When you study the lives of any character in the scriptures, you will notice that there are themes that their lives teach. Whether it's Moses, Peter, Paul or anyone else, a pattern emerges.

"It isn't the individual ideas these people are teaching that are important, but the combination of all the things that they are teaching, together, gives a message that is sometimes more important than any particular individual teaching that they have," said S. Michael Wilcox, a celebrated Mormon author and institute teacher at the University of Utah.

According to Wilcox, Joseph Smith's life fits the same pattern. Wilcox, speaking at the Church History Museum's "Evening at the Museum" lecture on Thursday, October 1, 2009, said the Prophet's theme is an easily-pointed out yet too often overlooked one.

"I can't think of anybody that fits that bill better than the Prophet Joseph Smith," Wilcox said. "He was sent to restore the Gospel, sure; to bring about the Book of Mormon, of course. But he was also sent to teach us, by his life, something about our ability to communicate with our Father in Heaven."

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