Of Christmas and More than an Infant

Photo by Stephen Andrews on Unsplash

This Christmas many people will sing and speak praises of a baby born in Bethlehem 2021 years ago.  Unfortunately, too many people never get past that story of the “Babe of Bethlehem.”  It is sweet, it is joyful, but it is not enough. 

The birth of Jesus, the Son of God, was miraculous.  Unlike the birth of anyone else, his birth was prophesied over thousands of years, with prophecies fulfilled in every particular, and prophecies that are continuing and accelerating in their fulfillment today.  What does that mean for us?  It means that this is all part of a very big deal.  It is what the prophet Alma said “is of more importance than” all (Alma 7:7).

We love to sing Christmas carols.  The words of carols, however, can at times challenge the vocabulary of little children.  In my younger years of singing “The First Noel” I was certain that the word “certain” in the second line was a verb, not an adjective.  “The first Noel the angel did say/ Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay. . . ”  In my young mind “certain” described what and why the angel was speaking to the shepherds.  The angel appeared in order to certain the shepherds.

Today I am not so sure that I was wrong in hearing a verb.  The angel wanted those shepherds to know, to understand, to be certain of what they saw, and thereby to become witnesses of something extremely important.  The angel explained what was happening, what it meant, where it was happening, how to recognize the marvel, and then the shepherds quickly went to see for themselves, personally.  Immediately afterward they shared with others what they knew. 

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy . . . . For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. . . . And they came with haste, and found . . . the babe lying in a manger.  And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. (Luke 2:8-17, emphasis added)

Following His resurrection, Jesus was careful to make His disciples certain of His resurrection so that they might witness to others of what they knew, enabling others at first to believe and then come to know for themselves by the testimony of the Holy Ghost.

The Father and the Son want us to know so that we might understand—actually, so that we might not misunderstand.  They appeared to Joseph Smith, such that Joseph’s knowledge was, from the first, certain.  He then could testify, “I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me . . .” (Joseph Smith History 1:25)

I have gained my own witness that Joseph’s certainty was true.  I, too, have been certained by the power of the Holy Ghost.  I know for sure that God is real and that Jesus Christ is the resurrected Savior of the world.  God has given certain witness to Joseph Smith and the prophets since then, including the prophet today, Russell M. Nelson.  Many have believed and had belief confirmed into certainty by the assurance of the Holy Ghost.

The words to the carol, “What Child Is This?” are a soul-deep meditation on why the birth of this Baby is so important.  The musings lead to an answer found in what this Child would later do. 

I fear that many modern renditions of the carol miss—or perhaps even avoid—the point. Among the dozen or so recordings of that carol in my possession, I discovered to my surprise that all but maybe four leave out the second of three verses written by William C. Dix, the one that holds a central place explaining why this birth was important.  Some repeat, again and again, the true declaration that this Child is “Christ the King.” Recognition of that reality is essential, but how far does it get you?  Even Herod believed and feared that prophecy, a belief that goaded him to destroy all the babes of Bethlehem that his soldiers could find.

Why did Christ the King find it necessary to lower Himself to be born among men?  That is the central question, the answer to which converts our attitude toward Christ from reverence for a Divine Monarch into deeply felt love born of joy and boundless gratitude.  The second verse, too often skipped, explains what is at the heart of Christmas.  Here are the words.

Why lies He in such mean estate,

Where ox and ass are feeding?

Good Christians, fear, for sinners here

The silent Word is pleading.

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,

The cross be borne for me, for you.

Hail, hail the Word made flesh,

The babe, the Son of Mary.

This little Child would be pierced by nails and spear when He was older but no less innocent.  Why would He submit to that?  Why would the King submit to that?

Among the beautiful carols of Christmas there is one that surely seems odd and out of place. The haunting melody is in significant measure responsible for its lasting popularity, but the words are anything but joyful for a joyful celebration. Rather than recount the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ, the song expresses the inconsolable sorrow of a mother of Bethlehem mourning the cruel murder of her little child. Popularly known as “The Coventry Carol,” it includes these words:

O sisters, too, how may we do,

For to preserve this day;

This poor Youngling for whom we sing,

By, by, lully, lullay.

 

Herod the King, in his raging,

Charged he hath this day;

His men of might, in his own sight,

All children young, to slay.

The song helps retell when jealous King Herod, fearful of even rumors of potential rivals for his throne, ordered the slaughter of all the children in Bethlehem of two years old and younger. Herod had been advised by the wise men of the birth of the future King of the Jews, in fulfillment of prophecy.  Herod missed his mark, for Jesus was no longer there. Joseph, warned by an angel, had taken his little family away to Egypt.

Among those who take it upon themselves to second guess God there are those who would question why God would save His Son, while allowing all those other children in Bethlehem to be slain. Again, these critics miss the mark. They get it wrong by failing to consider the whole picture.

God the Father did not spare His Son from the slaying of the children at Bethlehem. The unfair and cruel carnage begun in David’s city was finished on Calvary. Jesus’ life was spared only momentarily so that it could be offered as the last sacrifice for all. That seemingly doleful song points us to the full meaning of Christmas as part of a story that winds through Bethlehem and leads through sorrow in Gethsemane to death on Calvary.

Importantly, the story continues on from there to a glorious resurrection morning on the third day. Christ was born to save us, in spite of the evils of the world that He most of all could not escape, a salvation that extends especially to the children of Bethlehem and to all the little children of the world.

I conceive of a day, a moment, when those very men who pounded the nails into the Savior’s hands and feet come personally to realize, come face-to-face with what they have done.  What depth of grief that this knowledge will cause to the hearts of those men—when they become certain of the meaning of those moments in that day—I can imagine in only the smallest degree.  They will be the only men, among the billions who have trod the earth, who with hammers in their fists drove nails into the hands and feet of the Creator and their Savior.  What will that certainty mean to them?

Perhaps the Savior’s plea from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” (Luke 23:34) will be the beginning of some healing solace when they do know what they personally did.  I suspect that this is not the limit of the mercy that the Savior will extend to these, His brothers, who were so close to the Son of God in this horrible way.

Then I am drawn to consider, how will we feel when our day comes, and it surely will, when we stand face-to-face and see those wounds in His hands and feet?  How will we feel when we come to understand perfectly, as we will, that our own, personal sins made those wounds necessary, that because of what we knowingly have done there was no other way, that we helped to make those nails unavoidable?  More, how will we feel, looking in the Savior’s eyes, when we fully understand that depending on our repentance the suffering that we personally caused was entirely and eternally worth it, or in absence of our repentance for us for naught?  At that moment our joy and our love or our grief and pain will be without measure.

