Restoration Archive – författare

This volume contains lectures and other important material including the Prayer for Covenant, and the Answer and Covenant that were received from the Lord and first offered to the Gentiles during 2017, which year marked not only the establishment of the Lord's Covenant again on the Earth, but also the initial completion of the project to recover, correct and canonize the Book of Mormon as Scripture.

We face the same test as all others have ever faced from the days of Adam down to the present. The conflict is perpetual, and the same battle continues from age to age. Humility is absolutely required to progress. The more we think we understand, the less willing we are to receive more. Joseph Smith said, "It is the constitutional disposition of mankind to set up stakes and bounds to the works and ways of the Almighty" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 320). He also said, "I never heard of a man being damned for believing too much but they are damned for unbelief"(TPJS, p. 374). No matter how much you believe you know, humility allows you to learn more. We must voluntarily continue to progress; if we don't, we accept voluntary damnation.

Joseph was a restorer. The moment Joseph and Hyrum were killed, the world began to lose light. The pace at which light is now being lost among the various Christian sects has accelerated. But a new restoration has begun, and a new dispensation of the gospel has opened. Whether the light now offered to us will achieve anything more than came in Joseph's time remains an unanswered question. The Lord cannot force us to receive Him; He can only offer. We must accept.

The Book of Mormon gives a blueprint of the necessary steps for the Gentiles to take for them to become numbered with the "remnant" of the Lord's people and entitled to possess the promised land as their inheritance. The acceptance of the Book of Mormon as a Covenant and a standard by a small group of believers on September 2, 2017 and the first offering of the Lord's Covenant the following day went largely unnoticed by the rest of the world. Although the work of the Father had already commenced by that time, the greater part of the Gentiles had, and continues to have, little interest in it. They are not and will not be numbered among the Lord's remnant people because they refuse to receive the Covenant.

We are all allowed to pursue a relationship with God apart from others. There is no associated obligation to join or support any church. Baptism in preparation for receiving the Covenant, as well as the administration of Covenant itself, are offered to everyone free of charge, worldwide. Everyone is entirely free to reject anything offered by the Lord. There is no compulsion. If you are not persuaded to take the step, then don't take it. Any reservation will only lead to difficulties later. Everyone should make their own prayerful decision about whether to accept the Covenant.

I invite you to carefully review the material contained in this volume. Should you decide you would like to accept the Book of Mormon and receive the Covenant yourself, instructions on how to do so are contained in this volume.

September 1, 2020

Denver C. Snuffer, Jr.

Sandy, Utah

This collection of papers, talks, and interviews taken from 2014 to 2016 has been arranged in a single volume. It is a daunting task to clarify the Restoration. It is beyond man's ability to complete the Restoration, but this collection moves God's objective forward. 

In August 2014, I was invited to present a paper entitled "Cutting Down the Tree of Life to Build a Wooden Bridge" at the Sunstone Symposium at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The presentation came between the ninth and tenth lectures of the 40 Years in Mormonism series that occupied a full year from September 2013 to September 2014. This volume includes that paper from 2014, together with other lectures, papers, and transcripts of interviews and extemporaneous comments given or recorded during 2015 and 2016. 

I have been discussing the Restoration through Joseph Smith. The focus of the Restoration was not intended to end by establishing a New Testament church. It was intended to accomplish something ancient. We are to return to the religion as it was in the beginning. We know almost nothing right now of the full scope of the original body of teachings, revelations, ordinances, and rites. Even all that came through Joseph is but a glimpse. Joseph merely hinted at some of the remaining parts of the Restoration required to walk back to what was here at the beginning. We can't even imagine all the Lord has planned.  

Joseph Smith predicted that the Gospel as practiced before Moses (among the Patriarchal fathers) would necessarily return. It is impossible to re-establish that earliest form of the Gospel of Christ with its associated teachings, rites, ordinances, covenants, and organization if we insist that it fit into our current view of religion. We think so many things are necessary that are not, and we think many necessary things cannot possibly be required. 

There is something now moving forward which is intended to become God's family on earth. It is intended to become something far greater than the apostate, fallen, and corrupt systems of this world. It remains an open question whether this generation can accept what God asks and then freely offers. Throughout history, most of mankind has rejected it. But those who will accept it will be able to live together in peace. 

