Saturday, March 23, 2013

Twenty Questions With Answers by The Prophet Joseph Smith

The Prophet Joseph Smith got tired answering the same questions over and over.  So, he published the twenty most asked questions with their answers:

The Prophet's Answer to Sundry Questions   
 I answered the questions which were frequently asked me, while on my last journey but one from Kirtland to Missouri, as printed in the Elders' Journal, Vol. 1, Number 2, pages 28 and 29, as follows:   
 First-"Do you believe the Bible?"    
 If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do.   
 Second-"Wherein do you differ from other sects?"    
 In that we believe the Bible, and all other sects profess to believe their interpretations of the Bible, and their creeds.    
 Third-"Will everybody be damned, but Mormons?"   
 Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness.   
 Fourth-"How and where did you obtain the Book of Mormon?"   
 Moroni, who deposited the plates in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, being dead and raised again therefrom, appeared unto me, and told me where they were, and gave me directions how to obtain them. I obtained them, and the Urim and Thummim with them, by the means of which I translated the plates; and thus came the Book of Mormon.   
 Fifth-"Do you believe Joseph Smith, Jun., to be a Prophet?"   
 Yes, and every other man who has the testimony of Jesus. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.-Revelation, 19:10th verse.   
 Sixth-"Do the Mormons believe in having all things in common?"   
 No.   
 Seventh-"Do the Mormons believe in having more wives than one?"   
 No, not at the same time. But they believe that if their companion dies, they have a right to marry again. But we do disapprove of the custom, which as gained in the world, and has been practiced among us, to our great mortification, in marrying in five or six weeks, or even in two or three months, after the death of their companion. We believe that due respect ought to be had to the memory of the dead, and the feelings of both friends and children.    
 Eight-"Can they [the Mormons] raise the dead?"   
 No, nor can any other people that now lives, or ever did live. But God can raise the dead, through man as an instrument.   
 Ninth-"What signs does Joseph Smith give of his divine mission?"   
 The signs which God is pleased to let him give, according as His wisdom thinks best, in order that He may judge the world agreeably to His own plan.   
 Tenth-"Was not Joseph Smith a money digger?"   
 Yes, but it was never a very profitable job for him, as he only got fourteen dollars a month for it.   
 Eleventh-"Did not Joseph Smith steal his wife?"   
 Ask her, she was of age, she can answer for herself."   
 Twelfth-"Do the people have to give up their money when they join his Church?"   
 No other requirement than to bear their proportion of the expenses of the Church, and support the poor.    
 Thirteenth-"Are the Mormons abolitionists?"   
 No, unless delivering the people from priestcraft, and the priests from the power of Satan, should be considered abolition. But we do not believe in setting the negroes free.    
 Fourteenth-"Do they not stir up the Indians to war, and to commit depredations?"    
 No, and they who reported the story knew it was false when they put it in circulation. These and similar reports are palmed upon the people by the priests, and this is the only reason why we ever thought of answering them.   
 Fifteenth-"Do the Mormons baptize in the name of 'Joe' Smith?"   
 No, but if they did, it would be as valid as the baptism administered by the sectarian priests.   
 Sixteenth-"If the Mormon doctrine is true, what has become of all those who died since the days of the Apostles?"   
 All those who have not had an opportunity of hearing the Gospel, and being administered unto by an inspired man in the flesh, must have it hereafter, before they can be finally judged.   
 Seventeenth-"Does not 'Joe' Smith profess to be Jesus Christ?"   
 No, but he professes to be His brother, as all other Saints have done and now do: Matt. 12:49, 50, "And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples and said, Behold my mother and my brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."   
 Eighteenth-"Is there anything in the Bible which licenses you to believe in revelation now-a-days?"   
 Is there anything that does not authorize us to believe so? If there is, we have, as yet, not been able to find it.   
 Nineteenth-"Is not the canon of the Scriptures full?"   
 If it is, there is a great defect in the book, or else it would have said so.   
 Twentieth-"What are the fundamental principles of your religion?"   
 The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it. But in connection with these, we believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost, the power of faith, the enjoyment of the spiritual gifts according to the will of God, the restoration of the house of Israel, and the final triumph of truth.   
 I published the foregoing answers to save myself the trouble of repeating the same a thousand times over and over again. (May 8, 1838.)    
   (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith, p.119-121)

Thursday, March 21, 2013

The Faithful To Receive Celestial Rest


Here, then, we have this part of our subject immediately before us for consideration: God has in reserve a time, or period appointed in His own bosom, when He will bring all His subjects, who have obeyed His voice and kept His commandments, into His celestial rest. This rest is of such perfection and glory, that man has need of a preparation before he can, according to the laws of that kingdom, enter it and enjoy its blessings. This being the fact, God has given certain laws to the human family, which, if observed, are sufficient to prepare them to inherit this rest. This, then, we conclude, was the purpose of God in giving His laws to us: If not, why, or for what were they given? If the whole family of man were as well off without them as they might be with them, for what purpose or intent were they ever given? Was it that God wanted to merely show that He could talk? It would be nonsense to suppose that He would condescend to talk in vain: for it would be in vain, and to no purpose whatever (if the law of God were of no benefit to man): because, all the commandments contained in the law of the Lord, have the sure promise annexed of a reward to all who obey, predicated upon the fact that they are really the promises of a Being who cannot lie, One who is abundantly able to fulfill every tittle of His word: and if man were as well prepared, or could be as well prepared, to meet God without their ever having been given in the first instance, why were they ever given? for certainly, in that case they can now do him no good.   
   (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith, p.54)

Sunday, March 17, 2013

"The Laws Of The Heavenly Kingdom"

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that we have to know concerning the laws of the Celestial Kingdom before we are allowed to enter into it. 

