TO LOVE

 

“While we should oppose evil, the Lord has directed the Saints to show love for enemies of the Church. President Spencer W. Kimball closed a conference talk with this plea:

“Brothers and sister, pray for the critics of the Church; love your enemies. Keep the faith and stay on the straight and narrow path. Use wisdom and judgment in what you say and do, so that we do not give cause to others to hold the Church or its people in disrepute….This work, which Satan seeks in vain to tear down, is that which God has placed on earth to lift mankind up!” (In Conference Report, April 1980, p 6; or Ensign May 1980, p 6; D&C Student Manual p 303, commentary for 123:11-14)”

I do not know of anyone in our dispensation who has had cause to hate his enemies more than Joseph Smith. We all know the horrors of Liberty Jail yet in his letter to the saints from this diabolic establishment, Joseph wrote of the duty of the saints, not to hate in response to the persecutions they suffered, but to uphold the truth for the sake of those who do not have it (D&C 123:12,17):

“Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven – these should then be attended to with great earnestness…..Therefore, early beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God….”

In October 1976, President Spencer W. Kimball advised the membership of the Church that Governor Christopher S. Bond of the state of Missouri had rescinded the 138-year-old old executive order of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs calling for the extermination or expulsion of the Mormons from the state of Missouri. By the year 2001 there was a temple in St. Louis and over 50,000 members of the Church in Missouri.

Would this have been possible if the saints had retaliated and the Church made the state of Missouri their enemy for 138 years? I think not. What was accomplished was done by the example of the members of the Church who lived their religion in peace despite the past.

I think of the greatest example of forgiveness and love toward His enemies and the undeserving…. Would there be Christianity today if the Saviour had left a legacy of hate and war and retaliation. Would a Gospel of love ever been known in the world? Would salvation have been possible at all? Joseph learnt and understood well…..

We, as members of Christ’s Church, carry the banner of brotherhood and Christian ethos. This is us: “And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few…and I Nephi beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the Church of the Lamb and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.”  (1 Nephi 14:12-14)

And this is our mandate: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matthew 5:44)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Behold the Man by Christopher Young)