IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE GLORIOUS LIGHT OF THE RESTORATION
Russel M . Nelson
"He treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles." (Joseph Smith History 1:21)
200 years ago, in the spring of 1820, a young 14 year-old boy, by the name of Joseph Smith jnr., followed a burning desire to ask God in prayer, which of all the zealous religious opinions and sects of the day, were in fact true.
A nearby grove of trees provided the sacred setting for him to pursue his desired course of action. It was there that he knelt in quiet solitude, to offer up the desires of his heart to God. In response to his plea, and after a power struggle with the author of darkness, he was released and received a glorious and miraculous manifestation known as The First Vision.
In Joseph's day, news of his revelation became the reason behind much strife and persecution from early on in his young life, and eventually in the life of the early converts of the Church. Despite this, he, and many of those early Saints, sacrificed their comforts, and livelihoods, even their lives, for the cause of restoring the fullness of the Gospel back to the earth, and building up the Lord's kingdom according to the revealed word of the Great Jehovah. All this made possible, because of the unwavering faith of a young farmer boy, who dared to ask, and who received that marvelous and divine First Vision.
Today, the account of his sacred experience continues to be received with much skepticism and criticism by unbelievers.
For many of the 16.3 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the bicentennial celebration is highly anticipated. We joyfully look forward to this special commemoration marking the day the Heavens were re-opened, following the long dark period of apostasy, to reveal the glorious and miraculous manifestation of God the Father and His Only Begotten Son, in the flesh, to Joseph Smith jnr., a young man full of faith, in search of the truth.
It is with great honour that we dedicate this page to remember that sacred and holy occasion - and the elect calling, of a young boy, prepared before the foundation of the world, who found favor in the sight of God to be the Restorer of his Gospel in these last days - and ponder the significance of that one single event in preparing God's children to again, receive the Savior of the world in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times.
~ Life of Joyful Praise ~
"Joseph Smith's vision
of the kingdom of God - and of
the power and ultimate reach
of the Restoration - was cosmic....
It entailed the entire renovation of the order of things on earth, the transformation of mankind
and the elevation
of society.
The Restoration was to be as broad and deep as the Great Apostasy."
Robert L. Millet
...
Sacred
To the Memory,
of
Joseph, and Hyrum
Smith.
Who fell, as Martyrs,
for the
Gospel, of Jesus Christ.
June 27th 1844.
Aged 38, and 44, years.
Zions noblest sons are weeping,
See her daughters bathed in tears,
Where the prophets now are sleeping,
Nature's sleep - the sleep of years,
When the earth shall be restored,
They will come with Christ the Lord.
Mary Ann Broomhead
"Sampler of the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Mary Ann Broomhead created this sampler when she was 13 yrs old as a tribute to the fallen prophet. She embroidered the verse with her own hair."
The Priesthood and Blacks
~An insight into latter-day revelation~
(Doctrine and Covenants - Official Declaration 2)
In 1946 Elder Spencer W. Kimball of the Twelve received the assignment to give leadership to the Church's Lamanite program. While touring the Mexican Mission the following year, he received a vision or dream in which he saw the future destiny of the Lamanites:
"Maybe the Lord was showing to me what great things this people would accomplish...
"...I no longer saw you [as] the servant of other people, but I saw you as the employer, the owner of banks and businesses...
"I saw you in legislative where as good legislators and good Latter-day Saints you were able to make the best laws for your brothers and sisters.
"I saw many of your sons become attorneys. I saw doctors, as well as lawyers, looking after the health of the people...
"I saw the Church growing in rapid strides and I saw wards and stakes organized. I saw stakes by the hundreds.
"I saw a temple." This vision sustained and motivated Elder Kimball as he directed the Church's efforts among these people.
Expansion of the Church during the second half of the twentieth century brought into contact an increasing number of ethnic groups and cultures worldwide. This became the setting for one of the most remarkable revelations of all. Church leaders pondered the policy by which blacks were not permitted to receive the priesthood. President Kimball recalled, "I went to the temple alone, and especially on Sundays and Saturdays when there were not organizations in the temple, when I could have it alone. It went on for some time as I was searching for this, because I wanted to be sure. We held a meeting of the Council of the Twelve in the temple on the regular day [1 June 1978]. We considered this very seriously and thoughtfully and prayerfully.
"I asked the Twelve not to go home when the time came. I said, 'Now would you be willing to remain in the temple with us?' And they were. I offered the final prayer and I told the Lord if it wasn't right, if He didn't want this change to come in the Church that I would be true to it all the rest of my life and I'd fight the world against it if that's what He wanted.
"We had this special prayer circle, then I knew that the time had come. I had a great deal to fight, of course, myself largely, becuase I had grown up with this thought that Negroes should not have the priesthood and I was prepared to go all the rest of my life till my death and fight for it and defend it as it was. But this revelation and assurance came to me so clearly that there was no question about it."
Of this sacred occasion, Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: "it was during this prayer that the revelation came. The Spirit of the Lord rested mightily upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of Pentecost and at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. From the midst of eternity, the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet. The message was that the time had now come to offer the fulness of the everlasting gospel, including to all men, without reference to race or color, solely on the basis of personal worthiness. And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of the Lord...
"In the days that followed the receipt of the new revelation, President Kimball and President Ezra Taft Benson - the senior and most spiritually experienced ones among us - both said, expressing the feelings of us all, that neither of them had ever experienced anything of such spiritual magnitude and power as was poured out upon the Presidency and the Twelve that day in the upper room in the house of the Lord."
(Excerpt taken from, "The Heavens Are Open - CH7 "I Will Go Before Your Face", p.109-110, Richard O. Cowan)