Revelation
Church History Gems - 11 November 2009
Gift of Prophecy
"Who could deny that [Joseph Smith] was blessed with the gift of prophecy? 'Elder John A. Widtsoe, after making a study of the Doctrine and Covenants, concluded that it contains nearly eleven hundred statements about the future. If one extends beyond the Doctrine and Covenants to other scripture, to the personal promises the Prophet gave in blessings, to comments made in sermons, to his counsels in the midst of his own brethren and sometimes in private and sacred circumstances, and to predictions he wrote in letters, they would far exceed that eleven hundred' (Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet, 37).
"The Prophet Joseph Smith said, for example: 'Brethren, I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies 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. . . . This church will fill North and South America—it will fill the world' (quoted by Wilford Woodruff in The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff [1946], 38–39).
"Elder George A. Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recalled hearing the Prophet once say 'that we may build as many houses as we would, and we should never get one big enough to hold the Saints' (Deseret News Weekly, 27 June 1855, 123). How true that is as we see the growth of the Church today."
Topics: Revelation, Joseph Smith
Church History Gems - 9 November 2009
Power of Discernment
"The Prophet [Joseph Smith] had the power of discernment. An account is recorded:
" 'A man acting, as it were, as an undercover agent came to Nauvoo, tried to work his way into the good graces of the Prophet, then invited him out for a walk. On the crest of a hill the Prophet stopped, called him by name, and said, "You have a boat and men in readiness to kidnap me, but you will not make out to do it" ' (Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet, 41). It was true, the man had planned to kidnap him, but instead he went away cursing."
Topics: Revelation
Young Single Adult Gems - 2 November 2009
Appreciate Revealed Truths
“We need to embrace, study, and appreciate the revealed truths that are ours. We need to declare the gospel generously and kindly to all of our Father's children.”
Topics: Revelation
Daily Gems - 21 September 2009
How Inspiration Comes
“While testimonies can come as dramatic manifestations, they usually do not. Sometimes people think they need to have an experience like Joseph Smith’s vision before they gain testimonies. If we have unrealistic expectations of how, when, or where answers come, we risk missing the answers which come as quiet, reassuring feelings and thoughts that most often come after our prayers, while we are doing something else. These answers can be equally convincing and powerful.
“Over time we will receive answers and learn how inspiration comes. This is something each person learns for himself.”
Topics: Testimony, Revelation, Holy Ghost
Daily Gems - 15 September 2009
True Destination
“Early European converts [sailing to America] . . . had overcome many stumbling blocks. They had a testimony that revelation comes from heaven and that prophets and apostles are again on the earth. They had faith in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
“They had come to understand the sublime destination that was in store for them. They were not fearful of the arduous journey they were undertaking, and their ultimate destination was not really the Salt Lake Valley. Their true destination was paradise followed by exaltation in the celestial kingdom.”
Topics: Revelation, Gospel of Jesus Christ
Daily Gems - 26 May 2009
Personal Revelation
"We can do the work of the Lord in His way when we seek, receive, and act on personal revelation. Without personal revelation, we cannot succeed. If we heed personal revelation, we cannot fail. The prophet Nephi instructs us that the Holy Ghost will show us 'all things what [we] should do' (2 Nephi 32:5). It was prophesied that in the latter days the Lord would pour out His Spirit upon His handmaids (see Joel 2:29). This will happen as we allow ourselves to be still enough and quiet enough to listen to the voice of the Spirit. Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught us that receiving revelation for our calling and in our personal lives 'requires serious mental effort on our part. . . . Revelation is not a matter of pushing buttons, but of pushing ourselves, often aided by fasting, scripture study, and personal pondering.
" 'Most of all, revelation requires us to have a sufficient degree of personal righteousness, so that on occasion revelation may come to the righteous, unsolicited' ('Revelation,' First Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 11, 2003, 5)."
Topics: Revelation, Righteousness
Daily Gems - 21 May 2009
Revelation a Constant Compass
"Continuing revelation is a fundamental feature of [the faith of our Father]. Joseph Smith's first prayer is a powerful testimony of this. Revelation is a constant compass that keeps us always true to the will and the faith of our Heavenly Father.
"Our Heavenly Father loves His children. He hears the prayers of the humble and sincere of every nation, tongue, and people. He grants light to those who seek and honor Him and are willing to obey His commandments. We joyously proclaim that the faith of our Father is on the earth today."
Topics: Children of God, Revelation, First Vision
Church History Gems - 8 May 2009
Word of Wisdom
"The early history of the Church records that during the winter of 1833, the Lord directed that a school of the prophets was to be organized 'for their instruction in all things that are expedient for them' (D&C 88:127). It was to be held on the second floor of the Newel K. Whitney store. The brethren would come to the school to be instructed by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Some had acquired the habit of chewing and smoking tobacco. It became difficult for the Prophet to teach spiritual things in a temporal environment filled with smoke. Joseph Smith was troubled with the physical surroundings and inquired of the Lord if such conditions were proper for the brethren. In answer to his petition, he received a revelation known to us as the Word of Wisdom.
"The Word of Wisdom contains some very positive aspects. It encourages us to use grains, particularly wheat, and to use fruits and vegetables and the sparing use of meat. It is also noted for its prohibition—absolute prohibition—against the use of alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee. Added to this has been the counsel of the Church leaders to abstain from the use of such drugs as marijuana, cocaine, etc., and the abusive use of prescription drugs."
Topics: Revelation
Youth Gems - 5 May 2009
Revelation
"We can do the work of the Lord in His way when we seek, receive, and act on personal revelation. Without personal revelation, we cannot succeed. If we heed personal revelation, we cannot fail. . . . Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught us that receiving revelation for our calling and in our personal lives 'requires serious mental effort on our part. . . . Revelation is not a matter of pushing buttons, but of pushing ourselves, often aided by fasting, scripture study, and personal pondering.
" 'Most of all, revelation requires us to have a sufficient degree of personal righteousness, so that on occasion revelation may come to the righteous, unsolicited' (Neal A. Maxwell, "Revelation," First Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 11, 2003, 5)."
Topics: Revelation
Young Single Adult Gems - 30 March 2009
We Can All Find Hope
"We can all find hope from our personal prayers and gain comfort from the scriptures. Priesthood blessings lift us and sustain us. Hope also comes from direct personal revelation, to which we are entitled if we are worthy. We also have the security of living in a time when a prophet who holds and exercises all of the keys of God's kingdom is on the earth.
"Samuel Smiles wrote: ' "Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us." . . . Hope sweetens the memory of experiences well loved. It tempers our troubles to our growth and our strength. It befriends us in dark hours, excites us in bright ones. It lends promise to the future and purpose to the past. It turns discouragement to determination' (in Stan and Sharon Miller, comps., Especially for Mormons, 5 vols. [1971–87], 2:113)."
Topics: Revelation, Hope
Daily Gems - 9 March 2009
God's Messengers
"When the time for [the] Savior's advent was at hand, an angel was sent to announce to Mary that she was to be the mother of the Son of God. Then a host of angels was commissioned to sing on the night the baby Jesus was born. Shortly thereafter an angel would announce to Joseph that the newborn baby was in danger and this little family must flee to Egypt for safety. When it was safe to return, an angel conveyed that information to the family and the three returned to the land of their heritage.
"From the beginning down through the dispensations, God has used angels as His emissaries in conveying love and concern for His children. . . .
"Usually such beings are not seen. Sometimes they are. But seen or unseen they are always near. Sometimes their assignments are very grand and have significance for the whole world. Sometimes the messages are more private. Occasionally the angelic purpose is to warn. But most often it is to comfort, to provide some form of merciful attention, guidance in difficult times."
