAT SHALL BE IN THE LATTER-DAYS. Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these:" --- [Daniel 2: 28 - Bible]
"And in the days of these kings SHALL THE GOD OF HEAVEN SET UP A KINGDOM, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Forasmuch as thou sawest that THE STONE WAS CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN WITHOUT HANDS,
{WITHOUT HANDS means WITHOUT (HUMAN) HANDS, or in other words, man did not cause it to happen, but, as it is written: SHALL THE GOD OF HEAVEN SET UP A KINGDOM }
and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the GREAT GOD HATH MADE KNOWN to the King WHAT SHALL COME TO PASS hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." --- [Daniel 2: 44-45 - Bible]
"The keys of the Kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence SHALL THE GOSPEL {And CHURCH} ROLL FORTH unto the ends of the earth, AS THE STONE WHICH IS CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN WITHOUT HANDS SHALL ROLL FORTH, until it has filled the whole earth." --- [D&C 65: 2]
{And here is how THE GOD OF HEAVEN [began to] SET UP (HIS) KINGDOM again in these Latter-Days ...}
"1 Owing to the many reports which have been put in circulation by evil-disposed and designing persons, in relation to the rise and progress of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all of which have been designed by the authors thereof to militate against its character as a Church and its progress in the world---I have been induced to write this history, to disabuse the public mind, and put all inquirers after truth in possession of the facts, as they have transpired, in relation both to myself and the Church, so far as I have such facts in my possession.
2 In this history I shall present the various events in relation to this Church, in truth and righteousness, as they have transpired, or as they at present exist, being now [1838] the eighth year since the organization of the said Church.
3 I was born in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and five, on the twenty-third day of December, in the town of Sharon, Windsor county, State of Vermont. … My father, Joseph Smith, Sen., left the State of Vermont, and moved to Palmyra, Ontario (now Wayne) county, in the State of New York, when I was in my tenth year, or thereabouts. In about four years after my father's arrival in Palmyra, he moved with his family into Manchester in the same county of Ontario---
4 His family consisting of eleven souls, namely, my father, Joseph Smith; my mother, Lucy Smith (whose name, previous to her marriage, was Mack, daughter of Solomon Mack); my brothers, Alvin (who died November 19th, 1823, in the 26th year of his age), Hyrum, myself, Samuel Harrison, William, Don Carlos; and my sisters, Sophronia, Catherine, and Lucy.
5 Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, "Lo, here!" and others, "Lo, there!" Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist.
6 For, notwithstanding the great love which the converts to these different faiths expressed at the time of their conversion, and the great zeal manifested by the respective clergy, who were active in getting up and promoting this extraordinary scene of religious feeling, in order to have everybody converted, as they were pleased to call it, let them join what sect they pleased; yet when the converts began to file off, some to one party and some to another, it was seen that the seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the converts were more pretended than real; for a scene of great confusion and bad feeling ensued---priest contending against priest, and convert against convert; so that all their good feelings one for another, if they ever had any, were entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions.
7 I was at this time in my fifteenth year. My father's family was proselyted to the Presbyterian faith, and four of them joined that church, namely, my mother, Lucy; my brothers Hyrum and Samuel Harrison; and my sister Sophronia.
8 During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.
9 My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others.
10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?
11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which 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.
12 Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of THE DIFFERENT SECTS UNDERSTOOD THE SAME PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE SO DIFFERENTLY AS TO DESTROY ALL CONFIDENCE IN SETTLING THE QUESTION BY AN APPEAL TO THE BIBLE.
13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to "ask of God," concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.
14 So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
15 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.
16 But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction---not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being---just at this moment of great alarm, I SAW A PILLAR OF. LIGHT EXACTLY OVER MY HEAD, ABOVE THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE SUN, which descended gradually until it fell upon me." --- [Joseph Smith History 1: 1-16]
"1 ARISE, SHINE; FOR THY LIGHT IS COME, AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD IS RISEN UPON THEE.
2 For, behold, THE DARKNESS {Of the Great Apostasy} SHALL COVER THE EARTH, and gross darkness the people; BUT THE LORD SHALL ARISE UPON THEE, AND HIS GLORY SHALL BE SEEN UPON THEE. { WHEN THE LORD SHALL BUILD UP ZION, HE SHALL APPEAR IN HIS GLORY" --- [Psalm 102: 16 - Bible]}
3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy LIGHT, and kings to THE BRIGHTNESS OF THY RISING." --- [Isaiah 60: 1-3 - Bible]
{ Arise and THE BRIGHTNESS OF THY RISING is not in reference to the Saviour Himself, but rather to His OTHER BODY, "THE CHURCH, WHICH IS HIS BODY" --- [Ephesians 1: 22-23 - Bible] & "He is the head of THE BODY, THE CHURCH" --- [Colossians 1: 18 - Bible] even The CHURCH of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints which would ARISE {Giving new birth, as in the dawn of a new day and time. Indeed, this RISING was the ushering in of The Dispensation of The Fulness of Times in which all of the powers and authorities and keys as well as the unfulfilled prophecies from previous times or dispensations would come forth to be fulfilled and revealed to man, such as The Coming of Elijah the Prophet [Malachi 4: 5-6] and many other things revealed in the Old and New Testaments that either did not exist, had been corrupted and lost, or were unfulfilled as yet}
SHINE, FOR THY LIGHT IS COME, AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD IS RISEN UPON THEE.
{Indeed, The Church of Jesus Christ in this last Dispensation (period or time of the world according to the Lord's Plan of Salvation) ushered in with the Lord Himself appearing in His GLORY. THE LORD IS RISEN UPON THEE refers to The Lord Himself ushering in, beginning, starting, jumpstarting, REFRESHING, RESTORING, RESTITUTING and fulfilling the prophecy, "And in the days of these kings SHALL THE GOD OF HEAVEN SET UP A KINGDOM}
If The Church of Jesus Christ had continued (as The Catholics claim) The God of Heaven would have had no need to SET UP A KINGDOM, as prophesied. There would have been no need for THE REFRESHING, The Restoration, The RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS. But The Church of Jesus Christ did not continue because the Jews and the Romans (The Italians) who later became The Catholics corrupted and perverted and destroyed the foundations of The Melchizedek Priesthood and The Gift of The Holy Ghost by which continuing revelation (or communication from God) was cut off. And this
REFRESHING, Restoration, RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS
was prophecied not to happen EXCEPT there come an Apostasy first:
"... that day shall not come, EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST ... AND ... GOD SHALL SEND THEM The STRONG DELUSION of the Popes and of The Catholic Church and of the subsequent Protestant Churches which followed , that they should believe A LIE ..." --- [2nd Thessalonians 2: 1-12 - Bible] (The LIE that the Gospel was still on the face of the earth, even though a thousand and one churches had perverted it, had corrupted it, had destroyed it so that The Church of Jesus Christ found in The New Testament was no longer on the face of the earth). The Fulness of the Gospel (the only way The Gospel can be because God does not work in parts, in portions, in UN-FULNESS!) wasn't on the face of the earth any longer, and in its stead reigned THE DARKNESS Of the Great Apostasy caused by the Jews and the Romans who became The Catholics (COVERING) THE EARTH; and therefore, He shall send Jesus Christ, WHICH BEFORE WAS PREACHED UNTO YOU (preached in The New Testament) WHOM THE HEAVEN MUST RECEIVE UNTIL THE TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS. The Lord had come back to the earth to RESTORE, REFRESH, AND RESTITUTE HIS CHURCH as in olden days. And in so coming, He did not come to renew His Church in the same manner as when He first started His Church as found in the New Testament, with a mortal body subject to death and unglorified as yet; but rather for this REFRESHING, for this RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS, The Lord appeared in His IMMORTAL & GLORIFIED BODY to His chosen Restitutory Prophet, a 14 year old boy named, Joseph Smith. In appearing in His Glorified State, the Lord, fulfilled another Biblical prophecy: }
"WHEN THE LORD SHALL BUILD UP ZION, HE SHALL APPEAR IN HIS GLORY." --- [Psalm 102: 16 - Bible]
Let US, the Holy Ghost and I, remind you, that Psalm 102: 16 can NOT be in reference to the Lord building up His original Church as found in the New Testament, because in the New Testament He did not APPEAR IN HIS GLORY, but rather just in His unglorified, mortal body.
"17 It no sooner APPEARED than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. 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!
{referring again to Acts 3:18-21}: And He shall send Jesus Christ, WHICH BEFORE WAS PREACHED UNTO YOU: Hear Him!
God The Firstborn Son (aka The Saviour, Jesus Christ, "The Son of Man which is in Heaven" --- [John 3:13 - Bible])
on the right hand of (that "Man which is in Heaven") God The Father
And to show you that Joseph Smith wasn't the first to see God The Father & God The Son together, and to also show you that The Holy Ghost was also a participant at this meeting: that all three members of the GODHEAD was there: The Father, The Son, AND The Holy Ghost, Stephen also had a similar experience:
"1 But he [Stephen], BEING FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw THE GLORY OF GOD, AND JESUS STANDING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and THE SON OF MAN STANDING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD." --- [Acts 7:55-56 - Bible]
{In the above picture, look at it again, God The Father is THE MAN IN HEAVEN. He is the God-Man on the right side in the picture. God The Son, is THE SON OF MAN, or in other words, The Son of THE MAN IN HEAVEN. He is the Man on the right hand of The Father, which because they face us, is the God-Man on the left in the picture.}
18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)---and which I should join.
19 I WAS ANSWERED THAT I MUST JOIN NONE OF THEM, FOR THEY WERE ALL WRONG; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT THEY DENY THE POWER THEREOF." --- [Joseph Smith History 1: 17-19]
"1 This know also that IN THE LAST DAYS PERILOUS TIMES SHALL COME.
2 For men shall be ...
7 EVER LEARNING, AND NEVER ABLE TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.
8 these ... RESIST THE TRUTH ..."
{As Isaiah said, And this is THE REFRESHING: yet they would not hear." --- [Isaiah 28: 12 - Bible] }
5 HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF. --- [2nd Timothy 3: 1-2 & 7-8 & 5 - Bible] {Is what millions of Catholics and Protestants DO! They DENY THE POWER [OF GOD] THEREOF.
They Tell God What He Can & Cannot Do! --- They Don't Let God Be God!!!
One of the most damaging things they do is tell God and man that the Church of Jesus Christ has continued: that the Catholic Church is the same Church set up in the New Testament. This is damaging for many reasons: one of the primary reasons of which is that it denies the need for a complete RESTORING, REFRESHING, & RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS. It does not allow God to "SET UP HIS OWN KINGDOM" as prophecied in Daniel 2:28 & 44. Those who continue to believe such damaging things, such as believing The Catholic Church is the continuation of The Church of Jesus Christ, continue to
TELL GOD WHAT HE CAN & CANNOT DO.
They continue to resist God and
NOT LET GOD BE GOD! }.
"20 HE AGAIN FORBADE ME TO JOIN WITH ANY OF THEM; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, "Never mind, all is well---I am well enough off." I then said to my mother, "I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true." It seems as though the adversary was aware, at a very early period of my life, that I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom; else why should the powers of darkness combine against me? Why the opposition and persecution that arose against me, almost in my infancy?
21 Some few days after I had this vision, I happened to be in company with one of the Methodist preachers, who was very active in the before mentioned religious excitement; and, conversing with him on the subject of religion, I took occasion to give him an account of the vision which I had had. I was greatly surprised at his behavior; he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them.
22 I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the sects---all united to persecute me.
23 It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself.
24 However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise.
25 So it was with me. I had actually seen A LIGHT, AND IN THE MIDST OF THAT LIGHT I SAW TWO PERSONAGES, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation.
26 I had now got my mind satisfied so far as the sectarian world was concerned---that it was not my duty to join with any of them, but to continue as I was until further directed. I had found the testimony of James to be true---that a man who lacked wisdom might ask of God, and obtain, and not be upbraided.
27 I continued to pursue my common vocations in life until the twenty-first of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, all the time suffering severe persecution at the hands of all classes of men, both religious and irreligious, because I continued to affirm that I had seen a vision.
28 During the space of time which intervened between the time I had the vision and the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three---having been forbidden to join any of the religious sects of the day, and being of very tender years, and persecuted by those who ought to have been my friends and to have treated me kindly, and if they supposed me to be deluded to have endeavored in a proper and affectionate manner to have reclaimed me---I was left to all kinds of temptations; and, mingling with all kinds of society, I frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles of human nature; which, I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations, offensive in the sight of God. In making this confession, no one need suppose me guilty of any great or malignant sins. A disposition to commit such was never in my nature. But I was guilty of levity, and sometimes associated with jovial company, etc., not consistent with that character which ought to be maintained by one who was called of God as I had been. But this will not seem very strange to any one who recollects my youth, and is acquainted with my native cheery temperament.
29 In consequence of these things, I often felt condemned for my weakness and imperfections; when, on the evening of the above-mentioned twenty-first of September, after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and standing before him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one.
30 While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.
31 He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. His hands were naked, and his arms also, a little above the wrist; so, also, were his feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His head and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open, so that I could see into his bosom.
32 Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me.
33 He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.
34 He said there was A BOOK deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that THE FULNESS OF THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL WAS CONTAINED IN IT, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;" --- [Joseph Smith History 1: 20-34]
"AND I SAW ANOTHER ANGEL FLY IN THE MIDST OF HEAVEN, HAVING THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL TO PREACH UNTO THEM THAT DWELL ON THE EARTH, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." --- [Revelation 14: 6 - Bible]
{This} ANOTHER ANGEL, HAVING THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL TO PREACH UNTO THEM THAT DWELL ON THE EARTH, was the Angel Moroni that visited Joseph Smith. And whosoever disputes it, Tells God What He Can & Cannot Do! Whosoever disputes it, calls God a liar! There are many prophecies in the Bible, such as the Coming of Elijah [Malachi 4: 5-6 - Bible], that God is under obligation (as a God who does not lie) that He must fulfill. Who are you to Tell God That He Cannot Fulfill Them!!!??? Who are you to Tell God That This Angel Was Not And Cannot Be The Angel Moroni Who Came To Joseph Smith???
An Angel from God delivering The Book of Mormon ---
HAVING THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL TO PREACH UNTO THEM THAT DWELL ON THE EARTH,
Stop Telling God What He Can & Cannot Do! Let God Fulfill Revelation 14: 6 Without You Denying His Power To Fulfill It!
And Let The People Of God, Since We ARE The People Of God And We Know What Is Going On ---
Tell YOU Instead Of You Telling Us!
Revelation 14: 6 Was The Angel Moroni Bringing The Book Of Mormon To A Lost World:
A World That Needed An Additional Book Of Scripture (From God) To Prove To The World That He Is God,
And That He Has A Right To Test Your Faith In His Power By Seeing Whether You Will Accept An Additional Book Of Scripture From Him?
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The Lord knows how to test your faith! Can He bring forth another book of scripture? Answer it?! If you say He cannot --- then you deny the power of God and refuse to let God be God. You insist on Telling God What He Can & Cannot Do! If you say He can bring forth another book of scripture, but you do not read it, then you are a hypocrite! If you claim He can --- only in obtaining a copy of The Book of Mormon and reading it, do you affirm that your faith truly believes and you Allow God To Be God ... for He did not cause it to come forth to be unread --- but to be read, to be valued, to be part of His Latter-Day Covenant to those who accept THE REFRESHING, RESTORATION, RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS ... |
"18 AND IN THAT DAY SHALL THE {SPIRITUALLY} DEAF HEAR THE WORDS OF THE BOOK, AND THE EYES OF THE {SPIRITUALLY} BLIND SHALL SEE OUT OF OBSCURITY, AND OUT OF DARKNESS. ...
{Indeed, out of the Spiritual Darkness that covered the earth when the Lord began His RESTORATION, REFRESHING, and RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS; and out of the same Spiritual Darkness that hundreds of millions of Catholics and Protestants are still under!
24 THEY ALSO THAT ERRED IN SPIRIT SHALL COME TO UNDERSTANDING, AND THEY THAT MURMURED SHALL LEARN DOCTRINE." --- [Isaiah 29: 18 & 24 - Bible]
35 "Also, that there were two stones in silver bows---and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim--- deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted "seers" in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating THE BOOK {of Mormon}.
