Aloha, my brothers and sisters. I hope you brought your scriptures today because we're going to look at the scriptures today.
I am grateful to President Steven Wheelwright, Brother Jim Nilson and the faculty, staff and students at BYU-Hawaii for this opportunity to share my testimony with each of you. I love and admire this marvelous institution, which provides for excellent secular education in an atmosphere of spiritual nourishment. I am grateful to my wonderful companion for her introduction. I would mention a word or two about my dear wife and companion, and I would mention a word or two about her. For many years at the beginning of our marriage, she endured considerable if not extreme poverty so she could stay at home and nurture our children while I attended the University for undergraduate and graduate training. She has sustained me in my calling, and also every calling I've had since then, though it meant leaving her children and grandchildren for many years. She knows what it means to learn from the prophets and she has always been faithful to their counsel.
Today I would like to reflect on what we can learn from prophets; particularly from the reported experiences of the Prophet Joseph Smith as recorded in his history, which is found in the Pearl of Great Price.
What is the first recorded revelation in this dispensation? Some of you may say, that marvelous revelation when God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son appeared to Joseph Smith in that grove of trees we now call sacred. Of course, that was a great revelation...but it was not the first noted by the Prophet Joseph. Remember that Joseph Smith was greatly troubled by the preachers of his day. Representatives of the various denominations were crying here and there to join their church. The dominant theme was that if you did not join "their" church, you would surely go to hell. Joseph had a problem. His mother and sisters had joined the Presbyterian Church. He was much inclined to join the Methodist Church and his father and at least one brother at that time belonged to no church at all. By all he could understand from the preaching around him, at least some of his beloved family would surely go to hell.
Joseph had a friend who was a Methodist minister; the Reverend Mr. Lane. [Comp Hist Ch p 56, note 10]. The Reverend Lane had sought persistently to proselyte Joseph Smith to his church. On one occasion Reverend Lane preached from a text found in James 1:5 where he urged his listeners, including young Joseph to "ask God, the Eternal Father" if they should join his church. Joseph remembered the passage of scripture. At length he went to his home and opened the family bible and read it for himself. What did he say about that experience? [JS Hist 1:12]
"Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected upon it again and again..."
What's happening here to Joseph Smith? What do we call it when thoughts come with great power to our minds and hearts? The Lord told Oliver Cowdery how God speaks to man:
"I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost...which shall dwell in your heart. Now behold this is the spirit of revelation..." [D&C 8:2-3]
Isn't this just what happened to Joseph Smith? The first recorded revelation was when Joseph was inspired by the Holy Ghost to pray.
From this we learn that the only way to open the heavens and communicate with God is to pray. Do you wonder what would have happened if Joseph had not had the faith to actually pray? It was that prayer that brought the First Vision and initiated the restoration of the Gospel.
Reading further in verse 12:
"The teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible."
What do we learn from this passage? At the time of the Lord Jesus Christ, the scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus because they thought He did not adhere to the Law of Moses. Over the centuries, religious scholars had added to, modified and changed the doctrines of the Law of Moses to the point where it would have been essentially unrecognizable even to Moses. However they had named their perverted religion the Law of Moses and any who deviated from the Law according to their interpretation were infidels. Why this determined adherence to Moses? After he was gone, Moses had one overwhelming attribute that the Pharisees and Scribes loved. Moses was dead! Because he was dead, he could not correct the "modifications" these scribes and Pharisees placed on the people. The benefits of costly garments, public adoration, special privileges and "chief seats in the synagogue" would be denied if Moses were there to correct them. For the scribes and Pharisees, the deader Moses was, the better.
Joseph Smith could find no confidence in answering his profound Gospel questions from the Bible? Why was that? Don't we, even today, regard this Bible as the word of God? We do! Don't we have confidence that the Bible teaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ? We do. Every Christian denomination regards the Bible as the source of their doctrine, the source of their authority and their direct and only link with God. If we turn to this Bible, can we learn that "by grace ye are saved, not by dead works lest any man should boast?" Yes we can. Can we also learn that faith without works is dead? Yes we can. Does this Bible teach baptism is essential? Yes it does! Does the Bible also teach that you can be saved without baptism? Many so interpret it.
