LeGrand L. Baker

Category: Faith

  • THE MAKING OF SAINTS

    When we read from the Book of Mormon –

    …there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift. (4 Nephi 2-3)

    –we might wonder: How did they accomplish that magnificent feat? Even more pertinent would be to ask: How can we attain in this dispensation what they did in theirs? It seems clear from the scriptures that we also are charged to establish Zion. This article is an hypothesis as to how we as individual members of the church might assist those who preside over us in the great work of becoming Zion.

    It seems plain that our first obligation and opportunity is to support and work within the priesthood structure of the church. Those who preside over us are specifically charged with:

    …the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-13)

    The indispensable key to the priesthood authority of the church bringing us to that state is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we have kept that first commandment we received after we were baptized, to receive the Holy Ghost, then we have a testimony of the truthfulness of this great latter-day restoration and of the divine authority of those who preside in the church. We then can be on the path to becoming as the Savior. King Benjamin phrased it this way:

    For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)

    What a joy to have a testimony, to feel the sweet, quiet assurance of the Holy Spirit that President Spencer W. Kimball is truly a prophet who speaks to us for our Savior. How important to be founded upon that rock, that the winds and the waves of our contemporary world will not be able to sweep us away into the sufferings and hopelessness of those who have no testimony.

    It is good to know that we must become perfect in our relationship to the Savior. But the gap between him and us seems great. Is it possible to find a specific set of steps, a bridge by which we might cross that gap step by step? Fortunately for us, such a bridge is plainly given in the scriptures by Peter:

    And beside this, giving all diligence add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. (2 Peter 1:5-7)

    A comment on each of these steps will help to show their strength.

    1. Faith.  We must always begin with faith in our Savior. Before we can correctly put our trust in him we mus receive the Holy Spirit which reveals his will to us, for faith comes by hearing the word of God. Having that precious seed or word, we must believe in it and act upon it, for faith without works is dead. So we begin to tread upon this bridge over the chasm by trusting in our Savior, being comforted and guided by his Holy Spirit.
    2. Virtue. Having begun to be faithful we must not falter or doubt. We must gather our strength and courage and do all that we know to do, to obey the commandments we have received. This is the meaning of virtue. The word derives from the Latin vir, meaning man, and by association virtue means strength. As muscle and mind grow in strength with proper use and decay through abuse or no use, so with faith. The focus of our mind and thought must be to move correctly—with faith; and surely—with strength.
    3. Knowledge. Faith supported by virtue brings the need for further knowledge of the ways of the Lord in order to be more faithful. “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” (3 Nephi 12:6, emphasis added.) Though the Lord’s ways are not our ways, he nevertheless delights in revealing his mysteries to those who serve him in righteousness to the end. They learn of him line upon line, precept upon precept, until their understanding reaches unto heaven. And because they know of him, they become a great blessing to their fellow beings.
    4. Temperance. To be temperate is to be even, to be steady. A faithful, strong, understanding servant needs also to learn steadiness, to serve the Lord in season and out of season, in convenience and in inconvenience, in youth and in age. For to be faithful only when we so choose or at our convenience is not true faith; it is only playing with faith. To be faithful in difficulty is the only way we can show that the faith, strength, and understanding we have are our own heartfelt choices. To serve the Lord only when it is pleasant and convenient is to treat him as a convenience. But to serve him in sacrifice is our way of showing our selfless love for him, for his work, and for all for which he stands. This is temperance.
    5. Patience. With our personal stage now set to be much more effective in the work of righteousness (blessing others), we next learn to discern the needs of others. As we look to those around us, we see souls bound and afflicted with varying degrees of “natural man problems,” varying degrees of captivity to the adversary. We may be tempted to smite away their fetters and blindfolds. But knowledge and temperance tell us to be patient with our brothers and sisters, to know that only the self can unlock the self, and that through faith in the Savior. We must be patient, suffering with the ones whom we would bless until the key of faith is firmly in their own hands. Then they can begin to unfetter themselves.
    6. Godliness. But we will not just stand idly by, watching their suffering. We will share the burden with them, sacrificing our own strength to help them. Godliness follows upon patience because our heart, our concern for others, needs to grow until we cannot look upon any human being without feeling compassion for them. This compassion prepares us to serve and bless all persons around us, as would our Savior.
    7. Brotherly Kindness. To have godly concern for all human beings is but a frustration unless there is a solid means of helping them. As one looks for a way to help, one obvious structure for delivering help is the kingdom, the church. The essence of the church is its priesthood organization. The strength of the priesthood organization of the church is the men and women who preide,  who are its embodiment. To learn to love them and to fulfill in faith the stewardship under them is the greatest way to help this world that one can have; to be a missionary, a president, a teacher, –whatever. Is it not possible that the words we have as “brotherly kindness” really were intended to say “love of the brethren and sisters who preside over us?”
    8. Charity. The final stage of development comes when we possess the greatest spiritual gift, which is charity, or the pure love of Christ. Charity is two things: It is pure, unselfish love from the Savior; and it is that same love reflected back from us to the Savior and then manifest toward all other human beings. It is reflected through us in patience, godly concern, love for the brethren, then delivery of blessings in our stewardship with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. Of one who possesses this love as the completion of the bridge of faith Peter says:

    For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things ye shall never fall. (2 Peter 1:8-10)

    Then shall we be even as our Savior is:

    Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

    The opportunity of patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity can be framed another way by asking the question: How shall I let my light so shine that others seeing it will be caused to glorify God? We might answer by positing three steps by which the light of the Savior can be full manifest. These steps are to help people feel the Savior’s love, to help them see his way in action, and to help them understand his way through words.

    Step 1. Love. We can love purely. We can show the example of full, unselfish Christ-like love as the Holy Spirit radiates through us to others. Be we father, mother, sister, brother, president, or member, we can all give unqualified, Christ-like love to those around us. We will not be critical, but supportive; not condemning, but sympathetic; not condescending but honoring each person as a child of God. We can let each person around us be fully assured that someone knows they exist and cares about what happens to them, because we do. The purity of our love will be the purity of the Holy Spirit; the strength of our love will be the fulness of our Savior, who received a fulness of all things from our Heavenly Father.

    As all spiritual people know, the world’s greatest need is more of this love. The Savior has it to give, but he needs translators. We have an opportunity to translate and transmit this love which the world does not because we have the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

    Step 2. Example. We can show the example of a godly life. We can show how it is that a true servant of Jesus Christ eats and drinks, marries and gives in marriage, buys and sells, teaches and learns, governs and obeys, prays and worships. The example is important because the world needs hope, the hope that the commandments of Jesus can be lived. Many have the ideal, but do not believe that the Savior’s commandments can be lived because they do not understand how to do it. Only those who both know the truth and have the power of God  can show the full example:

    Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily, I say unto you, even as I am. (3 Nephi 27:27)

    Step 3. Witness. We can teach the word of God in its simplicity and purity, as we receive it from the scriptures and the Holy Spirit. We bear testimony that the Savior lives, that his prophet is on earth, that this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church. We teach the fundamental principles of faith and repentance, baptism and confirmation, of enduring to the end. Thus may others come to comprehend and understand the ways of the Lord.

    These three constitute the pattern of perfect teaching: love and respect for the learner, personal demonstration of what is being taught, and correct explanation to build understanding.

    Now a frank question: Would you like to have someone in your life who loves you purely; who is the example of all righteous action; who can teach you so that you understand the ways of our Savior? Could you better live the gospel if you felt, saw, and understood the truth of the gospel manifest in the flesh? Surely we would all appreciate that.

    Now another frank question: Why don’t you and I who have testimonies and know something of the ways of the Lord go out and show his love, live his example, and teach his truth to the best of our ability? Truly, if we all lived in the physical presence of the Savior we would likely have a surer testimony. But we don’t. But instead of simply seeking that blessing for ourselves, would it not be better to take all the love, the example, the understanding that we have received and pass it on? Is not our opportunity thus to bless others even greater because the Savior is not here?

    Let’s be about our Father’s business.

  • I Give Thanks

    This is in response to the request by President Russell M. Nelson’s recent plea on November 20, 2020 to #GiveThanks with a daily post to social media for 7 days.

    I give thanks #6 – November 29, 2020

    Consider the marvel of the planet on which we reside, earth. So delicately balanced for heat and cold, light and darkness, air and water, plants and animals, minerals and soil to provide a wonderful habitat for human probation. All bespeaks the hand of a careful creator, though some prefer to give the credit to blind chance. But thanks be to the gods who put all things in order for our wonderful habitat. Those persons of a spiritual inclination see that appreciation for nature is one form of worshiping that generous God who gave us all this.

    What a miracle it is to drop a seed in the ground and have it reliably turn into a tomato plant or a melon vine. What a blessing that sun and rain bless the ground so plentifully in most places. What a blessing that this earth can sustain billions of God’s children and could support many times more people than there are now were it not for selfishness and greed.

    Part of our human probation and training for godhood is the opportunity to deal with the delightful earthly environment with which we have been blessed. May we each prove appreciative of this great blessing and strive to leave our physical surroundings better, cleaner, more productive than we found them.

    How grateful we should be!

    I give thanks #5 – November 28, 2020

    Because of the Fall of Adam all accountable humans are in the power of Satan and sin, breaking the commandments of God. Having sinned, we become unclean, and no unclean thing can come back to the presence of our Father in Heaven. Some sin much, some sin little. But we all sin and would be lost forever were it not for our Savior.

    But Christ is of sin the double cure: He saves from wrath and makes us pure. He saves those who accept his atonement from the punishment justice demands for their having sinned. And he makes us pure by teaching us to repent, to replace each of our ways of disobedience with coming into the strait and narrow way of righteousness.”Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1: 18)

    Could there be a blessing greater than having a Savior? Could there be a human action wiser than giving ourselves to follow our Savior, to become his humble imitators? There is hope for all of us, but only in true faith in Jesus Christ.

    I give thanks #4 – November 27, 2020

    One of the greatest blessings of being a human is to have a physical body. We are not that body. The real “us” is our eternal intelligence (person) clothed in a spirit body given to us by our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. Our physical body is a temporary “loaner” from our Heavenly Parents to see what we will do with it while it lasts. How we use it determines what kind of physical body we will be rewarded with for the rest of eternity: celestial, terrestrial, telestial, or perdition.

    The basic options for use of our mortal human tabernacle are to use it to bless others or to use it strictly for our own imagined pleasures. The first option is called righteousness and the second is called selfishness. Almost all humans try both to see how they feel about each, then settle into a pattern favoring one or the other.

    The greatest power our Heavenly parents have given us is to use this physical tabernacle to beget children, to bless other spirits with physical bodies. Satan hates this power because he will never have a physical body and tries to destroy as many human bodies as he can through wars, murders, drug use, celibacy, etc. But his favorite tactic is to entice humans to murder their own children. Anciently he did this by getting his followers to pass their children through fire as a sacrifice to some fictitious god. Today he prevails upon humans to kill their children in the womb, preferably at conception.

    Blessed are those humans who choose righteousness and bless others, especially their own children.

    I give thanks #3 – November 26, 2020

    Father has given his human children two great gifts to guide them away from the grasp of his unfaithful son to be able to follow his faithful son. The first is conscience, the light of Christ which lightens every human being, and which brings to each of us feeling of what is right to do and what is wrong to do. The second is the Holy Ghost which brings to those who accept the light of Christ and try to do what is right a witness that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind. If any human accepts Jesus Christ as Savior and makes the covenant to remember and to serve Christ always, then the Holy Ghost will bring to each accepting soul a knowledge of the truth in any matter where the person needs it.

    Thus accepting a feeling for righteousness is the first step to salvation from eternal servitude to the unfaithful son. The second step is to accept the witness that Jesus is the appointed Savior of mankind, then to accept Christ through the covenant of baptism, then to follow the Holy Ghost until we gain a new being in the image of Christ himself, full of righteousness and truth.

    Oh the graciousness of our Father in giving us these two great gifts to guide our mortality!

    I give thanks #2 – November 25, 2020

    Because Father so loved his children, he sent his unfaithful son to cause his human children to fall in dying both spiritually and temporally to create a mortal situation. But this fallen condition made each child an agent, the perfect context for each of Father’s children to choose for himself or herself what each would be happiest doing in eternity. The context and agency were made complete when Father also sent his faithful son, the Son of Man (of Holiness), to atone for the sins of all mankind and to bring about the resurrection of each person. And messengers were sent to Adam and Eve and all of their children so that they could know how to be saved from the power of the unfaithful son by committing to and following the faithful son, Jesus Christ. Thus it is that all who love blessing others like the faithful son can become free from the power of the unfaithful son by binding themselves to the faithful son to become like him and by rejecting the messages from the unfaithful son.

    That is why I am so grateful for the faithful son, Jesus Christ, and his precious gospel.

    I give thanks #1 – November 24, 2020

    I am thankful for my Heavenly Father. “Man of Holiness” is his name because he only does that which blesses others. In him there is no selfishness of any kind. His actions are one eternal round of creating and blessing. Because he does no evil and is dependable in doing all the good that can be done, he is trusted by everyone and everything in the universe that is not satanic. All the elements of the universe obey and worship him because of his goodness. This gives him great power to bless. He became a God by choosing righteousness over evil. And he blesses all of his children with that same opportunity.

  • Principles II

    Chauncey C. Riddle

    We begin this hour with the principle of justice. Justice is the principle that righteousness demands regress for wrong. That is to say, if someone is injured, there must be a restoration or some other kind of satisfaction to restore them to the original condition. Justice is simply that every wronged must be righted.

    Every time we sin, that is to say we break a commandment of God, somebody is hurt. Somebody’s blessings are shorted. And justice demands that the blessing be made up to that person. They are entitled to their heritage, their due. The heritage of every child of God is to be blessed and loved. Any child of God that is not blessed and loved, somebody is going to have to make up to it for. So, justice is a thing that we try to achieve. Being one of omission or commission it matters not. If one has not received his due then justice is not obtained, it has not been met.

