My name is Ryan Davis, I post statements by those who personally KNEW the prophet as those who KNEW him best BELIEVED him most Comments are my own ideas
Midway, UT
Joined August 2024
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“Here are some of the Prophet's words, as uttered in the schoolhouse.
With uplifted hand he said: "I am a witness that there is a God, for I saw Him in open day, while praying in a silent grove, in the spring of 1820."
He further testified that God, the Eternal Father, pointing to a separate personage, in the likeness of Himself, said:
"This is my Beloved Son hear ye Him."
O how these words thrilled my entire system, and filled me with joy unspeakable to behold one who, like Paul the apostle of olden time, could with boldness testify that he had been in the presence of Jesus Christ!”
Edward Stevenson (May 1, 1820-January 27, 1897)
"The Home of My Boyhood," Juvenile Instructor 29, no. 14 (15 July 1894): 443-45.
“When they got through the Prophet said, "Brethren I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother's lap. You don't comprehend it." I was rather surprised. He said "It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America—it will fill the world."”
Wilford Woodruff (March 1, 1807-September 2, 1898)
Conference Report, 6 April 1898, 57; see also Collected Discourses, edited by Brian H. Stuy, 3:85.
"In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ."
"But make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters; in the months and years ahead, events will require of each member that he or she decide whether or not he or she will follow the First Presidency.
Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions (see 1 Kings 18:21).
President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had “NEVER hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional, or political life” (CR, April 1941, p. 123).
This is a hard doctrine, but it is a particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked.
In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ.
Neal A. Maxwell
BYU Devotional
October 10, 1978
They truly are prophets... they are KEY to our peace, safety, and protection!
“Quite a number of persons were present who did not belong to the Church, and one man, more bitter and skeptical than others, made note with pencil and paper of a prophecy uttered on that occasion, wherein Joseph said that "Forty days shall not pass, and the stars shall fall from heaven."
. . . Brother Hancock was unmoved and quietly remarked, "There is one night left of the time, and if Joseph said so, the stars will certainly fall tonight. This prophecy will all be fulfilled."
The matter weighed upon the mind of Brother Hancock, who watched that night, and it proved to be the historical one, known in all the world as "the night of the falling of the stars."
Philo Dibble (June 6, 1806-1895)
Philo Dibble, "Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith, " Juvenile Instructor 27, no. 1 (1 January 1892): 23.
Knowing Joseph Smith the Prophet retweeted
There's a loving church community nearby where you'll find people who can help lift you when times are hard and sit next to you as you worship Jesus Christ.
“Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none.”
- Joseph Smith
History of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 52
...Then the Book of Mormon. Their conclusion: "it is statistically indefensible to propose Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery or Solomon Spaulding as the author of the 30,000 words" attributed to Nephi and Alma.
Book of Mormon Evidence, Part 2 of 10: The Berkeley Wordprint Test
In the 1980s a group in Berkeley spent about 10,000 hours testing the Book of Mormon's "wordprint," the unconscious way a writer uses small words and word patterns. Most of the group weren't Latter-day Saints. John Hilton, the group's main Latter-day Saint contributor, wrote that he was "little different from my agnostic and Jewish colleagues" in doubting whether measurement could settle a question like this.
They used 65 word-pattern ratios on 5,000-word blocks. Before touching the Book of Mormon, they tested the method on 26 texts by 9 control authors, with 325 pairwise comparisons.
The controls are the interesting part:
- Mark Twain and Robert Heinlein didn't change their own wordprints when writing as different characters.
- A German-to-English translator carried over the separate wordprints of the authors he translated. That matters for a book that presents itself as a translation.
Then the Book of Mormon. Their conclusion: "it is statistically indefensible to propose Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery or Solomon Spaulding as the author of the 30,000 words" attributed to Nephi and Alma.
Nephi and Alma also measured as independent of each other, the same way other uncontested authors do. Hilton's summary: the book "measures multiauthored, with authorship consistent to its own internal claims."
Stay tuned for Part 3: The "Someone Else" Problem, tonight.
#BookofMormon
Andrew Jensen recalled, "Turning to Judge Douglas [Joseph] said: "You will aspire to the presidency of the United States, and if ever you turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you;
and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you, for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life."
This remarkable prophesy concerning Judge Douglas personally has had a literal fulfillment. . . .
