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".