Converting Power of The Book of Mormon

As is his custom, my father continues to write his "Heart Lines" message to his former missionaries in the California Arcadia Mission at General Conference time. Dad is now in his 95th year and continues to function well even with his physical limitations. I am happy to publish his latest missive on this page, believing it might be helpful and insightful to a wider audience:

April, 2016

At this season, Dear Friends –

- When all Mormondom is unitedly and simultaneously studying The Book of Mormon, I have some persistent observations. One pearl is that when properly approached, this amazing book has enormous powers of conversion. Without any embellishments or consultant commentary, the book’s powerful truths shine forth and are plainly evident.

Parley P. Pratt

This has always been true. In the earliest days of the restored Church, a young itinerant preacher, Parley P. Pratt, left his home for good to embark on a self-appointed mission to share the light he had received from his own personal search of the Biblical scriptures. It was the beginning of a marvelous ministerial career for him.

Amid his journeyings he paid full passage for his wife and him to travel by boat to Albany, New York. Midway, at Rochester, however, Parley had a spiritual nudge which changed his direction and his life. He wrote:

I informed my wife that, notwithstanding our passage being paid through the whole distance, yet I must leave the boat. . . Why, I did not know; but so it was plainly manifest by the Spirit to me. I said to her: “we part for a season; go and visit our friends in our native place; I will come soon, but how soon I know not; for I have a work to do in this region of country, and what it is, or how long it will take to perform it, I know not, but I will come when it is performed.” (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 18 – 20).

Parley went ashore and walked from village to village successfully imparting his convictions as he understood them from the scriptures. One day in his travels, a Baptist deacon introduced to him a strange and unusual book, The Book of Mormon, which made claims that were stunning and appealing to Parley. He wrote:
     
I opened it with eagerness, and read its title page. I then read the testimony of several witnesses in relation to the manner of its being found and translated. After this I commenced its contents by course. I read all day; eating was a burden, I had no desire for food; sleep was a burden when the night came, for I preferred reading to sleep.

As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true, as plainly and manifestly as a man comprehends and knows that he exists. My joy was now full, as it were, and I rejoiced sufficiently to more than pay me for all the sorrows, sacrifices and toils of my life. I soon determined to see the young man who had been the instrument of its discovery and translation. (Ibid.)

We were assimilated into this fabric-truth during our missionary days in California, 40 years ago. The identical story-theme we found true was represented by the conversion stories we were telling in those days. I repeat it now to demonstrate that the power is still in that awesome book, which when approached with humble sincerity and desire to love and live its truths still has its capacity to convert.

On a Thursday night, far across the world from here and many years ago, another conversion story materialized, as related by Elder J. Thomas Fyans, First Council of the Seventy, at a stake conference of the LaPuente Stake on May 28, 1978.

A chance encounter on a bus between a Mormon elder and a Methodist minister unfolded. The young elder spoke of a strange book, The Book of Mormon, and the minister, a graduate of Northwestern University, went home with the book determined to prove it false. The words, “prove it false, prove it false” were riveted in his mind, challenged to do so by his seat companion on the bus.

At home that night, he said to his wife, Betty, “I’m on a special project. I want complete solitude and no food. I’ll be fasting.” He pleaded with the Lord on Friday, and he listened to the town hall clock peel off hours of the day until it struck 6 p.m. Then he returned to the elder’s apartment and boldly stated: “I want to talk about baptism, and don’t get out your flannel board. I want to be baptized now!”

Amazed, the elders phoned their mission president and said, “He’s back! What shall we do with him?” President J. Thomas Fyans, president of the Uruguay Montevideo Mission, answered, “Baptize him privately, then bring him to the mission home to see me.” Ninety minutes later the font was full and the elder baptized him.

