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For the last month, my ward assistant executive secretary has called me and asked me and my wife to say the opening and closing prayer at sacrament meeting but something was always coming up, whether a family reunion or some other event. Finally after having a free Sunday to make it to church, my wife and I were asked today, after another call last night, to offer the invocation and benediction. It just so happened that my wife woke up with a terrible sore throat and couldn't make it to church so I made the call to let them know she couldn't come. I was still requested to offer the closing prayer so off I went.
It has been very easy lately to find excuses not to attend church or any of the block meetings with the struggles that I've been through in my life. The economy has hit me hard and with so much on my mind and on my plate, it would have been all to easy to sleep in. Had I backed out of my assignment I would have missed several very particularly poignant talks and testimonies.
At sacrament meeting, a return missionary share some experiences from his service in San Francisco. One particular experience is about an investigator of the church who never missed a meeting for as long as he was investigating the church, but missed one Sunday. The economy caused him to send whatever money he had home and try and live on what few dollars he had left and was left with a choice of either having some food for the day or paying for the bus fare to attend church. This investigator had decided to have some food and skip church. That day, the elder and his companion had been given an exceptional amount of food by ward members that left them stuffed with much more food than they knew what to do with. Had this investigator decided to sacrifice whatever meal he planned to have in order to attend church, he would have had food to last him the rest of the week. The way had been prepared and he missed it.
After Sunday school, despite having been uplifted somewhat, I had decided that I didn't really need to go to my last class, which being the 5th Sunday of the month, was probably going to be some fluffy piece about who knows what. I walked out the doors and headed to my truck, still not feeling particularly good about all the struggles in my life. Still, something inside prodded me to go back inside. Three times I distinctly felt the words inside me say, "Go back!". I tried ignoring the promptings but sat in my truck. I really just wanted to go home. But how often are such promptings so often repeated so strongly? I know I wasn't talking to myself. Reluctantly I set my scripture bag on the passenger seat, hopped out of my truck, locked the door behind me and walked back to the building and found my way to class. I sat down and listened to my stomach grumble incessantly.
After a small opening hym, my neighbor, who has a very strong testimony, is a very gifted speaker, rich with experiences and testimony was given the assignment to give the lesson. This is the kind of man who has such a deep love of the gospel and the Savior that it is impossible not to be edified by his words or touched by the Spirt. He talked to us about Joseph Smith and his struggles in life. Without going into all the details, I will only share one particular quote that hit me like a ton of bricks. It was his opening thought. He quoted Joseph Smith:
If I had not actually got into this work and been called of God, I would back out. But I cannot back out: I have no doubt of the truth.
We discussed how generous and kind Joseph Smith was to his fellow man regardless of his faith or creed and how strong he was in the service of the Lord. We also talked about how difficult the early saints had it and how much they struggled and still stood under condemnation by the Lord (D&C). It made me reflect on all the resources available to me as a latter day saint and still take for granted that I live within a short driving distance of multiple temples.
Finally the first councelor of the bishopric stood to close with his thougths and he shared about running late this morning, tripping over things and thinking how tough things are right now and the pain he was in and that he was too old to be getting up to get started. He shared with us about how he thought I can't do this! then he shared with us a voice that he felt inside tell him "Who told you you can't?" After the meeting he related to me another experience and I realized just how much there are strong forces at work to try to discourage us and bring us down to failure. I realized that I have been listening to the wrong voices for a small while now. I also realized that I am not the only one in my ward who is really struggling and facing all sorts of opposition. I am not alone.
This series of events begining with a small calling to say a prayer in sacrament meeting testifies to me that although there are unseen forces at work, determined to bring me down, there are also unseen forces just as hard at work trying to keep me on the straight and narrow. I know that God is trying to reclaim me just as he is trying to reclaim us all. His voice is still and soft, while the voice of opposition screams in my ear, constantly telling me it's not worth it, it's too hard, I can't do it, etc. It is so easy to listen to the voice of opposition and to yield to the unseen force that tries to tell me to take it easy and skip church or not be as valiant in anything so spiritually important. We sang "Praise to the man" at the end of class and the Spirit touched my heart to the point of tears.
