A SURE PATH

 

 

Mormon tells us that the people who survived the devastation of the American continent at the time of Christ’s visit are those who were more righteous and who ‘received the prophets’ (3 Nephi 10:12).

I reflected upon all the people who have rejected Joseph Smith and still reject him today. I am astounded when I read Section 121 of Doctrine and Covenants to see how serious a sin it is to reject the prophets of God. Consider the consequences of such a rejection that the Saviour promised would come upon the people who rejected Joseph and charged him with falsehoods (vs 11,16,19,20,21,22,24):

·        Their prospects shall melt away as the frost melts away before the burning rays of the sun;

·        They who shall oppose the Lord’s anointed shall be cursed;

·        They shall be severed from the temple ordinances;

·        Their food supplies would perish;

·        They themselves shall be despised by those that flattered them;

·        They and generations of their posterity shall not have the right to the priesthood;

·        It would be better for them if a millstone was hanged about their necks and they drowned in the depths of the sea….yikes!

·        The Lord has reserved a swift judgment for them all….double yikes!

Why such a harsh punishment for those who reject the prophets? Here is a story that might help us see the importance of their leadership: “On one occasion, Karl G. Maeser was leading a party of young missionaries across the Alps. As they reached the summit, he looked back and saw a row of sticks thrust in the snow to mark the one safe path across the otherwise treacherous glacier.

“Halting the company of missionaries, he gestured toward the sticks and said, ‘Brethren, there stands the priesthood [of God]. They are just common sticks like the rest of us,…but the position they hold, makes them what they are to us. If we step aside from the path they mark, we are lost’ (in Alma P. Burton, Karl G. Maeser, Mormon Educator [Deseret Book Co., 1953] p 22).

Why are we lost if we don’t follow the prophets? Because ‘the voice of warning is for all people by the mouths of all Christ’s disciples whom He has chosen in these last days’ and ‘they who will not hear the voice of the Lord through His servants or give heed to the word’s of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people’ (D&C 1:4,14). They will be cut off because they will resist the truth and lose their way to salvation.

The path is sure, the path is secure….”whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (v 38).

 

Your words through Your prophets

Like a lamp unto my feet

Bid me to follow Thee.

I dare to follow the path through

 the highest mountains,

I dare to sail dangerous seas,

Ever trusting what you speak to me

Will lead me back to Thee.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Prophet and Seer by Simon Dewey)