My name is Ryan Davis, I post statements by those who personally KNEW the prophet as those who KNEW him best BELIEVED him most Comments are my own ideas
Midway, UT
Joined August 2024
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“Here are some of the Prophet's words, as uttered in the schoolhouse.
With uplifted hand he said: "I am a witness that there is a God, for I saw Him in open day, while praying in a silent grove, in the spring of 1820."
He further testified that God, the Eternal Father, pointing to a separate personage, in the likeness of Himself, said:
"This is my Beloved Son hear ye Him."
O how these words thrilled my entire system, and filled me with joy unspeakable to behold one who, like Paul the apostle of olden time, could with boldness testify that he had been in the presence of Jesus Christ!”
Edward Stevenson (May 1, 1820-January 27, 1897)
"The Home of My Boyhood," Juvenile Instructor 29, no. 14 (15 July 1894): 443-45.
“As we were going home on the little boat, Brother Joseph sat on the upper deck with the company gathered around him listening to his wonderful words. My father sat opposite him, so near that their knees almost touched. I, a little girl, being tired and sleepy, my Pa took me in his arms to rest. Brother Joseph stopped speaking, stooped and took my feet on his knees and when I would have drawn them away, he said, "No, let me hold them; you will rest better."”
Mary Ann Stearns Winters (April 6, 1833-1912)
Mary Ann Winters, "Joseph Smith, the Prophet," Young Woman's Journal 16, no. 12 (December 1905): 558.
As a young bishop I asked three faithful older couples if they were full tithe payers. They all gave this exact statement: "Bishop we can't afford to NOT pay it."
Tithing is a gift that could literally revolutionize the world.
Here's a subtweet on tithing...
I was in a situation many years ago where my bishop said to me that he would gladly use tithing funds to help my family. He said that because I was a full tithe payer, and have faithfully paid tithings and offerings, that fast offering funds would be available at my request.
Well, it turns out that the Lord opened those windows of heaven, and I never had to ask for assistance from fast offering funds. Every time I thought I wasn't going to be able to pay a bill, some forgotten money arrived... a re-calculation by the IRS discovering I was owed more on my return, a class action settlement payment, etc. All unexpected, but all non-mysteriously (because they were blessings) came at just the right moment.
During that period, my wife and I agreed that there would be no purchasing of food, and we would live off food storage. One day, I went to the garage and the freezer door wasn't shut.
I felt upset thinking my wife disregarded our agreement, but she swore she hadn't bought anything. So, the family went out and began repacking the freezer so the door would shut. We COULDN'T GET IT TO SHUT.
Yet, it was as though our food multiplied.
Then, the scripture in Malachi came to mind, "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
With tears in my eyes, I asked the family to step inside and we knelt in prayer. I asked the Lord for forgiveness and thanked Him for opening the windows of heaven.
We then returned to the garage, brought in food that we could thaw the rest of the way, and either cook and refrigerate, or eat that night. We had quite the feast that night, giving thanks and talking about our experience.
A few months later, I found a new job, and it came with a sign-on bonus, and all was good again... but our ordeal lasted 9 months!!!
Tithing is a blessing. I can't afford to NOT pay it.
“The time has been, brethren," he said, "when my life could not be taken, but now my work is done. I roll the burden and the keys of the Kingdom upon the shoulders of the Twelve Apostles. I have climbed the hill of life, and now I look over. My life now is the same as any other man's. I am going to rest.”
Frederick Kesler (January 20, 1816 [or 1818]-June 12, 1899 [or 1900])
Collected Discourses, edited by Brian H. Stuy, 5 vols. (Burbank, California, and Woodland Hills, Utah: B. H. S. Publishing, 1987-92), 5:35.
“It is impossible for me to express my feelings in regard to this period of my life. I have never known the same joy and satisfaction in the companionship of any other person, man or woman, that I felt with him, the man who had conversed with the Almighty. He was always the most companionable and lovable of men—cheerful and jovial! Sometimes on our return home in the evening after we had been tramping around in the woods, he would call out: "Here, mother, come David and Jonathan."”