Let us decide now, for we may, to let our loving hearts enthrone Him.  May we decide now, today, that we, when brought into the personal presence of the Savior, will be like Christ's ancient disciples, who did “bow down at his feet . . . and worship him; and . . . kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears.” (3 Nephi 17:10)

Of Miracles and Modern Times

My son famously declared to his school colleagues in morning devotional, “Brothers, I believe in miracles.”  I do, too.  I have witnessed them.  I have experienced them.

Believing in miracles supposes some understanding of what they are.  I understand all miracles to have their source in the Divine.  No connection to God, no miracle.  That is to say, each miracle is an intervention into the world of mortality from the realms of eternity.  That is why all miracles are to some degree other worldly, but not entirely other worldly, because part of the marvel is that they take place here.  I suppose that what we see as miraculous on earth would not seem so miraculous to us or anyone else in heaven.

While God is the source of the power in each miracle, the essential feature of a miracle is its timing, not its substance.  In fact, it seems to me that all of the miraculous quality consists in the timing.  Is restoring sight to the blind a miracle?  Certainly it was when it took place in 100 B.C.  Today we have medical procedures that restore sight for many, perhaps daily, with techniques that we have learned but which were unknown anciently.  These are marvelous procedures of great benefit, but we do not look upon them as miraculous.  The difference is timing.

Curing a man of leprosy, ordinarily impossible in the days of the ancient Apostles except through divine intervention, is quite common today with the proper medicines.  The difference surely is knowledge, but knowledge acquired over time.  An antibiotic treatment would have been a miracle in the days of the Caesars. 

As time goes by and medical and scientific knowledge advance, there is little that was considered miraculous in bygone eras that cannot be replicated today, and what cannot yet be done we can fully expect one day can and will be.  That takes nothing away from the miracles of antiquity, but rather makes them all the more understandable.  Increasingly as we look at miracles, we replace the question, “How could they do that?” with the question, “How could they know?”

There is no “magic” in a divine miracle.  God does not nullify the laws of nature any more than we can.  But He knows them better.  He knows them all, and He exercises them as He pleases to do His work, which seems and is wonderful to our eyes. 

God knew the powers of controlling vapor and flame in the days of Moses, but man’s knowledge of it was primitive.  What was involved with the control of energy in the pillar of fire that guided Israel by night and the “pillar of a cloud” that guided them by day (see Exodus 13 and 14)?  Is it something we could do 2,000 years after the birth of Christ?  Very probably.  The miracle was not in the substance, but in the timing, a very explicable exercise of fire control that was once beyond the skill of man.

But in this example there was an even more important display of the miraculous timing of God.  The pillars of fire and vapor appeared exactly when needed, either to guide Israel or to keep the armies of Pharaoh at bay.  They were taken away just in time to lure Pharaoh’s armies into the flood.  With their back to the sea and the Egyptian chariots nearly upon them, Israel despaired.  But not Israel’s prophet, as Moses declared, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day” (Exodus 14:13).  The timing was all and everything.

In my own day and life, I have received the piece of information, just in time.  The increase in salary has come precisely when needed.  The new medical treatment became available none too soon but not a day too late.  An acquaintance was made, too beneficial to have been by chance.  Closed doors have been opened. 

 

Others have witnessed greater than these, the recovery from terminal illness, the power to endure the unendurable, the inspiration to touch the hearts of one and of many, the means to build, to comfort, to restore, and to renew.  Nearly all have come in answer to prayer, from a God who is easy to be entreated.

Should these seem small to you, especially when compared with the miracles of the prophets recounted in ancient scripture, bear in mind that miracles are not given to satisfy a popular appetite for spectacle, but rather they have always been employed by God to do His work, which is most usually done quietly. 

Yet I would offer a couple of great modern works of God for your contemplation.  Consider the translation of an ancient work of scripture from an unknown language by a young man barely literate in his own native tongue.  And consider that this work, The Book of Mormon, would be so powerful in the testimony of Jesus Christ as to make millions of Christians on every continent of the world.  Consider the miracle of thousands of these people crossing a thousand miles of 19^th century American wilderness to an even more desolate and barren wasteland, carving out of the desert an empire of cities, farms, and enterprises, a successful effort unmatched by any other colonization effort in the history of the Americas.  These are epic works of God worthy to stand alongside any of antiquity, no less powerful for happening in our time.

These and other modern miracles point to the truly greatest miracles in the work of God, the quiet transformation that takes place in the hearts of men by the power of repentance and forgiveness, which makes an ordinary man or woman full of kindness, someone who “envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” (Moroni 7:45).  That is the miracle that is the most awe inspiring of all.

Of Physical Temptation and Exaltation

Many passages of scripture make plain that through the appetites of the flesh, especially when turned to lusts, Satan finds his readiest avenue for temptation. Here are just a few examples:

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. . . . So then they that are after the flesh cannot please God. . . . For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die:  but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.  (Romans 8:5, 6, 8, 13, JST)

Besides writing that to the Romans, Paul similarly warned the saints at Galatia:

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:  and these are contrary the one to the other . . . Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. . . (Galatians 5:17, 19-21)

John, the Apostle, made a similar point:

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 John 2:16)

One more out of many, from the Epistle of James:

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin:  and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.  (James 1:13, 14)

Such passages have led unenlightened readers to embrace ancient Greek and Indian philosophies that consider all things material to be evil, seeing life as a continuing process to overcome the physical and leave the material world behind.  The philosophies that envision the struggle between good and evil to be the struggle between spirit and matter are at odds with other central principles of Christianity, particularly the Creation and the Resurrection.

If matter is evil, then why would God create a very material world in a vast, material universe, and call it “good”?

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.  (Genesis 1:31; see also verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, and 25, in which the various phases of the creation are described as “good”).

In modern revelation, Jesus Christ explained further how God delights in providing the blessings of a very physical world to His children:

Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; yea for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.  And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.  (Doctrine and Covenants 59:18-20)

The beauties of the earth are not accidental.  Neither is it a sin to recognize and appreciate their goodness.  Man was not born into a body into a material world as a punishment, as if placed in a straightjacket in a prison, both to be escaped.  Possession of a physical body was the next major step in a process of progression that embraces all good things, among them the very elements of the universe.

Again in modern revelation Jesus Christ explained,

The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.  (Doctrine and Covenants 93:33, 34)

The power of physical bodies and the control of the physical world are so great that God provided a time of learning and testing through which man could learn to control the elements before receiving full, immortal control of them.  Mortality is designed as a brief time for each of God’s children to learn and understand the challenges and joys of a material world, eternal spirits clothed in temporary, physical bodies. 

