Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration

Joseph Smith was the man through whom God restored His gospel. Joseph gave his whole life to the work of God. When he was 14 years old he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. From that day forward his focus was on restoring the gospel. Ultimately he was killed because of what he stood for. On June 27, 1844 Joseph Smith was murdered in Carthage, Illinois. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to grow and we owe the knowledge that we have to this wonderful man, Joseph Smith. A new movie recently came out highlighting events in the life of Joseph Smith and showing what he did to bring God's doctrine back to His children on earth. It's about 1 hour long and is a very touching film. We recommend that you watch it and we hope that you will feel the peace of the Spirit as you do so. Click here to watch this movie (or you can find it on radio.lds.org)

Nutrition: The Word of Wisdom

Mormons are often known as people who don't smoke or drink alcohol, coffee or tea. This is part of our church because of a revelation Joseph Smith received in about proper nutrition of the human body. This revelation was far ahead of its time and teaches about wisdom in taking care of our bodies. It came to be known as The Word of Wisdom. You can read the revelation here (Doctrine and Covenants Section 89). We believe that our bodies are gifts from Heavenly Father and that we should do all we can to take care of them and honor them. This doctrine that our bodies come from God is also the reason we avoid tattoos and excessive piercings. We believe that one of the main reasons we came to this earth was to gain a body. Our ultimate goal is to become like our Heavenly Father and we cannot do this without a physical body. He has a body that is perfected and glorified. Someday ours will be too and until then we must try and take care of it as best we can.

Whom Do We Worship?

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we believe that God, the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages. We call them the members of the Godhead. We revere all three but save true worship for God the Father. The amount of respect, awe, and appreciation that we give to the Savior may be termed to be worship, but as Bruce R. McConkie (a past leader of our church) taught, "worship in the true and saving sense is reserved for God the First, the Creator" (1982). We worship God in our temples, our churches, and our homes.
There are those who erroneously believe that we also worship Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith restored Christ's church and reorganized it in these latter days. We believe that he spoke with God the Father and Jesus Christ and was directed in how to organize this church. We honor him, revere him and are eternally grateful to him but we do not worship him.