What Influenced You Most as You Figured Out How to be a Parent?

I had to smile quietly to myself when I saw this question from Shauna this morning. I’m old enough now to wonder if I really EVER have figured out how to be a parent (he said with a broad grin). But, nevertheless, I will attempt an answer only because there are now so many up and coming parents among us.

As I reflect upon my life, I am consistently being reminded of past memories. My future is much shorter than my lengthy history. I think it is safe to conclude the single greatest influence in my life has been my lifelong love affair with the scriptures, beginning with the Book of Mormon. When I told Dianne that I had offered a pdf copy of my compilation of all the ZION scriptures to Woodland Ward members as I taught recently in Sunday School, she smiled and observed, “Yeah, Dad, you were obsessed.” Yes, guilty as charged, Dianne.

She no doubt recalled all the late nights I spent at my desk pounding it out on the manual typewriter long before the Internet had been invented. And here I sit at my desk this morning, still pounding it out on my very intelligent and advanced computer keyboard. It was laborious back in the day, no doubt about it, but I had found a topic that propelled me through all the standard works and into the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The scriptures became familiar to me, as revelation upon revelation poured out to me merely as a reward for making the attempt to learn. The prophets who wrote them came to life before me night after night.

I went page by page with a marker circling every reference I found. It was tedious and painstaking, but when I found the word ZION, I put it in context in my written compilation including surrounding verses, and kept going until I felt I had found each reference. The last time I touched it was 2002, when I printed the final copy. I found only a few takers in my latest invitation, but years ago I opened it up to the whole world in The Goates Notes, my blog page, and never looked back. An online search will quickly yield the results.

What did THAT have to do with parenting, you may ask? The quest for eternal life in my mind correlates directly with the establishment of Zion in these last days. Yes, there is a very broad and expansive definition at the global scale, but perhaps more meaningful is that individually we are the composite collective of ZION as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We trace our priesthood lineage back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Through them we have the potential to become like them, and by extension like our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

That reality has been my steadfast and lifelong quest as I have “figured out” parenting. I reviewed again the story of the willingness of Abraham to offer his only son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice, and his hand was only stopped by the intervention of an angel when his faithfulness had been tested to the utmost. In the case of the Father, I reflected just last week, there was no stopping the crucifixion of His Son on the cross outside Jerusalem so the full effect of the Atonement could be realized for all His children who had ever lived on Earth. Imagine what THAT self-restraint not to intervene must have looked like!

As parents, we do all we can do to teach our children the correct principles of the gospel. Often, it may feel like we’re going down a long, long checklist of commandments and requirements, but reduced to its essence we find a much simpler compilation I am reminded of each time I attend an endowment session in the the temple.

“We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Faith is hope for things that we cannot see but are true. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and we trust Him to help and guide us.

Repentance is when we change our hearts to be more like Heavenly Father. When we do something wrong, we feel sorry and promise ourselves and Heavenly Father that we will not do that wrong thing again. When we repent, we can be forgiven because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Baptism is the first step in becoming a member of Jesus Christ’s Church. We can be baptized when we are eight years old. At age eight, we are old enough to know the difference between right and wrong.

The gift of the Holy Ghost is given to us by a priesthood holder after we are baptized. The Holy Ghost prompts us to choose the right, comforts us, and helps us understand eternal truths. The Holy Ghost is like a still, small voice that we feel in our minds and hearts.

It was standardized by the Prophet Joseph Smith, as with all the other Articles of Faith, so he could merely point to them as references for the repetitive questions he was constantly asked.

As I grew older and more children came into our home, my approach to embracing the scriptures as my guide to parenting became pivotal and defining in helping me to become a father. I reasoned that my Father in Heaven would have to become my role model. I know I must have failed many times in achieving that ideal, but I kept persisting, and still do, despite my weakness. I believe Patsy and I first found each other in the pre-existence. We chose each other there and then. When we came to Earth, we found each other here and now. The direct correlation is that then each of our children also appeared here on Earth in our family circle because we were all promised to each other in our pre-mortal existence too.