Note the reason so many denominations love the Bible and place their entire religious roots in this Bible is that the Bible has, for them, one overwhelming attribute. Everybody who ever wrote in this Bible is completely and demonstrably DEAD! Corrections, clarifications, interpretations can be done by designing men without the distraction of being guided by the author of the text or by an inspired prophet.
This we learn from those few words of the Prophet Joseph Smith in verse 12.
Joseph followed his witness of the spirit and went into that grove of trees that we now call Sacred. You know, of course, that the grove is not sacred. We call it the sacred grove, not because of the trees are sacred but because of the sacred things that happened there. When Joseph went there to pray, he described his experience thusly:
"I...began to offer up my desires to God when I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction." [v.15]
What do we learn from this statement? We learn that Satan is real and that he has real power. He could bind the tongue of Joseph Smith. We also learn something about the character of Satan. What did Joseph Smith feel on this occasion? He felt darkness. He felt doomed. Evil begets evil feelings, and this instruction helps us identify the influence of Satan in our own lives. Think back in your own experience. When you have found yourself in a bad or evil environment, how did you feel? Did you note that your mind became dark? Did you note the racing pulse and feelings of anxiety that comes to all who approach doom? Note well the character of the devil. For those who will not turn from the devil, the feelings of darkness and doom are the reward of those who dwell with Satan in the eternities. This we learn from reading this verse 15.
In verses 16 & 17, we gain additional insight:
"Exerting all my powers to call upon God...I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun..." [V 17] "It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound..."
What do we learn from this passage? We know that Satan has power but here we learn that God's power is greater than Satan's power. Note that when the light appeared, the darkness left. Light and darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time. What a great lesson for us. When we feel darkness encroaching upon our minds, we know to seek the spirit through prayer, scripture study, or simply finding our way to a more righteous environment. When we invite the light, darkness retreats. We learn that from this passage found in verses 16 &17.
When the pillar of light rested upon Joseph Smith, he
"saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above [him] in the air. One of them spake unto [him], calling [him] by name and said, pointing to the other -- This is My Beloved Son, Hear Him!" [v 17]
Here is profound evidence of the truth of the message of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Suppose for a moment you were a young boy in New England trying to draw attention to yourself with some invented claim of divine appointment, and you made up the idea that God and Jesus appeared to you. Who would you say did the speaking? You would say that God delivered the message! Joseph records that God only introduced Jesus and Jesus did all the speaking. Remember that when Joseph was 14 years old, he did not yet know that Jesus was the only source of divine ministration in this earth. Only much later would he know that. This passage is one reason that I have a conviction of the truthfulness of Joseph's divine calling. If he had invented it he would have said God did the speaking. Also note that the only role the Father played is to bear testimony of the Son and His own divine Fatherhood. He said, in one declaration: "Behold this is My Beloved Son..." at once declaring His Fatherhood and testifying of the identity of His Only Begotten Son. What greater evidence can we have than the testimony of the Almighty Himself? We learn all these things from verse 17.
If we skip to verse 19, we learn that Joseph asked which church he should join. We read in verse 19:
"I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: 'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof." [v 19]
What do we learn from this passage? We learn that there had been a complete apostasy from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And this apostasy is declared from the lips of Jesus Christ Himself.