    But for God, righteousness must be maintained. Therefore God must be just. He himself is just, he showers love and goodness upon his children without exception. He does nothing except it be for the benefit of his children. He is absolutely just. He never sins, that is to say, he never shortens anyone’s blessings. You and I do sin and shorten other people’s blessings. And so then he insists that being just, that we must become just also. That we must do something to satisfy that shortening that we have made. So, if we come to him, then he will teach us of righteousness. So that in the future we can be just.

    The word just means right, or doing what’s right, having one’s rights. A court of justice is where you go to get your rights. And if things go well, hopefully you’re better than before you started. So, real righteousness, or in other words, real justice is only of God. Because justice is a result of faith in Christ. It is a part of righteousness and righteousness only comes though Christ.

    So, therefore a servant of Christ always pays his debts. Be they of time, money, covenant, or promise. He does not ask for release from debt but makes whatever sacrifices necessary to clear his promise or his obligation. Which also clears his own name, which also clears the name of his master, Jesus Christ.

    If we’re covenant servants of Christ, we’re not just being unjust in our own right, we’re causing him to be unjust. Just as the father is responsible for the acts of his children, we cause the Savior to become unjust, in a sense. We cause his name to become ill spoken of, if we are unrighteous or unjust. So, if we love him, we will not wish to besmirch his name. We will wish to show, he is a God of justice and righteousness and love and truth. And do everything in our power, to make every sacrifice that is necessary to bring about justice. We will make whatever recompense or restitution is necessary if we have been unjust.

    The terrestrial standard is, that if you have been unjust and wronged someone, you make it up to them by paying every last farthing for what we’ve owed them. The celestial standard, the gospel standard is, if you’ve wronged somebody and been unjust to them, you pay four-fold. You show your love for them and your sorrow for having wounded them, shortened them, by making up to them four times. I think that’s also a help not to be unjust in the future. So, to know exactly what is just is beyond human wisdom and the ability to satisfy past injustices is beyond human wisdom.

    But in Christ all good things are possible. Thus, it is that the just live by faith. This was Martin Luther’s take off point in Romans, the just live by faith. And it’s true, the just do live by faith. Justice is of faith in Christ. There is a worldly justice, that worldly justice is the justice of man as judged by human reason, which is the counterfeit of divine justice. The counterfeit of Godly justice is the justice of man administered by human reason. This sometimes is an approximation of justice and sometimes is not justice at all. But until we’re willing to have God be our judge we must suffer counterfeit justice in our midst. Don’t mistake me, there are some people engaged in the justice business in our society and our civilization who our servants of Christ and they are prayerful and careful and faithful in their administration of justice. And their justice is real justice. But those who depend on their own human reason administer a counterfeit justice.

    Mercy next. Mercy is the companion principle to justice in the gospel. Whereas the just man is always careful to pay his own debts, if he has been unjust. He stands ready to extend mercy to all. Mercy is to satisfy the debt of justice for someone else. Now, I can’t extend mercy to someone unless they have been unjust to me. So, someone has shortened me or has hurt me. Then they have been unjust to me. It’s then my privilege to forgive them. Which means to say, to pay the debt myself. To pay the debt of justice for someone else when they have incurred the debt to me, is mercy.

    So, if someone runs into my car and dents it good. And they can’t pay for it. If they can pay for it, then I’m exacting justice, if I get them to. But if I say, I will pay for it, that is mercy. I’m paying the debt for them. Now, in the Father’s system the dent has to be fixed. Justice must be satisfied. But He’s content if I will fix it or the other person fixes it. He doesn’t mind, just that justice has to be satisfied. But he’s very pleased if I will satisfy it myself and not hold my neighbor to it.

    Now if my neighbor is a servant of God, he will not accept that mercy. He will insist on paying it himself, if he can. That is to say, servants of God are grateful to have mercy but they try to be just nevertheless. Whereas, people of the world always want mercy. That is to say, they want to be forgiven of their debts. But that’s not the way of a man of God, a man of God wants to pay his debts. No matter how long it takes him or whatever costs, if he has a honest just debt, he wants to pay it.

    So, justice must to be satisfied but mercy needs to be there, if one is a servant of God and can extend mercy. Help us to forgive those who trespass against us, the Savior taught us to pray. But we, despairingly need the mercy of God. There’s no way we can satisfy the debt of justice for our sins. And therefore, if we’re ever to be clean, ever to be just, ever to see the Celestial Kingdom, we have to get forgiveness through the Savior’s satisfaction of justice.

    He extended mercy to us through the atonement, through his Godship over the world, the universe. You and I, therefore, need that justice. But the only way we can qualify for that justice, is to forgive all men every trespass against us. Now that’s a tall order. That means we turn the other cheek every time. Some people say to me, you mean we’re supposed to lie down and be a door mat? And the answer is, yes. If you’re a servant of Christ you do not seek restitution. You may get it but it will because the other person wants to give it. You will not seek it, you will not demand it, you will not force it. Why? Because you have a God in heaven who can and will recompense to you a hundred fold. And he has promised you, if you lose anything for keeping his commandments that he will restore to you a hundred fold. Now you get your choice. Would you rather have the one fold restitution or would you have a hundred fold. If you’re smart I think you would take the hundred fold, which means you forgive all men their trespasses against you and depend on God for your blessings.

    Now, if there were no God I guess this would be a different matter, wouldn’t it? But there is a God in heaven. I know that and I think you know that. And not to depend on him, not to trust him and suppose that we have to go out and feather our own nest by getting people to fix our fenders, so they won’t be dented, that’s not faith in Christ. Now there’s the one exception. In some situations the extending of Godly mercy by a just person is not automatic. For the Lord will council otherwise sometimes. In some situations he will instruct us to go to the person and request that they make the wrong right. Not force, not take them to a court of law. The scripture is very plain. To go to a court of law to exact justice of our neighbor is not God’s will. And my guess is that ninety-nine percent of the time we do that as Latter-day Saints, we’re sinning. I don’t know what the percentage is, don’t take that figure seriously.

    But, he’s plain, he does not want us to settle our debts through the courts of law of the land. Now, he will have us go to the person and humbly request that they make it up if they have wronged us. If they’ve dented our fender, we go to them and request that they fix it. Now, if they say, fooey on you and won’t hear us. Then we go back and take a friend with us. And we ask them humbly again, won’t you please fix that fender? Now in the presence of ourselves and a witness he gets a chance to either accept it and fix it or refuse. If he refuses we have a witness and we and the witness go to the bishop of the church and lay the matter before the bishop.

    Now, who would this be? This is only if this brother is a brother in Christ. If they are a covenant servant of Jesus Christ we take these three steps. Why? Not so we will get the fender fixed. We don’t care whether the fender gets fixed by them or not. What do we care about? We care about them as a brother and if they will not fix the fender they have abrogated their covenant with Christ. So the hope is, that we will be able to keep them as a brother in Christ. If they won’t fix it, even though we have talked to them and gone to them with a witness and the bishop has talked to them. What do we do then? The scripture says, that we no longer count them as a brother in Christ. They have broken their covenants, they have released themselves from his service. We have no obligation any more to treat them as a brother. The scripture says, we treat them as a heathen and a publican. In other words, we extend mercy to them and don’t ask them for justice anymore. We forgive them, we still don’t go to a court of law, and demand justice. We just forgive them. Because we didn’t care about the fender in the first place. What we cared about was their soul. So mercy must work hand in hand with justice, lest we find ourselves on the wrong side of the matter.

    Godly mercy is to be willing to forgive all men all trespasses. And actually to forgive all those except where the Lord specifically commands otherwise. Thus, to be merciful as to be just must be an act of faith in Christ, to be Godly mercy. The counterfeit of Godly mercy is to forgive at our own pleasure. You might wish to read the passage in Matthew 18:15-17 where he instructs us in that matter.

    Next consecration.

    Consecration is the principle of using all that we have and are in the service of our master. In him we live and move and have our being. To him we our indebted for all that we have. He gives us our body, our strengths, our mortality, our health, our wealth, our time, our power to beget children, everything we have he gives to us. To use all of these correctly, to be righteous, just and merciful in just the right way with all of these things is beyond our ability. Therefore, we who are servants of Christ enter into a covenant with him. To use all these things according to his instruction, as he gives us instruction in our own personal revelation. That revelation can come in various forms. It can come as we are listening to our bishop, as we are listening to our father, as we are listening to our Stake President, as we are listening to one of the Prophets, to President Benson. As we are praying, as we are reading the scriptures. It can come in any of those situations. But the thing that is common to all of those is that it comes by our own personal revelation.

  • New Names and the New Covenant

    Chauncey C. Riddle

    I ask for an interest in your faith and prayers. I tremble a little bit because as I say things it’s impossible to say everything and I find I miss saying important things. For instance, in relation to forgiving: somebody just brought to my attention that I didn’t say they have to trespass against us personally before we can extend mercy to them. I can’t be merciful to somebody when they trespass against you. Oh I can help in a way. If they defraud you l can pay you, the defrauded and in a sense I can help you. But that isn’t really mercy. The Savior can do that because he is perfect, he has no sins of his own. So the important place we apply mercy is when people trespass against us, and then we forgive them.

    Well, let’s reconstruct the total picture of what we’re trying to do here. I’m trying to talk about the great law, which is to love the Lord our God, who is Jesus Christ, with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. I equate that with faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ is simply to love him with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. And everything in the gospel; all the principles, all the laws, all the ordinances are designed to focus into that point, to bring us to full faith in Jesus Christ.

    Now there are two main stems or aspects that comprise faith in Jesus Christ, as I understand it. One is repentance. The other is service. Repentance is getting our lives in order. It is rebuilding our character and our nature. Through obedience, through sacrifice, through consecration so that we can then learn to be just and merciful. In other words to love purely. So that when we go to serve we will be serving in the pure love of Christ. We are not doing our will. We’re not shedding forth our light. We are showing forth his light and truth in all that we do. Then repentance makes us a conduit. A perfected conduit for the light of Christ. Then as we go forth to serve, that is to say to love our neighbor, as Christ loves us, then we are simply reflecting his light that he loves us with, through ourselves to our neighbor, that their life might be blessed by Jesus Christ even as we are blessed by Jesus Christ.

    And we have talked about blessing others, which is service in the stewardship that we have, and how the priesthood is the thing that enables us to fulfill those stewardships, when they are stewardships over people. Today our discussion concerns the New and Everlasting Covenant.  It is the New and Everlasting Covenant that puts all of repentance together. The things we have been talking about are not things we can do by our own will. What we do is choose to reflect the light and truth of Jesus Christ perfectly out into the world. To love our neighbor as Christ loves us. We can want to do that but we have  no power to do that on our own even if we understand it and choose it. We have to be empowered and the empowering comes in the New and Everlasting Covenant. That empowering is part of salvation.

    Salvation comes through power. To as many as believe in him, Jesus Christ gives the power to become his sons and daughters. And his sons and daughters are his jewels. His jewels are the ones that are perfected and polished and reflect his light. Without changing it, without loss, they simply reflect his light becoming selfless as he is. He reflects the Father’s light. And if we reflect his light then we will be passing on that which is perfect and godly and good.

    And so today I would like to review the New and Everlasting Covenant as the vehicle by which we accomplish all of these things. Let’s review the old covenant first just by way of background. In the council in heaven the first covenant was announced.

    “We will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” Abr. 3:25

    Now that’s the first covenant. That’s the law of justice or the covenant of justice.

    “They who keep their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate (be added upon.)” That is to say they will have the chance to go to the second estate. “They who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their second estate. And they who keep their second estate”, that is to say, who do everything they’re told without fail in their mortal probation, “shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.” Abr. 3:26

    But as we have pointed out, none of us keeps that first covenant . We all break it, except Jesus Christ. He claimed his blessings through that covenant. And of course, if no one had claimed blessing through that covenant there would be no one to be a Savior. And thus the New and Everlasting Covenant or the second covenant could not even exist. And so there is another covenant which comes in the mercy and grace of God. We read a little bit about this in Moses, Chapter 6. This is Enoch speaking to the people, he said that, “because Adam fell we are. By his fall came death,” spiritual death. “We are made partakers of misery and woe.” That partaking of misery and woe was necessary. And also necessary was that we understand the evil, the misery, and the woe. Because without understanding that we would not have the freedom to choose the good. The fall brought to us the knowledge of good and evil.

    Under the first covenant, if we had chosen the good unerringly all during our lives we would satisfy the covenant. But we don’t do that so there has to be a way that we can still be saved after having chosen evil.

    “Satan hath come among the children of men, and tempteth them to worship him; and men have become carnal, sensual, and devilish, they are shut out from the presence of God.”

    Moses 6:49

    And only by one of these covenants can we ever come back to the presence of God.

    “But God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent. And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice saying: I am God; I made the world and men before they were in the flesh. And he said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe and repent of all thy transgressions”, of having chosen evil, “and be baptized, even in water, in the name of my Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, ask in all things In his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you.”  Moses 6: 50-52

    The main thing that we need to ask for is for the ability to stop choosing evil and start choosing only the good. Because the second law requires of us in the end to do what the first law requires. What the first covenant requires is to choose good without fail, without erring. But we get to err  under the second law, that is to say it is possible for us to have sinned and then learn to obey God in all things and still be saved because of the Savior’s atonement.

