Question: Is Joseph Smith Sr.'s promise in a father's blessing to Joseph Smith Jr. that he would continue in the Priest's office until Christ comes a false prophecy?

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Question: Is Joseph Smith Sr.'s promise in a father's blessing to Joseph Smith Jr. that he would continue in the Priest's office until Christ comes a false prophecy?

Joseph Smith will continue to hold the status of "Priest" at the time of the Second Coming. If this father's blessing was a "prophecy," then it was fulfilled

It is claimed that the father's blessing given to Joseph Smith, Jr., in which Joseph Sr. "declar[ed] that I should continue in the Priest's office until Christ comes," is an example of a false prophecy.

When Joseph Smith was ordained to "the highest and holiest order of the Priesthood" on 28 September 1843,[1] he became "a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (Psalms 110:4)[2]

Joseph Smith will, therefore, continue to hold the status of "Priest" at the time of the Second Coming. If this father's blessing was a "prophecy," then it was fulfilled.

This account was first published after Joseph's death: the account comes from Times and Seasons 5/22 (1 December 1844): 723.[3] If the blessing required Joseph to live until Christ came, why would the Church leaders publish it so freely, since Joseph was clearly dead and Christ had not come? This demonstrates that the critics do not read the blessing as the early members did.


Notes

  1. Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005), 655 nt. 49.
  2. Compare this well-known Old Testament scripture with a statement by Elder Orson Hyde on the fulness of the priesthood and becoming a "priest" in the Millennial Star vol. 9 (15 January 1847): 23-24.
  3. Reprinted in History of the Church, 1:323. Volume 1 link



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