I often reflected on Grandfather Harold B. Lee’s obvious emotional reaction as he pronounced those precious sealing words upon us at the altar on the morning of December 19, 1969, in the Salt Lake Temple. I was his first grandson for whom he performed that ordinance, though he had performed it before for hundreds of others who had asked him to. It is my belief he may have had a glimpse into eternal realms beyond our physical sight as he perceived that magnificent posterity that would one day come to mortality through our loins, as their parents. I believe you might have surrounded that altar as our spirit children, waiting patiently to join us. The spirit whispers it is true as I write this morning.

So, what has influenced me as I have sought to be a parent? I hope I may have answered this question to your satisfaction. My counsel to all of you as you undertake and continue your parenting is this: Take the scriptures as your infallible guide first and foremost. I predict you will make mistakes as you raise your children, most assuredly, if my life is any indication. However, anchoring yourselves in the gospel of Jesus Christ, particularly with the promise found in D&C 58:42-43, is the assurance you seek:

Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.

By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins — behold, he will confess them and forsake them.

In your attempts at raising a righteous posterity, remember what I have come to call “Divine Amnesia.” It is the part and parcel of the mercy of our Father in Heaven. It is His eternal promise to all who invite those spirits to join you here, with whom you have made eternal covenants even before this world was created. You are never alone as parents in this mortal life.

He and His Son are at your elbow in ALL the days of your lives. Of that, I bear my humble and solemn witness.

How Can One Man Be So Blessed?

Allie, Dianne, Dad, Emily

Yesterday, I was in the Mount Timpanogos Temple with three of my daughters. We are pictured in front of a manger scene on a blustery day after our endowment session. It was the "warm before the storm," a fitting analogy when the sky was blue overhead and the temperature was warmer than normal for a winter day.

Today, in Pine Valley where I live up in the mountains, I awoke to blowing snow. The temperature had plunged to 20 degrees. 

I am always in awe of weather patterns here in Utah. A few years ago for the first time I learned about "atmospheric rivers." That's where the upper level wind patterns set up in a direct path that points directly at us originating somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. In the winter those winds aloft bring prodigious amounts of weather, usually snowstorms, with them. Like the phrase implies, the weather flows like a river with little or nothing to stop it.

Some have asked me if I intended to stay alone in my home this winter since the passing of my wife, Patsy, earlier this summer. I hadn't thought, really, about doing anything else. This is where I built my wooden "palace" in the mountains all those years ago, and it's where I thrive the most. It's familiar. 

I know every nuance of this little shack. I am astounded at its appraised value today. How did that happen? At night I hear the rippling of the flag that flies just outside my bedroom window. I actually had to take it down recently to aid my ability to fall asleep. I hear the coyotes sing their lullabies. 

I hear the propane boiler cycling on and off in the crawl space that heats the water circulating in the baseboard heating system. I love the sound of the crackling firewood in the wood burning stove in the other side of the house where I installed it when all I used it for was to generate heat in cool summer mornings. 

And now I live here year-around and fight off the cold winter blasts that come barreling down upon me when the atmospheric river does its best to discourage me, especially when it sets up directly north in the Polar region.

Once in awhile, I hear my faithful snowplow guy outside my window when he comes early in the morning to clear the road for us. That was a steep learning curve for cousin Steve Smoot and me when we had to learn how to do it all those years ago. We managed through record-breaking 100-year winters like last year, and years when we only plowed four or five times. 

Through it all, here we are, still standing as it were on a rock in the middle of the atmospheric river flowing all around us. 

Now, I have a Starlink satellite internet system to link me to the outside world. It is astoundingly more robust and reliable than anything I could have ever envisioned when I put this plan in place all those years ago to live here. But new revelation was given. What did we ever do before Elon Musk?

