Come Unto Christ

As a young man preparing to go on my mission to England, our stake patriarch laid his hands upon my head and gave me a patriarchal blessing. Among other things he reminded me that at a very young age I had a strong testimony of the reality of my Savior. He said it would strengthen others throughout my life, if I would remain true and faithful to what I knew was true even as a young man. He reminded me that I lived in a world of doubters, that many would stand before me and declare to me there was no God. "Mankind everywhere is questioning and asking, 'Is there a God?' You are blessed dear brother at this early age with a testimony of Jesus Christ. This testimony will light your entire life if you constantly make use of all your abilities."

During those first few moments of his blessing I wondered how a man I barely knew and who barely knew me, could make such bold statements. Now, looking back on my life I have learned it was God, not him, who knew me better. I have seen the words of his blessing fulfilled again and again, but not in the ways I imagined when I was younger. The doubters in my blessing, to my surprise, have in many cases turned out to be my extended family members and friends, not random anti-Christs who would challenge me in some dramatic faith duel as I had supposed.

Family Secrets

I hasten to add these family members and friends are all good people, lifelong and faithful members of the Church. But they are doubters. They seem to lack the faith to really believe what Christ said, though most believe in Him. They believe Christ is the Savior, the Son of God, and that He established His church in the meridian of time, that He was perfect in every way and that the infinite atonement was accomplished through His instrumentality.

However, it appears many believe He does not really have enough power to cleanse them, to lift their burdens and to transform their lives. They keep secrets, deep, dark family secrets they won't reveal to anyone. Instead, they suffer in misery, they cover up their pain, they live lives of quiet desperation, thinking and believing they will someday work it all out on their terms in the spirit world rather than deal with the root causes of their pain and suffering today. They defer. They continue to live in shame and guilt. They are suffering needlessly. Private and secret acts, either ones they committed or ones which others inflicted upon them, are left untouched. They have tried repeatedly to move on but they remain in tortured desperation. Perhaps they are not so unlike many of you. Are you of the opinion that if you suffer enough on your own, you will not have to trouble the Savior with your burdens?

There is no doubt in my mind today that Heavenly Father knew everything about my extended families, both the ones from which my wife and I came, and the one we would create together. He knew all things, long before our collective choices and experiences played out in mortality. Because He knows, He can succor and help. But only if we exercise enough faith to ask for help. He can heal our spirits.

Reaching Higher

I see many who are close to me struggle with worthiness issues, feeling as though they want to do better, but knowing they are not worthy enough to ask for the help that would be theirs otherwise. It's ironic. It's as though, knowing they have been diagnosed with cancer, they feel they must first heal themselves before they seek medical intervention and surgery to remove the cancer cells that threaten their existence. How silly that seems!

President David O. McKay

I am reminded this morning of President David O. McKay, who wrote: "Man is a spiritual being, a soul, and at some period of one's life everyone is possessed with an irresistible desire to know his relationship to the Infinite. . . There is something within him which urges him to rise above himself, to control his environment, to master the body and all things physical and live in a higher and more beautiful world." (David O. McKay, True to the Faith, comp. Llewelyn R. McKay [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 244).

Doesn't everyone feel that desire for self-improvement? It's discouraging, sometimes even overwhelmingly defeating, when we contemplate our own mortality and our obvious failures to measure up to the expectations of others and most importantly ourselves. How do you rise above the spiritual heights of a General Authority in your family tree, for instance? I can assure you of this -- you cannot do it alone, and it is not required that you do. You don't have the wisdom or the stamina or the strength to master the machinations of mortality on your own.

Come Unto Christ

Your Heavenly Father has offered this standing invitation: "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot." (Moroni 10:32-33).

Is the atonement at work in your life every day? Are you still responding to that invitation to lay your burdens at the foot of Christ's cross? Or have you given up, thinking all is lost, that you are beyond redemption? If you can find even a spark of faith to believe transformation and improvement are still available to you, then the atonement is still working in your life. After all you can do, after all your best efforts, after you have suffered enough on your own, you can find the needed assurance the atonement is working for you and on you.

We often believe the atonement is about overcoming sin, confessing sin, repenting, and being forgiven. Certainly, it is all those things. But it is more. Victims of abuse, widows and children who are left husbandless and fatherless, children and orphans of divorce, all these and more have claim upon the merits of Christ's atonement too. Sometimes their sins are sins of omission -- they fail to recognize everything and everybody can be fixed.

Repentance and Change

Thinking of that, the context is much broader for the word repentance than perhaps we have imagined. In Greek, it means "To have a new mind." To you who doubt the power and the majesty of the atonement's ability to reach "even this" in your life, I say to you, change your mind. Exercise your faith in your Redeemer. He is mighty to save. Repent of your old tired ways of thinking. Give up your flawed mental processes that have mired you in ruts of destructive thoughts. Come out from behind the cover up, unmask the demons that torment you, drag out the hellish thoughts into the naked sunlight of Christ's redeeming love. Give up your despair. Repent of it. Change your mind that you are not worth saving. Christ believes you are.

Let Christ love you. Exercise faith that He knew you and your suffering in Gethsemane's crushing weight. Listen to His words: "Therefore I command you to repent — repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore — how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not. For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I." (D&C 19:15-17).

Do you realize, I mean really BELIEVE, in the overwhelming suffering of the Savior so your pain -- whatever its source -- could be swallowed up in Him? Because if you cannot, if you procrastinate further in covering up in shame whatever you did to others or whatever happened to you as an innocent victim, then you are reminded that you must suffer alone. Many of you seem content to let the suffering continue rather than to accept the grace He so fully offers to you. How silly can you be? And here's the corollary truth -- you may not want to hear it now, but it is true: No matter how much suffering on your own you can possibly bear, it will still not be enough. You will still be forever shut out from the love and warmth of your immediate family and from the extended family of your Father in Heaven.

Let this thought take root in you today, and let it swell and begin to grow. Whatever pain repentance might bring to you in this life, it will never be greater than the pain you will someday face if do not repent here and now. Change your mind about whatever false ideas are holding you bound in your misery. No matter how much you have suffered here and now, even believing that suffering is somehow in your twisted thinking mentoring your progress toward eternity, unaided by Christ's atonement in which He descended beneath the magnitude of your suffering, you will still not receive enough mercy needed for your relief. Instead, you will just go on suffering needlessly. Yes, you may be tough, even stoic, you may think yourself a magnificent towering example of heroism, but you are deceived. There was only One true martyr who suffered sufficiently and universally for all.

