UNTO THE CONVINCING OF MEN

  

".....as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people......and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death......" 

(Mosiah 18:8,9)

Imagine, if you will, being a convert to the Church of Christ living in Rome between A.D. 54 and 117. It is during this period that the Church suffered three horrific Roman persecutions, the third under the Roman Emperor Trajan "who reigned from A.D. 98 to 117. By this time Christianity had been declared an illegal society in the empire; and unless the saints renounced Christ, they were executed.....Before the first century was concluded, bearing faithful witness of Jesus Christ led to torture, persecution, and death so often that the very word 'witness' took on the connotation of dying for one's belief. To deny Christ and deify Caesar, or to die was the choice given many of the early saints of the Church" (The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, p. 404). How strong would our conviction of the reality of Christ be if we were faced with such a choice? How seriously would any of us take the admonition to stand as a witness of God 'at all times and in all things, and in all places, even until death'? If we were faced with the choice, would we have chosen Caesar as our god or Christ?The apostles of the early Church were martyred because they would not deny Him. Not only would they not deny but they bore witness with boldness and conviction. Paul, suffered it all for Christ's sake: "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness...." (2 Cor. 11:24-28). Despite it all, Paul lived up to the command the Saviour had given him on the road to Damascus: "Rise, and stand upon thy feet; for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness....." (Acts 26:16)

Despite his deep understanding of the doctrine as evidenced by his prolific writing to the churches, when taken by an angry mob in Jerusalem and when brought before King Agrippa and the Roman governor Festus, Paul did not preach and expound his knowledge, instead he recounted his 'road to Damascus' experience and bore pure testimony of his conviction of the truth (Acts 21:6-10, 26:12-16). Even though his testimony was rejected and Paul met martyrdom for not denying Christ, he lived true to his conviction 'even unto death'. In our dispensation, Joseph Smith, like Paul had seen Christ and had suffered persecution and death because of his testimony which he could not deny and would not refrain from proclaiming. Like Paul, Joseph bore his testimony continually and simply and received the same treatment of which he said: "However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise...." (JS-History 1:24-25)

When the Church's progress was hindered by iniquity in Alma's time, he went among the people himself to stir them up in remembrance of God, not by declaring hard doctrine but by bearing pure testimony for he knew this was the only way to 'reclaim' them, 'seeing no other way' (Alma 4:19). Alma knew that pure testimony is the only power that brings about true conversion because it is accompanied by the witness of the Holy Ghost. It is the influence of the Holy Ghost that inspires love, meekness and humility. If we want to be an influence for good in the midst of our congregations, we need to stand up as witnesses and bear pure testimony of our conviction. We must not only preach the word, but testify of its' truthfulness. Like the Saviour, like Paul and like Joseph Smith, we need to be 'testifiers'. We need to be heard saying, "I know":

"My experience throughout the Church leads me to worry that too many of our members' testimonies linger on 'I am thankful' and 'I love' and too few are able to say with humble but sincere clarity, 'I know'. As a result, our meetings sometimes lack the testimony-rich, spiritual underpinnings that stir the soul and have meaningful, positive impact on the lives of all those who hear them. Our testimony meetings need to be more centered on the Saviour, the doctrines of the gospel, the blessings of the Restoration, and the teachings of the scriptures. We need to replace stories, travelogues, and lectures with pure testimonies" (M. Russell Ballard, Pure Testimony, Liahona, Nov. 2004, 40-43)"

In October 1988 General Conference, President Ezra Taft Benson delivered a talk entitled "I Testify" throughout which he did nothing but bear testimony of all facets of the gospel and the Plan of Salvation. Each paragraph of the talk begins with 'I testify'. There is no doubt in my mind that those who heard this talk were convinced that President Benson 'knew'. In his final address to the Church, Bruce R. McConkie spoke exclusively about 'The Purifying Power of the Gethsemane' but none of the doctrinally sound things he said had as much bearing on our remembrance as the concluding testimony of that talk: "And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God - I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God's Almighty Son, that he is our Saviour and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through His atoning blood and in no other way" (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, The Purifying Power of Gethsemane, The Ensign, May 1985).

In our bearing of testimony we need to be like Jeremiah of old who could not be stayed from testifying despite the persecution he suffered: "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay" (Jeremiah 20:9). I imagine this is how Paul felt, the burning fire in his bones could not make him refrain from testifying of the truth. Do we feel this unquenchable fire in our bones when we are confronted and presented with opportunities such as these:

"I was in a college Sociology class following my mission. The teacher was engaging. His lectures reached into my heart and mind and I enjoyed almost everything he did. Almost. In spite of repeated claims that he was a member of the Church and an active one (he told us he taught Gospel Doctrine in a local ward), he seldom skipped an opportunity to criticize the Church. He may have done this from an inflated sense of the need to make his students (who were mostly Latter-day Saints) to think for themselves, or from a sincere belief that the Church was too autocratic. At any rate, I learned early in the course that he would challenge my willingness to 'stand as a witness' from time to time.

The first time it happened, the discussion had turned to the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I am not sure now, at a distance of 34 years, how we got from sociology to Iron County but were were there and Dr. Whoeveritwas directed a searching discussion into the causes of that tragic event. At one point, because of a comment from an interested but uniformed non-member student, the professor observed that to his certain knowledge, the death of the wagon train members at Mountain Meadows had been ordered by Brigham Young himself. 

I was jerked from my cautious interest in the discussion - a non-participant anxious to get on to other less controversial things - to a position of responsibility. I knew that what I had just heard was not true. I had studied enough church history and read enough of the documents about this event to know that Brigham Young tried desperately to prevent the least inconvenience from coming to the members of the wagon train. I thought about making that very point. I had just returned from two years of standing as a witness. But I was in a class of perhaps one hundred and seventy students (this was a required undergraduate class) and I was surrounded by strangers. I was reluctant to make a display of myself, and besides, my declaration would not matter that much anyway, would it? I sat, wrestling with myself in the silence following this statement, hoping the discussion would turn in another direction. And then, exactly in front of me, a young woman stood. Her hands gripped the back of the chair before her. Her voice was tight and she quivered with emotion. 'Dr. Whoeveryouare, I'm a new member of the Church. I was baptized less than a year ago. I've never even heard of the Mountain Meadow Massacre, so I don't know what you're talking about. But I know you are wrong!' And she sat down. 

This was I believe, the most powerful lesson I learned in college. No teacher ever reached into my heart the way her simple, powerful testimony did. She was willing to stand as a witness when I was not. But I made a promise to myself that day, studying the back of her head, consumed by my own shame. I told myself that I would never sit again when it was time for me to stand. This is a promise I have tried to keep.

As we study Acts 21-28, we see Paul standing as a witness. He would have been on his feet in an instant in that class, his eyes blazing, his voice like 'the roaring of a lion'. Joseph Smith described Paul in this way:

"He is about five feet high; very dark hair, dark complexion, dark skin;

large Roman nose; sharp face; small black eyes, penetrating as eternity;

round shoulders; a whining voice, except when elevated, and then it almost

resembled the roaring of a lion. He was a good orator, active and diligent, 

always employing himself in doing good to his fellow man."

(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1839-42, p 180)

(Ted L. Gibbons, "Thou Hast Testified of Me", ldsgospeldoctrine.net)

May we 'stand as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places' and speak with the voice like 'the roaring of a lion' as we testify of the conviction of our hearts and may we be heard upon the mountaintops saying "I know". 

THE SORROWING HEART

We live in a fallen world. A world of pain, suffering, grief, sorrow and many other negative emotions and maladies of the mind and heart. It is for this purpose we were sent here, to experience and master the world of opposites; that in our experience with sorrow we might know joy. This world was made for the perfection of our experience; to shape, mould and perfect us that we might have joy in this life and the fullness of joy throughout our eternal existence. Without knowing mortality, we would never have known this fullness but would have languished in innocence and imperfection for eternity. It was therefore imperative that we became agents of our own fate whereby we could choose the outcome of our eternal station. In the process of choosing between right and wrong that would lead us to this outcome, is a necessary teaching tool known as sorrow. This sorrow is born from our inclination to indulge the natural man and is meant to lead us back from wayward paths to the path of accountability, purpose and wisdom. 

The sorrow spoken of here falls into two categories: the sorrow of the world and 'godly sorrow'. It is important for us to understand the distinction between the two because one can keep us trapped in misery while the other can grant us emotional and spiritual freedom. When we choose to be in the world and have no regard for God's laws, we are prone to experience worldly sorrow. The world is trapped in this type of sorrow which offers no peace and no redemption. When the Nephite civilization began it's demise into total destruction, many of them lamented the state they were in which gave Mormon great hopes that their sorrow would lead them to repentance. In this, Mormon was greatly disappointed because he records: "But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin" (Mormon 2:13). In other words, the Nephites sorrowed because they could not have it both ways; they could not live in sin and at the same time be happy. And herein is found one of Satan's biggest lies; that we are free to do whatever we want. Freedom of the heart, however, does not come with 'whatever we want'. Very often 'whatever we want' comes with sorrow. Today, in our attempt to prove that we are free to choose, we have surrounded ourselves by the sorrow of the world: lives devastated by drugs, cruelty, abusive behaviour, greed, selfishness, corruption, immorality, deceit and much more. Those who are of the world experience sorrow for their reckless behaviour when they are shocked into it by the consequences of their actions or when they are found out. 

Unlike worldly sorrow, godly sorrow leads to repentance and freedom. A truly repentant person will experience sorrow not only because of the cost of sin to themselves but also because they offended God. They can see clearly they have put in jeopardy the salvation of their soul, they come to regret their actions and their sorrowing results in a broken heart. This is godly sorrow. This sorrow brings about grieving that teaches us accountability and grows in us a desire to abstain from further sinning. Desisting the sin is simply not enough to effect true repentance because it does not bring about a change of heart. Merely desisting without godly sorrow means it is just a matter of time before we go back to the sin which has had us in its grip. When we experience godly sorrow, we show sincerity in our intentions to forsake the sin. This painful 'payment' acts as a perfect deterrent in the repentance process.

God's love for us is always there but when we are living a sinful life we distance ourselves from that love. Catastrophically, we also distance ourselves from our chance of salvation and ultimate exaltation. Repentance is perhaps the greatest proof of God's mercy towards His children. Not wanting to leave us in the fallen world forever He has provided the way for us to be reconciled to Him and be once more worthy of His presence. Repentance is crucial for this reconciliation. No unclean thing can enter the kingdom of God (3 Nephi 27:19) because God Himself is clean, pure and perfect therefore He cannot receive us into His presence if we are unclean and tainted by sin. But uncleanliness can be eradicated for those 'who have washed their garments in [Christ's] blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end' (3 Nephi 27:19). 

The path to reconciliation with God is in Christ. He is the healing in our wings and the path back to freedom and spiritual security. Because of Him we need not suffer the sorrow of the world but the sorrow that will bring us back to God. This is the sorrow that is worth the pain because it is momentary as opposed to the sorrow of the world that is never ending. "The delightful promise of the Gospel to those who 'sorrow after a godly sort' (2 Cor. 7:11) is complete forgiveness and reconciliation to God. There is a power in the Atonement of Christ that makes the repentant soul new again: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 5:17-18). This dream of a new life, a new start, a new chance is made reality in the Atonement of Christ." (Breck England, NT Lesson 35, Be Ye Reconciled to God)

A bird 

Once broken

Can never fly,

They say,

Quite so high

Again.

Perhaps.

But as for me,

Now desperately

In need of mending,

I have a healer

Who would restore

These foolish wings

Without a scar.

I will lie quiet

Beneath His touch.

I will listen

As He whispers,

"Rise, and fall no more"

And then -

Then I shall

Soar.

- Carol Lynn Pearson

A LOVE SO PURE

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."  

(1 Corinthians 13:7)

In Paul's attempt to bring the Corinthian saints closer to Christ and His character which He hoped they would emulate, he delivered the most poetic and inspiring discourse on the attribute of charity, a quality without which according to Paul we are nothing.  Understanding the nature of charity makes sense of this statement. It is crucial that we know and understand what charity is not to fully understand what it truly is. Charity is not acts of kindness for Paul states that even giving all our possessions to the poor is possible without possessing charity. He goes on to say that it is possible to even speak with the tongue of angels and prophesy without charity and no doubt do many things which would make us appear good to others and which could be acts born from selfish and wrongful desires. Likewise, long suffering, absence of envy, lack of pride, good behaviour, righteousness, faith, hope and rejoicing in truth that Paul also speaks of are not really charity but rather products of it and evidences that a person possesses this quality.  Charity therefore is an outward expression of the inner state of our hearts. Rather than alms or deeds, charity is the motive, the pure motive which prompts or inspires the acts of good will.

Moroni teaches us that charity is the pure love of Christ (Moroni 7:47) without which we cannot become like the Saviour. Why the emphasis on 'pure'? Why not just 'the love of Christ' which inspires men to do good? Christ's love is pure because it is free of any ulterior motives or hidden agendas. Christ's only desire is to bring each one of us to His own station of perfection, glory, power and dominion (Larry Keeler, I Do Always Those Things That Please Him, p 2). When He said 'here am I, send me' (Abraham 3:27) He asked for nothing but glory for the Father, unlike Lucifer who wanted the glory for himself; and when He said 'for behold this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man' (Moses 1:39), He meant that He had no wish to elevate Himself through this work, but that His love was the only motivation for offering us salvation. It is this selflessness and presence of pure love that enabled the Saviour of all mankind to submit His will to the Father in His greatest agony. It is this pure love of Christ that would likewise enable us to lift another to salvation, to extend brotherly love through selfless acts of kindness, to do good and serve others in all things and in all places.

Christ's entire mortal life exemplified the pure love He has for all of us, especially those of us who through acceptance of His eternal sacrifice would become His spiritually begotten children, to share His rightful inheritance in the Kingdom of the Eternal Father. The evidence of His love is with us today in the form of ordinances which have been instituted for the salvation of all mankind. A closer look at the three most prominent can teach us to recognise the gift of love in the rest:

• Baptism: Through accepting the ordinance of baptism, we 're-enact the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and are ensured a place in His Kingdom. Jesus Christ, the only person who ever lived who did not have to die, chose to die as an act of charity for us because in doing so He conquered death for each of us and ensured our resurrection' (Breck England, NT Lesson 34, Keep the Ordinance As I Delivered Them). Death of a loved one can teaches us that the Saviour's gift of resurrection is a profound act of love, a gift that re-unites families and restores each of us to life and immortality. 

• Sacrament:  Each Sunday we have the privilege of taking the sacrament in remembrance of the ultimate and supreme act of love the Saviour had gifted to each of us for He 'so loved the world that He gave His own life that as many as believed might become the sons of God' (D&C 34:3). We learn from Paul that one of the evidences of charity is 'long suffering'. Surely the Lord Jesus had suffered the longest of us all by experiencing exquisite pain for our sins. Paul also says that those who have charity 'bear all things' and 'endure all things'. Is it not true that Jesus bore our griefs and endured all our sorrows? The ordinance of the sacrament helps us to reflect on these fruits of charity, to marvel at the love so pure that would enable even God to bleed at every pore. 

• Sealing:  It is through the sealing power of marriage that we gain the greatest gift of all, the gift of eternal life, meaning we are exalted to live with God in family units. "The sealing ordinance represents our Saviour's ultimate act of charity, for through this ordinance we are sealed up to eternal life as co-heir with Him and a co-partaker of 'all that the Father hath' (John 16:15). It is His supreme charity because He literally gives it all; He can give each of us no more than all that He has. If you receive the sealing ordinance and remain faithful, He promises that you 'shall receive your exaltation, that where I am ye shall be also' (D&C 132:23) (Breck England, NT Lesson 34, Keep The Ordinances, As I Delivered Them)

The purpose of the ordinances of the Gospel is not only to advance us in our progression to godhood but to draw us closer to the Saviour and to become like Him. It is our duty to grasp the concept of charity, or the pure love He has for us so that we can emulate that love in our own lives towards others. If we do not grasp the Saviour's love we go unchanged and unaffected and fail to become as He is. If we do not become like Him, we cannot share the inheritance with Him in celestial worlds on high. Lest we be overcome with the magnitude of this charge, we need to know that we cannot acquire or develop the pure love of Christ of our own selves. The pure love of Christ is a gift to all who show obedience and faithfulness as His disciples. After all we can do, by the grace of God, we qualify to receive this love as a gift 'bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ' (Moroni 7:48). It is to our everlasting advantage to 'pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that we may be filled with this love.....that when he shall appear we shall be like him...' (Moroni 7:48)

We cannot become pure, powerful or perfect relying on our efforts alone. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian saints, he acknowledged that he was the least of the apostles and not worthy to be called such because he persecuted the church of God but he also acknowledged that he had become as good as the great work he performed by exclaiming 'by the grace of God I am what I am' (1 Cor 15:9,10). He alone, whom we worship and accept as our personal Saviour, can make of us what we should be. By yielding our hearts to Him and striving to obey Him in all things, we too can possess a love so pure and so divine that we will be granted the purity of character worthy of God's presence and all that is His. May we strive to be recipients of the greatest love of all and may we bless each other's lives with its' power now and forever. May we reach across boundaries, limits and fears and shrink not from love which will lead us to salvation and to that place where we will at last, once more, once again and forever, see the face of God.