36 After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi; and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:
37 For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
40 In addition to these, he quoted the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, saying that it was about to be fulfilled. HE QUOTED ALSO THE THIRD CHAPTER OF ACTS, TWENTY-SECOND AND TWENTY-THIRD VERSES, precisely as they stand in our New Testament. HE SAID THAT THAT PROPHET WAS CHRIST; but the day had not yet come when "they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people," but soon would come.
22 "For Moses truly said unto the Fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you.
23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." --- [Acts 3: 22-23 - Bible]
4"1 He also quoted the second chapter of Joel, from the twenty-eighth verse to the last. He also said that this was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be. And he further stated that the fulness of the Gentiles was soon to come in. He quoted many other passages of scripture, and offered many explanations which cannot be mentioned here.
42 Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which he had spoken---for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled---I should not show them to any person; neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I should be destroyed. While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again when I visited it.
43 After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin to gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking to me, and it continued to do so until the room was again left dark, except just around him; when, instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended till he entirely disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly light had made its appearance.
44 I lay musing on the singularity of the scene, and marveling greatly at what had been told to me by this extraordinary messenger; when, in the midst of my meditation, I suddenly discovered that my room was again beginning to get lighted, and in an instant, as it were, the same heavenly messenger was again by my bedside.
45 He commenced, and again related the very same things which he had done at his first visit, without the least variation; which having done, he informed me of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence; and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this generation. Having related these things, he again ascended as he had done before.
46 By this time, so deep were the impressions made on my mind, that sleep had fled from my eyes, and I lay overwhelmed in astonishment at what I had both seen and heard. But what was my surprise when again I beheld the same messenger at my bedside, and heard him rehearse or repeat over again to me the same things as before; and added a caution to me, telling me that Satan would try to tempt me (in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my father's family), to get the plates for the purpose of getting rich. This he forbade me, saying that I must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other motive than that of building his kingdom; otherwise I could not get them.
47 After this third visit, he again ascended into heaven as before, and I was again left to ponder on the strangeness of what I had just experienced; when almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had ascended from me for the third time, the cock crowed, and I found that day was approaching, so that our interviews must have occupied the whole of that night.
48 I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went to the necessary labors of the day; but, in attempting to work as at other times, I found my strength so exhausted as to render me entirely unable. My father, who was laboring along with me, discovered something to be wrong with me, and told me to go home. I started with the intention of going to the house; but, in attempting to cross the fence out of the field where we were, my strength entirely failed me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for a time was quite unconscious of anything.
49 The first thing that I can recollect was a voice speaking unto me, calling me by name. I looked up, and beheld the same messenger standing over my head, surrounded by light as before. He then again related unto me all that he had related to me the previous night, and commanded me to go to my father and tell him of the vision and commandments which I had received.
50 I obeyed; I returned to my father in the field, and rehearsed the whole matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and told me to go and do as commanded by the messenger. I left the field, and went to the place where the messenger had told me the plates were deposited; and owing to the distinctness of the vision which I had had concerning it, I knew the place the instant that I arrived there.
51 Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighborhood. On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge all around was covered with earth.
52 Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them." --- [Joseph Smith History 1: 35-52]
"LIFT UP YOUR EYES TO THE HEAVENS, AND LOOK UPON THE EARTH BENEATH ... MY SALVATION SHALL BE FOREVER, AND MY RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL NOT BE ABOLISHED." --- [Isaiah 51: 6 - Bible]
{ LIFT UP YOUR EYES TO THE HEAVENS, refers to looking for AND I SAW ANOTHER ANGEL FLY IN THE MIDST OF HEAVEN, HAVING THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL TO PREACH UNTO THEM THAT DWELL ON THE EARTH, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." --- [Revelation 14: 6 - Bible]: or, in other words, being mindful that the Angel Moroni brought The Book of Mormon back to the earth. AND LOOK UPON THE EARTH BENEATH is in reference that A BOOK , The Book of Mormon, which came forth from THE EARTH BENEATH }
"DROP DOWN, YE HEAVENS FROM ABOVE, AND LET THE SKIES POUR DOWN RIGHTEOUSNESS:
{Again, in reference to the AND I SAW ANOTHER ANGEL FLY IN THE MIDST OF HEAVEN, The Angel Moroni}
LET THE EARTH OPEN, AND LET THEM BRING FORTH SALVATION, AND LET RIGHTEOUSNESS SPRING UP TOGETHER: I THE LORD HAVE CREATED IT." --- [Isaiah 45: 8 - Bible]
{ LET THE EARTH OPEN again, referring to The Book of Mormon coming forth OUT OF THE EARTH, as is the following verse}
"TRUTH SHALL SPRING OUT OF THE EARTH; AND RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN. " --- [Psalm 85: 11 - Bible]
53 "I made an attempt to take them out, but was forbidden by the messenger, and was again informed that the time for bringing them forth had not yet arrived, neither would it, until four years from that time; but he told me that I should come to that place precisely in one year from that time, and that he would there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time should come for obtaining the plates.
