Joseph Smith

Quotes By LDS Prophet Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith was the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont, he is considered by members of the Church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. Joseph translated the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ and a record of ancient American peoples as was revealed to him by God.

“A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation, for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your mind by the Spirit of God will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.”

Joseph Smith | History of the Church, 3:381

Topics: Holy Ghost, Personal Revelation, Revelation

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

Joseph Smith | The Wentworth Letter

Topics: Missionary Work & Preparation, The Second Coming, Trials, Truth

“When a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force. It is by words, instead of exerting his physical powers, with which every being works when he works by faith. God said, ‘Let there be light: and there was light.’ . . . And the Savior says: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, say tot his mountain, ‘Remove,’ and it will remove; or say to that sycamine tree, ‘Be ye plucked up, and planted in the midst of the sea,’ and it shall obey you. Faith, then works by words; and with these its mightiest works have been, and will be, performed.

Joseph Smith | Lectures on Faith, 72-73 — The Pearl of Great Price Student Manual, p. 7

Topics: Faith, Miracles, Work

Faith and Doubt cannot exist in the same soul at the same time.

Joseph Smith

Topics: Doubt, Faith

Joseph Smith also taught that we must be able to endure persecution in order to stand in the day when the Lord shall come: “Those who cannot endure persecution, and stand in the day of affliction, cannot stand in the day when the Son of God shall burst the veil, and appear in all the glory of His Father, with all the holy angels.”

Joseph Smith | Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 42

Topics: Joseph Smith, The Second Coming

“An angel of God never has wings. Some will say that they have seen a spirit; that he offered them his hand, but they did not touch it. This is a lie. First, it is contrary to the plan of God; a spirit cannot come but in glory; an angel has flesh and bones; we see not their glory. The devil may appear as an angel of light. Ask God to reveal it; if it be of the devil, he will flee from you; if of God, He will manifest Himself, or make it manifest.”

Joseph Smith | Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 162

Topics: Angels, Doctrine & Covenants

(Explaining the difference between an angel and a ministering spirit) “The one (an angel*) a resurrected or translated body, with its spirit ministering to embodied spirits—the other (a ministering spirit*) a disembodied spirit, visiting and ministering to disembodied spirits.

Joseph Smith | Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 191 (*commentary added for clarity)

Topics: Angels, Spirit(s)

When God commands, do it!

Joseph Smith | History of the Church, 2:170; from “History of the Church” (manuscript), book B-1, p. 558

Topics: Commandments, Obedience

How are we to see it? As the lighting up of the morning or the dawning of the morning cometh from the east and shineth unto the west, so also is the coming of the Son of Man. The dawning of the morning makes its appearance in the east and moves along gradually. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be. It will be small at its first appearance and gradually become larger until every eye shall see it. Shall the Saints understand it? Oh yes. Paul says so [1 Thes. 5:4-5]. Shall the wicked understand? Oh no. They [will] attribute it to a natural cause. They will probably suppose it is two great comets coming in contact with each other. It will be small at first and will grow larger and larger until it will be all in a blaze, so that every eye shall see it.

Joseph Smith | Discourse of 6 April 1843, recorded by James Burgess; WJS, p. 181

Topics: The Second Coming

I have asked of the Lord concerning His coming; and while asking the Lord, He gave a sign and said, “In the days of Noah I set a bow in the heavens as a sign and token that in any year that the bow should be seen the Lord would not come; but there should be seed time and harvest during that year: but whenever you see the bow withdrawn, it shall be a token that there shall be famine, pestilence, and great distress among the nations, and that the coming of the Messiah is not far distant.”

Joseph Smith | Teachings, pp. 340-41

Topics: The Second Coming