The Martyrdom

Today marks 170 years since the death of the prophet of the restoration, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.



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! (D&C 135:3)

Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood

Today marks 185 years since the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood - one of the most significant and important events of modern times.



Read more here.

Wolves in Sheeps Clothing

In Matthew 7:15 the Savior warns his followers of false prophets who would come to them in sheep's clothing to conceal their identity as rabid wolves. The analogy is easily understood. The false prophets would appear outwardly to be ordinary members of the Christian community while concealing their true natures as enemies of the community and enemies of the Savior who is the Good Shepherd. The Savior often compared his followers to sheep and portrayed himself as their shepherd (see John 10).

Additionally, it is significant that the Savior depicts these false prophets as wearing the "clothing" of the sheep. Clothing is often closely associated in the scriptures with temple rituals. The word from which "clothing" was translated is ἔνδυμα (enduma). The root of enduma is ἐνδύω (enduō - from which our word endow comes) which means " to invest with clothing (literally or figuratively): - array, clothe (with), endue, have (put) on" (Strong's Greek Concordance). Exodus 28 describes the sacred vestments of the temple priests which were an integral part of the rituals of the temple just as the temple clothing is today in LDS temples. Clothing also serves the purpose of identifying the wearer as belonging to a particular group (for more on this I recommend Daniel Belnap's article in Studies in the Bible and Antiquity entitled "Clothed with Salvation: The Garden, the Veil, Tabitha, and Christ").

Therefore, the false prophets in the Savior's analogy are clothed in the ritual clothing that identify them as members of the community.

The story of Korihor in Alma 30 provides additional insights to the characteristics and tactics of false prophets. There are a few I wish to point out:

1. He was the recipient of a false spiritual manifestation (Alma 30:53).
2. He specifically targeted the leaders of the church with criticism in his efforts to destroy the faith of the Nephites (Alma 30:31).
3. He appealed to the Nephite's sense of pride (Alma 30:17-18).

In our day false prophets have followed a very similar pattern to that found in the story of Korihor and have followed the pattern established by the Savior in Matthew 5 by coming to the Saints dressed in sheep's clothing in order to lead them into a false system of salvation. On one occasion the Prophet Joseph Smith gave a key to detecting and ferreting out false prophets:

"I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the Kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives." (HC 3:385)

On another occasion he is reported to have said:

"I will give you a key that will never rust, - if you will stay with the majority of the Twelve Apostles, and the records of the Church, you will never be led astray." (William G. Nelson, in “Joseph Smith, the Prophet,” Young Woman’s Journal, Dec. 1906, p. 543).

Based on the teachings of Joseph Smith those who come forward to claim that the leaders of the Church are in error unwittingly identify themselves as false teachers regardless of whatever else they may say. It seems especially ironic to me that false prophets often recognize Joseph Smith's prophetic calling while rejecting his successors. How can they claim to follow him while at the same time rejecting his teachings?

Safety is to be found by following the Lord's anointed and not speaking evil of them. If we do so the Savior has given us a promise that we will not be overcome. This promise is found in Joseph Smith Matthew 1:9-11:

"And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many; And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold; But he that remaineth steadfast and is not overcome, the same shall be saved." (emphasis added)

Don't be deceived by those who claim to have more light and knowledge than the leading authorities of the Church. Their message may be very, very compelling. They exploit those who are seeking further light and knowledge by offering what appears to be deeper understandings. However enlightening and truthful this information seems it is invariably mingled with false doctrines and ideas and those who espouse those doctrines often set themselves up as a light while denigrating the Lord's anointed. Run as far away as you can from those who criticize the Church's leaders. They do not have your best interests in mind but are puffed up in their own self importance. True teachers will always remain within the channels the Lord has established in his Church and will foster a sense of loyalty. Use the keys the Prophet has provided and do not fall into the traps others set to ensnare.

Words of Joseph Smith

This is another quote from Joseph Smith that I have always really liked:

Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand and watch over them with tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what pow'r it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind.

- Words of Joseph Smith p. 123

Sealed in their foreheads

At work I'm listening to the audiobook "Prophecies" by Matthew B. Brown. He talks about Revelation 7:3 which reads:

"Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."

He quotes a statement by Joseph Smith which explains what it means for someone to be sealed in their forehead:

“SEALING OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD.—August 13, 1843. "Four destroying angels holding power over the four quarters of the earth until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads, which signifies sealing the blessing upon their heads, meaning the everlasting covenant, thereby making their calling and election sure. When a seal is put upon the father and mother, it secures their posterity, so that they cannot be lost, but will be saved by virtue of the covenant of their father and mother."

It means that those servants will have their calling and election made sure by the laying on of hands.

