Broken Fragments of Mormonism Joseph Smith Quote

 If we turn our attention to the present religious world, what do we see? men holding communion with God, and receiving revelations from God, verily nay! the heavens to them have become brass, and God's mouth is closed; nay worse; the idea of revelation is scouted by them, and those who would believe in it are branded as impostors; and they virtually cut themselves off from all communication with, or from, God, and can know nothing of or about God, "but what they know naturally, as brute beasts," as saith the apostle. What sort of a spectacle does the Christian church present at the present? Torn, and split up, divided, and disjointed by the fiery zeal of religious bigots, and hypocritical partizans [partisans], it presents a picture of ruin and desolation; like a forest torn by a mighty tempest, or uprooted by a furious whirlwind, that once stood in grandeur and majesty, and its beautiful foliage was admired by every observer; but now its withered leaves, its broken boughs, and shattered limbs, are the sad memorials of its overthrow and destruction. Or like some ancient palace that stood proudly aloof from other inferior buildings, magnificently adorned with all the beauty of ancient architecture; its towers, and columns, and statuary, and beauty, was the pride of princes, and its strength and fortresses bid defiance to the hand of the desolator; but the revolution of ages have despoiled the noble edifice; the corroding hand of time has destroyed its beauty, and all that is left of its former magnificence is here and there a few broken fragments, that very imperfectly shew [show] to the enquiring [inquiring] traveler the ruins of its former splendour [splendor], and ancient glory. So stood the church, once indeed beautiful, pure and intelligent;-clothed with the power and spirit of God; endowed with the gift of the Holy Ghost; possessed of prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, helps, governments, tongues, interpretations, gifts, visions, and the ministering of angels; having the heavens opened, the purposes of God unfolded, the future destiny of man made known, and "life and immortality brought to light." Basking in the beams of eternal truth, and holding communications with God and angels, it stood proudly erect, in the strength of Israel's God; it was sustained by the mighty hand of Jehovah, and was indeed "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners;" but ah! alas! a change has come over the dream; the flower has been nipt [nipped] in the bud; its glory has departed; the deadly influence of heresy has penetrated to its very vitals. The withering power of priestcraft has disrobed it of its beauty; and disjointed by sectarian strife, and schismatic influence, it lays in broken fragments scattered, rent, and disjointed; with nothing to point out its original, but the shattered remnants of its ancient glory, on which are scarcely traceable any of the marks of its former magnificence, or original grandeur. And how can it be otherwise? when men are destitute of revelations from God, and absolutely deny the principle.

Times and Seasons MARCH 15, 1842   p.136
http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v4n09.htm

Church Growth and Progress

       I find statistics about the growth of the Church interesting, especially comparisons between the time I was baptized and came to Utah for college with the present.  There is amazing progress.  Using statistics published 14 May 2022 in the Church News, in 1954-55 Church membership was well under 2 million, compared to the 2021 figure of 16.8 million.  We have moved from 9 to 170 dedicated temples.  In 1954 there were approximate 3,000 wards and branches, which has increased now to over 31,000 and the number of stakes has increased from just over 180 to about 3,500.
        While we probably never will have in this dispensation the majority of people as members, except perhaps in Utah, Tonga, and Samoa, there has been huge progress in achieving Nephi’s Book of Mormon prediction: “And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth...” (1 Nephi 14:12).

The Reverse Ministering Program

      We have discovered a possible new feature of the ministering program of the Church.  We call it Reverse Ministering.  It might be called into play in a situation in which persons who are assigned to minister to us by the Relief society or Elders Quorum have not contacted us for a long time.
      It works like this:
1. Learn who has the ministering assignment for ones self or family.
2. Reach out to them in person, by phone, or text, etc., with kindness and interest.
3. Given them birthday wishes, wish them well, congratulate them on some accomplishment, or whatever else positive that seems natural at this time.
4. Continue to make these kinds of contacts.
5. If they ask, give them updates about your family or personal happenings.
6. Don’t let on that you know of their ministering assignment to yourself or family.
      Wendy has been doing this with a sister for some time that LDS Tools App on Wendy’s  phone says is Wendy’s ministering sister.  The sister recently asked Wendy, “Are you my ministering sister?” 
      Wendy responded in the negative and said that she was just calling her as a friend, but in her mind she thought that if this sister is ever asked to account for her assignment to work with Wendy, she will now have some things to report.