SIGNIFICANT ITEMS OF HOLY WEEK: SILENCE

16 April

Luke 24:49 “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”

 In reference to the title of today’s article…

While it may seem God is silent at times, He’s really not! He speaks to all of us each, and every day through His word. I can’t imagine what His disciples must have gone through with emotions, and theories after He died. No doubt it was confusing.

There have been more opinions about events from the time of Jesus’ crucifixion to His resurrection, than anyone will ever know. The topic goes beyond the scope of our little series this week, therefore, we’re limiting this to what we do know.

After Jesus’ crucifixion, and before His resurrection, the Bible isn’t entirely clear about our Lord’s activities for those three days. There are many who point to 1 Peter 3:19-20 as the answer that Jesus went to hell to proclaim victory. Still others use this passage to argue He went there to redeem lost spirits.

We can discuss and argue our points every which way, and discussions about biblical topics are always interesting, albeit, not always edifying. The key component of this topic is what it doesn’t do.

It doesn’t affect our salvation. Knowing what God has done in the annals of time is what affects our salvation. If we don’t know who He is, what He’s done for mankind, and what He told us in the gospels, we’re lost.

Speaking of which, a constant warning to us is woven throughout His word to beware of false prophets. The reason why is because they’ll lead  you away from God, not to Him. One major false prophet of course, is no less than Joseph Smith, Jr.

Taking advantage of nuances found in the Bible, leaders of Mormonism have jumped on a seemingly large bandwagon to imply their founder is ‘the one’ God has been pointing to throughout time.

A book written by a member of the Reorganized LDS Church (now known as Church of Christ) published ‘Life of the Prophet Joseph’ in 1878. It’s filled with over 500 pages of adoring venerations of Joe Smith.

One of the comments in this book alludes to another time the heavens were ‘silent’. Here’s what they had to say –

Heavens Rested While Joseph Matured

 Life of Joseph the Prophet, p. 6; “The great work of opening the dispensation thus accomplished by the august administration of the Father and Son, the heavens rested for a season. There was divine wisdom in this. Joseph was too young at that time to be sent forth with the wondrous proclamation to all nations, kindreds and tongues, that God had called him to be the prophet of a new civilization; too young, at fourteen, to seek out from the multitude strong apostolic men, saying unto them, “Leave your nets and follow me.”” – Edward William Tullidge

Strangely enough, while the mainstream church in Salt Lake City will have nothing to do with the offshoot, they do seem to like some of the books they publish. The above mentioned book is just one example.

Our point today is to remember what the Lord has told us. Wait. Watch. Listen. It’s the same thing Jesus told His disciples, and what He told numerous other prophets in His word. We’re praying the Mormon people take time to consider this when reading their Book of Mormon. Contents in the first page of their book reveal they weren’t listening to God at all. If you’re unaware, Lehi supposedly lived c. BC 600.

1 Nephi 1:8 “And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he [Lehi] was carried away in a vision…”

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