A LIVING BOOK PART 1

 

The Old Testament is my favourite book of scripture. I cannot tell you how it touches the core of my heart. I believe we need to understand our  history to better understand our present and our future. Once we understand who we, as a group of people really are, we will hope for the destiny that is ours as God’s favoured people.

I have heard it said that the Old Testament is a ‘dead book’. I suppose some think it is so because it contains the fulfilled law of Moses but to me nothing that has been and gone is dead. The law of Moses is not all there is to the Old Testament and indeed the more important content of it is the everlasting covenant between Jehovah and His chosen people.  

Consider the prophets of old who are still very much a part of our dispensation:

-          Father Adam who will yet return to earth and preside at the meeting of Adam-Ondi-Ahman to deliver up his stewardship to Christ, who holds the keys of the universe, but will retain his standing as head of the human family (“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith” p 157);

-          The righteous Father Abraham who Jehovah himself covenanted with, promising that the covenant would be fulfilled in the latter days and that in “his seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (1 Nephi 15:18). This is us and this is our day. We are “the seed” and these are the latter days. The covenant is not dead. It is very much alive. 

-          Ezekiel who prophesied the end of times with the battle of Armageddon that will usher in the Second Coming (Ezekiel 38) and his amazing prophecy of resurrection of the human family (chapter 37). This too is yet to be fulfilled, therefore it is not a dead doctrine.

-          Dear Elijah whose spirit keeps turning the hearts of the children to their fathers to this very day.  The beloved servant of God who came to Kirtland Temple to restore the sealing power so that ‘the whole earth would not be utterly wasted at Christ’s coming’ (D&C 2:3). Christ is yet to come and the temple work for the dead is ongoing in our day to fulfil the earth’s purpose.

-          Moses, the mighty lawgiver of Israel, who conferred the keys of the gathering on Joseph Smith on 3 April 1836 in Kirtland Temple (D&C 110:11). Would we be gathering Israel today without these keys? The keys are not dead, nor is the gathering.

These prophets are still very much alive as is the history they created. And this is how important they are to our dispensation: they validate the calling of Joseph Smith: “If the Bible is evidence for anything, read about the calling of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul and John the Revelator. ALL were called in precisely the manner that Joseph was. All spoke with God or angels, just as Joseph did.” (Bruce C. Hafen, “The Believing Heart” p 26)

Even the greatest prophet of Israel, Isaiah, prophesied of Joseph himself down to the finest detail of the failure to authenticate the Book of Mormon by Professor Anton (Isaiah 29:11,12)

The prophets of the Old Testament will remain in my heart forever, because they were all converted and devoted to the same God we worship today, God Jehovah, God’s own Son. Their struggles, their achievements, their contribution to the Plan of Salvation and humanity will never be erased. Their memory might be like ashes blown in the winds of time but their legacy remains. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: I Was There by Danny Hahlbohm)

THIS IS MY WORK AND MY GLORY

When I read the scriptures I choke up when I come across sentences such as "I am Helaman, the son of Alma" (Alma 58:41) or "I am Mormon, and I am a disciple of Jesus Christ" (3 Nephi 5:12,13). I lap up the war chapters of The Book of Mormon where Moroni, Helaman, Teancum and Antipus distinguish themselves in war strategies and moments of battle, and I want to bow to Lehi, at the mention of whose name the Lamanites trembled because "they feared Lehi exceedingly" (Alma 49:17). I long to have the penmanship skills of Isaiah and unnerving passion of Jeremiah who could not refrain from preaching because "the word of God was as a burning fire shut up in his bones" (Jeremiah 20:9). I see people all through the scriptures and I see people everywhere in this rich tapestry of life we call mortality. I imagine if there were no mortal days of probation I might never have heard of a man called Abraham Lincoln in the vastness of the Universe or been moved by music written by Mozart or heard Renee Fleming sing Casta Diva. What an amazing gift it is to be a witness of someone's unique expression of self and of the mark they leave on this world. What an amazing assortment of humanity we are. I marvel at our uniqueness, our creativity, our intelligence, our very essence and all that we are and are yet to become.

