The Prophet Joseph Smith said, "It is our duty to concentrate all our influence to make popular that which is sound and good, and unpopular that which is unsound" (HC 5:286). The context of this trenchant remark was Joseph's wish to speak on "political economy" in 1843, as he contemplated running for the Presidency of the United States. He was martyred in June 1844.
The statement is good counsel for us as we look at the political climate of our country and with a pivotal November election in the USA. But surely this has application too for our defense of spiritual principle as well as the ethical and political. It is a companion to what we discussed recently on being defenders of the faith.
More to this point is the following from the Prophet: "The object with me is to obey and teach others to obey God in just what He tells us to do. It mattereth not whether the principle is popular or unpopular, I will always maintain a true principle, even if I stand alone in it" (Teachings, p. 332, emphasis added).
Of course, the implication in both of these statements from Joseph is the assumption that we have the knowledge and wisdom to discern clearly between what is sound and unsound, between a true principle and a false one, between truth and error. This is why the Lord and His representative servants constantly urge an ongoing study of the gospel as found in the scriptures and words of living prophets. We must be able to draw from a deep well of understanding rather than shallow personal opinion. "No man's opinion is worth a straw," said Brigham Young. It is the opinions of heaven that we seek, otherwise we'll be deceived by the sophistry of the philosophies of men, mingled with scripture.
President Monson has emphasized this same theme of boldness in the defense and maintenance of truth many times in his ministry, most recently in October 2008 general conference: "President John Taylor warned us, ' If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty.'" A sobering and incisive challenge from the third President of the Church (1877--87), which President Monson repeated in April general conference two weeks ago in the priesthood session. Then the living prophet continued:
"And who of us can afford to be responsible for the delay of eternal life of a human soul? If great joy is the reward of saving one soul, then how terrible must be the remorse of those whose timid efforts have allowed a child of God to go unwarned or unaided so that he has to wait till a dependable servant of God comes along" (Nov. 2008 Ensign, p. 62).
Note that President Monson is not just speaking of a soul's temporal needs or physical welfare, he is speaking of eternal life, of warnings, of teaching and saving souls, and of bold not timid efforts, of being dependable servants of God. These are incisive words.
At many funerals it is common to hear praise of the deceased as such a kind and loving soul that he or she did not have an enemy in the world. But in the battle for the souls of mankind, is this truly a virtue?
You have no enemies, you say?
Alas! my friend, the boast is poor---
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes! If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done;
You've hit no traitor on the hip;
You've dashed no cup from perjured lip;
You've never turned the wrong to right---
You've been a coward in the fight!
Charles Mackay
For those of us who may doubt that we are in a battle for the souls of men that requires courage and bold action and faithful testimony, just flip through our hymn book and note the number of hymns on battle and preparedness and duty and "defending truth and right."
Of course, we are to "use boldness, but not overbearance" (Alma 38:12); we are not advocating being awkward or captious over the lesser things, or annoying people without warrant. This is not the intent of Joseph's and President Monson's counsel. But be bold we must, if we are to stand for the truth in any kind of effective way. There is an ongoing need to be "sweetly bold" (in Neal A. Maxwell's phrase), both in spiritual and civil matters.
President Ezra Taft Benson said, "No compromise with error," and the ministry of this war horse reflected this in some courageous ways, as a member of the Eisenhower cabinet, and as one of the Lord's anointed. He once said to a colleague before a certain general conference address, "I'm going to catch it on this one." Fact is, it's not possible to teach the gospel without offending somebody. Let's hope the only ones offended are Satan's minions in the nether regions.
I want to be bold and true, and right before the Lord, even if I stand alone in it. You too?
Please give your comments on this one. Thanks to all who have written with such positive feedback in the past.
Steve
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sabbathought: Mortality is school, not vacation.
Yesterday was Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar. I was impressed to note that Avram Grant, Israeli manager of West Ham United, was not present at the match to see his team pick up their first point of the football (soccer) season at Stoke City. He had more important things to do on Yom Kippur.
For a Latter-day Saint the privilege to partake of the sacrament and ponder Jesus Christ's great Atonement can make each Sabbath day a Day of Atonement. The sacrament is the high point of the sacrament meeting and, if we know the gospel, of the holy day itself.
As a boy growing up I often heard my mother tell of a village in England where once a year the villagers would bring along to the parish church a brief anonymous note describing the hardships they were enduring at the time. The notes were collected together and each person took away a different one. Each person always expressed the feeling that they were glad they had their own difficulties, not those of their neighbors.
