POWER

 

I was going to write about the amazing sacrifices of the pioneers in building the Kirtland Temple. This first temple was no doubt the highlight of the early Church history. I am sure you have read about it.

What I want to write about instead is the infallible proof of the Saviour’s investment in our salvation. It begins with the dedicatory prayer that Joseph Smith received by revelation prior to the dedication which he read out instead of praying spontaneously. The dedicatory prayer of this temple is one of my most favourite sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.

This one promise from it has stuck with me for many years: “And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house ARMED WITH THY POWER, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them.”  (v 22)

Verse 23 speaks of the servants carrying the message of truth in power to the ends of the earth but to me this power means it is available to all members of the Church for their ultimate efforts in progressing toward perfection. I know this because I have felt this power wash over me at the veil several times when I have uttered the word POWER. You temple patrons will understand.

And this is what tells me of the Saviour’s investment in our salvation. In Section 95, the Lord indicated the temple should be built so He can endow those whom He has chosen with power from on high (v 8). Who are the chosen? They are those who make the covenants of obedience and who are presented at the veil. They are the chosen. Obedience is the principle of power.

How much does this tell us about the Saviour and His investment in our growth, our well-being, and our salvation? How much does this tell us about His love, His mercy, His grace, His compassion and His sacrifice for us? It tells us this much: “I am with you to bless you and deliver you forever.”  (D&C 108:8)

 

Your power and Your grace

flood my mortal being 

with everlasting hope

And bring me to Thee;

I love You more dearly;

I obey you more freely;

I become what I alone could never be.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Lord's Appearance to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple by Theodore S. Gorka)

IN HIS CARE

 

“Joseph Smith “saw the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb…in foreign lands, standing together in a circle, much fatigued, with their clothes tattered and feet swollen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, and they did not behold Him. The Saviour looked upon them and wept. (Joseph Smith, “History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” 2:381)

“In this same panoramic vision, the Prophet Joseph saw Elder Brigham Young standing in a strange land….in a desert place, upon a rock in the midst of about a dozen men…who appeared hostile. He was preaching in their own tongue, and the angel of God standing above his head, with a drawn sword in his hand, protecting him, but he did not see it. (“History of the Church 2:381)

“For an unforgettable picture of the unseen angelic armies that protect God’s faithful children, think of Elisha’s frightened young servant who cried when he was surrounded by an ominous army, “Alas, my master! How shall we do?”  Answered Elisha, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” ….And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”  (2 Kings 6:15-17)

“….when we, like the young servant, feel overwhelmed and surrounded by enemies and troubles, there comes the comforting assurance: The Lord will not leave me alone.”

-          Bruce C. Hafen, “The Believing Heart”, p 102-3

“….I say unto you that mine eyes are upon you. I am in your midst and ye cannot see me”  (D&C 38:7)

Angels are you near me

To catch me if I fall?

Do you stand guard at the entrance

Of my heart

On God’s errand and sentinel’s call?

 

Do you pave the way

And steady my feet,

And ensure my enemy’s defeat?

 

You are unsung heroes

Of every journey’s flight

You are phantoms of love

Concealed from mortal sight.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: In the Arms of an Angel by Danny Hahlbohm)

A LEGACY OF SACRIFICE

 

I stand in awe of the early priesthood leaders who strengthened the Church through their missionary labours by leaving their families to further the cause of Zion and to gather Israel. Some sacrifices they made are unfathomable for us in this day and age.

Besides Joseph, my favourite person in all of Church history is the Apostle Orson Hyde. I will attempt here to summarise one particular mission of his that embodies such emotion of feeling that my efforts could not do his achievements justice.

“Sometime in 1832, the Prophet Joseph Smith laid his hands upon the head of a new convert by the name of Orson Hyde and told him, “In due time thou shalt go to Jerusalem, the land of thy fathers, and be a watchman unto the house of Israel; and by thy hands shall the Most High do a great work, which shall prepare the way and greatly facilitate the gathering together of that people.” (Daniel C. Peterson, “Abraham Divided”, Prologue/xv)

Until 1840, Elder Hyde spent most of his missionary labours among the Gentiles but in March of that year, a vision opened to him showing him in succession the cities of London, Amsterdam, Constantinople and Jerusalem. A voice said to him: “Here are many of the children of Abraham whom I will gather to the land that I gave to their fathers; and here also is the field of your labours…..” (Prologue/xvi)

In the April conference of that year, the vote for Elder Hyde’s mission to the Jewish people was approved by a unanimous vote. Elder Hyde and Elder John E. Page departed for Jerusalem on 15^th April 1840.

