From: ksjwr@acad3.alaska.edu (REDELSS JOHN W)
Subject: Joseph a true latter-day prophet
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41.UAC
Keywords: LDS, Mormon, Joseph Smith
Organization: University of Alaska - Fairbanks
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 07:36:00 GMT

Joseph Smith was sent to us by Jesus Christ to correct some serious
misunderstandings that have crept into the Christian faith because important,
critical passages have been deleted from the Bible over the last two thousand
years and other important passages have been poorly translated by uninspired
translators.  As a result, false doctrine has been introduced into the church,
doctrine that was never taught by Jesus or his Apostles.  These small but
critical errors have caused the rest of the Bible to be misunderstood by even
the most sincere, Christian scholars.  They are confused about the meaning of
what they read.

This shouldn't be a great surprise to anyone because the proliferation of
conflicting doctrine in the Christian world makes it obvious that there is
confusion over the meaning of the Bible.  Two deeply learned Bibical scholars
can rarely agree on the meaning of any passage unless they attended the same
seminary or belong to the same denomination.  In fact, this disagreement over
the meaning of the Bible is the reason we have denominations.

Is God the author of this confusion?  Does he want us to fight over the meaning
of the Bible?  Does he want us to shoot bibical passages at each other like
bullets from a gun?  Of course not.

If the Lord doesn't want us to fight over the meaning of scripture, if He
doesn't want us to argue about religion until we are all enemies and His church
is splintered into hundreds of pieces, who does?  Who does want us to fight and
wrangle about the Bible, about our Saviour who is the Son of God and the
Messiah?

Satan, that's who.  Satan wants us to fight about Jesus until we get so sick of
it that we turn away from religion altogether.  Satan wants us to pound our
Bibles and quote scriptures in each others faces until we lose all love for
each other.  Satan wants us to devote all our energies to proving the other guy
is wrong, that we're right until the other guy hates our guts even if we ARE
right.  Most of you know that I am speaking the truth.

All my life I have loved a good argument.  I'm pretty good at it.  It gets my
blood up.  It's kind of a rush.  When I was a kid growing up in Omaha, my mom
and I used to have terrible fights.  I just couldn't knuckle under, and neither
could she.  My brothers and my sister were pretty good at it too.  Our house
was a constant war zone all the years I was growing up.  Who do you think we
were serving?  Do you suppose this scrapping made us love each other more?  Or
less?  How close do you think we are today?

When I got married nearly fifteen years ago, my new bride told me something I
had never heard before, a tradition handed down in her family: "Sometimes the
relationship is more important than being right."  What do you think about
that?  Is she speaking the truth?

Well, within the body of those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the
Living God, the Creator, the Messiah, our Beloved Savior, what is more
important?  The relationship or being right?  Even the Savior didn't learn
everything all at once.  He had to learn line upon line, precept upon precept.

Sometimes a man isn't ready to learn the truth, at least not all of it.  Do we
do any good by trying to cram it down his throat anyway?  Is it true that "a
man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still?"  I think so.

So what is the answer to all this confusion, all this wrangling, all these bad
feelings among so-called Christians?  I have found my answer, and I would like
to share it with you.  But only if you are interested, right.  I do not think
the Lord will force any man to heaven.

I believe Joseph Smith was chosen by God, not by himself, and sent into the
world to restore those parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ that have been
forgotten over the last two thousand years.  God called Joseph to be His
spokesman, His mouthpiece, a prophet just like Enoch, Abraham, Moses, John the
Baptist and Paul.

These men weren't "preachers" or "pastors" or "ministers of the gospel" as we
understand those terms today.  These men were prophets.  They wrote scripture.  
They did not merely quote scripture.  These men wrought miracles.  They did not
merely talk about miracles.  They taught the religion of Jesus.  They did not
merely teach a religion "about" Jesus.

Well, Joseph Smith was such a man.  Our Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus
Christ visited Joseph when he was a boy only fourteen years old.  Remember the
story of Moses and the burning bush?  Saul on the road to Damascus?  Same kind
of thing.  And why did God visit Joseph Smith?  To clear up the confusion. To
restore the gospel as it was preached anciently by Jesus and the original
Twelve Apostles.

Now I can't prove any of this to you.  But I have proved it to my satisfaction,
and I know how you can prove it to your satisfaction.  If you want to learn
more, you can reach me at ksjwr@acad1.alaska.edu where I'll be happy to share
privately the experiences I've had that have led me to this great truth.

But do not bother to write if all you want to do is wrangle about the
scriptures.  I'm not interested in "proving" anything out of the Bible.  I
believe the Bible is the word of God, but I don't think it is any good for
"proving" that you're right and I'm wrong.  Honest men can understand the same
verses differently.

One last thought, if a man has something precious for others, why would he have
to cram it down someones throat?  I know there are those in this newsgroup
that think they know a lot about the Bible who say that we Mormons aren't
Christians.  How do you think that makes us feel?  They quote passage after
passage to prove that our faith is false.  They almost seem to dedicate their
lives to destroying our religious faith.  Why pick on us?  Of course they don't
agree with us, but why get so worked up about it?  Is this the spirit of
Christ?  Do we love our neighbor by maligning his faith?

These men may be able to quote the scripture, but they do not understand them. 
If they did, they would find some way to woo us from our folly.  They would not
bully us as they do.  That is not the way of the Savior.  That, is the other
way.