This came to mind when I saw this week a past reminder from President Gordon B. Hinckley to show kindness to those we meet, no matter how burdened down we feel, for each person is carrying a heavier burden than we are.
There is divine purpose in all of our hardships and sufferings. Mortality is school, not vacation. Joseph Smith translated Hebrews 11:40 as follows: "God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect."
(That is the plan in a nutshell, always remembering the Atonement was performed to cover all of these things. The word Kippur (Atonement) comes from the Hebrew "kaphar," meaning cover, placate, cancel, cleanse, reconcile. Some of the effects of the Fall we inherited from our first parents, like physical death, are covered automatically by the Atonement. The more vital things are covered contingent on our obedience. Dying is not the worst thing that can happen to us.)
In the next chapter of Hebrews Paul urges the Saints to "run with patience the race that is set before us" (12:1). Paul has been to the Olympic track in Athens and understands that runners must stay in the assigned lane for the race. Each of us has a customized course or race or curriculum designed by a loving Father to teach us, through enduring life's experiences, how to become like Him. The lane for each of us is strait and narrow. We must stay in it and at it.
It is worth our time to ponder closely the next few verses and to note how a loving Father stays true to the predesigned curriculum for each of us, with its attendant trials and sufferings. Note that Father's approach is an act of loyalty to, and love for, our best selves: "Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord . . . For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth" (verses 5--6).
We can see this principle clearly in Job's sufferings. The lesson should now be clear to us. This is mortality. It is school, not vacation. The Lord's chastening of the house of Israel in Hosea shows the same principle at work.
Orson F. Whitney summarized this doctrine in a beautiful way in 1918:
"When we want counsel and comfort, we do not go to children, nor to those who know nothing but pleasure and self-gratification. We go to men and women of thought and sympathy, men and women who have suffered themselves and can give us the comfort that we need. Is not this God's purpose in causing his children to suffer? He wants them to become more like himself. God has suffered far more than man ever did or ever will, and is therefore the great source of sympathy and consolation.
"There is always a blessing in sorrow and humiliation. They who escape these things are not the fortunate ones. 'Whom God loveth he chasteneth.' . . . Flowers shed most of their perfume when they are crushed. Men and women have to suffer just so much in order to bring out the best that is in them" (IE, Nov. 1918).
May you have a lovely Sabbath day, in the consoling knowledge of these vital things.
God bless.
Steve
For a Latter-day Saint the privilege to partake of the sacrament and ponder Jesus Christ's great Atonement can make each Sabbath day a Day of Atonement. The sacrament is the high point of the sacrament meeting and, if we know the gospel, of the holy day itself.
As a boy growing up I often heard my mother tell of a village in England where once a year the villagers would bring along to the parish church a brief anonymous note describing the hardships they were enduring at the time. The notes were collected together and each person took away a different one. Each person always expressed the feeling that they were glad they had their own difficulties, not those of their neighbors.
This came to mind when I saw this week a past reminder from President Gordon B. Hinckley to show kindness to those we meet, no matter how burdened down we feel, for each person is carrying a heavier burden than we are.
There is divine purpose in all of our hardships and sufferings. Mortality is school, not vacation. Joseph Smith translated Hebrews 11:40 as follows: "God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect."
(That is the plan in a nutshell, always remembering the Atonement was performed to cover all of these things. The word Kippur (Atonement) comes from the Hebrew "kaphar," meaning cover, placate, cancel, cleanse, reconcile. Some of the effects of the Fall we inherited from our first parents, like physical death, are covered automatically by the Atonement. The more vital things are covered contingent on our obedience. Dying is not the worst thing that can happen to us.)
In the next chapter of Hebrews Paul urges the Saints to "run with patience the race that is set before us" (12:1). Paul has been to the Olympic track in Athens and understands that runners must stay in the assigned lane for the race. Each of us has a customized course or race or curriculum designed by a loving Father to teach us, through enduring life's experiences, how to become like Him. The lane for each of us is strait and narrow. We must stay in it and at it.
It is worth our time to ponder closely the next few verses and to note how a loving Father stays true to the predesigned curriculum for each of us, with its attendant trials and sufferings. Note that Father's approach is an act of loyalty to, and love for, our best selves: "Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord . . . For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth" (verses 5--6).
We can see this principle clearly in Job's sufferings. The lesson should now be clear to us. This is mortality. It is school, not vacation. The Lord's chastening of the house of Israel in Hosea shows the same principle at work.