The metaphor God uses to remind His children how important bodies are is the Temple (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17; Doctrine and Covenants 93:35).  God refers to bodies as Temples, sacred, to be used and cherished for eternal purposes as houses for the immortal spirits of men.  Since the beginning, God has given men laws and commandments as guides to use their bodies safely.  Just like all great instruments of power, physical bodies can enliven or enslave.  God’s commandments unfailingly show man the path to empowerment and away from captivity.  Sin is not in the use and enjoyment of the physical but rather in the misuse and abuse of the physical, whereby the spirit, rather than controlling matter, is overcome by it.  Nearly all sin can be traced to allowing appetites to govern action rather than letting the spirit in man—guided by the Spirit of God—rule.

As in all things, Jesus Christ is the great example.  Already as God in the spirit before His birth, He entered into mortality to take upon Himself all of the challenges and opportunities of physical existence.  The Savior’s miraculous control of the elements is well known and recorded by legions of witnesses.  He also experienced the full depths of the challenges and pains of mortal, physical existence.

An ancient American prophet-king, named Benjamin, foresaw Christ’s mortal experience, and witnessed that He would not spare Himself from its full trials:

And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and abominations of his people.  (Mosiah 3:7)

To a modern American prophet, Joseph Smith, who was undergoing great physical trial and anguish, Jesus related how deep His own experience had been, and summed it all up with the declaration, “The Son of Man hath descended below them all” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:8).

What did Jesus mean?  He meant that after experiencing the full breadth and depth of what the physical world could do and offer, He let the will of the flesh be swallowed up in the will of the Spirit.  Doing the Father’s will, Jesus Christ physically and mentally suffered for the physical sins of all mankind of all time, meriting no portion at all of the suffering.  The Spirit of Christ conquered, in spite of all that the physical appetites or wants of the flesh in a physical world could demand, and He controlled His physical body to submit to what the physical would refuse if it could.  Remember, there was no point, in Gethsemane, in the kangaroo court of the Sanhedrin, under the lash of the Roman tormenters, or on the cross itself, where Jesus could not have said, “enough,” and stopped the suffering.  Surely His body called out for it, but His Spirit always remained in control of the flesh as he drank the dregs of the atoning cup of suffering to the very last.

Having conquered all of the demands of a physical world, Christ gained it all. On the third day, He did not pass into a nirvana of spiritual nothingness, but rather He took up again a very physical body, a permanent and immortal body, forever gaining all power and all joy that only comes from spirit and element, inseparably connected, with the will of the spirit always in command.  Christ gave up the physical body in death on the cross, subjecting the demands of the flesh to the demands of the spirit.  With His Spirit fully and forever in control, Jesus Christ took up His body again in perfection on resurrection Sunday.

In so doing, Christ made available to all of us every good thing, including all of the good things of God’s glorious—and very material—creation.

Of Freedom and Despair

Every man and woman who walks the earth is a union of three natures:  intelligence, spirit, and physical body.  The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that only in this union can there be found a fullness of joy.  Our intelligence is eternal; our spirit an inheritance from God, the Father of spirits; our bodies, mortal vehicles of trial and testing to be placed in the grave and then raised in the resurrection to immortality through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.

Before we were born and earth’s history began we all lived as spirits in the presence of God, where the whole plan for this earth and its purpose were presented to us.  In a great act of courage, greater than I believe that we can imagine, we each agreed with that plan and volunteered to be born into this world of trial and sorrow, but also of potential achievement and triumph.  The exercise of our free will centered on voluntary obedience to Jesus Christ would make all of the ultimate difference.  As the scriptures  relate, many there were who shied away from the risk and in rebellion sought another way where freedom would be denied us while all of our needs and comforts would be provided for without any exercise of our will or moral effort.

Those who rejected the plan of the Father and rebelled against Him before His face were cast from His presence directly to earth, without birth, without any future or hope.  The plan of moral trial in physical bodies being rejected by them, they could not participate in it.  For those there would be no bodies, no progression, no returning to the presence of God.  Having lost all hope, damned, or stopped in their eternal progression these became devils seeking forever the sorrow of those who chose a better way.  As if to reach for a blistering balm in other’s suffering, they tempt us to rebel against God here on earth and misuse all that a loving Father has provided to His children.

One day near Hallowe’en, more than thirty years ago, I thought to capture in verse something of the attitude of these unembodied spirits towards us, who chose before our birth to follow the plan of the Father as fulfilled by Jesus Christ, His Son.  These devils wish us no good thing, but evil and destruction continually, envying every good thing with which God has blessed us, not the least of which are all of the sensations and experiences that a physical existence in a physical world can provide.  They can see, but they cannot touch.  But they can speak to our spirits, and they each day encourage us to follow them, which is what sin is.

Dance of the Damned

’Round and ’round and sing around,

Swirl the spinning sky with sound.

Twirling, grinning, spinning down

Franticly upon them.

Fill the earth and spread around,

Make the awful beauty frown,

Rip it down, infest the ground,

Though you cannot touch it.

Curse the bodies never known

’Till they’re thrown into a mound.

Bring them blind and blinder still,

Swing the chain ’til you fill

All the world with sorrow;

For if we end tomorrow

They must die tonight.

Twist their sweet virginity.

Drain their new infinity.

Waste their pure divinity.

’Round and ’round, let song abound,

Swirl the human soup around.

Stir them floating, bloating, drowned,

Crowned with our iniquity.

Of Life and the Church of Christ

This past Sunday I was reminded, as I am often reminded, of one of the distinguishing features of the church of Jesus Christ:  it is alive.  That characteristic powerfully impressed me from my first attendance at a meeting of the church, when I was thirteen.  No more than 100 members, gathered in the rented second floor of a Grange Hall in a western New York village, hymns sung accompanied by a volunteer pianist on a beat up honky-tonk piano, sermons provided from the rank and file of the membership, Sunday School taught in a kitchen and class members sitting on a few folding chairs arranged around the cooking stove—all was alive and vibrant.  That same spiritual life was present when as a missionary in Spain we met with fewer than a dozen people in a swept-out garage.  And it was present when I joined thousands in a meeting at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City for the church’s annual June youth conference.  I have found it wherever I have gathered with the members of Christ’s church. 

In each and every case, the building contributed more or less to comfort but had little to do with the sense of the church being alive.  In my childhood I had been a frequent attendee at the meetings of Protestant churches in pleasant and neat but not ostentatious surroundings, and I have since visited some of the most magnificent cathedrals of the world.  But I sensed something palpably different and alive, noticeable even to a young teenager, when I first set foot in Christ’s church, and each time since. 

I conclude that the life comes from Jesus Christ, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, flowing through those gathered in His name at His call.  It is as the Savior promised to His saints, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)  The Savior explained to the Sadducees anciently, who had the form of worship without its life, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:32)  The things I had been taught from the scriptures, revered as dead relics in an old museum in the other churches I had known, came to life in the church of Christ.

