Seventeen (1822)Most Christians believe in a Christ and a God/“Heavenly Father” who desire to be
worshipped and revered. If Christ appeared today, in the same way that the Book of Mormon
conveyed his visitation among the Nephites, i.e., as a man descending out of the sky, how
would the people react? Of course, initially, they would wonder where he came from—
perhaps believing he had come from “heaven” or the place where his “Father” dwells.
If he came down and said that he was the one and only true God of this world, that
he was both “the Father and Son—And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of
heaven and of earth” (see Mosiah 15:1–5 below for full context)—what would people think?
Yet, this is precisely what is written in the Book of Mormon, the most correct of any book on
the earth in his day, according to Joseph. Christ taught Joseph, as he taught his ancient
apostles, “the kingdom of God is within you.”^21 He taught Joseph that this was the reason
why the ancient prophets told the people, “cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and
maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord”^22 and “Cease ye from man,
whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?”^23
The true prophets knew who the true God was, and he wasn’t the imagined god
that the religious leaders taught as doctrine that the people should worship and fear.
Joseph learned that true prophets were instructed to use the people’s pre-existing beliefs in
their God as a segue to try to turn their mental focus inward to a rational judgment and
minding of the only true god that they had ever known or had any part of—themselves and
their own common sense.
If the people had listened to the true prophets, they would have ignored claims of
priesthood leaders, religious gurus, or spiritual advisors about “God,” and would have
accepted guidance only from the “kingdom of God within.” This “kingdom” is nothing
more or less than a free-willed being’s ability to direct oneself, according to one’s own
internal guide, to whatever brings that person lasting happiness. If they would have rejected
religion (fantasy and fables) of every kind and if no one listened to anyone else but
themselves, then who could have organized and operated a religion?
Christ taught Joseph that the “God” who sits on the throne in the “kingdom of God
within” is the individual;^24 that no one has the right, not even Christ himself, to tell that God
what should be done to bring that powerful crowned being^25 (the individual) happiness. Jesus
gave as the two greatest commandments:
Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy might, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.^26If the people could be persuaded to love this God within (themselves) and then treat
everyone else like they do themselves, peace and happiness would prevail throughout the
world between every person.
“Being Saved” by Following Christ’s Words
The New Testament reports that Jesus taught something in public that made “many
of his disciples [leave him] and walk no more with him.”^27 After Jesus taught the true reality
of who he was, the vast majority of his followers left him. He told the Jews that he was the
only one^28 who could save them and, unless they listened to him and did what he said, “ye