Never has the saying of any Prophet of God been more literally and minutely fulfilled than the prediction made by the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning this man.”
Andrew Jenson (b. 1850)
Collected Discourses, ed. Brian H. Stuy, 5 vols. (Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Utah: B. H. S. Publishing, 1987-92), 2:161-63.
Knowing Joseph Smith the Prophet retweeted
"His answers will seldom come while you are on your knees praying, even when you may plead for an immediate response. Rather, He will prompt you in quiet moments when the Spirit can most effectively touch your mind and heart. Hence, you should find periods of quiet time to recognize when you are being instructed." Elder Richard G. Scott
God rarely shouts His truth over the frantic pounding of our own anxious pleading. The profound recognition of what you must do and the deep, settling reminder of who you really already are usually arrives after the intense effort ceases. It comes in the secondary quiet, when you finally stop trying to force the heavens open and simply allow your spirit to rest in its natural, unbroken connection to Him.
D&C 59:21 And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.
“Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.
But we cannot keep all the commandments without first knowing them, and we cannot expect to know all, or more than we now know unless we comply with or keep those we have already received."
TPJS p255–256.
“We never can comprehend the things of God and of heaven, but by revelation. We may spiritualize and express opinions to all eternity; but that is no authority.”
History of the Church, 5:344; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on Apr. 8, 1843, in Nauvoo, Illinois; reported by Willard Richards and William Clayton.
Knowing Joseph Smith the Prophet retweeted
We taught a Marine Corps Captain on my mission in my first area. Looking back, he definitely had PTSD and was an alcoholic.
We left him with a copy of the Book of Mormon. I did not know if he was going to read it.
We returned the next week and he was clean shaven, glasses on, and had a calm demeanor about him. He told us that he hadn't had a drink of alcohol since he started reading the Book of Mormon. His nightmares from the GWOT stopped after reading the Book of Mormon.
This experience has never left me.
“There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book." - Ezra Taft Benson
This famine ended as the Prophet Joseph Smith fulfilled his call to be a prophet, seer, and apostle. Thank you for the reminder, Elder Vaiangina Sikahema
Amos 8:11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
Joseph Smith: Wherefore, we again say, search the revelations of God; study the prophecies, and rejoice that God grants unto the world Seers and Prophets.
They are they who saw the mysteries of godliness;
they saw the flood before it came;
they saw angels ascending and descending upon a ladder that reached from earth to heaven;
they saw the stone cut out of the mountain, which filled the whole earth;
they saw the Son of God come from the regions of bliss and dwell with men on earth;
they saw the deliverer come out of Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
they saw the glory of the Lord when he showed the transfiguration of the earth on the mount;
they saw every mountain laid low and every valley exalted when the Lord was taking vengeance upon the wicked;
they saw truth spring out of the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven in the last days, before the Lord came the second time to gather His elect;
they saw the end of wickedness on earth, and the Sabbath of creation crowned with peace;
they saw the end of the glorious thousand years, when Satan was loosed for a little season;
they saw the day of judgment when all men received according to their works, and
they saw the heaven and the earth flee away to make room for the city of God, when the righteous receive an inheritance in eternity.
And, fellow sojourners upon earth, it is your privilege to purify yourselves and come up to the same glory, and see for yourselves, and know for yourselves.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
—E&MS August, 1832. DHC 1:282–284. Also TPJS p12
churchofjesuschrist.org/medi…
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets. (NASB)
churchofjesuschrist.org/medi…
Howard Coray, continued from the broken leg: "The next day when he happened in to see me after a little conversation, I said,
“Brother Joseph, when Jacob wrestled with the angel and was lamed by him, the angel blessed him; now I think I am also entitled to a blessing.”
To that he replied, “I am not the patriarch, but my father is, and when you get up and around, I’ll have him bless you.”
He said no more for a minute or so, meanwhile looking very earnestly at me, then said, “Brother Coray, you will soon find a companion, one that will be suited to your condition and whom you will be satisfied with. She will cling to you, like to cords of death, and you will have a good many children...”
In nine days after my leg was broken, I was able to get up and hobble about the house by the aid of a crutch and in two weeks thereafter, I was about recovered, nearly as well as ever, so much so that I went to meeting on foot, a distance of a mile.
I considered this no less than a case of miraculous healing."
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