Unable to articulate precisely what he was seeking—other than the truth—the fourteen-year old Joseph Smith learned from God Himself in 1820 what was missing in the churches of his day, what held Joseph back from joining with any of them even after persistent earnest inquiries.  Said the Lord to Joseph, in answer to his simple prayer, “they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” (Joseph Smith History, verse 19)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, just as the church of Christ of the saints in ancient days, is full of life, it is all about life and the overcoming of death.  Its victory over death is not just a promise for the future, beyond this world of mortality.  It brings life from the eternal worlds and extends it among men and women today, in this world where temporary things would otherwise seem to prevail. 

The Church reveres the prophets and apostles of antiquity and treasures their testimony, but it is led—as Christ’s living church always has been—by living apostles and prophets who receive direct revelation pertinent to conditions and needs in our day.  Along with the prophets come scriptures, as we write down the inspired words of the apostles and prophets.  With roots firmly planted in the ancient scriptures of the Holy Bible and The Book of Mormon, the tree of revelation has not withered or died but continues growing in Christ’s modern church, providing divine guidance to a world that never needed it more.

There are no crucifixes to be found in the modern church of Christ, not because the Church does not recognize the infinite atonement of the Savior, but because that atonement was fulfilled by the resurrection, the rising of the living Christ from the tomb, conquering mortality.  It is toward the living Christ that the saints of God focus their attention, not to the instrument of His torture and very real but very temporary death.

All of the ordinances and sacraments of Christ’s church are founded on Christ’s promise, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (Matthew 10:10)  In baptism, the new Christian rises up out of the water to newness of life, and the gift of the Holy Ghost is bestowed by the laying on of hands to bring about a spiritual rebirth, in both cases death overcome.   The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, celebrated each Sunday in the church, points to Christ’s defeat of sin and death, and His victory over mortality.  Christ emphasized this when as the risen Messiah He presented the sacramental bread to the ancient Americans with the commandment to partake of the bread, “in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you” (3 Nephi 18:7), his very real and immortal, resurrected body as much as His body that was torn and killed on the cross. 

The highest ordinance that God offers to His children is marriage for time and eternity, whereby man and woman are united in a family to last forever, without end.  In those families, children are welcome and encouraged and seen as the glory of their parents. Genealogical records are sought out and preserved, as the promise of life and family connections extends forever back and continues forever onward.  No one is to be forgotten, because the promise of eternal life extends to all. 

Death is very real, but in the church of Jesus Christ death is no mystery, through Christ it has lost its sting.   After all, mortality is the exception in a universe where the eternity of life prevails. 

Of Agnostics and Manmade Religions

Atheism is intellectually weak minded, if it is what its professors claim it to be, that is the assertion or affirmation that there is no God.  The adherents of that religious doctrine (atheism must be acknowledged a religious doctrine, an organized system of belief with regard to God and man’s relation to God) do not merely believe for themselves that there is no God but make an unjustifiable claim to knowledge and then affirm and advocate what they cannot possibly know.  Surely they can choose not to believe that there is a God, but how can they know that God does not exist anywhere and that no one has met God?  Adherents to the atheist doctrine demonstrate a good amount of blind belief in unproven theories. 
 

The most that they can possibly prove or know is that they personally have not found God yet and that this lack of discovery has caused them seriously to doubt.  Unless they can be everywhere at all times and understand all things (which would be nigh unto godhood itself) they cannot say with intellectual honesty that God does not exist.  They cannot get further down the road of atheism beyond the signpost of agnosticism.  I understand the challenge of proving a negative, and affirming a negative is even bolder, but atheists themselves claim to have met this challenge, a claim that they have never substantiated.

Agnosticism is another thing, if engaged in honestly.  Honestly, it is an admission—or even affirmation—that one does not know.  The agnostic can explain why he does not know, what avenues he has unsuccessfully explored to know.  What he cannot honestly do is claim to know all that can be known or what others know.  The agnostic strays into the same errors of the atheist if he claims that because he does not know God then no one else can.  How could he possibly know that?  How can his experience circumscribe the experience of others, including the experience of those he has never met?  He can espouse theories as to why he disbelieves the claims of knowledge of others and even why he believes that others could not know, or even why he has lost hope that others know, but he cannot prove his theory, again unless he can be everywhere and know all things.  The agnostic cannot honestly pretend to knowledge that he does not have about the knowledge or experience of others.  Not all agnostics do.

Agnostics do have a point viewing the global and historical variety of manmade religions, which present a deep well of disappointment to those seeking evidence of the Divine.  When Jesus Christ spoke directly in person to the young boy Joseph Smith in 1820 the Savior ratified to Joseph much of the factual assertions of the honest agnostic.  The Savior declared to Joseph that all the religions then on the earth were creations of men, not of God, that “they teach for doctrines the commandments of men” having little more than “a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof” (Joseph Smith-History, verse 19).  Many of the religions of 1820 exist today, while inventive men have been working diligently since to create many more.

There was much justification for the agnostic in 1820.  There is increasingly less today.  The fact that all of the religions 190 years ago were manmade does not mean that God Himself could not establish—or reestablish—His own church and religion on the earth.  In fact, 2,500 years ago God promised that He would do just that.  When the prophet Daniel interpreted the dream of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, he prophesied that in the last days God Himself would establish on earth His religion, symbolized in the dream as a stone “cut out of the mountain without hands” that would roll forward until it filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:28-45).   Daniel then prophetically declared to the king, “the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” (Daniel 2:45)

Which means that to honest atheist and agnostic alike, the message is beware lest you stop looking too soon, for the good news is that aside from the religions of men God has done His own work and revealed Himself to His children, as He promised long ago.  These things can be known today, certain and sure.

Of Individuals and Societies

In a world of several billion people it can be hard to imagine where the individual finds a place.  When governments and politicians talk of classes and masses each one of us can feel like he or she is left out or, worse, just combined and lost in the mix.

Fortunately in the end we remain individuals in the eyes of God, related in one way or another to each other but separate and individual all the same.  Consider some of the most moving and intimate contacts of God with man.  These were profoundly individual experiences.  God spoke directly with Moses on Mount Sinai.  The laws that He gave to Moses, the Ten Commandments, all govern individual behavior, whether a man or woman’s conduct toward God, or to his or her parents, or to his or her fellow beings.  The Twelve Apostles were each called one by one.  The first word that God the Father spoke to the young Joseph Smith in 1820 was, “Joseph,” just as God had called the young boy, Samuel, by name thousands of years before. 

Even when involved with crowds, the Savior’s attention was readily drawn toward individuals.  The following is but one example of Jesus’ attention to one amidst the pressing multitude, one possessing no particular distinction beyond strong faith in Him and His healing power and her own worth to God:

And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.  And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?  And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.  And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.  And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.  (Luke 8:43-48)

Doubtless among the multitude were others with ailments and afflictions, but only one sought healing, and that one was healed, and Jesus was aware of her.