Let's go now to verse 21. Joseph Smith, having had this marvelous vision shared it with a few trusted friends. One of them was the Methodist preacher who had been his friend and about whom we have already spoken. Joseph's brother William specifically identified this Methodist preacher as the Reverend Mr. Lane, the very same one who had urged Joseph to join the Methodist church by preaching from James 1:5, and saying that man may learn of which church to join by praying to God. Joseph recorded his encounter with his Methodist friend as follows:
"...I was greatly surprised at his behavior; he treated my communication...with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles and that there would never be any more of them." [v. 21]
The Reverend Mr. Lane wanted Joseph to join his church. He taught him from the Bible to ask God which church he should join, and when Joseph did that, he denied that God has the power to answer when asked and that the entire teachings in James 1 are not true because all revelation had ceased with the apostles. Can there be a greater illustration of the power of Satan in the earth than among sectarian churches?
I am reminded of the criticism so often laid against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that we are not Christians and thus not eligible for salvation. I cannot help but smile at the accusation. Those who lay the claim that they are the only Christians do so because they believe unequivocally in the God of the Bible which they describe as "without body parts or passions, whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere; who sits on the top of a topless throne." They say you must believe in that God, and you must use the Bible as your only source of doctrine and authority. If that is not your belief, you are not a Christian and cannot be saved. Well, according to their definition, none of the ancient patriarchs would be considered Christians and thus would not be heirs of salvation. It is a strange definition of Christian that excludes salvation from the likes of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all the ancient prophets. Also excluded would be the Twelve Apostles of the Meridian Church and perhaps even Jesus Himself because the Bible we have did not exist in their era.
The only true religion is revealed religion and the sum and substance of that we learn from the Prophet Joseph is that revelation exists in the true Church today. We do not rely exclusively on dead prophets to define what we believe. God guides us day by day through immediate, direct and illuminating revelation.
Some years ago, a missionary and his companion were teaching a woman of the restored gospel. She was very interested and she read and prayed as the missionaries asked. However, she was uncertain about whether she should be baptized. She went to the minister of her protestant church and asked his opinion. He wrote her a response. It was 21 pages long. I examined the first few pages. I recall the minister warned this woman that the Mormons have a very strange belief. They believe that God speaks directly to man today and that revelation is available to every Mormon. He pointed out that even if you show a Mormon in the Bible where he is wrong, he will not believe the Bible if it conflicts with his revelations. He concluded with the warning that Mormons invite you to pray and listen to your feelings. But, he said, feelings can be misleading, and he recommended she should avoid prayer and avoid examining her feelings. He reminded her that there were no such things as visions and revelations in this day and all such things had ceased with the Apostles. This lady said at her baptism a few days later: "I knew the minister was wrong. He was wrong about revelation, because I prayed and God revealed to me the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the gospel taught by the missionaries."
There is one more wonderful lesson that we learn from the earliest experiences of the Prophet Joseph Smith: Turning to verses 30-39, we learn that young Joseph was anxious to learn his standing before God after four years of silence from the heavens. He prayed in his bedroom. The angel Moroni appeared to him and revealed the location of the plates of gold from which the Book of Mormon would be translated. He then began Joseph's religious education by giving him powerful instruction.
If you were in charge of restoring the Gospel through a youth, a young man, who knew literally nothing about the Gospel that was to be restored, what would you tell him? What would you tell him first? Wouldn't you teach the most important things in the Gospel first? What were the first things Moroni taught to Joseph? Following the revelation of the location of the plates of gold, Moroni began quoting from the Old Testament. He quoted Malachi 4. That scripture describes the promise from God that the power to seal on earth and in heaven would be restored. The sealing power and the indispensable value of it for the salvation of man was taught to Joseph Smith long before he learned about priesthood, before he learned about church organization, before he learned about temples, or any ordinances, or any of the other doctrines. The importance of the sealing power represented by the keys of Elijah has been revealed in every scripture of which we have written record. It's revealed in the Old Testament, the New Testament, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants. [Old Testament: Malachi 4:1-4; New Testament: Luke 1:17; Book of Mormon: 3Ne 24 & 25:5-6; D&C 2:1-3].
What do we learn from this passage in Joseph Smith's history?
