President and Sister Clark, distinguished faculty, faithful students, it is indeed an honor for me to stand before you today and to be invited to speak to you.
Today is Inauguration day in Washington DC, our nation's capitol. We congratulate the new administration and wish them well. May our national president, Barak Obama, be ever vigilant in keeping America righteous and safe, and may America ever be the "land of the free and the home of the brave."[1]
Conference Center
I would like to relate to you two recent sweet experiences. Last week my ward high priest group was assigned to clean the Conference Center across from Temple Square. We started at 9:30 in the evening. My first assignment was to empty the trash cans on the 2nd and 3rd foyer levels. After I finished I was asked to dust all the tables and bronze statuary. When I came to the hall with the portraits of the latter-day apostles I noticed the portrait of Elder Neal A. Maxwell was not hanging properly. So I reached up and adjusted it. Afterwards I thought, it isn't often one gets the opportunity to straighten out an apostle! As I was dusting the statues of the latter-day prophets, I looked deeply into their faces and felt such a sweet transcending peace. On the main entry level there is a statue of the Savior and one of Joseph Smith, facing each other from across the hall. I reflected on the grand moment when Joseph left his earthly bonds and took the divine hand of the Savior in the spirit world. What a glorious reunion! I cannot express the supernal feelings I was having. It was eleven o'clock on a snowy, January night. I was alone in that grand hall, yet not alone, because I felt that all the prophets and the Savior were there.
Nauvoo Visit
A few days after Christmas, my wife and I had the blessing of going to Nauvoo and visiting the temple and several historic sites. Although this was not our first time to be in Nauvoo, it was our first opportunity to visit the rebuilt temple and participate in its sacred ordinances. What an incredible experience to be there in mid-winter, looking across the frozen Mississippi on the "Trail of Hope" and feel the Saints' "angst" as they bid farewell to their new temple and to their "City on the Hill!" Their prophet had been murdered by an angry mob. Not a single state or territory would allow them refuge. They were abandoned by the very country they loved. They were abused and driven from their homes. And yet, I felt their determination and enthusiasm for the future. What held them together? How did they meet this incredible challenge?
Nauvoo Journal
During our visit, I read the journal, The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845-1846," (Signature Books), of the sacred ordinances completed in the Nauvoo Temple in 1845-46 and read the names of those early pioneers. In the temple they made all the sacred covenants. It was the beginning of reestablishing the ancient supernal rites of the Lord's house. The Lord was guiding their path, and in spite of the turmoil of being rudely evicted, they were a determined, courageous people. Because they gave so much for the blessings that we enjoy, I could not help but think how truly enriched our lives are today.
Joseph Smith
The short prophetic life of the prophet Joseph Smith from 1820, when he received his first visitation from Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ, until his martyrdom in 1844, was a span of a mere 24 years. Yet, that young prophet left a heritage which is unparalleled. Except for the Savior Jesus Christ, none other has given the world more blessings-and in only a short twenty-four years! Can you imagine trying to be the conduit for the Lord's revelations in the midst of constant harassment, mobbing, being tarred and feathered and jailed for six months? Research has revealed that in the space of those brief twenty-four years, Joseph was involved in over two hundred legal cases as a "plaintiff, defendant or material witness."[2] About every six weeks a formal charge was made against his character. President John Taylor said it best in the 135th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: "Joseph Smith, the prophet and seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it."[3] Alongside the prophet stood his ever-constant brother and companion, Hyrum Smith, as well as the prophet's wife, Emma, and others who gave their hearts, souls and very lives to defend the name of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of the world.
Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith
A few weeks ago, we celebrated the advent of the Christ Child coming into the world, and also paid tribute to the birth of the prophet Joseph Smiths who was born on December 23, 1805. Because of the unique relationship of these two great men, I would like to profile a brief list of their unusual similarities.
Births
- Jesus was the "First Born" son of God and born to Joseph and Mary - born in a "caravansary" "kahn" (compound) - and was taught by his carpenter father
- Joseph - born in a log cabin in the hills of Vermont and worked with his father in the fields.
Similarities
- There is no record of the Savior having a "formal" education
- Joseph had very little schooling
- Jesus was considered a "disturber," a "revolutionary"-a trouble-maker
- Joseph, though constantly reviled, taught and testified that Jesus is the God of this world and the Prince of Peace
- There was always opposition in the earth life of the Savior
- Joseph said of himself that "deep water is what I am wont to swim in,"[4] even "fight upstream all the time"[5]
- During Jesus' sojourn on earth - He established His kingdom with 12 apostles[6]
- Through Joseph, Christ's church was restored with 12 apostles and Jesus Christ as Chief cornerstone[7]
- Jesus appeared often to Joseph
- Jesus fulfilled His part of our Father's Great Plan for Exaltation
- Joseph was instrumental in restoring to the earth the knowledge of that plan
- Jesus holds all priesthood keys. Through His Atonement all sacred ordinances are binding through the eternities.
- Joseph received those priesthood keys and re-established the temple with the Endowment, Sealing and other sacred ordinances[8]
Both Drew Upon Isaiah
- Jesus quoted Isaiah more than any other Old Testament prophet[9]
- Isaiah gave more prophecy of the coming Messiah than any other Old Testament prophet[10]
- Book of Mormon contains many verses and whole chapters of Isaiah[11]
Scriptural Text
- Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament and Savior of the New Testament[12]
- Joseph - Translated the Book of Mormon, parts of the Bible and other documents and received many heavenly visitations and revelations. In total, there are over 850 pages of scriptural text that were revealed through his mind, heart and mouth, all of which testified of the divinity of the Savior Jesus Christ.
