Kwaku: I’m a convert and when I prayed about
this with real intent, I knew.
Shelley: Where do Mormons come from?
Kwaku: It seems a bit silly because we claim
we're the one true Church, yet our Church
started in the 1800s.
So how can that be?
Well!
Ian: That's true.
So the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints came from a very important beginning
which was a boy whose name was Joseph Smith.
He had a question, he had doubts.
He wanted to know what church he should join.
So he asked Heavenly Father.
It was a simple question that brought about
such a great restoration of the gospel of
Jesus Christ and that's why we're here today.
People like Mormons, that's why we're here
today because of the small, simple question
that Joseph Smith had.
Shelley: I think it's really cool that Joseph Smith,
he wasn't some big leader in his community.
He was a 14-year-old boy when he had this
question and he took it to the scriptures
first and he was looking and reading and studying
and it was James 1:5 where it says,
Kwaku: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him
ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally
and upbraideth not..."
Ian: Which is kinda like
Kwaku: I think I got it right.
Ian: You totally got it right.
That's a lot of old English language but to
summarize that, if you have a question,
ask God and he will give it to you liberally,
he won't hold it back.
He will let you know.
So that's what Joseph Smith wanted to do.
Kwaku: Yeah, you can ask God.
You can directly ask God.
You don't really have to ask whoever.
You can ask you parents, you can ask your
youth pastor or whatever, but God first.
Ask God.
You can do it and he will answer you.
Shelley: And when you ask God questions,
you can receive miraculous answers, maybe not
in the exact way Joseph Smith did,
but in ways that can help you in your life.
Ian: Back in the 1820's, this is when it all happened.
Lots of people didn't believe in that idea
that you could just ask God and receive revelation
from heaven.
You had to go through your pastor.
You had to go to the scriptures.
Joseph went to the scriptures, he went to
his pastor, he went to all the other churches
in the community but what really made the
difference was when he decided to ask with
real intent a burning question.
So what he did was basically set an allotted
time, a time when he was able to have a spiritual
experience far away from distraction,
far away from any other type of activity,
and he went into the woods
and he knelt down and prayed.
Kwaku: And when he went to pray, God the Father
and Jesus Christ appeared to him.
They came down literally before his eyes
and spoke to him.
And what did the Father say?
He said, "Joseph, this is my beloved son.
Hear him."
Ian: So in this moment, we can understand
a couple of principles of doctrine.
That Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are
two separate beings and that also they're
willing to answer prayers in a way that is,
you know, available to us.
Shelley: Joseph Smith could've easily taken
that experience and not done anything with it,
because it probably was a little bit scary.
Like, he hadn't heard of that happening to
people in this time, in this day before.
And God kinda gave him a big responsibility
in being the only person on earth who knew
that none of the churches were right.
But instead, Joseph Smith took that to heart.
He believed in his experience and he knew it
and he went and told everybody.
Ian: And when he started telling everybody,
what did they say?
"You're crazy.
You're insane."
And Joseph, he himself said, "Well, if it
didn't happen to me, I probably
wouldn't believe it either."
Shelley: I wouldn't have.
It would've been hard to understand.
But when you listen to the spirit, when you
study the first vision, and you try and recognize
the feelings that you feel, it's impossible
to not believe it, if you're really listening.
You might receive an answer on a different
timeline than maybe Joseph Smith did,
and it might be in a really different way.
And it's okay if you don't receive that answer
through heavenly beings, in your bedroom or
out in the woods.
It's okay if you receive that answer just
as a confirmation in your heart that what
you're doing is right or that if what you're
doing needs a little bit of a course correction.
Kwaku: I wanna say, one of the most beautiful
things about the First Vision is that it claims
heavenly presence recently.
You know, there's a lot of people who find
it very difficult to identify with certain
things in the Bible because it is so ancient,
because it is so old.
Well, with Joseph Smith and with the Restoration
of the gospel, we know that heavenly beings
and God speaks today.
It brings the ancient to us.
Ian: And it's also a message that the gospel
is for all types of people.
Joseph Smith, a 14-year-old boy who did not
know much about religion, who did not know
much about literature, wasn't very learned
at the time, he was the one
that was chosen by God.
And so the Lord doesn't just prepare those
that are all ready to go and ready to preach
the Word.
He's preparing those that are humble,
that are simple, that are open to the gospel.
Kwaku: And I will personally say that I'm
a convert and when I prayed about this with
real intent, I knew.
Shelley: The First Vision is proof that God
didn't leave us alone on earth today.
He still speaks to his children on the earth.
His miracles did not end.
Ian: Joseph Smith was called by God to be
the prophet of the Restoration.
The reason I believe this is because I followed
Joseph Smith's example by asking God to know
if the gospel of Jesus Christ was here on the earth.
Kwaku: And because of the restoration of the
line of prophets, we have a prophet today,
Thomas S. Monson.
He is the prophet on earth mandated by God
because this is God's church.
It is the church of His Son
and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Shelley: Did you like what we had to say?
If you did or you didn't, you can comment
below and tell us your experiences with finding
out if the Restoration was true or if you
have any questions about it, you can comment
below.
Kwaku: Wahhh!
When you weren't expecting it.
Ian: That was like Halloween all over again.
There are videos over there.
Click on those as well.
Shelley: We're really big on Facebook.
Practically popular.
Kwaku: We also have an Instagram.
Ian: We have an Abraham Linkedin.
Kwaku: A Neopets account as well.
You guys like Club Penguin, because
we're on that too.
Shelley: If you wanna mail me your Tamagotchi,
you totally can.
Ian: We also started a Bluegrass band on MySpace.
So if you really want to check out our Soundcloud
on MySpace.