Acceptance begins with the Doctrine of Christ, which teaches us that we need to repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and learn to become "one" with each other. That is a formidable challenge. It will require patience and kindness towards one another. 

The system the Lord intends to restore was not fully developed while Joseph was still here. It is difficult for anyone to reconstruct what the Lord's original objective was. In the wisdom of the Lord, we are not given enough information to complete that process. The path is guarded. It will not be passed by those who just invent claims. It will require a temple to be restored-a temple which the Lord Himself plans, has built according to His commandment, and then accepts and visits. 

There is a lot of work left to be done if the Restoration is to be completed in our generation. Much will be required of us. But even with our best efforts, God alone will be the one who restores the original and complete gospel. 

The gospel is true but only here in part. The Restoration is true but not completed. Joseph is what he claimed to be-and probably a lot more. If you study the matter out and take the time to look into it, you are going to find answers, and very often those answers are quite glorious -glorious beyond anything that you can imagine. God's promises are glorious indeed. They will all be vindicated. 

I testify that Joseph had a work to do, and he did it. It was an introduction for something far more glorious now underway. It will include the establishment of Zion. It's going to happen. 

May 10, 2020 Denver

2017 was a watershed year in the renewed Restoration of the gospel and the Lord's promise to bring again Zion. The Lord continued to pour out light and knowledge the following year, 2018, about a great many important topics, including the priesthood, unity, the divine nature of our heavenly parents, the great hope of the Restoration, the Covenant, and the necessity of seeking further light and knowledge from God. This compilation of lectures, papers, and Q&A sessions addresses these topics as they relate to the Father's work in fulfillment and vindication of His promises about the building of New Jerusalem and the establishment of Zion.

We should be certain we will see Zion-because it's been promised, and it's been prophesied from the beginning of time. When father Adam prophesied (being overcome by the Spirit in the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman) and foretold what would happen to his posterity down to the latest generations, Zion was promised. And therefore, from the days of Adam on, all of the holy prophets have looked forward to that as the essential moment in the history of the world-because Christ will come and will redeem the world. It will be the end of the wicked; it will be the beginning of something far better. That's been the hope. That's been the promise. That's been what they've looked forward to.

I wonder how many of us share that same longing, that same hope, that same desire that Adam had in the beginning.

We have an opportunity. We have a bonafide, actual offer from God to allow us to be that generation to fulfill the promises. But we have the freedom of choice that allows us to elect to fail. We can also be severed, contentious, agents of disruption, and choose to discourage and break the hearts of our ancestors, just as generations before us have done. Today there are those living who would willingly accept the challenge to repent and follow God if we can send the Lord's invitation to them in humility.

Zion won't be composed of people who are presided over by anyone other than Christ Himself. As between one another, they're brothers, and they're sisters, and they're equals-having one heart, having one mind, and having all things in common-because there is no one who can exert control or authority over another. That's what we seek; that's what we're working for. However clumsy, however awkward, however difficult it may be for siblings to get along as they grow up through their childhood and adolescence, that's exactly how the people that will form Zion are going to begin.

We need to be willing to accept truth from wherever it comes. Some generation, at some point, still has a glorious, promised completion to anticipate.  Why not now? Why not us? All that is required is to repent and return.

As we move along the path towards what is inevitable at this point (that is, the coming of the Lord and the establishment of a place of peace-a city of Zion and a New Jerusalem), more information needs to be in the possession of those who will find themselves there.

The culmination of the ages will require us all to face the conflicts, the unease, the anxiety, or (what the Lord described as) the distress of nations with perplexity (see Luke 12:17 RE). The paradoxes and perplexities will require us all to charge ahead-like Job's horse-to the battle. A final conflict may still be comparatively afar, but it is coming. It can be seen in the news, media, politics, and society of our day. It creeps ever closer and is even now only held at bay by the providence of heaven.

This is a time to prepare. We are now in a season to reclaim and restore incomplete gospel understanding. These are precious moments that need to be well spent.

