By Steve Smith
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I hope you and your family are doing well. I miss the
opportunity and blessings of being with you on a weekly basis.
Prior to our last General Conference, my wife Susie and I
took to heart the challenge that President Nelson gave all of us – to prepare
for the April Conference by studying up on the First Vision and all its
ramifications. As we studied more about the events leading up to the First
Vision, along with the challenges and sacrifices that Joseph and his family
went through, it affected me in ways that I have never felt before.
I have always appreciated what Joseph Smith experienced
prior to and after the events that occurred in the Grove on that spring day in
1820, but taking the time to really focus on a lot of the recorded church history
that has been compiled over the years has made me understand the significance
of his (Joseph’s) mission upon this earth, the First Vision being just one of
many marvelous and significant events that took place during his short
lifetime.
Because of our preparation, I really appreciated the
talk given during the first session of conference by President M. Russell
Ballard, “Shall We Not Go On in So Great a Cause?”. He summarized many of the
concepts and events that we had studied.
For this reason, I have selected President Ballard’s talk as
the message for this week. I have captured some of the sections of his talk
that stood out to me. I challenge everyone to read/reread his talk to really
appreciate his message to us.
“Shall We Not Go On in So Great a Cause?” by President M.Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
We should always remember the price Joseph and
Hyrum Smith paid, along with so many other faithful men, women, and children,
to establish the Church.
215 years ago, a little boy was born to Joseph and Lucy Mack
Smith in Vermont in a region known as New England in the northeastern United States.
They named their new baby son Joseph Smith Jr.
Of the
Smith family, Brigham Young said: “The Lord had his eye upon [Joseph Smith],
and upon his father, and upon his father’s father, and upon their progenitors
clear back to Abraham, and from Abraham to the flood, from the flood to Enoch
and from Enoch to Adam. He has watched that family and that blood as it has
circulated from its fountain to the birth of that man. [Joseph Smith] was
foreordained in eternity.”
Beloved by his family, Joseph Jr. was particularly close to his
older brother Hyrum, who was nearly six years of age when Joseph was born.
During <their
time in western New York>, Joseph experienced a wondrous vision, known today
as the First Vision. We are blessed to have four primary accounts from which I
will draw.
Joseph
recorded: “During this time of great [religious] 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. … [Yet] 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.”
Joseph
turned to the Bible to find answers to his questions and read in James 1:5: “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.”
He noted:
“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.”
Joseph came to realize that the Bible did not contain all the
answers to life’s questions; rather, it taught men and women how they could
find answers to their questions by communicating directly with God through
prayer.
He added:
“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.”
Soon
thereafter, Joseph said that “[a pillar of] light rested upon me [and] 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—[Joseph,] This
is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
The Savior
then spoke: “Joseph, my son, thy sins are forgiven thee. Go thy way, walk in my
statutes, and keep my commandments. Behold, I am the Lord of glory. I was
crucified for the world, that all those who believe on my name may have eternal
life.”
Joseph
added, “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.”
He
recalled: “They told me that all religious denominations were believing in incorrect
doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged of God as his church and
kingdom. And … at the same time [I] receive[d] a promise that the fullness of
the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me.”
<From this experience> Joseph began to learn what ancient
prophets experienced—rejection, opposition, and
persecution. Joseph recalled sharing what he had seen and heard with one of the
ministers who had been active in the religious revival:
“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.
“I soon
found, 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 this was common among all the sects—all united to persecute me.”
Three
years later, in 1823, the heavens opened again as part of the continuing
Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the last days. Joseph noted that
an angel named Moroni appeared to him and said “that God had a work for me to
do … [and that] there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates” that
contained “the fullness of the everlasting Gospel … as delivered by the Savior
to the ancient inhabitants [of the Americas].”
Eventually, Joseph obtained, translated, and published the
ancient record, known today as the Book of Mormon.
During their lives, Joseph and Hyrum faced mobs and persecution
together. For example, they languished in the most wretched conditions in the
Liberty Jail in Missouri for five months during the cold winter of 1838–39.
In the
face of persecution, Hyrum exhibited faith in the Lord’s promises, including a
guarantee to escape his enemies if he so chose. In a blessing Hyrum received in
1835 under the hands of Joseph Smith, the Lord promised him: “Thou shalt have
power to escape the hand of thine enemies. Thy life shall be sought with
untiring zeal, but thou shalt escape. If it please thee, and thou
desirest, thou shalt have the power voluntarily to lay down thy life to
glorify God.”
In June
1844, Hyrum was presented the choice to live or to lay down his life to glorify
God and to “seal his testimony with his blood”—side by side together with his beloved brother Joseph.
A week before the fateful trip to Carthage, where they were
murdered in cold blood by an armed mob of cowards who had painted their faces
to avoid detection, Joseph recorded that “I advised my brother Hyrum to take
his family on the next steamboat and go to Cincinnati.”
I still
feel great emotion as I remember Hyrum’s reply: “Joseph, I
can’t leave you.’’
So Joseph and Hyrum went to Carthage, where they became martyrs
for Christ’s cause and name.
The
official announcement of the martyrdom stated the following: “Joseph Smith, the
Prophet and Seer of the Lord, … 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. … And like most of the Lord’s
anointed in ancient times, [Joseph] 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!”
They had overcome the world. Joseph and Hyrum Smith, like those
faithful Saints described in the book of Revelation, “came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb [and] are … before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in
his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither
shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
“For the
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them
unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes.”
As we celebrate this joyous occasion, the 200th anniversary of
the First Vision, we should always remember the price Joseph and Hyrum Smith
paid, along with so many other faithful men, women, and children, to establish
the Church so you and I could enjoy the many blessings and all of these
revealed truths we have today. Their faithfulness should never be forgotten!
“Brethren
[and sisters], shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go
forward and not backward. Courage, brethren [and sisters]; and on, on to the
victory! …
“… Let us,
therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness.”
As we listen to the Spirit during this 200th anniversary
celebration, consider what offering you will present to the Lord in
righteousness in the coming days. Be courageous—share it with someone you trust, and most important, please take
the time to do it!
I know that the Savior is pleased when we present Him an
offering from our hearts in righteousness, just as He was pleased with the
faithful offering of those remarkable brothers, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and all
other faithful Saints. Of this I solemnly testify in the sacred and holy name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
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