Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration | |
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Directed by | T. C. Christensen Gary Cook |
Written by | Gary Cook |
Produced by | Ron Munns |
Starring | Nathan Mitchell Dustin Harding Tayva Patch Rick Macy |
Cinematography | T. C. Christensen |
Edited by | Wynn Hougaard |
Music by | Merrill Jenson |
Distributed by | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
Release date |
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Running time | 60 minutes |
Language | English |
Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration is a 2005 film that focuses on some of the events during the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, which was both filmed and distributed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The film was shown in the Legacy Theater of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building from its opening on December 17, 2005 until early 2015, and opened in several LDS Church visitors' centers on December 24, 2005.
The film used the digital intermediate process. [1] In March 2011, the church released a revised cut of the film, which is available to watch in select visitors' centers and online. [2] Additionally, the church has released the film in several languages including ASL, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese. The film is available for free on YouTube, on the LDS Church's official channel. [3]
In a prologue, Mary, a recent Mormon convert, has traveled over 4,000 miles to Nauvoo, Illinois, with her father to meet Joseph Smith. Her father asks if she intends to find out whether Smith is a prophet of God. Mary responds that she already knows he is, and that her father can know too by reading what he wrote. Mary's father begins to read an issue of Times and Seasons and the Book of Mormon.
In 1813, young Joseph Smith suffers a severe injury and subsequent infection to his left leg. He undergoes an experimental operation to remove the infected parts of the bone, thus avoiding the need for amputation.
In the spring of 1820, Smith receives his First Vision of God and Jesus Christ, in which he is told not to join any existing churches, as he will be called to start his own. Three years later, the Angel Moroni tells him where to find the golden plates which will form the holy scriptures of this new church. Shortly thereafter, Joseph's eldest brother, Alvin, dies.
Smith meets and marries Emma Hale, against the objections of her parents. A few years later, Smith retrieves and translates the golden plates. During one session of translation, Smith and his scribe, Oliver Cowdery, pray to learn more about a particular doctrine. They receive a visitation from John the Baptist, who confers upon them the authority to baptize. Next is a visitation of Peter, James and John, who confer upon them the authority to organize the Church of Christ, which they do in April 1830. The nascent church suffers persecution and harassment, forcing a move to Kirtland, Ohio in 1836. While in Kirtland, Smith reveals that God wants them to build a temple. After it is finished and a meeting has been held, Smith and Cowdery see another vision where God accepts the temple. Other personages then appear and confer additional priesthood keys or authorities on them. Smith calls several men to travel and preach the gospel to the British Isles for the first time. During this time, Mary meets the missionaries and joins the church.
Despite the success of the finished temple and visions, Smith and many others are forced to move several more times to escape persecution, eventually ending up in Nauvoo, Illinois, where they build another temple. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum discover their old enemies are trying to get them to Carthage, Illinois to kill them. Joseph decides to confront them directly, telling Hyrum that if they go, they will not come back. Smith transfers his authority to his apostles, including Brigham Young.
On June 24, 1844, Smith, Hyrum, and two other men, John Taylor and Willard Richards mount their horses and ride through the town on the way out of town. Meanwhile, Mary and her father, who have just arrived in Nauvoo, attempt to follow the riders so that they can meet Smith, but give up when the riders pass out of town. Mary's father says, "We don't have to meet him to know that he is a prophet."
The Smith brothers report to the jail in Carthage, as requested, when men with guns force their way into the jail and kill them. The film ends with some of Smith's words from the Doctrine and Covenants: "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" [4]
The Deseret News reported in 2005 that production on the film "was rushed" in order to meet the church's 2005 bicentennial of Smith's birthday. [5]
The film has been shown at a number of the church's visitors' center locations, including at the Mesa Arizona, Laie Hawaii, Idaho Falls Idaho, Los Angeles California, Hamilton New Zealand, Oakland California, St. George Utah, Washington D.C., London England temples, along with the Historic Kirtland, Historic Nauvoo, Hill Cumorah, and Independence Missouri centers. It has also been shown at the Cove Fort, Liberty Jail and San Diego Mormon Battalion historic sites, along with the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial, and the Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters. [6]
The original film was released on DVD through the church's Distribution Services on October 1, 2010, as part of the DVD set "Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Visual Resource DVDs".