We learn that God is willing to grant to man on the earth, power which transcends the veil and extends into eternity. That power is manifest in the ordinances of the Gospel and the sum total of all ordinances and obligations of the Gospel is called the New and Everlasting Covenant [D&C 84:20]. Those who abide by the terms of the New and Everlasting Covenant are said to "put on the robes of righteousness."
The Savior related a parable which alerts the faithful to the importance of these teachings. We read in Matthew 22, which is called the parable of the marriage of the king's son.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son,
And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding and they would not come...
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm and another to his merchandise:
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.
Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good; and the wedding was furnished with guests.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called but few are chosen. [Matt 22:2-14]
When Jesus taught by parables, He knew He was speaking to crowds of people; some of whom loved him and sought the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and there were some who hated him and would kill him if they could. His message benefitted all; but for the faithful, there is always a deeper meaning which teaches a saving principle.
In this parable, the King is God and the Son is Christ. The wedding is salvation and the servants are the prophets of God. The first part of this parable is directed as a warning to the Jews. We read it:
God provided salvation through his Son, Jesus Christ. He sent his prophets to the Jews who were first bidden to come to salvation; but they would not come -- they were too busy with their farms and their merchandise. And some took the prophets and treated them spitefully and slew them. God was wroth and destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the Jews to all nations.
This part of the parable is history to us now.
But we read on for the part that applies to us: God sent his prophets unto the Gentiles and gathered as many as could be found to salvation. We are the benefactors of that gathering. We have the Restored Gospel and thus we have been gathered to salvation. Now comes a most interesting point: God comes among the wedding guests and notices that a man did not have on a wedding garment.
Now a note about the wedding customs at the time of Christ. Wedding guests were all expected to wear a wedding garment to show respect to the host. Typically the wedding garments were provided by the host. Which means, in this parable, the wedding guest had a garment but he simply refused to put it on. Failure to put it on demonstrated extreme disrespect for the King.
The King said to the man: why did you refuse to put on the wedding garment? And the man was--this is my favorite word--speechless!
The wedding garment, as applied to the Saints of God are the robes of righteousness i.e. the covenants and ordinances of the gospel which, when sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise make us eligible for salvation. The dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple describes one of the sacred purposes of the temple to be that those who are worthy may "put on the robes of righteousness." [D&C 109:76]. Only through the sealing power can the robes of righteousness be effective beyond this earthly life.
In the parable, why did the man not put on the wedding garment? He had one. He knew he was acting contrary to the express wishes of the King who had invited him to the wedding. When confronted, he had no excuse...he was speechless, and then cast into outer darkness. Where many are called, but few are chosen.
When we face judgment at the great and dreadful day of the Lord, will we be wearing robes of righteousness? Will we have gone to the House of the Lord and obtained the blessings of the New and Everlasting Covenant? Will we have refreshed our covenant by frequent and dedicated service in the House of the Lord? If not, how shall we answer our God? Shall we be speechless?
President Hinckley noted recently that the early saints, though much persecuted, had an advantage over our day. He recalled that when Satan sought to overthrow the Church, he influenced mobs with guns and torches to attack the homes and farms of the saints. The mobs could be seen from afar, torches burning. Doors were barred, children and wives hidden for safety and defenses prepared. But today, Satan enters our homes though the doors be barred. He comes uninvited through the television, internet, music and videos. Satan appears unexpectedly in the teaching which our children learn from schools, media and friends. How can we protect ourselves from the influences of the world which come uninvited through locked doors into the very center of our homes?
From Joseph Smith, we learn the extraordinary power that is available to us as we seek the blessings of the covenants and ordinances of God. Power to overcome evil is available to you and me in this Church. Safety is taught in the temple of God. It is available to every worthy member. It is available to you. For those of you who are endowed, come and partake of the fullness of the New and Everlasting Covenant. For those not yet endowed, come for the ordinances that prepare you for the fullness as you become eligible.
I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation for us and our families. I testify of the reality of the living God and His Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior. May we come to know Him and put on the robes of righteousness, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.