    “And our father Adam spoke unto the Lord, and said: , why is it that man must repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden. Hence came the saying abroad among the people. that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children … And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin”, that is to say they are conceived into a sinful situation, “even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter that they may know to prize the good. And it is given unto them to know good from evil.”  Moses 6: 53-55

    No human being comes into this world and is of normal mentality except he has full command of good and evil. He may not know the gospel of Jesus Christ but he knows good and evil. He knows good by the light of Christ, and evil by the temptations of Satan. And thus each man is an agent unto himself …

    “. . . and I have given you another law and commandment.” Moses 6: 56

    And this other law is the New and Everlasting Covenant. This marvelous, wonderful gift of mercy from God whereby we may repent and learn to serve, that is to say, to choose good without sinning, without erring, and thus be established in an eternal path of righteousness.

    “. . . all men everywhere must repent, or they can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there.”  Moses 6:57

    There has to be a way to get clean.

    “For in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time. . teach these things freely to your children saying: that by reason of transgression cometh the fall , which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born Into the world by water, and blood and the spirit, which I have made, and so become of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again”, spiritual “into the kingdom of heaven, of water and of the Spirit and be cleansed by blood. even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life In the world to come, even Immortal glory; For by the water ye keep the commandment”, the commandment to repent and be baptized, “by the Spirit ye are justified”, you are taught to be just and righteous. In other words to be both just and merciful. “And by the blood ye are sanctified.”  Moses 6:57-60

    The blood of Christ enables us to work out our salvation so that our sins are all made up for by Christ. The suffering and the sacrifice are taken care of so that our record can stand as if we had never sinned, though we have. But the Savior acts as our buffer, our advocate, our Savior in that he saves us from the eternal consequences of those sins.

    Now, let’s review the parts of the new and everlasting covenant. First we are called upon to repent and be baptized. To repent is to turn our hearts to Jesus Christ, to declare ourselves against evil and for good, and to recognize in Christ the only hope we have for achieving good and relinquishing all evil. And so we choose to make the covenant with him.  And the covenant of baptism is first of all that we will take upon ourselves his name. Secondly, that we will keep every commandment that he gives us. And thirdly, that we will always remember him. He tells us that always remembering him is the key to always having his spirit to be with us. And having his spirit to be with us brings us the knowledge and the power to choose only good, and thus to be worthy of our Father who himself has chosen only good, and is the epitome himself of all goodness.

    If we make that covenant honestly and honorably, then hands are laid upon our head and we are given the right to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. And that is the pearl of great price as I understand it. Because without that we cannot fulfill the righteousness of Christ. That is what teaches us and empowers us with righteousness or justice. By the spirit we are justified. The Holy Ghost becomes our personal tutor to lift our minds to the vision of what it means to be perfect in Christ, to be just, to be kindly, to love with perfect love and thus to serve in the manner in which Christ serves. And so we receive the Holy Ghost.

    If we then obey the instruction (the commandments) we are given to receive the Holy Ghost, and we receive it into our lives and we treasure him as our constant companion by yielding to him constantly, yielding to those enticings of the Holy Spirit, which entice us constantly to righteousness.  We can only do that by softening our hearts and letting ourselves be led as a little child in the way of Christ. After learning to follow the Holy Ghost, then comes the time where there is another new and everlasting covenant, another part of this whole covenant. Which is to receive the priesthood of God.

    Now we are beginning to go into the service of others using thew power of God. The Aaronic priesthood, of course is a temporary priesthood, a temporal priesthood. It is receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood that is the really significant event. But both are important. As we receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, we enter into the oath and covenant of the priesthood. The oath and the covenant of the priesthood are part of this empowering. We make certain promises to the Lord.  He makes the oath, we make the covenant. We are not  to make oaths, because until we’re perfect we can’t guarantee that we will fulfill the oaths. But we can covenant, we can make promises to do the best we can to obey as we are told. So we covenant that we will use this priesthood to bless others as our Father directs us. He promises us if we will use this priesthood to bless and go on to receive the fullness of this priesthood then we will receive from him all that he has. We will share all that Christ has been given. Let’s read some of the words of  Section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The whole first part of this section is a description of the oath and covenant of the priesthood.  Verse 20,

    “Therefore in the ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ the power of godliness is manifest.”

    This is the purpose of the ordinances which constitute the New and Everlasting Covenant is to deliver to us the power of godliness. Which is simply the power to be good. God is good, that’s what the word “God” means. And the power of godliness is the power to be good without error, fully good, wholly good.

    “. . . without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.”

    We can’t become good enough to stand in the presence of the Father and enjoy his eternal presence except through Jesus Christ who cleanses us from doing evil through repentance and from the consequences of having done evil through the Atonement.

    “Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness. and he sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God”

    Sanctification has to do with our sins. Until our debts of justice, where we have sinned, are made up, he can’t stand us in is presence. He can’t stand anyone who has hurt someone else and doesn’t care. If we care there is a way to make up for it, to get the persons we have offended compensated and the record clean. That way is through Christ. But if we don’t care enough to make sure that everybody whom we’ve hurt is recompensed through Christ, then we don’t belong in his presence. The children of Israel in the wilderness hardened their hearts and they could not endure his presence. In other words they said, “The way is to straight for us. We still want to choose evil.There are some things that we desire to do that are not good.”  The Lord in his wrath (for his anger was kindled against them) swore that they should not enter into his rest. Which is his presence:

    “Therefore, the Lord in his wrath. for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should no enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fullness of his glory. Therefore, he took Moses out of their mist and the holy priesthood also;” D&C 84:24-25

    That is to say, he took from them the Melchizedek Priesthood. “The lesser priesthood continued”, with them “which priesthood holdeth the keys of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel.” D&C 84:26  This that they never-the-less might have some portion of good and righteousness that would help them to be prepared to receive the fullness again when the time was right. So the lesser power continued with them until John the Baptist:

    “Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, who God raised up being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb. For he was baptized while he was yet In his childhood and was ordained by the angel of God at the time he was eight days old unto this power, to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews”. D&C 84:27

    To do good by the power of the Aaronic Priesthood is a preparation for doing greater good through the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood.  Having received the priesthood, it is then necessary for the recipients to make an acceptable offering unto the Lord through the powers of that priesthood:

    “Therefore as I said concerning the sons of Moses, for the sons of Moses and also the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable offering unto that sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed. And the sons of Moses and of Aaron shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, upon mount Zion in the Lord’s house, whose sons are ye; and also many whom I have called and sent forth to build up my church. For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining of these two priesthoods of which I have spoken and the magnifying their calling are sanctified by the spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.”

    D&C 84: 31-33

    They are made holy by obedience to the Holy Spirit. And:

    “They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and elect of God. And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me saith the Lord; For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; Therefore all that my Father hath shall be given him. And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood. Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved. But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come.” D&C 84: 34-41

    Those who turn away altogether are, of course,  the sons of perdition.

    And I now give you a commandment, to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. For ye shall live by every word that proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God. For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the spirit of Jesus Christ. And the spirit giveth light to every man that cometh Into the world; and the spirit enlighteth every man through the world that hearkeneth to the voice of the spirit. And everyone that hearkeneth to the voice of the spirit cometh unto God. Even the Father. And the Father teacheth him of the covenant which he has renewed and confirmed upon you, which is confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the sake of the whole world.”  D&C 84: 43-48

    If all we needed to do was to be saved ourselves, of course we would just need to repent, in a sense. But repentance involves the service. We can’t fully repent and we can’t fully have faith in Christ without turning and helping the rest of the world be saved also.

    “And the whole world lieth in sin and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin.” D&C 84:49

    And thus it is our mission, if we want to be saved, is to help save others, to love our neighbor and to share with them the opportunity of salvation, even as the Savior has loved us and has given us the opportunity to be saved.

    Now we need to talk about names. Why these interesting names? The sons of Moses and of Aaron, the seed of Abraham, the house of Israel, the priesthood of Melchizedek. Now, we are given a key in the Doctrine and Covenants. We know the true name of the Melchizedek priesthood is not “the Melchizedek Priesthood.” We know the true name of the priesthood is “The Holy Priesthood after the order of the Son of God.” In other words, it is the priesthood of Jesus Christ. But it was given the name Melchizedek because Melchizedek was a great High priest in ancient times and used that priesthood so effectively (more effectively than anyone in the ancient world) to serve his fellow men and to bring them to Christ, that they too might be saved. That’s the purpose of the priesthood.

    Now let’s look at the name Melchizedek. `Melki‘ means “king of,” `Zedek‘ means righteousness. The name means “king of righteousness.” Now why was the name Melchizedek given to the priesthood of God? Let me give you my interpretation. Please do not believe this unless you have better evidence than my evidence. But may I give you this as a hypothesis. My understanding is that Melchizedek is another of the names of Christ. He is the king of righteousness, there is no other king of righteousness. He is the sole fountain of righteousness on this earth. And if any person seeks to have righteousness they must come unto Jesus Christ and make their personal peace with him. He is the keeper of the gate of righteousness. He employs no servant there. And if we wish to have it we must deal with him. How did it happen that Melchizedek the man got that name? Well my guess is, that what the Savior is pleased to do is to put his own names upon his faithful servants. And thus everybody who comes to Christ is likely to get a new name. And the new name will be one of Christ’s names. I believe that “Melchizedek” is one of the names of Christ.

    For instance, there was a man named Abram and when he became faithful he received a new name. What’s his new name? Abraham. What does Abraham mean? The AB is pronounced av in Hebrew. Av means Father. Ra means many. Am means people. Father of many people, father of many children. Who is the real father of all these children. The real father is the Savior. He’s the one who’s the father. He’s the creator of every human being on earth. Not the spirit body but the physical tabernacle. And he’s the one that enables each one to be reborn to righteousness. I think Abraham is one of the Son’s names, one of the Savior’s names. What was the first thing we promised in taking the new and everlasting covenant? To take upon ourselves the name of Christ. How many names does he have? At least four hundred that we have in the scriptures. And I suspect that when we get it all figured out that there will be a lot more than that.

    Now, what are we to do? Christ’s purpose is to share everything he has with us. And as we acquire the attributes and blessings that he has acquired for our selves, we progressively take upon ourselves his name. Or we might say, his names, as we become like Him.

    About three years ago Elder Dallin Oaks gave a talk in conference. He talked about the sacrament and what we promise to do there. At first I couldn’t understand what he was saying. But as I studied this material out it finally dawned on me what he was saying. I commend that talk to you. Go back and read it. You’ll find it to be very instructive, very enlightening. It pointed me to this understanding of taking upon us the name of Christ.     Let’s look at some of the other names. The name Enoch, means initiated or begun. What do we associate Enoch with? I associate him with law of consecration. When we get established or initiated or have begun in that law, we are taking upon ourselves the name Enoch. I understand the name Enoch to be a name of Jesus Christ which he gave to his faithful servant Enoch.

    Consider the name David,  and the throne of David. The throne of David is Christ’s throne. It speaks in the scriptures of David in the last days and my understanding that means our Savior. The word `David’ means “loving.” He is the God of love. And his throne is the throne of grace and love. If you and I ever hope to fulfill the full love of Jesus Christ we will perhaps want to enjoy the throne of David. The throne of David is a place of service to others, where the welfare of others is put ahead of our own. Now true, the man King David had some problems. But the word David is still a good name.

    The word `Moses’. What does the word `Moses’ mean? Who are the `sons of Moses?’ The word `Moses’ in the Egyptian means simply “the son.” Son, who is the son? We know who the son is. The word Moses is simply one of the Savior’s designations. The Hebrew meaning for Mosha, which is the Hebrew equivalent for the Egyptian Moses, means “rescued”. And we can see why that would be. He was rescued from the bulrushes. But there’s a little twist to that in the Egyptian. The name `Isaiah,’ “God has saved.” The name `Israel,’ “he will rule as God.” If you know what the blessings of Israel are and you hope to share them, when you rule as God you will take upon yourself the name Israel. That means you will rule under Christ, who is, as I understand it, the real Israel. And a man named Jacob was given that name as his new name because it was the name of his father Jesus Christ. Think about it and pray about it. If you have a new name you might wonder what it means. You might want to find out. Because I think you will find out that somehow it represents the Savior to you. And it’s something he would like you either to become or to be which he has rewarded you with already, in your path to perfection.

    Let us now turn to Section 132 and read a few words about the New and Everlasting Covenant. Verse 2:

    “Behold, and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as touching this matter.”

    The matter of course is many wives and concubines. But many of these comments apply to the whole of the new and everlasting covenant. Therefore are pertinent to us.

    “Prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those who have this law revealed to them must obey the same.” D&C 132:3

    In other words. it’s better not have known the Lord than to know him and then defy him.

    “For behold I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant and if ye abide not that covenant, then ye are damned.”  D&C 132:4

    You’re stopped in your progress.

    “For no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.” D&C 132:4

    There is no other way.

    “For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from, before the foundation of the world.” D&C 132:5

    We need to quote another scripture here in this connection.

    “There is a law upon which all blessings are predicated and when we receive any blessing it is by obedience to that law …” D&C  130:20

    I understand this scripture to say that there is one law upon which all blessings are predicated. Not many laws, but only one law by which to receive blessing from God . When you talk about celestial things, it is the law of the gospel, not the laws of the gospel. Now, what’s that one law? The one law, as I understand it, is faith in Jesus Christ. Which translated in other words means to love Jesus Christ who is the Lord our God, with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. Now, if we receive any blessing we get it only through that law by coming to full faith in Christ. Which means to partake of the fullness of the new and everlasting covenant. Because only in that covenant is there power to become fully just and merciful, to come to that fullness of love which is Christ, in which we are trying to emulate him. And these conditions were pointed and instituted from before the foundations of the world.

    “And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fullness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fullness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned.”

    Everyone who is not exalted is damned. We have our choice, no one is exalted except they want it and want it enough to give up all their sins and become a little child In the hands of Christ and do all things that he would have them do, to live by every word that proceeds forth out of his mouth.