When Moses encountered God on Mount Sinai, God revealed Himself to him and Moses saw the glory of God and every particle of this earth and all the children of men (Moses 1:8,27) that have ever been created. The vision of God's power was overwhelming to a man who grew up in an Egyptian court believing that Pharoah was god and there was no one greater than him so he exclaimed that now he could see that man is nothing (Moses :10). God, however, didn't want Moses to miss the point so He showed him the same vision again and concluded it with the most important message in the scriptures: "For behold this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). The point that God didn't want Moses to miss is this: amongst all of God's creations, none are greater than man. Why? Because man constitutes Gods glory. All that we are and all that we become matters because it leads to our glory and adds to His.

Most of us will not earn a page in the annals of history. Most of us will never become another Abraham Lincoln or Mozart or Helaman or Isaiah. We can, however, fight a good fight, do much good, accomplish our purpose, become the best we can possibly be. In the words of Abraham Lincoln: "Whatever you are, be a good one". And in the process, share your uniqueness with the world because according to Dr. Seuss: "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You". How true and how magnificant are you!

THE REVEALER OF GOD

I was stunned by her comment. So much so that all I could say was "I don't believe it". We were sitting around the Christmas table and came to discuss the latest publications of Church history that had upset a number of members who had chosen to abandon their Church membership. The comment that sent me reeling from someone I have known for some years was this: "All these years the Church has glorified Joseph Smith when in fact he was a terrible man!". The conversation was quickly changed to prevent further negativity but the energy of that slanderous statement remained with me causing me sorrow and regret that I had not borne witness of my testimony of Joseph's prophetic calling. Somehow, however, I wonder if we are restrained from casting pearls before swine for I consider my testimony of Joseph to be one such pearl. I have been down the polygamy path. I went searching, not to disprove the Church, but to aid a history assignment towards my degree. I read and read and sorrowed and in the end I asked the Lord to help me understand and He did. By the power of His spirit my heart and mind were opened and I came to know the true character of Joseph Smith and came to understand that he acted during his prophetic calling out of good will towards the women that he was sealed to, with great desire that they should have the priesthood ordinances performed to seal them up to eternal life. As this understanding flooded over me I could not contain my tears and came to appreciate the great sacrifices the pioneers made in regards to living this commandment which had indeed tested and purified them and strengthened the Church through growth.

It is my belief that we need to tread lightly when we delve into the past. I heard one of my University professors say once that history is very much subjective. Even though it is supposed to be cold hard facts, they are recorded from someone's perspective, a human perspective. We of this century cannot fully understand the mentality, the challenges and the pattern of how things worked in times past. Equally hard to understand to the people of other time periods would be our dispensation; the liberties we take, the freedoms we have, the technology which affords us the ease with which we perform our daily tasks, the stresses of modern day living, our sicknesses, our anxieties, our depressions, our battle with forces of evil. A clear example of differences in times is found in Mary, the mother of Christ: some historians claim that Mary was 14 when she gave birth to Jesus. In the meridian of time, by the time girls reached that age they were well trained and ready for marriage. Today, Mary at 14, would have been considered a minor and not allowed to marry and any man who engaged in sexual conduct with her would be facing criminal charges. In times past and indeed until not long ago, marriage was a woman's destiny, now it is an option. Times change and with it the mentality of the people.

Was Joseph Smith a prophet? Yes. Was he perfect? No. He admitted so himself (JSH 1:28-9). But he did the best he could with who he was and with what was required of him. When the angel Moroni visited him for the first time he told him that his name will be had 'for good and evil among all nations, kindreds and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people' (JSH 1:33). It is sad indeed that even Church members are counted among those who speak ill of him. The truth is, each one of us has enough sins to worry about without worrying about those of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young or anyone else in the Church, living or dead. Another truth is, do we have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and are we focused on it? The Church is people but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth, unchanging and the same yesterday, today and forever. It is administered to the hearts of the children of men by the power of His holy spirit. Once you have received this spiritual witness, all else is of little importance. Another truth, is there another Church out there as perfectly formed as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with apostles and prophets bearing the priesthood; with temples making available the saving ordinances for the living and the dead? To what other Church can we go for our eternal salvation? Who has what we have?