Receive the Holy Ghost

Here is the measure of whether or not the atonement is at work in your life. Have you RECEIVED the Holy Ghost? It is the only cleansing agent available to purify both perpetrators and victims alike.



President Marion G. Romney

President Marion G. Romney taught: "Receiving the Holy Ghost is the therapy which effects forgiveness and heals the sin-sick soul." ("The Holy Ghost," Ensign, May 1974, 92). Those sin-sick souls are either sick of sins they have committed, good deeds they have omitted, or sins others have thrust on them. When we are finally sick enough of sin and its heavy burden, the Holy Ghost has the power to heal all of it.

The Savior taught, "Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day." (3 Nephi 27:20). Mormon, writing to his son Moroni, reminds us, "Behold, I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach -- repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children." (Moroni 8:10).

Begin today to change your mind about the false teachings you have harbored. Compare, challenge your faulty thinking against the scriptures. Do the things to invite the Holy Ghost's companionship into your life. You will know for a surety when he is there, and you will learn to discern when he withdraws. When he is your companion, you know the atonement is working in your life.

We all have roles to play in each others' lives. I'm the big brother, the father and now the grandfather many times over. I can make some choices today that will bring the Holy Ghost to me as my companion in filling those roles. Again, the patriarch reminded me, "You have a responsibility, a special responsibility, being the first born. Those who are younger than you in the family will look to you and will confide in you and I bless you as the older brother that you may inspire them to be as our Savior would have them be." No matter our birth order in our nuclear family, we are all one day promised, if faithful, we will become "firstborns" in the "church of the Firstborn." (See D&C 76:50-70).

No matter what our assignments, roles and birth order, the Holy Ghost is our ally. The Savior said, "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." (John 15:26). We can comfort one another and be comforted by the spirit of the Holy Ghost abounding in each of us. It speaks peace to our hearts. It conquers fear and misjudgment, anxiety and doubt.

Think of those for whom you have responsibility. You will have impressions that come to you about them. Even something as fleeting as a thought, a glimpse into their souls through their eyes, a unresolved mystery that is cankering their soul might be revealed to you to help them. I cannot promise miracles, for such is beyond me, but I can promise you that when you feel those swelling motions stirring within you prompting you to reach out and offer help, you will be feeling the Holy Ghost who will help you deliver the water of God's salvation to the last furrow in your field. You will feel approval and joy. You will know that, for at least that fleeting moment, the power of the Holy Ghost was with you. You will hear truth spoken in your heart and mind. You will know the healing that came into your soul, and you will help clean the souls of others as you have been cleansed.

The Value of Chastening

"Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you." (D&C 95:1).

There is no doubt in my mind today that a way is being prepared even as I write for the deliverance of my loved ones in the extended family who are trapped in their misery. In that one verse the Lord was announcing a specific chastisement because His people had not built the temple. He called failing to heed His commandment "a grievous sin." But the redeeming hope follows quickly -- "I love you," He says, "and I will deliver you."

I want to make it clear, however, change hurts. Repentance hurts. But it hurts less than your current suffering without Him hurts. When Christ describes His suffering, he says, "Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit — and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink." (D&C 19:18). But we only have to suffer to a point. That's where our suffering needlessly, either for our sins or the sins of others, intersects with Christ's pain.

No one can afford the luxury of thinking there is no pain from sin. You can be forgiven. The atonement is real. But President Spencer W. Kimball taught, "If a person hasn't suffered, he hasn't repented." (TSWK, 99). True faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ leads us to stay as far away from sin as we can.

President George Albert Smith

The Lord's Side of the Line

Some people I know in my extended family have suffered from a delusional lie. They expect because the world is more wicked they must expect to be overcome by temptation and they have no power to resist it. President George Albert Smith taught that however dark and dreary the world becomes:

"There are two influences ever present in the world. One is constructive and elevating and comes from our Heavenly Father; the other is destructive and debasing and comes from Lucifer. We have our agency and make our own choice in life subject to these unseen powers. There is a division line well defined that separates the Lord's territory from Lucifer's. If we live on the Lord's side of the line Lucifer cannot come there to influence us, but if we cross the line into his territory we are in his power. By keeping the commandments of the Lord we are safe on His side of the line, but if we disobey His teachings we voluntarily cross into the zone of temptation and invite the destruction that is ever present there. Knowing this, how anxious we should always be to live on the Lord's side of the line." ("Our M.I.A.," Improvement Era, May 1935, 278).

Some were introduced at a very young age to wickedness by others. Think back on your own experiences. Often our best friends during our youthful years subjected us to perversions once unspeakable that now seem to be our common lot. Once innocently sexually abused as a young child, the abused grows into adolescence and adulthood as the abuser. Fear and shame cover the sins of the original abuser for many, many years, then erupt in future generations, and out of shame and guilt the sins remain hidden from view, suffering escalates, is perpetuated, and gains power over the original innocent victim. How tragic. How avoidable. How senseless. The cancer can be removed, it can be cut out, and it dies in the sunlight just as the fictional myth of the vampires dies in the morning sunlight. Wickedness never was righteousness, and has no power when we oppose it.

Born Again

President Ezra Taft Benson

If you read deeper in these pages, you will discover my love for the prophets. We have many dramatic examples of marvelous "quick" conversions in the scriptures. However, we were reminded by President Ezra Taft Benson in a memorable General Conference address, "For every Paul, for every Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands of people who find the process of repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord, little realizing they are building a godlike life. They live quiet lives of goodness, service, and commitment. They are like the Lamanites, who the Lord said 'were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not' (3 Nephi 9:20)." ("A Mighty Change of Heart," Ensign, October 1989, 5).

There is a very real doctrine, one so bold and declarative it cannot be dismissed, and one our "born again" Christian friends claim does not exist in Mormonism. It is this -- we must all be born again. (See Alma 5:14, 15, 26-31).

"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?" (Alma 5:14-15).

Do you want to be one in whose countenance the image of Christ's reality can be etched? "Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth." (Alma 5:16). Aren't those blessed words worth changing whatever it is your life that is causing so much misery, fear, shame, anger or resentment? Alma explains the relief remedy:

And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?
Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.
Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.
And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?
Wo unto such an one, for he is not prepared, and the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved! (Alma 5:26-31, emphasis mine).

Ah, the simple words, the change -- change in what? The mighty change of heart. How is it accomplished? Google searches rely upon keywords. Long before Google, Alma used keywords too: humble, stripped of pride, stripped of envy, not making a mock of my brother, garments cleansed. So where are you on changing your mind and your heart?