Had I been like the investigator mentioned above who may never know how much food and nourishment he gave up, I would have given up very important spiritual nourishment of my own and never known it. It makes me wonder how many blessings I have given up because I listened to the wrong voices and took the easier path. I'm making it through this day a winner. The forces of the Lord have won a small battle today and have brought me just that much closer to the Lord. It is still a difficult war and my soul is at stake. But I know in whom I can trust. Like Joseph Smith, I once said to myself that there is no way I'd be doing all this if I knew the church wasn't true. There's just no way. But because I know it is true and I have no doubt, I know what is at stake. Like Joseph, I have no doubt of the truth and how important the Lord's work is and also my part in it. I will press on, inch by inch. I will never let the voice of opposition tell me that I can't or that it isn't worth it. I must persevere. I will persevere.
D&C 121:7-8
7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
Tags: Opposition
Since the days of my mission I have been fascinated by some of the little details of the Book of Mormon. One such detail is a tiny little scripture written by Nephi and what its significance must have meant:
"And my father dwelt in a tent."
The fact that he "dwelt in a tent" was mentioned three more times. Anyone ever notice this?
1 Ne. 9: 1
And all these things did my father see, and hear, and speak, as he dwelt in a tent, in the valley of Lemuel, and also a great many more things, which cannot be written upon these plates.
1 Ne. 10: 16
And all these things, of which I have spoken, were done as my father dwelt in a tent, in the valley of Lemuel.
1 Ne. 16: 6
Now, all these things were said and done as my father dwelt in a tent in the valley which he called Lemuel.
There were very limited resources in the mission home for studying the more profound details of the Book of Mormon, but the many old Ensign and Liahona magazines provided me with some insight and information about what the life of Lehi and his family must have been like.
I believe that Lehi was a very wealthy man, who had a house, also a land of inheritance and many riches and took nothing with him but his family, tents and provisions. (As a sidebar, what does this teach us about valuing worldly things? What will we be able to take with us when we leave this world behind?).
1 Ne. 2: 4
And it came to pass that he *departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness.
He must have traveled a lot and was very familiar with the trade routes of his area and he probably took Nephi, his youngest son on many journeys perhaps to trade, or visit with acquantances and maybe even business men of other territories. These are just my opinions.
I think, though, that the journey that they took out into the wilderness, even common trails and trade routes that must have been frequented by other traders and even raided by plunderers, bandits and robbers, might not have been such a new experience for Nephi, who emphasized that his father dwelt in a tent. He mentions this as a sidebar in the midst of describing family issues. Since pondering this scripture again I decided to do a little online searching to see if I was the only one who wondered about this tiny passage. I was surprised to see I'm not alone. I discovered that "the sheikh's tent is the center of everything". But in Lehi's case there might be more to it than that! Didn't the Israelites have a portable tabernacle? A tent? A temple? Where did Lehi marry his sons to the daughters of Ishmael? Where did Lehi and even Nephi commune with the Lord while in the wilderness? The tent was mentioned about fourteen times.
I found a couple of good websites where others have provided their insight, which I find very fascinating and confirm to me that there was much more to Lehi dwelling in a tent than meets the eye Blogger of Jared Blog Archive “And My Father Dwelt in a Tent” My Father Dwelt in a Tent BoM Groupies
Tags: Father Dwelt Tent
This is a short talk that I wrote about nine years ago for sacrament meeting. The poem was written about eighteen or nineteen years ago and on a differentversion of MS Word. Unfortunately they're both on different font types and sizes than this blog font and I don't know how to make them all match. I hope I can fix this, because it's really bugging me. Anyway, this talk was inspired by Jeffrey R. Holland who gave a similar speech many years ago.
Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King
I want to share some of my insights and personal revelations from the scriptures and from talks past. But first, allow me to read verse one of the hymn, from which our theme is derived:
“Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King! Triumphant over death, Life thou didst bring, Leaving thy Father’s throne, on earth to live, Thy work to do alone, Thy life to give.”
Jesus Christ’s entire life was an act of selflessness. At age twelve he was already aware of His mission. Today we saw deacons passing the sacrament. At this same young age was young Jesus “…sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.”
How his parents must have worried for Him as they searched for three days and finally found him only to hear his reply, “…wist ye not that I was about my Father’s business?” Already, young Jesus was aware of his mission in life and was ever close to His Father in Heaven.
I want to share one of the most touching examples of just how selfless Jesus Christ was. One terrible day, Herod had ordered the execution of John the Baptist. We can read in the New Testament in the book of Mark chapter 6 of this story. When Christ’s disciples had heard of the news they went and took John’s body and laid it in a tomb and went and told Christ all that had happened. I think Jesus and John were very close. We read in the first chapter of Luke that when Mary went to visit Elizabeth, the mother of John, little John leaped in the womb for joy and Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit. They both bore strong testimonies of the other during their ministries and now, Jesus Christ’s cousin had been beheaded. I can’t imagine the sorrow Jesus felt at that moment that I am sure He knew was coming. It is one thing to know that a loved one does not have long to live but it is indeed another when the moment arrives. We read that Jesus privately went away to a desert place by ship, no doubt to mourn his cousin’s death and to be alone if for just a little while. We can also compare to Matthew chapter 14. As Jesus sailed away, many people saw Him and immediately went by foot out of the cities and took the long way around to where Jesus was heading and actually got there before he did.
When He arrived, He saw the multitudes there already waiting for Him. Didn’t they know His cousin just died? Couldn’t they let Him be alone for just a little while to mourn and pray? How dare all these people come bother Him now in one of his darkest hours. No, he put His own heavy feelings aside because “…they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them many things.” After a long day, the disciples told Jesus that they were quite a ways away from civilization and these people should depart to go and eat. But Jesus, still compassionate told His disciples, “Give ye them to eat.” But they didn’t have enough food and Jesus performed another miracle for them. He gathered the few loaves of bread and fishes and blessed them and did feed five thousand men, beside women and children and they were all filled. Now they were all satisfied and edified. Here is where Jesus displays great wisdom. He tells his disciples to go into town while he sent the multitudes on their way. They do so and He bids the multitude farewell. I don’t know how long it takes to bid farewell to thousands of people but after finally doing so, it had to be late into the evening. Now at last Jesus can be alone since he wisely sent his disciples away beforehand. He departs into the mountain to be alone, to mourn His cousin’s death and to pray. Of course Jesus couldn’t leave them alone for too long. They went and got into a little storm and He had to go out on the sea on foot and rescue them by calming the storm. This was during the fourth watch which translates to sometime between three and six in the morning. So it was indeed a full day. To me this epitomizes selflessness on the Savior’s part. He tended to the needs of others first, then His own.
Another great example to me, of Jesus Christ, was how close He was to His Father in Heaven and how close Father in Heaven was to Him. When Jesus Christ was baptized, the heavens opened up and a voice came from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Consider also these excerpts from the New Testament:
John 5:19-20—“The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: …The Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth.”
John 7:28-29—“I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him.”
John 10:30—“I and my Father are one.”
John 16:32—“Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.”
John 8: 16, 29—“I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me…He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”
We can assert that Jesus Christ always looked to His Father in Heaven for strength and support. How very thin the veil must have been between them and how close Father and Son must have been at all times. Even as Christ suffered the pains of mankind as he bled from every pore and prayed to his Father to let this cup pass. And yet how soon after did He say, not My will, but Thine be done. Christ knew there was no other way and this was it. This was the moment for which He prepared His entire life. Humbly He surrendered to His father’s will and drank the bitter cup to the very dregs. He endured these pains as an angel was sent to comfort Him. Now the next part of His final mission lay before Him. He was taken in the middle of the night to be judged, interrogated, derided, abused and suffer all kinds of humiliation. Soldiers beat him with their fists, they scourged Him with whips of leather embedded with fragments of bone and other sharp objects designed to cut open the skin to prepare for the further pains of crucifixion. Finally a crown of needle like thorns was shoved onto his head. He was then taken and laid on a cross while soldiers pounded large spikes into his hands, wrists and feet, delivering extreme amounts of pain, and finally lifted up to suffer the pains of hanging from these spikes. And now, Jesus Christ hangs on a cross for many hours. The onlookers mocked him saying, “Save thyself, and come down from the cross. He saved others; himself he cannot save.” And still Christ said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And then the final moment of feeling the heavens close before Him, to feel the weight of the atonement rest solely on Him and Him alone, He cries out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani?” “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Elder Melvin J. Ballard wrote many years ago: “I ask you, what father and mother could stand by and listen to the cry of their children in distress…and not render assistance? I have heard of mothers throwing themselves into raging streams when they could not swim a stroke to save their drowning children, (I have heard of fathers) rushing into burning buildings to rescue those whom they loved.”
How Father in Heaven must have felt. All throughout Christ’s life, His Father was there to bear witness of His Son, to teach Him line upon line, precept upon precept. He was there to commune with His Son every day. Until now. This was the moment that had been planned for since the very foundation of the world. In those last painful hours of Christ’s life, our Father in Heaven had to turn away. And yet Christ continued to speak to Father in Heaven until the end when he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” and he died. After three days of preaching to the people in the spirit world, Christ was resurrected. He then appeared to many and sent the apostles into the world and afterwards ascended into heaven. What an emotional and glorious reunion it must have been for Father and Son to be reunited at long last.
If we live our lives like Christ lived His, what a glorious reunion it will be for each of us as we pass through the gates of heaven and into our Father’s embrace at long last. In closing I want to share a poem that I wrote on Christmas eve in 1990 on my mission in Germany. I have always enjoyed writing poetry and for the longest time I endeavored to write the perfect poem that would express my feelings for the Savior. For over ten years I have kept this very personal and private and have shared it with very, very few people but I feel like this is something that should be shared now and not kept hidden under the proverbial bushel any longer. I hope you can feel my testimony in each word that took me so long to put on paper.
Can words describe Him?
Can words describe the heavens the moment He left home,
Or how His Father watched as He left His promised throne?
Can words describe the picture of the glorious, starry night
As the lamps in a lonely manger burned with fiery light?
Can words describe the image of the tiny newborn’s face
As He gently nestled in His mother’s warm embrace?
Can words describe the scene of the multitudes that day
As the Master stood among them and taught them how to pray?
Can words describe the perfect love which filled the Savior’s soul,
Or the healing touch of His gentle hands as He made the lepers whole?
Can words describe His love for us; His heart so full of grace,
His mercy and His sacrifice to save the human race?
Can words describe His wonder, His tears and agony;
And the drops of blood I caused Him in Gethsemene?
Can words describe His countenance when they smote Him with their hands
And spat upon His face because they didn’t understand?
Can words describe the scourging, the thorns upon His head,
The mocking and the laughter as His weakened body bled?
Can words describe His broken heart and mortal agony
As He hung six hours on a cross and did it all for me?
Can words describe His mercy; the King of every Jew
When He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”?
Can words describe the picture of the best man crucified;
Of the Savior, of the King, of my big brother as He died?
Can words describe my feelings, my mental agony
To try to comprehend His love to bleed and die for me?
But one day I will see Him and though my heart may fear,
I’ll bow my head and kiss His feet and bathe them with my tears.
Tags: Jesus Christ Nazareth Savior
My testimony of the Book of Mormon is based on personal revelation (Moroni 10:3-5) and not from any evidence of man. God will prove our faith and reward us accordingly. That said, I want to share an interesting challenge that has been in circulation since I was on a mission almost 20 years ago (possibly longer than that). If anyone thinks it is easy to do what Joseph Smith did, try it for yourself. Bookmark this and share with someone you know: THE BOOK OF MORMON CHALLENGE If one scoffs at the missionary's explanation of the Book of Mormon, he is in so many words claiming it to be false: That it is a deceiving fraud formulated through the efforts and talents of a common man. What is produced by one man can always be duplicated by another. The challenge that the Book of Mormon makes to the world is that of duplication. Because the book complies with every one of the following conditions, in order to produce a similar record, one must comply with the same conditions. Here is the challenge: Can you accept it? 1. Write a history of ancient Tibet covering a period from 600 B.C. to 450 A.D. Why ancient Tibet? Because you know no more about Tibet than Joseph Smith (or anyone else) knew about ancient America. 2. You are 23 years of age. 3. You have had no more than three years of formal school education, and have spent your life in backwoods farming communities. 4. Your history must be written on the basis of what you now know. There was no library that held information for Joseph Smith. You must use none. There is to be no research of any kind. 5. Your history must be 531 pages and over 300,000 words in length. 6. Other than a few grammatical corrections, you must have no changes in the text. The first edition as you dictate it to your secretary must stand forever. 7. This record is to contain the history of two distinct and separate nations, along with histories of different contemporary nations or groups of people. 8. You must describe their religious, economic, political, and social cultures and institutions. Cover every phase of their society, including the names of their coins. 9. Change your style of writing many times. Many ancient authors contributed to the Book of Mormon, each with his own style. 10. Weave into your history the religion of Jesus Christ and the pattern of Christian living. 11. You must claim that your smooth narrative is not fiction with moral value, but true and sacred history. 