On April 4, 1948, during General Conference, Milton R. Hunter provided the following evidence for Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling:
How
does Joseph Smith compare with the great prophets of all ages as a predictor of
future events? When we consider the fact that the D&C is filled with
revelations from the Lord to the Prophet and that many of them deal with future
events which certainly could be regarded as prophecies; also, when we consider
the fact that other scriptures were brought forth in this dispensation through
Joseph and that they contain many prophecies; and in addition to this, that he
uttered numerous other predictions, we are forced to conclude that few, if any,
prophets who ever lived have made more prophecies than did Joseph Smith. I,
therefore, would rate him among the greatest of all the prophets as a predictor
of future events.
We
should also keep in mind the fact that the prophecies of true prophets of God,
uttered as a result of divine inspiration, or revelation, must and will all be
fulfilled. In fact, in the holy scriptures we are told that the way to
distinguish between true and false prophets is whether or not their predictions
come to pass. To quote the words of Deuteronomy:
And
if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the
Lord
hath not spoken?
When
a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come
to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath
spoken it presumptuously; thou shalt not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy
18:21-22.)
JOSEPH SMITH A TRUE PROPHET
According
to the word of the Lord, Joseph Smith was a true prophet because the prophecies
and promises revealed to him "shall all be fulfilled." In this
respect he compares very favorably with any or all of the holy prophets of old.
God declared in his preface to the D&C the following:
Search
these commandments for they are true and faithful, and the
prophecies
and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled. (D. & C. 1:37.)
Let
us consider a few examples of prophecies made by Joseph Smith and their
fulfilment. When but a boy slightly past fourteen years of age, Joseph returned
to the house from .the Sacred Grove on that memorable spring morning in 1820.
He told the members of his family that he had seen the Eternal Father and his
Only Begotten Son in a vision. During the course of that vision, he had been
informed by the Savior that the true Church was not upon the earth (D. H. C.
1:2-6) and that if he lived a worthy life he was given
.
. . a promise that the fullness of the gospel should at some future time be
made
known unto [him] me. ("The Wentworth Letter," cited in ibid., 4:536.)
Imagine
a boy, untrained and unschooled as far as earthly schooling is concerned and at
such a tender age, making such a prophecy. As all of you know, this prophecy
was soon fulfilled. The gospel of Jesus Christ was revealed to him, and he did
establish a Church--the Church which God declared to be
.
. . 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.)
NAME KNOWN FOR GOOD AND EVIL
Three
and one-half years later, at the time of the visitations of the angel Moroni to
Joseph Smith, he made another prophecy which I believe was just as astounding
in its nature as was the prediction that he should establish the "true and
living Church." Joseph said that the heavenly messenger had told him that
he would receive an ancient record, and that he would translate it and publish
a book. Also, to quote Joseph's own words:
.
. . that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds,
and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken among all people. (
D.&.C. 1: 11-12; italics speaker's.)
Imagine
an obscure frontier youth who had probably no more than a casual acquaintance
with perhaps a few hundred people at the most, not only prophesying that he
would translate and publish a book but that his name would be had for good and
evil among all nations. Again, time has proved Joseph Smith to be a true prophet
of God. He did publish that book under the title of the Book of Mormon; and, as
all of you know, it has for more than a century baffled thousands of its avowed
enemies.
Almost
immediately after receiving his earliest visitation from heavenly beings, the
Prophet Joseph Smith began to be persecuted for the claims that he had made.
Throughout the entire course of his life many people hated him to the point of
trying to bring about his death. This fact they finally accomplished by
bringing him to a martyr's grave. As early as 1834 the first of almost an
innumerable procession of books, written by evil people inspired by the devil
for the purpose of destroying the Prophet, his influence and the work of the
Lord, came from the press. Each of these books has been short-lived; but the
work of God and the honor and glory of his great Prophet will go on unhampered
forever.
On
the other hand, throughout Joseph's lifetime many other people loved him so
dearly that they would have laid down their lives willingly for him if
necessary. They maintained that the Holy Ghost had borne positive assurance to
their souls of Joseph's divine appointment and of the restoration of the true
gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus thousands of intelligent converts have allied
themselves with the Prophet Joseph and have adhered to the cause of Mormonism
in the face of persecution, poverty, loss of homes and property, and even
threats of martyrdom. In fact, many of the Saints have sacrificed their lives
for the cause of righteousness.
Joseph
Smith's testimony has divided the world into two camps. Whenever he is being
considered, there is no neutral ground upon which to stand. His claims are so
vital that people either accept them in their entirety without reservations or
flatly reject them. There are individuals, however, who are completely
indifferent to his claims, and ofttimes to religion in general. Those
individuals must be classed with the group that reject Joseph's claims.
Thus
throughout the entire course of more than one hundred years, this prediction
uttered by the Prophet Joseph Smith, that is, that his name should be known
"for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues," has
been continuously fulfilled.
REVELATION GIVEN IN MISSOURI JAIL
In
the spring of 1839, after the Prophet had spent several months lying in a
dungeon in a Missouri jail, the voice of God came unto him saying:
My
son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be
but
a small moment;
And
then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt
triumph
over all thy foes.
And
they who do charge thee with transgression, their hope shall be blasted, and
their prospects shall melt away as the hoar frost melteth before the burning
rays of the rising sun;
Cursed
are all those that shall lift up the heel against mine anointed, saith
the
Lord. . . (D. & C. 121:7, 8, 11, 16.)
The
ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have thee
in
derision, and hell shall rage against thee;
While
the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall
seek
counsel, and blessings constantly from under thy hand.
And
thy people shall never be turned against thee by the testimony of
traitors.
.
. . Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore,
fear not what men can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever. (Ibid.,
122:1-3, 9.)
PREDICTIONS FULFILLED
Such
predictions as the Civil War prophecy, the Stephen A. Douglas prophecy, the
Rocky Mountain prophecy referred to by the President of the Church this
morning, and numerous other predictions and their fulfilment could be cited to
show that Joseph Smith was truly a great prophet of God. Evidence impels us to
rank this man of God as one of the greatest prophets that have ever lived. In
fact, in the D&C we read:
Joseph
Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for
the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.
(Ibid. 135:3.) (Conference
Report, April 1948, 25-28)
Further Reading:
