From: Francis Harper
wbfrmsup@iowatelecom.net
Francis Harper Message for 11/30/2018
Dear Ones,
I was impressed with the recent letter from Andrew Strom and his thoughts on restoration. He is not the only one who has recognized the need to return to what some have called the Old Jerusalem gospel; the unadulterated gospel of the Kingdom.
There are more than 100,000 denominations, or versions of the gospel being taught and embraced as truth on the earth today. It has become a mass of confusion. Jesus prayed that his believers would all be one “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21).
In the early spring of 1820, Joseph Smith, Jr., at age 14, went to the woods to pray. He was confused as to which of all the denominations was right and which he should join. He wrote: “at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong” (Joseph Smith Tells His Own Story, page 6).
Two personages appeared to him in a vision similar to that of Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 7:55-56). “One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, (pointing to the other) This is My Beloved Son, hear Him.” Joseph asked: “which of all the sects was right. I was answered that I must join none of them . . . they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrine the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof” (Ibid: page 5-6).
Later Joseph was told by an angel that God had a work for him to do, and his name should be had for good and evil, among all nations, kindreds and tongues; or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people” (Ibid, page 11). Joseph’s work was to restore the gospel to the earth as it was in the beginning. This work was inaugurated on April 6, 1830.
Joseph was not the only one told not to join any of the many Christian denominations. When Bakht Singh, foremost Christian evangelist and church planter in India of the 20th century, surrendered his life to the Lord on April 4, 1932, he heard a still, small voice saying to him, I accept you for my service on three conditions; 1) withdraw all your claims to your father’s property, 2) Do not join any society [denomination of Christianity] but serve all people equally, wherever I send you, 3) Do not make your own plans, but let me lead you daily. (Koshy, T.E.. Brother Bakht Singh of India.OM Books. Secunderabad, India. 2003. 113, 137).
The church restored to the earth on April 6, 1830, was the church of Jesus Christ in its original pristine form. But it too has become “a tangle of God’s ideas and man’s ideas all mixed together,” with the exception of a faithful remnant “whose numbers were few and their dominions small. Nevertheless, the church of the Lamb of God who were the saints of God were also upon all the face of the earth.” See 1 Nephi 3:226-228.
On June 16, 2003, I shared this testimony with Ram Baral: “I believe the Restoration Branch Movement is the best depository of the gospel on the earth today.” I was puzzled by the word depository (a place of safe-keeping). I had never used it in this context before. The Holy Spirit had prompted me to utilize this word. Our Nepalese brother, Ram Baral, was baptized three months later on September 20, 2003. Three years later during the long journey to Kathmandu, Nepal, I read on page 89 of the book Nepal and the Gospel of God: “In the early days after Christ’s resurrection and ascension, the disciples called this message the Deposit and the good news. In the Lord’s own creative way, he had confirmed the truth; The gospel of Jesus Christ as it is taught in the Restoration Branches is the best version of the “everlasting gospel” on the earth today. See Revelation 14:6.
My Love to All,
Francis Harper
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Restoration
This message on Restoration was prompted by some thoughts written by a non-Restorationist, Andrew Strom, who lives in New Zealand. He wrote: “Imagine a massive slab of rock, which is like the foundation that the original apostles laid in the early church. Then imagine 2000 years worth of all kinds of structures being bolted onto this foundation; a huge hodge-podge of structures that has taken many hundreds of years to erect; a tangle of God’s ideas and man’s ideas all mixed together.
“What we need to do, in essence, is to take a bunch of bulldozers and a wrecking crew and scrape this huge unwieldy tangle off the rock, so we can see the original foundation underneath; in its original pristine form. “And what do we find when we get back to the original thing? We find love and freedom and simplicity of the most rare and precious kind. We find a group of people without pretension who loved God and each other with all their hearts.
“These people did not have to worry about church boards, seminaries, building funds, denominations, creeds, rituals, TV preachers. None of these things had been invented yet. These people simply loved God and loved each other. And everything else flowed out of that. There was a child-like quality to their Christianity that we need to get back to. And if we are willing to leave the ‘junk’ behind I think we can.
“Just imagine for a moment that a group of people could be found who walked with God with a pure heart. Imagine the love, joy and peace that these people could walk in if they forget all the stuff of man and simply focused on Him.
“Man has a deep longing to see a people who live in true harmony and love. This is the essence of what was lost in Eden. And we all have an inbuilt longing to return to it somehow. If people ever see the real thing, they will surely respond.
“In all his dealings with men, what God has really been wanting to re-establish is His simple yet profound relationship with Adam in the garden. This was when the two of them walked together in the ‘cool of the evening’, communing with one another like the closest of friends. God has wanted to see this relationship restored, and through Jesus there is a way.”
I believe Andrew Strom has caught a glimpse of the vision of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, who prophesied: “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand(s) of his saints” (Jude 1:14, Revelation 1:7). “And the Lord said unto Enoch, as I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfill the oath which I made unto you concerning the children of Noah; . . . that a remnant of his seed should always be found among all nations, while the earth shall stand” (Genesis 7:58 IV). “And the day shall come that the earth shall rest . . . And great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve. . . . And righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth . . . to gather out mine own elect from the four quarters of the earth unto a place which I shall prepare . . . and it shall be called Zion; a New Jerusalem. Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there” (Genesis 7: 67-71 IV).
The restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ is not the ultimate restoration the Lord is seeking. He has said: “This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Doctrine and Covenants 22:23-b). Each of us need to be restored to the innocence of our childhood, “for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).
“Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men, and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; and thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God” (Mosiah 11:187-188).
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