More of my life leading up to reading the words of Joseph Smith III .... unfinished

Having been a Latter-Day Saint since the age of 15 (when missionaries knocked my door and taught me the Gospel here in England), I have been an avid reader of scripture and studying out all information that came my way because of my love for my new found faith.

The week of my up-coming baptism, a program came on the television which had shocking content. The program was about Mormons and their polygamous lives. I had not known polygamy existed.  My family were concerned, and I wanted to know what was going on. My Born Again Christian neighbour who was my mother's age and knew a lot about religion, had been listening to the missionaries with me, so I knocked on her door and asked her opinion. She contacted the missionaries and we were relieved to be told that the program wasn't about 'our church'. It was about a church of people that called themselves Mormons but weren't Mormons.

This pacified us, and we were baptised. I can't deny the joy in my heart of receiving the gospel into my life. It was the best thing ever to happen to me. I truly had a witness of Joseph Smith's testimony of God and Jesus Christ, and of the Book of Mormon, and of course, new-found belief in Jesus Christ and in Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost. I hadn't know these.  I was not raised with religion but attended a Church of England school where a minister would address school assembly very regularly, and R.E. lessons taught about God.  From these lessons and teachings of the minister, I was very scared of God. He was noone, he was massive as the earth, he was massive as the universe, he was an angry God ready to strike us dead.  I was scared of this God.

The missionaries taught me the nature of God, and I came to discover Him and love Him! I developed instant testimony of Jesus Christ and believed wholly that he had really lived, and really was the Son of God, that he really performed miracles, really died for our sins and truly was resurrected. And so with this new found joy, and also the gift of the Holy Ghost who became my constant company and friend, I entered in a joyous life attending The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the next two decades.

During that time, I was an eager missionary minded person and would chat to everyone about my faith, and in turn those people would either listen and be happy for me, or hand me so called 'anti-mormon' literature.
Now, because my faith was so strong ... absolutely knock out powerfully strong, I was not affected by any negative stuff I was told, because no matter what it said, I had a testimony of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, of Joseph Smith and of the general beauty of spirit at the meetings of the church I attended, as well as the love and good hearts of all those people.  It was to me, Heaven on Earth!  These people cared for me like family, the Church had wonderful activities which involved everyone, it was so edifying!  There were dances, camps, youth activities, young people activities, youth trips abroad, learning activities, there was everything to keep a person happy!

So, when the anti-comments came to me, I took it as being satan and his angels trying to destroy God's church and I had a testimony of the Church's goodness, so I shared it.  I believed we were under attack.
My previously Born Again neighbour was ostracised by her previous born again friends, they even let let themselves into my Mum's house and insulted the Mormon missionaries as they tried to teach us, cursing them with hell fire and damnation.  I was amazed at the rudeness of these born-agains intruding without invitation and then in my mum's house cause such insult.  The missionaries were awesome. They kept calm as Jesus Christ himself, and did not retaliate! They said quietly that they couldn't teach under such conditions but would return another time, which was understandable.

Another neighbour I had was a Baptist, she returned from Church one day and communicated to me that her sermon included a showing of an Anti-Mormon video! I was horrified that Christian churches could do such a thing! Wasn't Sunday a day to worship Jesus Christ? How could putting down another Faith be of God!

I held a boot fair to get rid of excess one time, and thought I would put out a Book of Mormon in case anyone wanted to read it, I was going to share it with whoever was interested.  Along came a prospective customer, picking up the book she asked me where I got it from. I told her it was mine and I lie not, she spat at me at the same time as throwing the Book of Mormon with outrage onto the floor and declared it not Christian as she went.  Well, another example of a christian! I was glad I attended Church with a nice bunch of people who wouldn't dare be so rude and unkind! I was raised in church to treat others how you would want to be treated and to love everyone.  My faith was wonderful, the church I attended had Jesus Christ at its Head!

I was doing my family research at St Catherine's house in London one day, and I happened to be overheard talking about the names I was looking for who turned out to be a  ninth cousin!  We shared some Great Grandparent some generations ago.  Well, he was a Born Again and he would send me family history information along with substantial amounts of anti-mormon literature. I would share my testimony and my faith would burn in my bosom. I was proud to be a Latter-Day Saint.  My religion was good, and the devil had put alot of lies out there! Lies and un-truths were everywhere concerning the Mormons!  It was heartbreaking how many people hated Mormons and Mormon religion ... to me, Satan had done a good job! But I would share my testimony and put things right!

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The above may to you, be nothing about Joseph Smith  III but I am going to be talking about him very soon! I just wanted to give you a little bit of background.

As a Youth in Church, we were taught alot about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, about the ten commandments, about the teachings of Jesus and his sermon on the mount, his death and resurrection.  The focus was on good things ... everything I was taught, I knew it to be true because it was true.  I was not taught anything that was not in keeping with the scriptures or the Holy Ghost that was my companion. I had no reason to believe the Church was bad in anyway whatsover.  The people were good, the teachers were good, the families were good, the missionaries were good .... I was taught high moral standards, to be chaste, to care for my body, to respect my body, to learn about nutrition, exercise, good thoughts, to revile evil speaking, foul language, rudeness etc etc.  We were taught good wholesome stuff.

I wasn't taught about the prophets of the Church ... the focus was on the teachings of Jesus, and what Joseph Smith had received as revelation for these latterdays.  The prophet at the head of the Church was Spencer W Kimball, when I joined, followed by Ezra Taft Benson, followed by Howard W Hunter followed by Gordon B Hinkley (my absolute favourite, loved that man to bits whenever he spoke!), then the current prophet .. Thomas S Monson.

I had been a teacher in Primary and there was a song that helped you learn all the names of the prophets of the church, and this was about as much as I learnt.  We did have some Sunday School lessons touching on some worthy words of the prophets following Joseph Smith, but not alot!

As the years went by, technology became the in-thing, everything is now online and there to be read. It is fantastic for family history researchers, and for college students and learners of anything! Plus it is a great way to communicate.

In my efforts to share the Gospel, which was a passion of mine, I would research possible convert concerns and get back to them if I didn't already have an answer. In my upbringing in the Church, I did recall a vibe that wasn't in keeping with the spirit of Christ, which was about Joseph Smith's wife Emma.  Something about her dis-obeying God and that she fell away, probably not in favour with God and would not make it to the celestial kingdom ... this was the under-lying current of the message I picked up on.  I was sad in my heart that such a thing would happen, and how did it happen! Noone questioned me about Emma though and I didn't research her, I just stood up for Joseph Smith, as I had a testimony that he was a good man and had died worthy in the site of God, that he had been lied about and Brigham Young had been lied about .. basically everything was a lie or a distortion of the truth as far as I believed.

Interestingly enough, yes I was naive. I didn't check out further than Joseph Smith as I had no reason to. As far as the Church taught me, it had been proper for Brigham Young to be the next prophet after Joseph Smith, I trusted the leaders about me, I trusted the Church, they were good people whose intentions were to raise a good family and teach good morals and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.  We studied from The Bible and The Book of Mormon, and the prophet and the apostles and leaders of the Church taught us to do good. There was no referencing to anything that I would consider offensive or against the teachings of God.

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