cire perdue

Page 23 of the Book:
A Positive Look at Latter-day Saints from a Baha'i Perspective, by
Serge van Neck

Return of Christ the predominant theme

Joseph Smith made repeated warnings regarding the Return of Christ,
echoing those of John the Baptist, 1800 years earlier. Furthermore,
Joseph Smith made mention of not one, but two Manifestations to come
after him.

Whatever the source of his inspiration, Smith seems to have been
convinced that the Second Coming was close at hand. If there is any
single theme that dominates his writings, it is that the Day of the
Lord is fast approaching, and that everyone had better look out for
it and be prepared. He issued numerous warnings to the body of his
followers that many of them would not recognize Christ, exhorting all
to 'seek me [Christ] diligently and ye shall find me' and to 'seek .
. . out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning even by
study and also by faith. He promised that Christ would 'reason as
with men in days of old, and I will show unto you my strong
reasoning.' He even indicated that the Lord was 'in your midst and ye
cannot see me.' Baha'is might interpret this last statement, revealed
in 1831, as an allusion to Christ's physical presence on earth before
making himself known. Both the Bab and Baha'u'llah were living at the
time, but had yet to declare their respective missions.

It is also worth noting that according to his 1832 'First Vision'
account, Joseph Smith's religious investigations began 'at about the
age of twelve years.' Smith turned twelve on December 23, 1817,
shortly after the birth Baha'u'llah.

The same book, page 27:

The writings of Joseph Smith intimate that he might have had an
opportunity to 'see the face of the Son of Man.' Smith recalls:

I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of
the Son of Man, when i heard a voice repeat the following: Joseph, my
son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt
see the face of the Son of Man . . .

As Smith was born in 1805, this prophecy, points to 1890, the year in
which the first Westerners were allowed access to the Holy Presence
of Baha'u'llah. However, this chance was lost when on June 27, 1844 -
a mere of 35 days after the Declaration of the Bab - Joseph Smith's
life was abruptly put to an end.

arthra

I posted earlier but wanted to add it to the post above anyway.. Here it is:



JOSEPH SMITH

The complete fifty-six-year-prophecy paragraph of Oliver B. Huntington's Autobiography states:

On the 14th of Feb. 1835, Joseph Smith said that God had revealed to him that the coming of Christ would be within 56 years, which being added to 1835 shows that before 1891 and the 14th of Feb. the Saviour of the world would make his appearance again upon the earth and the winding up scene take place.

In connection with this event, was related by my brother Dimick Huntington, the fact that when Joseph and Hyrum Smith submitted in their feelings to consent to give themselves up to the state mob at Nauvoo Illinois, after they had passed the Mississippi River. Joseph said

"if they shed my blood it shall shorten this work 10 years". That taken from 1891 would reduce the time to 1881 which if the true time within which the Saviour should come much must be crowded into 6 years.

http://www.shields-research.org/Gene...th/56_Year.htm

So according to the above:

"...that the coming of Christ would be within 56 years.."

Robertus

Joseph Smith's Theological ideas have always been fascinating to me.

I think he would have had more success if he just dropped the Gold Plates story and just said he was receiving revelation from God.