54 Accordingly, as I had been commanded, I went at the end of each year, and at each time I found the same messenger there, and received instruction and intelligence from him at each of our interviews, respecting what the Lord was going to do, and how and in what manner his kingdom was to be conducted in the last days.
55 As my father's worldly circumstances were very limited, we were under the necessity of laboring with our hands, hiring out by day's work and otherwise, as we could get opportunity. Sometimes we were at home, and sometimes abroad, and by continuous labor were enabled to get a comfortable maintenance.
56 In the year 1823 my father's family met with a great affliction by the death of my eldest brother, Alvin. In the month of October, 1825, I hired with an old gentleman by the name of Josiah Stoal, who lived in Chenango county, State of New York. He had heard something of a silver mine having been opened by the Spaniards in Harmony, Susquehanna county, State of Pennsylvania; and had, previous to my hiring to him, been digging, in order, if possible, to discover the mine. After I went to live with him, he took me, with the rest of his hands, to dig for the silver mine, at which I continued to work for nearly a month, without success in our undertaking, and finally I prevailed with the old gentleman to cease digging after it. Hence arose the very prevalent story of my having been a money-digger.
57 During the time that I was thus employed, I was put to board with a Mr. Isaac Hale, of that place; it was there I first saw my wife (his daughter), Emma Hale. On the 18th of January, 1827, we were married, while I was yet employed in the service of Mr. Stoal.
58 Owing to my continuing to assert that I had seen a vision, persecution still followed me, and my wife's father's family were very much opposed to our being married. I was, therefore, under the necessity of taking her elsewhere; so we went and were married at the house of Squire Tarbill, in South Bainbridge, Chenango county, New York. Immediately after my marriage, I left Mr. Stoal's, and went to my father's, and farmed with him that season.
59 At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me with this charge:
that I should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected.
60 I soon found out the reason why I had received such strict charges to keep them safe, and why it was that the messenger had said that when I had done what was required at my hand, he would call for them. For no sooner was it known that I had them, than the most strenuous exertions were used to get them from me. Every stratagem that could be invented was resorted to for that purpose. The persecution became more bitter and severe than before, and multitudes were on the alert continually to get them from me if possible. But by the wisdom of God, they remained safe in my hands, until I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand. When, according to arrangements, the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him; and he has them in his charge until this day, being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
61 The excitement, however, still continued, and rumor with her thousand tongues was all the time employed in circulating falsehoods about my father's family, and about myself. If I were to relate a thousandth part of them, it would fill up volumes. The persecution, however, became so intolerable that I was under the necessity of leaving Manchester, and going with my wife to Susquehanna county, in the State of Pennsylvania. While preparing to start---being very poor, and the persecution so heavy upon us that there was no probability that we would ever be otherwise---in the midst of our afflictions we found a friend in a gentleman by the name of Martin Harris, who came to us and gave me fifty dollars to assist us on our journey. Mr. Harris was a resident of Palmyra township, Wayne county, in the State of New York, and a farmer of respectability.
62 By this timely aid was I enabled to reach the place of my destination in Pennsylvania; and immediately after my arrival there I commenced copying the characters off the plates. I copied a considerable number of them, and by means of the Urim and Thummim I translated some of them, which I did between the time I arrived at the house of my wife's father, in the month of December, and the February following.