On another occasion, in the Americas, Jesus Christ following His resurrection visited with another multitude.  This was a multitude of faithful, not a passing multitude preoccupied with many lesser things.  There were sick among them, too, and the Savior healed them all, “every one as they were brought forth unto him.” (3 Nephi 17:9)  I presume that He could have healed them all at once as a group, but each had faith, each sought healing, and He valued each one as meriting His personal attention.

Earlier that same day, in one of the most moving events in the history of the world, Jesus gave the people, twenty-five hundred in number, a personal and irrefutable witness of His death and resurrection.  He said to them,

Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come. (3 Nephi 11:14, 15)

Those twenty-five hundred personal witnesses are now in force and offered to all the world.

I offer one more example out of many more, this one again from the Old World.  During the Last Supper before the Savior’s atoning sacrifice, Jesus gave important instruction to Peter, the leader of the Twelve:

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.  (Luke 22:31, 32)

Unaccustomed as we are in modern English to the subtleties of the use of “you” and “thou” we might miss some of the meaning in the Savior’s message.  I admit that I only noticed it when I read the passage in Spanish (where the plural vosotros and singular tú are more obvious).  The Lord was warning Simon Peter that Satan wanted to destroy Peter and his fellows (the plural, “you”) but that Jesus had prayed for Peter (thou) and for his faith.  When Peter was fully converted, then it was his personal assignment to strengthen his brethren.  This is all very personal and very individual, albeit within the context of an organization of individuals, the Twelve Apostles.

Of course we are all members of groups and societies, from families on up to nations and beyond.  All groups and societies are composed of individuals, with individual worth, talents, rights, and virtue.   All just societies—God’s societies included and setting the standard—recognize that they are societies of individuals, for the benefit of the individuals who make them up.  All others are despotisms, for the benefit of the individuals who run them, who wish to sift the society’s members as wheat.

Of the Love of Christ and the Law of Restoration

When Jesus Christ visited His people in the ancient Americas after His resurrection in Jerusalem He taught them lessons that He had preached to the Jews in ancient Judea. The pre-Columbian American record of Christ’s teachings proves that the Sermon on the Mount and other words of Christ in the Bible are not mere inventions of the Savior’s followers. Separate witnesses to the same message, with an ocean in between them, demonstrate the consistency of Christ’s words and the veracity of the record.

One of those important teachings involves our attitude toward others. In the Americas He taught, as He did to the Jews,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother: Let me pull the mote out of thine eye—and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother’s eye. (3 Nephi 14:1-5)

In short, fallible as we are, we are little qualified to judge the faults of others, and doing so puts us in danger of being similarly subjected to imperfect standards. If we prefer patience and tolerance applied to us, then we should practice them when considering others.

Now, let us add to this discussion another important virtue. In modern times, when Jesus Christ restored His Church on the earth He listed the virtues needed to do His work:

Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. (Doctrine and Covenants 4:6)

I would particularly draw attention to the virtue of “brotherly kindness”. I would ask, what is the difference between being nice and being kind? I would suggest that being nice is related to manners and politeness, an important but perhaps shallow virtue. I have experienced people who are very nice and polite but who are rather unkind. I have, similarly, known people who were rather rough in their manners and outspoken and direct in their language but who were deeply kind and caring. In this context, I consider kindness related to charity and love. I think that is what is meant by “brotherly kindness” in the scripture. I prefer kind people to nice people, if I had to choose.

Next we turn to a greater and more important virtue, the most important of all. Here is how the ancient American prophet Mormon described charity (again, similar to the definition revealed an ocean away by the Apostle Paul):

And charity suffereth long, and is kind [notice again the connection between kindness and charity], and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. (Moroni 7:45-47)

While this is an ideal, it is clear that God does not intend it to be an unreachable ideal. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ charity has been placed within the reach of all of us, and God intends all of us to obtain that supreme virtue.

When the Prophet Joseph Smith was being treated with anything but kindness, in the depth of a dank prison pit in a Missouri winter, the Lord revealed to him how to treat others. The Lord instructed the Prophet, and us, to engage with others “by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile. . .” The Lord further instructed us to “be full of charity towards all men,” and as we did so, the Lord promised, “The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:41, 42, 45, 46).

Thus we see that it is through the atonement of Jesus Christ that we have access to the presence and influence of the Holy Ghost, which influence changes our hearts and fills us with charity, the greatest of all. It is with that changed attitude that God wants us to interact with our fellowmen here and in the eternities.

This may all still seem a bit theoretical. The ancient American prophet Alma explained a very simple and practical approach, one that I have found confirmed over and over again.

For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored. . . (Alma 41:15)

Alma called this the law of restoration and explained that, as we show mercy, justice, and goodness toward others, the same will return unto us. The more we try to give away love, the more that love grows within us. As we practice the love of Christ, we will develop the love of Christ as a personal virtue, a practical approach to something that means everything.

Of the Authority of God and the Witness of Christ’s Resurrection

In May 1829, Jesus Christ sent John the Baptist—slain by command of Herod but resurrected by the will and power of Christ—to bestow on a new prophet, Joseph Smith, the same authority to baptize in the name of God that John the Baptist held during his own mortal ministry. Shortly afterward Christ similarly sent Peter, James, and John to confer on Joseph Smith the same authority from God that had been bestowed upon them under the Savior’s hands. When the Apostles of Christ were gone, their authority also was lost. In 1829 they returned that authority to the earth.

Every week, in congregations all around the world, that authority is exercised to channel the blessings of God to the modern day disciples of Jesus Christ. One of these priesthood blessings is the privilege of renewing promises made at baptism by remembering the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Acting under the direction and authority of Christ His authorized servants bless and administer the emblems of the body of Christ—broken and then resurrected—and of the blood of Christ shed for the sins of many. All who receive these emblems with sincerity of heart in remembrance of Jesus Christ receive forgiveness of sins and direct spiritual communion with God, and they exercise the same spiritual gifts that the faithful followers of Christ exercised in ancient days.

The thousands of men who administer those emblems to thousands of congregations did not take it upon themselves to act in the holy place of Jesus Christ, made sacred when He offered the bread and cup to His Apostles the night before His death. They had hands placed upon their heads and received authority from others, who in their turn had hands placed upon their heads by those who in turn in the same way received the authority of God, all the way back to those who received that authority under the hands of the Savior Himself. For us in these latter days, one pair of those hands belonged to Joseph Smith, who received the authority of Christ from the hands of those upon whose heads hands were placed shortly before they were nailed to the cross on Calvary.

