Prophecies and Personal Revelation

1 Nephi 20:5

Prophecies and Personal Revelation

What

 5 And I have even from the beginning declared to thee; before it came to pass I ashowed them thee; and I showed them for fear lest thou shouldst say—Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them.

I have shown you my power through the prophecies and how they have come to pass so

Why

So you wouldn't or could not claim that your idols have power.

Pattern

Gen. 6:5

5  ¶And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

1 Chr. 28:9

9  ¶And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

John 16:13

13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Mosiah 27:31

31  Yea, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess before him. Yea, even at the last day, when all men shall stand to be judged of him, then shall they confess that he is God; then shall they confess, who live withoutGod in the world, that the judgment of an everlasting punishment is just upon them; and they shall quake, and tremble, and shrink beneath the glance of his all-searching eye.

Morm. 8:34–35

34  Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you.
35  Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.

Moses 7:4, 36

4  And I saw the Lord; and he stood before my face, and he talked with me, even as a man talketh one with another, face to face; and he said unto me: Look, and I will show unto thee the world for the space of many generations.

36  Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren.

Abr. 3:19, 21

19  And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.

21  I dwell in the midst of them all; I now, therefore, have come down unto thee to declare unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdomexcelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen.

Christ

He knows the beginning from the end. He showed them prophecies.

Conference

4/74 LeGrande Richards

Prophecy

I don’t know where you can go anywhere in this world, outside of this Church, and find a declaration of a restitution of all things and not just a reformation. Until there is that restitution of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, we just can’t believe that Peter was a prophet of God and look for the coming of the Savior. It makes one wonder why the world doesn’t understand and why they are not willing to listen when we declare a restitution of all things.

I like the statement in Malachi. It seems to me that Malachi’s whole book was written almost entirely regarding our day and time: about the law of tithing that Elder Taylor just mentioned; about the coming of Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. In the third chapter, he starts out by saying,

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. …

“But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap.” (Mal. 

Then I say to you, and to all the world, where is that messenger that the Lord, speaking through Malachi, said he would send to prepare the way for his coming (and I refer to his second coming)? To us Latter-day Saints, we know that messenger was none other than the Prophet Joseph Smith. He didn’t choose himself. He went out into the woods after reading the words of James, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5.) He didn’t know which church to join, and when he prayed, the heavens were opened unto him.

President Kimball has outlined in one of his talks in this conference how the Lord communed with the prophets of old. God isn’t dead. He reigns in the heavens above and in the earth beneath. This is his work and his glory. This is the dispensation when, as Paul said, “… he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth. …” (Eph. 1:10.) In other words, it is the time when he shall finish his work upon this earth preparatory to his second coming. And so if he was to send a messenger to prepare the way for his coming, where in all the world can you find that messenger?

,,You would think that if the Lord raised up a prophet and a messenger to prepare the way for his coming, the first thing he would want that messenger to do would be to correct the false impressions in the world with regard to the personality of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. For at that time all churches taught that they were three in one, without body, without parts, and without passions.

Moses knew that such a condition would prevail, for when he led the children of Israel into the promised land, he told them that “there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.” (Deut. 4:28.) Just think how literally the very words of Moses spoken over 3,000 years ago are fulfilled in the doctrine that was proclaimed in all the Christian churches all over this world at the time that Joseph Smith had his marvelous vision. But Moses didn’t leave it at that. He said:

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

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4/74 s. Dilworth Young

That the Scriptures Might Be Fulfilled

Constantly in the lives of the members, prophetic statements have been made. Is a person who is ill given a blessing? Inspired promises are often made by the elder pronouncing it. Is a baby given a name? The blessing following may be and is often prophetic. Does a father give what we call a “father’s blessing”? Then in his patriarchal position, he may be as prophetic as was Jacob in blessing his twelve sons. Promises made when inspired of the Holy Ghost will be fulfilled if the persons to whom they are given keep in harmony with divine principles.

There have been many occasions when people have had direct revelation to themselves as to important events to take place in their own lives about which they had no previous warning. Many men and women in this audience can testify that they knew beforehand of the call to be made upon them and the requirements of the call. As with Enos, “the voice of the Lord came into [their] mind[s]. …” (Enos 1:10.) In each case, the words were sure and clear to the recipient.

And finally unto many of the faithful comes the inspiration as to callings and positions to be given to people who are important to the Church. Men and women have known by the power of the Holy Ghost who would fill an apostolic vacancy or one of stake or ward importance. They do not voice these inspirations, but have the deep satisfaction of recognizing the source and the joy of having the Lord share with them, in advance, the foretold action.

All of these variations of the gift of prophecy come to those whose lives merit the presence of the Holy Ghost. Was it not the Prophet Joseph who said that the spirit of the Holy Ghost is the spirit of prophecy? All of us should court it and be enveloped in its beneficent influence.

All of these prophecies, great and small, bear witness that the Lord has known the end from the beginning and has warned and forewarned those who would listen of the solemn and sure march of the work of Christ to its certain and ultimate conclusion. We who sit here today are a part of that great movement. If we play our part well and sustain the Lord Jesus Christ and his living prophet, all will be well with us.

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10/16 Craig C. Christensen (70)

A Choice Seer Will I Raise Up

Because Joseph was a prophet, we have the blessings and ordinances of the temple that bind us to God, make us His people, and manifest to us “the power of godliness,” making it possible one day to “see the face of God, even the Father, and live.”17

Because Joseph was a prophet, we know that marriage and family are an essential part of God’s plan for our happiness. We know that through temple ordinances and covenants, our cherished family relationships can endure eternally.

Because Joseph was a prophet, we have more than a window into heaven—the very doorway to the eternities is open to us. We can know “the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He has] sent.”18Eternal life can be ours.

Most of all, because Joseph was a prophet, we have witness upon witness, testimony upon testimony, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of the world. We have an unbroken chain of special witnesses of Jesus Christ, including our prophet today, President Thomas S. Monson; the counselors in the First Presidency; and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. To their witnesses, I add my humble yet certain testimony: Jesus Christ lives and leads His Church. Joseph Smith was and is the Prophet of the Restoration. The priesthood and authority of God are again on the earth. May we fearlessly declare our witness and our gratitude for this wonderful prophet, seer, and revelator of the Lord is my prayer in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Apply

Learn what prophecies we have for our future. Learn about the prophecies about the second coming. What is prophesied in your patriarchal blessing? We can receive personal revelation for our own lives. This information can be a great comfort and guide to us daily.

As we study and ponder the words of the Lord in the scriptures and from our modern day prophets given in our conferences then we can receive guidance and comfort in our personal lives.

Hymns-27- Praise to the Man

Children- 108-Seek the Lord Early