On Saturday night, the minister phoned his wife, Betty, and announced, “I’m a member of the Mormon Church!” She laughed, unbelievingly. “It’s true,” said her husband. “I was baptized last night.” She asked so many questions and cried and cried. It was 3 a.m. before she settled down to seriously listen. It was agreed that he shouldn’t tell anyone until he reported to his superiors. So when he arose the next morning, Rev. Whitlock read in John 3:5 about Nicodemus’s visit with Jesus. He quoted that passage to his church leaders, saying, “Please study this passage, and next week I will come back and I’ll tell you the truth of this verse.”

The troubled couple then came to the mission home. Betty said, “I just can’t face our friends from our church.” They went as husband and wife into the President’s study to talk out their problems. Lunch intervened, and President Fyans opened the door and said, “I’ll not mention anything about the Mormon Church if that will make you feel better. But first, Brother Whitlock, would you like to hear the missionaries teach the gospel in the organized fashion we regularly do?” His wife, Betty, quickly answered, “You bet I would,” with her jaw defiantly set.

So the Whitlocks had one lesson taught to them every day. The plan of salvation brought happy resonance to Brother Whitlock all week. When the elders quoted 1 Corinthians 15:29, Brother Whitlock exclaimed, “Betty, I’ve wondered all my life about baptism for the dead, and they know the explanation!”

At the traditional Saturday night farewell for departing missionaries, this inspired elder tried to testify for the last time in the mission field, but he was overcome by his tears. In the presence of his converts, Brother and Sister Whitlock, he was without words. He couldn’t speak because of his joy. This was the elder, who on the bus had challenged Rev. Whitlock to prove The Book of Mormon false.

And so we say – The Book of Mormon is true! It will stand up to any scrutiny, even from those who are learned and think themselves wise, who want to disprove it.

Powerful witness also comes from Christ, himself, that the book is true (D&C 19:26), and that those who receive, read and believe the book shall receive eternal life (D&C 20:14).

Faithfully, your friend,

President L. Brent Goates

The True Doctrine of Womanhood

God knows males and females are innately equal. “The women’s issue” is not an issue because God and his anointed servants do not see and respect this obvious equality between men and women. Instead, the problem arises from a godless society lacking an eternal perspective, failing miserably to comprehend eternal truths.

Some who have adopted the world’s view contend equality for women means God’s sons and daughters must share the same roles and duties in order to be perfectly equal. The most obvious example we see today is men and women marching shoulder to shoulder into war. In a society where heterosexual marriage is no longer considered by many to be a desirable state, where children are often viewed as an economic burden because the family farm gave way to jobs in the big city, and where lifestyle options abound outside the home and hearth of yesteryear, it is little wonder such philosophies have gained popularity among us today.

However, while the restoration of eternal truth clearly confirms males and females have the same worth, it also reveals the innate power of the sexes lies in the wonderfully different characteristics the male and female join together. Each unique half complements the whole, and only in this God-given dichotomy properly joined together can mankind continue its progression. Man and woman are not only two equal parts of one whole, they are uniquely and necessarily different parts of one grand whole. We do not want them to be the same, we do not need them to be the same.



To the contrary, in marriage they must be different. One must be male and one must be female. They cannot both be males or females. Changing the laws and taking public opinion polls, attempting to be "politically correct" will never change the true doctrine associated with women.

The male part is necessary to manufacture the seed. If there is no seed there is no life. This morning when I wished Patsy a Happy Mothers Day, her response was, "I couldn't have done it without you." And she is right. The dirty little secret among every man since Adam is that we get great pleasure in our role as men in creating children. Women, and here's the true doctrine, do all the heavy lifting. That said, there is no life without both a male and a female contribution.

The power of the seeds is the fountain of life. However, the seed must be processed or it quickly dies. The male does not have the capacity to process the seed he manufactures. He is incomplete. By himself he is not whole. He must be connected, sealed together in partnership with his other half who has the unique capacity to manufacture an egg and then process the growth of the embryo to maturity.

