Brothers and sisters, good morning and aloha!
It is always wonderful to be here on the campus of Brigham Young University–Hawaii. Although not a student here, I had the opportunity of attending the Language Training Mission, now known as the MTC, on this campus in preparation for my mission to Japan. This university was known as “The Church College of Hawaii,” and missionaries called to serve in Asia and the Pacific regions spent the first two months of their missions here.
Hale 6 was our LTM home where we lived and studied. I fondly remember eating our meals in the cafeteria, attending Sunday church services in the Auditorium, and frequenting the small, crowded book store in the David O. McKay building for supplies and snacks. This beautiful Cannon Activity Center and the Lorenzo Snow Administration Building was the rugby field where we played touch football and soccer during our recreation periods. We played basketball on the outdoor courts where the Social Sciences Building now stands across from Hale 2. The Aloha Ballroom and the Student Center also did not exist then. One of our favorite Preparation Day activities was walking the beautiful grounds of the Laie Hawaii Temple. We were blessed then and how blessed you are now to attend this church university, to live in the shadow of the House of the Lord, and to daily feel of its sacred influence.
The glorious Plan of Salvation has always had a special appeal to me. The answers to the timeless questions “Who am I?,” “Where did I come from?,” and “Why am I here?” are found in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. In Proverbs, we learn that “where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). With vision can come motivation and so my purpose today is to address the questions “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” with the hope that it will increase our vision and motivation to be valiant once more as true disciples of Jesus Christ.
The Lord said, “Behold, I will hasten my work in its time” (D&C 88:73). In his opening address at the 2013 October General Conference of the Church, President Monson said, “ Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him.” Hastening the work of salvation has been the major emphasis of the Church since it was unveiled at the world-wide Leadership Broadcast on June 23, 2013. We have the privilege of being part of this great effort. To emphasize the importance of this work, President Monson said, “Wishing will not make it so. The Lord expects our thinking. He expects our action. He expects our testimonies. He expects our devotion.”
Why is the work hastening? In the Doctrine and Covenants, we read, “For behold, the field is white already to harvest; and it is the eleventh hour, and the last time that I shall call laborers into my vineyard” (D&C 33:3). The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob quoted the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees: “And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come” (Jacob 5:71).
What is meant by the phrases “ the last time” and “ the end is nigh”? This refers to the last gospel dispensation and the end of the world as we know it. It refers to the second coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the ushering in of His great millennial reign. Of this glorious event, the Old Testament prophet Malachi said that it would be a “great and dreadful day," meaning a great day of rejoicing for those who have righteously and diligently prepared themselves by becoming true disciples of Jesus Christ (Malachi 4:5). It will be a terrible and dreadful day for the wicked and unrepentant who are not worthy to be with the Savior during His great millennial reign.
Of His Second Coming the Lord said, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:36). Only our Heavenly Father knows the exact day and hour of the Savior’s Second Coming but from the Lord’s own words we know “that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors” (D&C 110:16).
In the Bible Dictionary, we learn that “a dispensation of the gospel is a period of time in which the Lord has at least one authorized servant on the earth who bears the holy priesthood and the keys, and who has a divine commission to dispense the gospel to the inhabitants of the earth.” There have been many gospel dispensations on the earth. We often speak of the seven great gospel dispensations which are the dispensations of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the Apostles in the meridian of time, and this, the dispensation of the fullness of times, the final dispensation that began with Joseph Smith’s first vision.
Because this final dispensation’s purpose is to prepare the earth for the “culmination of the purposes of God on the earth,” the members of the Church today have a very important responsibility (“Dispensation,” Bible Dictionary). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve said, “We are making our appearance on the stage of mortality in the greatest dispensation of the gospel ever given to mankind, and we need to make the most of it. …We have a responsibility to the Church of the Lamb of God to receive the Lamb of God – in person, in triumphant glory, in His millennial role as Lord of lords and King of kings. No other dispensation ever had that duty” (“Terror, Triumph and a Wedding Feast,” CES Fireside, Sept. 12, 2004).
The prophet Joseph Smith said that earlier prophets “have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipation they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day; … we are the favored people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory; it is left to us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the Latter-day glory, the ‘dispensation of the fullness of times’” (History of the Church 4:609-10).