This year in Sunday School we are studying the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith called this book the keystone of our religion (Introduction, The Book of Mormon). Ezra Taft Benson, one of its' strongest advocates, explained that this keystone is threefold: 1. it is the keystone in our witness of Christ; 2. it is the keystone of our doctrine; and 3. it is the keystone of testimony. Bruce R. McConkie taught that Joseph's expression that "'the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion' means precisely what it says. The keystone is the central stone in the top of the arch. If that stone is removed, then the arch crumbles, which, in effect, means that Mormonism so-called -- which actually is the gospel of Christ, restored anew in this day -- stands or falls with the truth or the falsity of the Book of Mormon" (Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, April 1961, pp.38-39). Personally, if I take 'stone' out of it, I end up with the 'key' to all that the Book of Mormon represents to me, a key to my salvation which is in Christ, in His doctrine and in my testimony of same.

On the last leaf of the golden record, Moroni explained the purpose of the Book of Mormon. This explanation is found on the very first page of the book as we have it today. It can be summarized in three words: show, know and convince. To elaborate, it is to show the remnant of the house of Israel (Lamanites) what great things God had done for them; so that they may know the covenants and one day be converted; and it is to convince the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ. When Joseph Smith called the Book of Mormon the keystone of our religion he also said that 'a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book' (Introduction, The Book of Mormon). This promise has been repeated by many other prophets since Joseph. In 1963, Spencer W. Kimball said this: "But after all, it is not the book's dramatic crisis, its history, its narrative that are so important, but its power to transform men into Christlike beings worthy of exaltation" (Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, April 1963, p. 6). How could a man who has brought the power of salvation and exaltation to mankind be a terrible man? The crucial part of all this is that we cannot have a testimony of the Book of Mormon if we do not have one of Joseph Smith, 'a prophet of dispensational proportions'......"As much as we delight in and need to have a testimony concerning the present-day prophet who heads the Church,we must also realise that each prophet subsequent to Joseph Smith has had a testimony of Joseph Smith. The echoing effect of these prophets only reinforces that there is an order and pattern by which that specific 'chosen vessel', the Prophet Joseph, was designed to re-reveal God to us in this day. As we teach the gospel in this dispensation, it is important to remember that the reality of God we proclaim to a world of non-members is founded on the knowledge of the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith, the revealer of God......." (Jerry A. Wilson, The Great Plan of Happiness, Insights from the Lectures on Faith, p. 23)

I fully believe we will be held accountable for our sustaining vote of Joseph Smith or lack thereof because his accomplishments were not his own. To deny them would be to deny the power of God through which Joseph accomplished all that he was given to do to prepare us for the second coming. He was called of God and he was anointed to accomplish this work and to deny his divine calling is to deny God Himself. The spirit can bear truth to this fact, besides the logical considerations of his greatest accomplishment being the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon. Consider the following views of this logic:

 "There are three possible explanations for the origin of the Book of Mormon. One is that it is a product of spontaneous generation. Another is that it came into existence in the way Joseph Smith said it did, by special messengers and gifts from God. The third is the hypothesis that Joseph Smith or some other party or parties simply made it all up. No experiments have ever been carried out for testing any of these theories. The first has not even been considered, the second has been dismissed with a contemptuous wave of the hand, and the third has been accepted without question or hesitation. And yet the third theory is quite as extravagant as the other two, demanding unlimited gullibility and the suspension of all critical judgment in any who would accept it. It is based on the simple proposition that since people have written books, somebody, namely Smith or a contemporary, wrote this one. But to make this thesis stick is to show not only that people have written big books, but that somebody has been able to produce a big book like this one. But no other such book exists. Where will you find another work remotely approaching the Book of Mormon in scope and daring? It appears suddenly out of nothing--not an accumulation of twenty-five years like the Koran, but a single staggering performance, bursting on a shocked and scandalized world like an explosion, the full-blown history of an ancient people, following them through all the trials, triumphs, and vicissitudes of a thousand years without a break, telling how a civilization originated, rose to momentary greatness, and passed away, giving due attention to every phase of civilized history in a densely compact and rapidly moving story that interweaves dozens of plots with an inexhaustible fertility of invention and an uncanny consistency that is never caught in a slip or contradiction. We respectfully solicit the name of any student or professor in the world who could come within ten thousand miles of such a performance. As a sheer tour-de-force there is nothing like it. The theory that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon simply will not stand examination. (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol.7, Ch.6, pp.137, 138).

