Saturday, December 25, 2021

Joseph Smith Sr. Promising the Recipient of a Patriarchal Blessing the Ability to Travel and Preach to Other Worlds/Planets and the Moon

In at least three patriarchal blessings from Joseph Smith Sr., we have a promise given that the person could be empowered to travel to (1) different worlds/planets and (2) the moon itself, providing insights into the cosmology of early Latter-day Saints:

 

Thou must preach the Gospel of thy Savior to the inhabit—inhabitants of the earth, Thou shalt become a mighty man in the Earth—Thou shalt have great faith—even like that of the Brother of Jared.— thou shalt have power to translate thyself from one plannet [planet] to annother [another]—power to go to the moon if thou shalt desire it. Power to preach to the spirits in prison — power like Enoch to translate thyself to heaven, — thou shalt have power to rend the vail [veil] of heaven and see Jesus standing at the right hand of his Father. Theare [There] shall not be a mightier man on Earth than thou. Thy faith shall increase  and grow stronger and stronger it shall be liken like that of Peter thy shadow shall restore the sick— the diseased shall send to thee their handkerchiefs and aprons and by thy touch their owners shall be healed. Thou shalt have power over unclean spirits; at thy command the powers of darkness shall stand back, and Devils shall flee away. If it be expedient the Dead shall rise and come forth at thy bid[d]ing even those that have long slept in the dust shall come foarth [forth] to life. (Patriarchal blessing of Lorenzo Snow, December 15, 1836 in H. Michael Marquardt, comp., Early Patriarchal Blessings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Salt Lake City: The Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2007], 95)

 

and inasmuch as thou shalt put thy trust in God, he will deliver thee and thou shalt go forth as upon the wings of Eagles, from city to city & from land to land, and from world to world, and preach the gospel in other planets and save many. (Patriarchal blessing of Julius Thompson [not dated but either 1835 or 1836] in ibid., 96)

 

Thou shalt have power to abide to the end and to translate thyself away if thou desire from place to place and preach to different nations. . . . Thou shalt be transalted and preach to other worlds, even from planet to planet and to spirits in prison. (Patriarchal blessing of Solomon Warner Jr. in ibid., 146)