In March 2011, the church released a new version of the film. The revised cut is expected to help those unfamiliar with Smith's story understand it better than the original did. [7] The revisions to the film included a new narration given by Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, while 40 percent of the film is new content, and it is also five minutes shorter than the original. Because of the level of new content added, some new filming was required. [2] The revised film is available online, on the church's YouTube channel—Mormon Messages—and is available for download on their radio service website, the Mormon Channel. The revised film was shown in the Legacy Theater. [8] and at select church visitors' centers through early 2015. There are no plans to release the revised edition on DVD since it is available to download. [7]
The Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, editions of the book continue to be printed mainly by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ.
The Angel Moroni is an angel whom Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, reported as having visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823. According to Smith, the angel Moroni was the guardian of the golden plates buried near his home in western New York, which Latter Day Saints believe were the source of the Book of Mormon. An important figure in the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, Moroni is featured prominently in its architecture and art. Besides Smith, the Three Witnesses and several other witnesses also reported that they saw Moroni in visions in 1829.
In Mormonism, the endowment is a two-part ordinance (ceremony) designed for participants to become kings, queens, priests, and priestesses in the afterlife. As part of the first ceremony, participants take part in a scripted reenactment of the Biblical creation and fall of Adam and Eve. The ceremony includes a symbolic washing and anointing, and receipt of a "new name" which they are not to reveal to others except at a certain part in the ceremony, and the receipt of the temple garment, which Mormons then are expected to wear under their clothing day and night throughout their life. Participants are taught symbolic gestures and passwords considered necessary to pass by angels guarding the way to heaven, and are instructed not to reveal them to others. As practiced today in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the endowment also consists of a series of covenants that participants make, such as a covenant of consecration to the LDS Church. All LDS Church members who choose to serve as missionaries or participate in a celestial marriage in a temple must first complete the first endowment ceremony.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III, Sidney Rigdon, and James Strang. Several other titles have been associated with this office, including First Elder of the church, Presiding High Priest, President of the High Priesthood, Trustee-in-Trust for the church, Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator. Joseph Smith was known by all of these titles in his lifetime.
The Latter Day Saint movement is a religious movement within Christianity that arose during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century and that led to the set of doctrines, practices, and cultures called Mormonism, and to the existence of numerous Latter Day Saint churches. Its history is characterized by intense controversy and persecution in reaction to some of the movement's doctrines and practices and their relationship to mainstream Christianity. The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the different groups, beliefs, and denominations that began with the influence of Joseph Smith.
Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, and was killed with his brother at Carthage Jail where they were being held awaiting trial.
The Kirtland Temple is the first temple built by adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement, located in Kirtland, Ohio, and dedicated in March 1836. Joseph Smith, the movement's founder, directed the construction following a series of reported revelations, and the temple showcases a blend of Federal, Greek Revival, and Gothic Revival architectural styles. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1977. Prior to March 5, 2024, the temple was owned and operated by Community of Christ for over a century before ownership transferred to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Samuel Harrison Smith was a younger brother of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Samuel was a leader in his own right and a successful missionary. Smith is commonly regarded as the first Latter Day Saint missionary following the organization of the Church of Christ by his brother, Joseph. One of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates, Samuel Smith remained devoted to his church throughout his life.
The succession crisis in the Latter Day Saint movement occurred after the killing of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, on June 27, 1844.
