“He called me by name, and said unto
me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his
name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be
had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it
should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.” So stated a
resurrected Book of Mormon prophet to a young farmer and day laborer named
Joseph Smith. Was ever there a prophecy that proved to be truer? Prophets,
apostles, missionaries, and good faithful Latter-day Saints everywhere do much
to fulfill the speaking of the “good” while others in the world diligently strive
to do all that they can to fulfill the “evil” part of the prophecy. And the sad
reality is that the internet has made it easier than ever to lie about and
slander Brother Joseph, and call it truth.
Twenty-five years ago if someone got angry enough to make
a fuss and rant about the Prophet, they had to expend time and significant
monetary resources to gather enough lies and half-truths, put it on paper, and
then print and distribute it. Now anyone can do it with a website. And what one
of the devil’s dupes can post, another can copy and repost; such is the state
of our modern proliferation of online falsehood.
Yet the next life is not far distant, and judgment awaits.
Many years ago I was browsing in a
used bookstore when a very old man entered and struck up a conversation with
the bookstore owner, also not young. The old man was bent over with age and
walked with a cane. He explained that he had just finished writing another
self-published book about Joseph Smith and how he thought he had really got
Joseph this time (he had written another anti-Mormon book decades before also).
He wanted the store to carry his latest critical effort; the owner, being of
like mind, discussed ordering details with him. The old man then left and
though I never saw him again, I did hear of his passing not long afterward. I then
thought to myself: “here is a man with nine toes in the grave and yet with
(figuratively) his last gasp of mortal breath he is cursing a prophet of the
Lord in permanent print—fully knowing what he is doing, with malice aforethought.”[1]
So likewise do the multitudes of bloggers and websites and
reporters that seek to blacken the Prophet’s name and life’s work. When the
bookstore owner soon followed the old man into the next life, it gave me
further cause to ponder and consider their fate as spoken of in the scriptures:
“But unto the wicked he did not go, and among the ungodly and the unrepentant
who had defiled themselves while in the flesh, his voice was not raised;
Neither did the rebellious who rejected the testimonies and the warnings of the
ancient prophets behold his presence, nor look upon his face. Where these were,
darkness reigned” (D&C 138:20-22; section 19 is even more cautionary).
When my time nears I hope to be
acting wiser as I prepare to meet my Maker. Before I go I want to be doing like
Elder
Bruce R. McConkie did, and so many others have, testifying of the living
reality of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of the World, and of
the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Matthias Cowley (father of Elder
Matthew Cowley), shared this reminiscence wherein he learned about the
consequences of defending the Church (and Joseph and Brigham, etc.):
One
of my pleasant memories of a visit to President Woodruff’s farm home in
Waterloo Ward after I had moved to Idaho, was on an occasion when I took with
me a lawyer gentleman from Northern Idaho, who with myself was attending the
TransMississippi Congress in Ogden. I told Bro. Woodruff how this man David
Franklin Mahana by name had defended the Latter Day Saints in the Idaho
Legislature, from verbal assaults made upon them by bitter Anti-Mormons. Bro.
Woodruff was sick in bed at the time, but when I made those remarks he rose up
in bed and said in a most positive manner: “The Lord will bless any man who
will defend the Latter Day Saints against the attacks of their enemies.” I knew
the later history of this man David F. Mahana who was indeed blessed as
predicted by Brother Woodruff. (Matthias F. Cowley, at University of Chicago,
October 4, 1925, LDS Church History Library, MS F 559).
I hope that the below solemn declarations (as found in Determining Doctrine) are taken
seriously, for they will one day reflect reality:
Stephen
L Richards:
Not a few of these snipers delight to take a shot at
Joseph Smith. In some surprising way it has become somewhat popular,
stimulated, I presume, by books which have been written for students and
scholars, to undertake exhaustive research into the life of this great man. In
some instances, perhaps, the purpose of the research projects may be laudable,
to exploit the great and noble things in the life and works of the Prophet, but
in all too many instances I fear the purpose of the research is merely
exploratory, with the hope of discovering something that would make for
sensational reading and perhaps a profit for the writer. I have never been able
to discover any very substantial reason for these researches other than that I
have just mentioned.
