Matthew 6:21 ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’
I don’t know why, but whenever I see things like our topic listed above, my heart does a nosedive. Activities of the Church clearly show what’s important to them, and where they’ve chosen to place their focus.
An article in the latest Ensign spoke of the ‘miraculous event’ when Joseph Smith went to the woods and prayed. In part here’s what it says –
‘This year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s First Vision. It began the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the beautiful Sacred Grove. That miraculous event changed the course of history, including all of our lives….’
There are a couple of problems with the scenario that we’re looking at here. To read Karen Neff’s article in full, see Ensign, ‘On Sacred Ground,’ February 2020.
As an FYI, Mrs. Neff once served alongside her husband at the New York/Pennsylvania Historic Sites Mission, which is where the sacred grove is supposedly located.
Problem #1 —
The Church doesn’t know exactly where the ‘sacred grove’ is located. We wrote about this two years ago in an article, Location of Sacred Grove a Mystery. Who gets the job of choosing where they’ll celebrate?
Problem #2 —
We’re wondering which version of the 1st vision is the Church commemorating? We found there are at least 11 Versions of Smith’s 1st Vision. Who gets the job of choosing which version they’ll acknowledge?
Now with that little bit of insight one has to wonder what they’re doing. Our hearts are saddened to see how they’ll lead members everywhere, but the Lord.
Please, remember to pray for LDS members as they busy themselves with the festivities, and their leaders direct their attention away from Jesus.
With Love in Christ;
Michelle
In order to have a “restoration”, something first, had to exist. Whether it’s an old car a building or an antique…
Nothing in the LDS religion ever existed in Biblical Christianity. Not even Their Jesus.
Not their god, temple, priesthood, etc.
Good point! 🙂
The entire LDS church is built around the alleged “vision” of a 14 year old boy. First thing is, teenage boys have a propensity to tell tales, especially when it comes to sports, girls or activities involving adventure. I can understand that because that is the way teenage boys are. However, something I didn’t know while I was a member of the church, was that Joe Smith never told anybody about his 1st vision until many years after it allegedly happened.
I always thought, as many church members do, that the story of Joe’s vision must have been true, otherwise, there was no way that a young teenage boy could have withstood the ridicule, harassment, name calling etc, that he would have endured had the story not been true. I remember commenting on this in Sunday school class one day. Everybody nodded their heads in agreement. When I learned the real truth about when he finally told everybody, I was surprised.
When I really began doing research on “The real Joseph Smith”, I discovered that Joe had a reputation among the folks that knew him, as being a bit if a con artist, a dreamer, a believer in magic and fortune telling, crystal ball gazing, the supernatural. Joe was very much into treasure hunting and searching for buried things, such as water, gold and things of value.
If a person, through objective eyes (outside the church narrative), were to research the personal life of the real Joe Smith,, they would find a young man that was a perfect candidate for starting his own church and belief system. Had I been his neighbor or a fellow towns person, I would have avoided the guy at all costs. I simply would not have trusted him with anything, especially with my possessions.