DECEIVED BY A FALSE PROPHET?
I don't think so...
I have a dear friend, a good Christian woman - I’ll call her Mary - who is convinced that I, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been deceived by “a false prophet” - Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS Church. Some months back, she sent me a letter containing scriptural references and interpretations from the Bible and other anti-LDS materials and arguments intended to disabuse me of this deception. Here is my response:
Hi, Mary,
Tempus fugit. It has been many months since I received the little packet containing your 9 July letter and other materials intended to disabuse me of what you deem to be the thrall of deception cast upon me by a man you claim to have been a false prophet, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I apologize for taking so long to respond. The delay was not due to a lack of interest but just the opposite. I did not want to give you a casual, off-the-cuff response. Instead, it has been my intent to provide something more worthy of the esteemed relationship I had with your parents and through them with you. As I have said to you in the past, they were to me a quasi-father and mother and to this day I hold them in high honor. Through them I met the old Reverend Mokma who had the key that opened a critical door of understanding of a core element of the Christian faith that had previously been closed to me. I owe them and him a great debt.
Let me also note that nothing I say here, however frankly stated, is intended to be offensive or in the least degree dismissive of your feeling, beliefs, or of the information you have so kindly provided in what I believe is a sincere effort to be helpful to me, however misguided that effort may be. When you consider the spirit that prevails between us, you know we - you and I - are not antagonists. We are allies, kindred spirits in almost everything. We simply need to remove a few impediments to a better understanding between us. Hopefully, this writing today will help.
Before I really begin, let me ask if you are aware of the incongruity of your believing me to be, on the one hand, a pathetic fool deceived by a liar, deceiver, charlatan and false prophet, and, on the other, as you have observed more than once, a brother - "the most intelligent man I know" - with views on nearly everything that harmonize with your own? How can this be? If we are to recognize true Christians by their fruits, how do you explain this? How is it that you are able to approve of the great preponderance of what you know of me - including, I venture to say, my views on Jesus Christ - but nevertheless consider me to be grossly deceived in this most critical area, on the most basic level of Chrisitan belief, doctrine and understanding - having been, as you put it, “deceived by Joseph Smith”, a false prophet? What intellectual, moral and spiritual quality of people do you suppose are liable to be deceived by a false prophet? Does "the most intelligent man [you] know" fall into that category? Does this make sense to you? Does a bad tree product good fruit? A polluted spring pure water?
Let me begin, with all due respect, by assuring you that you have no idea what I believe or why I believe it. I will attempt here to help you come to a better understanding.
To get there, I'm going to get some help from Saul of Tarsus, St. Paul. Roman citizen by birth, cosmopolitan, supremely educated in the Jewish Law, taught by the most erudite of Jewish scholars (Gamaliel), confident in his convictions, passionate in what he understood to be God's cause and violently opposed to what he saw as the Christian heresy running rampant among the Jews. In vicious pursuit of Christians, he and his friends were intercepted on the road to Damascus and bathed in a glorious light from heaven while the voice of Jesus spoke personally to Paul.
You, Gloria, like me, are a lifelong student of the Bible. Based on what you know of him from the Bible, imagine Paul, near the end of his life, once a deadly enemy of Christ, in his youth having been transformed by the power of God, becoming the preeminent Christian missionary and theologian of the early Christian church. In his last years, with all that behind him, what do you suppose Paul believed and why did he believe it? Fortunately, we don't have to speculate on this since Paul himself provided us the answer.
As you well know, Paul - again the bright missionary star of the early age of Christianity and its preeminent theologian - surely among the greatest Christian theologians of all time - was, near the end of his life, called up out of the dungeon by King Agrippa and invited to regale the king's court with a treatise on this new and burgeoning Christian faith. As we know from his many other writings - his letter to the Hebrews being a superb example - Paul was supremely capable of delivering an erudite discourse on Christian doctrine. But, standing before King Agrippa and his guests, that isn’t what he did.
Instead, having provided some background information on his own history and circumstances, and citing his earlier brutal persecution of Christians, Paul related what happened to him on the road to Damascus and how that event changed him and redirected the course of his life:
"Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
"And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
"Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
"Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
"For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.