"[I only] say what so many have said before: that if Joseph Smith–or anyone else, for that matter–created the Book of Mormon out of whole cloth, that to me is a far greater miracle than the proposition that he translated the book from ancient records with an endowment of divine power to do so. Has anyone here ever tried to write anything? Have you ever, with your degrees and libraries and computers and research assistants, ever tried to write anything anyone could stand to read? Even if you have my guess is you haven’t succeeded at writing anything anyone would read more than once, or say it changed their lives, or say that were willing to leave family and fortune and future for–and then do it. You thought it was tough to have your dissertation committee grill you for a couple of hours. How about tossing your piece of work to the most hostile–and learned–of enemies for, say, 164 years (just to pull a number out of the air). Go ahead. Put that terrific master’s thesis of yours out there under a microscope for everyone to kick and gouge and attack for a century or two, and let’s see how marvelous that university-produced accomplishment of yours really was. After a little of that are you still standing by the divinity and immortality of your work? Is anybody still reading it? In light of all this, as it applies to the Book of Mormon which is still changing human lives and still moving moral mountains, and as one who has tried to write a line or two of both poetry and prose and failed miserably, I want to meet the author of this work whoever it is. I want to praise first hand such a remarkably gifted writer. Furthermore I’d live to read anything else this elusive figure has ever written. I’d love to talk to the whole research team who must have produced it. If they’ve got anything else they’ve ever put their pen to, I’ll pay any amount of money to get hold of it. This is writing that moves millions so more of it could certainly make millions. Let’s talk contracts. Surely in 164 years there must be someone willing to step for forward– you know, the “real” author–claiming credit for such a remarkable document and all that has transpired in its wake. Or at least those descendants of such an author should have come forth by now willing to cashier the whole thing. Where are they? Well the simple fact of the matter is no other origin for the Book of Mormon has ever come to light because there isn’t one. A bad man could not have fabricated such an inspiring book and a good man would not have done so" (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, CES Symposium, BYU Marriott Center, 9 August 1994).

Elder David O. McKay told of his father's missionary experience that confirms Moroni's prophetic statement to the teenage Joseph that his 'name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people' (JHS 1:33):

"He accepted a call to a mission about 1880. When he began preaching in his native land and bore testimony of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he noticed that the people turned away from him. They were bitter in their hearts against anything Mormon, and the name of Joseph Smith seemed to arouse antagonism in their hearts. One day he concluded that the best way to get these people would be to preach just the simple principles, the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, the first principles of the gospel, and not bear testimony of the restoration of the gospel. It first came simply, as a passing thought, but yet it influenced his future work. In a month or so he became oppressed with a gloomy, downcast feeling, and he could not enter into the spirit of his work. He did not really know what was the matter, but his mind became obstructed; his spirit became clogged; he was oppressed and hampered, and that feeling of depression continued until it weighed him down with such heaviness that he went to the Lord and said: 'Unless I can get this feeling removed, I shall have to go home. I cannot continue my work with this feeling'. It continued for some time after that, then one morning before daylight, following a sleepless night, he decided to retire to a cave, near the ocean, where he knew he would be shut off from the world entirely, and there pour out his soul to God and ask why he was oppressed with this feeling, what he had done, and what he could do to throw it off and continue his work....He entered that place and said: 'Oh, Father, what can I do to have this feeling removed? I must have it lifted or I cannot continue in this work'; and he heard a voice, as distinct as the tone I am now uttering, say: 'Testify that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God'. Remembering, then what he tacitly had decided six weeks or more before and becoming overwhelmed with the thought, the whole thing came to him in a realization that he was there for a special mission, and that he had not given that special mission the attention which it deserved. Then he cried in his heart, 'Lord, it is enough' and went out from the cave. (Gospel Ideals, pp 21-22)

