Seer Stone Insight

After fighting through a computer virus that has been affecting my desktop computer for roughly 7 months and finally posting my December posts, I'm ready to tackle 2016 (and the crowd goes wild). J

 

On January 3rd, it was Bishop Galindo's turn to bear testimony as the one conducting and he gave our ward a scripture challenge—one that I found different and intriguing.  Usually when a bishop has given us a scripture reading challenge, it has always been to read the Book of Mormon within a certain time-frame.  Since this is Book of Mormon year in Gospel Doctrine, I thought that would be the case with this challenge.  Instead, Bishop Galindo asked us to read the Doctrine and Covenants by Easter Sunday.  As he did so, he talked about his love of history and how the Doctrine and Covenants has helped him to better understand the history of the Church during its formative years.

 

Today as part of our block of sections, we read Section 28.  I need to offer a quick synopsis of this section in order to set up the insight I had after we read it.  A man by the name of Hiram Page, one of the eight witness of the Book of Mormon, claimed he had a stone and that he was “receiving revelations by its aid concerning the upbuilding of Zion and the order of the Church” (Section 28 heading).  The problems with this scenario were twofold: 1) some Church members believed what Hiram was claiming to be receiving from his stone, including Oliver Cowdrey who at that time was the “second elder” of the Church (D&C 20:3); and 2) with the Church only 5 months old at the time (give or take), Hiram claiming to be receiving revelation for the entire Church undermined the prophetic authority God had given to Joseph Smith.  In His response to this problem, the Lord taught his fledgling saints that when it came to matters affecting the entire Church, “no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jun. … For,” the Lord continued, “I have given him the keys of the mysteries, and the revelations which are sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead” (D&C 28:2, 7).

 

Whenever I have taught this section or heard others teach about its principles, what I outlined above has been the main focus.  However, when we read it tonight, I had a different reaction.  As I said above, the reason for this section had to do with a stone Hiram Page had obtained.  A stone that he claimed was giving him revelation which he was writing down and passing off to other members as coming from the Lord.  During previous readings of this section, I’ve taken that fact at face value.  Perhaps some would scoff at my perceived naiveté, but the Urim and Thummim was described by Joseph Smith as “two stones in silver bows … fastened to a breastplate” (JS-H 1:35, emphasis added), and he used those stones to assist him in translating the Book of Mormon.  Additionally, several section headings of the Doctrine and Covenants mention that Joseph “inquired of the Lord through the Urim and Thummim and received this response” (Section 6 heading; see also 3, 11 & 14), meaning that Joseph received revelation from the Lord through the instrumentality of those stones.  I’ve understood that the Urim and Thummim was a part of the “gift of God” (Book of Mormon Title Page) Joseph was given to accomplish his work in the beginning of his ministry.   As such, I figured Hiram Page had found a similar stone and had some experience where he felt he was receiving revelation from it and had decided, “If Joseph can receive revelations from a stone, why not me as well?”

 

Back in August of last year, however, as part of the ongoing Joseph Smith Papers project, the Church released a picture of the “seer stone” which was also used by Joseph for a time during the translation process and also for a period afterward.  The release of this picture, at the time, “created no small stir and division amongst the people,” with the media crying “Lo, here!” and antagonists of the Church calling “Lo, there!” and others “contending” that the Church had not been very transparent and how could they not tell us members about it earlier (JS-H 1:5).

 

I had heard stories about Joseph’s seer stone during my lifetime.  With a bit of research, one could have easily found references to the seer stone.  For example, in an Ensign article from 1993, Elder Russell M. Nelson quotes David Whitmer’s description of how Joseph used the seer stone: “Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man” (Ensign, July 1993, lds.org).

 

I’m sure someone might take such a description and immediately scoff at how strange and primitive it must have been to see such a thing.  On one level, I suppose I can understand such a reaction by people living in these “enlightened” times.  But upon reflection is the above description any more odd then a person sleeping with their phone in order to feel “connected” at all times?  Just a thought.  Anyway, in terms of Joseph Smith using the Urim and Thummim and the seer stone, I wasn’t put off by these descriptions.  They were interesting to me in terms of method, but my testimony of the Book of Mormon is based on the spiritual confirmation I received initially after asking the Lord about it in prayer and continue to receive even today from the Holy Ghost.

 

Nevertheless, as we read Section 28 today, a new perspective came to mind for me.  I recalled the picture I had seen of the seer stone and I began to contemplate this image and to think about how nondescript the stone is.  This picture of the seer stone was released in August of last year.  As can been seen, the stone is egg shaped; mostly chocolate brown in color with lighter brown swirls.  While it doesn’t look like any old rock, it doesn’t particularly look overly unique either.  And this is what brought me to my newfound insight.  Because there isn’t anything overly unique about the size, shape, coloring and character of the seer stone Joseph had, I now have a better understanding of how Satan deceived Hiram Page into thinking that he now had a stone just like Joseph’s.  When Satan caused Hiram’s stone to function in general terms like Joseph’s, I better understand how Hiram could have been fooled into thinking that he was receiving revelation for the Church just like Joseph and started passing off the things he was writing from his stone as general church revelations.

 

My new insight into Section 28 is a reminder that Satan is, as President James E. Faust described, “the greatest imitator, the master deceiver, the arch counterfeiter, and the greatest forger ever in the history of the world” (Ensign, May 2003, 51).  From the moment Joseph Smith knelt in the grove we now describe as “sacred,” Satan has been using all his power to try and stop the work of God from rolling forth (see JS-H 1:15-16).  Why not attempt to undermine the authority of the Prophet by deceiving one of the eight witnesses with a similar stone that appeared to work in much the same manner as Joseph’s?  It is important to remember that while in some cases the devil rages “in the hearts of the children of men, and [stirs] them up to anger against that which is good”, he also seeks to “pacify, and lull [us] away into carnal security” (2 Nephi 28:20-21, emphasis added).  In using a stone that he convinced Hiram Page was just like Joseph Smith’s, the devil attempted to lead the fledgling Church members “carefully down to hell” (ibid, vs. 21).

 

As the master devil Screwtape taught his apprentice Wormwood, “doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. … It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. … Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts” (The Screwtape Letters, [1962], 56, emphasis added).

 

The importance of remaining on the Lord’s side of the line and constantly seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost is so important.  President Faust cautioned that “in the future the opposition from Satan will be both more subtle and more open. While in some ways it may be more blatant, it will be masked with greater sophistication and cunning. We will need greater spirituality to perceive all the forms of evil and greater strength to resist it” (Ensign, May 2003, 52).  Nearly 13 years later, we are living in that future.  Sin is everywhere masked in subtle packaging, but also blatantly thrust in front of our faces through advertisements, movies, music, Internet and in so many other mediums and methods.

 

May we always strive to beware of the counterfeit stones that Satan attempts to place in our lives.  As President Faust reminded us, “Each of us has moral agency, and the gift of the Holy Ghost will sharpen our impressions of what is right and wrong, true and false. It is the responsibility of the prophets of God to teach the word of God, not to spell out every jot and tittle of human conduct. If we are conscientiously trying to avoid not only evil but the very appearance of evil, we will act for ourselves and not be acted upon” (Ensign, May 2003, 51).