What do you suppose Paul felt and knew in the moments, days and years after his miraculous encounter on the road to Damascus? What did he know after that event that he had not known, felt or believed in the moments before that transcendent manifestation of divine power? Do you suppose he was relying on someone else to interpret this marvelous experience for him? Or perhaps some erudite interpretation of scripture?
Not hardly.
Safe to say that Paul, as is clear from the account of himself he gave before King Agrippa, saw his divine encounter as 100% experiential and 0% intellectual - nothing he could make sense of in terms of his previous beliefs and experience. In his new life in Christ, he was a newborn baby, starting over. He had to reinterpret everything he thought he knew through the bright new lens of the transforming experience he had on the road to Damascus. All during his remaining years he fought for what he knew from that personal experience. He was a Christian not because he had been convinced by some clever scriptural argument or apologist but because he had come face to face with the undeniable power of God that had fundamentally reoriented his understanding.
Now, Gloria, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to persuade Paul, after his experience on the road to Damascus, that he was deceived in his Christian beliefs - or, as Festus, Agrippa's guest on that occasion, shouted at him, that he was mad and simply imagining things.
The likelihood of your convincing Paul that he had been hoodwinked is roughly equal to the likelihood of your convincing me that I am deceived in what I believe. Why is that true? Because what I know and believe is the result of the same kind of transforming, revelatory experience - the same kind of manifestation of and confrontation with divine power and presence as Paul experienced. The details of my experience were different, of course, but the reality and power of the divine manifestation were the same - and absolutely undeniable.
The date was March 9th, 1962. I had just finished my 18th year of life and was in my final year of high school. I had been born into the LDS faith, had had superficial contact with it through most of my early years, but had no real, substantial knowledge of any of it. I had bumped up against them in passing but had not actually read the Bible or the Book of Mormon and knew nothing of Joseph Smith beyond his having made claims to visions from God and was the founder of the LDS Church. More importantly, I was an undisciplined, dishonest and arrogant young man, had begun to adopt patterns of personal behavior rejective of the Christian standards I had been taught at church, and had begun to look with disdain upon those around me who did adhere to those standards. On the verge of adulthood, I was a disaster waiting to happen.
It was under those circumstances that I had the aforesaid encounter with divine power. In the same way that Paul was retrieved from the error of his ways by his encounter on the road to Damascus, I was shocked out of the path to destruction I was on and placed on a new path of hope and faith in Jesus Christ. I won't share here the details of that experience except to say that it was marvelous, as real as any experience I have ever had in my life, and, as witnessed by those associated with me at the time, as powerful and transforming in its impact upon me as Paul's was on him. I have never forgotten it, and, like Paul, see it as the pivotal event in my life.
Here is what I had revealed to me in that encounter with the Divine Presence:
* There is a God. He is real and he has power unlike anything that exists in the natural world.
* That God knew me, loved me and had a purpose for my life. I had never before felt in life anything approaching that exquisite feeling of divine love extended to me on that occasion (see Romans 8:31-39, particularly 39. See also Lehi's and Nephi's vision of the Tree of Life and the fruit of that Tree, which is the love of God - Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 8, particularly verses 10-12, and 1 Nephi 11, especially 21-23). To this day, more than 60 years later, it brings tears to my eyes to remember those sweet moments. Nothing could possibly have had greater impact on my obstreperous young mind and spirit than experiencing the love of God. I will never forget it and, however imperfectly, I have sought all my life to walk in the path set out for me on that day by a loving Heavenly Father.
* I was promised that, though in my youth I had experienced only occasional whisperings of the Holy Spirit, that Spirit was powerfully present on this occasion (wrapped as I was in the powerful, loving arms of that Spirit there was not the slightest doubt in my mind that it was) and told that "a whole new day will be yours, for you will come under the redeeming power of Jesus Christ."
And so it was. I knew it was true. As was true for Paul, my life changed from that very moment. Everybody around me saw it. From that day, I have wanted nothing more in life than to stay true to that sweet moment, to be worthy of the approbation and love of my Heavenly Father as I felt them then, to be right with Him every day, as communicated to me by the Holy Spirit.