- Jesus refused Satan's entreaties[13]
- Satan never left Joseph alone[14]
- Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth and the life"[15]
- Joseph never denied the truth[16]
- Jesus performed the miraculous atonement[17]
- Joseph became the great teacher and testified of the meaning of that selfless act
- Both taught and performed baptism by emersion for the remission of sins[18]
- Both brought to light the need to come unto our Father in Heaven
- Much of the derision within the early latter-day Church was caused by financial disputes. Some of the apostates left the fellowship of the Saints because of their misguided values for wealth and property. Likewise, the Savior was betrayed by one of his own Twelve for "thirty pieces of silver."
- Both were fishers of men
- Both were master teachers
- Both were abused, falsely accused and imprisoned
- Both died a martyr's death
Both Sealed Their Testimony With Their Own Blood
- The evil spirit in the hearts of those who crucified the Savior also resided in the mind of those who martyred Joseph
- Jesus' atoning sacrifice gave the promise of a new life-resurrection and exaltation
- Joseph's martyrdom has instilled in this Church a zeal to proclaim these truths to every nation/kindred/tongue and people[19]
- Jesus is divine, holy and perfect. Joseph is His preeminent prophet-but not quite perfect
Of Joseph the Prophet
Josiah Quincy, an accomplished and renowned writer and former mayor of Boston, wrote these words about Joseph Smith in 1844, and asked: "...What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may be thus written: Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet....forty-three days after I saw him, [he] went cheerfully to a martyr's death.
"Born in the lowest ranks of poverty, without book-learning, and with homeliest of all human names, he had made himself at the age of thirty-nine a power upon the earth. Of the multitudinous family of Smith...none had won human hearts and shaped human lives as this Joseph. His influence, whether for good or evil is potent today, and the end is not yet..."[20]
Of Joseph Smith we sing: "Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah! Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer. Blessed to open the last dispensation, Kings shall extol him, and nations revere."[21]
In the December 2006 issue of Atlantic Magazine, a panel of historians placed both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young on its list of the 100 Most Influential Americans of all time.[22]
Our Savior
My testimony of the Savior is, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man a love that exceeds His love for us. No other person has loved more, felt more compassion, shed more sincere tears and blood than the Lord Jesus Christ. His atonement erases fear, calms troubled hearts, empowers forgiveness upon repentance, salves aching wounds and infinitely and eternally assures immortality. Accepting His life, law and following His commandments transports one to eternal life and exaltation in the presence of God the Eternal father, His father and our Father, even the great Father Elohiem."
Bells chiming fail to ring His actual thundering glory. All creations witness His power. All time and space operate at His command.
Man's words cannot fully describe Him. The most sublime music is not sweet enough to instill the true feelings of His presence. Artists' renderings are not able to portray His transcending majesty. Human poetry fails to rhyme with sufficient solace, the power of his supremacy.
His voice is like the sound of great rushing waters,[23] yet it can be a small voice that "can...pierce...to the center" of the soul.[24]
He made the blind to see and the lame to walk.
"His peace is as a river and His righteousness as the waves of the sea" (Isaiah 48:18). His mercy surpasses all understanding. His judgments are sure and just. He is the first and the last and beside Him there is no other. He feels our every pain, anguish and sorrow. He knows our hurts, our sorrows and our tears. His love is beyond measure and His compassion is without end.
Mountains shrink before Him. His whisper calms the roaring seas.
Though human kind be as numerous as the sands of the sea, yet He knows every name, feels every heart.
Challenge
Even as those early pioneers faced the daunting winter trail and the unpredictable frozen Mississippi River, you know embark upon your life's journey. I challenge you to live your lives according to the example of the prophet Joseph Smith and our Savior Jesus Christ to... "keep yourself (s) unspotted from the world."[25] Further, I challenge you to sacrifice yourselves through the selfless service example of the prophet and the Savior to live to have clean hands and pure hearts.
I challenge you to emulate the Savior's love, mercy and forgiveness to make the world a better place, and to "seek...first the kingdom of God and his righteousness."[26]
In the final analysis, it matters little what else what we do with our lives if we forsake the kingdom of God.
My Witness and My Testimony
By following His light we can hold back the darkness that constantly tries to invade our spirits. May each of us be more Christlike in our words and actions. May we seek diligently to "come unto Christ and be perfected in Him and deny (ourselves) of all ungodliness."[27] As a humble servant of the Lord, I testify of His resurrection, divinity, grace and love. He alone trod the winepress. He alone gave us the opportunity, through his atoning sacrifice, to seek exaltation. I love Him and anxiously await the day of His return.
I testify that He lives, in his holy name, even Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] The Star Spangled Banner
[2] Joseph Smith Papers, visit http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/
[3] D&C 135:3
[4] D&C 127:2
[5] President Charles W. Penrose, Conference Report, October 1916
[6] Eph. 2:20
[7] D&C 102:20
[8] D&C 110:11-16
[9] Luke 4:16-21
[10] Isaiah 9:6-7
[11] 2 Nephi 14
[12] John 4:25
[13] Matthew 4:10
[14] JS-H 1:15-16
[15] John 14:6
[16] JS-H 1:25
[17] 2 Nephi 2:7
[18] Articles of Faith: 4
[19] D&C 42:58
[20] Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet, George Q. Cannon, pp. 346-351
[21] Hymns, No. 27
[22] Deseret News, November 30, 2006
[23] D&C 110:3
[24] 3 Nephi 11:3
[25] James 1:27
[26] Matthew 6:33
[27] Moroni 10:32