Just as anciently, eye witnesses today are proclaiming once again to the world the living Christ who was slain and who was resurrected and lives to guide and bless all who will be guided by Him. These are not learned men preaching from their study of the scriptures—though they have made in depth study of the scriptures a daily practice of a lifetime. These are men who know the Christ, who speak from personal knowledge and association with the Savior, Jesus Christ, and who proclaim what they know as well as what they believe.

I will give two examples of many. Keep in mind that these examples are not theories or learned dissertations by the doctors of religion. These are direct, personal, and tangible revelations of God, the way that God has throughout the ages revealed Himself.

The first is from The Book of Mormon, a record written in an ancient era but revealed anew in modern times. Some time after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His ascension into heaven, a large group of ancient Americans were gathered near their Temple in a place that in their language they called Bountiful.

. . . and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; . . . and he came down and stood in the midst of them. . . .
And . . . he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:
Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.
. . . I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world . . . .
Arise and come forth unto me, that you may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.
And . . . the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails . . .; going forth one by one . . . , and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety . . . , that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.
. . . And they were in number about two thousand and five hundred souls; and they did consist of men, women, and children. (3 Nephi 11:8-11, 14, 15; 17:25)

The second example of many was a modern event, in fulfillment of ancient prophecy. Near the very end of the Old Testament, this prophecy is recorded, from the Prophet Malachi:

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. . . (Malachi 3:1)

Who would build this latter-day Temple, and when would the Savior come to it? In their deepest poverty the modern-day followers of Christ, who had received baptism by those authorized by Christ Himself, were commanded by the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith to build a Temple in Kirtland, Ohio. One week after the Kirtland Temple was dedicated, Joseph Smith and his colleague, Oliver Cowdery, were praying in the Temple, on April 3, 1836. This is the second example I offer you of the Savior, Jesus Christ, revealing Himself to us in these latter days that we might know Him. This is from the personal testimony of Joseph and Oliver:

The veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened.
We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; . . .
His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shown above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:
I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father. (Doctrine & Covenants 110:1-4)

I have been to the Garden Tomb, in Jerusalem. I have looked in. It is empty. Jesus is not there. He is risen, as He said.

I have not seen Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith did, and he proclaimed the living Christ to the world. I have heard and received the testimony of Joseph Smith. By the gift of the Holy Ghost, bestowed upon me by the priesthood authority of Christ, I know that his testimony is true, by the same way that people anciently knew that the testimony of Paul, or Peter, or John was true. I too know, for myself, that Jesus Christ lives, that He suffered for me in my place, as He did for all who will receive Him. I know that Jesus Christ was resurrected.

Because of the resurrection of Christ, I will be resurrected, too, and so will you.

Of the Passover and the Knowledge of God

On the night before He was crucified, Jesus gathered His Apostles together to celebrate the Passover, that most sacred of Hebrew festivals, rich in symbolism of Christ and His atonement. The firstborn of every family would die, except for the sacrifice of a lamb, whose blood brought life and safety to Israel.

What were Jesus’ thoughts as He celebrated that Passover with those He loved best, on the very doorstep of when He was to fulfill the Passover ordinance and the prophecy embedded in its symbolism. What were Jesus’ thoughts when He Himself was about to be the Passover Lamb?

Many sacred things happened at that Passover. The Savior introduced the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, the broken bread symbolic of His body, soon to be broken and soon thereafter to be resurrected; the wine symbolic of his blood, in a few hours to be shed at Gethsemane and the next day under the whip and on the cross.

Jesus washed the feet of the Apostles, teaching them that priesthood is entirely about loving service to one another.

And Jesus prayed. What would it mean to you to hear the Savior pray to the Father for you?

Some of the words of that prayer are preserved in John 17, one of the most sacred chapters of all the scriptures. This is how it begins:

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;

Indeed it had, the hour pointed to by all eternity, the very meridian of time.

glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

It is curious to me that there are still some, who must not have read this and other passages of scripture, who say that Jesus Christ never claimed that He was the Son of God, the Messiah. Here is Jesus very plainly declaring His Sonship in prayer to the Father in the presence of His disciples.

And then bearing His solemn witness to the Father and to the Apostles around Him, the Savior declared in His holy prayer, announcing Himself, again, to be the Christ, the Messiah—

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:1, 3)

Before 1820, where was that knowledge of Jesus Christ to be found? How were people to know the Savior, the knowing by which they could obtain eternal life? The Prophet Amos foretold—

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. (Amos 8:11, 12)

For centuries the famine had prevailed. What the churches of the day taught about Jesus Christ was all confusion and contradiction.

• Some said He was the Son of a God who had no body, parts or passions;


• or that He was the physical manifestation of a God who could never be seen;


• or that He was a Savior who only saved some and damned others, all regardless of what they did or believed;


• or that He saved everyone who believed no matter what they did;


• or that He saved some because of what they did no matter what they believed;


• or that He had done His work, gone to Heaven, and left men afterward to fend for themselves.

Yet there were many who sought to know the Christ, generations of people seeking the Lord and His saving power, and who could not find Him. Some of their names were Augustine, Thomas, Tyndale, Luther, Casiodoro de Reina, Charles Wesley, and others. Surely there were many more whose names we do not know. There were old and young, neither age nor youth an obstacle to wanting to know the Father and Jesus Christ, and gain the eternal life that They promised. One of these in 1820 was a young teenage boy with an ordinary name, Joseph Smith.

In 1820, the hour had come. In answer to one prayer, added to millions of prayers offered by other seekers over thousands of years, our Heavenly Father appeared to the young Joseph Smith, spoke his name and revealed to him Jesus Christ, His Son. To Joseph Smith the Father said, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (JS-H 1:17) With those words, the first drops fell ending the spiritual drought of 1700 years.

What did the Savior say to Joseph? Jesus quoted scripture, a prophecy that He had given to the Prophet Isaiah:

they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men (JS-H 1:19).

We call that the First Vision, because many others followed, in which Jesus Christ revealed Himself to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and then to others, and by which others who knew Jesus in their mortal lives passed on to Joseph what the Savior had given to them. Joseph Smith passed on that knowledge and power to us, to all who will today receive Jesus Christ, and come to know Him and the Father, and obtain eternal life, in the way that those did, who observed the Passover with Jesus, in the way that many others have throughout history. The Savior’s Church was on the earth once again to bring hearts near to the Savior through the power of the doctrines of God.

Of Churchianity and Priestcraft

While driving to church meetings this past Sunday I was surfing through the radio stations to find something wholesome and uplifting, in keeping with the spirit of the Sabbath day. That is not so easy to do. At least, I seem to remember that when I was a child Sunday morning radio and even television were almost reserved for worship programs. It is easier today to find politicians and sports figures—and their commentators—on Sunday morning radio and television; I will leave it to you to conclude whether those are the new predominant objects of worship.