Notice that the prophet taught that we were chosen for the work of the Kingdom of God. The Lord himself said, “Verily, I say unto you that ye are chosen out of the world to declare my gospel with the sound of rejoicing, as with a voice of a trump” (D&C 29:4).
Why were we chosen? The answer is found in the doctrine of foreordination. In the Church booklet True to the Faith, we find this explanation:
“In the premortal spirit world, God appointed certain spirits to fulfill specific missions during their mortal lives. This is called foreordination. Foreordination does not guarantee that individuals will receive certain callings or responsibilities. Such opportunities come in this life as a result of the righteous exercise of agency, just as foreordination came as a result of righteousness in the premortal existence” (“Foreordination,” True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference).
Jesus Christ was foreordained to be the Savior of the world. The Apostle Peter declared, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these times for you” (1 Peter 1:19-20). Elder James E. Talmage wrote, “We affirm, on the authority of Holy Scripture, that the Being who is known among men as Jesus of Nazareth, and by all who acknowledge His Godhood as Jesus the Christ, existed with the Father prior to birth in the flesh; and that in the preexistent state He was chosen and ordained to be the one and only Savior and Redeemer of the human race” ( Jesus The Christ, 6).
In the scriptures, we find other examples of righteous spirits foreordained in the premortal world:
“Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These will I make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou was born” (Abraham 3:22-23).
Jeremiah was told by the Lord, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
The doctrine of foreordination applies to all members of the Church, not just to the Savior and His prophets. Joseph Smith said, “ Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the grand council of heaven before the world was. I suppose I was ordained to this very office in that grand council” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 365.) Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “It was by divine design that the marvelous Mary became the mother of Jesus. Further, Lucy Mack Smith, who played such a crucial role in the rearing of Joseph Smith, did not come to that assignment by chance” (“A More Determined Discipleship,” Ensign, Feb. 1979).
Quoting again from True to the Faith, “Before the creation of the earth, faithful women were given certain responsibilities and faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood duties. Although you do not remember that time, you surely agreed to fulfill significant tasks in the service of your Father. As you prove yourself worthy, you will be given opportunities to fulfill the assignments you then received” ("Foreordination," True to the Faith, 70).
Alma taught that all who are ordained to the office of High Priest in the Melchizedek Priesthood in mortality were foreordained to that office in the pre-existence. Elder Bruce R. McConkie, commenting on these verses, said that not just the High Priests but “every person who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood was foreordained to receive that high and holy order in the pre-existent councils of eternity” ( Mormon Doctrine, 290).
Listen carefully to Alma’s words: “And this is the manner after which they were ordained – being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such. And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren” (Alma 13:3-4).
The LDS scriptures with its chapter summaries, Index, Topical Guide, Bible Dictionary, footnotes, and maps are a wonderful blessing and resource. Using the footnotes, let’s examine Alma 13:3 more closely, not just as the basis of foreordinations to the Melchizedek Priesthood but as the basis of all foreordinations.
The first footnote in verse three is the letter “a” over the word “called,” which is referenced to mean “foreordination.” The second footnote, letter “b,” is over the word “prepared,” which directs us to the Doctrine and Covenants 138:56. The third footnote, the letter “c,” is over the first word of the phrase “foundation of the world” and refers to our “antemortal or premortal existence.” Up to this point, we might paraphrase verse three, according to the footnotes, as follows: “And this is the manner after which they were foreordained even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth to labor in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.”
It is my belief that we were among those who were taught and prepared and were among the “morning stars” who “sang together” and “shouted for joy” (Job 38:7).
Continuing, we learn that this was done according to the “foreknowledge of God.” What was the basis of God’s foreknowledge? Could it be the personal relationship we experienced as literal spirit sons and daughters of heavenly parents reared at their feet over the eons of our premortal existence? Surely, the inspired lyrics of the beloved Church hymn “Oh My Father” ring true!
“Oh my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near thy side?”
(“Oh My Father,”
Hymns, no. 292.)
President Ezra Taft Benson said, “We once knew well our Elder Brother and His and our Father in Heaven. We rejoiced at the prospects of earth life. …We could hardly wait to demonstrate to our Father and our Brother, the Lord, how much we loved them and how we would be obedient to them in spite of the earthly opposition of the evil one. Now we are here. Our memories are veiled. We are showing God and ourselves what we can do. Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us” (“Jesus Christ – Gifts and Expectations,” Ensign, Dec. 1988).
