The Seer

Contributions of Joseph Smith

Gordon B. Hinckley has said, “An acquaintance said to me one day: “I admire your church very much. I think I could accept everything about it—except Joseph Smith.” To which I responded: ‘That statement is a contradiction. If you accept the revelation, you must accept the revelator.’

It is a constantly recurring mystery to me how some people speak with admiration for the Church and its work, while at the same time disdaining him through whom, as a servant of the Lord, came the framework of all that the Church is, of all that it teaches, and of all that it stands for. They would pluck the fruit from the tree while cutting off the root from which it grows…”

Still quoting Elder Hinckley:  “Not long ago, while riding in a plane, I engaged in conversation with a young man who was seated beside me. We moved from one subject to another, and then came to the matter of religion. He said that he had read considerably about the Mormons, that he had found much to admire in their practices, but that he had a definite prejudice concerning the story of the origin of the Church and particularly Joseph Smith. He was an active member of another organization, and when I asked where he had acquired his information, he indicated that it had come from publications of his church. I asked what company he worked for. He proudly replied that he was a sales representative for IBM. I then asked whether he would think it fair for his customers to learn of the qualities of IBM products from a Xerox representative. He replied with a smile, “I think I get the point of what you’re trying to say…”

(Concerning the assassination of Joseph Smith & again quoting Elder Hinckley) “It would amaze Governor Thomas Ford of the state of Illinois, who had pledged to protect the Prophet and then had left him to the mercy of the merciless mob. It was this same Thomas Ford who concluded in his History that Joseph Smith “never could succeed in establishing a system of policy which looked to permanent success in the future.” (Thomas Ford, A History of Illinois … , quoted in B. H. Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, 2:347.)

“It is this same Thomas Ford who today lies buried in a secluded section of the cemetery in Peoria, Illinois, largely forgotten, while the man he had judged a failure is remembered with gratitude over the earth.”

 

From Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, by McConkie & Millet, Volume 3, page 382, we read:  “As the Book of Mormon was given as a sign or wonder attesting to all honest truth-seekers the authenticity of the Restoration, so Joseph Smith, in harmony with the scriptural pattern, was given a sign to confirm the verity of all that Moroni told him.  The sign was that when it became known that the Lord had entrusted him with this ancient record, the workers of iniquity would seek his overthrow. ‘They will circulate falsehoods to destroy your reputation,’ Moroni said, ‘and also will seek to take your life; but remember this, if you are faithful and shall hereafter continue to keep the commandments of the Lord, you shall be preserved to bring these things forth; for in due time he will again give you a commandment to come and take them.

When they are interpreted the Lord will give the holy priesthood to some and they shall begin to proclaim this gospel and baptize by water and after that they shall have power to give the Holy Ghost by the laying on of their hands.  Then will persecution rage more and more; for the iniquities of men shall be revealed and those who are not built upon the Rock will seek to overthrow this Church; but it will increase the more opposed and spread farther and farther, increasing in knowledge till they shall be sanctified and receive an inheritance where the glory of God will rest upon them.’ (Messenger and Advocate 2:199, italics added).

All revelation is itself a miracle, for revelation is not the child of natural causes.  It is an eternal verity that God can be known only by revelation and thus it naturally follows that all we know about our Eternal Father comes to us, as did the Book of Mormon, in the form of a sign or wonder.  So it is with the establishment of all dispensations and the call of all prophets…”

Elder Hinckley further noted, “We do not worship the Prophet. We worship God our Eternal Father, and the risen Lord Jesus Christ. But we acknowledge him, we proclaim him, we respect him, we reverence him as an instrument in the hands of the Almighty in restoring to the earth the ancient truths of the divine gospel…

(Again from the words of McConkie & Millet above) “Excessive religious zeal is as dangerous to the salvation of men as stubborn unbelief.  Any virtue overdone becomes a vice.  To honor and reverence the Lord’s anointed is a requisite of salvation; to deify them is to falsify their nature and to pervert the message with which they are entrusted.”