With a little persistence I did find a couple of programs on the AM dial, and their messages were memorable. The first featured a religious figure with a call-in talk show in which he gives religious-psychological counseling to troubled callers. The one example I heard was from some woman who was living with a man, the father of at least a couple of her children, who was now involved in a sexual affair with some other woman. The caller wanted out of the relationship, but she was dependent on financial support from the non-husband father. She felt trapped, and indeed she was. The host of the program gave what seemed to me some sensible advice, which he admitted was common sense counsel that just about anyone could have given to the woman.

After that point I guess that the caller line must have thinned out, because the host proceeded into a prolonged criticism of organized religion, what he called “churchianity.” He took pride in the fact—pride is the right word—that he was not associated with any particular religious denomination. His argument, to sum it up, was that Jesus did not belong to any church and did not form any church, that He just went around counseling and helping people and then moved on. As the host explained, some people “fell away” but others “made it.” The host complained that organized religions are just businesses, and people do not need them. He took a while to say all of this, but that is the gist of it.

It is a wise practice to consider that in every criticism there is at least an element of some truth, and it would be wise to look for it and profit from it. The kernel of truth, however, does not justify accepting all the rest, any more than the bait justifies swallowing the fisherman’s hook. The churchianity critic is correct that too much of religion today, as was also found anciently, is a business. Paul and his missionary companions were menaced by mobs in Ephesus when his preaching of the resurrected Jesus Christ threatened to upset the business of the idol makers for the cult of the Greco-Roman goddess Diana. Martin Luther was driven to his break with the Roman Catholic Church in great part due to the church’s apparent selling of forgiveness. The Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred in Illinois by a mob inspired by local clergymen worried that restoring the ancient church of Jesus Christ was threatening their trade in manmade religion. And there is no lack of examples today of preachers seeking popularity for praise and profit.

It is true that Jesus Christ never intended His religion to become a business. He railed against professional preachers who made a business out of salvation. That is called priestcraft, and it was the leadership of the corrupt priestcraft of His day who conspired to have Jesus crucified. It is wrong, however, to conclude that Jesus Christ did not establish a Church. As Jehovah of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ called prophets and priests, had them ordained under divine commission, and by revelation instructed them on their duties. You have to overlook much of the books of Moses and reject Moses himself not to acknowledge that.

Similarly, during His mortal ministry on the earth, when the priesthood among the ancient Jews had become corrupted and turned into a business, Jesus Christ withdrew his authority from the old priests and established a new Church, with apostles and prophets. Observe how the Apostle Paul described it to the members of the Church of Christ in Ephesus:

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye are also builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

I am not sure how more clearly Paul could describe an organized religion, “the building fitly framed together”. If Jesus Christ did not build a church, then what do we do with the apostles whom He ordained, and the Seventy whom He called to assist the apostles? In fact, without the Church of Jesus Christ, we would not have the scriptures that tell of His ministry nor the spreading of the gospel of Christ throughout the Roman world and beyond.

It would perhaps not be inappropriate to mention at this point that the churchianity critic concluded this portion of his commentary by mentioning that regular payments from his listeners of $5 and $10 would allow him to continue his campaign against the business of religion. In another post I may discuss the other program I heard yesterday, where the announcer offered the exact date of the Judgment Day.

Of the Power of Change and the Power of Christ

Change is in the air. It is autumn, the leaves have begun their brief flash of color before gliding to the ground to be swept away.

Fall is also the season when politicians promise change. The mood predominating among the electorate this year seems to be disillusionment with Change. They want change from Change—that is, from Change that makes things worse and reinforces what is bad in Washington. At least for now, voters are showing a strong preference for candidates who do not fit the usual political mold, who reject solutions imposed from Washington. Such moments do not come very often, and like the autumn they seem to pass too quickly.

Yet with all of this discussion of the change apparent in nature and the political world, it seems strange to find those who doubt the ability of people to change. Properly understood, the plan of God for His children is all about change.

The central message of Jesus Christ and of all of His prophets has been the need and possibility for people to change, to change their world by changing themselves, from the world of unhappiness and distraction, to a life of purpose, growth, and deep joy. All who have drawn close to the Savior have experienced change, have drawn upon His power to change, and the closer they drew to Him the more that they changed and became more like Him.

Consider the early Apostles who lived while the Savior walked the earth. Mere fishermen (Peter and John) were turned into inspired leaders whose testimonies have endured for two millennia. A tax collector (Matthew) was converted into a human benefactor. A persecuting zealot (Paul) turned into a powerful missionary. In earlier days, a slave (Joseph) became viceroy of Egypt, a fugitive from Pharaoh’s court (Moses) became the mighty lawgiver who led Israel from bondage, a shepherd (David) became King of Israel. The change in these whom history calls great was repeated among millions of their less well-known compatriots.

In our own times, an untaught boy (Joseph Smith) became a wise prophet and religious founder, a craftsman (Brigham Young) became the greatest colonizer of the West. Again, these are more prominent examples among millions of others similarly changed through the power of Christ, the more effectively changed the closer that they approached Him.

When I was in college a friend explained to me her disillusionment with her church, which in her view told its members to be good but somehow lacked the power to transform them. It lacked the power of Christ, who made change of life possible. As the ancient American prophet Mormon explained in a letter to his son, Moroni, through Jesus Christ our sins can be forgiven, our past can be overcome.

And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God. (Moroni 8:26)

There is power, the greatest power on earth, the power to change the greatest creations on earth, the children of God. There is the power to transform men and women and make them fit to live with the Father in His presence forever, “that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began, having your garments spotless even as their garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out.” (Alma 7:25) Thank God that power is on the earth.

Of Living on Earth and Preparing for the Heavens

The Prophet Joseph Smith, writing from the dirty damp pit of a crude jail on the frontier lands of western Missouri, where he and other Church leaders had been imprisoned beyond the effective reach of Constitutional protections of freedom of religion, admonished the Latter-day Saints not to set their hearts too much on the things of the world. At that point in time they had left nearly all of their things of the world behind them. They were being driven at sword and gunpoint across the cold November plains, the Governor having declared that all Mormons were to be “exterminated.” They received kindness and shelter from the people of Illinois and soon built what for a time became the largest city in the state, a city they called Nauvoo, the Beautiful.

Yet the Prophet’s admonition continued to ring true, as it does today. Under divine inspiration Joseph Smith wrote that, “there are many called, but few are chosen” to have the close association with God that the Father desires for all of His children. “And why are they not chosen?” His answer is important for any who would seek to rise above the vicissitudes and decay of this world and find happiness here and eternal joy in the world to come. In short, they are not chosen to receive the blessing and powers of God, “Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world” that they fail to learn and understand that the things of God “are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven” and can only be exercised by those whose eyes are fixed on heaven (Doctrine and Covenants 121:34-36). In other words, it takes a focus on God and heaven to receive the things of God and heaven.