Topics: Jesus Christ, Revelation
Church History Gems - 4 March 2009
Joseph Smith’s Legacy of Revelation
“Are the heavens open? Does God reveal His will to prophets and apostles as in days of old? That they are and that He does is the unflinching declaration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to all the world. And in that declaration lies the significance of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, for nearly 200 years now.
“His life asked and answered the question ‘Do you believe God speaks to man?’ In all else that he accomplished in his brief 38 and a half years, Joseph left us above all else the resolute legacy of divine revelation—not a single, isolated revelation without evidence or consequence, and not ‘a mild sort of inspiration seeping into the minds of all good people’ everywhere, but specific, documented, ongoing directions from God. As a good friend and faithful LDS scholar has succinctly put it, ‘At a time when the origins of Christianity were under assault by the forces of Enlightenment rationality, Joseph Smith [unequivocally and singlehandedly] returned modern Christianity to its origins in revelation’ (see Richard L. Bushman’s essay “A Joseph Smith for the Twenty-First Century” in Believing History [2004]).”
Topics: Revelation, Joseph Smith
Church History Gems - 2 March 2009
Revelation Is the Foundation of Our Religion
“The incomparable Ralph Waldo Emerson rocked the very foundations of New England ecclesiastical orthodoxy when he said to the Divinity School at Harvard: ‘It is my duty to say to you that the need was never greater [for] new revelation than now. . . . Men have come to speak of . . . revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead’ (The Complete Essays and Other Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Brooks Atkinson [1940], 75, 71, 80). . . .
“In the very year Mr. Emerson gave his Divinity School address implicitly pleading for such, Elder John Taylor . . . was called to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, a prophet, a seer, a revelator. In that calling Elder Taylor once said . . . : ‘Whoever heard of true religion without communication with God? To me the thing is the most absurd that the human mind could conceive of. I do not wonder,’ said Brother Taylor, ‘[that] when the people generally reject the principle of present revelation, skepticism and infidelity prevail to such an alarming extent. I do not wonder,’ he continued, ‘that so many men treat religion with contempt, and regard it as something not worth the attention of intelligent beings, for without revelation religion is a mockery and a farce. . . . The principle of present revelation . . . is the very foundation of our religion’ (“Discourse by John Taylor,” Deseret News, 4 Mar. 1874, 68; emphasis added).”
Topics: Revelation
Daily Gems - 2 March 2009
Messages of Conference
"We have come here [to conference] to be instructed and inspired. Some of you are new in the Church. We welcome you. Some of you are struggling with problems, with challenges, with disappointments, with losses. We love you and pray for you. Many messages will be shared during the next two days. I can assure you that those men and women who will speak to you have prayed about what they should say. They have been inspired and impressed as they have sought heaven's help and direction.
"Our Heavenly Father is mindful of each one of us and our needs. May we be filled with His Spirit as we partake of the proceedings of this, the 178th Semiannual General Conference of the Church."
Topics: Prayer, Revelation, Teaching
Young Single Adult Gems - 16 February 2009
Becoming Submissive
"As one's will is increasingly submissive to the will of God, he can receive inspiration and revelation so much needed to help meet the trials of life. In the trying and very defining Isaac episode, faithful Abraham 'staggered not . . . through unbelief' (Rom. 4:20). Of that episode John Taylor observed that 'nothing but the spirit of revelation could have given him this confidence, and . . . sustained him under these peculiar circumstances' (in Journal of Discourses, 14:361). Will we, too, trust the Lord amid a perplexing trial for which we have no easy explanation? Do we understand—really comprehend—that Jesus knows and understands when we are stressed and perplexed? The complete consecration which effected the Atonement ensured Jesus' perfect empathy; He felt our very pains and afflictions before we did and knows how to succor us (see Alma 7:11–12; 2 Ne. 9:21). Since the Most Innocent suffered the most, our own cries of 'Why?' cannot match His. But we can utter the same submissive word 'nevertheless . . .' (Matt. 26:39)."
