The Restoration - Mormon History Part II

So we left off on a bit of a dark note.

God's servants, who held his Authority, had been killed and that Authority, removed from the earth.

I said that it was roughly 1800 years until the next time the Priesthood would be restored to the world.

In the year 1820 there was a young man, his name was Joseph Smith. He was born April of 1805, so he was only 14-15 years of age at this time. This young man lived in Manchester, New York.

He lived in an area and a time of great religious debate. To quote him:

"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." (Joseph Smith --History 1:5; Click here to see full text)

His family, even, were followers of more than one religion. Joseph, like the rest of his family (and the rest of his town) was very concerned about what he should do, and which church he should join. (he gives a full account found here. 5-12 are especially relevant to his difficulty in choosing a church)

In his account he tells us that he attended the different sects "as often as occasion would permit", and helps us understand that he truly just wanted to know which church God would have him join.

One day he was studying the scriptures, certainly searching for some kind of answer, when he came across the first chapter of The Book of James. In the first chapter, fifth verse, it 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." (James 1:5)

Joseph Smith relates:
"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" (JS-H 1:12)

I have had the wonderful experience of finding an answer I need in the scriptures. This must have been such an incredible experience.

Joseph "reflected on it again and again". He says in the following verse that "at length [he] came to the conclusion that [he] must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else [he] must do as James directs, that is, ask of God."

And so he determined to go into a grove of trees near his house to pray. He tells us that he had never made any attempt to pray vocally before.

Now, I don't want this entire post to be padded with quotes, but I really feel that he shares his experience better than I can. So this next quote is a long one, and it tells us what happened as he prayed that day in the woods.

"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.

"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.

"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!" 

Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ that day. They appeared to him to begin The Restoration of The Priesthood of God.

But before they appeared, we read that he was "seized upon by some power which entirely overcame [him]." 

Satan had reigned on the earth for nearly 2000 years and he didn't want anyone to mess things up. The fact that the serpent tried to silence Joseph, gives me more reason to believe that this was a crucial moment in the Lord's Kingdom on Earth. Of course, there can be no darkness where there is light, and the devil could not bear God's presence; so he fled.

Having been delivered from evil, Joseph looked up into the faces of his Eternal Father, and his Saviour.

He, of course, asked them which church to join (though I'm sure he just sat in silence and astonishment for a very long time), and They told him that none of the churches on the earth at that time held God's Authority.

Joseph was not called to organize The Lord's church on this day, but a few years later.

There are a few key things that we learn about God from this boy's experience.

Satan's influence is real. And as much as he wants us to believe he doesn't exist, to better tempt us, he does.

We learn that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two distinct beings: a matter that, sadly, is debated.

We learn that we are made in the image of God.

We learn, also, that God answers prayers today. He has not closed heaven, he has not forsaken us. If we go to Him in sincere prayer, He will answer us. 

I know that on that day Joseph Smith did see God and Jesus Christ. I know that he was later called to be a prophet of God, and that the church established by God through him is the true church on the earth.

check out mormon.org if you have any questions.
                                                    

In my next post I will talk about The Book of Mormon. In short, it is an ancient record of the people of the Americas, delivered by an angel into the hands of Joseph to be translated. 

That sounds absolutely ludicrous.

But. I have read The Book of Mormon, and have prayed to ask God if it is true, and I know that it is.

The typical extrapolation we make in the church is that if The Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph really must have translated it from an ancient record. And if he did so, then he truly must have been called of God.

And so, it is through The Book of Mormon that we can know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of God on the earth.