November 30, 2020 Denver C. Snuffer, Jr. Sandy, Utah

Welcome to the Denver Snuffer Podcast! This volume includes transcripts of episodes 100-150, all but one of which were released during 2020 and 2021. These episodes cover a wide range of topics, including:

• Love

• Forgiving Others

• Renewal

• Nature

• Zion People

• The Sabbath Day

• The True Vine

• God Forgives

• One Heart First

• Precious

• Numbered Among

• Foolish and Wise

• Marriage

• Being Harmless

• Adoption

• Equality

• Commune with Christ

• Government of God

• Shem

• Testimony of Jesus

Although these podcast episodes contain much information about the topics addressed, the reader should not assume they include everything there is to know or learn about these topics. The podcasts should rightly be considered as starting points or brief introductions that can excite...inquiry and diligent search and [arouse your] minds to inquire after the knowledge of God (Lectures on Faith 2:56). Readers are always encouraged to study the Scriptures with great care and use them as they were intended to be used: as a Urim and Thummim capable of revealing knowledge about the character and glory of God and to help one obtain faith in God and power...to behold him face to face (ibid. vs.55). 

Mankind cannot believe the Bible to be true and then rule out the possibility that God is going to do something preliminary to His Second Coming to prepare the world. That message is embedded right into both the Old and the New Testament. The purpose of the prophecies of the New Testament and the rescuing of mankind by the Lord is something that necessitated a return of the original authority directly from Heaven. That, in fact, has begun. In its recommencement, there are a number of prophecies that have to be fulfilled in order for the Lord to keep His promises before His return in glory to judge the world. God not only intends to keep those promises, but He is in the present act of keeping them.

The audio version of the Denver Snuffer Podcast is available for free at denversnufferpodcast.com.

The first and most complete religion belonged to Adam and Eve. They lived with God, and after being cast out, they retained a memory of living in God''s presence. Adam taught the first eight patriarchs born after him the Religion of the Fathers, which involved direct communion, contact, and connection between mankind and God. It enabled the faithful to hear directly from the Lord His promise of eternal life, to seal them by covenant into His Heavenly Family.

Despite nearly universal apostasy and rebellion against God while Adam lived, the line of first or Patriarchal Fathers preserved the true religion. Their religion was Adam''s religion, and their understanding reached back to the Garden of Eden. They experienced visions, ascended into Heaven, obtained promises of exaltation, and were transformed by their experiences from men into angels of God.

After Shem (Melchizedek), an apostasy lasted until Abraham. Although he was raised by an idolater, Abraham searched for the true God of Heaven. He "sought for the blessings of the Fathers," the very thing Malachi prophesies will return before the great and dreadful return of the Lord. Like Adam (at the beginning) and his descendant, Enoch, Abraham was caught up into Heaven and received a tutorial endowment from God. The covenant of the first Fathers was renewed and conferred upon him by Melchizedek, thereby restoring continuity back to Adam.

Abraham represents the key Patriarchal Father prophesied of in Malachi. Abraham not only renewed the covenant of the Fathers (including Noah and Enoch), but also, through the Abrahamic covenant, God established Abraham as the new head of the family of God on Earth.

The Book of Abraham has become a battleground because it is so important for our salvation. Recovering the Religion of the Fathers, becoming of one heart with the Fathers, and fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi are directly connected to Abraham. The more we can learn of Abraham, the more we can know of the covenant with the Fathers spoken of by Malachi, and those same blessings of the Fathers that will be administered again before the end. We can, if faithful, obtain all that the original Fathers received from God at the beginning.

Therefore, any book written by Abraham should be priceless to us.

The Lord''s "strange act" is approaching completion. The promises made to the Fathers are being vindicated. The Restoration has recommenced, and if we are faithful, it will not be paused or interrupted again. Although Israel''s numbers are few, there have never been great numbers willing to sacrifice everything for God.

The Religion of the Fathers presents a strong defense of the authenticity of the Book of Abraham as translated through Joseph Smith Jr. in 1835, and subsequently published in the Times & Seasons in 1842. It also presents an expanded view of the Restoration of the gospel, its ancient roots, current covenants, and prophesied future.

Topics covered include Christianity, miracles, heaven, hell, the apocalypse, truth, the Bible, the devil, historical evidence, Lectures on Faith, the Ten Commandments, signs of the times, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the law of consecration, the Joseph Smith Papers, Joseph''s journal, the translation process, the destiny of the Christian church, polygamy, saving grace, and many more.