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Gospel DoctrineJoseph Smith History 1:27 to 65D&C 2Laurie MonahanJanuary 17, 2021

Smith Log House, FrameHouse, Sacred Grove,Martin Harris Farm House

How do you feel about studyingDoctrine andCovenants &Joseph SmithHistorythe D&C and JSH this year? Do Joseph’s struggles seemrelevant to our modern-dayissues? Can we learn from the past so wedo better in the present? What does God give us to help usbe successful here? What is the fullness of theeverlasting Gospel?

What is the Fullnessof the EverlastingGospel? JosephSmith History (JSH)1:34 Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained the meaning of “thefulness of the everlasting gospel”: “According to therevealed word, the Book of Mormon contains thefulness of the everlasting gospel; so also does the Bible,and so do both the Doctrine and Covenants and thePearl of Great Price. Each of them contains the word ofthe gospel; each of them is a record of God’s dealingswith a people who had the fulness of the gospel; eachof them is a scriptural record that summarizes the planof salvation and sets forth what men must do to gainthe fulness of reward in the mansions that areprepared. The gospel itself is the power of God bywhich salvation comes; it is the power that saves ahuman soul; and the fulness of the gospel is all of thetruths and powers needed to enable men to gain afulness of reward in the highest heaven of the celestialworld” (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, 399).

What was goingon in PalmyraJust Before theFirst Vision? “As more and more Americans crossed the Catskill andAdirondack mountains to settle in the Finger Lakes area ofwestern New York, they tended to lose contact withestablished churches in their former homes. These‘unchurched’ settlers worried religious leaders of the maindenominations, principally the Baptists, Methodists, andPresbyterians, who established proselyting programs fortheir disadvantaged brothers in the West. “The Methodists and Baptists were particularly zealous intheir efforts to bring religion to those without its benefits.The Methodists employed circuit riders. These were travelingministers who rode horseback from town to townthroughout a given region, or circuit, ministering to thereligious needs of the people. The Baptists used the farmerpreacher system. In this system a local man earned his livingby farming but occupied a nearby pulpit on the Sabbath.

What is a BurnedOver District? JSH 1:5 “These efforts were bolstered by the enthusiasm of the SecondGreat Awakening which was then sweeping the United States.Nearly all churches in upstate New York conducted revivals.These were evangelistic gatherings designed to awaken thereligiously inert. Revivals were often in the form of campmeetings held on the edge of a grove of trees or in a smallclearing in the forest. Participants often traveled many milesover dusty or rut-filled roads to pitch their tents or park theirwagons on the outskirts of the encampment. Camp meetingsfrequently lasted several days with some sessions lasting nearlyall day and into the night. Ministers rotated, but it was notuncommon to find two or three ministers exhorting theirlisteners simultaneously. So fervent and enthusiastic was thereligious zeal in western New York in the early 1800s that theregion came to be known as the Burned-Over District. Becausethe Finger Lakes area was set figuratively ablaze withevangelistic fire, it is not surprising that young Joseph Smithand his family were caught up in the fervor” (Church History inthe Fulness of Times, 30).

He was raised to be God-fearing The Bible was his book of learningWhy DidJoseph GoInto theWoods? He had a testimony enough to believe what he read He wanted to know which church to join because therewere so many who claimed they were the true church ofGod. Joseph focused on James 1:5:If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that givethto all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall begiven him.

First Vision—WhatHappened? JSH 11-20 Joseph knelt in prayer to ask which churchto join He was overcome by the powers ofdarkness, so he prayed harder for help Then he saw a pillar of light over him The Father introduced the Son to Joseph He was told to join none of the churches The Savior told Joseph that “the fullness ofthe Gospel should at some future time bemade known unto you” Satan knew Joseph was important torestoring the Gospel in this dispensation, sohe tried hard to prevent it, then discreditJoseph

BitterPersecutionJSH 1:21-26 Given the tender feelings of this fourteen-yearold boy, it is little wonder that he should wishto tell his experience to his friends andacquaintances outside the family. One cansense his profound disappointment when, he“could find none that would believe theheavenly vision” William Smith later reflected:“We never knew we were bad folks untilJoseph told his vision. We were consideredrespectable till then, but at once people beganto circulate falsehoods and stories in awonderful way” (Deseret Evening News, 20 Jan.1894, 11; see also Church History in the Fulnessof Times, 35).

Moroni Appears toJoseph Smith Joseph Smith was persecuted during the three-year periodthat followed the First Vision in 1820. Joseph Smith later related that during this time, he “fell intomany foolish errors” and “often felt condemned for [his]weakness and imperfections” (Joseph Smith—History 1:28–29). In response to Joseph’s prayer on the evening ofSeptember 21, 1823, the angel Moroni appeared and toldJoseph that God had forgiven him and had a work for himto do JSH 1:30 He also told Joseph that an ancient record written ongolden plates was deposited in a hill near the Smith home.The following day, Joseph Smith viewed the plates, butMoroni forbade him to take them. During the next four years, the Lord prepared Joseph Smithfor the time when he would be able to obtain the plates. OnSeptember 22, 1827, the Prophet received the plates fromthe angel Moroni.

