Inspiring Stories From Modern Prophets - John Taylor

 Inspiring Stories of Modern Prophets - John Taylor

(This is one of my favorites.)

In his midteens he had joined the Methodist Church. “One day, while going to fulfill a preaching assignment [he was a local preacher], he remarked to a companion, ‘I have a strong impression on my mind, that I have to go to America to preach the gospel!’” (Paul Thomas Smith, “John Taylor,” in The Presidents of the Church, ed. Leonard J. Arrington [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1986], p. 77).

In 1832, while crossing the ocean, his ship encountered a storm so severe that the captain and his crew feared the ship would sink at any moment. But John Taylor remained unshaken. “The voice of the Spirit was still saying within him, ‘You must yet go to America and preach the gospel.’ ‘So confident was I of my destiny,’ he remarks, ‘that I went on deck at midnight, and amidst the raging elements felt as calm as though I was sitting in a parlor at home. I believed I should reach America and perform my work’” (Roberts, The Life of John Taylor, p. 29).

(At this point, I am thinking:  how little we mortals understand of the Lord's plans for us.  John Taylor fully believed he was traveling to America to preach Methodism.  Really, he was going there to learn Mormonism, and to become the future prophet!)

When John Taylor left England in 1832, he emigrated to New York, and then after a few months he went to Upper Canada where he continued to preach in the Methodist Church. 

John continued to preach, but he felt something was missing in his religion. He later wrote: “A number of us met together for the purpose of searching the Scriptures; and we found that certain doctrines were taught by Jesus and the Apostles, which neither the Methodists, Baptists, … nor any of the religious sects taught; and we concluded that if the Bible was true, the doctrines of modern Christendom were not true; or if they were true, the Bible was false. … In addition … , we prayed and fasted before God; and the substance of our prayers was, that if he had a people upon the earth anywhere, and ministers who were authorized to preach the Gospel, that he would send us one” (in Journal of Discourses, 23:30).

Parley P. Pratt was sent in answer to that prayer.  On his mission to Canada, Parley met John Taylor and introduced him to the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel.