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JOSEPH SMITH

[Talk given by John E. Enslen at a sacrament meeting of the Wetumpka Ward, Montgomery Alabama Stake on Sunday, December 18, 2005.]

An assignment to speak on Joseph Smith is a bottomless assignment. Not only is it impossible to weigh the impact of Joseph’s life on this church, the entire world cannot contain the length and breadth of his influence, and his influence is still growing. Joseph Smith will always stand separate and apart from all other mortals who ever lived.

Our adoration for the Prophet Joseph is so great, that we must regularly counterbalance our praise for him with this disclaimer to the world lest we be misunderstood: We do not worship the Prophet Joseph Smith. We worship God our Eternal Father and his only begotton Son, the resurrected Jesus Christ. But we acknowledge the Prophet as a prophet; we unashamedly proclaim him a prophet; we respect him as we would respect Adam, Noah, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, Peter, James, John or Paul. We reverence him as an instrument in the hands of the Almighty in restoring to the earth in purity the ancient truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, together with the priesthood through which the authority of God is exercised for the blessing of mankind.

In a First Presidency message, President Hinckley reports of a conversation about Joseph Smith that he had with a non-member. We have all had this exact same conversation. President Hinckley reveals how we might respond.

“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 [fruit of the] revelation, then you must accept the revelator.’”

“It is a constantly recurring mystery to me, [said President Hinckley], 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 [with one hand], and [with the other], cut the root from which...grows [that very same fruit.]”

Joseph’s lasting contributions are countless, but they are all founded in revelation. The contributions began with a revelation of the true nature and character of God the Eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ, augmented later with the most precise, and yet concise, description of the Holy Ghost contained in all of religious literature. Joseph declared the importance of a correct knowledge of the godhead with these words: “If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves.”

And to further help us comprehend ourselves, Joseph took us back to our pre-mortal existence as literal children of God with a divine birthright, and then propelled us forward into a multi-tiered, degree-divided heaven that allows for perfect justice for every soul. But he did not stop there. He then added the concept of endless, eternal progression in an exalted state of deification. Joseph’s revelation-based confidence in these God-given doctrines would allow him to boldly state to a world that doggedly restricted itself to dead prophets only, “I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world.” And on numerous occasions, in settings that made him sound utterly foolish to any who had not the spirit with them, Joseph would dare to declare that his infant and unpopular church would someday fill the whole earth.

It is through Joseph that we have the holy priesthood. Every legitimate priesthood holder’s line of authority in this dispensation will pass through the hands of Joseph. Arguably, perhaps the most fundamental difference between this church and all other churches, even all other Christian churches that possess a valid understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ, is the priesthood. Priesthood authority is the one thing over which this church jealously maintains a monopoly. God Himself has decreed that monopoly because it is the means whereby He maintains both order and control over His Kingdom. No ordinance of the gospel of any nature is bound in heaven except it be performed under the authority of His holy priesthood.

But the seemingly adverse effect of such an exclusionary doctrine disappears in light of an inclusionary doctrine which Joseph introduced. The entire human family will have full and complete access to genuine priesthood authority through the ordinances of the temple, once again revealing the perfect justice of God by allowing all men to be judged similarly to those in the flesh who had opportunity to receive the earthly ordinances authoritatively.

May I mention another contribution, this one being I think the greatest so far as Joseph’s personal participation? Again it is revelatory, but this contribution requires much more than being an observant in a vision, or sitting under the hands of a resurrected being. It involves an intense spiritual labor preceded by years of careful preparation. It involves for the first time something tangible and valuable, thus requiring a diligent safeguarding. It involves the production of a product that can be tested empirically and intellectually, although its ultimate test will always be a spiritual one. I speak, of course, of the discovery, translation, printing and publishing of the Book of Mormon. Joseph produced more pages of scripture than any other mortal is known to have produced, modern scripture which is flooding the earth in a steadily multiplying number of languages, just like Joseph said it would. And Joseph would add to that volume the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price.

His contributions continued. For instance, the manner in which the Lord’s church is organized. President Hinckley said this month: “No modification or adaptation of that organization is ever considered without searching the revelations set forth by the Prophet,” and he might easily have added that it has ever been so since April 6, 1830.

Time reduces me to only a bare partial listing of practical contributions, and even those by cryptic phrases, but you will recognize them: a missionary program; a women’s organization; the word of wisdom; a welfare system; family home evening; temple building; a hymn book; record keeping; and municipal planning. He will someday receive his just due for bringing about a major portion of the colonizing of the western United States.

May I share the words of Joseph Smith on the subject of Joseph Smith?

“You don’t know me; you never knew my heart. No man knows my history. I cannot tell it; I shall never undertake it. I don’t blame anyone for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I could not have believed it myself.”

* * *

“Yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: ‘Why persecute me for telling the truth?...Who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation.’”

* * *

“I never did harm any man since I was born in the world. My voice is always for peace. I never think any evil, nor do anything to the harm of my fellow-man. When I am called by the trump of the archangel and weighed in the balance, you will all know me then.” (D.H.C., Vol. VI, p. 317.)

* * *

“I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force against religious bigotry, priest-craft, lawyer-craft, doctor-craft, lying editors, prejudiced judges and jurors, and the authority of perjured executives, backed by mobs, blasphemers, licentious and corrupt men and women—all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty, who will give me dominion over all and every one of them, when their refuge of lies shall fail, and their hiding place shall be destroyed, while these smooth-polished stones with which I come in contact become marred.” (D.H.C., Vol. V, p. 407.)

In this year, the 200th anniversary of the birth of the prophet Joseph Smith, my ever-increasing love and appreciation for him has never been greater. I felt the truthfulness of his simple testimony the first time my eyes with curiosity poured over a pamphlet containing it. From that very moment he has had a profound effect for good upon my life. I am personally indebted to him beyond measure for the unrivaled revelations of the restoration he worthily received, and for all the sacrifices he suffered and endured to bring to pass the proclamation of Truth to a blinded, wicked world. I actually long for the privilege when I may, at some not-too-distant future time, embrace him in adoring appreciation as one man embraces another.

I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for this prophet-led church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which Joseph founded in obedience to divine dictates. Why am I thankful? Because its time-tested teachings, sacred covenants, and authoritative ordinances have kept me within the plan of joy and happiness; because its inspired organization has given me unparalleled opportunities to experience personal growth and development; because within this church I have found my favorite faithful friends; and most of all, because of the family that would assuredly not be mine, either here and now, or forever, except for it.

Without the slightest hesitation or reservation, I am perfectly willing, even anxious, to stake my eternal destiny on the truthfulness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed through Joseph Smith, the pre-eminent inaugural prophet of this final dispensation of time. I know of nothing beyond the atonement itself which can so amply demonstrate the tender mercies of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ than does the gift of a true and living prophet who enlightens a reluctant world regarding the endless possibilities of that atoning sacrifice and the true nature of the Gods who brought it to pass.

May the ordinary name of Joseph Smith be had for extraordinary good, not evil, amongst us and our posterity throughout all eternity. Such is my prayer and supplication, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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