    “Verily I say unto you, the conditions of this law are these: all covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, expectations …” D&C 132:7

    Anything that is done in this world, that is not entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which comes in connection with the new and everlasting covenant.

    “… of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on earth to hold this power on the earth. And I have appointed my servant Joseph, to hold this power in the last days and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred.” D&C 132:7

    Who has it today? President Ezra Taft Benson.

    “Are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and alter the resurrection from the dead.” D&C 132:7

    The new and everlasting covenant is the only power that goes through death and resurrection. In other words, it’s the only thing that makes anything everlasting or eternal, that’s why it’s called for one thing the new and everlasting covenant.

    “All contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead. My house is a house of order saith the Lord and not a house of confusion. Will I accept of an offering, saith the Lord, that is not made in my name? Or will I receive at your hands that which I have not appointed? And will I appoint unto you accept by law? Even as I and my Father ordained you before the world was? I am the Lord thy God. I have given you this commandment, no man shall come unto the Father but by me or by my word, which is my law.”  D&C 132: 7-10

    To have faith in Christ is to fulfill the law.

    “Everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of man or thrones, or principalities, or powers of things that whatsoever that they may be, that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord shall be thrown down and not remain after men are dead. Nor in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God.” D&C 132:13

    No marriage connection, no parent- child relationship, nothing of that will stand except it is confirmed, and hallowed, and made eternal, through the New and Everlasting Covenant.

    “Whatsoever things are made are by me and whatsoever things are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed.” D&C 132:14

    The thing that amazes me is how great a thing the Savior is trying to give to us. He’s trying to share with us all that he has, which is the power to govern and control and be a steward over the universe. And there’s nothing greater. But we must do it in his way, through covenant, through his power, under his Spirit, in his love and his mercy. So, we can’t say we haven’t been told.

    Now, I rejoice with you in these things. This is marvelous, this is life. And to have an opportunity to know these things is the key to everything else. In heart, might, mind, and strength there is an order. The psychological order is mind, heart, strength, and might. That’s the order in which we must deal with things in the world. We first must understand them and then we must take them into our hearts and then we must reflect them in our bodies through our actions and that will then reflect any effect we have In the world. Now there are other orders given but that’s the order we have to do it. That’s the reason were talking about these things.

    It’s important to remember that there are different kinds of minds. We’ll take just a little side trip here for just a minute and talk about the kinds of minds. There’s a mind or shall we say a person that corresponds to each of the four things: heart, might, mind, and strength. A person who’s center focus is the heart, I call a Hebrew. And Abraham Is the epitome of the Hebrew. He could not stand that anyone should suffer. He was willing to risk his own life to help others. The Savior, of course, is the same. He is the epitome of all good things. Abraham is a good example.He as a mortal human was born and raised out of the church. He found the gospel and so loved the Savior that he became known as “the friend of God.” Because he was all heart. He couldn’t stand that anyone should suffer and he wanted to help them whenever he could.

    Now there is another kind of person, who is a mind person. The mind person glories in understanding and they want to figure everything out and know everything. Now that’s good except if you don’t have a heart. If you emphasis the mind and the figuring of it all out and you don’t have the heart to go and do it, the mind is relatively worthless. That’s what I call a Greek mind.

    Now there’s the Trojan person. The Trojan person is one who thinks that the body is everything. They’re really interested in health. They really like the Word of Wisdom. They really emphasis that. They like the physical culture. They like things like Yoga, because it’s training the body, giving them power, strength. They like beauty, they like clothing, they glory in the trappings of the world. Considering a Trojan person, there’s nothing wrong with those things in their place. But if  you don’t have a good heart heart and a good mind to go with it, you don’t have very much.

    And then there’s the Roman person who glories in might. They want power in this world above all else. They want to rule and reign. They want to get people to do what they want them to do. Sometimes, of course, they say they are doing it for the benefit of the people they’re reigning over. They are their brother’s keeper. And they’re going to make sure their brother is kept just the way he wants them kept.

    Now I say this because as we talk about these things, there’s a danger. The danger is that we will slip into the Greek person, who is  ever learning, understanding the principles, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. And the knowledge of the truth is Jesus Christ. To know him is to be him, to be as he is. And if we learn all of these things and don’t do something it’ s a damnation to us. And I say it because I tend to be Greek and I know it.  I’ve got to be transformed into a Hebrew, to be like Abraham, to be like my Savior. Otherwise all of this is a waste.

    May I say again in conclusion. Please don’t believe a word I’ve said. I’ve shared with you the best that my heart and mind can produce. But I am a man and I`m still struggling with my own salvation. And I would commend to you the true and living God who does hear and answers prayers, who will enlighten every single one of us on these things if we will just go to him and pray about them and try to implement them the best we can in our lives. And if we will do that, he is gracious, he is good, he will answer us. Revelation is the life blood of this kingdom. It is the rock on which we must stand, each one of us personally and individually. And if we do, then we will have no regrets. That’s wisdom.

    We have five minutes for questions, it. you would like to ask a question.

    (question) Why does it require a sinless person to atone for someone else’s sins?

    Because it if they weren’t sinless they would have to atone for their own sins. (follow-up unheard) My understanding is no, that when we have sinned — I don’t know what else I can say, in other words I can’t explain it fully. But that’s a good question we should both ask. So let’s ask it and get the answer, because there are answers.

    (question) The meaning of the name of Noah?

    Noah means quiet, rest. And of course where is there rest but in the Lord. He is the prince of peace. He is the author of all real rest. His rest is the glory of his presence.

    (question) Adam?

    The word Adam means man.

    (question) I know a lot of us feel so overwhelmed and so impressed by the things you say but are limited in our ability to catch all your thoughts. And I can’t find any books, is there anything available?  (Bro. Riddle hold up the scriptures) laughing she responds, I guess I was put in my place.

    I didn’t mean to insult you but I simply hope you realize that anything written by an ordinary man is not scripture. That would be a strictly secondary source. These (the scriptures) are the only primary sources we have. I need to enlarge that just a little bit. What are primary sources? The primary sources of scripture that we have are: the words of the prophets, of which these are part. These written scriptures, these are the canonized scriptures. The un-canonized scriptures are the other words of the prophets. The most important single piece of written scripture that we have that I know anything about is the temple ceremony. And my guess is, that if we really want to understand the ways of the Lord, we will go to the temple and study that ceremony until we understand it backwards and forwards. It is the most complicated, most beautiful puzzle I have ever seen and the most worthwhile thing to figure out. And if you and I can figure out what every word means in that ceremony we will have the greatest treasure there is, I think. That is the jewel that we think of.  The canonized scripture is preliminary to the temple in what it’s trying to deliver to us. And there are things beyond that of course. For eye hath not seen nor ear heard that has entered into heart of man the good things that God has to give those that love him. So, we are rich, we have so much already, that if we will just take that which we have and concentrate on it. We don’t need all the commentaries in the world. Sometimes the worst thing you can do is go read a commentary on the scripture and get your mind lost by a half-truth which keeps you from seeing what’s really in the scriptures. So that’s why I say, please don’t believe what I say, because I’ve talked to enough people who have heard me to know that some of them have been blocked by some of the things I’ve said and I’m sorry. But I share in the sense that maybe something I have said will cause you to get on your knees and pray about something. And in that situation, that is where the real good comes, that’s where the real pure stuff comes to us, and on this revelation from God we can base our lives and our salvation.

    (question) Sariah?

    Sariah was named Sarah, I think it means “princess.” And that’s fitting because if truly we serve under our Father, the king, we are truly princes and princess. In other words we are apprentice kings and queens.

  • Principles I

    Chauncey C. Riddle

    I emphasize again, as I did yesterday, that what I am saying is my idea. I have tried to study and put together the gospel in my mind. In preparing these lectures this year I’ve learned some things I’ve never thought before. So I have to apologize for some things I’ve said in the past. I hope each of you will take what I say with a grain of salt, test it for yourself. But we’re engaged in a wonderful enterprise, that of discerning the mind and will of our God. That I think is the most important thing we need to do, because that is the key to every other good thing. Let’s now turn to the principles of the gospel and talk about them.

    The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of salvation sent to the natural man. The central principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. All other principle are facets or appendages of this faith. That is to say, anything else you can mention is somehow an aspect of faith in Jesus Christ. That is to say, every other good thing. This principle is sometimes called the law of the gospel, singular.

    We talk about laws sometimes, but when we speak of laws usually we’re speaking on a terrestrial level. When we’re talking about the pure celestial law it is singular, there’s only one law. That law is to put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without living by this principle, it is impossible to please God. Whatsoever is not of this principle, that is to say, whatever act, whatever we do that is not an act of faith in Christ is sin.

    This faith is the unique access to righteousness in this world. Jesus Christ is the fountain of all righteousness. We must go to that fountain and drink of the waters of life to have any access to righteousness. So, to have faith in Christ, is first to hear him. Faith comes by hearing of the word. Until we receive a message from him and this means a personal revelation. Now the message may be occasioned by the words of a human being or by the print in a book or by some other occasion but the message itself always comes by spiritual means as revealed through the power of the Holy Ghost.

    So, the first thing that we must do, the prerequisite, the thing that makes faith possible is to first hear his voice.

    Secondly we must love and believe him. It’s possible to hear and obey without being faithful. The devils do that but they don’t love and believe him. They obey because they know they have to. So the thing that makes the difference between mere obedience and faith is that we love him who gives us this righteousness and we believe him, we believe what he says.

    Then thirdly we obey him. Now when this is done with our hearts, that is to say when we our faithful with our hearts we love him. When we love him with our mind, when we are faithful with our mind we believe him. When we our faithful with our body, our strength, then we obey him. When we’re faithful with our might, that is to say all that we own and control, that is consecration. Faith is not whole and perfect until it is a love of God a love of Christ in particular with all of one’s heart, might, mind, and strength. As I see it then, the first great commandment and the law of the gospel are identical. They are the same thing said in different words in different ways. And they tie together beautifully, they map one another.

    So we must hear him to know what he wants us to do. We must believe that his instruction is life and righteousness in order to support him fully. We must love him in order to have the motivation, the willpower to overcome selfishness and to make the sacrifices necessary to be faithful. We must obey to bring to pass his will on earth, even as the Father’s will is done in heaven. The opposite of this faith is selfishness which is a synonym for sin. And for one who knows what he is doing selfishness and faithlessness are also insanity. That is to say, a person who is unfaithful knowing the possibilities of faith in Christ really doesn’t have all his marbles.

    Now I say that advisedly, recognizing, I suppose I may include you with me when I say I know I have been deliberately unfaithful and I look back and I see in my own life that is insanity. It’s crazy not to be faithful to the Savior. Sometimes we think that making sacrifices are going to hurt us so terribly that we’ll never recover. But we serve a good master and the sacrifices we make merely reap down to greater blessings on our head. We have a hard time sacrificing, because when we sacrifice our blessings are doubled than when we started with, in the long run. The short run, the short run is the test of our faith. And we must be willing to make the sacrifices to show that we love him.

  • Working By Faith is Mental Exertion

    I had the pleasure of having Elder Riddle in my district and zone while serving in the Illinois Peoria mission. I have a two page work entitled “Working By Faith is Mental Exertion” written by Chauncey Riddle in response to a mission wide effort to obtain “an eye single to the Glory of God”. To my knowledge this work hasn’t been published anywhere, I am happy to forward you a copy if you would like.

    As I understand, this was written around July or August of 1994 while Elder and Sister Riddle were serving full time in the Bloomington/Normal Illinois area.

    – Jeff Driggs, A Missionary in the Illinois, Peoria Mission

    Elder Chauncey Riddle

    Faith is a believing, enthusiastic positive response to a message from God.

    To work by faith consists of two parts:

    1. Training the mind, in understanding and intentions.
    2. Doing that which pleases God.

    Training the mind.

    The goal of mind training is to have an eye single to the Glory of God. The eye in question is the mind’s eye, the eye of our understanding and intentions. It is God’s purpose to teach us how to look upon our surroundings in this world and see things as they really are (as opposed to believing the lies of the adversary). To do this we must test every bit of information we receive by the Holy Spirit, to see if how we are seeing, hearing, sensing and believing is true. This is difficult at first, but as we practice doing this it can become almost automatic. We are training ourselves to look upon all things with the help of God, to see things as he sees them. By this means we come to understand truly what is going on around us in order to to diagnose the problems at hand correctly.

    To train our intentions is to work with ourselves until we desire nothing but the glory of God. This is intense mental effort, for we must be ever scrutinizing our intent and motives, being guided by our conscience whether our motives are pure and selfless or not. When the work of God becomes the only thing we really care about, then we can begin to work for the glory of God with all of our heart, might, mind and strength.

    In the process of attempting to make our eye single to the glory of God, we may find that our heart is not pure, and that we cannot go all the way to having an eye single because our heart will not tolerate that dedication. It is then our privilege to apply to God for a new heart. When we have done all that we can do with our present heart, have trained our mind to attend to the things of God and our body to be as faithful to God as we can, then, since we have then done all we can to have faith, the grace of God can come to us and make up the difference. As we receive instruction from God to do so, we can receive a new, pure heart which will enable us to have our eye completely single to the glory of God. A pure heart and an eye (mind) single make it possible for us to become faith-full, to have perfect faith.

    Doing that which pleases God.

    Faith not a one-time accomplishment, but is required every decision of our lives. One who has an eye single out of a pure heart yet has much mental work to do to be faithful. He or she must search out the mind and will of the Lord in every situation and then do what the Lord instructs him or her to do in order to act faithfully.

    Searching out the mind and will of God is done by a conversation between the heart and the mind of a person. The mind searches the scriptures and the words of the prophets and the whisperings of the Spirit for clues as to what Cod would have done to solve a particular problem. As ideas and possible solutions come to mind these are referred to the heart. If the idea is good, the heart will register that good. If the idea is bad, the heart will register that reservation and the mind will have a stupor and confusion. The heart and mind must pass the matter back and forth until the person is assured by the Holy Spirit that they know the mind and will of the Lord.