When the wind is howling outside late at night and in the early morning hours, I can hear the wooden members that hold the structure together. I hear the wood shifting and creaking slightly. Am I ever worried about it crashing down around my head? Nope. I built it. I know why I hear what I hear, and I am seldom alarmed. I am the creator, and I know my creation. Therefore, I do not wring my hands in anxiety over what will happen to it. 

I find a spiritually analogous meaning in it all. Our Father in Heaven is our Creator. He knows us all - every one of us. He has made ample provision for us. 

He vouched safe our moral agency before the foundations of this Mother Earth were laid. 

He knew exactly the number of His children who would come here to inhabit it. 

He made the provisions for the amount of natural resources we would need to sustain ourselves. 

He anticipated there would be some "bad actors" among us who would reject Him. 

He also knows there are many of His children who would triumph over all their enemies and honor and serve Him. 

He has raised up prophets from the beginning who would give guidance to all His children. 

He gave them inspiration and revelation, and made revelation a possibility for all of us who would obey and value their writings in the scriptures. 

He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to atone for all our sins.

He promised and delivered the Holy Ghost to guide us in all we do while we live here.

To which I add my humble amen, and amen, and amen.

"My Favorite Scripture"

My 93 year-old father continues his tradition of writing to his former missionaries twice a year at General Conference time. His labor of love becomes increasingly taxing on his diminishing physical strength, but as you will note below, his mental acuity is still very much in evidence. I am so grateful for his thoughts in this latest post.

We all have a favorite scripture(s), and Dad encourages us all to share the reasons why in his latest missive. I hope you will all take a moment and offer some reflective insights on what and why you may value a particular scripture passage. Enjoy!


Beloved Missionaries:

George Frederic Handel

George Frederic Handel, one of the world’s most celebrated musicians, performed as a violinist and organist at an early age. After composing his first opera in Germany, he went to the center of the operatic world and composed operas and chamber music in Italy.

In 1711, at the age of 26, he moved to England where initially his works gained some acceptance, but with changing public tastes in music his style ultimately became outdated. He found it difficult to stay solvent. Under great pressure, he frantically wrote four operas within 12 months, but it took its toll on him, and the 52 year-old composer suffered a stroke. His right arm was paralyzed temporarily and a doctor told his secretary that he thought Handel’s brain had been permanently damaged.

Nevertheless, he recovered his health at the Aachen, Germany hot springs, and was delighted later to find he could again play the organ. Encouraged, he moved again to England and resumed composing, but his works were not well accepted and creditors again pushed him into the depths of despondency.

Late one August afternoon in April, 1741, Handel went for a long walk. Upon his return, he found that a poet and previous collaborator, Charles Jennens, had left him a manuscript with a request that he put his libretto to music. The text quoted abundantly from Isaiah and the New Testament, unfolding the birth, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was to be an oratorio. Handel was apprehensive as he turned the pages of the text, but the glorious scriptures “Comfort Ye”, “For Unto Us a Child is Born”, and “He Shall Feed His Sheep Like a Shepherd”, chased away his gloom and he felt uplifted as he read the mighty conclusion “Worthy Is The Lamb”. He could not write fast enough to keep apace with the inspiration he felt as he commenced his composing.

Even though he composed profusely, Handel has become world renowned because of just this one masterpiece, “Messiah”, an oratorio which he wrote when 56 years of age, in just three weeks during the summer of 1741. He humbly acknowledged the inspiration of the Almighty by saying of his work, “God has visited me.”

I first became acquainted with this wonderful music when I sang alongside my father in the chorus of the Salt Lake Oratorical Society. The performance was a community tradition, then held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle each year on the Sunday nearest to New Year’s Day. Guest artists and celebrated conductors from New York and London were imported to head the casts. I came to love the music and I later found the texts also were forever imprinted in my mind.

Brent, top center, 1942

In 1942, I left for my mission to Texas, and was immediately assigned for the summer to visit the isolated members of the church to upgrade their records and perform neglected ordinances. My introduction to missionary work was going “without purse or scrip”, depending for meals and lodging on the generosity of strangers while en route to the next member’s distant home. In this stretching manner I learned what true faith really is, which was a perfect introduction to my ministry.