Orson F. Whitney summarized this doctrine in a beautiful way in 1918:
"When we want counsel and comfort, we do not go to children, nor to those who know nothing but pleasure and self-gratification. We go to men and women of thought and sympathy, men and women who have suffered themselves and can give us the comfort that we need. Is not this God's purpose in causing his children to suffer? He wants them to become more like himself. God has suffered far more than man ever did or ever will, and is therefore the great source of sympathy and consolation.
"There is always a blessing in sorrow and humiliation. They who escape these things are not the fortunate ones. 'Whom God loveth he chasteneth.' . . . Flowers shed most of their perfume when they are crushed. Men and women have to suffer just so much in order to bring out the best that is in them" (IE, Nov. 1918).
May you have a lovely Sabbath day, in the consoling knowledge of these vital things.
God bless.
Steve
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Sabbathought: "You cannot pray cream and live skimmed milk."
We have spoken a lot about revelation lately. Revelation comes as we seek and ask in faith. One of the symbolic meanings of the Star of David is the triangle pointing upward, representing prayer, and the superimposed triangle pointing down, symbolizing revelation.
Most of the revelations the Prophet Joseph Smith received were in answer to questions. The process began with his translation by the power of God of the plates, which resulted in the Book of Mormon. As Joseph translated and saw baptism repeatedly spoken of on the plates, he asked the Lord on 15 May 1829 about baptism. The answer came immediately in the form of John the Baptist restoring the keys of baptism contained in the Aaronic priesthood, John being somewhat of a specialist in baptism and the last legal holder of those keys (see D&C 13: 84:26--28).
Next, the Lord commanded Joseph to translate the Bible. Further questions came, and the revelations now found in the Doctrine and Covenants were the result of Joseph's asking. In this process we see Joseph not just asking for help, but inquisitively asking about the Lord's work. It is a key to our relationship with our God, for what is required of us here below is a searching after God's purposes and plans, not just obedience to His revealed will.
On one occasion, Joseph and his family had only some johnnycake to eat. In blessing the food Joseph said, "O Lord, we thank Thee for this johnnycake and ask Thee to send us something better." That was a telegram prayer. Within an hour or two there was a knock at the door and a friend stood there with a sack of flour and a large ham. "See, Emma," said Joseph, "I knew the Lord would answer our need!"
Another time in a cottage meeting Joseph prayed with the kneeling group in a prayer that was so long and detailed that people stood up to rest and then knelt down again. Joseph knew how to pray, through practice. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ because of Joseph's prayer in the grove as a young teen.
The mighty Atonement itself was accomplished in a prayer, in a garden. Jesus prayed always.
Distractedly watching an excerpt from the film "Patton" recently, I was struck as the general quoted in his prayer most of Psalm 63 in a small church the night before an important battle. The LDS Bible Dictionary tells us that "David's Psalms, and the Psalms generally, breathe the highest spirit of prayer. The nation that possessed them must have been rich in teachers and examples of prayer."
The entry goes on to say, "As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. (Matt. 7:7--11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship.
"Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work." This reminds us that Harold B. Lee once taught, "Unless you are in a fit of desperation, your prayers don't have much suction" to draw down a blessing from heaven.
It goes on to speak of praying in Christ's name and how this is done (beyond merely closing the prayer in His name), and then this:
"Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ's name at all; they in no way represent his mind, but spring out of the selfishness of man's heart" (pages 752--3). This is very instructive and sobering to me.
It was Howard W. Hunter who taught, "You cannot pray cream and live skimmed milk." The measure of our righteous standing before the Lord will largely be the measure of the relationship we have with Him as spoken of above, and will be a key factor in our prayers and their answers.
As the Lord said to the Brother of Jared, "And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me" (the last sentence of Ether chapter 1).
May this bless our lives, particularly as we go to the "house of prayer" each Sabbath day to offer up our sacraments upon His holy day (see D&C 59:9).
Steve
P.S. An invitation: How would you answer this question in as few words as possible: What is the gospel? Please, either post a comment in response or send me an e-mail by reply, and we'll visit this subject soon. Thanks.
Most of the revelations the Prophet Joseph Smith received were in answer to questions. The process began with his translation by the power of God of the plates, which resulted in the Book of Mormon. As Joseph translated and saw baptism repeatedly spoken of on the plates, he asked the Lord on 15 May 1829 about baptism. The answer came immediately in the form of John the Baptist restoring the keys of baptism contained in the Aaronic priesthood, John being somewhat of a specialist in baptism and the last legal holder of those keys (see D&C 13: 84:26--28).