    This work is arduous at first, and may virtually paralyze the person. But as one works from one little decision to another, his or her ability to be faithful will increase, and ere long he or she will be able to be faithful at the full, ordinary pace of life. It is much like learning a new language. Halting and painful at first, we are tempted to revert to our mother tongue (the ways of the natural man). But as we persevere, faith becomes our new tongue, and we become fluent, and are able to speak with the tongue of angels.

    Now, being assured that we are doing the right thing, we may act in perfect confidence, carrying out the mind and will of the Lord Jesus Christ in the acts of our flesh.

    Our receiving true understanding through the Holy Spirit, our receiving instruction as to how to make our eye single, our receiving a new heart, our receiving instruction as to what to do are the gift aspects of faith. It will be seen that faith is largely a gift from God.

    But those gift aspects of faith cannot remain alone. Without the willing and grateful receiving of the gifts and the faithful hearkening to the mind and will of God on the part of some agent human being to work out God’s designs in the earth, faith would not yet exist. Faith without works is dead, being alone.

    The great enemy of faith is pride, the self-sufficiency that causes us to reject the messages that come to us from God. Evidences of pride are our willingness to believe in the traditions and wisdom of men which are not commended to us by God, or to place reliance on our own conjectures.

    Thus the minds of men are the battleground in the war between faith in God and sin. Those who will have faith in God must exert themselves mightily, performing great mental exertion, to learn to be faithful to Jesus Christ.

  • Having A Testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ

    Principles of the Gospel in Practice – Sperry Symposium – 1985
    CHAPTER SEVEN

    Chauncey C. Riddle

    The purpose of this paper is to describe the nature of a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. To have a testimony is to know for a certainty that that message is a true message from the true and living God. An understanding of testimony is seen here as an invaluable aid in gaining and strengthening a testimony, should one desire to do so.

    Two thousand years ago when Jesus of Nazareth hung crucified in the Roman province of Judea for everyone to see, there were two distinct interpretations of what was being seen. Some saw the Son of God, the Savior of all mankind, hanging in agony to do the Father’s will. Others saw a pretender from Galilee who had blasphemed God by claiming to be his son and was receiving his just reward. That difference is a witness to the principle that human knowledge does not come by sight only. And it emphasizes the importance of knowing for a surety in all matters of moment. Can we be sure, and if so, how? To answer those questions we must examine what we know about human knowledge. What we are concerned about is the common sense about human knowledge: those matters to which every intelligent, observant human being is able to assent. You, the reader, are called upon as a witness to the truth of the following account.

    1. Human beings and human knowledge.

    We note first that the human being has two parts or aspects. First, there is the outer part wherein the human body plays a conspicuous role; here we humans observe, touch, and communicate about the external world in which we live. This world consists of the earth and nature, other persons, and the human artifacts which compass us. The second part of a human being is the inner world of our own personal thoughts, feelings, and desires; in it are the good, the holy, and the beautiful as well as the bad, the evil, and the ugly. The first is the public arena in which we act and react with the physical universe. The second is the private realm of our ideas, ideals, dreams, and plans. Both of these realms are important. Were we to fail to function relative to either we would be in serious difficulty. Abdication in the private realm is to cease to be autonomous and to become an externally controlled and motivated automaton. Neglect of the public realm fosters incompetence, which in the extreme is called insanity. But normal coping with human life is a careful integration of these two, a cooperative personal response of an intelligent and feeling inner self as it deals with important ideas and values and relates them to the opportunities and demands of an external, real world through a real physical tabernacle. In a world of challenges, opportunities, and dangers, one must draw heavily upon each and coordinate them in order to meet those challenges and dangers successfully and to capitalize on one’s opportunities.

    Corresponding to those two aspects of the human being are two kinds of knowledge or belief. (Much of what we think we know is but belief.) In the public, outer realm we have ideas about the physical world, other people, and things. These ideas we gain through communication with other persons whom we respect (authority), from our thinking about what others say– especially noting that others don’t agree in what they tell us (reason), from our own sensory observations about the outside world (empiricism), and from our noting which ideas and procedures seem to work in the world (pragmatics). We take in evidences from all these sources, knead them into a unified picture of the world and file that picture in our memory. We update or correct that picture at will. That picture is our reality, the best we can do in relating to reality. Some of us are very careful, searching out evidence and piecing the evidence into a consistent whole with diligence. Others of us are fairly casual about the whole thing, not even minding inconsistencies and gaps, changing our ideas only when painful necessity forces us to amend our expectations of the world.

    The other kind of knowledge, the personal sort, is very different. It is heavily involved in values, ideals, desires, and satisfactions. Perhaps the most important facet of this inner world is our experience of the holy. Many persons have a sense that there is something special, something deserving of reverence within their inner realm of consciousness. This may or may not have been initially influenced by other persons. But every human being must cope with this influence and learn on his own how it acts and reacts in his own inner world. What each person needs to learn and will learn if attentive is what happens when he or she yields to the influence of the holy. Part of that learning comes from contrasting yielding to the enticements of that which the inner self feels to be evil, opposing the holy in oneself. Each of us also experiments with yielding to our own desires, trying to ignore feelings of good and bad, right and wrong. Sometimes we don’t even make decisions: we just let things happen. Out of all these experiments and experiences we learn much about ourselves, about what brings happiness and what brings unhappiness, and about that which is prudent, desirable, and effective.

    Since each of us is a person who operates in two worlds, our minds must integrate these two kinds of knowledge in order for us not to be double-minded. That integration is an ideal, perhaps never fully completed. The struggle to gain correct notions in each realm and then to correlate them is the challenge of human life, the basis of drama and pathos, happiness and joy.

    It is important to note that the experiences we have as humans do not uniquely determine what we believe either in the outer or the inner world. Our own desires are important. Our desires enable us to search for the kind of evidence which we wish to have, to reject evidence which goes contrary to our desires, and to integrate only those materials which we wish to, and to the degree to which we desire. We literally create our own universe within the bounds of those experiences which are too painful for us to ignore. Those bounds are quite generous, allowing us much freedom. Each person’s synthesis of the universe is thus a genuine reflection of his or her own desires.

    But if desire is a powerful selecting and ordering factor, so must be our minds. Because much of the evidence we gain from other humans is contradictory, because reason itself is captive to the premises which we furnish it, because our senses do give us ambiguous reports, because what works is never a sure indication of what is, and because we can fool ourselves as to what really happens inside our personal world, we must use all of the power of mind and discernment that we can bring to bear. Skepticism is our friend, insisting that we duplicate evidence, that we rethink, that we probe and try and experiment afresh, that we challenge every idea. Only a healthy skepticism enables us to separate the true and the good from the welter of appearance and opinion. But skepticism, too, can exceed its proper bounds. As it cuts it may begin to decimate that which is reliable and substantial. If we let it, if we so desire, it easily slips into a cynicism that indiscriminately derogates everything. Each of us must balance faith with incredulity, trust with wariness, exuberance with soberness, creativity with responsibility, passion with temperance, hope with realism. Only thus can we create an understanding of the world which will allow us those successes we desire.

    2. Knowledge in matters of religion.

    Let us then suppose that we have become intelligent, coping individuals, that we are making a reasonably good stab at being responsible persons, that we are assets to our communities, and that we are intelligent about truth and value. Our synthesis of the two kinds of knowledge is then beginning to serve our needs and challenges. In this state of intelligent awareness of the universe we are basically prepared to address the most important kinds of questions, those of religion. For religion is about ourselves. What kind of person should we make of ourselves? What habits of feeling and valuing, of thinking and believing, of doing and making should we foster in ourselves? Our own habits are our character. Our character is the most precious achievement and construction of our mortal existence.

    Let us further suppose that our challenge is to ascertain the truthfulness of that particular religion, the restored gospel, church, and priesthood of Jesus Christ as revealed first to the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., and then to a host of others in these latter days. Specifically, let us focus on how one can know that the restored gospel is the true message about salvation for all men from the true and living God. For that message to be true one would need to gather and synthesize enough information to be sure that there is a true and living God, our Father in Heaven, who has sent us his beloved, only begotten Son, whom we should hear. What we hear is that we should believe in the Son, repent of all our sins, choose faithful obedience to him as our sole means of acting, and strive to become perfect in our character (to endure to the end)–all under the personal companionship and tutelage of the Holy Spirit and through the ordinances administered by the authorized priesthood of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While that seems much to prove, it all boils down to one principal feature: Does the Holy Ghost bear witness to our inner self of the truthfulness of these things? As we begin to obey, does that Holy Spirit continue to guide us in paths that we ourselves, judging by our own sense of what is holy, know are good and true?

    As there are two kinds of evidence and knowledge about things in general, so there are two kinds pertaining to the hypothesis that the restored gospel is true. We shall examine each of these kinds of evidences in turn, beginning with the evidences from the external world.

    The first kind of evidence which comes to bear is that of authority. What do the responsible, intelligent people whom we know who have investigated the restored gospel say about it? If they assure us that it is true, we have an important piece of evidence. If they bear negative witness, we must also account for that. But we can only make responsible judgments about other person’s testimonies, positive or negative, when we have gained further evidence of other kinds on our own. We need to have independent evidence as to whether or not the restored gospel is true or false before we can evaluate any person’s testimony. The testimony of other persons is always inconclusive if there is no other evidence available.

    Next is the evidence of reason. What kinds of answers to theological questions go with the restored gospel? Are those answers self-consistent? Are they consistent with the Holy Bible? Is the Book of Mormon consistent with the Holy Bible? Is there a completeness of answers so that every important question has an answer? Is there some consistency about the answers which authorities of the restored Church give? As our reason searches and compares it begins either to be satisfied or dissatisfied. To become either is an important kind of evidence. But this evidence is not conclusive. We can evaluate it only when we get more information from other sources. We cannot know if we should be satisfied or dissatisfied until we know on other grounds whether the restored gospel is true: Then we can evaluate our own reasoning.

    We turn to observation. What can our senses tell us of the truth of the restored gospel? They can tell us that there is an interesting artifact produced by Joseph Smith that we can examine: the Book of Mormon. As we read and examine it, we must ask: Whence came this volume? Could a person who never attended school fabricate out of his imagination such a complex, detailed history which is so internally consistent and which fits into the historical and geographical evidence of today, much of which was not even known to the world in 1830 Detractors of Joseph Smith are unanimous on one point: he was too ignorant to have written it. By whom or how, then, did it come into being? So far the only proffered explanation that fits the known historical facts is the one given by Joseph Smith himself: he received it as a revealed translation of writing on ancient plates of gold. What of the three witnesses who also saw the plates? Their testimony must count for something, especially since each in turn was excommunicated from that Church, yet none ever denied his testimony. There is sufficient meat here for every intelligent mind to cogitate upon. Yet this area is in itself not conclusive, even if we find that we cannot discount Joseph Smith’s explanation of the book. We must yet seek further evidence.

    Another kind of observation which is important is the order of the universe. The motions of the heavens, the intricacy of the plant and animal orders, the complexity and perfection of the human species all raise questions as to their origin and maintenance. Do these things bespeak the hand of a great creator, or are they simply the blind career of chance concatenations of atoms? Some persons are convinced one way, some the other. The net result is that we see again that observation needs interpretation: no set of empirical evidence is self-interpretive or self-warranting. We must seek elsewhere for surety while not forgetting our observations.

    Turning to consideration of pragmatics, we see that there are seeming sociological consequences of accepting the restored gospel. Those who profess belief in the restored gospel have marriage, divorce, birth, and death statistics that are different from the public at large. They seem to have a distinctive cultural pattern that is in accord with the New Testament standards. They prosper wherever they go if they are left alone. These are interesting and valuable correlations. But they do not prove the case. We must yet seek further evidence.

    We see that none of the four external kinds of evidence yields unambiguous assurance of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. While their combination is more powerful than any type by itself, even that conjunction does not yield solid proof. The reason is that each of these is an external evidence. The essence of the restored gospel concerns what goes on inside a person, not outside. We must then turn our attention to the inner realm, not forgetting nor discounting the outer realm, but holding its evidence in abeyance for the moment.

    Inner knowledge concerns the personal private experiments which a person can perform. Before one can experiment he must either believe or desire to believe. One must risk something. This is not to suggest that one must persist in blind faith. But one must begin with the hope that God will answer his prayers. If one believes or desires to believe, he can at least perform the experiments. The experiments will give evidence which will become so sure that his faith is not blind ever after. Each person who is willing to experiment can determine for himself whether the gospel hypothesis is just another romantic dream or is truly a reality.

    With at least temporary belief, one can then perform the crucial experiment, which is to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, ready to do whatever one is instructed to do. If one has not already received it upon hearing the message of the restored gospel, the first message from God will likely be that peaceful, burning assurance which the Holy Spirit gives that the restored gospel is indeed true. What one must then do is to believe even more. To believe even more is to pray again, to thank the Father, and to ask what to do next. As the next instruction comes and the experimenter obeys in faith, he embarks upon a path that is rewarding and satisfying. That cycle of belief, prayer, revelation, and obedience is so self- reinforcing and so satisfying to those who delight in doing the will of God that they never need seek for the path of progress again. They need only to persevere. Now they know that the restored gospel is true, for its promise has been delivered. They have received the promised Holy Spirit unto faith and repentance. Because their souls are enlarged and the yearning for and the guidance of the holy in their lives is now satisfied, they know they are on the path of pleasing God and of coming to Him.