63 Sometime in this month of February, the aforementioned Mr. Martin Harris came to our place, got the characters which I had drawn off the plates, and started with them to the city of New York. For what took place relative to him and the characters, I refer to his own account of the circumstances, as he related them to me after his return, which was as follows:
64 "I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Charles Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. Professor Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said that they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters. He gave me a certificate, certifying to the people of Palmyra that they were true characters, and that the translation of such of them as had been translated was also correct. I took the certificate and put it into my pocket, and was just leaving the house, when Mr. Anthon called me back, and asked me how the young man found out that there were gold plates in the place where he found them. I answered that an angel of God had revealed it unto him.
65 "He then said to me, 'Let me see that certificate.' I accordingly took it out of my pocket and gave it to him, when he took it and tore it to pieces, saying that there was no such thing now as ministering of angels, and that if I would bring the plates to him he would translate them. I informed him that part of the plates were sealed, and that I was forbidden to bring them. HE REPLIED, 'I CANNOT READ A SEALED BOOK.' I left him and went to Dr. Mitchell, who sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said respecting both the characters and the translation." --- [Joseph Smith History 1: 53-65]
"AND THE VISION OF ALL IS BECOME UNTO YOU AS THE WORDS OF A BOOK THAT IS SEALED, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; AND HE SAITH, I CANNOT: FOR IT IS SEALED." --- [Isaiah 29: 11 - Bible]
66 On the 5th day of April, 1829, Oliver Cowdery came to my house, until which time I had never seen him. He stated to me that having been teaching school in the neighborhood where my father resided, and my father being one of those who sent to the school, he went to board for a season at his house, and while there the family related to him the circumstances of my having received the plates, and accordingly he had come to make inquiries of me.
67 Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery (being the 7th of April) I commenced to translate The Book of Mormon, and he began to write for me.
68 We still continued the work of translation, when, in the ensuing month (May, 1829), we on a certain day went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates. While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying:
69 Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.
70 He said this Aaronic Priesthood had not the power of laying on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that this should be conferred on us hereafter; and he commanded us to go and be baptized, and gave us directions that I should baptize Oliver Cowdery, and that afterwards he should baptize me.
71 Accordingly we went and were baptized. I baptized him first, and afterwards he baptized me---after which I laid my hands upon his head and ordained him to the Aaronic Priesthood, and afterwards he laid his hands on me and ordained me to the same Priesthood---for so we were commanded.*
72 The messenger who visited us on this occasion and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood, he said, would in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be called the first Elder of the Church, and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second. It was on the fifteenth day of May, 1829, that we were ordained under the hand of this messenger, and baptized.
73 Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when, standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and many other things connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation.
74 Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the scriptures laid open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of their more mysterious passages revealed unto us in a manner which we never could attain to previously, nor ever before had thought of. In the meantime we were forced to keep secret the circumstances of having received the Priesthood and our having been baptized, owing to a spirit of persecution which had already manifested itself in the neighborhood.
75 We had been threatened with being mobbed, from time to time, and this, too, by professors of religion. And their intentions of mobbing us were only counteracted by the influence of my wife's father's family (under Divine providence), who had become very friendly to me, and who were opposed to mobs, and were willing that I should be allowed to continue the work of translation without interruption; and therefore offered and promised us protection from all unlawful proceedings, as far as in them lay. --- [Joseph Smith History 1: 66-75]
Oliver Cowdery describes these events thus: "These were days never to be forgotten---to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, 'Interpreters,' the history or record called 'The Book of Mormon.' "To notice, in even few words, the interesting account given by Mormon and his faithful son, Moroni, of a people once beloved and favored of heaven, would supersede my present design; I shall therefore defer this to a future period, and, as I said in the introduction, pass more directly to some few incidents immediately connected with the rise of this Church, which may be entertaining to some thousands who have stepped forward, amid the frowns of bigots and the calumny of hypocrites, and embraced the Gospel of Christ. "No men, in their sober senses, could translate and write the directions given to the Nephites from the mouth of the Savior, of the precise manner in which men should build up His Church, and especially when corruption had spread an uncertainty over all forms and systems practiced among men, without desiring a privilege of showing the willingness of the heart by being buried in the