* I was promised that if I would read the Book of Mormon prayerfully and put it to the test set forth by Moroni (Moroni 10:4-5), the Holy Spirit of God would bear witness to me of its truthfulness. Shortly thereafter I began reading the Book of Mormon for the first time and did indeed receive a fulfillment of that promise. By the witness of the same Holy Spirit that through the years has born witness to me of God's hand in the Holy Bible, I know the Book of Mormon is also the Word of God ("We believe the Bible to be the Word of God, so far as it is translated correctly. We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God" - Joseph Smith in The Articles of Faith).
* It was made clear to me that the Holy Priesthood of God, the High Priesthood, restored to Jospeh Smith and Oliver Cowdery in May, 1829 by the laying on of hands of the resurrected personages, Peter, James and John, who had received their priesthood authority under the hands of Jesus himself, was a real power, with real authority to act on behalf of God and had indeed been restored to the earth. The entire experience unfolded to me on that occasion was in the context of and a confirmation of that priesthood power and authority.
* In the context of this whole experience what was manifestly made clear to me was that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God - no more than a prophet - no “false Christ” preaching up salvation in himself - and no less than a prophet, a man called of God to fulfill a mission to the world, as the ancient prophets were. If the truth of the Book of Mormon is attested to by the Holy Spirit - and it is - then all Joseph Smith and many other witnesses said of its miraculous origins is true. Though there is a mass of other supporting historical evidence available to those willing to make the effort to educate themselves, that spiritual witness alone - the Holy Spirit declaring the truthfulness of the Book of Momon - validates Smith’s account of events and establishes him as a prophet called of God.
From that sweet day, THAT experience has been the sum of my religion. THAT is what I believe. Where I have the opportunity and responsibility to teach, THAT is what I teach because the manifestation of the power of God opens the way to the brighter day of understanding and a full knowledge of truth. Without it, the truth cannot be known. I believe the spiritual dynamics and doctrines associated with this kind of experience sit at the very core of true religion and are the essence of the Christian proposition to the world:
“Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven.” - Matthew 16:17
I remember the old Reverend Mokma, speaking of his own similar spiritual experience, with eyes closed and tears streaming down his face, shaking his head from side to side, saying, "Nothing else will do! Nothing else will do!" Why nothing else will do? Because, in the face of such an experience, every other source of understanding is instantly recognized as inferior.
As I'm sure must have been true for Paul's previous Christian-hating Jewish friends and collaborators, my co-conspirators in youthful mischief - some few of whom are still breathing - thought I was a bit crazy when I spoke of this extraordinary experience. They could not understand how or why I had turned away from our shenanigans with such steely resolve. But, boy, did I have a good reason!
Regarding the Book of Mormon, I have read that piece of work many times in the intervening 60-plus years and repeatedly received the promised confirmation that it is indeed the Word of God. Quite apart from the powerful spiritual witness that declares its truthfulness - a witness experienced by and attested to by millions - the only rational explanation for the modern-day origins of that masterful, complex, intricate, interwoven, spiritually explosive scriptural work is the miraculous one Joseph gave of it.
No man - certainly no single individual, and certainly not a 23-year-old, crudely educated country bumkin like Jospeh Smith - and certainly not a lying satanic deceiver up to no good - could have produced the Book of Mormon. As Jesus noted, “a house divided cannot stand.” Satan will never point those susceptible to his influence in the direction of his archenemy, Jesus Christ, as the Book of Mormon so powerfully does (don’t skip this link). No one familiar with the book’s contents and the actual details of the history of its origins can credibly argue that it has a crude, deceitful human origin.
By further logical extension - again supported by many witnesses - Joseph Smith had the prophetic and priesthood authority to restore and establish the true and empowered Church of Jesus Christ in a world that had long drifted away from the true doctrine of Christ. As the Lord himself in his first appearance to Joseph Smith, having commanded Joseph to join none of the then existing churches, said of the tattered remnants of Christianity that remained in Joseph's day, "They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They teach for commandments the doctrines of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof." Any even passingly thorough exegesis of Christian history from very early times confirms Jesus's assessment of a pervasively apostate Christianity.