At the end of the summer, we settled into work in the city where at last I could begin an organized study of the gospel. I never had the benefit of Seminary or Institute classes, so I was just then becoming acquainted with the scriptures. I commenced my studies in the New Testament, because Texas was part of the “Bible Belt” where people were more inclined to listen to one who quotes from the Bible.

I hadn’t advanced far along in my early morning private studies until I came to Matthew 11:28-39. The text overwhelmed me with familiarity:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give ye rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

With the words pulsating to Handel’s music, my heart was penetrated. I found I knew already from the “Messiah” the gospel texts before I found their scriptural origins. I became enveloped for the second time with the overwhelming power of the Holy Ghost. Humble, and moved by the Spirit, I wrote in the margin of my Bible the word, “Beautiful”, to frame my emotional response. That headline has remained in my Bible ever since to remind me of this wonderful witness of the Holy Spirit.

Helen and Brent Goates, 1975

In 1975, I was presiding over the California Arcadia Mission with Christmas approaching. A sudden
phone call came from our daughter-in-law Janie, and without warning or explanation she asked, “Dad, what is your favorite scripture?” Pressed for an immediate answer, I instinctively replied, “Matthew 11:28-30.”

The conversation was forgotten, but before Christmas came we received in the mail the words of this favorite scripture beautifully woven in needlepoint. It has always been one of our most treasured Christmas presents. Sister Goates had the art piece framed and it has been featured in our mission home, and ever since then in the dining room of our homes in Salt Lake City. I have marveled many times at the popularity of this scripture, as it has been a theme of many conferences.

But one’s favorite scripture must offer more than just poetic and emotional rewards. A doctrinal basis must be explored to find the real treasure. In my scripture the question was: “What is the meaning of ‘rest’ in this promise?” Was the key word “rest” a condition or a place? A condition is suggested similar to Alma’s description of the reward for the faithful in Paradise, who will rest from all their cares and sorrows (Alma 41:12). Or is it the ultimate place in eternity with God and Christ?

Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915-1985) taught, “The rest of the Lord, where mortals are concerned, is to gain a perfect knowledge of the divinity of the great latter-day work.” President Joseph F. Smith, also speaking of mortality, said it is “rest from the religious turmoil of the world.” But in eternity, McConkie said, “It is entering into the presence of the Lord.” The climax for me came from latter-day scripture which relates how the Israelites under Moses failed to enter “into His rest”, and then provided the definition, “which rest is the fulness of His glory.” (D&C 84:24).

The evolution of discovering and comprehending and then living for the blessings of my favorite scripture has been a lifetime work. Now, what is your story? Have you written it and shared it with your family? As I have shared my scriptural odyssey with you, I hope you will do likewise for your loved ones.

Always your friend,

President L. Brent Goates

Your Most Precious Object

In recent years I've enjoyed helping my father edit his semi-annual missive to his former missionaries in the California Arcadia Mission. This is his way to keep in touch with them after these many years since their service together. Many of these missionaries have raised families of their own by now, sent their own sons and daughters into the mission field, seen them married in the temples, and now those children have children of their own too. His has been a long legacy of faithful service to the Church, as he outlines in this latest edition of "Heartlines" - 

April 2014

“YOUR MOST PRECIOUS OBJECT”

              We were greatly blessed –

- to be able to raise our family in a comfortable, large and spacious home on the Avenues of Salt Lake City, not far from my work at the L.D.S. Hospital. The three-level home had multiple exits on the second story level, some more dangerous than others. It was important to us that our children knew where to go in case of an emergency. So, on one occasion we devoted a Family Home Evening to conducting a fire drill to teach this possibly life-saving lesson.