We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker and is caught up to dwell with Him. But we consider that this is a station to which no man ever arrived in a moment: he must have been instructed in the government and laws of that kingdom by proper degrees, until his mind is capable in some measure of comprehending the propriety, justice, equality, and consistency of the same. For further instruction we refer you to Deut. 32, where the Lord says, that Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste, howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye, etc.; which will show the force of the last item advanced, that it is necessary for men to receive an understanding concerning the laws of the heavenly kingdom, before they are permitted to enter it: we mean the celestial glory. So dissimilar are the governments of men, and so divers are their laws, from the government and laws of heaven, that a man, for instance, hearing that there was a country on this globe called the United States of North America, could take his journey to this place without first learning the laws of governments; but the conditions of God's kingdom are such, that all who are made partakers of that glory, are under the necessity of learning something respecting it previous to their entering into it. But the foreigner can come to this country without knowing a syllable of its laws, or even subscribing to obey them after he arrives. Why? Because the government of the United States does not require it: it only requires an obedience to its laws after the individual has arrived within its jurisdiction.   
   (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith, p.51)

Monday, March 11, 2013

I had to share

 
 
At one time before he was president here is the thinking of Senator Obama. 

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.  It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills.  It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.  Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally.  Leadership means that, 'the buck stops here.'  Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.  America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.  Americans deserve better."

~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Church of the Firstborn

I was recently asked to explain the Church of the Firstborn.  After I answered the question I thought it would make a good post for the blog.

Church of the Firstborn

There is only one mention of the Church of the Firstborn in the Bible.  It was mentioned by Paul in Hebrews,

Heb  12:22-24
 22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than [that of] Abel.


The context of the setting does not make it clear as to exactly what Paul was referencing.  As the restoration of the gospel progressed and the Book of Mormon had been translated and the Church was organized the Lord immediately asked the Prophet to "translate" the Old Testament. 

Soon into this translation the following was given to the Prophet,

JST Gen  9:17-24
 17 And I will establish my covenant with you, which I made unto Enoch, concerning the remnants of your posterity.
 18 And God made a covenant with Noah, and said, This shall be the token of the covenant I make between me and you, and for every living creature with you, and for perpetual generations;
 19 I will set my bow in the cloud; and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
 20 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember my covenant, which I have made between me and you, for every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
 21 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant, which I made unto thy father Enoch; that, when men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the city of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself.
 22 And this is mine everlasting covenant, that when thy posterity shall embrace the truth, and look upward, then shall Zion look downward, and all the heavens shall shake with gladness, and the earth shall tremble with joy;
 23 And the general assembly of the church of the firstborn shall come down out of heaven, and possess the earth, and shall have place until the end come. And this is mine everlasting covenant, which I made with thy father Enoch.
 24 And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will establish my covenant unto thee, which I have made between me and thee, for every living creature of all flesh that shall be upon the earth.


Now we know that the City of Enoch were considered the General Assembly of the Church of the Firstborn and would eventually come back and live on the earth again. 

A few chapters later the Lord reveals the level of spiritual attainment that the City of Enoch had achieved as well as Melchizedek and his city,


JST Gen  14:26-35
 26 Now Melchizedek was a man of faith, who wrought righteousness; and when a child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire.
 27 And thus, having been approved of God, he was ordained an high priest after the order of the covenant which God made with Enoch,
 28 It being after the order of the son of God; which order came, not by man, nor the will of man; neither by father nor mother; neither by beginning of days nor end of years; but of God;
 
29 And it was delivered unto men by the calling of his own voice, according to his own will, unto as many as believed on his name.
 30 For God having sworn unto Enoch and unto his seed with an oath by himself; that every one being ordained after this order and calling should have power, by faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up waters, to turn them out of their course;
 31 To put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers; and this by the will of the Son of God which was from before the foundation of the world.
 32 And men having this faith, coming up unto this order of God, were translated and taken up into heaven.

 33 And now, Melchizedek was a priest of this order; therefore he obtained peace in Salem, and was called the Prince of peace.
 34 And his people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven, and sought for the city of Enoch which God had before taken, separating it from the earth, having reserved it unto the latter days, or the end of the world;
 35 And hath said, and sworn with an oath, that the heavens and the earth should come together; and the sons of God should be tried so as by fire.


On February 16, 1832, the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon were given the vision now known as D&C 76 - the degrees of glory.  In this vision he found out that those going to the Celestial Kingdom were of the Church of the Firstborn - verse 54.  They had become priests and kings and they were after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the orer of the Onlly Begotten Son verses 56-57.   He was also shown that they had come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly place, the holiest of all. They had come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of Enoch, and of the Firstborn  - verse 66-67. 