If we do not believe that Joseph Smith has done more towards the salvation of mankind save Jesus alone, we do not know and understand the Book of Mormon. In an interview with her sons a few months before she died, Emma Smith, bore her testimony to them: "My belief is that the Book of Mormon is of divine authenticity. I have not the slightest doubt of it....Though I was an active participant in the scenes that transpired, and was present during the translation of the plates....and had cognizance of things as they transpired, it is marvelous to me, 'a marvel and a wonder', as much as to anyone else". Describing her experience, she said: "The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen tablecloth which I had given him [Joseph] to fold them in. I once felt the plates as they lay on the table, tracing their outline and shape. They seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book". She also testified, "I know Mormonism to be the truth; and believe the church to have been established by divine direction" (Gracia N. Jones, My Great-Great-Grandmother, Emma Hale Smith, Ensign Aug 1992)

What do we owe to Joseph Smith, 'a disturber and an annoyer of Satan's kingdom' (JHS 1:20), the revealer of God, a martyr in the cause of truth? In my opinion, much more than slanderous words and disregard for his sacrifices, obedience and divine appointment. When Parley P. Pratt visited Emma, 'a woman of commitment in sorrow', in Nauvoo where she remained after the saints travelled west, she told him 'I believe he [Joseph] was everything he professed to be'. Emma lived almost 35 years after the martyrdom of her prophet-husband. A few days before she died she told her nurse, Elizabeth Revel, that Joseph had come to her in a vision and said: "'Emma, come with me, it is time for you to come with me'. As Emma related it, she said, 'I put on my bonnet and my shawl and went with him; I did not think that it was anything unusual. I went with him into a mansion, and he showed me through the different apartments of that beautiful mansion'. And one room was the nursery. In that nursery was a babe in the cradle. She said, 'I knew my babe, my Don Carlos that was taken from me'. She sprang forward, caught the child up in her arms and wept with joy over the child. When Emma recovered herself sufficient she turned to Joseph and said, 'Joseph, where are the rest of my children?' He said to her, 'Emma, be patient and you shall have all of your children'. Then she saw standing by his side a personage of light, even the Lord Jesus Christ." (Gracia N. Jones, My Great-Great-Grandmother, Emma Hale Smith, Ensign Aug 1992)

Men may be deceived by our works and by our sins but God cannot. He knows all things and it is Him we must trust in all things, even in regards to a prophet named Joseph Smith upon whom the Saviour himself sealed his exaltation on 12 July 1843 in Nauvoo, Illinois:

"For I am the Lord thy God, 

and will be with thee even unto the end of the world, 

and through all eternity; 

for, verily I seal upon you your exaltation,

 and prepare for you a throne in the kingdom of my Father...."

(D&C 132:49)

FOR THIS PURPOSE

When President Joseph F. Smith received the revelation regarding the spirit world in 1918 it was concluded by his vision of spirits who were reserved to come forth in the 'fulness of times to take part in laying the foundations of the great latter-day work'. These he stated 'received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men' (D&C 138:55-57). The Prophet Joseph Smith affirmed this truth with the following statement: "Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabits of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was (TPJS, p 365).  Whenever I look at people throughout history who have accomplished something great I am convinced they were chosen for that particular task in pre-mortal life. We of the last dispensation are fortunate enough to have history yield worthy examples for us to follow. We learnt of one such example in Sunday School this past Sunday. Her name was Mary and she was a young girl living in Nazareth.

I cannot imagine with what trepidation a young girl like Mary received angel Gabriel's announcement of her life's purpose, to be the mother of the Son of God. Scripture tells us that when Gabriel finished his announcement, she quickly reminded him that she was a virtuous young lady and that she was without the perimeter of intimacy with any man. Gabriel then proceeded to explain how the baby would be conceived and perceiving the alarm that must have arisen within Mary he quickly told her about her cousin Elizabeth who also was recipient of a miraculous conception. What comfort that would have been to such a young girl who had to explain to others of her condition with fear that she would not be believed. But there was another, her cousin Elizabeth, who had conceived by a miracle so this too was possible. Elizabeth, who languished for years in 'the waiting room' with her husband Zacharias, longing for a child, must have at times wondered what her purpose on earth was for she was being denied the role all women were appointed to before this world began. As years passed and motherhood eluded her she must have felt worthless and forsaken somehow not knowing the important role she was to play, that of being a mother to the forerunner of the long awaited Messiah. Elizabeth's role of giving birth to and raising John the Baptist was not her only purpose. Her other purpose was to be a witness of God's miraculous power. Gabriel attested to this when he referred to Elizabeth by saying: "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37).  Another woman who served the same purpose was Sarah.

Sarah too languished in 'the waiting room' until it seemed that the promise of an heir could not be fulfilled. Imagine waiting for a promised child for 37 years and arriving to the day when you could plainly see that the time was past. What thoughts would run through your mind? Would you wonder if you had done something wrong and displeased the Lord? Sarah was infertile to begin with and well past the child bearing age when she conceived Isaac. Why such a long wait?  Why not give Sarah a son when she could have conceived normally, without divine intervention? Among other explanations that might come to mind,  Church Father Ambrose offered the most plausible one:  "An aged woman who was sterile brought (Isaac) to birth according to God's promise, so that we may believe that God has power to bring it about that even a virgin may give birth". (Didymus the Blind, On Genesis 2:41, in Oden, Ancient Christian Commentary, 2:45). I wonder where it would have left Mary if Elizabeth and Sarah had not served their purpose in being witnesses of God's miraculous power for they surely prepared the way and ministered to the inhabitants of the earth by the roles that they fulfilled as mothers of notable men. And what of Joseph, Zacharias and Abraham? What amazing men they must have been to be chosen to be protectors and providers of these amazing women who had been given such important missions. Joseph must have been a good man because he wanted to break off his engagement to Mary privately not wishing her to be exposed to public scorn (Matthew 1:19). Then when he was given instruction regarding her, he obeyed and fulfilled his task of being Mary's husband and her child's protector and guardian.

How would you feel knowing you are one of the great spirits chosen to come to earth to do a specific job and one of great importance and magnitude?  Would you feel important?  Would you understand the gravity of your responsibility and live up to it every day?  How would you feel if you knew you were responsible for salvation of the souls of men? Would it influence you to live a better life? All three women mentioned above fulfilled their life's purpose because of their steadfastness and obedience. Elizabeth and Zacharias were a temple going people, 'righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless' (Luke 1:6). Gabriel told Mary she was highly favoured of the Lord and blessed among women (Luke 1:28). She would not have received such a salutation had she not been as virtuous as she was. In fact she would not have had any salutation or visitation from an angel at all! Sarah, in her desperation to fulfill the law and her duty as an honourable wife, complied with the law of her day and gave her husband another wife so he would have offspring. What heaviness of heart must have been hers as she did so.

