Mormon Dilemma 971 Joseph Smith’s Sublime Authority

History of the Church 6:78; “Shall I, who have witnessed the visions of eternity, and beheld the glorious mansions of bliss, and the regions and the misery of the damned,—shall I turn to be a Judas? Shall I, who have heard the voice of God, and communed with angels, and spake as moved by the Holy Ghost for the renewal of the everlasting covenant, and for the gathering of Israel in the last days,—shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite? Shall I, who hold the keys of the last kingdom, in which is the dispensation of the fullness of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy Prophets since the world began, under the sealing power of the Melchizedec Priesthood,—shall I stoop from the sublime authority of Almighty God, to be handled as a monkey’s cat-paw, and pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery? No—verily no! The whole earth shall bear me witness that I, like the towering rock in the midst of the ocean, which has withstood the mighty surges of the warring waves for centuries, am impregnable, and am a faithful friend to virtue, and a fearless foe to vice,—no odds whether the former was sold as a pearl in Asia or hid as a gem in America, and the latter dazzles in palaces or glimmers among the tombs.” – Joseph Smith, November 13, 1843

Luke 14:11; “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

Jesus had just arrived at the home of the chief Pharisee to eat with him on the Sabbath. While there the Lord noticed one of the people in attendance was afflicted with dropsy (today known as edema). In His empathy for the man and taking the opportunity as a teaching moment, He healed the poor fellow.

Of course His actions on the Sabbath caused raised eyebrows so Jesus spoke a parable, reminding those within earshot that we should always place ourselves in a lower status than those around us. As you might imagine this didn’t set too well with the Pharisees and scribes as they began to talk behind His back.  Ironically, He also stated that those who hate their brothers couldn’t be called His disciple. 

Now fast forward 1800 years and apply that same teaching moment to the events taking place in Nauvoo, Illinois on November 13, 1843. Joseph Smith was writing a letter to one of his officers of the Nauvoo Legion (state authorized militia for the Mormons) and in so doing told Mr. James Arlington Bennett just how wonderful it was he had been born – meaning Smith, not Bennett. 

Smith was trying to garner support from his minions to fight his battles with the US Government. In this particular situation they were working on getting a monetary redress of costs incurred from having to move around after being kicked out of numerous communities.

As you can see, Smith was short on funds and long on pride. Sadly, his comments are bereft of the warnings Jesus gave the day He ate with the chief Pharisee and stand as an example of how diametrically opposed he was to God. 

I also found his choice of words, aka sublime, to be noteworthy. While sublime isn’t relegated to Masonry exclusively, it’s typically not an everyday word for the general population. The reason I bring this up is because that particular word is part and parcel in Masonic vernacular. They live in an Alice-in-Wonderland dream state where everything’s possible, but nothing is real.  My advice: stay away from the shrooms you find in the woods.