I can’t explain to you what Elder Hyde went through to reach Jerusalem. This was the age before automobiles, steamships and aircraft. The journey entailed different forms of transport. Elder Page lost interest in Pennsylvania and Elder Hyde had to proceed on his own. In Pennsylvania a total stranger approached him with a purse of gold to finance his passage across the Atlantic to Europe where he became the first Church missionary to travel across the continent of Europe and Asia Minor to proclaim the gospel.

From there he travelled by sea and was reduced to eating snails gathered from the coastal rocks due to shortage of food on the vessel. Once arriving in Jaffa, he had to pass through a lawless area where people were often killed or robbed by marauding Bedouins.

It took more than a year and a half in total to reach Jerusalem.

Before dawn on the morning of Sunday, 24 October 1841, Elder Hyde arose from sleep and “went out of the city as soon as the gates were opened, crossed the brook Kedron, and went upon the Mount of Olives, and there in solemn silence, with pen, ink, and paper, just as he saw in the vision, offered up a prayer to HIM WHO LIVES FOREVER AND EVER”. (Prologue/xxi)

The dedicatory prayer of the land of Jerusalem for the gathering of the Jews that Elder Hyde offered is three full pages long in small print in the History of the Church by Joseph Smith. Today, a garden of five and a quarter acres commemorates Orson Hyde’s visit to the Near East in late 1841. The garden houses a large brass plaque with passages from Elder Hyde’s dedicatory prayer in both English and Hebrew. The garden was dedicated by the Prophet Spencer W. Kimball on 24 October, 1979.

Jerusalem housed 20,000 inhabitants when Orson Hyde arrived. Now it has a population of 7.7 million Jewish residents.

It took Elder Hyde three years in total to accomplish his mission to carry Jehovah’s message to His people Israel which He gave him himself: “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished – that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord’s hand doubly for all her sins.”  (Prologue/xvii)

Glory be to the Holy One who pardons and forgives and gathers His people Israel……

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Orson Hyde Dedicates the Holy Land by Clark Kelley Price)

A FORGIVING HEART PART 1

 

 

Losing support of someone close to you and suffering betrayal at their hands is a terrible experience. Even though the Saviour was fully in control of His death (John 10:17-18), that betrayal sealed with a kiss in the Garden must have stung bitterly (Luke 22:27,28; Mark 14:44,45).

 

Considering the persecution and betrayal that came to Joseph from within the Church and the men he associated with closely, I conclude that he would have been very familiar with such a sting. Two in particular were W.W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery. I am always amazed about Oliver because he was a scribe, an Elder, and a witness. He and Joseph shared sacred privileges together which would have created a strong bond between them.

 

Oliver Cowdery received priesthood authority from angelic ministers, was one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon plates, helped supervise the publication of the Book of Mormon, was a founding member of the Church on April 6, 1830, led a group on a mission to American Indian settlements, served as the Assistant President of the Church and an Assistant Counselor to the First Presidency, assisted in the publication of the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, and witnessed the appearance of Jesus Christ and angelic ministers in the Kirtland Temple.

 

It would seem that Oliver had suffered some terrible blows in life. His mother died before his third birthday and he lived for long periods of time with his relatives. After he obtained his education, he came to western New York on a teaching post near Palmyra. There he met the Smith family and was spiritually guided to become Joseph’s scribe.

 

Oliver also married and had six children out of which only one survived past early childhood. His wife Elizabeth and the daughter Maria Louise died two days apart and were buried together in 1892. He had no other descendants.

 

A year after the Kirtland Temple opening, the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society Bank dealt a crushing blow to Oliver’s finances and he reacted by pursuing his own enterprise rather than continuing to consecrate his property to the Church. From there it was all downhill. He accused the leaders of the Church of mismanaging funds and he spread rumours that Joseph had committed adultery. The High Council investigated his allegations, and charges that were made against him and ultimately excommunicated him.

 

It would have been a terrible blow to Joseph to be betrayed by such a close friend. Nevertheless, he saw Oliver as a prodigal son and was anxious that he repent and return. At one stage he instructed his clerk: 'I wish you would write to Oliver Cowdery and ask him if he hasn't eaten husks long enough'." (Joseph Fielding Smith, "Doctrines of Salvation", 1:227)

 

Some seven years later, Oliver admitted his disaffection had resulted mostly from aggressive Latter-Day Saints in Missouri who were threatening him and not from any personal misgivings with the leaders of the Church. He had had enough of eating husks of the world and wanted to return to the fellowship of the Church.