Topics: Revelation
Daily Gems - 13 February 2009
Christ's Ministry on the Earth
"I testify that the heavens are open. I testify that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God, that the Book of Mormon is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. I testify that Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet, a modern apostle with the keys of the kingdom in his hands, a man upon whom I personally have seen the mantle fall. I testify that the presence of such authorized, prophetic voices and ongoing canonized revelations have been at the heart of the Christian message whenever the authorized ministry of Christ has been on the earth. I testify that such a ministry is on the earth again, and it is found in this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"In our heartfelt devotion to Jesus of Nazareth as the very Son of God, the Savior of the world, we invite all to examine what we have received of Him, to join with us, drinking deeply at the 'well of water springing up into everlasting life' (John 4:14), these constantly flowing reminders that God lives, that He loves us, and that He speaks. I express the deepest personal thanks that His works never end and His 'words . . . never cease.' "
Topics: Revelation, Book of Mormon
Church History Gems - 2 February 2009
God Has Spoken
"This is how Joseph Smith's First Vision blesses our own personal lives, the lives of families, and eventually the whole human family—we come to believe in Jesus Christ through the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Prophets and apostles throughout the history of mankind have had divine manifestations similar to Joseph's. Moses saw God face-to-face and learned that he was a son of God 'in the similitude of [His] Only Begotten' (see Moses 1:1-6). The Apostle Paul testified that the resurrected Jesus Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus and made Paul one of His great missionaries (see Acts 26:9-23). Hearing Paul's witness of his heavenly vision during the trial at Caesarea, the powerful King Agrippa admitted, 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian' (Acts 26:28). . . .
"God has spoken to Joseph Smith for the purpose of blessing all of God's children with His mercy and love, even in times of uncertainties and insecurities, of wars and rumors of wars, of natural and personal disasters. The Savior said, 'Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive' (3 Nephi 9:14). And all who accept this invitation will be 'encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love' (Alma 26:15).
"Through our faith in the personal witness of the Prophet Joseph and the reality of the First Vision, through study and prayer, deep and sincere, we will be blessed with a firm faith in the Savior of the world, who spoke to Joseph 'on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty' (Joseph Smith—History 1:14)."
Topics: Joseph Smith, Faith, Revelation
Daily Gems - 30 January 2009
God Is Engaged in Our Lives
"We believe in a God who is engaged in our lives, who is not silent, not absent, nor, as Elijah said of the god of the priests of Baal, is He '[on] a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be [awakened]' (1 Kings 18:27). In this Church, even our young Primary children recite, 'We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God' (Articles of Faith 1:9).
"In declaring new scripture and continuing revelation, we pray we will never be arrogant or insensitive. But after a sacred vision in a now sacred grove answered in the affirmative the question 'Does God exist?' what Joseph Smith and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints force us to face is the next interrogative, which necessarily follows: 'Does He speak?' We bring the good news that He does and that He has. With a love and affection born of our Christianity, we invite all to inquire into the wonder of what God has said since biblical times and is saying even now.
"In a sense Joseph Smith and his prophetic successors in this Church answer the challenge Ralph Waldo Emerson put to the students of the Harvard Divinity School 170 years ago. . . . The great sage of Concord pled that they teach 'that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake' ("An Address," The Complete Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson [1929], 45)."
Topics: Scripture, Revelation
Youth Gems - 22 January 2009
Revelation
Continuing revelation does not demean or discredit existing revelation. The Old Testament does not lose its value in our eyes when we are introduced to the New Testament, and the New Testament is only enhanced when we read the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. In considering the additional scripture accepted by Latter-day Saints, we might ask: Were those early Christians who for decades had access only to the primitive Gospel of Mark (generally considered the first of the New Testament Gospels to be written)—were they offended to receive the more detailed accounts set forth later by Matthew and Luke, to say nothing of the unprecedented passages and revelatory emphasis offered later yet by John? Surely they must have rejoiced that ever more convincing evidence of the divinity of Christ kept coming. And so do we rejoice.
Topics: Revelation
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