My guess is you will be humble enough that you may be reluctant to believe the mighty change of heart is going on right now. I have often likened the spiritual rebirth to being as perceptible as watching your fingernails growing. It may be happening and you are discounting it. But maybe you will trust enough to confide in those who love you most. Saying the words you need to say liberates you and frees you from the chains that bind you down. When you speak truth -- the truth of your misery -- they lose power instantly. Secrets held for years melt away like frost in the morning heat of the sun. Your loved ones will know when you begin to unearth your hidden "treasures" of sin without any attached dirt clods of shame still clinging to its roots. And the Savior and our Heavenly Father already know. And that is enough.

"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). Scripture mastery scriptures are divinely selected for a reason -- that one will last throughout your life.

Choose to Change

I know we can choose to change. I know it will be painful initially, but possible. I know the Holy Ghost will provide the needed comfort. I know the cleansing influence of the Holy Ghost is priceless. I know the Holy Ghost can scatter evil spirits who are whispering lies in your ears. I know the confidence that knowing can bring. I know that coming unto Christ is the way, the only way, we are sanctified and will never hunger or thirst again.

To my friends and the members of my extended family who are still suffering, remember what President McKay said that at "some period" in your lives you will feel an irresistible desire to rise to a higher, more beautiful world. That may not be today, but don't let too many more days pass before you act on that desire. If you'll let these words penetrate into your hearts, the time will come for something better than what you are currently experiencing. Come unto Christ. He knows the way. I know the way. I've tried to lay it out in today's post.

Don't believe the lie, "Oh, that's just fantasy. That's not possible. I could never change that much."

You can. The Savior promised, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). Believe Him.

He can and He will deliver you from bondage. You don't have to wait for the spirit world. He means for you to be happy in this life. Here and now.

Your yearning for something better is a yearning to come unto Christ. This promise is not mine. It is the promise of the miracle you seek: "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me." (D&C 19:23).

Grandma Patsy's Easter Letter

April 2011

My darling children and grandchildren,

Happy Easter! This is a glorious time of year. It is one of my favorite times of the year. April is the month that our Savior, Jesus Christ was really born. It is also the month when the Church of Jesus Christ was organized. It is General Conference month when we can listen to our prophets and learn what the Lord wants us to know and do. It is also the month (usually) that we celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I decided as an Easter remembrance this year I would like to tell you about my testimony of and my gratitude for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and why it means so much to me.

As a child and for as long as I can remember I have loved my Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. I loved to hear about them and I loved to sing songs about them. I loved to pray to my Heavenly Father and I knew He would answer my prayers. I always wanted to feel close to Heavenly Father and Jesus and do the things that they wanted me to do. Those are the things that made me happy.

As I grew, my testimony of the principles of the gospel also grew and developed. I knew my Savior loved me. I knew He experienced all kinds of trials and ridicule. I knew He suffered in Gethsemane and on the cross for me and for all mankind. I knew on the third day, after he died, that He was resurrected. I knew that meant we could all live after we die.

But when I really KNEW the great blessing and reality of the resurrection was when I was fifteen years old and a sophomore at East High School.

Lin Hewlett, 1963

Life as a fifteen-year-old was good. I had a great family and some wonderful friends. It was easier to be a “lowly sophomore” because I had an older brother who also went to East High. Lin was seventeen and had lots of friends and lots of talents and abilities. He was a senior. He played basketball, baseball, and sang in the A’Cappella and Madrigals. He was a “big man on campus.” He was a good brother to me. He acknowledged that I was his sister and his friends all said hello to me even though I was just a tenth grader. I was quite shy and so all of those people made being at a new school with over 2500 students easier for me. My best friends, Karen Burton and Becky Young, were the oldest in their families. Thus they had to “make it on their own," unlike those of us who had older siblings.

Hewlett Children, 1963

School started in September, so by October I was feeling fairly secure. All was good in my world. Then on October 21, 1963, my world was forever changed. My mother was President of the East High PTA. She and my father had a meeting at school that night.

Lin was off playing basketball at a stake center out south with his best friend, Flemming Christensen, and Gary Barrus. I was home tending John and Ernie. After Mother and Daddy returned home we were talking about what teachers had to say, etc., and the phone rang. They answered and quickly hung up. Evidently Lin had been in an accident and they had to go to the hospital. They quickly left.

Soon after, the door bell rang. At the door was Uncle Budge. Aunt Marlene and Uncle Budge lived above us on 16th Avenue. He asked for Mom and Dad and I told him they were at the hospital. He responded he knew that and when we asked what had happened he said, “I guess there was an accident and your brother was killed.”

A drunk driver had crossed four lanes of highway on Wasatch Blvd. and had hit Lin’s car head-on. Lin and Flemming were both killed instantly. Gary was injured, but soon recovered. What a shock! How shattered we all were. Lin was gone. . . never to return home. I was devastated! I was hysterical! I was in a fog! How would we ever go on without Lin?!

I remember lots of calls, lots of visitors, lots of food, lots of flowers, lots of love, lots of notes. I remember lots of news articles and lots of tears. Mother and Daddy were amazing. They seemed to comfort all who came. We had the viewing and the funeral. Many commented that Lin and Flemming had gone on their missions early.

Some said the Lord had a great work for them to do. I can’t remember all of the details, but what I do remember is that after I had had a priesthood blessing and I had prayed that a sweet peace enveloped me. I knew through the power of the Holy Ghost I would see my brother again; Christ our Savior was resurrected and because of Him and His sacrifices for us we would be able to live on after we died.

That knowledge didn’t take the pain and the emptiness away, but it did give me the courage to keep living and to try even harder than I ever had to live so I could be with Lin again. I remember lots and lots of days and nights walking to the cemetery and sitting by his grave. I remember crying and missing him. I remember talking to him and to the Lord. It was not an easy time, but I knew without any question the resurrection was real and because of Christ we would all live again.

How thankful I was for that knowledge and how thankful I still am!

Adrienne Goates, 1992

Years have passed and we have lost others we love. It is never easy to let them go. How we still miss all of them, but I know without any doubt we shall see them all again. I know if I keep my covenants that through the atonement and through the power of the priesthood we shall be a family forever! I know God lives and loves us. I know Jesus is the Christ and through Him we shall be saved if we repent and do all we can do. I am so thankful for my Savior. Because of Him and through our covenants in the holy temple we can be sealed together forever!

I love you all more than you will ever know. I pray constantly for each of you! May you all more fully appreciate the gifts our Savior and our Heavenly Father have given all of us this Easter is my prayer.