 

Joseph received a letter from Oliver Cowdery in Carthage Jail just hours before he was killed. He encouraged the Quorum of the Twelve to re-admit him into the Church and Oliver was re-baptised. He made plans to be re-united with the Saints in Utah but he never made it. His health declined and he died in 1850 before he could travel west. He was 44 years old.

 

What fascinates me is Joseph’s forgiving heart. It’s difficult enough to be cut off from someone you were close to but to have that person slander your name is a double blow.

 

Sometime in our life, we might lose trust and support from someone close to us. Our forgiveness, even when not asked for, might be their only path to salvation. Usually, betrayals are born out of personal misfortunes or deep issues we might not even be aware of.

 

We might not know what makes people do what they do, but the Saviour knows and because He knows He can pave the path to forgiveness. We only see the outside while he sees the inside. He understands us completely while still holding us responsible for our actions.

 

The Saviour’s ability to forgive is much greater than ours. It’s a reservoir we can draw from by virtue of our discipleship……but more of that in Part 2.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Joseph and Oliver Pray (D&C 13) by Del Parson)

JOSEPH THE MAN

 

Joseph Smith once described himself as ‘a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing he got was when some corner got rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force against religious bigotry, priestcraft, lawyer-craft, doctor-craft, lying editors, suborned 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, he said:  I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty.”   (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p 304)

Persecuted from the age of 14, tarred and feathered, imprisoned, suffering personal tragedy and loss and betrayed by friends certainly made Joseph a polished arrow shaft in God’s quiver.

An arrow shaft is generally polished so that it can fly truer and faster for one’s most important shot. For God’s most important shot, being this last dispensation, He truly did use His most polished arrow shaft, the man Joseph Smith, who willingly rolled down the mountain…….

But what of the woman behind the man? Joseph could never have accomplished God’s purpose for him by the age of 38 had he not had a wife of equal spiritual stature as himself. Perhaps out of all the love tragedies, there is not one greater than that of Joseph and Emma Smith.

Joseph and Emma shared an unbreakable bond of faith. I am certain Emma was foreordained to share in the work that Joseph accomplished as the prophet of the Restoration. She trusted God and joined Joseph in the work despite all odds.

The differences between them were startling: she was rich, he was poor, she was well-educated and he was a farm boy with questionable sanity because of his claims. Her parents were opposed to the marriage but Emma was a woman of faith who made her choice which led her to great tragedy.

Emma was Joseph’s partner in every way. She was with him when he received the gold plates. She was his first scribe and she was deeply invested in their protection. The difficulties she suffered in her life with Joseph are too lengthy to list here. Her greatest tragedy is that she had 11 children, six of which died in infancy. All this by the age of 39 when she became a widow with five children.

When Parley P. Pratt visited Emma, 'a woman of commitment in sorrow', in Nauvoo where she remained after the saints travelled west, she told him 'I believe Joseph was everything he professed to be'.

Emma lived almost 35 years after the martyrdom of her prophet-husband. A few days before she died she told her nurse, Elizabeth Revel, that Joseph had come to her in a vision and said: "'Emma, come with me, it is time for you to come with me'.

As Emma related it, she said, 'I put on my bonnet and my shawl and went with him; I did not think that it was anything unusual. I went with him into a mansion, and he showed me through the different apartments of that beautiful mansion'. And one room was the nursery.

In that nursery was a babe in the cradle. She said, 'I knew my babe, my Don Carlos that was taken from me'. She sprang forward, caught the child up in her arms and wept with joy over the child. When Emma recovered herself sufficiently, she turned to Joseph and said, 'Joseph, where are the rest of my children?'

He said to her, 'Emma, be patient and you shall have all of your children'. Then she saw standing by his side a personage of light, even the Lord Jesus Christ." (Gracia N. Jones, My Great-Great-Grandmother, Emma Hale Smith, Ensign Aug 1992)

In my mind, Joseph was only half a polished shaft in the quiver of our God. The other half was Emma.

“Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord”

-        1 Corinthians 11:11

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: But For A Small Moment by Liz Lemon Swindle)

IN DERISION

 

I wonder if Joseph Smith really understood angel Moroni when he told him that his name will be had for good and evil among all nations and that his name will be spoken of as such among all people (JSH 1:33).

I have seen many strong, valiant people fall away from the Church because of Joseph Smith. When their  expectations of his perfection failed them, they concluded the Church could not be true. They disregarded the testimonies they had of the Book of Mormon and spiritual witnesses  they had that led them to the pulpit to bear their testimonies month after month.

