Where Science Meets the Doctrine and Covenants: Come Follow Me Lesson: December 30–January 5: “The Promised Restoration Goes Forward”
This Come Follow Me lesson suggests, “You might also include ‘The Morning Breaks’ (Hymns, no. 1) [Text: Parley P. Pratt; Music: George Careless] as part of your study.” I love this Hymn. I can hear in my mind the Tabernacle Choir singing it, as the mood marking states: Triumphantly. “The morning breaks, the shadows flee…The dawning of a brighter day…Majestic rises on the world.” Careless’ musical score gives this great, triumphant opening to our Hymnal a sense of enthusiasm and energy, as well as triumph.
Equally triumphant, enthusiastic and energetic is Hymn no 2, “The Spirit of God,” by William W. Phelps, which is to be sung Exultantly: “The Spirit of God like a fire is burning! The latter-day glory begins to come forth; The visions and blessings of old are returning, And angels are coming to visit the earth…The veil o’er the earth is beginning to burst!...We’ll sing and we’ll shout with the armies of heaven…”
We read in Acts 7:55-56 about Stephen’s witness of God and Jesus around 35-36 AD, “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”
After Stephen’s vision, no one that I can find reference to, has claimed to have seen God. Indeed the King James Version of the Bible says in John 1:18, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” And in 1 John 4:12, “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
However, here is what, apparently, according to Bible Hub, the original Greek states for John 1:18: οὐδεὶς (oudeis) No one, none; ἑώρακεν (heōraken) discerned clearly, attended to [the words “has seen” is not the translation here]; Θεὸν (Theon) the supreme Divinity; only-begotten; Θεὸς (Theos) the supreme Divinity; ὁ (ho) the; ὢν (ōn) I am; εἰς (eis) of place, time, or purpose; τὸν (ton) the; Πατρὸς (Patros) Father; κόλπον (kolpon) the bosom; ἐξηγήσατο (exēgēsato) lead, show the way. Another translation could be: “No one, has discerned clearly, or attended to God; [except] the only-begotten God, the I am, who is in the Father’s bosom, has shown the way.” The Greek wording in 1 John 4:12 is very similar to John 1:19.
Here is the Joseph Smith Translation, John 1:19, “And no man hath seen God at any time, except he hath borne record of the Son; for except it is through him no man can be saved.” The 47 scholars who worked on the 1611 King James Version of the Bible had their own paradigms and agendas, which included the Trinitarian notion that God is only a spirit and cannot be seen.
Wikipedia has a list of people who have claimed to have seen Christ: Francis of Assisi in 1205, Juliana of Liege in 1208, Julian of Norwich in 1372, Teresa of Avila in 1559, and Veronica Giuliani in 1678. We are taught in the Book of Mormon that all that is required for miracles to happen and for angels to appear and minister to men is faith (Moroni 737). However, no one had claimed to have seen God and Jesus, since Stephen’s vision in 35-36 AD — not until 1820, when Joseph Smith claimed to have seen both God and Jesus. None of those listed in Wikipedia brought forth any direct evidence of their visions. Joseph Smith brought forth the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus, which stands as evidence of his seeing God, Jesus, and angels. The Gold Plates from which the Book of Mormon was “translated” were buried in the Hill Cumorah, in New York, in North America. The visions listed above all occurred in Europe, mostly before the Americas had even been “discovered” by Europeans. Palmyra, itself, near the Hill Cumorah, only had founded in 1789 by John Swift, who built the first grist mill there — only 31 years before the first vision, which occurred only four years after the Smith family had moved from Sharon, Vermont to Palmyra, New York in 1816.