It is because of this personal parent/child relationship that Heavenly Father has an intimate foreknowledge of each of us, a foreknowledge of our character and personality, our talents and interests, our strengths and weaknesses, and of our love for Him and our perfect brother, Jehovah or Jesus Christ.
This foreordination is also based on account of our “ exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose between good and evil; therefore having chosen good and exercising exceedingly great faith.” Notice that the words “ exceeding” and “ exceedingly” are repeated as if for added emphasis. I like to think of the meaning of these words in terms you can especially relate to – your school grades. “F” stands for failure. “D” represents poor performance. “C” means average, “B” represents good, and “A” stands for superior performance. What then does " exceedingly" equate to? In my mind, it represents the equivalent of an “A” grade.
If it does represent an “A” level of faith and good works, how was this manifested? From the scriptures, we learn that everyone was not equal in the level of their faith and good works. The Book of Revelation records, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,” “And his tail [the dragon’s] drew a third part of the stars of heaven” (Revelation 12:7, 4). The Doctrine and Covenants also records “and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency. And they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels” (D&C 29:36-37). We must sadly conclude that this group failed to exercise any level of faith and good works.
Before this tragic war in heaven, we all had the opportunity to learn and understand Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness. Central to this plan was the need for a Savior. When Jehovah was selected by the Father, there were many who had doubts whether the plan would really work and if Jehovah would complete all He was ordained to do and fulfill the awful demands of the infinite Atonement when He condescended to the earth as Jesus of Nazareth, the son of the mortal Mary, and the only begotten in the flesh of our eternal Father in Heaven. Those who had complete faith that the plan would work, that Jehovah would not fail in His calling, and were valiant in this testimony, were known to Heavenly Father. This is how their exceeding great faith was demonstrated and proven.
What “ exceedingly good works” did these valiant spirits then perform? Elder Stephen D. Nadauld, formerly of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, wrote, “What work was there to be done in the premortal setting? I believe there was the great work of explaining, of illustrating, of declaring, of teaching the plan! There was the work of witnessing that Jesus Christ would surely do that which He said He would – the work of inviting, teaching, and convincing that He would fulfill his divine mission – would come to earth and sacrifice His life. Thus those who had faith in the plan and demonstrated that faith by working to support, explain, and promote it truly stood out – in other words, were those who became personally identified by God as leaders” ( Principles of Priesthood Leadership, 6-7).
Along this theme, Elder James J. Hamula of the First Quorum of the Seventy said, “You are those who chose good over evil and who exhibited ‘exceedingly great faith’ and ‘good works.’ And because of your personal history, you were entrusted to come to the earth in these last days to do again what you did before – to once again choose good over evil, exercise exceedingly great faith, and perform good works – and to do so in behalf of the kingdom of God on the earth and your fellowman!” (“Winning the War against Evil,” Ensign, Nov. 2008).
I love that thought! We have been chosen, foreordained, and entrusted to come forth in this last and greatest gospel dispensation of time to do again what we did before in being valiant in our testimonies of Christ and to help prepare the Church for the Second Coming of the Lord. Continuing Elder Holland’s earlier quote, “Collectively speaking – whether it is in our lifetime, or our children’s or our grandchildren’s or whenever – we nevertheless have the responsibility as a Church and as individual members of that Church to be worthy to have Christ come to us, to be worthy to have Him greet us, and to have Him accept and receive and embrace us. The lives we present to Him in that sacred hour must be worthy of Him!” (“Terror, Triumph, and a Wedding Feast,” CES Fireside, Sept. 12, 2004).
Because we did it in the pre-existence, we have the faith, ability, and experience to do it again and to be valiant once more!
There may be times in our lives, as we are righteously engaged in the work of the Lord, we have impressions that we’ve experienced something before. Last September, a special Priesthood Leadership Conference in Hawaii was held with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy, and Elder Aley Auna, our Area Authority Seventy. In attendance were the Stake Presidencies of all fifteen Hawaii stakes and the bishops and branch presidents of every ward and branch of the Church in Hawaii. As I entered the chapel, I felt the presence of the authority and power of the priesthood. As I greeted my friends and brethren in the priesthood, I had the impression that we had experienced this before, not in this life but in our premortal one. The veil is indeed thin at special times in our lives.
