✨ Joseph Smith, Paul, and the True Voice of Christ
✨
Joseph Smith, Paul, and the True Voice of Christ
🪔 When Two Men I Love Don’t Line Up
I’ve always loved Joseph Smith.
His courage, his searching, his willingness to ask the questions no one else dared.
And I’ve always loved Paul —
the man who took beatings, shipwrecks, prisons — and still said, “Rejoice.”
So when I began hearing that Paul might have twisted the gospel… well, that rattled me.
How could Joseph, a prophet who saw the heavens open, speak so lovingly of a man some now call a false teacher?
Let’s talk about it honestly.
📜 Joseph’s Description of Paul
In early Nauvoo, Joseph Smith gave an unusual discourse.
He said he had seen the Apostle Paul:
“A small man, dark hair, large nose, sharp face, a whining voice — except when lifted by the Spirit, when it became as the roar of a lion.”
That account appears in the Joseph Smith Papers (Jan 5, 1841 – William Clayton report).
Some scholars think Joseph drew on the old Acts of Paul, others think it was visionary.
Either way, Joseph didn’t mock Paul — he admired him.
He even noted parallels between their missions: both called by vision, both rejected by established religion, both testifying of Christ despite persecution.
So — if Joseph loved Paul, how do we square that with what we now see in Paul’s writings?
⚖️ The Christ Test: Weighing the Words of Paul
| Jesus’s Teaching | Paul’s Version | Result |
|---|---|---|
| “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) | “You are not under the law, but under grace.” (Rom 6:14) | ⚠️ Softens obedience. |
| “Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter.” (Matt 7:21) | “Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved.” (Rom 10:9) | ⚠️ Replaces doing with declaring. |
| “By their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matt 7:16) | “I magnify mine office… I labored more abundantly.” (Rom 11:13; 1 Cor 15:10) | ⚠️ A bit too self-referential. |
Paul shines when he speaks of charity — 1 Corinthians 13 is pure light.
But other times he sounds like a man wrestling with his own darkness, arguing theology instead of living beatitude.
🕊️ Joseph’s Role: Prophet, Not Idol
The Spirit keeps whispering:
Joseph Smith never told us to follow him.
He said, “Follow the Holy Ghost, which will show you all things.”
So maybe Joseph’s admiration for Paul wasn’t about endorsing every line — it was about recognizing that God can use even rough instruments to move His work forward.
Remember this pattern:
Moses struck the rock when he shouldn’t have.
Jonah ran the other direction.
Peter denied Christ, then became the rock of faith.
God uses imperfect tools to carve perfect ends.
🌾 The Middle Way: Love Both, Worship Neither
Here’s what I feel deep down:
Joseph Smith and Paul are both in the story — but they’re not the center of it.
Christ is.
Joseph restored, Paul preached, but only Jesus redeems.
When we test every teaching against the living words of the Savior, the fog clears.
It doesn’t mean we discard Paul — it means we translate him back through the Spirit that gave the Sermon on the Mount.
Even the Nemenhah echo this:
“Faith is proven in works, and to act in righteousness is the sacrifice of the Peacemaker.”
— Book of Mohrhohnahyah 7:12–15 ✔ VERIFIED
That line undoes centuries of “faith without works.”
It brings us back to Christ’s living balance — believe, then do.
🔆 Finding Truth in All Things
Truth isn’t found in Paul or in Joseph alone — it flows through Christ, the Living Word.
Every light we see in prophets or apostles must be verified by the Haymehnay, the Holy Ghost within.
The Nemenhah teach:
“The Peacemaker is the Giver of all truth, and the Haymehnay confirmeth all that is true in every nation and tongue.”
— Book of Mohrhohnahyah 9:11–12 ✔ VERIFIED
That means we can search all things — from Paul’s letters to Joseph’s revelations — and still come home to the same Source.
Truth doesn’t fear comparison; it shines brighter when tested.
When we confirm all things through the Haymehnay, the Spirit of Truth, we stop chasing personalities and start hearing the One Voice that unites them all — the Peacemaker Himself.
🔥 My Honest Take
Paul had brilliance and blindness.
Joseph had light and limits.
Both men point somewhere higher than themselves.
Maybe Joseph’s vision of Paul wasn’t meant to validate every doctrine — maybe it was heaven’s way of showing him (and us) that even the rough-voiced little man from Tarsus was still loved of God.
The key isn’t deciding who’s “good” or “bad.”
It’s learning to hear the true Voice through the noise.
That Voice still says:
“Come unto Me. Keep My commandments. Love one another.”
Everything else — Paul, Joseph, me, you — is commentary.
🌤️ How to Hear the True Voice Again
Read the red letters first. Let Jesus’s own words reset your compass.
Compare all prophets to the Master’s pattern. (John 7:18)
Seek direct revelation. “Ask, and ye shall receive.” (3 Nephi 27:28)
Do what He says today, not just what He said long ago. (2 Nephi 31–32)
Love the messengers —but listen for the Message.
🙏 Final Thought
I can honor Joseph’s vision, appreciate Paul’s courage, and still bow only to Christ.
He is the fountain; every prophet is a cup.
The true work of the disciple is to drink deeply, then go to the Source and ask:
“Is this Thy word, Lord?”
The Holy Ghost — what the Nemenhah call the Haymehnay — is Heaven’s confirming fire.
It burns away confusion and leaves only truth.
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:
and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” — John 14:21
Now here’s the deeper layer the Spirit keeps teaching me:
Those commandments are not just the old laws of stone — they are the living words Christ speaks to you personally.
When the Savior whispers a prompting, a correction, or a mission, that is a commandment.
When He says, “Go forgive her,” or “Call that friend,” or “Be still,” that is His law for that day.
The Pharisees had scrolls full of rules.
The modern Church has handbooks thicker than the Bible.
But the commandments of Christ are not bureaucracy — they are relationship.
“For the word of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” — 2 Nephi 32:3
When you walk in that personal guidance, you fulfill the law as He fulfilled it — by love.
He will walk beside you, teach you, correct you, and manifest Himself to you continually.
That’s what the commandments truly are.
That’s what it means to love Him.
And that — more than anything — is the living gospel Paul and Joseph were both reaching for.
It’s the one the Peacemaker is still offering, right now, to you and me. 🌾🕊️
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