As one draws closer to God through the companionship of the Holy Spirit, the less important the things of this life and this world become. The brevity of mortality becomes ever clearer as does the recognition that the conditions of immortality that prevail after the resurrection are the more normal and real human condition. Mortal man lives some seven or eight decades, while immortality never ends. Where does it make sense to place our focus? College degrees, political advancement, business position, and public recognition shrink in comparison with eternal values of family, friends, kindness, and personal integrity. As a modern-day Apostle declared, the omniscient God is not going to be impressed by your Ph.D. Neither will the Ruler of the universe be awed by your title of CEO.

This is not to say that achievement and accomplishment in this world are not important. They are very important, but only from the perspective of what they mean for you with regard to your life in heaven. An ancient American missionary explained that mortal life “is given us to prepare for eternity”. It is our responsibility to “improve our time while in this life” (Alma 34:33). Education, political achievement, business accomplishments, and the many other ways that we can improve upon our time are important because of how they prepare us.

It is the why that makes them important, not the what. Why did we learn, why did we seek to work in politics, why did we devote so much effort for our business accomplishments? If the answer is, to achieve public recognition, gain the praise of our fellows, increase our personal comforts—even to be admired by others as a good person—all of those may seem fine while mortality lasts, but for us they die with us. Fortunately, the hollowness of those purposes is felt in this life as a warning to us.

On the other hand, if the purposes of our achievements in life are in line with the values of heaven, then the real achievements, of which the worldly indicators are at best imperfect measures, will be with us now and remain with us forever and be amplified in the eternities. If our education has enabled us to live more wisely and to lift up our fellowmen, if our political efforts have been intended to promote human freedom and to give recognition to the worth of the individual, if our business accomplishments have been intended to unlock the creativity and achievement of ourselves and our fellows (which as a side effect contribute to the welfare of all) then in short as we have lived with an eye single to the glory of God we will have developed characteristics and built relationships with family and friends that will serve us well in the eternities. Then and only then can we envision with faith the Lord saying to us at the door of the eternal worlds, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Matthew 25:21)

Of Visions and Reason

At age 14, in the year 1820, a young boy, Joseph Smith was visited by God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. It is very reasonable that the Father and the Son appeared to this boy.

First of all, it is very reasonable that God, the Father of our spirits, is interested in communion with His children. It is natural and reasonable to want to communicate with those whom we love. Parents certainly are more eager than most to want to communicate with their children. It is unreasonable to assume that God the Father, the perfect parent and possessor of infinite love, has no desire to communicate with His children.

Certainly it cannot be claimed that God the Omnipotent lacks the ability to communicate with His children. The scriptures provide ample evidence that God communicated directly with His children throughout the thousands of years of antiquity. Is it reasonable to assume that God has somehow lost that ability and no longer has it in modern times? Remember that for those living in antiquity, those were modern times. God has always had and continues to have the ability to communicate with His children.

Nor can it be reasonably asserted that there is less need today than anciently for God’s children to receive the light, wisdom, and instruction that come with divine communication. As recorded in the scriptures God has spoken with His children about the need for honesty, kindness, diligent labor, peace within the society and proper relations among societies. He counseled on respect for life, the worth of the individual, fairness in financial dealings, marriage and childrearing, care for the poor and needy, and healthy foods and hygiene. Which of these issues are unimportant to modern man? Which are free of controversy today? It is reasonable that man today could benefit from Divine guidance on each and all of these issues, and on many new ones besides.

As happens among human families, perhaps some estrangement has occurred in God’s family, between the Father and His children. There is some truth in that. Again, the scriptures provide numerous examples of the estrangement between God and man, as men have rejected God and turned to idols and other alien loves. The Egyptian captivity of Israel and the Babylonian captivity of Judah are two prominent examples. What the scriptures also demonstrate is that, not unlike human parents, God has been persistent in His efforts to overcome that estrangement, to bring His children back into His presence. That was the mission of many of the prophets. Indeed, foremost of all, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is all about the infinite effort by the Father, through his Firstborn Son, to bring His children back into His presence. Being brought back into that presence has always been accompanied by an increase in direct communication between God and man. It is reasonable that God is as persistent in His efforts with modern man as He was with ancient Israel to overcome the estrangement of man from God and strengthen divine communication.

A major consequence of the estrangement of man from the Father is the enormous confusion that prevails today among the children of God about the nature of their Father. Indeed, the simple knowledge so commonly held anciently that God is the actual Father of our spirits and that we are His children and heirs has been replaced by any number of man-made ideas and speculations. It is reasonable that the Father would want His children to know who and what He is, particularly since it is so important to their understanding of who and what they are. God could tell His children, as He has and does, but it is very reasonable that He would want to show them, as He also has done before. What more effective and reasonable way to break through the web of confusion about the nature of God that prevails in the world today?

It is extremely reasonable and sensible that the Father would choose a young boy to be the recipient of this great vision of the Father and the Son. Joseph Smith was old enough to understand, at the age when young boys’ queries of the Divine and the nature of the universe and themselves can become acute. At that age and with his limited exposure to the world and its ways, he was free of crippling vices and possessed a mind largely free of preconceived notions and indoctrination in human theories. The young boy Joseph was a clean vessel into which the Lord could pour divine knowledge with little fear of it being clouded with evil dispositions or mixed with false notions. The fourteen year old boy Joseph Smith was a very reasonable choice for God to reveal the pure and bright truth of His nature.

Why then and there? It is often difficult for modern man to appreciate that he is living in historic times, when great and historic things happen. It is when someone’s “modern times” become history to a new age of moderns that the mind can give more room to acknowledge a great event. That is why some are more willing to accept that God appeared to the ancients than they are the idea that He might do so today. But it did happen, and the time was right for it.

The religious freedom that prevailed in the United States in the early nineteenth century—which is still so foreign to so much of the world today—was a relatively new and fragile achievement in 1820. There was just enough of it enshrined in the Constitution and generally accepted by the people that God the Father could make a new attempt to restore direct and open communication between God and man without governments or mobs seeking to destroy it and its challenge to their ways of thinking and doing things. As it was, it was touch and go. Those who accepted new direct revelation from the Father were driven by mobs and local governments from town to town and state to state.

But it did survive, and since 1820 the estrangement between God and man that restrained communication between the Father and His children has been receding all across the globe. It had to begin with someone. God had to talk to someone first. For these and many other reasons, God the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to the young boy, Joseph Smith, and God has continued to increase His communication with His children ever since. Today the Father is in direct communication with millions of His children across the world, and more every day. It is very reasonable that He do so.