William Taylor (September 2, 1823-May 10 [or 17], 1910)
William Taylor, "Joseph Smith, the Prophet," Young Woman's Journal 17, no. 12 (December 1906): 547-48.
“Brother Joseph replied, "You shall lose nothing, for I will bless him too," which he did, and then sitting back heavily in a big chair before the fire, and with a deep-drawn breath said, "Oh! I am so tired—so tired that I often feel to long for my day of rest. For what has there been in this life but tribulation for me? From a boy I have been persecuted by my enemies, and now even my friends are beginning to join with them, to hate and persecute me! Why should I not wish for my time of rest?" . . . He saw my feelings were sorrowful and said kindly, "Bennie, if I was on the other side of the veil I could do many times more for my friends than I can do while I am with them here."”
Benjamin F. Johnson (July 28, 1818-November 18, 1905)
Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review (Independence, Mo.: Zion's Printing and Publishing Company, 1947), 97-98.
“It was the morning of June 24 when Joseph and Hyrum, with the City Council, the Marshal and a number of others, started on horseback for Carthage. Joseph halted as they reached the Temple, and looking with admiration upon it and upon the beautiful city, he remarked: "This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trials that await them."”
Helen Mar Whitney (August 25, 1828-November 15, 1896)
Helen Mar Whitney, "Scenes and Incidents in Nauvoo," Woman's Exponent 11, no. 115 (1 January 1883): 114.
“I heard Joseph say this: "I have rolled this kingdom off of my shoulders onto the shoulders of the Twelve and they can carry out this work and build up His kingdom." Said he, "I am tired. I have been mobbed, I have suffered so much from outsiders and from my own family. . . . I have asked the Lord to take me away. I have to seal my testimony to this generation with my blood."”
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (April 9, 1818-December 17, 1913)
"Mary Elizabeth Lightner, Address at Brigham Young University, April 14, 1905," typescript copy, BYU Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, Utah, 3.
“. . . [I once saw Orrin P. Rockwell]. It was at dusk in the evening, just after the sun went down and before it was dark. . . . I had always been fond of him, and so I climbed over the fence and met him at the street. After I shook hands with him, he broke into tears, and sobbed out, scarcely able to speak, "Oh, Joseph, Joseph, they have killed the only friend I ever had," and for some little time he could not compose himself to talk with me coherently.”
Joseph III Smith (November 6, 1832-December 10, 1914)
"What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?" Journal of History 3, no. 2 (April 1910): 132-43.
“Well, I sat there crying. He came in and looked around. . . . "We won't have tears here," he says. "But," I says, "I have got no home." "Well you've got a home here," he says, "Have you seen Sister Emma this morning."”
Jane James (b. May 11, 1821)
Jane James, "Joseph Smith, the Prophet," Young Woman's Journal 16, no. 12 (December 1905): 551-52.
“Notwithstanding the grief and the oppression of the hour, the darkness of which I can feel even now, I recall the attitude of my mother. After leaning over the coffin, she placed her hand upon the cheek of my father, and in grief-stricken accents said, "Oh! Joseph! Joseph! O my husband! My husband! Have they taken you from me at last!" Friendly hands ministered to us, and mother was assisted to her room again, and we were alone while the multitude flocked through the house, taking a last look at him who in life had been their leader and their friend.”
Joseph III Smith (November 6, 1832-December 10, 1914)
"What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?" Journal of History 3, no. 2 (April 1910): 334-38.
“We had just retired on the night of 27th of June, when there came a loud rap at the door below. "News," I cried, and fled down stairs opened the door. A messenger quietly said "Joseph and Hyrum have been murdered." I seemed paralyzed with terror, had no power to speak or move. . . . Never was such a night spent since the crucifixion of our Savior.”
Lucy Walker Kimball (April 30, 1826-October 1, 1910)
"A Brief Biographical Sketch of the Life and Labors of Lucy Walker Kimball," LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah.
“The next day the Prophet came to our home and stopped in our carpenter shop and stood by the turning lathe. I went and got my map for him. "Now," he said, "I will show you the travels of this people." He then showed our travels through Iowa, and said, "Here you will make a place for the winter; and here you will travel west until you come to the valley of the Great Salt Lake! You will build cities to the North and to the South, and to the East and to the West; and you will become a great and wealthy people in that land."”