Besides the life-saving preparation there was another very important outcome to be realized. A searching test question was added asking each person to decide which object they would choose to preserve, above all others, if they had but one, not more than two, minutes to quickly take possession of it before the menacing flames would envelop them. The answer to that question would declare this chosen object to be their most-prized possession. It was then, and still is, a most perplexing question. I could imagine that my daughter might choose her violin; her mother, maybe a diamond ring, but it would, of course, vary with each person and the decision might change as values are altered by maturity. But in my case, my choice has been unchanged over most of my life, for reasons I will explain.

Les Goates family as Brent
prepared to leave on his first mission

In 1942, I was called to serve in the Texas Mission. I had just completed my sophomore year at the University of Utah. Economic times after the Great Depression of the 1930s were still difficult and employment had just begun to improve with the stimulation of World War II.

My father, Les Goates, was employed by the Deseret News as sports editor. It was difficult for him to financially meet the expenses necessary to send his first boy on a mission. When it came time to provide for my scriptures, he gave me his own Triple Combination which had his name, Lesley Goates, embossed on the cover.

All through my two-year mission I studied from this sacred book and found therein the truths of the gospel which gave me a testimony of its divine message. Therefore, every page was treasured, and most of them were marked up with my notes in the margins. This same Triple Combination was with me through the next 23 years as my gospel scholarship broadened. It had been an instrument through which true revelation flowed. Therefore, it was to me priceless.

During the years of 1964-67, I served as a member of the General Priesthood Home Teaching Committee, traveling to teach the program with General Authorities at weekly stake conferences. In the Fall of 1967, a new level of general leadership was announced and many of us serving on one of the four General Priesthood Committees were called to be among the first appointed Regional Representatives of the Twelve. We came to the closeout of our last Home Teaching Committee stake visits on the weekend of September 23-24, 1967. Because the Brethren were reluctant for me to be far from the hospital on weekends, most of my assignments had been to nearby Utah stakes. But on this last appointment I asked to be sent to the most distant stake assigned to a conference. It turned out to be the Taber Stake in Western Canada. I was to accompany then-Elder Thomas S. Monson of the Council of the Twelve, who would preside at the conference.

We left on a Friday, spent that night at the Country Club Motel in Great Falls, Montana, then on Saturday we rented a car and drove about three hours to Taber. The assignment was one of the most satisfying and memorable experiences ever, and after completing our work at the Taber Stake we retraced our route and boarded a plane for home at Great Falls.

When our flight was underway, I brought out my scriptures to read. Seated next to me was Elder Monson, who noted the dilapidated condition of my Triple Combination. He turned to me and said, “Brent, your scriptures are falling apart and are hardly hanging together. If you will let me have the book for ten days I will recondition it and return it to you looking like new with a new binding and cover.” Elder Monson’s profession was in the printing and publishing field. He had previously been president of The Deseret Press, and still had connections there. So, reluctantly, I parted with the book.

Elder Monson was true to his promise. He returned to me a completely restored book neatly bound with a beautiful new leather cover, this time bearing my own name embossed in gold letters.

Almost every day in the subsequent 47 years, I have turned these pages seeking guidance and revelation for my life’s journey. This book has become my precious companion, and has endured a lifetime of scrutiny and research, accompanied by prayer. How can one put a price on a treasure like that? It is truly irreplaceable, and still is the most precious object which I would first of all preserve from the flames.

And now, what about you? What is your most precious object? If all else were to be destroyed, what would you choose first to save?

Always your friend,

          President L. Brent Goates

Without Joseph Smith

This afternoon I was searching in my e-mail history for something else, and I stumbled over an e-mail I sent to a dear friend summarizing my appreciation for the Prophet Joseph Smith. It's worth sharing again:

Joseph Smith (1805 - 1844)

April 16, 2005

Tomorrow, I’m speaking in Francis 1st Ward.   The topic they assigned me was the Prophet Joseph Smith.   The bishop had heard me speak in the stake fireside in January to kick off the year of celebration [2005 was the 200th anniversary of Joseph's birth in 1805] and wanted me to reprise what I had done before.   While it's impossible to do that, because it all came by the Spirit while I was on my feet, my mind took me in this direction.