Love,
Mom (Grandma Patsy)

(My reflections on the events of the fall of 1963 are recorded here. A month later, following Lin and Flemming's deaths, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas).

An Easter Testimony

I have remarkable children and grandchildren. This evening we had a video chat, then a story followed in an e-mail I eagerly share with all of you:

My children have a mild obsession with the reenactment of ordinances. They can be found almost daily, filling their tool boxes with little bits of bread to gingerly pass to each member of the family. Then last week I found them "baptizing" each other on the front lawn. I don't know where the fixation started, but I'll take it over playing war or any other number of less-desirable make-believe games, so I have yet to discourage their rituals.

This week has been hard on me. Last week I was an unshakable pillar of strength and patience. It seemed that nothing could get me down in the midst of lots of circumstances that could have. I don't know what changed, but this week my patience and coping are nil. I don't understand why sometimes we cope so much better than other times, but whatever the reasons, I have been running on empty for several days. By the time afternoon hit here I was tied in knots and my fuse was incredibly short. I couldn't cope with the incessant crying of my one-year-old, and the toddlers were doing their best to ensure I blew a gasket by dinnertime. My nerves were shot and I was officially spent. In a frustrated swoop, I grabbed my crying baby from the floor for the umpteenth time and put him on the counter so he could look right into my eyes. "I cannot handle you crying all day long every day, Gideon!" I said to him and yet to no one all at the same time.

And then, in my hour of frustration and exhaustion, the sacrament arrived. Three-year-old Noah quietly walked into the kitchen and held out the offering. "Just one piece, mommy," he gently reminded me. The irony wasn't lost on me. It was Thursday, the day before Good Friday, and the anniversary of Christ's original introduction of the sacrament in that sacred upper room. In that moment I accepted my son's emblem, I was reminded of what I'd covenanted to do just last Sunday. I had covenanted to always remember my Savior, and yet in those hours and days of exhaustion and weariness, how easily do I forget? How easily do I forget that He died for me? He gave His life so I don't have to carry the burdens and responsibilities of life alone. His atoning sacrifice is not just for the big challenges and trials of life, but for my seemingly insignificant challenges that chip away at my spirit and my peace daily. The crying baby, the fighting toddlers, and the unswept floor are all swept up in Him and His precious gift.

That is what I remember as I celebrate His life and His death - that His precious offerings matter in every moment and every detail of my life. It is in those simple moments that I need to accept His sacrificial gift with gratitude, and strive to always remember Him.

Suffer No More, the Good Friday Miracle

Our scant knowledge of the events of the historical “Good Friday” informs us of one fact – God is in the details of the plan of salvation all the way, for there are no half measures here.

Interestingly, Utah may be one of the few states in the nation that does not observe Good Friday except in a casual way as an excuse for a quasi-extra day for a long weekend. Nationwide, Good Friday is a bona fide day off work when businesses formally shutter early for the weekend.

We pause on this day to contemplate the role of suffering. But there is normally cringing over suffering. I could never bring myself to watch the Mel Gibson film about The Passion. I felt I knew enough already in the Savior’s own chilling words:

Therefore I command you to repent — repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore — how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.
For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit — and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink —
Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.
Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.
And I command you that you preach naught but repentance, and show not these things unto the world until it is wisdom in me. (D&C 19:15-21).

He suffered for all of us so we wouldn’t if we repent and come unto Him. Why repent? To avoid suffering. It’s a simple covenant. Do we suffer for our sins? No doubt. Do others suffer because of our sins? Of course they do. There is no such thing as a "victimless" sin. The ripples in the ponds of our self-indulgence send rings of agony if left unchecked into future generations. That suffering, when it is intense enough, when the dregs have been drained, leads us to the foot of the cross at Golgotha in a figurative way. We partake of the fellowship of His suffering (see Philippians 3:10) only in part, in the allegorical sense by comparison. Our guilt for sin is an inestimable gift to help us keep our bearings on our mortal journey.

Our Father in Heaven and His Only Begotten Son showed us the way to avoid pain and suffering. However, the plan of salvation must be and is completely voluntary. We accept the vicarious suffering accomplished for us to avoid it ourselves. He accepts our repentance and we come to know in time that our earlier pain and suffering can be assuaged and relieved. But only if we truly forsake our sins, not in some feigned confession during Lent, then a quick return to degradation. Agency to choose and to act obediently overarches and undergirds the plan.

All these facts are lovely and they are true. However, when we witness a family member who sustains suffering for many, many years, when we are faced with personal or family tragedy and adversity over a protracted period of time, when addictions claim their victims among those we love most, there seems to be no relief in sight. How is our tolerance for faith in the plan then?

While serving in a bishopric years ago, we routinely visited a homebound sister who had lain in bed for many years, the victim of a debilitating disease that slowly disabled her. On those Sunday afternoons when we entered the temple of her suffering for visits we always came away uplifted. On one such afternoon, I dared to ask, “Mary, how is it that you maintain your faith, when the pain is so great?” She had raised a wonderful family, but lamented she could now do so little for them. Then she said something I never forgot. Diminished as she was in her physical limitations, she said, “But I can still pray for them.” And we all knew her prayers for them went straight to the throne of God.

In recent years, our global communication networks have assured we see human suffering without respite. Little is left to imagination. The work of earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, oil spills, nuclear power plant meltdowns, gang and drug murders -- all of it -- is on full display with unedited accuracy. Political strife and discord assault our senses. Awareness of suffering is on a grander scale now than at any time in history perhaps. Imagine what God sees and knows that we do not! Even seeing in part causes some to turn away and doubt there could be a God in the face of such agonies.

It is ever so much more difficult when trials of faith are no longer detached from us halfway around the world. When it is me who suffers, the pain is acute. The words, "All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" (D&C 122:7) hauntingly remind us there is still much to learn, apparently. The wintry reminders often make us shiver at the implications. We cry out, "Haven't I had enough of that experience yet?"

Elder Orson F. Whitney wrote: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. . . It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.” (Cited in Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle [1972], 98).

Lacking understanding of God's plan of salvation, we often misread life's trials. We see others stricken with unrelieved ailments and we wonder, "Why?" The answer is that God and Jesus, possessed of perfect love and omniscience, demand that we trust Them. That simple requirement, "Trust me," is not discipleship for the faint of heart, knowing what the Savior said about His agony. "Trust me," He reminds us, "that my suffering was sufficient for you, and that ample provision has been made for your deliverance." That's tall timber in a vast forest of human suffering to have to chop sometimes, isn't it?

