MY PERSONAL TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH

by:  Norberto Betita

I know that by the title alone, I am on the road for critical social media assaults. But let me be lambasted by the ire of the brilliant critics from the diversity of believers in this modern world and those who are not of my faith and I will hold fast and try not to move an inch away from the demarcation line upon which my personal testimony and witness of the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith stand, even at this day and time. There are so much logical proofs that are clearly understandable even by such simple man as I am.  In so far as intellectual prominence is concerned, I am no genius of scriptural records and religious history. My intelligence is far from scholarly, but I am confident in what I have to say for such witness came from the very source of all knowledge and pure intelligence, even from God through the Holy Ghost which expands my understanding and enlighten the depths and profundity of my conscience.  

As the signs of times are increasing and the work of salvation hastening on, I felt I have a duty to declare what the Lord would have me testify to help build His Church and Kingdom and to invite more of His children to come unto Christ.  I do feel the need to respond to the divine call to “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places...even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.” (Mosiah 18:9.) It would be hypocritical for me to say that my intentions would be for the promised eternal life for this work is but only one of the many things which God commanded his people to do.  But that I should do it as a solemn and profound duty of a bearer of the Holy Priesthood of God.  

Logic and reason would enlighten that it would be such foolish a thing to offer one’s life for something that is fictitious or counterfeit pronouncements. It would be such a fool for a man---a young father, who has so much potential in life as to bear persecutions even almost beyond any man to endure, and to finally lay down his life for the cause he had espoused, if such were not true. Yet the Prophet Joseph Smith continued to declare with boldness:  “...I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true, and while they were persecuting me, reviling me and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision, and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision, I knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it, at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God and come under condemnation.” (Joseph Smith---History 1:25.)

In the midst of his agonizing pain from incarceration at Liberty in a dungeon jail worthy only for ruthless criminals, he raised his petition to his Maker, “O God, where art thou and where is the pavilion which covereth thy hiding place. How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?” (D&C 121:1-3.) His feelings must have been truly beyond all patience, his faith must have gone almost to its limits, his soul might have raised a flier for surrender, but then he heard God’s penetrating answer, “My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine affliction shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.” (D&C 121;7-8.) In such an undesirable setting, he received many more instructions and revealed doctrines which to me personally have been a guide and an inspiration during my most trying moments.

George Albert Smith declared: “Abused and misrepresented though he was, despised by those who should have been his friends, opposed by the learned and scholarly men of the time, he succeeded in restoring the Gospel of life and salvation and establishing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

“While the powers of evil were ever active for his destruction, he was preserved by the Lord until his work was finished and all the keys and ordinances necessary for the salvation of the human family had again been delivered to men.”

Then his final moment came when he was summoned to Carthage, “to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law,” whereupon he declared with solemnity, prophetic words of his own fate, and face to face with his death, “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer’s morning. I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me--- he was murdered in cold blood.” (D & C 135: 4.)

Many of his persecutors might have believed that the church he helped establish and restore in these last days of the fullness of times would shrivel and die with his demise. But little did they know that in time prior to his final call, he left a prophetic utterance as as part of his Wentworth letter which says, “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing;  persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall all be accomplished  and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (Teachings: Joseph Smith Chapter 38: The Wentworth Letter, lds.org.)

Indeed, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints which was restored under the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith did go forth “boldly, nobly and independent” becoming “one of the fastest growing churches in the world.” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf.)

My personal testimony and solemn witness of the prophetic calling of the prophet Joseph Smith is beyond the knowledge gained from the printed pages of church history; it is pure knowledge from God through the Holy Ghost. It is the power that binds me to all other fundamental beliefs revealed through his instrumentality. These include my testimony of the Book of Mormon, my testimony of the personal reality of God the Father and Jesus Christ, my testimony of the restoration of the Holy Priesthood, my testimony of the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, my testimony of the Atonement, my testimony of the Holy Ghost, and my testimony of the living Prophets and Apostles and that God speaks to man even at this time and season. To disengage my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith from these links is like excavating and hauling off the foundation leaving the entire testimony structure to crumble and collapse.

George Albert Smith declared, “I say to all men everywhere, examine the teachings of the Gospel of our Lord as revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, search them prayerfully, and you shall find the panacea for the ills of this world, and it will be discovered in no other way. “ 

And while serving as President of the church, he bore his testimony saying, “Many of the benefits and blessings that have come to me have come through that man who gave his life for the gospel of Jesus Christ. There have been some who have belittled him, but I would like to say that those who have done so will be forgotten and their remains will go back to mother earth, if they have not already gone, and the odor of their infamy will never die, while the glory and honor and majesty and courage and fidelity manifested by the Prophet Joseph Smith will attach to his name forever” (Teaching of the Presidents sof the Church George Albert Smith Chapter 4).

I have studied much about the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith both from the unsympathetic and critical side and from the most earnest of his adherents, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint for 40 years. I knew by inspiration from the Holy Ghost that he indeed lived like a prophet and died like a prophet.  No matter how brilliant the critics, no matter how much effort is exerted to fiddle and defraud, no matter how many intelligent minds shall combine to outwit and thwart, the validity of these truths will never be twisted nor broken, it will remain constant forever and ever. This is my personal testimony and witness of him and the truths restored through his instrumentality. I invite all to know these truths for themselves from the same source of all knowledge and pure intelligence, even God.