Apparently Independence Day is a bigger deal than I thought it was. It's less of celebrating the commencement of the United States' sovereignty and more about fireworks and alcohol. But hey, whatever. Our new mission president has told us (and this isn't anything new to the missionaries either) that we are to be in our apartments by six o'clock updating area books and such. This is mostly for the intent of our safety, which is understandable. But it means that we pretty much do nothing all P'day. But hey, whatever. (I get to sleeeeeeeep more!)
I was thinking about our Canada Day family reunions in Waterton and I can't help but miss them. Those are some of my most cherished memories of going on paddle boats (after massive amounts of begging to rent one), hitting up the candy shop in Waterton, and getting giant ice cream cones at the Glenwood Cheese Factory. I hope you guys are continuing to build those memories because once those times are over, they're all you really have.
Recently I've experienced quite a bit of controversy concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Marvellous Work that came through him by God. I restarted the Book of Mormon and the Bible a couple of weeks ago and I'm slowly studying it verse by verse, footnote by footnote, trying to internalize every hidden truth spoken by the words of ancient prophets. One of the major points of concern that people had was when Jesus said on the cross "It is finished" (John 19:30), which being interpreted by those incapable of reading beyond what they see in a single verse as "Jesus was the last prophet". This troubled me when people stalemated our conversations with this argument. I kept thinking, "are they right? Jesus did put away the Mosaic Law when he came to the Earth... where do we get off saying that God calls more prophets?" I've searched and I've searched and over time I have begun to build up an opposition for this. It's not perfect and I didn't develop it for the purpose to argue, but for reconciliation within myself, so that I may continue to progress. You can shove all the doctrine you want in the face of those who bash and they will continue to deny it. Heck, people still didn't believe Joseph Smith's translation of the Egyptian Papyrus into the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price when the record itself was on display in a museum in Chicago. To those people you can only say "dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith" (Ether 12:6). ANYWAYS BACK TO PROPHETS. It's funny because Jesus Christ himself proclaimed that He did not come into the world to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfil their prophecies (Matthew 5:17) and if that wasn't proof enough I would ask one simple question to myself: why then would Jesus tell us how to discern between a true and false prophet in Matthew 7:15-20 IF HE DID NOT PLAN ON CALLING ANY MORE? God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) and therefore God will continue to do nothing except He revealeth His secrets to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). Joseph Smith was called as a Prophet in these Last Days. 1820 was the start of a new era where religious freedom was to be experienced for the first time on Earth. He was called as a boy just like Samuel, David, and Daniel, he was called in a vision like Moses, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, and he was entrusted with one of the greatest fruits that witness that Jesus truly is the Christ of all time, OF ALL TIME. Those who look down on the Book of Mormon haven't read it, those who read it and don't believe it haven't prayed about it, those who have prayed about it and haven't received an answer do not have a real intent of finding out if the book is true (Moroni 10:3-5). 2 Nephi 3 contains a sacred prophecy by Joseph, the same Joseph who was sold into Egypt by his brothers, and it is all about the Prophet Joseph Smith; "A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins... And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation." (2 Nephi 3:6,15). But the crowning prophecy prophesying of the Restoration is one made by Jesus Christ; you see, the prophecy of the coming of Christ made by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18-22 is contained in all of the standard works (Acts 3:22-25, D&C 133:63, Joseph Smith-History 1:40, 3 Nephi 20:23) and as Jesus unveiled his fulfilment of Moses' prophecy, He made a similar prophecy about Joseph Smith in 3 Nephi 21:9-11 which reads, "For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvellous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil." There is no way Joseph Smith could have written the Book of Mormon. No evil man could bring about a book that brings so much good and testifies so much of Christ. And there is absolutely no way that Joseph Smith could've known that he himself would eventually be martyred (or marred as in verse 10) for this marvellous work. But despite all of this evidence, despite all of this truth, I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet because I have prayed about it. I will continue to preach this truth and this doctrine evermore because of the Spirit I have felt while following the Savior's commandment here in Pennsylvania to "feed [His] sheep" (John 21:17).
Smiles.
Elder Low
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