Wayne Brickey: Prophet Joseph the teacher relied on sweet taste of truth

A recent convert recounted a conversation he had in his shop. It went something like this:

A friend came in and said, \"Hey, I hear you're a Mormon now.\"

\"Yep.\"

\"So, you worship Joseph Smith?\"

\"Nope.\"

\"But other Mormons do, right?\"

\"Nope. Not a one of 'em.\" The convert explained that Joseph needed a Savior like the rest of us do. He was \"just a prophet.\"

\"Just a prophet?\"

\"Yep. But a really great one.\"

\"How so?\"

\"Had a big job on hand, putting things back that were lost for, like, centuries. Had to do it all before he died at, like, 38 years old.\"

When time started getting short for Joseph in Nauvoo, he testified that \"the Lord Almighty ... will continue to preserve me ... until I have fully accomplished my mission in this life.\"

Then he described that mission: to so firmly establish God's kingdom in this dispensation \"that all the powers of earth and hell can never prevail against it\" (Teaching of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 531).

He was not just to maintain and grow the kingdom, as all prophets must do. In addition, he was to dig the footings, lay the concrete, raise the building and enclose it against the hurricane winds of hell. After completing that mission in a crescendo of martyrdom, Joseph continues to preside, defending and enriching this dispensation in the power of his office.

Latter-day Saints don't even consider worshiping Joseph Smith. But it does make perfect sense to honor him, and to worship the God who supported him.

An observer of human history once warned, \"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things\" (Niccolo Machiavelli, \"The Prince\").

Joseph's adventures certainly verify that warning. Restoring a long-lost order of things was patient work. Intense shafts of light, scheduled for the last few years of his ministry, were a bit shocking for eyes accustomed to centuries of deep shade.

Decayed traditions are useless for judging fresh revelation. Or, as Jesus suggested, brittle old wineskins can't be trusted to hold new wine (see Matthew 9:17).

A few of Joseph's hearers would \"fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions\" (TPCJS520). To minimize the broken glass, he added line upon line — fitting each new unfamiliar truth to a former truth that was already proven and understood.

But such careful teaching takes time. And in the early 1840s, time was running out on Joseph and his unique mission.

However, his teachings did have a special ingredient that could speed things up.

In one of the Nauvoo groves, just before his death, before an audience estimated at 16,000-20,000 people, Joseph used a metaphor for