We are approaching the summer solstice in a few days. This cycle of growing and receding light is embedded in nature to testify of truth. When we accept truth we accept light. When we seek for more truth we grow in light. When we reject truth we limit the light, and eventually turn from it and welcome darkness.
Alma explained: “It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless, they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart — only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word. And he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God, until they know them in full. And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries;” RE Alma 9:3
Alma would later explain, “we can plainly discern that after a people have been once enlightened by the spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened; and thus their state becomes worse than if they had never known these things.” Alma 14:12
There are many churches who claim they were founded by Joseph Smith. They all claim to preserve the restoration begun by God in 1820 when Joseph Smith’s First Vision opened the heavens again. Because of the incompetence of those who lead restoration churches, however, there are more people departing from belief than there are retaining faith in the restoration. Those who lose their way become hardened against the continuing work of God now underway.
In the Answer to the Prayer for Covenant, the Lord noted this hardening hearts and posed the question: “In the world, tares are ripening. And so I ask you, What of the wheat?” T&C 157:64
The criticisms aimed at Joseph Smith have been caused, in large part, by the ineptitude of the institutional churches. Chief among the foolish institutions is the LDS Church, which rejects truths and advances falsehoods to support their claim of authority. They have no authority. They were rejected by the Lord on April 5, 2014, when “the Lord ended all claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to claim it is led by the priesthood. They have not practiced what he requires. The Lord has brought about His purposes. This has been in His heart all along. He has chosen to use small means to accomplish it, but he always uses the smallest of means to fulfill His purposes.” T&C 166:3
From then on their mission seems to be calculated to alienate believers from the restoration and to multiply apostasy and hardness of heart. In the events since April 2014 we can plainly discern that after a people have been once enlightened by the spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened; and thus their state becomes worse than if they had never known these things.
But, as Christ explained to His disciples and revealed again to us: “And when the times of the gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fullness of my gospel, but they receive it not, for they perceive not the light and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men. And in that generation shall the times of the gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be men standing in that generation that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge, for a desolating sickness shall cover the land. But my disciples shall stand in holy places and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices, and curse God, and die. And there shall be earthquakes also in diverse places and many desolations. Yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword one against another and they will kill one another.
And now, when I, the Lord, had spoken these words unto my disciples they were troubled, and I said unto them, Be not troubled, for when all these things shall come to pass you may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled. And when the light shall begin to break forth, it shall be with them like unto a parable which I will show you: You look and behold the fig trees, and you see them with your eyes, and you say, when they begin to shoot forth and their leaves are yet tender, you say that summer is now nigh at hand. Even so, it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things, then shall they know that the hour is nigh.
And it shall come to pass that he that fears me shall be looking for the great day of the Lord to come, even for the signs of the coming of the Son of Man. And they shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, and they shall behold blood, and fires, and vapors of smoke.” T&C 31:6-9
It is happening right before your eyes. But you have to receive the light to be able to comprehend it.