Do you sometimes shudder at the mention of “liken” scriptures? (See 1 Nephi 19:23). It seems everywhere we look on the pages of scriptures we find an invitation to engage – anxiously – in similar outcomes.

If in the plan we are not required to exercise moral agency, accept the risk of failure, and if uncertainty did not play a major role in our decision making, there could be no real sustainable and lasting character growth. Our faith must be tried in the furnace of affliction and accompanying discipleship. What will we choose first? Will we choose happiness? We are admonished to “be of good cheer.” Can we really choose that in the face of everything seeming to destroy us and make us suffer? Absent insecurity or anxiety, can you really step up to be counted?

Rest assured, we are informed we will all be tried at the weakest point of entry (see Ether 12:27) only so we can plumb the depths of our lowest lows, as did the One who descended below all things. In recent years, I have wondered as I have seen others' suffering, "Even this, Lord? Can you mend even this broken vessel?" In time as we grapple with weaknesses, we learn to see the enemy coming from afar off and we are given strength to overcome in the agony of Christ’s suffering for us if we ask for it.

There is comforting assurance of the purpose of our suffering. We read about it in Abraham 3:25 and Mosiah 3:19; 23:21). These true doctrines can brace better for the battle within us. Unwillingness to even try to slay the natural man within can turn him into a raging beast that will rob us of our agency if we succumb and submit, however. I love what C.S. Lewis said:

C.S. Lewis

"Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. . . We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist." (Mere Christianity).

President Brigham Young was ever the optimist, a much-needed attribute today, when he observed:

"If you could see things as they are, you would know that the whole plan of salvation, and all the revelations ever given to man on the earth are as plain as would be the remarks of an Elder, were he to stand here and talk about our every day business. You may now be inclined to say, 'O, this is too simple and child-like, we wish to hear the mysteries of the kingdoms of the Gods who have existed from eternity, and of all the kingdoms in which they will dwell; we desire to have these things portrayed to our understandings.' Allow me to inform you that you are in the midst of it all now." (JD 8:115).

President Brigham Young

Having faith in all the subtleties of the the plan of salvation here and later on and forever, is probably what the Apostle Paul understood when he said "that all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). Nephi, likely overwhelmed with what he had just experienced, concluded, "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." (1 Nephi 11:17).

Isn’t it strange that a little boy in our ward who took an “unsupervised swim” at age two and nearly drowned, lost all his mental and physical faculties? Now he lies thirty-odd years later in a special needs chair, his limbs badly atrophied and without speech. He seems to want to “get out" of his crippled body and do so much more, while there are so many able-bodied ones out there in the world, who seem to want to just “get out” of this life by ending it with their own hands. They suppose their pain is so much harder to bear than my shriveled friend in a chair.

Some languish for years in old age longing for departure, searching in vain it seems for the exit door, while young people are snuffed out in the prime of life instantly in a tragic accident. How can one make sense of any of that?

I have wondered if there is another level of understanding in the parable of the talents. When we know more, perhaps we will learn that those with so little in this life like the crippled one in the special needs chair, have done so much before and even now without our knowing. The sanctifying care giving of his parents and family stand as a testament of love, charity and service. God's perfect love and mercy will someday bestow a crown upon those valiant parents and brothers and sisters. The words for which the disciples yearn, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," will no doubt ring in their ears. And what if we were to learn later on of a pre-mortal agreement to accept those physical limitations? Would such awareness now further humble us in our haughtiness over how much we are called upon to suffer in selfishness? Look around. You can count so many more blessings on fingers and toes that work.

Have you often wondered as I do, "Does God really know what I’m dealing with? Does He really hear my impassioned pleas for help?” We believe in a God with body parts and passions like our own. That’s a good question to ask on Good Friday. Does the Father understand passion? The Passion? Would He listen to your pleas now, knowing what His Beloved Son sacrificed for you? The answer is "Yes!" He knows! He cares! He loves you! He knows the end from the beginning. His foreknowledge of your life, your pain, your suffering was all taken into account in the plan. Only in His knowing beforehand, perfectly, could He deliver us here and now. We worship an omniscient Father. His perspective is attuned to our pleading for deliverance. We are endowed with the very the DNA of the Gods. But in our neophyte mortal state we can only develop faith by not knowing, not seeing, not being perfect yet. Experience is lacking. It enables our progress.

Alma prophesied, “he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and. . . he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. . . That his bowels may be filled with mercy, . . . that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” (Alma 7:11-12, emphasis mine).

So why does He not always intervene for us? Why are not all blessings for health answered? Why are not all wayward children restored instantly to the path of righteousness in answer to a parent’s passionate plea?

Knowing everything as He does will never alter agency one bit. We and our children are left to choose, even though He knows the choice in advance. It’s why we call the atonement infinite. Everything was taken into account in advance. Joseph Smith said God "has made ample provision," so the purposes in His plan of salvation will be achieved — including our part within that plan if we are faithful. (See Luke 10:17, 18; John 8:44; Revelation 12. In the light of these references consider also Isaiah 14:12-32, and D&C 76:25-90). To overcome evil and the tempter's snares, the plan was based on His perfect knowledge of Satan's role too.

“Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. Fear not, little children, for you are mine. . . Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd." (D&C 50:40-41, 44).

This Easter weekend there will be legions of Christians around the world proclaiming their belief in Jesus Christ. The better question is, “Do you believe Christ?” Without the willingness to believe in the foreknowledge of the Father and Jesus Christ, one stares with vacant eyes at the prophecies in scripture and wonders aloud, “How can that be?” To say God is not there or does not care is to discard foreknowledge, if believed, that will sanctify and save us.

So believe it. You will be resurrected. You can be transformed, redeemed and exalted. Yes, even you and me.

On this Good Friday before Easter Sunday, in the midst of destruction in all its manifestations, remember the Lord Jesus Christ is working on a plan of eternal increase, of wisdom, intelligence, honor, excellence, power, glory, might, and dominion, and all the godly attributes that fill eternity. In an upper room the night before Good Friday, knowing what was coming, He gave us the ordinance of remembrance. How simple the objects, broken bread and wine, to symbolize His suffering for us.

What principle does the devil work upon? It is to divide, subtract, destroy, dissolve, decompose, and tear in pieces. This destruction includes marriages, friendships, faith, self-esteem, and life itself.

We worship the One who made the "great and last sacrifice." (Alma 34:10). He triumphed. We benefit when we recognize and accept the gift by emulating His life.