Within this dazzling, spiritually activated new framework created for me on this marvelous occasion, I became a student of everything - particularly of the history of Joseph Smith and his times. I have always believed, as Smith put it, that “the truth cuts is own way". If Smith's claims were true, on the similar principle expressed in the Chinese saying (真金不怕红炉火) - "true gold is not afraid of the fiery furnace" - those claims would withstand the most rigorous examination and testing. A more detailed and objective understanding of his history and those of his associates would only serve to confirm what was true.
I recall as a young missionary in Hong Kong scouring Christian bookstores looking for anti-Mormon literature. The more I could read of it the better because the clearer would be my understanding of the truth. Though I am not quite the scholar of LDS history that are those who are professionals and able to spend full time in the study, I am much better and more broadly read than most and have, I think, a broad and thorough grasp of Smith's times and the historical context within which he made his proclamations to the world. Accordingly, if you think me an ignorant simpleton susceptible to being deceived by some charlatan telling fanciful stories, you have seriously underestimated me.
Now let me help you apply a little logic here in your effort to show me the error of my ways, to "reason with [me], the most intelligent man [you] know" - a man you nevertheless consider to be pathetically deceived by belief in a "false prophet".
By the following definition, both Paul and I are “mystics”:
"A mystic is a person who has a direct experience of the sacred, unmediated by conventional religious rituals or intermediaries."
Given the peculiar, experiential, mystical, origins of my personal belief system - again a peculiarity I share with St. Paul - it seems to me you, Mary, have only two ways to go if you hope to disabuse me. You have to deny the reality of my experience or, alternatively, attribute it to some kind of psychosis or satanic deception.
Because I know what I experienced, you won't get far with the first argument. As concerns the reality and power of that wonderful encounter, let me cite the words of Joseph Smith when, subsequent to his speaking openly about his vision of the Father and the Son, he came hard up against a world that had no experience with and long ceased to believe in miracles:
"It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself.
"However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his last breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise.
So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, 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? I have actually seen a vision; and 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."
Concerning my own transcendent experience, though again the details were different - and I have never suffered the persecution that Joseph did - I couldn't have said it better.
The real question, then, is not how good and persuasive are the arguments or what are the scriptural interpretations his adversaries bring against Joseph Smith - what some people say could or couldn't have happened based on their interpretations of scripture - but simply this: DID THESE EVENTS ACTUALLY HAPPEN AS JOSEPH SMITH CLAIMED? If they did, then all arguments against Joseph Smith and his prophetic calling are summarily dismissed. If they did not happen, then the LDS faith, no matter how sincere and productive its Christianity, is built on a lie. God does not lie. Satan does.
The attendant question, of course - the truly critical question - is by what means can one determine the truth - especially God's truth? This question has only one answer and it won't be had by paying attention to the scriptural arguments and interpretations of the self-appointed caretakers and nattering nabobs of traditional apostate Christianity - those who, as history copiously documents, have accomplished nothing more than to lead the faith into internecine hostility and schism.
Nevertheless, it is God's intention that we know the truth and be made free by it (John 8:32). He has prepared for us the one and only means for that to happen - the revelatory power of the Holy Spirit:
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." - II Peter 1:20-21
The Spirit alone gives prophetic utterance, and that same Spirit alone give understanding of what is uttered. Without this revelatory, interpretive power of the Holy Spirit, the scriptures are up for grabs, next to meaningless. Devoid of the Spirit, as the saying has it, “You can prove anything from scripture”. Notwithstanding the Bible having been around for centuries, the history of the Christian faith - so called - attests to the confusion that ensues in the absence of the Holy Spirit.
With regard to your second possible argument - that I am a psychotic or have been satanically deceived - you are then thrown back on the need to explain and dismiss me, whom you have declared to be "the smartest man [you] know", a man committed to reason, a truth-seeker, every bit as conversant with scripture as you, and with you a rejoicing sharer in faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the World and virtually every other essential of the Christian faith - none of this remotely arguably the expected product of satanic deception. Try making sense of that please - and please do specify how you think my belief in a purportedly false prophet has distorted or corrupted my personal Christian faith. How is it that you think Joseph Smith has steered his followers away from essential faith in Jesus Christ? (See again this LINK). Good luck with that.
