"The Angel in the Whirlwind"

I wrote recently that during Week 27 of my mission, my companion and I had a two and a half hour long teaching appointment.  The couple we had the appointment with had come prepared with many concerns, and we spent the whole time trying to answer them.  At the end I bore my testimony, and I started doing so by first talking about the Apostasy and the Restoration.  This was an early attempt at what I would later call my Four Rs presentation.  See these posts:

Week 27: "My Weakness was Made Strong" 

Renaissance, Reformation, Revolution, Restoration 

I was recently reading about Lehi's Dream and Nephi's vision in the Book of Mormon.  Nephi saw "the church of the devil set up among the gentiles; the discovery and colonizing of America; the loss of many plain and precious parts of the Bible; the resultant state of gentile apostasy; the restoration of the gospel, the coming forth of latter-day scripture, and the building up of Zion" (see chapter heading to 1 Nephi 14).

Nephi wrote that he saw "a man among the gentiles . . . and I beheld the spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren" (1 Nephi 13:12).  "This man," said President Ezra Taft Benson, "of course, was Christopher Columbus, who testified that he was inspired in what he did.

"'Our Lord,' said Columbus, 'unlocked my mind, sent me upon the sea, and gave me fire for the deed.  Those who heard of my enterprise called it foolish, mocked me, and laughed.  But who can doubt but that the Holy Ghost inspired me.'"

At the October 1992 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Gordon B. Hinckley discussed the importance of the role in history played by Columbus.  "A host of critics have spoken out against [Columbus]," he said.  "I do not dispute that there were others who came to this Western Hemisphere before him.  But it was he who in faith lighted a lamp to look for a new way to China and who in the process discovered America.  His was an awesome undertaking -- to sail west across the unknown seas farther than any before him of his generation.  He it was who, in spite of the terror of the unknown and the complaints and near mutiny of his crew, sailed on with frequent prayers to the Almighty for guidance.  In his reports to the sovereigns of Spain, Columbus repeatedly asserted that his voyage was for the glory of God and the spread of the Christian faith.  Properly do we honor him for his unyielding strength in the face of uncertainty and danger."

President Joseph F. Smith acknowledged an important link between the establishment of the United States of America and the Restoration of the gospel: "This great American nation the Almighty raised up by the power of his omnipotent hand, that it might be possible in the latter days for the kingdom of God to be established in the earth.  If the Lord had not prepared the way by laying the foundations of this glorious nation, it would have been impossible (under the stringent laws and bigotry of the monarchical governments of the world) to have laid the foundations for the coming of his great kingdom.  The Lord has done this."

Religious freedom was necessary before the Restoration could begin, and the founders of the new American nation were inspired to establish a government in which church and state were separate.  According to Elder Robert D. Hales of the twelve, when he spoke at the October 2005 General Conference, "Over a century [after the discovery of the Americas] such religious feeling guided the founders of a new nation on the American continent.  Under God's hand they secured religious freedom for every citizen with an inspired Bill of Rights.  Fourteen years later, on December 23, 1805, the Prophet Joseph Smith was born.  The preparation was nearing its completion for the restoration."

An issue that remained unsettled at the time of the founding of the new American nation was that of slavery.  This issue, among others, would lead to a great civil war, but there would first be a period of, if not tranquility, at least of relative calm on the issue of slavery.  In March 1820, the Missouri Compromise was passed and signed into law.  This was likely but a few weeks before the boy Joseph walked into the grove of trees near his home to seek wisdom from God through prayer.

In 1846 and 1847, as the Mormon pioneers made their way across the plains, the great compromise of 1820 began to unravel because the United States went to war with Mexico and acquired new territories in the west.  The Missouri Compromise was effectively repealed in January 1854 by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.  The quiet period of American history was at an end, and the arguments were underway that would lead, eventually, to the secession of the southern states and to the American Civil War.  In 1836, the prophet Joseph had prophesied of the coming rebellion, that would begin in South Carolina, and that from that time forward, there would never really be peace on the face of the earth.

I have long thought that it was significant that the Restoration through Joseph Smith occurred in the period of relative calm between the Missouri Compromise and the War with Mexico.  It could also be significant that the Saints enjoyed a relative isolation in the valley of the Great Salt Lake while the period of relative calm came to an end back east and the nation fought its great civil war.  Following the end of that war, the transcontinental railroad would be built, which would end the isolation of the Saints in their mountain home.

As Joseph Smith said, “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 many defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited very 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.”

The Great Jehovah, who showed to Nephi in a vision the discovery, colonization and the founding of a new nation on the American continent, is at the helm.  He is guiding this Great and Marvelous work in this, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.  It was He who commanded Nephi to keep a record on what came to be called the "smaller plates" for a wise purpose known only to God, and the record on those plates would be an important part of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.  It was He would inspire Columbus to "sail the ocean blue," and it was He who would inspire others to follow.  He was the "angel in the whirlwind" who guided the founding of the new American nation.  It was He who restored His gospel to His prophet.  He is still at the helm to guide His church, this nation, and each of us through the momentous events that are unfolding and will continue to unfold until the day He comes again.

"Wherefore," as Nephi said to his brothers, "let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the lord" (1 Nephi 3:16).  Let us put our trust in Him.  Let us seek His will, and then let us do it.