Joseph Smith Biography

Without Disclosing My True Identity

The revelation goes on to say in verses 21 and 23:

And without the ordinances thereof [meaning of the house/temple], and the

authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men

in the flesh; for without this [the ordinances and authority of the priesthood] no

man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.

Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and

sought diligently to sanctify his people [which included all the women] that they

might behold the face of God; but they hardened their hearts and could not

endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was

kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in

the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory.

The Lesser Priesthood of Ordinances

Here is the most profound part that the LDS/Mormon people miss and do not
understand (verse 25):

Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also.

In other words, the people would not know a fullness of his glory. This means
they would not know God as he really is; but they would have known if they had seen
him face-to-face. The very priesthood that the men thought was of such great
importance was NEVER a part of what Moses gave to the Israelites, just like it was never
a part of what Joseph gave to his people. The “latter-day Moses” did exactly what the
ancient Moses did: he gave them a lesser priesthood that would never allow them to
“behold the face of God,” i.e., knowing his mysteries.

And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the

ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel. Which gospel is the gospel

of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of

carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue

with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, whom God

raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb. For he

was baptized while he was yet in his childhood, and was ordained by the

angel of God at the time he was eight days old unto this power [referring to

the power and authority of the higher priesthood mentioned above], to overthrow

the kingdom of the Jews, and to make straight the way of the Lord before the

face of his people, to prepare them for the coming of the Lord, in whose hand

is given all power.^27

The lesser priesthood, which included baptism, ordinances, and religions, was a
consequence of the “wrath of God” and was never—nor shall it ever be—a part of the
“higher priesthood,” i.e., knowing the mysteries of God. Joseph told the people that John
was baptized as a child and received the power and authority of the priesthood when he was
only eight days old. How can an infant have the priesthood? The council who heard Joseph