I thought about, “What would my life be like without Joseph Smith?”   It reduces to truth, defined by the Lord as "knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come."   (D&C 93:24)   It's the knowledge from God through Joseph that I can't live without.

Without Joseph, we would never understand the true nature of the Godhead.   The concept of God would be a nebulous spirit essence whose center is nowhere and whose circumference is everywhere.   Just read the Nicean Creed sometime for an example of what man, left to his own wisdom, comes up with when trying to describe God.   With Joseph, however, we have this simple declaration:   “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. . .”   (D&C 130:22).   Either Joseph saw them and spoke with them, or he didn’t.   Everything this Church teaches and represents stands on that simple declaration based upon an early Spring morning’s encounter with Diety in 1820.   I would never know, without Joseph, that my Father in Heaven once lived on an earth like I do, and that I may someday become just like him.   (See King Follett funeral address, TPJS, 342).   Read it again to remind yourself just how stunning his knowledge at the pinnacle of his life really was.

Without Joseph, we would never have received the true priesthood.   It came to him from those ancient prophet worthies who held the power and authority they held during their mortal lives, namely John the Baptist and Peter, James and John.   Authority came from heaven itself in the form of resurrected beings.   Recently, Pope John Paul II was laid to rest, they claim, only feet away from the “first Pope,” Peter the ancient Apostle.   Imagine this most recent Pope’s surprise upon entering the spirit world to be greeted by a resurrected Peter whose body long ago arose from the earthly tomb that held it bound.   I wonder how long it will take the last Pope to accept the fullness of the gospel from the "first Pope" upon hearing it for the first time.  Imagine the conversation when Peter explains his bones were never buried under St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, Rome.

Without Joseph, we would have no knowledge of the organization of the only true Church authorized by our Father in Heaven and named for his Son Jesus Christ.   Imagine an organization revealed from heaven to living prophets that is able to accommodate rapid growth and constant change without missing a beat.   It is a constant source of amazement to me that changes in leadership every week across the world happen seamlessly without conflict or rebellion.   Its ability to expand its leadership infinitely as needed is equally amazing.   Beginning in 1975, the 1st Quorum of the Seventy was established, followed soon thereafter by the 2nd Quorum.   Members of these two quorums were designated as full-time General Authorities.   In April 1997, there came part-time Area Authority Seventies comprising the 3rd, 4th and 5th Quorums of Seventy.   In July 2004, the 6th Quorum was established.   All this is in fulfillment of a stunning pronouncement by Joseph in 1835:   “If the first Seventy are all employed, and there is a call for more laborers, it will be the duty of the seven presidents of the first Seventy to call and ordain other Seventy and send them forth to labor in the vineyard, until, if needs be, they set apart seven times seventy, and even until there are one hundred and forty-four thousand thus set apart for the ministry.”   (TPJS, 75).   Read about the 144,000 high priests (all today’s Seventies are ordained high priests) in Revelation 6-7, and D&C 77:11, then ask yourself how Joseph knew so much about organizing a worldwide Church when all the ordained priesthood brethren in Kirtland could fit in a little room.   Reported by Wilford Woodruff who was there, Joseph said:   “You know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap.   You don’t comprehend it. . . It is only a little handfull [sic] of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America –  it will fill the world” (as quoted by Wilford Woodruff, in Conference Report, April 1898, 57).

