Search (www.salemthoughts.com)
|
|
Joseph Fredrick Smith
Joseph was born Janurary 3, 1935. He is a great-grandson of Joseph
Smith Jr. He has three children, Timothy Granger, Candance Sue, and
Kimberly Jo. The two daughters are now members of the LDS church. In
fact Joseph's wife is also a member of the LDS church, she wants to
be where her daughters are. At one time, one of the daughters
received a blessing from Denver Snuffer. Shortly after Denver gave
that blessing Denver was visited by her great-great grandfather:
Joseph Smith Jr. for the first time.In 1957 after Joseph was married one month, he had an Apostle of the Temple Lot church say to him:
“Brother Joe, the day will come when you will be instrumental in bringing together God’s people.” I responded, “OK” and went on out.Joseph F. Smith had many different occupations:
After his military discharge, Joseph worked for the Glen L Martin Co. a as machinist in the model division. They were tasked with building and testing the Titan missile.Joseph became concerned about a movement in the church community.
Joseph lived in Colorado at the time and worked as a cowboy. He spent twelve years in the timber industry, logging in the Northwest. The latter part of his life he worked as a carpenter, building houses in Georgia and Southwester Missouri.
He has also worked as a janitor/maintenance.
A movement to cast aside the Doctrine and Covenants and Inspired Translation began in the 1970s. Some still use these books, but they are fading away. For instance, in the 1980s a resolution was proposed to accept only the 1611 version of the King James Bible. At the 1995 General Conference a resolution was proposed to place a disclaimer in the Book of Commandments stating, "These revelations and commandments are not binding upon the Church, but are of a historical value only."
I was aware of developments in the RLDS Church and knew about attempts there to put the Book of Mormon on the shelf, so to speak. Some of its leaders considered the Book of Mormon as only historical in nature. I considered this trend "their problem" and not mine. According to my training, their priesthood was not valid. I saw their troubles as the result. That was before I recognized that the spirit that troubled the RLDS Church was the same spirit causing doubt and confusion in mine. This realization plagued my mind at the 1995 conference. I began to consider and pray about the matter. That was all I knew to do.
“Throughout the summer of 1995 I was working away from home and staying in a room during the week. One June night as I was sleeping, I was awakened with a dream. I remember that as I awoke I still had this picture in my vision. I was preaching to Restoration people. My message was crystal clear: ‘Lay your differences on a shelf. Come together and build up the Kingdom of God.’ I sat up in bed, very excited, and heard myself say, ‘That’s it. That is the answer.’ For several days afterwards the contents of that dream rested on my mind. As I thought about it, the leading became stronger. I believed that the Spirit had given me the answer to how those who had withdrawn from the RLDS Church could unite into one body. I was scheduled to preach at Waldo Ave on August 27, 1995. 1100 people were in attendance. As I rose behind the pulpit I had a little trouble with the first two words, but from then on I was in the hands of the Spirit of the Lord. Amen . Later that week I had a vision. Following the Waldo service I went back to work at Joplin, Missouri. It happened on the afternoon of the following Thursday, August 31, 1995. As I was driving back to the room where I stayed, the vision opened. I saw before me in front of my windshield that old Apostle Jordon. I watched him place his hand on my shoulder and repeat the message he had given me many years before. My eyes filled with tears as it was brought back to my memory the events of that day in 1957. The Spirit was so strong that I had to pull off the road and stop.”I January 2017 Mauricio started efforts to contact Joseph and that led to his visits to Brazil and how he and others became witnesses of the sealed gold plates that Mauricio Berger received.
On August 3rd Mauricio sent Joseph a revelation and Joseph rejected it. Since Mauricio is not fluent in English there are times that converting Portuguese to English can be a problem.
So when I got to Brazil, when I had the opportunity, I took that revelation that I had been given in English and I took Mauricio off into a room and Tyler and Bobbie and Kelvin too to come with me. And he begin to read it. And he said, “Well, this is true and this, well that’s not true. That’s only half true. And he went through the whole thing and showed that it had been corrupted. So I was justified.One of the main reasons they had gone to Brazil at this time was to ordain Joseph. Mauricio was suppose to ordain Joseph to be a Prophet, Seer, Revelator, High Priest and President of the High Priesthood. Joseph didn't want to be ordained a High Priest. He believed that only Christ could be a High Priest. He was not persuaded by the many people trying to convince him that it was the right thing to do, but he was finally pacified.
So in the service, as I sat in the chair, and they begin to talk about it in Portuguese, and they had a man there that was interpreting into English, but to my poor ears his English was as bad as his Portuguese. But at least he was trying. Then there was Tyler was trying to help and Kelvin. But the thing in my mind was confusion. And God is not the author of confusion. This had me so wound up that in my mind I said, “I’m going to get up and walk out of here.” In fact, I pulled my feet back and got hold of the chair arms and I was ready to catapult myself out of that meeting. And a voice spoke to me, as loud as any amplifier could make it in my mind. And he said, “If you leave this service, you will destroy my work.” I sat back in my chair and I said, “Lord, thy will be done, not mine. Whatever you give me, I will operate with the best of my ability to perform the work that you’ve called me to do.”