    Faithful prayer leads to promptings that come even when one is not praying or meditating. These promptings come in the same voice and with the same peaceful assurance as the answers to prayer. To experiment with following them is the course of intelligence for those who have enjoyed that companionship of the Holy Spirit. As again they experiment they learn the rewards of further sensitivity to the holy. They also learn to compare the results of yielding to those promptings to yielding to their own desires, especially when those personal desires are abetted by that opposing evil spirit which enjoins selfishness upon one. The knowledge that. comes from faithful obedience to the promptings of the Holy Spirit reinforces and buttresses the already sure knowledge one has from answers to prayers.

    To promptings are added special insights, understandings, and interpretations. As one ponders the gospel message and searches the scriptures many questions arise. As these arise the answers also often flow, sometimes because of prayer, sometimes without asking. What they bring is a completeness, a comprehensive overview of the world and the universe as God would have us see them. We begin to understand that nothing is wasted in the economy of our God, that all truth is interconnected, that everything works for the good of those who love the God of righteousness. The satisfaction of understanding and the esthetics of glimpsing the greatness and the goodness of the divine system help us to begin to understand ourselves for the first time and to know even more surely the truthfulness of the restored gospel.

    Understanding brings a comprehension of man’s potential, a vision of what he could become through the gifts and promises of God. As these gifts are sought and used for the work of godliness there comes an understanding of God’s power and a realization of the promises. As healings, miracles, tongues and interpretation of tongues, prophecy, discernment, power over the elements, and nobility in the soul show forth the handiwork of God, knowledge builds upon knowledge, and the established, buttressed, well-founded edifice becomes so sure and secure that no power of man or of hell can shake it.

    The import of this discussion is that a testimony, a sure knowledge of the truth of the restored gospel can only come in the inner, personal knowledge of a person. What then is the place of the external evidences? They do have their place.

    3. The weaving of a testimony.

    Let us now change the figure of speech from a building to a fabric and discuss the weaving of that fabric. The beginning of the weaving process is to establish the warp. These are the strong threads, the real substance of the cloth, and they are usually anchored at each end in a vertical row, then spread alternately in two directions to provide space for the shuttle to draw through the horizontal threads of the woof. If the threads of the weaving are fine yet strong and carefully spaced yet tightly woven, a cloth of superior utility is created.

    We may liken the strong warp threads of a cloth to the internal evidences which come from our own personal experiments with the holy and the evil, the good and the bad. If we perform those experiments with skeptical care we will accept only those evidences or threads which are strong, true, and reliable. We must also avoid the cynicism which would have us discard that which we perceive surely to be true. And we must have enough threads to mass a sufficient warp. After one experiment we know almost nothing. But after thousands and thousands of experiments we know that we can trust the Lord. As we marshall those threads in a record of the actual experiences which created them, we create a warp of substance, strength, and capacity.

    To the warp we may now add the woof threads of the external evidences that we previously gathered but found to be insufficient of themselves. We have many or few of these strands, but obviously, more and stronger threads are better. These are the testimonies of others, the reasoning we have done to observe the consistency and completeness of the restored gospel, the observations we have made of the handiwork of God both through men and in the natural order of the universe around us, capped by the practical evidence of the utility of living the restored gospel. These evidences, though not sufficiently strong of themselves to constitute a testimony, when carefully woven into the strands of strong and sure knowledge, become genuine assets to the whole. Then one can know which doctrines are found to be consistent and can reject the unwanted baggage of the doctrines of men which becloud the matter. Then one can see that it is truly the hand of God which brought the Bible and the Book of Mormon into existence and which has created and does now maintain the starry heavens and the course of nature. Then one can see that the wicked are punished by their own hands and that the righteous reap the rewards of the children of God. To have a testimony is to live, to see, and to know in ways never available to persons who do not have a testimony. ‘~”~

    Should one weave such a fabric of strength and beauty it will serve him well. For such a testimony is not gained by taking thought; it is not the product of observation, but of doing the will of God. It is a personally constructed artifact made of individually experienced items selected with the greatest of care and the highest standards. It is not just a cloth, as it is not just a knowing. It becomes the robe of righteousness, that which every soul must have to attend the wedding feast. It is the newly formed character, the fiber of the being of a son or a daughter of God. What we are is what we do and what we know. Our own character is the robe of righteousness which enables us to dwell in eternal burnings. To be saved is to receive the divine gifts that are necessary and to weave a new character for ourselves in the pattern of the divine nature of our Christ himself; then He can present us spotless before the Father. To gain a testimony is to repent, to create a new self through faith in Jesus Christ.

    The necessity of the connection between testimony and righteousness is found in the nature of God himself. He is a God of truth, but truth without righteousness is a monster. Thus, he is first a God of righteousness and then a God of truth. Those who wish to become as he is must follow that same order. He promises to fully satisfy the desire of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. He has no kind words for those who are merely curious. Creating a testimony means doing the works of righteousness. In the process of doing those works one comes to know and understand first the truth of his own inner experience and feelings, then the truth about this physical world in which we live; after that he may learn of heavenly things beyond the ken of mere mortals if he asks in faith. Righteousness is of Christ, for he is the sole fountain of righteousness in this earth, as also he is the Spirit of Truth. To love righteousness is to seek and to gain a testimony of the restored gospel, which then enables one to do the works of righteousness.

    The perfect example of the necessity of seeking a testimony through righteousness is found in the lives of Laman and Lemuel. Each of them was furnished with an abundance of evidence of divine things: they saw and heard an angel, they saw miracles, they felt the power of God shock them, their lives were saved by divine intervention. Yet they gained no testimony from their experiences because those experiences were not part of the experimentation of faith. The whole of these experiences was in the external world–to them. They did not seek the Lord in the inner realm and thus had no evidence in the inner realm of their own souls. They could interpret away all of the external evidence and did so. They simply refused to repent. After this world, in the spirit prison or at the bar of judgment, they will have enough evidence to know that the gospel is true and will finally admit to that truth. But then it will be too late to show sufficient love for the Lord and for righteousness to be saved in the celestial kingdom.

    4. Questions and answers.

    1. What are the qualities of a testimony? A strong testimony is one in which the bearer has certainty that the God of Heaven hears and answers his prayers as he attempts to live the restored gospel. Only those with strong testimonies are able to make the sacrifices that the Lord requires to perfect their souls. A weak testimony is one in which the bearer has as yet little confidence; enough perhaps to continue experimentation and exploration, but not enough to stand tribulation nor the finger of scorn. A sure testimony is one in which the bearer has amassed enough internal evidence to surmount all reasonable doubt that the restored gospel is true. A strong testimony is an assurance of the heart; a sure testimony is an assurance of the mind. A present testimony is one that is a living present companionship with the Holy Spirit. A past testimony is the memory of marvelous former experiences with the Holy Spirit. A strong and sure and present testimony enables one to live by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God.

    2. What then can a person do to strengthen his own testimony? Gaining and strengthening a testimony begins with the heart. If a person does not desire to be righteous, he needs to repent until he has that desire. When his heart is right, he will search for those whisperings of the spirit which are the precious lifeline to all godly things. Sensing their holiness, he will begin to follow the whisperings unto doing the works enjoined, thus becoming a person of some degree of faith. Though he might encounter negative evidence, such as the contrary witness of other persons, seeming contradictions, and venality on the part of professed members of the restored Church, his own faith in the whisperings will lay, positive spiritual evidence beside each of those negative externals until he sees that the truth of the gospel shines through the spotty facade of those negative impressions. Each person is free. Anyone who desires the negative to predominate will have it so. But anyone who treasures that which is honest, true, virtuous, of good report, and praiseworthy will soon find that his joy in his own increased ability to do the works that the Savior commends far outweighs the negative. The Holy Spirit reveals that those who bear negative testimony of the gospel are under the influence of the adversary; their negative testimony is thus a backhanded positive testimony of the gospel’s truthfulness. Seeming contradictions become the occasion for greater understanding in which the marvels and mysteries of the gospel are unfolded to the faithful seeker, thus becoming a positive strength to this testimony. The venality of Church members when interpreted by the Holy Spirit becomes an occasion for sympathy for those persons, a further attestation that the way of righteousness and truth is straight and narrow indeed, and few there be that find it.

    So, do I keep the Sabbath day holy? Do I honor my parents with all that the Holy Spirit enjoins? Am I honest in all of my dealings with my fellowmen, pressing down, shaking, and heaping up the measure which I give them? Do I reach out to the poor in money, strength, wisdom, understanding, and honor, sharing with them out of the abundance of heart, mind, strength, and substance with which the Lord has blessed me? Do I fill very mission gladly, exuberant and wise in the assurance that I have of the merits of my Master? Do I love my spouse, my children, and my neighbors with that same pure love that the gods of heaven shower upon me? Do I do all things unto the Lord, knowing that I am his but have no merit, wisdom, or goodness of my own? Do I fulfill my Savior’s instruction in the faith of love so that I can overcome the forces of this world? Do I allow my conscience to smite me down to humility and repentance whenever the thorns of selfishness or arrogance snag my robe?

    Every decision of daily life affords me the opportunity to prove that good and acceptable will of my God. As I add faith to faith, obeying in humility in every decision I make from moment to moment, the gifts and blessings and rewards of God flow so abundantly that I come to realize that in the path of such faith I never need hunger or thirst again. He who loves purely is sufficient to my every need. I need to search and wonder no more except to be sure that I continue to please him. I neither doubt nor flounder. I know I am on the path. I must only endure to the end, until my faithful service has brought me to the measure of the stature of the fullness of my Savior, for he is the end, indeed.

    3. Is it possible for me to talk myself into a testimony, to desire one so much that I create a false testimony? That surely is possible, just as a person might believe that he is Napoleon or is invisible. But the evidences would not be there. Neither internally nor externally would sufficient confirmations come to allow one to believe a false testimony to be a true one unless one is unable to evaluate evidence. Some persons are clearly unable to evaluate evidence, even in the external, physical world. They do indeed often come to strange opinions about religious matters. That is why it is important to establish one’s sanity in the realm of ordinary, earthly matters before one attempts to stand as a witness to anyone else of the truth of sacred, spiritual matters. Our Savior, knowing the sometimes precarious nature of new faith and testimony, has assured us that he will always establish his word in the mouths of two or three witnesses. Sometimes those witnesses are several kinds of internal and external evidence, which then give us a firm rock upon which to stand.

    4. Is it possible to transfer a testimony? It is never possible to share the essence of our testimony with another person, for that essence exists in the private, inner realm which can never be shared. But our sincere and truthful witness, though external to our hearers and therefore a sandy foundation for their testimonies, may be accompanied by the second witness of the Holy Spirit. That second witness is internal, the essence of real testimony. On that rock they can proceed to build surely.

    5. Which concepts are closely associated with that of testimony and would assist one to gain a better understanding of testimony? Testimony is a type of knowledge. Similar concepts are those of evidence, assurance, record, monument, and proof. Contrary concepts are those of doubt, discredit, counterindicativeness, and insecurity. The complement concept is that of uncertainty. The opposite is complete ignorance. The perfection of testimony is full knowledge of complete certainty. The prerequisites for testimony are (1) revelation from God, (2) belief in that revelation, and (3) obedience to the instructions of that revelation. (Those are the elements of faith, for faith is the prerequisite to testimony.) The constituents of testimony are the internal and external evidences for the truthfulness of the restored gospel that we have gained and see through the eye of faith. A celestial testimony (the only kind that saves anyone) is based squarely on an abundance of cooperative experience with the Holy Spirit. A terrestrial testimony is based on an abundance of external, physical evidence for the truthfulness of the restored gospel. A telestial testimony is based on a fear that it might be true and an unwillingness to search out the evidence, either internal or external. A perdition testimony is that of a person who knows full well that the restored gospel is true (a past sure testimony), but bears witness to others that it is not true.

    5. Summary and conclusions.

    A. The essence of a testimony of the restored gospel is present, inner, continuous cooperation with the Holy Spirit in the cause of relieving misery in this world (the work of righteousness). Public, physical evidence about the restored gospel is helpful only when carefully evaluated by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and useful only when tightly woven into our continuous, inner, present cooperation with the Holy Spirit. The function of external evidence in the cause of righteousness is not to assure anyone of the truthfulness of the gospel, but to attract attention to the restored gospel so that a person will personally perform the inner experiments which do bring a sure testimony.

    B. Testimony comes only through faith. When we hear the gospel, our first evidence that it is the word of the Lord comes as we receive the internal witness of the Holy Spirit that it is true. If we then act on that witness, asking to know what to do about our doubts–asking anything in the willingness to believe and obey the holy within us, we ask in faith. Asking in faith brings the revelations of the true and living God to anyone who will so ask. Out of these revelations is born the abundance of experience that assures us of the reliability of God’s revelations–which is a testimony.

    C. Only hunger and thirst for righteousness is a sufficient motive to experiment on the gospel message in faith. Those whose only interest in the gospel is an academic curiosity can never perform the experiments in faith. No amount of external evidence can, will, or should convince them of the truthfulness of that message. The gospel message is aimed specifically at the sheep: those who live first to love others, as does the true and living God.

    D. A testimony is always a construction, a personal artifact. It is built out of a person’s life experiences and is the record of what that person has sought, hoped for, and selected out of the welter of opportunities that this world affords. If a person has received the personal witness that the restored gospel is true, then that person’s testimony, positive or negative, is a clear reflection of that person’s character.

    E. A testimony is always nontransferable. While one may indeed bear witness of his inner experience, that inner experience forever remains his private domain. But as one bears true witness, the Holy Spirit can and will witness to the hearers of the truth of that person’s witness, which is the beginning material for the testimony of each of those hearers. To some it is given to believe on the testimony of those who know.

    F. Any person who has a sure testimony of the restored gospel, and thus of the Holy Spirit, can endure by means of the laws and ordinances of the gospel to a sure knowledge of the Son and of the Father. But one must endure in faith.

