Knowing that the Savior was meek and lowly of heart we naturally think of Him as easy-going, perhaps even a bit of a soft touch! Or at least we assume that His love will override all other considerations. Maybe that is why we speak of Him as a "friend" or our "older brother." It certainly might explain why we are unafraid to offend or displease Him.
A true understanding of the fact that He is our Lord as well as our Savior, the Lion of Judah as well as the Lamb of God, the God of battles as well as the Prince of Peace might change our minds.
Consider this from an Apostle of the Lord, a generation ago:
"We are having many challenges these days---challenges to our way of life, challenges to our moral standards, challenges actually to our doctrines. I am convinced in my own mind, studying all the difficulties that face us in the world today, that we are really living in the Last Days. I believe that now and in the years to come we will need a stronger testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ than ever before.
"Every one of us must do as the Presidency of the Church does, and that is to treat God as a person and not as a concept or an idea of any kind. He is a Person, and we need to deal with Him that way. We must realize that He has feelings, and we can offend Him or we can please Him, depending on our attitude" (Elder Mark E. Petersen, 1 Sept. 1983).
That was given twenty-eight years ago. A prophetic statement.
And an insightful one. The Lord has feelings---more tender and holy than we are used to believing of Him perhaps. We must seek to please Him.
"It isn't the words we speak that will bring forth His love. It is the keeping of His commandments and doing the will of our Father in heaven," taught Elder LeGrand Richards of the Twelve in October 1968 general conference. . . . So much for God's "unconditional" love.
I think in large measure we have been taken hostage by the world's false ideas on many of these sacred matters to do with our God and where we stand with Him.
Recall with me the Prophet's clarification of the Savior's meek and lowly disposition:
"Some of the company thought I was not a very meek Prophet; so I told them: 'I am meek and lowly in heart,' and will personify Jesus for a moment, to illustrate the principle, and cried out with a loud voice, 'Woe unto you, ye doctors; woe unto you, ye lawyers; woe unto you, ye scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites!' But you cannot find the place where I ever went that I found fault with their food, their drink, their house, their lodgings; no, never; and this is what is meant by the meekness and lowliness of Jesus" (TPJS, 270).
"On another occasion," as Joseph McConkie tells it, "a couple of pious men of the cloth interrogated the Prophet at length, hoping to find some fault in him. When they stepped out of the house to leave, Joseph drew a line on the ground with his shoe and challenged his visitors to toe the line and see if they could outjump him. They went off in a huff amazed that one who professed to be a man of God would propose such an activity on the Sabbath day. When asked why he had done so, the Prophet responded that they had come to find fault with him, and he hated to see them leave disappointed."
On yet another occasion, "[The Rushton family] arrived at Nauvoo the evening of April 13. Father was naturally very anxious to find the members of his family already established there, and hurried towards the town in search of them. He had gone only a short distance when he met a man riding a beautiful black horse. The man accosted him, saying, 'Hey, Bub, is that a company of Mormons just landed?'
"In much surprise father answered, 'Yes, sir.' 'Are you a Mormon?' the stranger continued. 'Yes, sir,' father again answered. 'What do you know about old Joe Smith?' the mounted stranger asked.
"'I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God,' said father. 'I suppose you are looking for an old man with a long, gray beard. What would you think if I told you I was Joseph Smith?' the man continued.
"'If you,' said father, 'are Joseph Smith, I know you are a Prophet of God.' In a gentle voice the man explained: 'I am Joseph Smith. I came to meet these people, dressed as I am in rough clothes and speaking in this manner, to see if their faith is strong enough to stand the things they must meet. If not, they should turn back right now.' This was father's introduction to the Prophet Joseph."
There are a thousand such accounts of the character of Joseph Smith. If you want to know what the Savior was like, search and find what Joseph was like.
These statements and illustrations are to show us that we come short of a correct assessment of our Lord and Savior's true character and demeanor. And, as in all things, He is our example of how to be bold. And Joseph is just like Him.
From Donald Q. Cannon: "My great-grandfather, Angus M. Cannon, had a vision with a rather sobering message. . . . He kept a very extensive journal, more than eighty volumes, in which this experience is recorded. He expressed it as follows: 'I did hear a voice which said---Angus, it is your privilege to appear before the Lord and I immediately looked and beheld Him, apparently about 30 rods [approx. 500 feet] distant. . . . I saw His profile down to His waist. . . . I undertook to arise and go to Him but dared not approach Him and said, "My God! Who can appear before Him!" I imagine He would say: How have you used my name and what use have you made of my Priesthood? When I thought of my many light speeches and the manner in which I had striven to embellish my remarks in addressing people as His servant, circumlocuting around the truths given of Him as witness His sermon on the mount, I was unable to go to Him.'"
Again, we learn from Parley P. Pratt's autobiography: While in Philadelphia, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were invited to speak to a group of some three thousand people in one of the largest churches there. Elder Rigdon addressed the congregation first. Fearful of the reaction people might have to pure Mormonism, he defended the Restoration with Bible passages, studiously avoiding reference to the coming of angels, visions, and other remarkable spiritual events upon which the Restoration rests. Sidney Rigdon's timidity so annoyed Joseph that---
"When he [Sidney] was through, brother Joseph arose like a lion about to roar; and being full of the Holy Ghost, spoke in great power, bearing testimony of the visions he had seen, the ministering of angels which he had enjoyed; and how he had found the plates of the Book of Mormon, and translated them by the gift and power of God. He commenced by saying: 'If nobody else had the courage to testify of so glorious a record, he felt to do it in justice to the people, and leave the event with God.'
"The entire congregation were astounded, electrified, as it were, and overwhelmed with the sense of the truth and power by which he spoke, [and] many souls were gathered into the fold."
Bold? Aye, and more. What to be bold about, for us? Why, about the truth . . . ! --- the only thing worth being bold about. A lack of boldness, therefore, shows a lack of conviction of the truth, a shortage of knowledge and understanding, which always comes by the Spirit, when we pay the price. Who was it that chided the Priesthood for "timid efforts" in leaving "unwarned or unaided" a human soul "so that he has to wait till a dependable servant of God comes along"?
Ah yes. It was President Monson, echoing his predecessor, the head of our dispensation, Joseph Smith, who lamented that "none but fools will trifle with the souls of men." Let's not be fools. Let's be wise. And bold . . . "in justice to the people, and leave the event with God."
The word teach in Hebrew carries the meaning of warn. A timid warning is no warning at all. The Apostles, after the Savior's ascension, in the Book of Acts had a new boldness because they had the power and gift of the Holy Ghost following Pentecost. We find this boldness nine times in Acts alone (it is found only three times in the whole of the Old Testament), and nineteen additional times in Paul's writings. The Greek word is parrhesia and means "all outspokenness, frankness, bluntness; by implication: assurance, confidence in spirit and demeanor; plainness"
(Strong's). This definition is a fitting summary of all we have said here.
"The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1).
There is more. But this will do for now.
Please share with others.
Let me know your thoughts on these important matters.
Steve
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