This is how the world can mislead you…..some inactives believe that Joseph was not a true martyr because he attempted to protect and save himself from the mob that killed him. A true martyr, they reason is someone who voluntarily goes to his death. This is today’s meaning of the word ‘martyr’ (see the Dictionary).

The word’s origin is Greek, however, and it literally meant a ‘witness’: “He assumes the obligation to be a witness, knowing full well what that dangerous duty entails” (“Against the Christian Door” by Andrew Knaupp). Therefore, a martyr is really someone who will not deny his religious beliefs even as Joseph didn’t when he went to Carthage as ‘a lamb to slaughter’ knowing full well he would not return (D&C 135:4).

I investigated the Church when I was 17. I never had a problem with the first vision or with Joseph Smith. I believed it all. It took some 30 years for me to question that testimony when I saw my friends leaving. I went looking for evidence that Joseph Smith was indeed the prophet that I believed him to be rather than looking for proofs that he wasn’t one, like my friends did. You find what you look for.

I started recording impressive proofs of Joseph Smith’s prophetic validity as I studied the scriptures. My list is still going because I find it so fascinating. It is extensive and impressive. If only people would listen to the whisperings of the spirit rather than the whisperings of the world.

My list however, was not what solidified my testimony of Joseph. It came when I had started my list and I had to do a history assignment for my degree. I chose to write about Church history. I read many things on line about Joseph and polygamy, in particular, to the point of alarm. It drove me to my knees in tears begging God to understand.

What happened is something I did not expect. During my prayer I was “shown” Joseph’s heart. I could literally see and understand what was in it. I knew that all that Joseph did was from the goodness of his heart. I also saw the early Church members around him all dressed in white. I could feel how much they loved him and held him in high regard, blaming him for nothing.

Now when I am confronted with someone’s derision of Joseph, I tell them that God himself would have to come down and tell me that he is a bad man. The spiritual witness I received is iron clad.

When in the Missouri jail, Joseph cried out in misery to God, and the Lord answered: “The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name and fools shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee; while the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek counsel and authority and blessings constantly from under thy hand.” (D&C 122:1-2)

I am happy to be one of the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, who believe……

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Joseph Smith's Last Dream by Jon McNaughton)

 

THE PROPHETIC BOLDNESS OF JOSEPH SMITH

 

To the Editor of the Times and Seasons:

Sir,

Through the medium of your paper, I wish to correct an error among men that profess to be learned, liberal and wise: and I do it the more cheerfully, because I hope sober-thinking and sound-reasoning people will sooner listen to the voice of truth, than be led astray by the vain pretensions of the self-wise. The error I speak of, is the definition of the word ‘Mormon’. It has been stated that this word was derived from the Greek word ‘mormo’. This is not the case. There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of God, translated the Book of Mormon. Let the language of that book speak for itself. On the 523d page, of the fourth edition, it reads: “And now behold we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the ‘Reformed Egyptian’, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech; and if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew: but the Hebrew hath been altered by us, also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold ye would have had no imperfection in our record, but the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also, that none other people knoweth our language; therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof.”

Here then the subject is put to silence, for “none other people knoweth our language”, therefore the Lord, and not man, had to interpret, after the people were all dead. And as Paul said, “the world by wisdom know not God”, so the world by speculation are destitute of revelation; and as God in his superior wisdom, has always given his Saints, wherever he had any on the earth, the same spirit, and that spirit, as John says, is the true spirit of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus, I may safely say that the word Mormon stands independent of the learning and wisdom of this generation.

Before I give a definition, however, to the word, let me say that the Bible in its widest sense, means good; for the Saviour says according to the gospel of John, “I am the good shepherd;” and it will not be beyond the common use of terms, to say that good is among the most important in use, and though known by various names in different languages, still its meaning is the same, and is ever in opposition to ‘bad’. We say from the Saxon, ‘good’; the Dane, ‘god’; the Goth, ‘goda’; the German, ‘gut’; the Dutch, ‘goed’; the Latin, ‘bonus’; the Greek, ‘kalos’; the Hebrew, ‘tob’; and the Egyptian, ‘mon’. Hence, with the addition of ‘more’ or the contraction, ‘mor’, we have the word ‘mormon’; which means, literally, ‘more good’.

Yours,

JOSEPH SMITH

(May 15, 1843) T&S 4:194

(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 299-300)

 

It makes sense, does it not,  if the Bible which testifies of Christ means good, the Book of Mormon which is the  second witness has to mean ‘more good’……the brilliance of Joseph Smith!!!!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(ART: Joseph by Ken Corbett)