This Generation Shall Have My Word Through You

Elder Stevenson told a story in his recent talk in general conference about a high school student who traveled out of state for an event and found himself the only one there from Utah. When questioned about whether he was a Mormon, he confirmed this and was asked, “You’re the guys who believe in Joseph Smith, who said he saw angels. You don’t actually believe that, do you?” He replied with this simple testimony: “I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.” This led to a discussion with someone about the Book of Mormon and ultimately many conversations for this student from Utah with many others. His simple declaration concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith was consistent with the counsel that Matthew Cowley received, also recounted by Elder Stevenson, from his father when this future apostle left on a mission. He told his son what to do when his mind went blank when he stood to talk to the people: “You stand up there and with all the fervor of your soul, you bear witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God, and thoughts will flood into your mind and words to your mouth … to the heart of everyone who listens.” The young Matthew Cowley related, “And so my mind, being mostly blank during my … mission … , gave me the opportunity to bear testimony to the greatest event in the history of the world since the crucifixion of the Master…. If you don’t have anything else to say, testify that Joseph Smith was the prophet of God, and the whole history of the Church will flood into your mind.” As we preach the gospel to the world, we must bear testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith because it is he more than any other in our dispensation who has revealed to us Jesus Christ.

                Considering this counsel, it is interesting to consider the story Matthew and his father. Matthew Cowley was born in 1897 and departed for his mission to New Zealand at the age of 17 in 1914. His father was Matthias Cowley, a former apostle who had resigned from the quorum in 1905 over issues relating to plural marriage. In 1911 his priesthood was suspended, though it was eventually restored in 1936 four years before his death. This means that when he gave that counsel to his son in 1914, he had lost his priesthood and his membership in the church was in a precarious state. And yet, to his credit, his testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith was intact and he knew what he knew—that Joseph Smith had been a prophet of God. Eventually he broke ties with all of the polygamous dissenters and made his way back, like Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, to full fellowship in the church. Though he was not reinstated in the quorum of the twelve, his son Matthew was became an apostle in 1945 five years after his death. And he bore witness of the Prophet Joseph Smith in his final general conference talk in 1953: “[Joseph Smith] was a young lad who believed in a promise that if any man lacked wisdom and would ask of God, it would be given to him and in response to that injunction he took himself out into that grove, away from the superficial structures of men, and he didn't stand looking into heaven; he bowed upon the bended knees of his body, and he offered up his prayer to God his Father to bring clearness of vision to his mind to divest from his mind the confusion which existed there pertaining to religion. How can people doubt that God heard that prayer? Anyone who would question that God heard the prayer of that boy must believe that the Father in heaven is cruel and shuts himself away from his children when they seek him. But he did hear that prayer, and as Elder Morris has mentioned, the light burst from heaven; down through that channel of light came the Father and the Son. Young people, if you prayed for your father to come in your hour of need, would he hide from you? Of course not. Neither will our Father who is in heaven hide from us who seek him out.” His witness was that Joseph Smith’s prayer in the Sacred Grove was indeed answered, and so will ours if we too seek Him with faith.

                We worship only our Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ, and we thank Them that they sent a prophet in our day to bring us more of Their word and help us find our way back to Them. As the Savior declared to Joseph Smith: “I have reserved those things which I have entrusted unto you, my servant Joseph, for a wise purpose in me, and it shall be made known unto future generations; But this generation shall have my word through you” (Doctrine and Covenants 5:9-10). We are so blessed to have so much of the Savior’s words through the Prophet of the Restoration. He stands as a latter-day witness of Jesus Christ like Peter and Paul in the meridian of time: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:22-24).