His suffering on Good Friday was sufficient for us all, and today we remember that after Gethsemane followed by the betrayal, the false accusations, the miscarriage of justice, the scourging, the crown of plaited thorns, the mocking at the crucifixion and the thunder and lightning with the earthquake, comes Easter Morning.

What 100% Looks Like

Submitted by today's guest blogger:


There is a great scene in the Bill Murray classic, "The Man Who Knew Too Little." In this scene the oblivious Murray, playing the clueless Wally Ritchey, believes he is acting in an elaborate audience participation drama, despite being a real-life hostage. At one point, after accidentally knocking his captors unconscious, Murray criticizes their lack of effort with the words,"Come on! Ya have to give it 100%. Let me show you what 100% looks like." He then, while tied to a chair and his hands tied behind his back, flops down onto the ground, digs out the knife from one captor's sleeve and cuts himself loose.

Growing up playing sports, I thought I knew a little something about giving 100%. In fact, as one having little natural ability, I prided myself on always working as hard as I could. Coaches often talked about this concept of giving 100%. By high school, giving 100% apparently wasn't good enough and before I knew it I had a sticker with 101% on my football helmet.

With time, even 101% wasn't enough and the cliche became "give 110%!" With a few of my more intelligent teammates it became a sort of inside joke that no matter what we did, it was never going to be enough. When I gave 100% the coach wanted 101%, when I gave 101% he wanted 110%. I even remember a professional basketball player who gave an interview where he said all he wanted to do was "go out and give 1000%." It made me want to go out there and give a million percent, a google-plex percent, or maybe an infinity percent. I got to the point where for me, the "give 100%" cliche became like most other cliches, overcooked and meaningless. It became difficult for me to see what giving 100% really looked like.

Then I grew up. . .

I remember coaches saying their goal in coaching was to teach players how to be good husbands, fathers, and contributing members to society. I never anticipated the realization of why I ran so many sprints, spent so many hours practicing my jump shot, and dedicated such a huge percentage of my adolescent years to sports, would suddenly make sense as I stood at Disneyland as a 30 year-old father of three.

I am a slow learner, but it was there I finally fully grasped why learning to give 100% in sports was such an essential lesson to learn.

My wife and I had been trying to get our family to Disneyland for awhile and the trip for our kids, 7, 5, and 2 was highly anticipated. We went on all the traditional rides, and because of the time of year and the soggy weather, we avoided the lines most anticipate finding at Disneyland. We did Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad half a dozen times and went on every major ride at least once, most twice. The kids loved everything it seemed, and this Disneyland trip was truly magical.

We had heard a lot about a new attraction, The Magical World of Color. It's a new light show at Disneyland California Adventure Park where favorite Disney movie clips are projected onto a water canvas, beautifully created by an arsenal of synchronized water cannons. We waited in line early one morning to get our "reserved" spots for that evening's show. But when we got held up on another ride, we arrived at the show later than most and found ourselves in the back of our "reserved section." I came to realize that by "reserved," what was actually meant was that you got to stand in a crowded roped off section, rather than standing where you wanted.

As the show began, my wife and I quickly tried to find a realistic way of helping all three of our kids get a glimpse of the show. Because we arrived late and we have a vertically challenged family, I was the only one able to see the show on my own. I started with my boys in my arms and my wife holding our two-year-old daughter. It didn't take long for my seven-year-old son to realize such an arrangement was uncomfortable and silly for a seven-year-old. We tried to adjust them, on my shoulders, to my back, in my arms, even standing inside the stroller, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, after about five minutes the seven-year-old gave up and sat in the stroller for the remainder of the show, missing it almost entirely.

We settled with my daughter in my left arm and my five-year-old son in my right arm. Before too long, my daughter was asleep. Twenty-eight pounds of dead weight in the left arm and my thirty-seven pound five year-old in the other. The show was forty minutes long.

Five minutes into it my back was cramping up in a bad way and my arms were burning worse than they ever did during the last rep of any weightlifting class exercise I remembered. My feet were burning too. As if the pain of "Disneyland feet" weren't enough, I have suffered from plantar fasciitis for the past two years and the pain was nothing short of excruciating. I wanted to set the kids down, but I didn't want to disturb my sleeping princess or distract the one child I had who was actually enjoying the show.

So, there I stood -- arms, back, and feet burning -- for forty minutes frozen it seemed in eternity.

It was at that moment I finally understood what my coaches were trying to teach me with all that 100% talk. It was not the first moment I had ever exercised mental toughness outside of sports. There were lots of times in my studies at law school and as a husband and father where I drew upon my experiences from sports and did something that was hard.

However, it was at that moment standing there in Disneyland when I completely and acutely understood. Had I not given 100% on the last set of lines in basketball practice when it mattered to my team, I never would have been prepared to give 100% when it mattered more to my family. I knew at any moment I could have made the pain stop by putting the kids down. Instead, I drew upon the lessons I had learned from sports and I gave 100%.

As I watched the show in the midst of this pain, I thought back to all of the sacrifices my parents made for me and my many siblings. I realized how much work a Disneyland trip must have been for them with all their children. Even more puzzling was how it was possible for us all to have positive memories of such a trip!

I thought about the mental toughness of my Mom having not been to sleep all night because she was sick, cleaning up the throw-up of the fourth child with the flu that night. I thought about her hands, cracked and bleeding out of service to us.

I thought about how difficult it must have been for my Dad to be a good sport about always doing what everyone else wanted to do, rather than doing anything he wanted. There was his passing up the fancy new car in order for his herd of kids to have clothes and shoes, despite our best efforts to outgrow and destroy them all. I remembered his giving me his last $20 in his wallet to fill up his car with gas I thoughtlessly used. Both were sacrificing literally all their selfish desires for the good of their children.

That is what 100% looks like.

As we left the park that night, our daughter remained asleep on my shoulder. We talked about our favorite things from the day and about the Magic Color show. The seven-year-old was happy about the day and claims to have not missed seeing the show. I think it was his way of not making us feel bad. The five-year-old could not stop talking about how much he loved the show.

At that moment, I felt a sense of satisfaction I always dreamed winning a state championship would bring. Despite the fact two of the three children were oblivious of any sacrifice being made on their behalf, I had been given a precious insight into what it REALLY means to give 100%.

I also learned all it takes is for one to appreciate the sacrifice to make it all worth it.

Socialism and The Book of Mormon

A writer in The Salt Lake Tribune the other day asserted a link between The Book of Mormon and socialism. His premise -- at their very worst the people portrayed in the record were greedy capitalists, and at their best they were socialists.