The Come Follow Me lesson for this week includes a proclamation read by President Russell M. Nelson as part of his message at the 190th Annual General Conference, April 5, 2020, in Salt Lake City, Utah. That proclamation concludes: “With reverence and gratitude, we as His Apostles invite all to know—as we do—that the heavens are open. We affirm that God is making known His will for His beloved sons and daughters. We testify that those who prayerfully study the message of the Restoration and act in faith will be blessed to gain their own witness of its divinity and of its purpose to prepare the world for the promised Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
This week’s lesson also contains a partial list of characteristics of “Christ’s New Testament Church.” That list includes revelation and “keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:15-19); missionary work and baptism, as well as “signs shall follow them that believe” (Mark 16:15-18); twelve apostles (Luke 6:12-13); caring for the poor (Acts 4:34-35); baptism for the dead (1 Corinthians 15:29); a Church with an organization including apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-15).
Over twenty years ago, on July 4, 2004, my wife, Kathlee, and I attended church in Weston-Super-Mare, 17 miles southwest of Bristol, England. After the meetings, we were standing in the parking lot talking to some of the saints there. As we were talking to Brother and Sister Skinner, who we had met the week before in Winchester and who were at Westin-Super-Mare for a baby blessing, a young man rushed up to us and said, “I’ll bet you don’t know where the oldest church building in the Church is.” He explained that it is in Gadfield Elm, Worcestershire, England. The Skinners recommended that we go see the old chapel that day. It was not far north of Gloucester (Gloster). Brother Chris Aitchison gave us directions. We left the church parking lot at 2 pm and drove north on M5, past Bristol. We stopped and toured Berkley Castle and its Butterfly House. We continued north on M5 past Gloucester and turned onto A417 N. We found the little chapel at Gadfield Elm without much difficulty.
The grass was still bent over from tire tracks of the several cars that had been there only five weeks earlier, when, on May 26, 2004, President Gordon B. Hinckley had been there and rededicated the chapel. There were no missionaries assigned to the chapel as yet, so the door had a punch-key lock with an eight number code. We had to correctly answer eight questions about Church history and doctrine (such as what is the minimum baptism age) to unlock the door and get in to see the interior of the little chapel.
The chapel had been built in 1836 by group of people who called themselves the United Brethren. They had separated themselves from the Methodist Church and met together seeking the true Church of Jesus Christ. They had made a list of characteristics of the true Church and were waiting for someone to come and show them the way. In early 1840, the Apostle, Wilford Woodruff felt inspired to travel south to Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire to preach. He met John Benbow, a prominent local farmer, who, with his wife, Jane, and family, were members of the United Brethren. On March 17, 1840, Elder Woodruff preached to the United Brethren in their meetinghouse at Gadfield Elm. Apparently, they presented him with their list of characteristics of Christ’s Church and he checked off every item on the list. There were 40 congregations within a 15-mile radius of the chapel. Two days after Wilford Woodruff arrived, he baptized John and Jane Benbow and four others. After five days, there were 32 members, after four months, about 534 members, and by the end of eight months, there were almost 1800 members. After nearly all of the United Brethren joined the Church, their leaders deeded the Gadfield Elm meetinghouse to the Church, making it the first Church-owned meetinghouse in Europe, and now, the oldest still standing in the world.1
While we were at Gadfield Elm, we met the Craig Brooksby family, from Las Vegas. We followed them the few miles to the Benbow farm pond, where 600 of the United Brethren had been baptized in one day. The place was not easy to find and required a map we had been given and the Brooksby’s directions to find the pond. Without our combined effort, we would have missed seeing the pond.
Many of those early British converts emigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, and later to Utah, where they made up a large percentage of the Church. Others remained in Britain and shared the gospel with friends and relatives, maintaining a lively Church presence across the country. Jane Benbow and Thomas Kington, both of Herefordshire, financed the Apostles’ publication of a newspaper—the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star—as well as several missionary tracts, an edition of the Book of Mormon, and a new hymnal compiled by the Apostles for use by British members.2
Trent Dee Stephens, PhD
Reference
1. churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/global-histories/england/stories-of-faith/xe-02-the-united-brethren?lang=eng#title1; information signs at Gadfield Elm and Benbow pond; wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/media/videos/gadfield-elm-chapel-following-wilford-woodruffs-steps-in-england
2. Ibid
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