Description

Revolutionary

In 1820 mainstream Christianity believed that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost were “of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided…a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto…most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and withal most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.”

To believe anything else was considered heresy.

Therefore early in the spring of 1820, when Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son in a grove of trees on his father’s farm and so declared that he had, he became in that moment a counter-cultural revolutionary and a heretic to the entire Christian world. He did not come to make course corrections in a slightly wayward Christianity, but instead to destroy the corrupt and false traditions and restore a completely new way—the Lord’s covenant path.

Is it any wonder that he was hounded, hunted, and persecuted unremittingly. He was and still is the greatest disturber and annoyer of the Devil’s kingdom since the Savior himself.

As one who has very little herd instinct—what a blessing and privilege it is to know him and believe what he taught.

And it all started with the First Vision! And of all the many truths revealed in that Vision it is in the opening moments that my heart swells with joy.

The first thing the Father said to Joseph as we have it recorded was “Joseph.” He called him by name, and the second was “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” Indeed, the first great truths restored in this dispensation was the love of God for us and the power of the atonement to forgive us.

Sources: https://www.gracefamilybaptist.net/about-us/what-we-believe/about-god-and-the-trinity/

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/site/accounts-of-the-first-vision