Here is a life recently lived. Many of us here in this
assembly today have known and talked with persons who knew the Prophet, and yet
you would think from the way the researchers go after him that he was a person
of great antiquity, and that something in the nature of excavation for
prehistoric materials had to be undertaken to discover the facts of his life. I
doubt if there is a person who has lived in the last two centuries whose life
is more fully documented than that of this man, unless perchance it be among
royalty or those in high public office.
Almost every important event in his life has been recorded
by himself, by his mother, and by those who immediately knew him. His life is
not a mystery; it is an open book, at least to members of the Church who have
access to the knowledge which he brought to the world.
I rebuke the members of the Church who cast aspersion upon
the honored name of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and who in any manner disparage
his noble work. By so doing they destroy faith, their own and that of others,
and the Lord will hold them accountable. (Conference Report, October 1951, 117.)
Stephen
L Richards (continued):
Having that
knowledge and a deep reverence for his illustrious name, I deplore and resent
the miserable attempts made to discredit him; and I predict that they will all
come to naught, that he will survive every attack, that he will yet win the
esteem and respect of all good men, and that the Father has already glorified
him. (Conference Report, October 1951,
118.)
Harold B. Lee:
I have one
other thought I should like to express. Brigham Young was a great defender of
the Prophet Joseph Smith. There were Judases in the ranks in that day, just as
there were in the Savior’s day, and just as we have today, some who are members
of the Church who are undercutting us, who are betraying their trusts. We are
shocked when we see the places from which some of these things come.
Brigham
Young was invited by some of these men who were trying to depose the Prophet
Joseph from his position as President of the Church; but they made a mistake by
inviting President Brigham Young into their circle. And after he had listened
to what their motives were, he said something to this effect: “I want to say
something to you men. You cannot destroy the appointment of a prophet of God,
but you can cut the thread that binds you to the prophet of God, and sink
yourselves to hell.” (Conference Report, October 1972, 129.)
Matthias F. Cowley:
Once when I went to visit President Woodruff on his farm in
his declining years, he took me into his confidence and told me things about
the great character that Brigham Young was, and his superiority to many others
in a way that I had never heard before. (October 4, 1925, LDS Church History
Library, MS F 559)
Hugh
Nibley:
We now stand as a brainless giant, a
pushover for any smart kid or cultist or faddist or crank who even pretends to
have read a few books. That puts them beyond our depth and so we…stand
helplessly and foolishly by dangling our bonnet and plume while hundreds of
students and missionaries, of members and enemies of the Church alike, presume
to challenge and reject the teachings of Joseph Smith on evidence so flimsy
that no half-educated person would give it a second thought. How can you hope
to make these people see that the documents and discoveries they hail with such
reverence and delight for the most part went out of date in the 1930's; that
Huxley, Breasted, Wellhausen, and Frazer do not represent present-day
scientific thought; that one book does not settle anything? No one has ever
told them of the new discoveries which every month call for revision of
established scientific and scholarly beliefs. No one has ever told them what it
means to lay a proper foundation essential to any serious discussion of the
things they treat so glibly and triumphantly. No one has ever told them of the
millions of unread documents that already repose in our libraries, holding the
answers to countless questions that must be asked before they can justify their
instant conclusions. An awesome outpouring of newly-discovered documents of direct
bearing on the history and teachings of the Church is even now in full spate,
amazing and confounding Jewish and Christian scholars, but bursting with good
news for the Latter-day Saints—who ignore them completely. (“Educating the
Saints—a Brigham Young Mosaic,” BYU Studies, vol. 11 [1970-71], Number
1-Autumn, 1970, 86.)
[1]
Because of a family-friend connection, I knew some things about this man and
why he had chosen to do as he did with his life. He has earned his reward and
will receive it.
No comments:
Post a Comment