Mosiah Lyman Hancock (April 9, 1834-1907)
"Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock (1834-1865)," typescript copy, BYU Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, Utah, 27-29.
“When they got through the Prophet said, "Brethren I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother's lap. You don't comprehend it." I was rather surprised. He said "It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America—it will fill the world."”
Wilford Woodruff (March 1, 1807-September 2, 1898)
Conference Report, 6 April 1898, 57; see also Collected Discourses, edited by Brian H. Stuy, 3:85.
"In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ."
"But make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters; in the months and years ahead, events will require of each member that he or she decide whether or not he or she will follow the First Presidency.
Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions (see 1 Kings 18:21).
President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had “NEVER hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional, or political life” (CR, April 1941, p. 123).
This is a hard doctrine, but it is a particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked.
In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ.
Neal A. Maxwell
BYU Devotional
October 10, 1978
They truly are prophets... they are KEY to our peace, safety, and protection!
“Quite a number of persons were present who did not belong to the Church, and one man, more bitter and skeptical than others, made note with pencil and paper of a prophecy uttered on that occasion, wherein Joseph said that "Forty days shall not pass, and the stars shall fall from heaven."
. . . Brother Hancock was unmoved and quietly remarked, "There is one night left of the time, and if Joseph said so, the stars will certainly fall tonight. This prophecy will all be fulfilled."
The matter weighed upon the mind of Brother Hancock, who watched that night, and it proved to be the historical one, known in all the world as "the night of the falling of the stars."
Philo Dibble (June 6, 1806-1895)
Philo Dibble, "Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith, " Juvenile Instructor 27, no. 1 (1 January 1892): 23.
Knowing Joseph Smith the Prophet retweeted
There's a loving church community nearby where you'll find people who can help lift you when times are hard and sit next to you as you worship Jesus Christ.
“Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none.”
- Joseph Smith
History of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 52
...Then the Book of Mormon. Their conclusion: "it is statistically indefensible to propose Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery or Solomon Spaulding as the author of the 30,000 words" attributed to Nephi and Alma.
Book of Mormon Evidence, Part 2 of 10: The Berkeley Wordprint Test
In the 1980s a group in Berkeley spent about 10,000 hours testing the Book of Mormon's "wordprint," the unconscious way a writer uses small words and word patterns. Most of the group weren't Latter-day Saints. John Hilton, the group's main Latter-day Saint contributor, wrote that he was "little different from my agnostic and Jewish colleagues" in doubting whether measurement could settle a question like this.
They used 65 word-pattern ratios on 5,000-word blocks. Before touching the Book of Mormon, they tested the method on 26 texts by 9 control authors, with 325 pairwise comparisons.
The controls are the interesting part:
- Mark Twain and Robert Heinlein didn't change their own wordprints when writing as different characters.
- A German-to-English translator carried over the separate wordprints of the authors he translated. That matters for a book that presents itself as a translation.
Then the Book of Mormon. Their conclusion: "it is statistically indefensible to propose Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery or Solomon Spaulding as the author of the 30,000 words" attributed to Nephi and Alma.
Nephi and Alma also measured as independent of each other, the same way other uncontested authors do. Hilton's summary: the book "measures multiauthored, with authorship consistent to its own internal claims."
Stay tuned for Part 3: The "Someone Else" Problem, tonight.
#BookofMormon
Andrew Jensen recalled, "Turning to Judge Douglas [Joseph] said: "You will aspire to the presidency of the United States, and if ever you turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you;
and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you, for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life."
This remarkable prophesy concerning Judge Douglas personally has had a literal fulfillment. . . .
Never has the saying of any Prophet of God been more literally and minutely fulfilled than the prediction made by the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning this man.”
Andrew Jenson (b. 1850)
Collected Discourses, ed. Brian H. Stuy, 5 vols. (Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Utah: B. H. S. Publishing, 1987-92), 2:161-63.