“For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou has placed me here on earth
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, ‘You’re a stranger here,’
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.”
(“Oh My Father,”
Hymns, no. 292)
President Joseph F. Smith said, “But in coming here, we forgot all, that our agency might be free indeed, to choose good or evil, that we might merit a reward of our own choice and conduct. But by the power of the Spirit, in the redemption of Christ, through obedience, we often catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul, which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home” ( Gospel Doctrine, 1977, 213-14).
During my high school years, I had an experience I will always be grateful for. I came across the lyrics of the hymn “Oh My Father.” I had sung it in Church many times over the years, but for the first time, I really took notice and seriously pondered its meaning. The Spirit bore powerful witness to me of these glorious truths, and I understood, as I had never before, what it means to have a “burning of the bosom.” I knew with a certainty that the plan of salvation was true, that I had lived before as a beloved spirit son of heavenly parents with the full potential of my divine nature and destiny. This gave me the desire to prepare for and receive my patriarchal blessing. I wanted to know my purpose in life and what I was foreordained to do on earth.
Growing up in the Church, I was taught that the first law of heaven is obedience. “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessings from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20-21).
Foreordination does not determine what must be but what can be. Like all other blessings, any foreordination is conditional upon our faithful obedience to the principles of righteousness. Sadly, there are many examples throughout history of those who did not keep this, their second estate. King David comes to mind. How the Lord loved David and blessed him with great opportunities, and yet we learn that David “hath fallen from his exaltation, … and he shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord” (D&C 132:39).
And so the important question is “What must I do to be valiant once more and fulfill what I was foreordained to do?”
Here are a few suggestions:
1. Understand your noble spiritual heritage.
Prepare for, worthily receive, then study and ponder your patriarchal blessing. It contains personal counsel from the Lord and will guide, comfort, and protect you.
2. Gain a valid testimony of the gospel.
A testimony is to know through the spiritual witness of the Holy Ghost that the gospel is true. It is a sure knowledge that our Father in Heaven lives and loves us, that Jesus is the Resurrected Christ who accomplished the infinite Atonement, that the Gospel has been restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth, which means that in the Church is found the fullness of the Lord’s gospel teachings and commandments, the necessary ordinances of exaltation, and the priesthood keys and authority to perform these ordinances, and that the Church today is led by a living prophet of God, Thomas S. Monson.
3. Become truly converted.
Having a valid testimony is important and is a measure of real spiritual progress. However, as important as a testimony is, it is not enough. Real conversion is required for us to enter into the highest glory of the Celestial Kingdom. Real conversion is much more than testimony. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, “To testify is to know and to declare. … To be ‘converted’ … [is] to
do and become” (“The Challenge to Become,”
Ensign, Oct. 2000). Real conversion is faithfully and consistently living the gospel everyday. Real conversion is the ongoing process of
becoming like our Savior through sincere repentance, obedience, sacrifice, service, and enduring to the end.
4. Be worthy of a temple recommend and use it regularly.
One who is truly converted understands the importance of and is committed to making and keeping sacred covenants. We begin our journey along the covenant path to exaltation at baptism and confirmation. We continue along this path when the brethren receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and when we are endowed and sealed in the holy temple. Elder Oaks said, “The
temple is the great final
measure of
real growth. Not just the temple experience, but the
making of covenants in the temple and then
keeping those
covenants” (“What Is Real Growth?”
LDS.org).
By understanding who we are, through testimony, conversion, temple worthiness, and the making and keeping of sacred covenants, especially our temple covenants, we can be prepared to be truly valiant once more and again exercise exceedingly great faith and good works in hastening the work of salvation and in fulfilling all that we were foreordained and sent here to do.
“When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?|
Then, at length, when I’ve completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.”
(“Oh My Father,”
Hymns, no. 292)
This is my desire for my family, each member of the Waipahu Hawaii Stake, and all of us here.
I know that our Father in Heaven lives and loves us. I know that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. I know that the gospel has been restored in its fullness in these latter days. I love the Savior and His gospel. I love being a member of His church. With gratitude and rejoicing, I share these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.