  • The Pillars of Testimony

    AN ADDRESS GIVEN TO THE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY STUDENT BODY

    DR. CHAUNCEY C. RIDDLE
    Dean of the Graduate School
    June 30, 1970 – Devotional

    with an introduction by
    Dr. Dean A. Peterson
    Dean of the Summer School

    DR. DEAN A. PETERSON

    It is our privilege this morning to have as our devotional speaker, Dr. Chauncey C. Riddle, dean of the Graduate School and professor of philosophy. Dean Riddle was named Professor of the Year in 1962 and BYU Honors Professor of the Year in 1967. He also received the Karl G. Maeser Award for Teaching Excellence.

    He received his bachelor of science degree from Brigham Young University and his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Scholastic Society and the American Plains Division of the American Philosophical Society. Since 1965 he has been a member of the high council in the Sharon Stake and has served on high councils since 1958. He is a former bishop of three wards: Provo Eighth Hard, Provo Nineteenth Ward, and the BYU Second Ward.

    Chauncey Riddle is a native of Salt Lake City and is married to the former Bertha Alfred. They are the parents of twelve children, ten of whom are living, and their twelfth child, a son, was born this past Sunday. We congratulate Dr. and Sister Riddle. It is now our pleasure to turn the time to Dr. Riddle.

    DR. CHAUNCEY C. RIDDLE

    Several years ago I was descending the main stairs of the Butler Library at Columbia University in New York City when a fellow student stopped me. He asked if it was true that I had graduated from Brigham Young University. Upon receiving my affirmative reply, he volunteered that he was a graduate of one of our neighboring institutions. But the thing that so delighted him about his university, he went on to explain, was that he had been “liberated.” I took the bait and innocently asked him from what he had been liberated. Then the roof fell in. For the next two hours, as we stood there on the stairs, he explained to me all of the terrible evils of the Mormon Church. He began quite calmly to explain these evils, but as time progressed his explanations became a tirade punctuated by invectives and blasphemies. His face became beet red; his fury was so great that he began to jump up and down in sort of a war dance. l wondered if he would leap upon me to vent his obviously full spleen.

    He told how he had once been a “good little Mormon boy.” He had attended all of his meetings faithfully, graduated from Primary, bad become a deacon, teacher, and priest in due order. He was well read in Church literature — was so well informed about doctrine that he was asked to teach a class in one of the auxiliaries of the Church during his freshman year at the university. Then he began to take classes in philosophy.

    His professors of philosophy had carefully explained to him the delights of being “an intellectual.” As an intellectual he was given to understand that religion is all subjective, and therefore completely unworthy of any thinking man’s allegiance. They convinced him that the General Authorities of the Church had no such thing as revelation from God since there is no personal God. These authorities, they said, were simply paranoid and had a variety of illusions of grandeur. They were power mad, according to his professors.

    Shades of Korihor 

    My fellow student, of course, wasn’t just quoting his professors. He believed fully in what he was telling me. He went on to explain how the Church was really a system for making money and emphasized how shameful it was that all those Mormons out there in Utah were being slavishly led around by the nose. His attack included the Book of Mormon in particular, which he claimed was gibberish, and the Bible, which to him was a collection of myths and bedtime stories. One by one he decried the major doctrines of the Church showing how, to him, each was ridiculous when compared with modern science.

    At first l attempted to counter his statements. As he launched upon the Brethren or certain doctrines, I would point out inconsistencies and untruths in what he was saying. These replies only made him the more angry, and soon I perceived that his attack was completely emotional and not intellectual.

    On only one point could we agree. l challenged him with the idea that he had taken this apostate stand because he couldn’t live the standards of the Church. He then vehemently affirmed that such was not the case, that he saw real value in the Word of Wisdom and in the moral standards of the Church. He claimed that he had never broken these standards and never would, for he saw a utilitarian value in these things quite apart from the gospel.

    The conclusion to his long outburst was that he intended to get his Ph.D. and then spend the rest of his days bringing light and cheer to Mormons of guilty conscience in order to smash the Church and its authorities wherever and whenever he could. Shades of Korihor!

    By the time we parted, l was somewhat numb, drenched with his vituperation, and frustrated too, for I had been unable to help him. l wondered how on earth anyone could help him. l especially wondered how he would fare in New York City in keeping true to the moral standards he claimed he would never violate. My wonder ceased after a few months. The last time I saw him was in a dimly lit corner of a campus restaurant. He was reclining in a booth, obviously drunk, surrounded by empty beer cans, with a cigarette in one hand, and the other hand on a girl whose appearance told the rest of the story.

    A Real Testimony       

    Oh, sad, sad story! I cannot think back on him without wanting to weep. That this could happen to the youth of the noble birthright is appalling. But it did happen and it does happen. And it happens again and again for the same reason. That reason is the lack of a real testimony.

    A testimony is that precious gift that enables a person to have enduring faith in These then are the components of testimony. First, an ability to hear the voice of the Lord when he guides us to righteousness; this we called recognition of spiritual experience. Second, knowledge of the work and the ways of God; this we might cull understanding. Third, having in our lives that most precious fruit of the gospel, the quiet inner peace that passeth understanding.

    The Parable of the Sower        

    The Savior gives us a graphic illustration of these three elements in the parable of the sower. He tells us what would happen if we were to lack any one of these elements.

    A sower went out to sow his seed.. and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. (Luke 8:5.)

    The Savior explained this as follows:

    The seed is the word of God.

    Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. (Luke 8:11-12.)

    These people of the beaten path are those of the world who are so trodden down by the influences of the world that they do not recognize the word of the Lord when it comes to them. When the word of the Lord comes to any man, it is carried by the Holy Spirit into his heart. But perhaps that man pays little attention to his heart, priding himself on being objective in responding only to “hard, cold physical evidence” which affects his body and which he can demonstrate publicly to others. If so, the precious things in his heart lie undiscriminated, unsorted as time passes, it is easy for the adversary to snatch the precious word of the Lord from his memory. So, for want of attention and honest recognition of admitted worth, the word of the Lord is lost from consciousness and the opportunity to have a testimony and to be saved is gone.

    Returning to the Savior’s parable, we see the second error.

    And some [seed] fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up. it withered away, because it locked moisture. (Luke 8.6)

    This is interpreted by the Savior as follows:

    They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. (Luke 8:13.)

    These are persons who are able to recognize and treasure the word of the Lord. They begin to keep his commandments; yet they do not understand his work. In the face of temptation they wither because they cannot see the purpose and necessity of being different from the world, of keeping themselves pure and unspotted. Lacking the perspective of eternity, they fall easy prey to the desires of the moment, and the joy of the word of the Lord is overwhelmed by the lusts of the flesh. Had they searched in the scriptures and listened carefully to their priesthood leaders, they would have caught the point of sacrifice and they would have had the hope of the rewards of righteousness. This would have nourished their souls in the hot glare of temptation. But lacking root, not understanding what they were doing, they withered.

    The third problem is represented in the teaching of our Savior as follows:

    And some [seed] fell among thorns: and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.

    And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and rich’s and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. (Luke 8:7, 14.)

    This is the problem of what it is that satisfies us. Some persons hear the gospel message but are quite content with the world the way it is. They busy themselves with making and preserving their wealth and in living deliciously; they see no reason for a change. This is the problem of the upper economic classes of society especially. The Book of Mormon speaks of them being comforted with carnal security and thus being carefully led away down to hell. If they are ill, they have the best doctors; if they are hungry, they command the finest cuisine; if they are lonely they throw a party; if they are depressed or nervous, they are soothed by drugs, tobacco, alcohol, or whatever suits their fancy. They fancy, of course, that they do not need a Savior. Whatever they need, they can get — they think. These persons seldom gain testimonies until their health and wealth are taken from them. Bereaved of the temporal salvation they have so ignorantly enjoyed, they begin to glimpse the fact that there might be something better to life than just sating the flesh.

    The Gospel Produces Good Fruit   

    Undoubtedly there are some persons who do not have the fruits of the gospel in their lives simply because of not knowing what they are missing. My neighbor has a nectarine tree. He enjoyed its abundant fruit each year until he tasted one of the nectarines on my tree. Now his taste terrible, and he has grafted in many twigs from my tree hoping to convert his into a tree that produces good fruit.

    Producing good fruit is the point of the gospel. If we live the gospel, our lives produce love, kindness, charity; we produce righteousness. Righteousness is caring more to see others happy than worrying about our own happiness. This is one of the paradoxes of the gospel. The only way to be really happy is to forget about our own happiness and to labor diligently for the happiness of others. The Savior said:

    “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10:39.)”

    Pillars of Testimony    

    Above all, our God is a god of righteousness. Whatever we do for his sake, we do in the cause of righteousness. And, among those who have tasted of the fruits of righteousness which have come through obedience to Christ, there are those who desire this fruit above all else. It is even more important than life itself to them. These are they who have strong, secure testimonies of the gospel, of the Savior. They know the gospel is true because when they heard the word of the Lord they had a spiritual quickening. Through this spiritual experience, they gained insight into the work of the Lord, the work of righteousness. And, when through faith they acted in obedience to that understanding, they tasted the precious fruit of the tree of life and knew of God’s goodness and love. Then they were founded on the rock. Then they had an anchor for their souls. These are they of whom the Savior said:

    And other [seed) fell upon good ground and sprang up, and bear fruit an hundredfold.

    But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. (Luke 8:8, 15.)

    Testimonies and Righteousness     

    One plain and very important conclusion we may draw from the Savior’s parable is that testimonies are not for everyone. There will come a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, but today only those who have honest and good hearts can be sure of gaining a testimony, and they gain one because they love righteousness. That love of righteousness leads them to the Savior, because only in and through him are they able to bring forth true fruits of righteousness. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

    We have seen in the example of the Savior’s parable of the sower what happens when we leave out one of the necessary elements in gaining a testimony. Let us observe the consequence of trying to depend upon only one of these elements.

    Spiritual Imitations        

    Rather frequently there are manifest in our society persons who claim to be spiritual. They have had some unusual experience which has caused them to embark on a crusade or to alter their way of life. With all seeming sincerity they claim to have discovered the truth, which supposed truth they pursue with great zeal. When we see this claim to spiritual manifestation and its attendant zeal, we ought to check carefully for the other two aspects of true testimony. First, does this spirituality this person claims to have bring him understanding? Does it ring true in comparison with What the scriptures tell us? Is it consistent with the advice and counsel of the authorities of the Church? Secondly, does it bring forth in that person’s life the works and fruits of righteousness: love, kindness, joy, peace?

    The Savior has given us a measure by which to judge those who claim to be spiritual. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20.) It takes very little experience to separate good fruits from bad fruits if we are doing careful thinking. The reason for bad fruits and for being very wary of those who claim special spiritual experience is that Satan produces his own revelation or experience abundantly in the world. Many, many of those who think they have found the Lord have simply lent an ear to Satan. Undoubtedly, only those who are honest and good in heart can detect all spurious revelation, that is to say, revelation not from God.

    Detecting Spurious Revelation

    But there are rational means for detecting spurious revelation. Recognizing that a rational formula is no substitute for long experience in any field, we might note the following marks which are associated with people who have had false revelation.

    1. Indiscriminate recounting of the spiritual experience. (The Savior told us not to cast our pearls.)
    2. Insisting that others accept this spiritual experience. (In the Lord’s system each person depends on his own personal revelation.)
    3. Inconsistency of the supposed revelation with scripture and with the words of the living prophets. (The Lord has told us that his house is a house of order.)
    4. Fruits of unhappiness, contention, hate, confusion. (For the Lord’s way is light, truth, simplicity and unity.)

    There is no shortage of revelation in this world. The problem is to tell that which is true revelation, given of the Lord, from that which is spurious revelation, given of the adversary.

    Knowing or Living                            

    Let’s turn now to an examination of what happens when a person attempts to base his testimony solely on a knowledge or understanding of the gospel. We occasionally see a person who has read all the books and has accumulated a tremendous store of catechistic answers to questions about religious matters. When challenged on a point, the person uses the method of proof-texting; that is, he produces scriptures and quotations which purportedly substantiate his opinion. This person is in the tradition of the scribes and Pharisees whom the Savior so roundly scored because they delighted in knowing the words about the work of God rather than in living by the word of God.

    Many times this person who has only great knowledge has correct answers. He will quote scripture and propound the words of the prophets at great length. His problem is that it all comes from his head and not from his heart. It is sometimes said that this person has an intellectual testimony, which is to say, he is fascinated by the rational unity and consistency of the gospel and the scriptures. But this fascination is not a true testimony. It is only an intellectual game which the person is playing. Anyone who is said to be “intellectually” converted to the Church is not founded on the rock. Soon some other intellectual game will fascinate him more and he will be as zealous and catechistic about it as he was about the gospel. Or perhaps the Brethren will ordain certain of the seventy to be high priests, or they might put five counselors in the First Presidency, or perhaps they might even do away with one or more of the auxiliaries of the Church. These persons are then offended because the work of a former president of the Church is being countermanded. They see this as an inconsistency, and their intellectual house of cards is toppled. They forget that the original instruction was given spiritually, by revelation; that the change is given spiritually, by revelation; and that a member of the Church can appropriately sustain either or both only by means of his own personal revelation.

    But the person who glories only in knowing about the kingdom of God does not enjoy personal revelation from the Lord. And because he does not live the gospel, which he cannot do without personal revelation, he does not have the special fruits of the Spirit in his life. He will not and cannot endure in the kingdom unless he repents and adds these missing dimensions to his life.

    And Signs There Are      

    Turning now to the third possibility, we see the case of the person who settles for the fruits only, who has no spirituality nor depth of understanding in his life. This is the person who depends upon signs. And signs there are. Signs follow those who believe in Christ. Signs also follow those who knowingly or unknowingly serve Satan. The signs of these two masters are not always the same, but they are not always different. Thus a person who depends on signs alone has no true idea as to what or who might be the cause of the signs on which he depends.

