Perhaps the most common attack against the Prophet Joseph Smith is to point out an egregious sin that he may or may not have actually committed and then conclude that his prophetic work in regards to the restoration of the gospel is either wholly or partially invalid. “How could Joseph Smith be a true prophet and commit such and such sin?” Usually the sins brought against him are sexual sins. He is constantly accused of being a false or fallen prophet because of polygamy, gold digging, etc. Regardless of which sins of are brought up, the response is the same. This is likewise the same response and defense for all other servants of God from Brigham Young to President Russel Nelson.
Those who claim that Joseph is sinful, and therefore his work on the restoration is void, have not learned sufficiently from the scriptures. I will show that the Lord separates personal sin from the position of authority, at certain times. The scriptures show numerous examples of persons in spiritual authority commit egregious sins and still fulfill the Lord’s work. For simplicity, the Lord’s work and purpose for his authorized servants is to extend the blessings of the Atonement of Christ and the blessings of priesthood ordinances. These extended blessings are not solely contingent on the personal worthiness of the authorized servant, rather, the Lord may forgive, and sustain that servant in their weakness so that they might continue in their office. It follows then, that the blessings that come from the work and teaching of a servant of the Lord are not annulled because of a personal sin or sins. Allow me to demonstrate what I mean.
Caiaphas was the high priest at the time of Christ. He was one of the very men who personally condemned Jesus, the very son of God, to death. Few men have ever sinned so egregiously and personally against God Himself. This same man, with a wicked heart determined to kill his Lord, was able to give a true prophecy concerning Christ (John 11:47-53). A prophecy is a gift from God. This apostate man was able to prophesy, not by personal worthiness but by virtue of his priesthood office. James E. Talmage teaches this in Jesus the Christ. It appears then that gifts from God can and in fact are given by the judgement of God to those in authority. The man who helped condemn Christ was able to prophesy because God chose to honor the position of authority, not personal worthiness.
Moses sinned against the Lord. Before Moses commenced his ministry he killed a man (Exodus 2:12). Near the end of his ministry Moses offended the Lord so much that the Lord did not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 20:12 (7-13) and Numbers 27:12-14). Moses was punished to only see the Promised Land for rebelling against the Lord. To rebel against God is one of the worst sins an enlightened servant can commit. Additionally, Moses began as a murderer. These sins, though terrible, don’t define Moses. Neither do these sins and immoral acts annul all that Moses established. The work of Moses to establish the Law does not become void. In fact, the Lord chose to allow Moses to continue to lead, teach, and spiritually guide the Israelites even after these two sins. He was called to be a prophet after murdering and allowed to continue as prophet even after rebelling against the Lord only because the Lord willed it. The Lord secured Moses’ office. Even though Moses was personally punished for his actions, his position in the priesthood remained.
David, the anointed King of Israel, who was judged to have a clean heart, sinned against God. He is considered the greatest King of Israel and was chosen by God to a position of leadership over the chosen people. Unfortunately, David committed two terribly immoral acts, one immediately after the other. He first committed adultery, and then tried to hide his sin through murder (2 Sam. 11). The Lord punished David personally for the remainder of his days, however, the Lord did not removed David from his chosen position. The Lord allowed David to lead the people as king despite his sexual promiscuity. The Lord separated the person and the position of authority. Additionally, some of the most impactful psalms came from David after he committed these sins. Why should we discount all the good he did and our favorite scriptures from him because of his personal sin? Can we say that the unification of Israel or his profound teachings on the mercy of Christ are void because of his sins?
Jonah was called to the work as a prophet to Nineveh; a people Jonah despised. After Jonah literally fled from the Lord he was ultimately convinced to prophesy to the people. Jonah had no love for the people of Nineveh because the people of that nation would soon destroy Israel. Instead of disposing of Jonah, the Lord sustained his calling as a prophet. Jonah did preach, but he had no charity. In fact, you may say that Jonah was prejudice. His heart was not right before the Lord several times before, during, or after his mission. Even though Jonah preached with a heart void of love, the offer of repentance extended through him was not void. Nineveh repented and claimed the gifts of mercy that were offered through a prophet of God. They were blessed despite their prophet having a heart full of sin and hatred toward them. Jonah the person must deal with his soul, Jonah the prophet allowed Nineveh to receive the blessings of repentance and the Atonement of Christ. Jonah does not appear to have been personally worthy to fulfill his calling; however, the Lord chose to sustain the word of Jonah’s position.
Peter’s position as prophet was sustained by God, even though Christ referred to Peter as Satan and Peter denied knowing the Son of God on three separate occasions, despite walking daily with Him for three years. Jesus still called Peter to the work after His resurrection. Furthermore, Peter had a vision to preach the gospel to the gentiles (Acts 10) but then failed to understand that vision to its fullest when he acted (perhaps with prejudice) against the gentile converts later on (Galatians 2:11-14 (1-14)). Despite Peter’s inability to remain steadfast early in his calling, and even falling to prejudice later in his ministry, the Lord chose to keep Peter in his position. Peter must personally repent, but the Lord chose to preserve his position and authority. His personal flaws do not discredit the revelations he received, nor the future teachings he would give the saints.
Paul’s entire ministry began AFTER he persecuted and killed the saints of God. Paul helped kill Stephen, one of God’s specially chosen ministers. Paul is another guilty of murder. Yet all of his teachings and priesthood work came after this. It appears that the reaches of forgiveness are father than we personally allow for others.
Much of the Holy Bible itself was written and inspired by those who committed murder; Moses, David and Paul. Each of these men murdered, yet we draw from their teachings more than others. Should we throw out the first five books of the Old Testament, the Psalms and almost all of the Epistles? Do their personal sins really destroy all the work they did?
If one holds the idea that Joseph Smith’s personal sins nullify all or some of the work of the restoration then that person is in a difficult spot. That same person would need to then throw out much, if not all, of the Holy Bible because her authors committed egregious sins against the Lord and we cannot trust their words. After throwing out the Bible one must then believe that the Lord’s grace is not sufficient for the redemption of man. If one holds this position in regards to the Prophet Joseph Smith then one, or all, of the following three statements must be true. 1, The Atonement of Christ does not have the power to overcome sin, nor can it help the weak things of the world confound the wise and fulfill the Lord’s purposes. 2, The Lord lacks sufficient judgement of His servant’s capabilities and He is choosing inappropriate servants to fulfill His work. Or 3, when an authoritative servant sins and is no longer worthy to do the Lord’s work, the Lord does not care enough to remove him from his position but allows that apostate to continue to lead His flock.
The Lord’s servants are far from perfect. In fact, the scriptures teach that they are some of the weakest of the world (1 Cor 1:25-29). It can be difficult to reconcile how an authorized servant can be so close to God yet so sinful at times. Thankfully, the Lord deals with us as individuals and is able to separate the individual from the called position. With the exception of Christ, who among us has ever been worthy or remained worthy throughout a calling? The Prophet Joseph Smith was chosen by God to restore the gospel. The Prophet Joseph Smith battled his own demons, passions, limitations, and his natural man. The Lord worked with him on his own personal development while simultaneously sustaining him as His chosen prophet. The Lord’s grace is sufficient to separate the person from the position when needed.
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