Without Joseph, we would know nothing about the establishment of Zion, pointing to the day when the earthly priesthood would unite with the heavenly priesthood.   Joseph taught that those who make their calling and election sure have the privilege of communing with "an innumerable company of angels." (HC 1:283).   He observed that "Paul [the Apostle] speaks of the Church coming to an innumerable company of angels."   (HC 3:388; 4:51; Hebrews 12:23).   The Prophet also explained: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed.   The mustard seed is small, but brings forth a large tree, and the fowls lodge in the branches.   The fowls are the angels. . .   We may come to an innumerable company of angels, have communion with and receive instruction from them. . .   Paul had these things, and we may have the fowls of heaven lodge in the branches, etc.   (HC 3:389).   All that describes a condition of the heart, and is expanded in Joseph’s revelation and subsequent teachings about the church of the Firstborn (D&C 76:50-70).   But the thing that always amazes me is that the Lord revealed to Joseph that Independence, Missouri, was the geographical center of the United States in 1831, and the exact location of the New Jerusalem that would come down out of heaven to be joined to the earthly Zion.   He called it the “center place” and the “center stake of Zion.”   (D&C 57:1-5; 84:1-5; and this stunning promise in 101:16-18).   We know all of that because of Joseph.   I seem to use that word "stunning" a lot when I speak of Joseph.

Without Joseph, what hope do we have for salvation, meaning exaltation in the highest degree of celestial glory?   Through Joseph came the marvelous flood of light that shines brightly on the Father’s plan of happiness for his children.   We, who have suffered the loss of loved ones through death, have the hope of a glorious reunion with them.   We know we will be resurrected with them.   We know we may be exalted if we are faithful.   We know the sting of death is temporary, only swallowed up in the eternal life that awaits the sanctified.

Without Joseph, we would never know what we do about the atonement of Jesus Christ, and how to apply its purifying power to our lives.   Think what your life would be like to never have the knowledge that you could find peace in this life through the cleansing power of repentance.   Think what your life would be like without the knowledge that your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, if acted upon the way Joseph Smith outlines in the Restoration, could become the dominating force for good in your life.   Imagine not knowing that the old man of sin could be laid away in that watery grave of baptism, and rise renewed in the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost who will walk with us daily in our mortal journey.   Imagine not having the Articles of Faith to shed light on the atonement's power in our individual lives.   Said Joseph:   "The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things [I take that to mean "programs of the Church," sorry just couldn't resist] which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."   (TPJS, 121).   Joseph said, commenting upon this statement, "I published the foregoing answers to save myself the trouble of repeating the same a thousand times over and over again."

Without Joseph, we have no modern scripture to be added to the canon of the Bible.   Without Joseph, there is no Book of Mormon, no Pearl of Great Price, no Doctrine and Covenants, no Lectures on Faith, no Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.   Without Joseph we are left to interpret and debate the meanings of doctrine endlessly with our Christian neighbors.   We are shrouded without Joseph in the darkness of uncertainty and doubt about the meaning of our existence here in mortality.

Without Joseph, we have no knowledge about the role of prophets, ancient and modern.   Chosen by the God of heaven, they are appointed in a completely foreign way to the ways of men –  God chooses them, rather than a body of believers who elect them to lead.   I was interested recently to hear Susan Easton Black recount the history of how the Reorganized Church approached Joseph Smith III repeatedly and begged him to assume what they determined to be his rightful position in succession to his father.   After many attempts and many years later, he finally relented to their persistent pleas.   He was never sure that he was called of God thereafter, and made no such claim.   Contrast that with revelation from God to living prophets who exercise sacred priesthood keys.

Without Joseph, we know nothing of how to prepare ourselves spiritually for the Second Coming of Christ.   The Book of Mormon supplies us with a handbook, written through the spirit of prophecy by prophets who witnessed our day in vision.   It is remarkable that the bulk of its pages centers on conditions immediately preceding the Savior’s ministry among the Nephites and the aftermath of his ministry.   Said President Ezra Taft Benson: “The record of the Nephite history just prior to the Savior's visit reveals many parallels to our own day as we anticipate the Savior's second coming.   The Nephite civilization had reached great heights.   They were prosperous and industrious.   They had built many cities with great highways connecting them.   They engaged in shipping and trade.   They built temples and palaces.   But, as so often happens, the people rejected the Lord.   Pride became commonplace.   Dishonesty and immorality were widespread.   Secret combinations flourished because, as Helaman tells us, the Gadianton robbers ‘had seduced the more part of the righteous until they had come down to believe in their works and partake of their spoils.’   (Helaman 6:38).   ‘The people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning.’   (3 Nephi 6:12).   And ‘Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world,’ even as today.”   (3 Nephi 6:15).   (See Ensign, May 1987, 4).