Next, the Lord commanded Joseph to translate the Bible. Further questions came, and the revelations now found in the Doctrine and Covenants were the result of Joseph's asking. In this process we see Joseph not just asking for help, but inquisitively asking about the Lord's work. It is a key to our relationship with our God, for what is required of us here below is a searching after God's purposes and plans, not just obedience to His revealed will.
On one occasion, Joseph and his family had only some johnnycake to eat. In blessing the food Joseph said, "O Lord, we thank Thee for this johnnycake and ask Thee to send us something better." That was a telegram prayer. Within an hour or two there was a knock at the door and a friend stood there with a sack of flour and a large ham. "See, Emma," said Joseph, "I knew the Lord would answer our need!"
Another time in a cottage meeting Joseph prayed with the kneeling group in a prayer that was so long and detailed that people stood up to rest and then knelt down again. Joseph knew how to pray, through practice. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ because of Joseph's prayer in the grove as a young teen.
The mighty Atonement itself was accomplished in a prayer, in a garden. Jesus prayed always.
Distractedly watching an excerpt from the film "Patton" recently, I was struck as the general quoted in his prayer most of Psalm 63 in a small church the night before an important battle. The LDS Bible Dictionary tells us that "David's Psalms, and the Psalms generally, breathe the highest spirit of prayer. The nation that possessed them must have been rich in teachers and examples of prayer."
The entry goes on to say, "As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. (Matt. 7:7--11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship.
"Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work." This reminds us that Harold B. Lee once taught, "Unless you are in a fit of desperation, your prayers don't have much suction" to draw down a blessing from heaven.
It goes on to speak of praying in Christ's name and how this is done (beyond merely closing the prayer in His name), and then this:
"Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ's name at all; they in no way represent his mind, but spring out of the selfishness of man's heart" (pages 752--3). This is very instructive and sobering to me.
It was Howard W. Hunter who taught, "You cannot pray cream and live skimmed milk." The measure of our righteous standing before the Lord will largely be the measure of the relationship we have with Him as spoken of above, and will be a key factor in our prayers and their answers.
As the Lord said to the Brother of Jared, "And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me" (the last sentence of Ether chapter 1).
May this bless our lives, particularly as we go to the "house of prayer" each Sabbath day to offer up our sacraments upon His holy day (see D&C 59:9).
Steve
P.S. An invitation: How would you answer this question in as few words as possible: What is the gospel? Please, either post a comment in response or send me an e-mail by reply, and we'll visit this subject soon. Thanks.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Sabbathought: Defenders of the faith
Thank you for your comments and e-mailed insights and questions on testimonies. Some of you now wonder, What is a testimony? Along with our question, What is the gospel? All of this so that you can be more purposeful and show integrity that will please the Lord. It has caused me some deep reflecting this past week.
I have come to feel strongly that a testimony is what you know because of how you feel because of what you do. Simply stated, a "thin" testimony shows that we do not know much, and that we are still some distance from knowing Him, and from eternal life, which is to know "the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom" God has sent (John 17:3).
It was plain in last week's thought that such knowledge starts in the scriptures---that is why we urge investigators to study the Book of Mormon---and requires serious daily and sustained attention. All so that we can be competent witnesses in bearing testimony of Him.
Is this important?
In a court of law, if we are called upon to be witnesses, just as the Twelve are "special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world" (see D&C 107:23, 26), we are under obligation to testify of what we know, of "the truth, . . . so help me God." Of what, or of Whom are we to testify? And are we witnesses for the prosecution or for the defense?
It is clear to me that we are called as witnesses for the defense (forgive the American spelling, you in the UK). Elder Harold B. Lee taught that the word "elder" means "defender of the faith." He also taught, in 1971, "When I was a missionary [in the 1920s], our greatest responsibility was to defend the great truth that the Prophet Joseph Smith was divinely called and inspired and that the Book of Mormon was indeed the word of God. But even at that time there were the unmistakable evidences that there was coming into the religious world actually a question about the Bible and about the divine calling of the Master himself.
"Now, fifty years later, our greatest responsibility and anxiety is to defend the divine mission of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, for all about us, even among those who claim to be professors of the Christian faith, are those not willing to stand squarely in defense of the great truth that our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, was indeed the Son of God" (quoted in Selected Writings of Robert J. Matthews [1999], p. 32). . . . A false idea of Christ is a false Christ (see Joseph Smith---Matthew 1:22--23, 37).