William Wines Phelps was an American author, composer, politician, and early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement. He printed the first edition of the Book of Commandments that became a standard work of the church and wrote numerous hymns, some of which are included in the current version of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' hymnal. He was at times both close to and at odds with church leadership. He testified against Joseph Smith, providing evidence that helped persuade authorities to arrest Smith. He was excommunicated three times and rejoined the church each time. He was a ghostwriter for Smith. Phelps was called by Smith to serve as assistant president of the church in Missouri and as a member of the Council of Fifty. After Smith's death, Phelps supported Brigham Young, who was the church's new president.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, a temple is a building dedicated to being a house of God and is reserved for special forms of worship. A temple differs from a church meetinghouse, which is used for weekly worship services. Temples have been a significant part of the Latter Day Saint movement since early in its inception. Today, temples are operated by several Latter Day Saint denominations. The most prolific builder of temples of the Latter Day Saint movement is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS Church has 367 temples in various phases, which includes 197 dedicated temples, 5 scheduled for dedication, 49 under construction, 1 scheduled for groundbreaking, and 115 others announced. Several others within the movement have built or attempted to build temples. The Community of Christ operates one temple in the United States, which is open to the public and used for worship services, performances, and religious education. Other denominations with temples are the Apostolic United Brethren, the Church of Christ, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Polygamy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or plural marriage, is generally believed to have originated with the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. According to several of his associates, Smith taught that polygamy was a divine commandment and practiced it personally, by some accounts marrying more than 30 women, some of whom had existing marriages to other men. Evidence for Smith's polygamy is provided by the church's "sealing" records, affidavits, letters, journals, and diaries. However, until his death, Smith and the leading church quorums denied that he preached or practiced polygamy. Smith's son Joseph Smith III, his widow Emma Smith, and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints challenged the evidence and taught that Joseph Smith had opposed polygamy. They instead claimed that Brigham Young, the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, introduced plural marriage after Smith's death. In 1852, leaders of the Utah-based LDS Church publicly announced the doctrine of polygamy.
Isaac Morley was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement and a contemporary of both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. He was one of the first converts to Smith's Church of Christ. Morley was present at many of the early events of the Latter Day Saint movement, and served as a church leader in Ohio, Missouri, and Utah Territory.
Reynolds Cahoon was an early leader in Latter Day Saint movement and later, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was one of the inaugural members of the Council of Fifty, organized by Joseph Smith Jr in 1844.
In the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, an endowment refers to a gift of "power from on high", typically associated with the ordinances performed in Latter Day Saint temples. The purpose and meaning of the endowment varied during the life of movement founder Joseph Smith. The term has referred to many such gifts of heavenly power, including the confirmation ritual, the institution of the High Priesthood in 1831, events and rituals occurring in the Kirtland Temple in the mid-1830s, and an elaborate ritual performed in the Nauvoo Temple in the 1840s.
This is a chronology of Mormonism. In the late 1820s, Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, announced that an angel had given him a set of golden plates engraved with a chronicle of ancient American peoples, which he had a unique gift to translate. In 1830, he published the resulting narratives as the Book of Mormon and founded the Church of Christ in western New York, claiming it to be a restoration of early Christianity.
Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thousands of followers by the time of his death fourteen years later. The religion he founded is followed to the present day by millions of global adherents and several churches, the largest of which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the life and influence of Joseph Smith:
Lucy Smith Millikin was an American woman who was an early participant in the Latter Day Saint movement and a sister of Joseph Smith. She was the youngest child of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. Millikin joined the Church of Christ when it was organized in 1830, and then moved to Kirtland, Ohio with her family in 1831, where she assisted in the effort to build the Kirtland Temple. After fleeing persecution in Far West, Missouri, she settled in Nauvoo, Illinois. When baptism for the dead was first introduced into the church, Millikin was one of the first Latter Day Saints to participate in the practice. She then joined the Relief Society and served a mission with her husband, Arthur Millikin, in Maine. Millikin chose not to follow Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers west to Utah Territory, and was instead received into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (RLDS) in 1873, though she never became very involved in the church. She died in Colchester, Illinois in 1882, at the age of 61.