    It is not unusual to see in the Church a person who believes the Church is true because he was there when Aunt Annie was administered to by the priesthood and was miraculously healed. He saw them lay on hands; he saw Aunt Annie healed. Is that not proof enough? It is for him. Building his house on the sand, he proceeds as if he had a testimony. But then Aunt Annie becomes ill again. She is administered to again, but this time she passes on. Everyone is grief stricken at losing beloved Aunt Annie. But our friend who based his testimony on her healing is not only grief stricken, he is terrified. He thinks that maybe the gospel is not true; perhaps there is no God; perhaps life is just a monstrous joke of nature. Because be has not accepted into his life the comforts and guidance of the spirit of the Lord, be does not and cannot know why Aunt Annie was restored on the one occasion and released on the other. He does not have the understanding of the gospel to know that death is not a curse but a blessing to the righteous. Bereaved of moorings, our friend is swept with the tide of skepticism and despair now despising the sandy foundation which once supported his unstable house of testimony.

    Testimony and Faith     

    It has been obvious through this discussion that testimony and faith are very closely associated in the gospel of Jesus Christ. What we have here called testimony is very close to what Paul talks about when he discusses faith in the book of Hebrews. The formula we have given sounds very much like Alma’s description of how to gain faith. The connection is that testimony is the necessary prerequisite to sustained faith. Testimony is the basis, the foundation for acting on faith. A testimony is knowing that the gospel is true. Knowing that, one can then exercise great faith.

    To exercise faith in Jesus Christ, one must hear the words of Christ. These come to us in the still, small voice of his spirit. If we then believe and obey the Savior, we are showing forth faith in him. But a person cannot go very far acting on faith, not far enough to save his soul, without knowing that the course he is pursuing is the will of God. Without that knowledge it is too risky and expensive to act on faith. The sacrifices demanded are too great. A sandy foundation will not support them. But when we have tried our God and know that he is just and true and righteous, then we can exercise faith in him, unto death if necessary, because we have a testimony.

    On the other hand, one may have a testimony and not continue to act in faith. This is the terrible route that apostates of every dispensation have taken. Having known the goodness of the Lord, they chose to stand apart, to forsake the ways of righteousness and to return to the world and to sin. A testimony never impels a person to be righteous; it only enables him so to act. The devils all have testimonies of Christ. They know him and know who he is, but they deliberately choose the way of sin because their hearts are not honest and good.

    The scriptures plainly reveal to us that testimony and faith must grow together before either is strong or of great value. The beginning point is always personal revelation for the Lord always takes the first step by extending the arms of mercy towards a man. The man must desire to believe and hope to find righteousness enough to try the Lord, to try the experiment of obeying him and his cords. If a man obeys the Lord, he receives a reward, a spiritual reward. This reward shows him that it is good to obey God. Thus, as a man adds obedience to spirituality, understanding to obedience, and recognizes the result, he has a testimony. As he is further obedient, he gains more understanding and more rewards which increase his testimony. As his testimony grows, he can stand greater and greater spiritual manifestations. As he obeys the instructions from the Lord given in these revelations, his faith becomes greater and greater. Thus these two, faith and testimony, grow together as the saving grace of our Savior until that person has overcome the world.

    Perhaps you have watched concrete being poured. In any job that is intended to be strong and lasting, reinforcing steel is placed at strategic intervals. This steel makes the concrete almost indestructible. It may crack and the surface may chip, but the mass remains solid and steadfast. If you have watched somebody trying to destroy reinforced concrete, you know that the simplest thing to do usually is just to pick up the whole mass and cart it off.

    Concrete is like faith. A testimony is like reinforcing steel. Satan is the destroyer trying to smash your faith. If you are full of reinforcing steel, Satan cannot smash you. He would like to take you up bodily and cast you away. But our Savior does not give him that power. So Satan hunts for faith without testimony, for good acts, obedient acts, where the person is not sure whom he is obeying, why he is obeying, and if it is worthwhile to obey. When he finds such a person, he puts the pressure on. Not necessarily a great massive pressure – just enough to chip off a corner. And then another corner. Here a piece, there a piece, the person is destroyed all the while trying to do what is right. Trying but not succeeding – because of only half trying. Trying to live the gospel without searching the things of the spirit, without pondering the meaning of the Lord’s message, without keenly observing the fruits of the Spirit. To try to have faith without a testimony is to be thoughtless. But to think, to search, to obey, to experiment, to find that rock upon which to build, that is thinking, the best kind of thinking; it is called repentance. And that kind of thinking is real living; in fact, it is the beginning of eternal life.

    Testimony Bearing        

    A word about the bearing of testimony. In one sense a testimony is a wholly private thing. It is something you know; it is part of your life, your conscience, your experience, but you cannot show it to anyone else because it is part of your inner life and experience, your spiritual life. That, of course, is why it is so valuable to you. It is your personal comfort and warrant for your faith. No matter what happens to anyone else, you have something you know for sure about spiritual matters. You and the Lord have a functioning, ongoing relationship and companionship.

    The privacy of your testimony is another witness to your personal free agency. Because it is private, other persons cannot judge you nor assist you in your thinking. You must think through the evidence for yourself. It is your own personal evidence. Others may check your reasoning, but they cannot check either your data or your desires. So you remain free of men because of your privacy, and free from the flesh because these data are spiritual. This is the freedom which the gospel offers to all who seek the truth.

    But though your testimony is private, the Lord does nt always want you to keep hidden the fact tat you have one. Under his guidance you are to bear your testimony. When he prompts you, he wants you to express to others the fact that you have one, as Paul says, to give account to men of the hope that is within you. You can never give another person your testimony, or even a testimony. But there are times when you must stand up to be counted.

    For when you bear your testimony, you declare yourself to be on the side of the Savior. You express to men that you have tried the Lord and found him to be good, and you stand as a personal witness to that truth. As you speak, truly the Holy Ghost is your companion. He, the Holy Ghost, also bears his witness to the souls of your bearers. He is a God; his witness is divine. His witness is the beginning of spiritual life, the basis of testimony, the opportunity for faith. While your witness is nothing so grand and mighty as that of the Holy Ghost, nevertheless your witness is the occasion and opportunity for his witness. Thus you are an important and even indispensable part of the Savior’s plan to save mankind. If no man bore true witness of God, the occasions for revelation from God would be so sharply diminished as to throw the world into another black night of apostasy. So we are sent into the world to be witnesses of the light. We are not the light. But we know him and bear testimony of him; he is Jesus Christ.

    There is also a responsibility upon those who receive a testimony, a witness of Christ. Like it or not, they must judge. When a man declares himself to be of Christ all of his hearers who claim to be servants of Christ also must react. If a man bears a true witness and his hearers who are members of the Church accept it, the speaker and bearers strengthen one another and draw closer to each other in the bonds of fellowship and unity that characterize the perfected kingdom of God. But if these members reject a true witness, they have opted in behalf of Satan. If a man bears a false witness and members of the Church accept it as true, they have likewise declared themselves against the Savior and for Satan. If members reject a false witness, then they know to labor with this man as an unbeliever. If they try not to accept or reject, then they are pretending that the occasion is unimportant. But a testimony of Christ is never unimportant; it is a matter of spiritual life or death for both hearers and bearers. When we attend sacrament meeting and especially testimony meeting we are all accountable. We add or detract from the meeting and we will have to answer for what we do. Sometimes it is fashionable for people to express boredom with a testimony meeting. But, for those who have and understand testimonies, a testimony is always a spiritual feast, a rich opportunity for discernment, an occasion to know how to act toward our brothers and sisters.

    Many times a point is made of the fact that we bear testimony in our deeds as well as in our words. And indeed we do. Whenever we who are covenant servants of Christ make a decision or perform a deed, we are bearing our testimony. If we seek and yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, we declare ourselves to be servants of Christ. Whenever we avoid him or act contrary to what we know to be right, we are plainly bearing witness to ourselves and to any who see our acts that we do not really believe in Christ. We are saying that though he may exist and he may be all right in his place he is not good enough to be worshipped with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. And thus do we reject him.

    But thank the Lord for those few stalwart souls sprinkled through our midst who unpretentiously and steadily opt for the Savior. They can discern the Spirit of the Lord and they love it. They understand the gospel and have their eye on eternity, whose name is Jesus. They bear the fruits of faith in their lives, for they strengthen the weak knees, they lift up the hands that hang down. They build the kingdom of God day and night, summer and winter, by showing forth in purity of life the love of God towards men.

    In conclusion, may l give you my witness. l testify with all my heart and soul that I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know because I have tried it. I know that it works. I know that the Holy Ghost is a sweet and a pure companion that leads to righteousness. I know that the gospel is profound, consistent. I know that to learn about the mysteries is a great and overwhelming blessing even though we may not speak of them. I know that God reigns in power in his priesthood, for I have seen lives change under the ordinances of the gospel and I have seen miracles performed. I witness to you that the authorities of the Church are men of God. They have his power; they have his authority; they are filled with his love; and they are working tirelessly to bring salvation to us and to all men. Above all I know that our God is god of righteousness and truth. I give glory to the name of our Savior, and I witness unto you that I know him to be true, to be good. And I know that all that I know that is good and true and virtuous I know though him.

    I pray that each of us may inventory his testimony, and then do whatever is necessary that we will never falter in our faith. I pray that we might love the Lord enough to become pure in heart, to establish Zion. That we might show forth the glory, honor, and majesty, and righteousness of the true and living God, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

  • Faith, Hope, and Charity

    THE HIGHWAY TO ETERNAL LIFE IS MARKED BY…

    FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY

    The Instructor, October 1965

    by Chauncey C. Riddle

    As the Prophet Moroni was completing his message to the people of the latter days, he found it expedient in the Lord to include in his record some of the choice teachings of his father, Mormon. One of these specially preserved sermons is concerned with faith, hope, and charity, the three great virtues of the sons and daughters of God.

    The foundation of all righteousness, Mormon emphasizes, is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord blesses men with knowledge of His will; this makes faith possible.

    “And behold, there were divers ways that he [God] did manifest things unto the children of men, which were good; and all things which are good cometh of Christ.”… (Moroni 7:24.)

    Men who delight in righteousness believe God when they receive instruction from Him. Belief in the words of Christ enables them to act in faith, to carry out the instructions of God. As men obey God, the fruits of righteousness abound in their lives.

    “Wherefore, by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing.” … (Moroni 7:25.)

    One of the blessings consequent to faith in Christ is to be able to have hope, Mormon tells us. If we have kept the commandments of God, we then become heirs to the promises, and we an rightfully anticipate blessings from God:

    “And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.” (Moroni 7:41.)

    Those who see with the eye of faith look forward in hope to the overcoming of all of their personal problems. Putting their trust in the Savior, they strive to obey Him in all things, hoping for the time when every bad habit, every false notion, every evil desire, every thoughtless moment will have been subdued. They hope for strength to resist temptation, for help to avoid error, for courage to face adversity, for power to bring to pass much righteousness. Their hope is a bright, vitalizing, liberating power, for they know in whom they trust:

    … Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you. (Moroni 7:26.)

    Not only the personal but also the social problems of mankind are lightened through hope in Christ. He who mourns the tyranny in human history can hope for the reign of Him whose right it is to rule, knowing that righteousness will triumph over evil. He sees a day when men will serve God, not mammon the time of true brotherhood, real peace, and genuine prosperity for all. He sees order in homes, love in families, and consideration and kindness for all. He hopes for the new world which is to be built upon the ashes of the old

    But the greatest hope of the servant of God is not for this life. That hope is for eternity, where God and the angels dwell, where Satan is bound forever. He hopes for the perpetuity of the family wherein he and his dear wife, his parents, and his children can live and serve together in freedom and love forever. He hopes to gaze unashamedly into the face of the great Being who gave His all for mankind. He hopes to do the works of righteousness and godliness always. Thus, if a man has faith, he can have hope; if he has hope, then he can endure the trials of the world unto the salvation of his soul.

    When a man has this faith and hope in Christ, Mormon emphasizes, then he can have and needs to have the greatest of all virtues, which is charity, the pure love of Christ. This pure love is a gift from God through His Holy Spirit, which gift comes to all who seek it through faith. No man can love purely except he be taught how to do so by God; no one can return good for evil always, as pure love demands, except he has a hope in Christ. This virtue is so important that if his faith and hope do not lead him to that pure love, then he is nothing. That love is the bond which Elijah spoke of which would keep the earth from being utterly wasted. It is the ultimate power of the holy priesthood and the highest fruit of its ordinances. That love is the only motivation sufficient to enable a man or woman to overcome all things. It is a pure, selfless love for God and for one’s fellowmen, and through it comes the joy for which man was created.

    In answer to the question what does it mean to seek first the kingdom of Cod and his righteousness?” we might well answer that it means to attain fullness of faith, hope, and charity, through the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. We are much indebted to Mormon and Moroni for preserving for us these precious teachings, and we could well heed Mormon’s plea:

    Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. (Moroni 7:48.)

    Library File Reference: Charity

    OCTOBER 1965

    1. For Course 15. lesson of December 12. “Moroni’ s Farewell’:
    2. For Course 17. lesson of November 21. “Salvation Available to All”;
    3. General interest to courses 9. 13. 27, and 29; to support Family Home Evening lesson 40;
    4. Of general interest.

    *Chauncey c. Riddle is a professor of philosophy and chairman of the Department of Graduate Studies in Religious Instruction at Brigham Young University. He obtained his B.S. in 1947 from BYU and both his M.A. in 1951 and Ph.D. in 1958 from Columbia University. He presently serves on the high council of Sharon (Utah) Stake. His wife is the former Bertha Allred. They have eight children.