Today there are obvious sounds of battle in society between the forces of error and evil and the side of right and truth. The enemy is subtle, to the extent that even "the humble followers of Christ . . . are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men" (2 Nephi 28:14). Often those precepts of men are mingled with scripture and are very well received among this people.
Unless "this people" adhere to their covenants, and repent and become familiar with "the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon" (see D&C 84:54--57), their witness of the Truth will be thin and found wanting.
Is such a firm witness necessary only by our missionaries to the world? Or is it needful among the Saints, in our classes and meetings and public testimonies? The ethics found in secular humanism, the ideas of the world like the "unconditional love of God" are not the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They are the precepts of men.
Twenty-eight years ago next month (how time flies!) Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke in general conference of the new scriptures that had recently come forth in the Church. He said: "The older generation has been raised without them, but there is another generation growing up. The revelations will be opened to them as to no other in the history of the world. Into their hands now are placed the sticks of Joseph and of Judah. They will develop a gospel scholarship beyond that which their forebears could achieve. They will have the testimony that Jesus is the Christ and be competent to proclaim Him and to defend Him" (Oct. 1982 general conference emphasis added).
What would you have said if called upon to bear witness at the sham trials of Jesus before Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate? Would you have been a competent witness for the defense of the Lord? "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, . . . that our children may know . . . ." (2 Nephi 25:26).
We are involved in the greatest work in history. May God grant us the clear vision to see our way to bear off our part of the work triumphant.
God bless us all to this end.
Steve
I have come to feel strongly that a testimony is what you know because of how you feel because of what you do. Simply stated, a "thin" testimony shows that we do not know much, and that we are still some distance from knowing Him, and from eternal life, which is to know "the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom" God has sent (John 17:3).
It was plain in last week's thought that such knowledge starts in the scriptures---that is why we urge investigators to study the Book of Mormon---and requires serious daily and sustained attention. All so that we can be competent witnesses in bearing testimony of Him.
Is this important?
In a court of law, if we are called upon to be witnesses, just as the Twelve are "special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world" (see D&C 107:23, 26), we are under obligation to testify of what we know, of "the truth, . . . so help me God." Of what, or of Whom are we to testify? And are we witnesses for the prosecution or for the defense?
It is clear to me that we are called as witnesses for the defense (forgive the American spelling, you in the UK). Elder Harold B. Lee taught that the word "elder" means "defender of the faith." He also taught, in 1971, "When I was a missionary [in the 1920s], our greatest responsibility was to defend the great truth that the Prophet Joseph Smith was divinely called and inspired and that the Book of Mormon was indeed the word of God. But even at that time there were the unmistakable evidences that there was coming into the religious world actually a question about the Bible and about the divine calling of the Master himself.
"Now, fifty years later, our greatest responsibility and anxiety is to defend the divine mission of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, for all about us, even among those who claim to be professors of the Christian faith, are those not willing to stand squarely in defense of the great truth that our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, was indeed the Son of God" (quoted in Selected Writings of Robert J. Matthews [1999], p. 32). . . . A false idea of Christ is a false Christ (see Joseph Smith---Matthew 1:22--23, 37).
Today there are obvious sounds of battle in society between the forces of error and evil and the side of right and truth. The enemy is subtle, to the extent that even "the humble followers of Christ . . . are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men" (2 Nephi 28:14). Often those precepts of men are mingled with scripture and are very well received among this people.
Unless "this people" adhere to their covenants, and repent and become familiar with "the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon" (see D&C 84:54--57), their witness of the Truth will be thin and found wanting.
Is such a firm witness necessary only by our missionaries to the world? Or is it needful among the Saints, in our classes and meetings and public testimonies? The ethics found in secular humanism, the ideas of the world like the "unconditional love of God" are not the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They are the precepts of men.
Twenty-eight years ago next month (how time flies!) Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke in general conference of the new scriptures that had recently come forth in the Church. He said: "The older generation has been raised without them, but there is another generation growing up. The revelations will be opened to them as to no other in the history of the world. Into their hands now are placed the sticks of Joseph and of Judah. They will develop a gospel scholarship beyond that which their forebears could achieve. They will have the testimony that Jesus is the Christ and be competent to proclaim Him and to defend Him" (Oct. 1982 general conference emphasis added).
What would you have said if called upon to bear witness at the sham trials of Jesus before Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate? Would you have been a competent witness for the defense of the Lord? "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, . . . that our children may know . . . ." (2 Nephi 25:26).
We are involved in the greatest work in history. May God grant us the clear vision to see our way to bear off our part of the work triumphant.
God bless us all to this end.
Steve
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