The bone in your craw, Gloria, seems to boil down to what you purport to be my belief in a false prophet - Joseph Smith. In your letter you quote all manner of legitimate scriptural warnings about false prophets, some to arise in the last days. But you seem oblivious to the glaring, dispositive flaw in your argument. While indeed there are copious warnings in scripture about being deceived by false prophets, show me one scriptural reference - just one - that declares there will be no true prophets arise - that God will call no true prophets to speak for him in the last days. Let me save you some time here. There are no such references anywhere in scripture. Instead, here is what the Lord, through the mouth of an ancient prophet, concisely has to say about that:
"Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." - Amos 3:7
Has the Lord ceased to act in the world? Has he stayed his hand, shut his mouth? Though the world has not yet come to an end, has the Lord God no more need to apprise his prophets of what he will do? If there are no more and never will be any more prophets, if the heavens thus are sealed (as the Moslems believe) and the voice of God in the world has fallen silent - an argument, again, utterly unsupported and indeed contradicted by scripture - that would have to be the case. Was Friedrich Nietzsche right? Is God dead?
Moreover, whence came the idea that a Bible pieced together long after its sundry contents were authored - the appropriate and valid contents of which are still debated to this day - contains all the words, all the prophetic utterances, that God intended the world to have? Again, there is no scriptural support for that view. Instead, here is the Lord's own argument directed to those who would presume to shut God's mouth and the mouths of his prophets in the latter days:
"But behold, there shall be many—at that day when I shall proceed to do a marvelous work among them, that I may remember my covenants which I have made unto the children of men, that I may set my hand again the second time to recover my people, which are of the house of Israel;
"And also, that I may remember the promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi, and also unto thy father, that I would remember your seed; and that the words of your seed should proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed; and my words shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth, for a standard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel;
"And because my words [the Book of Mormon] shall hiss forth [under the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith]—many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.
"But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles?
"O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people.
"Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?
"Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?
"Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.
"And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure.
And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.
"Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written.
"For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.
"For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.
"And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews.
"And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever.
Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 29
The problem, then, properly understood, is not one of defending the indefensible - a blanket denial of any modern-day prophets or prophecy - but the ability and means to judge between false prophets and true (actually a problem that has existed throughout the ages). God is not dead, his mouth is not shut, and, notwithstanding the imposters, true prophets called of God there most certainly will be - “for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.”
But which is which?
Unfortunately for the spiritually weak-minded, there is no rote, cookie-cutter, easily applied litmus test here by which we can prove prophetic credentials. As you pointed out in your letter “… for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light”. This is spiritual graduate school, not kindergarten. As I have often noted, “If you can be fooled, you will be.” Indeed, the grand deception of the last days Jesus predicted will be so exquisite that, as he warned, even the elect might be deceived, "if it were possible":
"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."
Who are the “elect” and why is it impossible to deceive them? I have often pondered the coming of this grand deception in the last days, what will be the nature of it, and how the elect of God might see through it, not be deceived and be able to hold to the strait and narrow way that leads to life. Though there are some good scriptural references that point the way, such as Moroni 10:5 - "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." - the president of the LDS Church, Russell M. Nelson, not so long ago put it succinctly for our day:
“In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”
Now, Mary, as two Christians with faith in Jesus Christ, "come, let us reason together". Do you believe in the power of prayer? I know you do. Do you believe that a loving Father in Heaven would ever in all eternity repudiate his age-old promises, turn away from those who love Him and love his Only Begotten Son and, in their human frailty, acknowledging their weakness and need of God, "with sincere hearts, with real intent", seek guidance, knowledge and a witness of truth at his holy hand? God forbid! Were he to do so he would prove himself a liar and would cease to be God. All would be lost. But we are assured that Heavenly Father will never abandon those who honestly and humbly seek his face. The promises must and will always hold - "Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it will be opened unto you":
"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
This scripture, by the way, was the one that sent the 14-year-old Joseph Smith into a grove of trees in 1820 to seek guidance from God, an effort of faith that opened to him a grand vision of the Father and the Son and began the empowered work of God in the last days.