We begin to see that these are all requirements for the righteous to achieve before they are prepared to live in the Celestial Kingdom. 

 In August of 1832, the Prophet taught that you could never come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judges of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, unless he becomes as a little child, and is taught by the Spirit of God.  (TPJS p. 12)

We learn that those who have the promise of eternal life or have their calling and election made sure are members of the Church of the Firstborn,

D&C  88:3-5
 3 Wherefore, I now send upon you another Comforter, even upon you my friends, that it may abide in your hearts, even the Holy Spirit of promise; which other Comforter is the same that I promised unto my disciples, as is recorded in the testimony of John.
 4 This Comforter is the promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom;
 5 Which glory is that of the church of the Firstborn, even of God, the holiest of all, through Jesus Christ his Son--


Next we learn that all those who are begotten through Christ can become members of the Church of the Firstborn,

D&C  93:21-22
 21 And now, verily I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn;
 22 And all those who are begotten through me are partakers of the glory of the same, and are the church of the Firstborn.


Then we are taught this about the keys of the priesthood,

D&C  107:18-19
 18 The power and authority of the higher, or Melchizedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church--
 19 To have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.


Two different times the Prophet explained what the purpose was of communicating with those of the Church of the Firstborn.  The first was a statement that he made at the funeral of Judge Higbee.  Here is his statement,

 The sound saluted my ears-"Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant" (Hebrews 12:22, 23, 24). What would it profit us to come unto the spirits of the just men, but to learn and come up to the standard of their knowledge?   
   (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith, p.320)

The next time was at the funeral of James Adams,

 I assure the Saints that truth, in reference to these matters, can and may be known through the revelations of God in the way of His ordinances, and in answer to prayer. The Hebrew Church "came unto the spirits of just men made perfect, and unto an innumerable company of angels, unto God the Father of all, and to Jesus Christ the Mediator of the new covenant." What did they learn by coming to the spirits of just men made perfect? Is it written? No. What they learned has not been and could not have been written. What object was gained by this communication with the spirits of the just? It was the established order of the kingdom of God: The keys of power and knowledge were with them to communicate to the Saints. Hence the importance of understanding the distinction between the spirits of the just and angels.   
   (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith, p.325)


What we glean from this material is that we need to communicate with these people to learn what they know and to come up to the level of their knowledge.  As the Prophet mentioned, what they know has not and cannot be written.  If we are to learn what they know we must commune with them in preparation for our own salvation and to be prepared to live with God. 

The following is from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism:

Church of the Firstborn   

The Church of the Firstborn is Christ's heavenly church, and its members are exalted beings who gain an inheritance in the highest heaven of the celestial world and for whom the family continues in eternity.   

In the scriptures Jesus Christ is called the Firstborn. He was the first spirit child born of God the Father in the premortal existence and was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-5, 14). Christ also became the Firstborn from the dead, the first person resurrected, "that in all things he might have the preeminence" (Col. 1:18; Acts 26:23; 1 Cor. 15:23; Rev. 1:5). Even as the first principles and ordinances, including baptism in water and the reception of the Holy Ghost, constitute the gate into the earthly Church of Jesus Christ, so higher ordinances of the priesthood constitute the gate into the Church of the Firstborn. To secure the blessings that pertain to the Church of the Firstborn, one must obey the gospel from the heart, receive all of the ordinances that pertain to the house of the Lord, and be sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise in the Celestial Kingdom of God (D&C 76:67, 71, 94; 77:11; 78:21; 88:1-5; TPJS, p. 237).   

Revelations to the Prophet Joseph Smith supplement those of the New Testament to indicate that the Church of the Firstborn consists of those who have the inheritance of the Firstborn and become joint-heirs with Christ in receiving all that the Father has (Rom. 8:14-17; D&C 84:33-38; see Heirs of God). The Lord said, "If you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; …I…am the Firstborn; …And all those who are begotten through me are partakers of the glory of the same, and are the Church of the Firstborn" (D&C 93:20-22). The Church of the Firstborn is the divine patriarchal order in its eternal form. Building the priesthood family order on this earth by receiving sealings in the temple is a preparation and foundation for this blessing in eternity (see Gospel of Abraham).   

When persons have proved themselves faithful in all things required by the Lord, it is their privilege to receive covenants and obligations that will enable them to be heirs of God as members of the Church of the Firstborn. They are "sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise" and are those "into whose hands the Father has given all things" (D&C 76:51-55). They will be priests and priestesses, kings and queens, receiving the Father's glory, having the fulness of knowledge, wisdom, power, and dominion (D&C 76:56-62; cf. 107:19). At the second coming of Jesus Christ, the "general assembly of the Church of the Firstborn" will descend with him (Heb. 12:22-23; JST Gen. 9:23; D&C 76:54, 63).   
Bibliography   
Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992),, p.276
Smith, Joseph Fielding. DS, Vol. 2, pp. 8-9, 41-49. Salt Lake City, 1973.
IVAN J. BARRETT