3/23/2017 - Section 5:1-10

March 23, 2017

Section 5:1-10

Repentance Effect Of, Judge Not, Gifts of the Spirit, Martin Harris, Gift of Discernment, Charity Tolerance Love Insight, Conversion Process Of, Goals My,

Martin Harris’ behavior surprises me. After breaking his covenant with Joseph Smith, showing the 116 pages to more people than the ones he had promised he would, thus loosing the pages—that he would come to Joseph with the request that he be allowed to see the gold plates.

But upon my looking farther into this, I find that I am judging too harshly and am not forgiving. (For when I read v 1 and learned of Martin’s request to see the plates, I wanted to say, “No way, Martin! Not with your track record!” This is what I learned: John Widtsoe wrote: “Martin Harris was a religious minded, prosperous farmer. He appears to have been a rather willful but honest man, who wanted to be sure of everything he undertook.” From my difficult experiences with (1) Sister Evelyn on our mission in Japan and (2) my work as co-chair with Amanda Hoover in Bend for the 175^th RS anniversary celebration women’s conference, I think the Lord is trying to teach me that we are not all the same—but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t all sincere and devoted and giving our all. I need to see that people can reach the same goals I seek, but in entirely different ways. I need to be more accepting and loving and seek the Holy Ghost to be able to discern their spirit and their longings. The spirit of discernment is a gift of the spirit. I told Phyllis that I think the Lord is trying to teach me a lesson by placing me with people that are so different than me, but that shouldn’t blind me to the fact that they have the same yearnings to do good and to draw closer to Heavenly Father—we just go about it differently. So that is my new quest: clearer insight, greater love and tolerance, and true charity.

But back to Martin Harris. In the 7-8 months between Sections 3 & 5, “Martin Harris had already received a remarkable proof of the truth of the claims made by the Prophet Joseph regarding the Book of Mormon, when he carried a facsimile of the engravings to New York scientists. Professor Anthon had told him, as he himself states, that the ‘hieroglyphics were true characters.’ ….He seems to have asked for further evidence that the Prophet Joseph actually had the plates from which the lost manuscript had been translated.” (Smith and Sjodahl, Commentary, P 25)

In v’s 2-7 the Lord clearly states that Joseph has the gift of the power to translate (and he warns Joseph not to pretend to any other gift—I like having warnings from Heavenly Father for it prompts me to be extra careful over important things). The Lord also states, for He knows our hearts and our minds,  “Behold, if they [the children of men—meaning those who have not covenanted in baptism] will not believe my words, they would not believe you, my servant Joseph, if it were possible that you should who them all these things which I have committed unto you.” (V7) Thus, the most important thing we must seek is truth verified by the spirit.

President Joseph Fielding Smith explained: “This revelation declared that this generation shall have the word of the Lord through Joseph Smith. There may be some who think that this is unreasonable and the Lord should use some miraculous means to convert the world. Frequently when strangers…hear the story of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, they ask if the plates are in some museum where they may be seen. Some of them with some scientific training, express themselves to the effect that if the scholars could see and examine the plates and learn to read them, they would then bear witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon and the veracity of Joseph Smith, and the whole world would then be converted. When they are informed that the angel took the plates back again, they turn away in their skepticism, shaking their heads. But the Lord has said: ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts,’ )Isa 55:8-9) We have learned that people are not converted by miracles or by examining records. …People are converted by their hearts being penetrated by the Spirit of the Lord when they humbly hearken to the testimonies of the Lord’s servants. The Jews witnessed the miracles of our Lord, but this did not prevent them from crying out against him and having him crucified.” (Church History and Modern Revelations 1:39-40)

1/21/2021 – D&C 5:1-15

Section 5 comes about because Martin Harris has asked Joseph Smith to see the plates. 

Martin Harris is the same man who has given so much help to Joseph, BUT who also continued to plead for the translation of the Book of Lehi to take to his wife even after that request had been denied, AND who then lost those precious pages. Some scholars believe that it has been almost 8 months since Joseph and Martin have seen one another. 

Now, Martin has traveled to Harmony Pennsylvania, to see Joseph and ask if he could see the plates.

I’m afraid that if I had been Joseph, I would have reminded Martin of the terrible time they had both gone through because Martin wouldn’t accept a “no” from Heavenly Father. Both men had been rebuked by the Lord  (that would be the last thing I would ever want to experience!)  At that time Lord plainly told Joseph how wrong he had been: “And when thou deliveredst up that which God had given thee sight and power to translate, thou deliveredst up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man” (D&C 3:12) This had been a hard lesson for Joseph. And now Martin was here again, asking to see the plates when the Lord had instructed Joseph not to show the plates to anyone.

But as we look deeper into Martin’s life, we find that his wife was speaking out against the Prophet Joseph Smith, accusing him of defrauding her husband and others with his claims of having the ancient record.

The fact that Joseph inquired of the Lord on Martin’s behalf indicates the understanding, the loving, and the forgiving nature of Joseph. And the Lord’s response to Joseph indicates the understanding, the loving, and forgiving nature of the Lord. 

God gives us second chances—sometimes over and over. Both of these men came to the Lord in a humble and heart felt prayer, with sincerity and great faith, asking for the desires of their hearts.

The Lord, once again, reminds both men that “I, the Lord, am God, and have given these things unto you, my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and have commanded you that you should stand as a witness of these things; and I have caused you that you should enter into a covenant with me, that you should not show them except to those persons to whom I commanded you, and you have no power over them except I grant it to you.” (v’s 2-3)

And then in v 4, the Lord continues, speaking to Joseph: “And you have a gift to translate the plates; and this is the first gist that I bestowed upon you; and I have commanded that you should pretend to no other gift unto my purpose if fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished.” 

In v’s 6-7, the Lord lets us know the importance of our having faith. One the objectives in our coming to earth, was to prove that we could have faith in the Lord even when we were away from His presence.  In v 8 the Lord bemoans “this unbelieving and stiff-necked generation”, and then goes on to say “…I have reserved those things which I have entrusted unto you, my servant Joseph, for a wise purpose in me, and it shall be made known unto future generations; But this generation shall have my word through you” (v 8-9). And then in v 11-12, the Lord states that his truths will come to the world through Joseph’s testimony, and “the testimony of three of my servants , whom I shall call and ordain, unto whom I will show these things, and they shall go forth with my words that are given through you. And they shall know of a surety that these things are true, for from heaven will I declare it unto them.”