Now, Mary, my good sister in Christ, let me admonish you as a Christian brother. Until you humbly acknowledge something that is true for all of us - that you could be wrong in your previous understanding of some things - as Saul, in his sincere anti-Christian fervor, was as he set out on the road to Damascus - that there are most certainly things in the mind and will and purpose of God that you (we) do not yet know or understand, things He, on condition, is willing to reveal to you (us) - I mean, really, Gloria, given the limits of understanding and knowledge that constrain us all, how hard is that to acknowledge? - and until you, humbly, with an open mind, a sincere heart, with real intent - a condition of mind and heart the Book of Mormon uniquely refers to as having "a broken heart and contrite spirit" (I always think of the publican in Jesus’s story who went up to the temple to pray as the embodiment of this spirit - Luke 18:10-14) - put to the test the promise of a divine witness proffered in Moroni 10:4-5 - what I consider to be the quintessential Christian invitation and challenge - the only way we can know God's truth - you will never come to a knowledge of the truth concerning these things. Locked into your preconceived notions, you will have chosen to settle for less than a fullness of knowledge of the mind, will and work of God in the last days, continuing to allow yourself to be persuaded and swayed by the ignorance of those self-appointed caretakers, "experts", and nattering nabobs of a corrupt and apostate traditional Christianity, remaining subject to their and your own uncertain interpretations of scripture and "the doctrines of men, having a form a godliness, but denying the power thereof."
While everyone is entitled to one, none of this is a matter of opinion. God's truth is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of power. I can attest that God is a God of power. He works in power. He makes his case to the world in power. I have experienced it firsthand. Quoting again the old Reverend Mokma, "Nothing else will do!" (By the way, this is the same man - whom I knew to be an erudite scholar of the Bible - who declared, when he was finally persuaded to read the Book of Mormon and other LDS scripture, "I'm smart enough to recognize the World of God when I see it!")
You have in your hands the copy of the Book of Mormon I sent you. I am certain you have not read it prayerfully - and probably not at all (see the postscript below) - but have heretofore allowed your preconceived notions and those of others to prejudice you against it. As the old saw has it, you can't judge a book - certainly not this book - by its cover - or by the biased, distorted views of others.
It goes without saying, that, short of your actually having read the book, any opinion or argument you bring in relation to it will, logically, be on inferior footing and will lack credibility in intelligent, informed company. You cannot speak credibly of things you have no firsthand knowledge of.
As concerns Smith's claims, can you see how all of it is related? Can you see how the Book of Mormon is the key? If that book is the Word of God, and should you receive the promised witness of the truthfulness of it through the Holy Spirit, you will then know Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God. By further extension, you will also know the priesthood restored to him by heavenly messengers is really the authority of God now restored to the earth. And you will know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is indeed the restored, empowered, authorized Church of Jesus Christ in the last days - what the Lord himself has described as "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth..." (D&C 1:30)
It all stands together or falls together, and it's up to you to get to the truth of it by using the spiritual tools God has provided - tools, again, activated by and accessible only to those who bring “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” - “a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ” - promises that sit at the center of the Christian faith. No one else can do it for you.
That book provides you the means to put all this - Joseph Smith's entire proposition to the world - to the test - God's test - the quintessential Christian test - and really to test yourself in the process. How much faith do you have? How willing are you to trust God to give you guidance? Or will you fearfully fall back on your own limited resources and the ignorant interpretations and arguments of others?
Do you have the courage and humility to go into that quiet place in your mind and soul, drop your prideful guard, acknowledge before God the limits of your own understanding, trust in the promises of God and invite him to give you guidance? If you will do this, I promise you will have your answer. If you will not, you will never know.
Best,
Ron
p.s. With all due respect, Mary, let me provide you just one example - an important one - of your profound and pivotal ignorance when it comes to the claims and credibility of Joseph Smith. You refer in your letter to the biblical scriptures wherein God declares that "in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." (II Corinthians 13:1 and others). You then proceed to maintain that Joseph Smith's claims are based on his "unwitnessed oral testimony".
