Thursday, April 20, 2023

Peter E. Johnson's 1898 Vision of the Spirit World and Claim Joseph Smith was Already Resurrected


 

Just before my eldest sister died she asked me to enter into this agreement: That if she died first, she was to watch over me, protect me from those who might seek my downfall, and that she would be the first to meet me after death. If I happen to die first, she wished me to do the same for her. We made this agreement, and this was the reason that my sister was the first one of my relatives to meet me. After she arrived, my mother and other sisters and friends came to see me, and we discussed various topics, as we would do here on meeting friends. After we had spent some little time in conversation, the guide came to me with a message, that I was wanted by some of the apostles who had lived on the earth in this dispensation. As soon as I came into their presence, I was asked if I desired to remain there. This seemed strange for it had never occurred to me that we would have any choice there in the spirit world, as to whether we should remain or return to the earth life. I was asked if I felt satisfied with conditions there. I informed them that I was, and had to desire to return to the fever and misery from which I had been suffering while in the body. After some little conversation this question was repeated, with the same answer. Then I asked: "If I remain what will I be asked to do?" I was informed that I would preach the Gospel to the spirits there, as I had been preaching it to the people here, and that I would do so under the immediate direction of the Prophet Joseph. This remark brought to my mind a question which has been much discussed here, as to whether or not the Prophet Joseph Smith is now a resurrected being. While I did not ask the question, they read it in my mind, and immediately said: "You wish to know whether the prophet has his body or not?" I replied: "Yes, I would like to know." I was told that the Prophet Joseph Smith has his body, as also his brother Hyrum, and that as soon as I could do more with my body than I could do without it, my body would be resurrected. (Peter E. Johnson, "A Testimony," The Relief Society Magazine 7, no. 8 [August 1920]: 451-52)