liquid grave, to answer a 'good conscience by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.' "After writing the account given of the Savior's ministry to the remnant of the seed of Jacob, upon this continent, it was easy to be seen, as the prophet said it would be, that darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people. On reflecting further it was as easy to be seen that amid the great strife and noise concerning religion, none had authority from God to administer the ordinances of the Gospel. For the question might be asked, have men authority to administer in the name of Christ, who deny revelations, when His testimony is no less than the spirit of prophecy, and His religion based, built, and sustained by immediate revelations, in all ages of the world when He has had a people on earth? If these facts were buried, and carefully concealed by men whose craft would have been in danger if once permitted to shine in the faces of men, they were no longer to us; and we only waited for the commandment to be given 'Arise and be baptized.' "This was not long desired before it was realized. The Lord, who is rich in mercy, and ever willing to answer the consistent prayer of the humble, after we had called upon Him in a fervent manner, aside from the abodes of men, condescended to manifest to us His will. On a sudden, as from the midst of eternity, the voice of the Redeemer spake peace to us, while the veil was parted and the angel of God came down clothed with glory, and delivered the anxiously looked for message, and the keys of the Gospel of repentance. What joy! what wonder! what amazement! While the world was racked and distracted---while millions were groping as the blind for the wall, and while all men were resting upon uncertainty, as a general mass, our eyes beheld, our ears heard, as in the 'blaze of day'; yes, more---above the glitter of the May sunbeam, which then shed its brilliancy over the face of nature! Then his voice, though mild, pierced to the center, and his words, 'I am thy fellow-servant,' dispelled every fear. We listened, we gazed, we admired! 'Twas the voice of an angel from glory, 'twas a message from the Most High! And as we heard we rejoiced, while His love enkindled upon our souls, and we were wrapped in the vision of the Almighty! Where was room for doubt? Nowhere; uncertainty had fled, doubt had sunk no more to rise, while fiction and deception had fled forever! "But, dear brother, think, further think for a moment, what joy filled our hearts, and with what surprise we must have bowed, (for who would not have bowed the knee for such a blessing?) when we received under his hand the Holy Priesthood as he said, 'Upon you my fellow-servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer this Priesthood and this authority, which shall remain upon earth, that the Sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness!' "I shall not attempt to paint to you the feelings of this heart, nor the majestic beauty and glory which surrounded us on this occasion; but you will believe me when I say, that earth, nor men, with the eloquence of time, cannot begin to clothe language in as interesting and sublime a manner as this holy personage. No; nor has this earth power to give the joy, to bestow the peace, or comprehend the wisdom which was contained in each sentence as they were delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit! Man may deceive his fellow-men, deception may follow deception, and the children of the wicked one may have power to seduce the foolish and untaught, till naught but fiction feeds the many, and the fruit of falsehood carries in its current the giddy to the grave; but one touch with the finger of his love, yes, one ray of glory from the upper world, or one word from the mouth of the Savior, from the bosom of eternity, strikes it all into insignificance, and blots it forever from the mind. The assurance that we were in the presence of an angel, the certainty that we heard the voice of Jesus, and the truth unsullied as it flowed from a pure personage, dictated by the will of God, is to me past description, and I shall ever look upon this expression of the Savior's goodness with wonder and thanksgiving while I am permitted to tarry; and in those mansions where perfection dwells and sin never comes, I hope to adore in that day which shall never cease." ---Messenger and Advocate, vol. 1 (October 1834), pp. 14–16.
"But the SAINTS {Even the members who are all called SAINTS of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints} of the Most High shall take the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom forever, even forever and ever." --- [Daniel 7: 18 - Bible]
"And the Kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven, SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE OF THE SAINTS {SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS} of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." --- [Daniel 7: 27 - Bible]
"For thus shall my Church be called in the last days, even THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS." --- [D&C 115: 4]
{And those who reject this truth, the truth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Lord's Church, not only reject THE REFRESHING, The Restoration, The RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS. ... But ultimately REJECT JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF ...}
{And those who also reject the truth of The Book of Mormon, not only reject THE REFRESHING, The Restoration, The RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS. ... But, also, ultimately REJECT JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF ...}
{And I leave this testimony of The Refreshing with you, that God The Father and God The Son visited the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that The Book of Mormon proves that the power of God is here in the kingdom that God Himself set up in these latter-days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. Amen - Elder Erving Axel Lambert - 2/11/2017}
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