Refer your friends to join The LDS Daily WOOL (Words Of Our Leaders)
4/17/05
"This is how Joseph Smith's First Vision blesses our own personal
lives, the lives of families, and eventually the whole human family-we
come to believe in Jesus Christ through the testimony of the Prophet
Joseph Smith. Prophets and apostles throughout the history of mankind
have had divine manifestations similar to Joseph's. Moses saw God
face-to-face and learned that he was a son of God 'in the similitude
of [His] Only Begotten' see Moses
1:1-6
. The
Apostle Paul testified that the resurrected Jesus Christ appeared to
him on the road to Damascus and made Paul one of His great
missionaries see Acts
26:9-23 . Hearing Paul's
witness of his heavenly vision during the trial at Caesarea, the
powerful King Agrippa admitted, 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a
Christian' Acts
26:28 .
"And there were many other ancient prophets who also bore powerful
testimony of Christ. All of these manifestations, ancient and modern,
lead those who believe to the divine source of all righteousness and
hope-to God, our Heavenly Father, and to His Son, Jesus Christ."
- Dieter F. Uchtdorf, " The
Fruits of the First Vision ,"
General Conference, April 2005
5/10/05
"But Joseph Smith did not go into the grove seeking to become a
prophet or to found a church! His operating assumption in the spring
of 1820 was that one of the contending sects was probably right and it
was his task to find out which one he should join. God's reply may
seem to some harsh in its indictment. Parenthetically, this should
remind us that in a sense, God cares little for cosmetic 'public
relations' and everything for human relations! The theophany at
Palmyra displayed God's perfection in the attributes of truth and
love. He loved us enough to appear, and having appeared, to tell the
truth. Joseph Smith was equally truthful in faithfully reporting that
episode; he could do nothing else since, as he said, he knew he had
had a vision and God knew that he knew. Inasmuch as we 'know' on our
own scale of action, we cannot deny, by our silence, what must be
shared with others as our personal Palmyra, our tiny theophany." - Neal
A. Maxwell, " Talk
of the Month ," New
Era, May 1971, p. 30
10/2/05
"We who have a testimony of the Gospel believe that in that Sacred
Grove, on that beautiful spring morning, the Father and Son actually
appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and this is the basis of every
testimony and belief which we have, and were it not that we believe
implicitly and without doubt in this testimony of the First Vision, we
should not be led to believe any of the other principles of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ which have been revealed through the Prophet Joseph
Smith.
"Because of this testimony which we have, and this feeling which is
within our hearts, our minds, and our souls, we are led to the
conclusion that our great responsibility is to honor and reverence God
our Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ." - Thomas W. Muir,
"Conference Report," October 1955, General Priesthood Meeting, p.81
7/6/07
"God has spoken to Joseph Smith for the purpose of blessing all of
God's children with His mercy and love, even in times of uncertainties
and insecurities, of wars and rumors of wars, of natural and personal
disasters. The Savior said, 'Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended
towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive' 3
Nephi 9:14. And all who
accept this invitation will be 'encircled about with the matchless
bounty of his love' Alma
26:15.
"Through our faith in the personal witness of the Prophet Joseph and
the reality of the First Vision, through study and prayer, deep and
sincere, we will be blessed with a firm faith in the Savior of the
world, who spoke to Joseph 'on the morning of a beautiful, clear day,
early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty' Joseph
Smith—History 1:14." - Dieter
F. Uchtdorf, "The
Fruits of the First Vision,"
Ensign CR, April 2005
6/20/09
“[The] first revelation, often
referred to as ‘the First Vision,’ had a far-reaching effect. First,
it was a flat contradiction of the assumption that revelation had
ceased and that God no longer communicated with man. Second, it
reaffirmed the truth that man indeed was created in the image and
after the likeness of God. Third, it left no doubt and verified that
the Father and the Son are two separate and distinct persons, being
one only in unity of purpose and of will.” - Henry
D. Taylor, “Revelation,” Ensign CR, May 1978, p. 38
8/11/12
The appearance of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ to the boy
prophet is the greatest event that has occurred in this world since
the resurrection of the Master. As the restored Church of Jesus
Christ, we humbly and gratefully bear this witness to all men. This
message is a world message. It is the truth, intended for all of our
Father’s children. Some three million members of the Church throughout
the world bear this solemn testimony. - Ezra Taft Benson, "Life
is Eternal," Ensign (CR) June 1971