I suspect there are few things that get my blood boiling more than someone who asserts the law of consecration resembles socialism in any way imaginable.

President Marion G. Romney

I have written extensively in the past about the law of consecration. This is one example. Here's another, where I wrote the definitive book about the establishment of Zion in the latter-days based upon the scriptures and the statements of the living prophets who succeeded Joseph Smith. I even cited President Marion G. Romney (a registered Democrat) who has written and spoken persuasively against this misinformed position.

Harry Reid (D-NV), a Mormon and the Senate majority leader, embodies this flawed and misguided political philosophy better than anyone I could suggest. When political rhetoric reaches its extreme in Utah we get articles like this one appearing in the "rival" newspaper. It is tempting to reach for alternative explanations anchored in the core beliefs of the predominant point of view here in Utah. This present attempt, however, is pathetic and misrepresented the truth (I didn't call him a bad name).

The writer asserts: 

"My reading of the Book of Mormon is not idiosyncratic. As a missionary in England I met many Mormon socialists with testimonies of the scriptural admonition for equality. They saw in their sacred texts a spiritual rationale to support their own government programs, including their prized National Health Service.

"They actually believe the admonition of Jesus, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' Matthew 25:40."

The leap in logic here is breathtaking, and the premise is simply mangled beyond recognition and reclamation. Were the writer actually informed by his reading and study as a member of the Church, he would conclude the federal, state and local governments should have NO role in administering relief to the poor and the afflicted.

Why? Because government mandates participation through taxation. There is nothing voluntary about a tax code being imposed upon the citizenry. There is nothing voluntary about how those tax revenues are spent in a representative republic like America's. There is nothing voluntary in socialism.

However, if we discuss the law of consecration, EVERYTHING about it is voluntary, a sacred private covenant between the individual and God. Until there is a proper and perfect theocracy in place when the Savior comes again, it seems we are stuck with "collective salvation" as a false doctrine. The idea one cannot be saved without saving everyone is at the core of the doctrine of the atonement, and that is the exclusive domain of the Savior of the world, NOT governments and elected leaders who would assume that role for themselves.

You can call it "anti-Christ" and you would not be far off the mark.

One may reach for a "scriptural admonition" if one wishes for equality mandated by government solutions, but the operative word here is "reach." The law of consecration is something quite different, foreign, even alien to a government mandating socialism through the redistribution of wealth by taxing the haves in the name of religion, then helping the poor in whatever way "they" determine.

Zion will not come about because we will all become the willing minions of a man-managed government. The principles of the Constitution, while God-given, are drifting further and further from the mooring. And anything More or Less than what God gave is devilish by definition.

And that includes trying to equate socialism with the pure religion of The Book of Mormon!

The Two Plans

Moral (or free) agency is the gift we have been given by a loving Heavenly Father.  We have the right to choose good or evil.

The earliest record we have of its evidence is a suggestion from scripture that we were faced with a choice in the premortal realms before we came to inhabit this earth as mortals.  In the Church over the years we have heard "two plans" were presented for our consideration.  Here's an example from 1943:

President Harold B. Lee

I read in the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants that the Lord speaks of a time when the hour shall soon come, but is not yet, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and when the devil would have power over his own dominion (see D&C 1:35). I have wondered what that meant, for the devil to have power over his own dominion.

I read in the writings of Moses that there came a time in the Council in Heaven when "two plans" were proposed, and the children of our Heavenly Father were there assembled. There was one who said: Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.

But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me — Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.

Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;

And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.

His mission, then, was to destroy the agency of man. I think when I see the hand of dictatorship laid bare and the ugly monster that would subvert all mankind to the will of such dictatorship, I fancy I see in that nation thus guided the evidence of that power of this one who would thus destroy agency. When I see in an individual one who has been overcome largely because of habits or because of his becoming a slave to his passions or his appetites, I realize as well the person thus enslaved likewise has succumbed to the dominion of Satan's power. (Teachings of Harold B. Lee, 182-3; 43-03, 4, emphasis mine).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Elder Bruce R. McConkie ten years later took exception with the characterization of "two plans" being presented in the grand council:

Who created and presented the plan of salvation as it was adopted in the pre-existent councils in heaven? Did Christ offer one plan which would allow men their agency, and Lucifer sponsor another founded on compulsion?

Although we sometimes hear it said that there were two plans -- Christ's plan of freedom and agency, and Lucifer's of slavery and compulsion -- such teaching does not conform to the revealed word. Christ did not present a plan of redemption and salvation nor did Lucifer. There were not two plans up for consideration; there was only one; and that was the plan of the Father: originated, developed, presented, and put in force by him. . .

The chief cornerstone of the whole plan was to be the atoning sacrifice of a Redeemer, one of the Father's spirit sons who was to be born into the world as his literal Son in the flesh. By this means was to be effected a resurrection, a reunion of body and spirit in immortality, the two never again to be separated. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Who Is the Author of the Plan of Salvation?" Improvement Era, May 1953, 322, emphasis mine).

We must conclude based upon a careful reading of the scriptures that Elder McConkie is likely correct. The plan presented was the Father's plan. It was introduced on the same principles by which our Father in Heaven became God. (See TPJS, 345). It was given to us as His spirit children to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). The only question was which son would the Father send to implement the plan, and even in that choice there was no question as to which it would be because Christ was the firstborn pre-eminent one.

President Boyd K. Packer

Many years later, President Boyd K. Packer harmonized this seeming dichotomy nicely in this way, suggesting the scriptures do make reference to "a very subtle plan of the adversary" intended to destroy us:

This great plan of happiness was first presented in a grand council in our premortal life. Each of us was there, a son or a daughter of God. Each had a choice to accept or to reject it. There was a rebellion, and a war erupted over the plan. Our being here with a mortal body tells us we were on the right side.

The leader of the rebellion formulated a plan of his own. It is described in the revelations as the "cunning plan of the evil one" or the "very subtle plan of the adversary" (2 Nephi 9:28; Alma 12:4-5) or the "great plan of destruction" (3 Nephi 1:16; see also Helaman 2:8; D&C 10:12).

Each of us chose the great plan of happiness. We know this because otherwise we would not be here in mortality. (The Things of the Soul, 57, emphasis mine).