12. You must include in you book fifty-four chapters dealing with wars, twenty-one historical chapters, fifty-five chapters on visions and prophecies. Remember, when you begin to write visions and prophecies, you must have your record agree meticulously with the Bible. You must write seventy-one chapters on doctrine and exhortation, and you must check every statement with the scriptures or you will be proven a fraud. You must write twenty-one chapters on the ministry of Christ, and every thing you claim he said and every testimony you write in your book about Him must agree absolutely with the New Testament. 13. Many of the facts, claims, ideas, and statements given as absolute truth in your writing must be entirely inconsistent with the prevailing beliefs of the world. Some of these worldly beliefs must be the direct opposite of your claims. 14. Included in your narrations will be authentic modes of travel; whether or not those ancient people used fire; description of their clothing, crops, mourning customs, and types of government. You must invent about 280 new names that will stand up under scrutiny through the years as to their proper application and derivation. 15. You will have to properly use figures of speech, similes, metaphors, narrations, exposition, descriptions, oratory, epic lyric, and parables. 16. You must invite the ablest scholars and experts to examine the text with care, and you must strive diligently to see that your book gets into the hands of those eager to prove it a forgery, and who are most competent to expose every flaw in it. 17. Thorough investigation, scientific and historical evidence, and archeological discovery for the next 125 years must verify its claims and prove detail after detail to be true, for many of the details you put in your history are still buried beneath the soil of Tibet. 18. You must publish it to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people declaring it to be the word of God and another witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. 19. The book must not contain any absurd, impossible, or contradictory statements. Your history must not contain any statement that will contradict any other statement elsewhere in the volume. 20. Many theories and ideas as to its origin must arise, and after discovering and examining the facts, they must fail. You have claimed that your knowledge had come from divine origin, and this claim continues to stand as the only possible explanation. The strength of this explanation must not decrease as time passes, but actually increases to the point where it becomes the only logical explanation. 21. Your record is to fulfill many Bible prophecies, even in the exact manner in which it shall come forth, to whom delivered, its purposes, and its accomplishments. 22. Call down an angel from heaven in the middle of the day and have him bear testimony to four honest, dignified citizens of your community that the record is the word of God. These witnesses must bear the angel's testimony to the world, not for profit or gain, but under great sacrifice and severe persecution, even to their death beds. You must put that testimony to the test by becoming an enemy to these men. 23. Thousands of great men, intellectual giants, national and international personalities, and scholars for 165 years must accept your history and its teachings even to the point of laying down their life rather than deny their testimony of it. 24. You must include with within the record this promise: "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost." 25. Missionaries must bear record to the world for the next 165 years that they know the record to be true because they put the promise to the test and found it to be true. The truth of it was manifested to them by the power of the Holy Ghost. 26. Over 52,900 plus competent salesman must be so sold on your book that they gladly give up two or more years of their lives to take it to all parts of the world for distribution. They not only pay their own way during these years, but return bearing testimony that the time spent will remain as one of the highlights of their lives. They receive nothing in return for their efforts but the joy of having shared your book with others. 27. Your book must not only raise the standards of millions of people but do it in such a way that they become one of the great moral, ethical, and dynamic marvels of the day. They must become world renowned for this. 28. For the next 20 years you must watch those that follow and you, your family, and the dearest of your loved ones persecuted, driven time after time from their homes, beaten, tortured, starved, frozen and killed. Tens of thousands must undergo the most extreme hardships in your presence just because they believe your claims concerning the origin and content of what you have written on ancient Tibet. 29. You must gain no wealth from your work, but many times lose all that you have. Like those that believe you, you must submit yourself to the most vile persecution. And finally after 20 years of this, give your own life in a very savage and brutal manner, for your testimony concerning your history book. This must be done willingly on your part. 30. Start right now and produce this record which covers 1,000 years of history, doing it, not in the peaceful atmosphere of your community, but under the most trying of circumstances which include being driven from your home several times, and receiving constant threats upon your life. Please have your book completed, talk a friend into mortgaging his farm to raise money to have it printed - all in 60 days. There is only one answer: The Book of Mormon is a divine record. If not, its origin must be stated and its claims must be explained by the critic. It isn't enough to merely discard it as false and forget about it! The first thing to do in examining any ancient text is to consider it in the light of the origin and background there is no need to look farther, since historical forgery is virtually impossible.
Tags: Book Mormon Challenge
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