Ensign, ‘Prophecies in the Bible about Joseph Smith,’ January 1989; “It should not be surprising to find the Prophet Joseph spoken of in the scriptures. After all, Joseph Smith was called, ordained, and given the keys to begin what Peter called “the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21), and what Paul described as “the dispensation of the fulness of times,” in which God would “gather together in one all things in Christ” (Eph. 1:10)…
Those who are familiar with the events of the Restoration can quickly recognize the fulfillment of these prophecies and promises in the person of Joseph Smith, Jr. In fulfilling them, Joseph Smith also helped fulfill the ancient covenant Christ made with Abraham. (See D&C 124:58; D&C 132:30–32; see also Gal. 3:27–29.)” – George A. Horton, Jr. (1927-2011) taught at LDS Seminaries and schools in addition to serving as the director of the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies.
Acts 3:21; “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”
Galatians 3:27-29; “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Ephesians 1:10; “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.”
There are a few things to take note of in today’s dilemma so let’s begin shall we?
1.I’ve got a newsflash for Mr. Horton. I, for one, am very familiar with the ‘Restoration’, and I didn’t recognize the fulfillment of ancient prophecies in the meanderings of Joseph Smith.
I did, however, notice how God fulfilled the ancient prophecies through His Son Jesus, but that happened long before the farm boy of upstate NY came along.
2.Just because someone in the Church says ‘After all, Joseph Smith was called, ordained, and given the keys…’ doesn’t make it so. I could proclaim I invented the light bulb, but that’s not true either.
3.The ‘dispensation’ is referring to the time God sent His Son here to redeem mankind. That dispensation is something we still find ourselves in today.
4.The passage in Galatians prove that Joe was a false prophet. If there’s neither Jew, nor Greek etc., explain the ban on blacks.
5.The restitution already took place. We find it to be so in the death of Jesus who reconciled God and man. See Genesis 3:15 & Eph 2:15.
Think about this logically. Peter and John are telling the lame man to get up and walk. They then turn to the surrounding crowd and the man they just healed that it was in their best interest to become believers, right there and then.
If Peter was referring to ol’ Joe then why were the apostles out there preaching at that particular time? What good would it have done to hear about Joe in 33 AD when he wouldn’t be on the scene for another 2,000 years?
Furthermore, the text says ‘God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began…’
Since Joseph Smith hadn’t been born yet how could Peter be referring to him?
6.To infer (or in this case blatantly state as fact) Joe Smith ‘helped fulfill the ancient covenant Christ made with Abraham’ is so outrageous it should leave any lover of God in a state of true remorse.
How shameful someone could be so narcissistic in their guideless ambition.
We could spend eons in this one speech alone, but the info we’ve seen thus far should provide us with enough biblical insight to combat the errors of their ways. The only thing left is to pray!
Oh, wow! you invented the light bulb? How cool!
🙂