While it is true Satan was in a state of rebellion, it is not completely accurate to state he had an alternative plan to the great plan of happiness as described by the Father. As a Church it seems we grew up on that tradition without giving it a second thought -- there were two plans presented in the grand council of heaven, and we were given a vote as to which plan we would accept. Joseph Smith said:  "At the first organization in heaven we were all present, and saw the Savior chosen and appointed and the plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it."  The fact we are here in mortal bodies is cited as evidence we chose correctly.  Those who followed Satan's "plan" were denied physical bodies, as explained by the Prophet Joseph Smith (see TPJS, 181, 189-90, 255, 305-6). "The punishment of the devil was that he should not have a habitation like men.  The devil's retaliation is, he comes into this world, binds up men's bodies, and occupies them himself.  When the authorities come along, they eject him from a stolen habitation." Joseph Smith never characterized the council in heaven as a choice between two plans. It seems that tradition grew up later over the years.

Because of our affirmation of Jesus Christ, our elder brother, in that grand council, we adopted the plan of the Father. That plan was to be one of agency and the possibility of failure but also redemption from our mistakes and sins. We must have had no doubt in that expression of faith that Christ could and would redeem us from our fallen state.

Each of us has been gifted time here in mortality. Our infant daughter Adrienne came for only a few weeks. Her parents live on, quickly approaching the proverbial "three score years and ten" or more. Adrienne has two great-grandparents who will turn 89 in the next two weeks. What is obvious (or should be) is the length of mortality is not as important as what you do with the time allotted.

Mortal life seems to be comprised of one decision after another. Once we overcome the basic choice between good and evil, often the allotment of our time revolves around two or more good choices, but even these must be carefully prioritized because we cannot have it all. Sometimes the weightiest decisions we face are involved with which of our many choices is good, better or best.

This freedom to decide for ourselves is perhaps the greatest blessing we could receive from a gracious Heavenly Father. Our growth and development through the sunshine and shadows of life could never be achieved if everything were forced upon us and all that were required of us is to blindly follow a preordained course of meaningless conformity. It seems government solutions take this path to our detriment.

The freedom to express and live by our choices is the basic issue we faced in the grand council of heaven.  Christ represented the embodiment of the Father's plan because only He qualified as the Firstborn, the Redeemer, the Mediator, and the Messiah.  Before we ever came to earth that seminal idea had to be defended by a "war in heaven."  The forces of truth have been defending this right ever since right here on earth, and the struggle gets no easier. 

The adversary continues to speak in very subtle but counterfeit languages to our spirits. He takes many prisoners in this war of attrition between good and evil. The deceptions grow stronger and more bold with each passing year. To the younger generation, my children and grandchildren, I suggest staying close to your parents, your file leaders in the Church, your bishop and other priesthood leaders. There is great safety and wisdom in their admonitions to you. When they wear the priesthood mantle, they speak with the voice of the Savior for your blessing. Their counsel is to be valued. If followed, they will not lead you astray. Align yourselves with them as they in turn point you to Heavenly Father and the Savior. Remember, true revelation never comes from the sides -- it comes from above in a vertical, not horizontal, line. Don't ever let anyone else offer you a revelation to direct your thinking without making certain your "alignment" is correct.

I offer the words of the great prophet Samuel the Lamanite: "And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits. . . And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.  He hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you." (Helaman 14:13; 30-31).

It is not enough to say all the right things with our lips. We must act upon our choices. Each of us has agency. Each is free to choose. Nothing is left undone for our ultimate joy and happiness if we choose it. What frees us -- ironically to some -- is careful adherence to our Heavenly Father's plan, and that means repentance. Nothing is more liberating spiritually than having heavy burdens of sin lifted from our shoulders by loving priesthood leaders acting in the stead of the Savior whose atonement made it all possible. He does not just make up the difference between our lapses and what we know is right -- He IS the difference. When we "retain a remission of our sins" by ongoing worthiness it is only achieved through constant and careful repentance.

We are constantly exposed to a lot of "shoulds" in the Church -- we should keep the Word of Wisdom, we should  pay tithes and offerings, we should sustain our leaders, we should study the scriptures, we should attend our meetings, we should go home and visiting teaching, we should pray often, we should live the gospel, we should teach our children, we should bake bread for our sick neighbors, we should attend the temple, we should love our enemies, we should forgive seventy times seven the trespasses against us, and the list goes on and on. Everyone, it seems, is "shoulding" on everyone else. What we must be careful about is not to do too much shoulding on each other. I promise not to should on you if you won't should on me. What we must come to realize for ourselves and others is this simple dictim: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).

The plan of happiness is not obvious in the Holy Bible. Only after one studies The Book of Mormon, particularly, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, and then revisits the Bible, does one see elements of the great plan of happiness scattered throughout from beginning to end. Our enemies would accuse us of promulgating "another gospel" but what we have IS "the gospel" in its fulness and in its complete form.

We were involved in a premortal existence before we came to live on earth in mortality. It's hard to find a way to make sense out of this life without that knowledge. We lived as spirit children. We were individual intelligent sons and daughters of God. Our gender was an established fact before this world rolled into existence.

Our spirit existence spans a long, long period of time. Joseph Smith once gave us a working number, according to William W. Phelps: 2,555,000,000 years!  He said Joseph learned from the Egyptian papyri that life has been going on in this system of planets (not the world) for that long.

Here's where it came from: Seven days in a week, times 365 days in a year = 2,555. We learn in Abraham 3:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 that one day with the Lord is 1,000 years in man's reckoning. So, 7,000 x 365,000 = 2,555,000,000. (See Times & Seasons 5 no. 24 [1 Jan. 1844], 758).

It helps me to explain how two children born of the same earthly parents, so alike in physical appearance, frequently are so different in personality, temperament, and disposition. As parents of thirteen we have seen it play out again and again. Their individuality is innate. They came as a complete and unique package from the moment they were laid in our arms. Truth is, they remained in the presence of Heavenly Father longer than we did. Prophets throughout our dispensation have taught the more valiant spirits were held in reserve to come forth now. We've done all we can to foster and champion their individuality ever since they were born, while teaching them correct principles and leaving individual choice and accountability in tact. As their mortal parents we are merely the coaches of an "all-star team."

There is an expression that "all men are created equal" (not scriptural, by the way) and we attempt to reconcile it. Why is there so much inequity and unfairness in life? Why is there such a disparate distribution of talents and gifts, of advantages and disadvantages?

Without a knowledge of the pre-existence and the great plan of happiness how would you even attempt an answer?

We chose Christ in that pre-mortal world, and we chose the one and only plan offered to us. We chose the chance to fail and thereby learn from our own experiences how to discern good from evil. We opted in. We wanted exaltation. We wanted redemption from our fallen natures. We believed it was possible to transform our fallen natures into something extraordinary, even beyond our ability to imagine with our finite minds.

And the choices continue. Choose well.