Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Milton R. Hunter (April 1948 General Conference) on Joseph Smith's Fulfilled Prophecies

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:

 

Resources on Joseph Smith’s Prophecies