Call of the Prophet

First Vision

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints began from the First Vision experienced by Joseph Smith Jr., then only 15 years old, in 1820, in the grove of trees west of his home in Palmyra, New York. This young man had no idea what plans the Lord had for him. What brought Joseph Smith Jr., to this grove of trees was a spiritual impression he felt when reading the Bible, in particular James 1:5-6. This verse says that when we lack wisdom, we are to seek and ask God ourselves. This particular verse did not say to read the scriptures for the answer, it said for us to ask God directly, through sincere and humble prayer. Joseph Smith Jr. acted on that impression because it felt right. It made sense, to ask our creator directly for the answer, for guidance, for help. How clear this was.

The claims by these other Christian faiths did not fool Joseph Smith. Some were quite emotional and seemed uplifting, but the varying doctrines spoken by these other Christian churches, especially when compared to each other, caused confusion. None had the stability of the spiritual word of God (John 6:63)

Influencing much of the history of Joseph Smith was his father, also named Joseph. His father was not happy with the current group of religionists of many denominations. The mother of Joseph Smith (Jr.) related this about her husband, Joseph Smith (Sr.),

Joseph (Jr.), when he was only fifteen years old, his mother, Lucy (Mack) Smith and other members of the family joined the Presbyterian Church (JS-H 1:7). Joseph Smith Junior attended several meetings held by the Presbyterian group but he stayed a bit aloof, not wanting to become too involved. In time Joseph (Jr.) had a liking to the Methodist sect, but because of the great confusion that existed, along with the strife and contention between the many different Christian denominations, Joseph Smith (Jr.) wanted the truth (JS-H 1:8).

Joseph (Jr.) believed in God, and he and his parents believed in the Bible. Yet he wanted a way to slice through the eloquent (and contradicting) words of other preachers, all claiming a belief believe in Jesus Christ. Despite their claims, Joseph found that none truly followed the words in the Bible, especially words that referred to the power of God. Those words in the Bible, which had a profound impact on Joseph Smith Jr., came from James 1:5-6 he who lacks wisdom is to ask of God.

Joseph (Jr.) was a boy who took to deep reflection and study, which became obvious by reading his history. This showed a boy who truly cared about his findings and wanted to find answers that filled his heart with truth and depth². The words of other preachers may have seemed fine to the appeasement of surface interest, but not to Joseph. He cared about the state of his eternal spiritual nature. It was this sincerity and depth of heart and mind that led Joseph (Jr.) to exercise the counsel found in James 1:5-6 Subsequently, he found a private spot, among a grove of trees just west of his home, where he can kneel and pray.

When Joseph knelt down to pray, some unknown dark power seized him and overcame him. Darkness enveloped him and somehow this power held his tongue that he could not speak. Joseph Smith Jr. exerted all his strength to call upon God, and tried he did. When all seemed hopeless, feeling as if his life was at an end, a single pillar of Light appeared upon Joseph Smith Jr., and the dark power quickly disappeared. From this pillar, two personages appeared and stood just above the ground, in the air. One of these personages spoke to Joseph Smith Jr., calling him by name, and said, "This is my Beloved Son, hear him!" ³

The two personages that stood before Joseph Smith Jr., were God the Father and his Son, being our saviour, Jesus Christ. The Father spoke first, indicating to his son. They stood real and tangible before Joseph Smith Jr. They appeared as "One God" being one in power, government, purpose, intelligence, truth, and spirit, yet two distinct personages or persons. This experience confirms and shows the meaning of the words of Jesus Christ, held in the Bible, where he said, "The Father and I are one" (John 10:30).

From this first vision, and subsequent spiritual experiences, revelations and directions from God, Joseph Smith Jr. organized the true Church of Jesus Christ. The Lord himself named this Church as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (DC 115:3-4), and to this day, stands as a testimony of Jesus Christ, his gospel of repentance and salvation for all mankind. If you wish to read more of this event, the first vision, you can read the History of the First Vision online (see below).

Continued Revelation - even for ourselves

One of the important characteristics of God's true church is that it has his prophet, who must be able to receive revelation. The importance of this is that God will give direction and even continued revelation as is needed, to give the highest guidance and true direction for his church. With the ways of the world having such a great influence on our minds and hearts, it is good to see that God still communicates with us.

Does this "revelation" sit solely to the prophet?

There are two types of revelation. The first is the highest, and it's purpose is to give direction, guidance or commandments to his Church. There can be only "one person" to recieve these highest revelations and that is the prophet chosen by God, who also stands as the president of the Lord's true Church. The second type is what God is willing to give each person, and that is personal revelation for the purpose of teaching, guiding and leading his or her life and family. This is a great power and blessing, because it gives each person the ability to confirm what the Prophet says and provides understanding. In this way, only one person, the prophet, speaks for God and for God's Church, but God makes himself available to speak for himself to you. All of this is because of continued revelation. A power and blessing that all churches deny. Is this not in line with the words of Jesus Christ when he promised us the comforter? (John 14:26)

Ask yourself, how can another church that claims to believe in the Bible and Jesus Christ, deny continued revelation, or create doctrines or beliefs to limit it? How can they deny God still speaks to us and deny that God will show us the truth? The scriptures, be it only the Bible or both with the Book of Mormon, is the word of God. Ask yourself why would God leave the interpretation of his "eternal word" to mortals, where God would never teach any faithful person who asks hiim? People claim that the Bible interprets itself, yet if that was true, why is there so many denominations with so many contradicting beliefs? If the Bible causes so many contentions and contradictions, and it interprets itself, then it is not the word of God.

But...since the Bible is the word of God, then what does the Bible say about these contradictions and religious confusion?

Without God's help, who is the author of all divine inspiration, how can we truly determine if a preachers claim is of God or merely another of a myrid of false beliefs and doctrines? How can a member of any church, sit idle and ignore this great gift of revelation from God, believing only by way of "face value"?

When you truly read the Bible and follow the wisdom and truth as it says, with a sincere heart and desire for truth, you too will ask, "Have they not read, believed and followed the Bible properly?"

Joseph Smith Jr., read the Bible and he understood it properly. He called upon God, and God answered him. Yes, God spoke to Joseph Smith and since he spoke to him, so will God speak to you, but only if you are sincere and humble yourself before God. Joseph Smith found that God did not ordain any of the other Churches and none were truly following God. He found that people were fooled by false doctrines that claimed there was no more revelation. Joseph found that people accepted false doctrine because it became "tradition", even though it was not written in the Bible which people of other churches claimed to follow.

Do you realize the contradictions these false doctrines and bad traditions caused? - If we can no longer receive communications from God, then how easy is it for Satan to fool us? IF God no longer communicates to anyone who faithfully calls, then it is easy for Satan to mislead and encourage false beliefs and false churches because we would then have no means available to find truth and obtain protection from the tricks of Satan. How easy our salvation would fail and how easy God's plan to save us would fail.

Yet people claim that all we need is to believe in Jesus Christ and accept him into our lives, we would then have protection. Alright let us follow that line of thought.

If by belief you gain the protection from Jesus Christ, that means Jesus Christ by his power would extend protection around you. If this is true, and if Satan confronts you with his evil, would Jesus answer your prayers for help? If the answer is yes, then by that same belief, and by the same power of God, would he not answer your prayers with personal revelation to you, leading you to see his True Church, so you can avoid the false ones?

If by prayer we can obtain security and guidance from God, then so can we receive commuinication from him also. Since when does man have the power to muffle God's voice or control his will? Then by these truths alone, the belief and doctrine that revelation ended when Jesus died on the cross is a false doctrine and was promoted by Satan, for who else would want you to know less about God?

By those same truths, Joseph Smith asked of God, and God answered in accordance to the Bible, because at that time, the Book of Mormon was still hidden and Joseph Smith acted in accordance to the Bible.

Since Joseph Smith Jr. followed the Bible properly, that means he took charge of his spiritual path. He showed sincerity, integrity, honesty, determination, and truly sought the truth. He knew, unlike so many others, that he can (and did) ask of God in sincere humble prayer. As so many others chose to follow emotional appeasements, Joseph followed his heart and sought the counsel of God.

Joseph was a perfect example of what all of us must do, and do as he did if we truly care about our salvation. Joseph knew that despite his call from God to be a prophet for the Church of Christ (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), a person's salvation is solely determined by his or her use of free will and choice. A person can ignore this great, wonderous and inspiring example shown by Joseph Smith, or a person can follow it and do as he did - ASK OF GOD!

It is by way of confirmation through and by the Holy Ghost, that those who truly inquire of God for him or herself, will receive the truth, that the First Vision, the prophet Joseph Smith, and this Church are true. People will receive a single confirmation or a series of them, which The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or anyone else cannot control. All of us want others to find the same truth as we have, from God himself. So we say to you - Ask of GOD.

Amen.

(To view a multimedia presentation of the first vision, visit the Joseph Smith (click the multimedia tab) web site. You need Macromedia 7 or higher installed on your computer, with a fast connection.)

Footnotes

1.   History of Joseph Smith by His Mother - Preston Nibley, Lucy Mack Smith, Chapter 13.
2.   History of Joseph Smith by His Mother - Preston Nibley, Lucy Mack Smith, Chapter 18.
3.   See Joseph Smith History -JSH 1:15-17.