All Things Witness

Thoughts on the mission and power of Jesus Christ

Tag Archives: Truth

Gold plates on a table


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Revelations Good and Evil

‘Some revelations are from God: some revelations are of man; and some revelations are of the devil.’ (Joseph Smith Jr)

I recall hearing this quote from Joseph Smith many years ago. It applies a caution to each of us as we seek – or even receive, as we believe – revelation from God for our lives. What I wasn’t taught at the time, was the context for the quote.

The context is that Joseph had received a revelation that Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery should travel to Canada where they would succeed in selling the copyright for the Book of Mormon for a considerable sum of money. When they returned from Canada empty handed, they asked Joseph how he could have received the revelation of success when that wasn’t what happened. His reply was the quote above.

I find this fascinating, because it suggests Joseph himself saying that this particular revelation hadn’t come from God. I presume he believed it had come from himself rather than from the devil.

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An angel and a demon on a man's shoulders


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Be Not Deceived

On a social media feed the other day, I came across this quote:

‘I was considering how powerful Truth is, that it is not something intangible like a simple concept or idea. It has a real and substantial impact on people, as impactful as a hurricane or an earthquake. When spoken with pure motive and without corruption, especially when the love and kindness of the Holy Spirit prompts it, truth becomes like a sword. It can be used to break a person’s chains and set them free, but it can also bring great offense. Some prefer to remain slaves to a lie, and anything that challenges those lies is seen as dangerous or heretical. But regardless of the reaction of the person, there is always a reaction, making truth as real as when we are touched by sunlight, wind, or rain. Some people recognize the truth when they hear it, while for others, the realization that it is truth slowly dawns upon them, like a seed growing until one day it bears fruit. Truth is rarely simply disregarded without emotion. When the truth is rejected, it is often done in anger, which has the potential to turn violent. When the truth opposes doctrines inherit to a person’s particular religious belief, people often lash out using harsh words. They may mock or belittling the person speaking the truth as if they are ignorant or stupid. Or they may label the person as deceived or evil. Regardless of how truth is received or rejected, its impact is meaningful and reveals much about the state of a person’s heart. Do they desire the truth above their own comfort, or will they do whatever it takes to find some way to dismiss the very thing that could set them free.’1

Amongst the comments to this post was one asking about how we determine the truth, given the conflicting messages and voices we hear.

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Small white church


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Truth and Reason

6 April 1830 is a date well-known to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On that date, in New York State, Joseph Smith Jr organised the Church of Christ. When Joseph later began collecting revelations he had received into what would become the Book of Commandments (the predecessor to the Doctrine and Covenants), the Lord then dictated to Joseph the preface for that book – what is now known as Section 1 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

In that section, we read the God had given, ‘… power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually …’ (D&C 1:30)

I recall referencing this scripture extensively when a full-time missionary for the church in Chile many years ago. ‘See,’ I would say, ‘God Himself says this is the only true church.’

Another thing we would do is when people would pray about whether the Book of Mormon is true and felt God answered them in the affirmative, we would tell them that if the Book of Mormon is true, then that means Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet then the church he organised is the true church and they should join it.

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A woman standing in a field raising her arms to the sky with a sunset behind her


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Praise the Lord

I gave this talk in our church meetings today and thought I’d post it. There are a few paragraphs that are copied from previous posts, so my apologies to regular readers of this blog.

When I served my mission in Chile far too many years ago, one of the things we would teach investigators is how to pray. Chile was a very religious nation and most people had prayed before, but not everyone. The pattern was a very simple four steps, which will be familiar to most here today.

We begin by addressing our Heavenly Father. Next, we thank Him; then we ask Him for things we need. Finally, we close in the name of Jesus Christ. It’s a pattern I’ve repeated myself from my first memories of prayer both personally, in my family and in church. 

Now, I’ve recently been spending some time studying the Lord’s prayer, as found in the sermon on the mount in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. That’s the pattern for prayer that Christ Himself has taught us, and one thing I’ve come to wonder is whether our standard LDS prayer follows the example and pattern he showed.

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Our Iron Gates

Jesus told His disciples that in the latter days, many of even the very elect could be deceived (Matthew 24:24). That means that wherever you and I think we are in terms of being elect, we’re at risk of deception. Stop and think about that. Think about how important that is to you. Is it important to you that you avoid deception – I mean really important? What would you give up in order to ensure you had the truth?

Would it be nice to you to avoid deception or is it essential? Is your job more important than avoiding deception? Are family relationships more important than avoiding deception? Is staying comfortable in your traditions more important than avoiding deception? Is there anything you wouldn’t give away to God to avoid being deceived in these last days?

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