Robert L. Millet - I Saw a Pillar of Light: Sacred, Saving Truths from Joseph Smiths First Vision

Preface

Beginnings are vital. No one can understand The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without looking seriously at the Churchs beginnings. No one will get to the heart of the restored gospel, or to the hearts and minds of the people, who does not pay especial attention to how it all was started.

The founding event in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is what has come to be known as Joseph Smiths First Vision. To be sure, a Christians highest allegiance must always be to God, with faith centered in the divine Sonship of Jesus Christ. There is, however, a very real sense in which believing Latter-day Saints must have faith in the First Vision. That faith is based on testimony, on conviction, on an assurance that comes to individuals only by the power of Gods Holy Spirit.

Our testimony and our devotion must be kept current. While Christ is and will forevermore be the center of our faith (our salvation depends upon it), true disciples of Christ are to be loyal to the men the Savior has called as apostles and prophets in their day. To accept the words and teachings of the prophets is to accept the words and teachings of the Savior himself (see Matthew 10:40; Doctrine and Covenants 1:38; 21:46; 112:20). It would follow, then, that to reject those who have been called to be prophets, seers, and revelators is to reject the Lord who sent them. In terms of the First Vision, such faith comes in the form of trust that what Joseph Smith claimed to have taken place in a grove of trees in upstate New York actually took place; confidence that young Joseph told the truth about what he beheld and what he learned; and reliance upon that information and that experience in understanding lifes purpose and pursuing a strait path to everlasting life.

President Gordon B. Hinckley once observed that Joseph Smiths First Vision is the pivotal thing of our story . Every claim that we make concerning divine authority, every truth that we offer concerning the validity of this work, all finds its root in the First Vision of the boy prophet. Without it we would not have anything much to say . This was the great curtain-raiser on the dispensation of the fullness of times, when God promised he would restore all the power, the gifts, the blessings, of all great dispensations in one great summing up.

President Ezra Taft Benson testified that when God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ come to earth, as they did in 1820 when they appeared to the young boy prophet, Joseph Smith, it is not something that concerns only a handful of people. It is a message and a revelation intended for all of our Fathers children living upon the face of the earth. It was the greatest event that ever happened in this world since the resurrection of the Master. Sometimes I think we are so close to it that we dont fully appreciate its significance and importance and the magnitude of it. The first vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith is bedrock theology in the Church.

This book is about that vision of Joseph Smith. It focuses principally on the truths, doctrine, precepts, and guiding principles that derive from that vision. What did young Joseph learn, and what do we learn? Knowing, as President Boyd K. Packer taught many years ago, that true doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior, what doctrinal truths do we discover as we look deeply into different accounts of the First Vision? How does that doctrine affect the way we understand and approach our Heavenly Father and how we accept the atoning work of his Son, Jesus Christ? What does Brother Josephs sacred and singular encounter in the Grove teach us about seeking for and obtaining divine guidance and personal revelation? How can such doctrine affect our view of life in this world, as well as the life we yearn to enjoy in the world to come? These are but examples of questions to which we will seek answers as we study and ponder carefully the accounts of the Prophet Joseph Smiths First Vision, along with prophetic commentary on the Prophets monumental discovery.

As with any project of this kind, I am indebted to many people. In the fall of 1969, Professor Paul Cheesman of the Religious Education faculty at Brigham Young University first introduced me and other members of our Church History class to the various accounts of the First Vision. The testimony of a beloved friend, Robert J. Matthews, of the reality of Joseph Smiths First Vision as well as the larger Restoration stimulated my mind and stirred my soul over the years. On several occasions Bob and I spent precious time together in the Sacred Grove reading Joseph Smiths testimony of his vision, reflecting, conversing, and praying. I am also deeply grateful for all that I learned from colleaguesdedicated, inspired, and informed religious educators at BYUduring the thirty-one years I taught there. If I may borrow from the words of Oliver Cowdery, those were days never to be forgotten (Joseph SmithHistory 1:71, footnote).

My friend and associate Von Memory has once again been extremely helpful in reading the manuscript and offering valuable recommendations on how to make this a better book. I express appreciation to Lisa Roper and the competent staff at Deseret Book Company, who shepherded this project from concept to completion. Special thanks is extended to Suzanne Brady and Derk Koldewyn for their excellent editorial work on the manuscript. And, as always, my dearest friend and eternal companion, Shauna, has been my inspiration and example of Christlike love and abiding commitment to the restored gospel and Church of Jesus Christ.