Brigham Young said that Heavenly Father had kept watch over the progenitors of Joseph Smith all the way back to Adam.
“Joseph learned that the Bible did not contain all the answers to life’s questions. Rather, it taught men how to obtain answers by {coming to God}.”
How did Joseph feel when he was told that none of the churches were acknowledged of God? Even more, how did he feel when he was told that at a later time the fullness of the gospel would be made known to him?
I never realized that Hyrum has been given a blessing that he could always escape his enemies if he chose. In other words, it was his choice to die with Joseph.
Because the family was united, they survived these challenges and together faced the daunting task of starting over again on a hundred-acre wooded tract of land in Manchester, near Palmyra, New York.
Unity within the family provides strength.
Joseph came to realize that the Bible did not contain all the answers to life’s questions; rather, it taught men and women how they could find answers to their questions by communicating directly with God through prayer.
The distinction between having all the answers and teaching how to receive them is crucial. If it has all the answers then the argument that “we have already got a Bible” would make more sense.
He recalled: “They told me that all religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged of God as his church and kingdom. And … at the same time [I] receive[d] a promise that the fulness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me.”
This is a more nuanced way of phrasing the truth than another version that said “none of them were right.”
His brother Hyrum, who had been his constant supporter, especially following his painful, life-threatening leg operation in 1813, was one of the witnesses of the gold plates. He was also one of the six members of the Church of Jesus Christ when it was organized in 1830.
During their lives, Joseph and Hyrum faced mobs and persecution together. For example, they languished in the most wretched conditions in the Liberty Jail in Missouri for five months during the cold winter of 1838–39.
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In the face of persecution, Hyrum exhibited faith in the Lord’s promises, including a guarantee to escape his enemies if he so chose. In a blessing Hyrum received in 1835 under the hands of Joseph Smith, the Lord promised him: “Thou shalt have power to escape the hand of thine enemies. Thy life shall be sought with untiring zeal, but thou shalt escape. If it please thee, and thou desirest, thou shalt have the power voluntarily to lay down thy life to glorify God.”
What a promise for Hyrum. That must have been comforting to him on many occasions.
I have often wondered why Joseph and Hyrum and their families had to suffer so much. It may be that they came to know God through their suffering in ways that could not have happened without it. Through it, they reflected on Gethsemane and the cross of the Savior. As Paul said, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”
Maybe I need to ask more “how is this helping me to know Christ more” rather than saying “I have nothing more to learn here.”
Before his death in 1844, Joseph wrote a spirited letter to the Saints. It was a call to action, which continues in the Church today:
“Brethren [and sisters], shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren [and sisters]; and on, on to the victory! …
“… Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.”
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