Proof Joseph Smith Was A Prophet

I can prove Joseph Smith was a prophet. In this episode, I will tell just one reason I feel like the church is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. TLDR...it all brings me closer to Jesus Christ, my Savior.

My reading included Doctrine and Covenants 135 and Alma 36. They tie together in a way that is personal to me and helps prove to me that Joseph Smith was a prophet. The message of the Book of Mormon is that Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior. The book changed my life, and helped me have a personal relationship with my Savior.

God lives. He has a message for you. Jesus Christ is real. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Be or Become Podcast, a podcast about being or becoming active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My name is Darren Bastion, and I'm glad you're here. Hi there, welcome back to Be Or Become. I don't know if anyone's listening. It's been a long time since I've posted one of these. And I've kind of just I don't know. Life's gotten in the way, and I I I feel like I honestly don't know what kind of impact this has or if it's if it's really beneficial to me or anybody. It's I'm still doing my scripture study, and it feels like putting together an episode is like it feels like putting together an episode is a lot of work, and I could stress myself out about it. Even though it's like they're short, I still feel like I have to come up with some gem, right? And today I'm gonna try something that I have never tried. I haven't really typed anything out, any notes, any gems. I've I've I've read my scriptures and I've had some thoughts, but I haven't really formulated anything concrete, and I just want to see how this goes. So if it goes terrible, go ahead and let me know in the comments. I'm fine with that, and I just I want to take it a little bit easier today, and like just show like this is more real, this is more real life. I read two things today, and one of them was Dr. Two Two Chapters. I might even don the old reading glasses here. Two chapters. One was Doctrine and Covenants 135, and the other one was Alma 36. And I think I came up with a pretty interesting conclusion here. Now, Doctrine and Covenants 135 is the is um the announcement of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, the prophet. He was killed in Carthage, he was shot to death by a mob, and I think the idea was if we kill Joseph Smith, we'll end this cult religion. And of course it hasn't ended, it's thrived, it's growing faster than any religion in the world. So that was a fail. They failed with that. Is that proof that Joseph Smith was a prophet? I don't know. Maybe, but I do want to share something that I think to me is a proof that he's a prophet. And first, I'm going to give a shout out to a man named Jacob Hansen who's done awesome work on YouTube. If you don't know who Jacob Hansen is, check him out. He's got a channel called Thoughtful Faith. Um, he does a podcast, but most of his content is YouTube. And he's done a 10-part documentary series on Joseph Smith on his life, and then he did like a follow-up video of like what he learned from the 10-part video process. And that follow-up, that last video, is so powerful. And one of the things that he pointed out was that the Joseph Smith message to his people was not Joseph Smith, his message to people was their relationship with God and what they can become through their relationship with God and Jesus Christ, and that's the message that caught hold. In fact, people were sometimes even disappointed when they met Joseph Smith because he was just a regular guy and he had flaws and he was rough around the edges sometimes. So the message is what endured, and for me, that's what I want to share because the message that really has taken hold in my life through the Book of Mormon is that Jesus Christ is real, He really paid the price for my sins. And my favorite chapter in the entire Book of Mormon. I know I shared my favorite prophet, but this is my favorite chapter, and this is from Alma 36. I absolutely love the story of Alma the younger and his conversion. He was a troublemaker, he wanted to destroy the church, and then he was visited by an angel and he kind of fell unconscious. The angel warned him, if you want to be destroyed, keep it up, bud. But um Alma fell unconscious and he's he was racked with eternal torment, he says. And now for three days and for three nights was I racked even with the pains of a damned soul. And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart, O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. Now behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more. Yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh what joy and what marvelous light I did behold, yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain. Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains, yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy. Why is this important to me? Elma's talking about the change of heart that happened when he turned to Christ and the feelings that he felt when he turned to Jesus Christ. This is a model for me in my life when I was able to turn to Christ and give away my sins and really confess and have a heartfelt change. I it started as a as a teenager and it changed my life. It changed my life. I read this and I identified with it. I related to this power, this joy, the flip from pain to joy, and it changed my life. It helped me develop a true relationship with Jesus Christ as my savior. And that's the ironic thing that is a proof that Joseph Smith is a prophet, because I could read this and come close to Jesus Christ and not even think about Joseph Smith. Why would Joseph Smith go through such an effort to create this uh this book that does nothing but preach of Jesus Christ? It doesn't do anything for him. It doesn't give him anything, and he gave his life. He's like, this is this I go to I go like a lamb to the slaughter, he says. He said a few days before he was killed. And so it it's it's ironic that all this message, everything about the church leads me to Jesus Christ, not to Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith is just he's just a figure, he's just a part of the the development of the church, but he's not the focus of the church by any means. Not even close. It's not even close. And anyone that sincerely reads the Book of Mormon cannot say that this is a con work to glorify Joseph Smith. It's just you can't say that. It's it's a powerful work that brings us close to Jesus Christ. I want to share my testimony that reading these words changed my life, and I'm going on, I'm 47 years old now, so we're talking roughly 30 years ago, or maybe 20. Oh, I can't do the math. Anyway, I was around 17, 18 when when this really changed my life. Private testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. The Book of Mormon has brought me closer to Jesus Christ almost every day of my life. I've read it almost every day since I was about 12 years old. I've read the Book of Mormon almost every day in my life, and it brings me closer to Jesus Christ. It's the foundation, it's the rock, my testimony of Jesus Christ. I feel home when I read it, and I feel close to him. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon. I'm grateful for the prophet Joseph Smith and all the interesting story about him. He he did create a great work. He did, he he didn't create it, he he was just an instrument in God's hands. Well, ultimately, this is about Jesus Christ. This is about bringing us all to Jesus Christ. That's his message. His message is true, the gospel is true. I don't know who watches or listens, but I'm grateful that you're there, and we'll see you again next time.