Joseph Smith - Page 3 of 3

Joseph Smith - Page 3

I'll answer your questions, revival.

I see a couple I'd like to address.

First, the one about what happens when a person prays about Joseph Smith and gets a negative answer.

I have been a member of the Church all my life. I served a mission in Spain. I have spoken to literally tens of thousands of people about my faith, and I have been a part of the coversion of many of them.

My experience with prayer has been less about "getting" answers from God, and more about being prepared for them. I often ask for guidance, or for clarification, and do not receive an answer while in the process of asking. There is a great deal of effort inherent in the prayer/revelation process.

That is not to say that I NEVER receive answers in the moment I ask, just not always. I have personally known people who prayed about the Church, or about Joseph Smith, and did not feel they received and answer, or who weren't sure, or felt they got a negative response. I have been there with them, while they prayed, and I can say that in every case I can remember, when a positive response was not received, it was because the individual still had some personal barrier to receiving the revelation for which they were asking.

For example, on my mission in Spain, I was privileged to meet a wonderful woman who had known the eight members of the Church in her town for 5 years or so, and had been tinkering with the idea of investigating the Church seriously for about as long. Just before I was transfered to the city in which she lived, she had finally decided to give the message a chance. That was her first step toward revelation-a desire to believe.

She was wonderful to teach. She was very intelligent and unafraid to ask "difficult" questions. She did not readily accept a great deal of what we taught her-not because she found it hard to believe, but because it was so new-but she persisted. Throughout the process, it became very clear to me that she was struggling inside with a problem that she wasn't telling us about. It was her family. She was terrified of what her family, particularly her mother, who do if she were to join the Church. After all, this was a family with 400+ years of Catholic heritage.

She prayed various times for confirmation about Joseph Smith, about baptism, about the validity of the Church, but she always was unsure when she got off her knees. Without doubt her fears concerning her family were causing "interference," and were preventing her from feeling what I certainly felt during her petitions for answers. Those moments with her were incredible. She truly was a woman of great faith, and when she prayed, it was as if the world was suspended in that moment. I was continually dumbfounded that she could not feel what the rest of us were feeling. In each one of those instances, God was answering, but the response was crowded out by fear, which is a very effective tool of the adversary (Satan) in producing doubt and indecision.

Ultimately, she confessed her fears, we talked about them, and she committed to do whatever she felt was right the next time she prayed, regardless of what her family would think, say, or do. The next attempt at receiving an answer, she got off her knees with not the slightest doubt that Joseph Smith truly was the prophet of the restoration, and that the Church he restored contains the fullness of truth that so many seek. I was privileged to baptize her two days before I flew home.

It is my testimony that Joseph Smith is a prophet-a true prophet, and no fraud. It is also my testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, in the most litteral sense of that word. Those things are true. God is no respector of persons. Anyone who sincerely seeks those answers will most assuredly receive them, if they are sincere in their motives, and they ask in faith, casting out doubt and fear, trusting Him to lead them correctly, and willing to recognize his response.

That said, it is also my testimony that one who cannot, for whatever reason, receive a positive confirmation of those things, necessarily has something preventing it. It may not be fear, it may be doubt. It may be doubt that God loves them enough to answer. It may be doubt that they believe they can receive and answer. It may be that they aren't sure they can follow through. It can be so many things. But I have never known a person who has put complete trust in God, with an inward committment to follow Him, whatever the answer they might receive-I have never known such a person who did not receive a positive answer to their petition. Whether it was after one attempt, or twenty. God is the same. He does answer. His answers are consistent and dependable.

I hope you don't minde if I address the other question tomorrow, the one about why the Church was restored in the early 1800s and not eariler. It's late and I'm tired.