Chapter 7 then goes on to mention that there will be 144,000 of these servants who will have this privilege. The Israelites, to give a number a superlative quality, squared it, hence 12 tribes, 12x12=144. to exaggerate it further they multiplied it by 1000. John's audience would not have taken this number literally. They would have understood it to be describing a fullness of individuals taken from each of the twelve tribes who will enjoy the privilege of having their calling and election made sure and who will serve the Lord in the last days. Verse 9 describes these people as being: "a great multitude, which no man could number".

Update - 1/16/11 - This sealing in the forehead refers to the gold plate bearing the inscription כדש יהוה (Holy to Jehovah) which was attached to the mitre which the high priest wore. This plate was located just above the forehead.

Harold Bloom on Joseph Smith

Harold Bloom, a Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University, once said this about Joseph Smith:

"I can only attribute to his genius or daemons his uncanny recovery of elements in ancient Jewish theurgy that had ceased to be available either to Judaism or to Christianity, and that had survived only in esoteric traditions unlikely to have touched Smith directly." (Harold Bloom, The American Religion. Page number?)

Courtesy of TempleStudy.com

The Baptism of Jesus

Why did Jesus Christ wait until the age of 30 to be baptized? The Lord explained in JST Gen. 17: 11 that children were circumcised at eight days old to remind us that children are not accountable until the age of eight. It is the common practice in the Church today to baptize at the age of eight and because of the scripture in Genesis it appears as though that was the custom anciently.

When Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon, he and Oliver Cowdrey came across a scripture about baptism. They were inspired to seek some instruction regarding the matter and as a result John the Baptist appeared to them and confered the Aaronic Priesthood. Immediately after that Joseph and Oliver baptized each other. Follwing the organization of the Church Joseph and Oliver were once again baptized. A person is baptized for a few purposes, one of which is for a remission of their sins. When Joseph and Oliver were initially baptized it was probably done for this reason. Another purpose of baptism is for entrance into the Church of Jesus Christ. During their first baptism there was no church to be baptized into, therefore Joseph and Oliver were under the necessity of being re-baptized. HC 1:39-40

A similar situation is found in the Book of Mormon. Prior to the visit of the Savior to the Nephites baptism was practiced among the faithful. During his visit Jesus Christ instructed those he taught to be baptized. Joseph Fielding Smith explains why:

"There is nothing strange in the fact that when the Lord came to the Nephites, Nephi was baptized and so was everybody else although they had been baptized before.

"The Church among the Nephites before the coming of Christ was not in its fulness and was under the law of Moses. The Savior restored the fulness and gave to them all the ordinances and blessings of the gospel. Therefore, it actually became a new organization, and through baptism they came into it. (III Nephi 9:15-22; 11:10-40; 12:18-19; 15:4-10.)" AGQ 3:205

It is possible the Savior waited until the age of thirty to be baptized because he didn't need baptism prior to this time to receive a remission of his sins because of his sinlessness.

Another possibility is that he was baptized at the age of eight to fulfill the requirement and then was re-baptized at the age of thrity for entrance into his Church which he was in the process of organizing.

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

I've always loved this quote from Joseph Smith:

"The Heavens declare the glory of a God and the firmament showeth his handiwork and a moment's reflection is sufficient to teach any man of common intelligence that all these are not the mere productions of chance"
-HC 2:13 - 14

Prophet, Seer and Revelator

Today I was reading in 1 Chr. 29:29 which reads:

"Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer"

In this verse the word "seer" is used twice but in the original they were actually separate words. In reference to Samuel the original Hebrew word was "ro-eh". In reference to Gad the word was "Chozeh". The word "Chozeh" could also be translated as "gazer", meaning someone who gazed into mystical stones in order to reveal hidden things.
see Sidney B. Sperry, Spirit of the Old Testament p.120

The First Presidency, and Quorum of the Twelve all hold the title as prophets, seers and revelators. Perhaps the title "seer" could refer to the utilization of a Urim and Thummim.

Joseph Smith possessed at least two Urim and Thummim, one of which was the small, brown seer stone. The other one, which he received with the Gold Plates, consisted of two transparent stones set in a bow which were attached to the breastplate (Interestingly, during Old Testament times the Urim and Thummim was kept in a pouch behind the breastplate of the high priest [see Ex. 28:30].). see Comprehensive History of the Church (CHC) 1:128-29

The fate of the Urim and Thummim received with the plates is uncertain. However, we do know that as of the late 19th century (many decades after the death of Joseph Smith) the Church still had possession of the seer stone. Wilford Woodruff consecrated it on the alter of the Manti Temple at its dedication in 1888. see CHC 6:230

Therefore, it seems likely that the Apostles of the Church possess at least one Urim and Thummim and currently use it in their roles as seers.