One cannot help but wonder if the course of history would flow as smooth if the noble and valiant failed to carry out the missions they brought with them. One thing I am sure of is that the Lord had chosen those valiant enough who He knew would not let Him down. His choice to reserve the strongest of us for the last dispensation of time must have been made with amazing foresight. The Saviour would have foreseen our day for all things are continually before him (D&C 130:7). Moroni stood as witness of our day when in his solitude he said: "Behold, I speak unto you as if you were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing." (Mormon 8:35). The Saviour knew our day also and He knew who would oppose and withstand the forces of evil that threaten to destroy His works. We, the possessors of truth, have been called out of the world to build, pave and prepare the path for mighty events of history that are yet to happen. We cannot fail in this. The Church needs us, the Saviour needs us, the world needs us. We are the valiant ones who have kept our first estate. Now we are on the second leg of our eternal journey. It is our destiny to perform mighty works in preparation for the Second Coming and it is our destiny to go on to eternal life. The adversary will do everything he can to stop us in our tracks but we must press on. We are yet to see marvelous events unfold in the history of this earth. We will see the dawning of a glorious day if we continue to be as valiant as we were in our first estate. And what were we valiant in? In our testimony of Jesus. Our lives need to reflect this testimony so that when He appears we shall know Him for we shall be like Him (Moroni 7:48). Then when we are caught up to meet Him we will welcome Him back with tears of joy knowing we have fulfilled the purpose for which we were born and we will rejoice to have been chosen to be His faithful servants.

FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS

There are few worth while shows currently airing on the television but there is one that is bound to touch the hearts of all those who view it. This show is called "Who Do You Think You Are?" I have watched this show twice now and each time have wept together with the celebrities who are assisted to trace their family lines and to discover great truths about their ancestors. The second show I watched featured Kelly Clarkson, a very famous and successful singer. She was tracing her three times great grandfather, Isaiah Rose, who as a youngster survived the horrors of the American Civil War and its' infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia and who later became a Republican Senator for Ohio and the champion of the 'temperance movement', introducing ultimately successful legislation allowing individual counties to enact local legislation banning the sale of liquor. The most interesting part of Kelly Clarkson's family history journey is that she considered this experience the best thing she has ever done. Considering the enormous successful career she has had in the music industry, this statement spoke volumes about a very well known scripture that came to my mind as she spoke: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers...." (Malachi 4:5,6)

On the evening of 21 September 1823, angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and informed him of important events soon to transpire on the earth. He also told him that Elijah would come. He spoke of 'promises made to the fathers' (JS-H 1:39) in ancient times which would assist in turning the hearts of the children to their fathers. Elijah did come, he came to the Kirtland Temple on 3 April 1836 and brought with him the priesthood keys which were the sealing powers of the Melchizedek Priesthood, the means whereby that which is bound and sealed on earth is also bound and sealed in heavens (D&C 110:13-16).

It is very interesting to me that the scripture which speaks of Elijah's return and mission in Malachi concludes the Old Testament and that this lesson falls to be taught in Church at Christmas time, the time of year when our hearts are turned to our families. We think of Christmas as 'family time' and go to great lengths to get together with our families, some travelling great distances to do so. It seems we make every effort to reach out to each other at this time of the year, to eat together, to play together, to renew our bonds, to rejoice. I wonder how many of us, however, have sent our thoughts to family members that have come and gone, that are very little known to us, if at all, family members that are languishing in the spirit world awaiting deliverance made possible only by us, who have the keys and the priesthood power to open the doors of their prison, to bring them salvation, to offer them hope of redemption and eternal life. How many of them feel forgotten and uninvited, if only in spirit, to our tables bulging with Christmas fare, not feeling a part of our family togetherness? How many are waiting with bated breath for our next temple visit or our next 15 minutes of glancing at our family history? How many are hoping against all hope that we will retrieve from the deep recesses of our minds the promises we have made to one another before this world began, that we will not forget each other, that we will do all that is in our power to bring each other back home?

At this Christmas time, should we not make a promise to come to know those who have paved the path before us, who have made us what we are and brought us to this mortal journey? Should we not commit to come to know them and to liberate them from their prisons of longing to belong to the throng of God? Should we not work our hardest to bring us together as families and ultimately unite us as the human family and children of God? This is God's work and this is His glory, this is the plan of salvation.  The Saviour has made all this possible.  He has not left us subject to the sting of death but has redeemed us both body and soul through one amazing selfless act. Will we honour Him and His birth as we remember our loved ones who are yet to enfold us into their embrace for making available to them the greatest gift of all, the gift of eternal life.