Had you opened even the first few pages of the Book of Mormon I sent you, you would have found there the testimonies of 11 witnesses. The first three - Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris - in company with Joseph Smith, received a glorious vision of the Angel Moroni, who appeared to them and showed them the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was transcribed. They also heard the voice of God commanding them to bear witness of what they were seeing and hearing:
The Testimony of Three Witnesses
Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken. And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.
Oliver Cowdery
David Whitmer
Martin Harris
Interestingly, all three of these men subsequently and for various reasons fell out with Joseph Smith and were excommunicated from the LDS Church. One, David Whitmer, believing Smith to be a "fallen" not a "false" prophet, remained estranged from the LDS Church his whole life, while the other two reconciled with and rejoined the church years later after Joseph Smith was assassinated. Yet all three went to their graves maintaining and reaffirming the truth of their testimony concerning their miraculous experience. David Whitmer, long out of the church, having heard that he was reported to have recanted his testimony, took out ads in several newspapers around the country in which he reaffirmed the truth of his testimony and repudiated reports he had ever denied it.
Of particular interest is the case of Oliver Cowdery, a lawyer, who, unlike the other two witnesses, was not only present for the visitation of Moroni, but, with Joseph, was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood by the resurrected John the Baptist, was, with Joseph, further ordained to the High Priesthood under the hands of the resurrected Peter, James and John, and, on April 3, 1836, was present with Joseph at the subsequent glorious appearances of Jesus Christ, Moses, Elias and Elijah at the dedication of the Kirtland, Ohio Temple. These are fantastic accounts that, notwithstanding his having been excommunicated and estranged from the LDS Church for ten years, Cowdery reaffirmed to his dying day.
The other eight witnesses were not treated to anything like the marvelous vision the first three had received. Instead, in the presence of all eight, Joseph Smith produced the golden plates from which the book of Mormon was transcribed and allowed all eight men to examine and handle them:
The Testimony of Eight Witnesses
Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That Joseph Smith, Jun., the translator of this work, has shown unto us the plates of which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; and as many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated we did handle with our hands; and we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship. And this we bear record with words of soberness, that the said Smith has shown unto us, for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken. And we give our names unto the world, to witness unto the world that which we have seen. And we lie not, God bearing witness of it.
Christian Whitmer
Jacob Whitmer
Peter Whitmer, Jun.
John Whitmer
Hiram Page
Joseph Smith, Sen.
Hyrum Smith
Samuel H. Smith
Again, none of these eight men, most of whom outlived Joseph Smith, ever recanted or denied his testimony.
Accordingly, Mary, the system of witnesses presented to the world in support of the Book of Mormon - a critically important system you were entirely ignorant of - not only remains unassailed and perfectly intact to this day but is in perfect harmony with the divine order of God's word being established in the mouths of two or three witnesses - a quality of supporting testimony, interestingly, that does not exist in support of the hodge-podge, pieced-together Bible as it exists today.
Now, Mary, you are tired of reading this nigh interminable missive, and, though there is much more in your letter I could respond to in relation to the shortfalls and errors of your understanding, I am tired of writing. But finally, I ask you, if you were so glaringly ignorant of and wrong about this critical aspect of Joseph Smith's and the Book of Mormon's credibility - this critically important system of witnesses - might you not ask yourself what else you might be wrong about? I can assure you that, just based on your letter, there is a great deal more that falls into that category. Might this not encourage you in the direction of a little less certitude and a little more humility about what you heretofore have thought you knew and understood about Joseph Smith and us "Mormons"?
(Any reader who wants a copy of the Book of Mormon need only send me a mailing address and I’ll send you one. I only ask that, if I send it, you’ll commit to read it.)
Brilliant! thank you Ron. I particularly appreciated your opening appeal to the experiential, or mystical, as the foundation for true knowledge. We must first experience truth before we can capably use logic or reason to further build upon what we have gained, and ultimately can only gain through our experience of truth.