I gave this talk in a recent stake conference - which was the most terrifying experience of my life, as I'm very much an introvert and hate being the center of attention. But I didn't faint at the pulpit or otherwise cause a scene. Well, maybe a little bit of a scene. It was a fire-breathing kind of talk. If you read it, you'll see.
God’s
Word through Prophets
Hello! Unfortunately for
you all, I do not have the gift of Moroni, who was mighty in speaking. I can
write, however, so I pray that the Spirit will carry the Lord’s message to you today, even if I’m
not the best messenger.
“O Lord . . . Thou are stronger than I, and hast prevailed:
I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me . . . Then I said, I will not make
mention of him, nor speak any more in His name. But His word was in mine heart
as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I
could not stay . . .”
So spoke Jeremiah after
he was beaten and put in stocks for bearing an unpopular message to the people
of Jerusalem: that of the impending Babylonian captivity. This was not the first
time he would receive abuse for the message he carried, nor would it be the
last. Think of it — God’s
word burns in a prophet’s heart with such intensity that they cannot stay
silent.
Prophets are called by
God to lead each dispensation of gospel knowledge. In every age, the message is
the same: Repent. Keep God’s
commandments, and make covenants with Him. No matter what sorrows the world
holds, they will be swallowed up in the joy of Christ, so learn of Him. Become
like Him. Prepare for the day when you will return to Him. Each prophet teaches
us truths about the Plan of Salvation, because that is the message of God to
man — the good news — the Gospel of Christ.
Yet no matter how good
the news, it has often been unpopular. Enoch’s success notwithstanding, nearly every prophet has
suffered, and many died, for proclaiming the message God has given them. On the
face of it, their success rate is abysmal. So why does the Lord continue to
send prophets out into a world that is so hostile to their message?
As Jesus told the
Pharisees and scribes, when they asked why he ate with sinners, “They that are whole need not a
physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.”
Unfortunately, ‘the wicked [take] the truth to be
hard’. It hurts to be told that you’re wrong! It’s uncomfortable to think that
you might have to change the way you live. Much easier to believe that the one
telling you is wrong, hateful, even evil. Samuel the Lamanite had some things
to say about that attitude. I quote at length:
“[W]o unto this people, because of this time which has
arrived, that ye do cast out the prophets, and do mock them . . . and do slay
them . . . even as they did of old time.
“And now when ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the
days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not
have stoned them, and cast them out.
“Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a
prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which
testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out
and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a
false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth
that your deeds are evil.
“But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do
this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will
say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your
eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth—and if a man shall come among you
and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet.
“. . . O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye hardened
and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer
you? Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind
guides? Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?”
While we may not
literally cast stones at the prophets of our day, when they make statements in
their prophetic capacity that go against our personal or political beliefs, do
we mock them? Do we murmur? Do we prefer to listen to the easy message that
aligns with the world’s
views rather than upholding unpopular truths?
President Nelson invited
us in the first session of last April’s General Conference to ponder what debris we might remove
from our lives. I’d like to suggest a few ways of thinking that are unhelpful
for disciples of Christ.
Nephi warns us: “[In our] day shall [Satan] rage in
the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which
is good.
“And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal
security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is
well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully
down to hell.
“And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them
there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and
thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains,
from whence there is no deliverance.”
So: What truths stir us
up to anger? What rage has he set in our hearts?
God’s law is now seen as hateful in
society. Every sin is seen as self-affirming. Pride is literally paraded, lust
celebrated, wrath justified. Moral relativism pervades our culture, so who
dares to define sin and condemn it? Prophets and apostles are given a divine
mandate to do so.
How has our enemy
pacified us? Are we so comfortable and safe that we would be unwilling to
suffer for our beliefs? Elder Christofferson recently asked us what gospel
principles we would be willing to die for. What gospel truths are worth
defending to the point of losing followers on social media, losing a job, or
possibly even losing your life? Think about it now, because the time is coming
when you will need that kind of conviction.
Now, what of the devil’s flattery? The idea that there is
no hell and no devil is older even than Nehor, who taught people just that in
Alma’s day.
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn,
who survived the gulags of the Soviet Union, once said, “I recall hearing a number of older
people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had
befallen Russia: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’” I
would submit that not only has our society forgotten God; they have also
forgotten Satan, or rather, they have forgotten what he truly is, and what he
truly wants.
This is hardly unique to
our society. But it is indeed dangerous to forget that we have an enemy who is
actively working against us — and that he has had all the time in the world to
perfect his art. He is using every last strategy now, in the final moment.
So how do we, as
President Nelson said, “create
counterstrategies and proactive plans” to combat Satan’s tactics?
One of the best is to
question everything — faithfully. Some questions to ask about your questions:
Where does this belief come from? What do the scriptures teach on this subject?
Does my view differ from God’s
view? And am I willing to change if it does?
Also, is the answer to my
question situated in the proper context? Too often in this age of instant
reaction and ten-second sound bites, we are hasty in judgment. Exhibit A: Elder
Holland’s recent speech to the BYU faculty.
He had some strong words for them, over several specific issues. In no way were
his words inconsistent with what prophets and apostles have been teaching for
years. But a few short lines, lifted out of context, circulated on social
media. Suddenly, everyone had an opinion. Clickbait headlines proliferated. And
almost nobody bothered to watch the whole talk — readily available in the
Church Newsroom.
As we prepare for General
Conference next week, let us consider that the Lord gives us two lines of
communication. There is revelation for the Church, given through those with
authority — and there is personal revelation, given just for us. Both have
vital roles to play in our lives, but let us remember that those we sustain
as prophets, seers, and revelators are just that. They are watchmen, warning us
of dangers ‘yet afar
off”.
Elder Maxwell once said, “Now we are entering times wherein
there will be for all of us as Church members, in my judgment, some special
challenges which will require of us that we follow the Brethren. All the easy
things that the Church has had to do have been done. From now on, it’s high
adventure, and followership is going to be tested in some interesting ways . .
.”
As we seek to follow the
prophets, let us remember their purpose: to point us toward Christ. Let us not
only listen to their words; let us experiment on them. If we are faithful, I
believe we will find peace in times of trouble and strength in our trials, so
that we can say, as Paul, “I
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
In the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.
