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Home » Calling and Election Made Sure » How You Received Your Calling and Election Made Sure » When did Joseph Smith receive his C&E? (Discussion)
Re: When did Joseph Smith receive his C&E? [message #1838 is a reply to message #1836] Thu, 03 January 2013 15:57 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
JulesGP
Messages: 357
Registered: May 2012
Location: Davis County, UT
Senior Member

Freddy you can find the multiple accounts all over the internet (some LDS-friendly, some anti-Mormon sites), but one source is: (Backman, Milton V. Joseph Smith's First Vision. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980, 2nd Edition, p. 157).

I had a similar experience - as I was told the same thing Enos was told about two years before I accepted my C&E - which occurred after multiple "promptings". I did not comprehend those messages either until I had received MULTIPLE witnesses, was led to things I studied, had a teacher who had already trod that path, and had many more witnesses. I imagine JS didn't know what was going on at first either - as we all have to develop an understanding line upon line...

Also, I can't find the thread right now where I posted about it, but I understood the part of D&C 132 (that is often used on this forum in reference to JS receiving his C&E) and had a witness by the spirit, to mean that he had received the same blessings that Abraham received when he was made a GOD over Isrial - that JS was sealed up unto GODHOOD in 132, not just that he had received his C&E. This is how I see it broken down:

Quote:
51 Verily, I say unto you: A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice.


JS and Emma were given a trial as Abraham's - NOT to test their obedience, but AS ABRAHAM was being tested, to test them for GODHOOD. As He did for Abraham when He sent the angel to stop him from slaying Isaac -- an exit was provided.

Quote:
52 And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.

53 For I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my voice; and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be made ruler over many things; for he hath been faithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him.


This implies godhood as well. I have received my C&E, but I have not yet progressed to the point where I have been made a "ruler" over things.

Quote:
54 And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law.

55 But if she will not abide this commandment, then shall my servant Joseph do all things for her, even as he hath said; and I will bless him and multiply him and give unto him an hundredfold in this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and crowns of eternal lives in the eternal worlds.


This also seems to imply godhood, and being given NOW, things that are not immediately bestowed on someone when they receive their C&E.

Quote:
56 And again, verily I say, let mine handmaid forgive my servant Joseph his trespasses; and then shall she be forgiven her trespasses, wherein she has trespassed against me; and I, the Lord thy God, will bless her, and multiply her, and make her heart to rejoice.

57 And again, I say, let not my servant Joseph put his property out of his hands, lest an enemy come and destroy him; for Satan seeketh to destroy; for I am the Lord thy God, and he is my servant; and behold, and lo, I am with him, as I was with Abraham, thy father, even unto his exaltation and glory.


Again, the Lord refers to Abraham - one who was made a god, and whose initial "test" for godhood we can read about. The Lord doesn't just refer to the multitudes of others who have received their C&E - like those who were gathered together at Kirtland and received their C&E as a group:

Quote:
1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you who have assembled yourselves together to receive his will concerning you:

2 Behold, this is pleasing unto your Lord, and the angels rejoice over you; the balms of your prayers have come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded in the book of the names of the sanctified, even them of the celestial world.

3 Wherefore, I now send upon you another Comforter, even upon you my friends, that it may abide in your hearts, even the Holy Spirit of promise; which other Comforter is the same that I promised unto my disciples, as is recorded in the testimony of John.

4 This Comforter is the promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom;

5 Which glory is that of the church of the Firstborn, even of God, the holiest of all, through Jesus Christ his Son-- (D&C 88:1-5)


The revelation that that group had received their C&E was given to Joseph Smith on 27 December, 1832. Although much of the information in D&C 132 was already known by JS as early as 1831, it was recorded on recorded 12 July, 1843. Surely JS would have received his C&E LONG before that entire group of people in Kirtland. If we go by the earliest date JS might have had the information in D&C 132, we could argue that maybe he received his C&E in 1831 - one year prior to all those saints, and recorded it in D&C 132. But it just doesn't compute to me - given his vast understanding of the Gospel and his mission at that point in time, along with the other things I've cited.

I feel that he did receive his C&E very early and that the First Vision was a personal vision and revelation TO HIM - though the LDS Church has chosen one of the accounts of this vision that seems to apply to the church as a whole - and used that in their canonized works. I don't believe that the First Vision was given as a message for the future church as a whole (though there are many things applicable to us as a whole), but I believe it was given to JS as an individual - as our C&E's are.

I wonder sometimes if assuming that JS received his C&E in 132 is a misunderstanding based on the BRM header in that chapter of the D&C, and if it is one reason LDS think they cannot attain their C&E - because they look at all JS went through and see what it says in 132 - and understand THAT to be the point he received his C&E, and think they have to BE a JS (a Noble and Great One) too in order to attain it, when my understanding is as I said, that JS attained GODHOOD in 132 - after going through all he did, and that he had received his C&E MUCH earlier in life.


~Jules

[Updated on: Thu, 03 January 2013 16:42]

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