Significance of the Scriptures MoroniQuoted to Joseph Smith (JSH 1:36-41) The Lord taught the Nephites that prior to the Second Coming therewould be a sign given in the last days that would signal the beginningof the gathering of Israel in power (see 3 Nephi 21:1–7). That sign isthe coming forth of the Book of Mormon. All of the passages Moroni quoted point to the same theme: Thecoming forth of the Book of Mormon will initiate a progression ofevents that will lead to the Second Coming, when the wicked will bedestroyed and the righteous will reign on earth with Jesus Christ. In essence, Joseph Smith was being told that the work he was to dowould help usher in Christ’s millennial reign and that the Savior’scoming would be “soon.” Joseph Smith also added that Moroni said “the fulness of the Gentileswas soon to come in” (v. 41)

Joseph Smith Told His FatherJSH 1:49-50 Lucy Mack Smith’s history of this event adds the followinginformation: “The messenger whom he saw the previousnight, visited him again, and the first thing he said was,‘Why did you not tell your father that which I commandedyou to tell him?’ Joseph replied, ‘I was afraid my fatherwould not believe me.’ The angel rejoined, ‘He will believeevery word you say to him’” (History of Joseph Smith by HisMother, ed. Preston Nibley [1958], 79).

Joseph’s FirstVisit to the HillCumorahJSH 1:50-53 As Joseph approached the Hill Cumorah, he hadthoughts about the poverty of his family and thepossibility that the plates or the popularity of thetranslation would produce enough wealth to ‘raisehim above a level with the common earthlyfortunes of his fellow men, and relieve his familyfrom want’ [Oliver Cowdery, in Messenger andAdvocate, July 1835, 157]. “When he reached down for the plates he received a shockand was thus prevented from taking them out of the box.Twice more he tried and was thrown back. In frustration hecried out, ‘Why can I not obtain this book?’ Moroni appearedand told him it was because he had not kept thecommandments but had yielded to the temptations of Satanto obtain the plates for riches instead of having his eye singleto the glory of God as he had been commanded [Cowdery,in Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1835, 198].

Moroni Showed Joseph theContrast Between Good and EvilChoices His mother, Lucy Mac Smith wrote:“Theangel showed him, by contrast, thedifference between good and evil andthe consequences which [would] followboth obedience and disobedience tothe commandments of God, in such astriking and forcible manner that theimpression was always bright in hisrecollection until the very end of hisdays. And in giving a relation of thiscircumstance, not long prior to hisdeath, he remarked that everafterwards he was willing to keep thecommandments of God.”

How Does God Try to TeachUs the Consequences of Goodand Bad Choices? Parents Teachers Local Church Leaders General Authorities Patriarchal Blessings Scriptures that give the fullness of theGospel

JSH 1: 59 & 60Warningsfrom the Lord 59 At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urimand Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second dayof September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven,having gone as usual at the end of another year to the placewhere they were deposited, the same heavenly messengerdelivered them up to ame with this charge: that I shouldbe bresponsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly,or through any cneglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if Iwould use all my endeavors to dpreserve them, until he, themessenger, should call for them, they should be protected. 60 I soon found out the reason why I had received such strictcharges to keep them safe, and why it was that the messengerhad said that when I had done what was required at my hand,he would call for them. For no sooner was it known that I hadthem, than the most strenuous exertions were used to aget themfrom me. Every stratagem that could be invented was resorted tofor that purpose. The persecution became more bitter and severethan before, and multitudes were on the alert continually to getthem from me if possible. But by the wisdom of God, theyremained safe in my hands, until I had accomplished by themwhat was required at my hand. When, according toarrangements, the messenger called for them, I delivered themup to him; and he has them in his charge until this bday, beingthe second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirtyeight (1838). Joseph was attacked three times on the way home with theplates, but with the help of the Lord, he did not lose them. Heconstantly hid them in different places, under the hearth, in hay

TimeLine Spring 1820 First Vision, God the Eternal Father and Jesus Christvisit Joseph Smith September 21–22, 1823 The angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith fivetimes. 1823–27 The Lord prepared Joseph Smith to obtain the goldenplates, Joseph visits the hill four times November 19, 1823 Joseph Smith’s oldest brother, Alvin, died. October 1825 Joseph Smith met Emma Hale in Harmony,Pennsylvania, while working for Josiah Stowell. January 18, 1827 Joseph Smith and Emma Hale were married. September 22, 1827 Joseph Smith received the golden plates from Moroni.

The Lord Sends Joseph Help inthe Form of Martin Harris Joseph was laboring and boarding in the home of Isaac Hale and methis wife Emma in 1825 and married her Jan 8th, 1827 Persecutions continued Emma’s family was against the marriage because of his vision So they went to live and work a season after they married on hisfather’s farm Joseph finally given the plates, Urim and Thummim Sept 22, 1827 Because of terrible persecutions, Joseph felt he needed to move backto her home in Harmony Pennsylvania, but he was broke Martin Harris, a respectable farmer, came and gave him 50 to helpwith his journey