There was a boy named Joseph Smith, who was 14 and a bit confused by all the churches and the different principles and practices they were teaching. He wanted to know which one he should join, so he attended them, read the bible and pondered what to do. While reading in the first chapter of James, verse 5, he read that "if any of ye lack wisdom, let him ask of God..." and Joseph was inspired to give it a try. So he went to a private place in a grove and asked. God and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told Joseph that none of the churches were right and he should join none of them. He eventually was given all the knowledge, power and authority to restore the church of Jesus Christ to the earth.
Joseph calls himself "an obscure boy" and was not seeking for fame or fortune for himself. Every credible account of his life is filled with his gentle humility and an honest desire to lead people to do good and to lead them to Christ. He was reviled and persecuted by evil men, but he never denied his vision nor did anything against the moral principles he taught.
While his story may seem fantastical, it is nonetheless true. I have personally asked God, in the same manner of fervent prayer if Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and the answer I got was not a vision, but a feeling. Not an ordinary feeling, but a warmth that filled my whole soul. That warmth is a manifestation of the Holy Ghost that provides an undeniable witness that he was who he said he was, saw what he said he saw and that Joseph Smith indeed was God's prophet meant to bring back the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This man Joseph Smith was a remarkable person and I cannot wait to meet him some day and thank him for all he did. We honor him and celebrate his birth tomorrow, on December 23.
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