By himself the male cannot process the seed to produce a living soul. No matter how many male parts we might add to the whole, the whole would forever remain incomplete and impotent to bring to pass the godly work of creating life. There is no place in eternal life, God’s life, for a single male or a single female who insists upon his or her right to act alone. 

The male needs, absolutely requires, a partnership with someone different than him -- one who has unique capacity he does not have. He needs the other half, a female half, with her singular attributes. He will never be whole without her. She will never be whole without him.

Some among us who are challenged with homosexual tendencies may not fully understand the eternal implications of this fundamental precept. The Church has one singular mission -- to be an instrument in bringing to pass God’s stated work and glory, the immortality and eternal life of men and women. The Church is to assist men and women in reaching their full potential to become as God is. Because of the revealed truth inherent in the Restoration doctrines, "God" has been revealed as an exalted couple possessing the power of procreation and the mission of the Church is to help God’s children become the same. The Church has no other legitimate mission even when it appears to be completely out of step with the exigencies of modern society’s agenda.

Homosexuality is simply not an option in the attainment of parenthood. It divides and subtracts from the achievement of the full divine potential of God’s sons and daughters. While adoptive homosexual parents may be caring and nurturing parents and are increasingly recognized as a legal definition of “family,” there is no power of the seeds in the homosexual relationship. It is a lethal perversion, a fatal distortion of those tender feelings and intimate acts calculated to bond the male and female parts together heterosexually in producing eternal lives.

To expect the Church to embrace, condone or even tolerate homosexuality amounts to requiring the Church to desert its divinely mandated mission and to deny the realities of revealed eternal truth. The Church cannot do so and remain the instrument of God it was prepared to be in administering the priesthood keys that unlock the gates of eternal lives.

Parley P. Pratt

Parley P. Pratt said:

All persons who attain to the resurrection, and to salvation, without these eternal ordinances, or sealing covenants, will remain in a single state, in their saved condition, without the joys of eternal union with the other sex, and consequently without a crown, without a kingdom, without the power to increase.

Hence, they are angels, and are not gods; and are ministering spirits, or servants, in the employ and under the direction of The Royal Family of heaven -- the princes, kings and priests of eternity. (Key To The Science of Theology, 9th ed. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1965], 169-70).

In the war of words and false doctrine that engulfs us every day over homosexuality, arguments abound whether homosexual tendencies are genetic, environmental or learned behavior. While it spices debate, the answer eternally is not really relevant. Homosexual partnerships are sexually impotent. The homosexual state is as incapable in the performance of the exalted work of God as the single state. Only an eternal heterosexual union with its two different parts has omnipotent potential.

There should be no debate in the Church about the need to value and cherish our homosexually challenged brothers and sisters as individual children of God, and to advance their happiness and well-being to the highest degree possible. But none of that changes the eternal implications of their fiercely held sexual preference. They are free to choose, free to act. Choosing an alternative lifestyle here and now is always an option under the principle of moral agency. But we must not fail to help them clearly see the eternally limiting ramifications of their short-sighted choice.

As recently as last month in General Conference, President Boyd K. Packer reminded us: "Tolerance is a virtue, but like all virtues, when exaggerated, it transforms itself into a vice. We need to be careful of the “tolerance trap” so that we are not swallowed up in it. The permissiveness afforded by the weakening of the laws of the land to tolerate legalized acts of immorality does not reduce the serious spiritual consequence that is the result of the violation of God’s law of chastity."

Recognizing the two parts must be different, males and females must cherish our different natures to perform our unique tasks for the benefit and blessing of the whole. While the powers resident in the different natures and capacities of the sexes are not the same, neither are they superior or inferior to each other. They are equally necessary and valuable.

Some fail to understand the term different does not imply the meaning unequal. Different does not mean unequal. Different capacities are not unequal capacities. Different roles and duties are not necessarily unequal roles and duties. Different missions and responsibilities are not necessarily unequal missions and responsibilities. Some do not comprehend this important principle with regard to the sexes.

Total and absolute equality can and does exist within the dichotomy of the marriage covenant.