Without Joseph, we know nothing about the purpose of temples.   We would never know about sealing families together forever, nothing of the ritual cleansing ordinances that symbolize spiritual realities for the pure in heart.   We would never know how to link our ancestors and our posterity together in an unbroken chain forged back to Father Adam and Mother Eve.   We would never have the 119 sanctuaries we do dotting the globe today, where the faithful may go to find peace in a chaotic world and may commune directly with their Father in Heaven.   Those temples with the words "Holiness to the Lord" written upon them only symbolize our temples.   God will put his seal upon our temple someday if we are faithful to our temple covenants.   In the temple we learn of the path to celestial life, and we must choose here and now to get on that path:   Obedience, sacrifice, gospel, chastity and consecration.   Five laws, five covenants, five stepping stones to eternal life.   Without Joseph, how would we ever know?

With Joseph, we have it all.   How grateful I am to him for his generosity of spirit!

The Devil's Advocate

I started to make a comment to Rich in the last post, and as usual it turned into another post, since the allocation of words for a comment was exceeded (a common failing of mine). Verbosity can be such a burden.

Your comment about the electronic versions of scriptures is worth expanding. I've settled on the convenience of taking my iPad when I don't have a teaching or speaking assignment. However, what I've observed in others attempting to use them from the pulpit while giving a talk, teaching a class, or giving a presentation in the stake center with the big screen is that there is invariably a technology hiccup of some kind. The downtime while we wait for the interruption to be corrected is always awkward and tends to drive the Spirit right out of the meeting. For that reason I always use my "low-tech" version of the scriptures when I talk or teach.

But even then it's important to be easily familiar with your tools as you transition from scripture to scripture when you are being guided by the Spirit in what you say in your teaching. We've all witnessed speakers fumbling with notes or losing their place when reading their talks word for word, and that too can be distracting. "Read yourself full, think yourself empty, speak yourself clear," is still good advice in preparation for a speaking, teaching or presenting assignment.

Since we're all amateurs in the Church where there is no paid clergy, as I see it the only answer is to become familiar with the tools we use, whatever our personal preference may be, in fact, so familiar that for all of us we can aspire to the day when we're all finishing each others' sentences because we all know what we know from the same sources. That blessed day will come when we all have come to know Him.

Joseph Smith

"This principle" — that of having one's calling and election made sure and of being sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise — "ought (in its proper place) to be taught," the Prophet Joseph said, "for God hath not revealed anything to Joseph, but what he will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least saint may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them, for the day must come when no man need say to his neighbor, know ye the Lord; for all shall know him (who remain) from the least to the greatest. How is this to be done? It is to be done by this sealing power, and the other Comforter spoken of, which will be manifest by revelation." (TPJS, 149).

The scriptural passage alluded to by the Prophet in this statement is from Jeremiah, who stated: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34). When that day finally arrives, we will have ceased doing home teaching and visiting teaching ;-)

We live in a time when it seems the membership of the Church is being sifted and separated and families are divided in the debate. In case you're living under a rock and unaware, the critics are among you in your own congregations everywhere and even among your aunts, uncles and cousins in your families. There have always been critics of the leaders of the Church - ALWAYS! The great divide that is setting up over LGBT issues and women and the priesthood, while often interesting to observe and debate among ourselves, is really nothing new at all. "Equal rights" is such an appealing notion, isn't it? And because I doubt there's a family left on earth that hasn't identified at least one family member with same-gender attraction tendencies, we're all enlisted in this latest skirmish. The topics may change, new advocates may arise, but the critics never seem to subside. However, I'm going to stand with Joseph Smith and his successors.

The Brethren are not on trial here. God our Eternal Father is not on trial, nor is our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was already dispatched to a cruel Roman cross and those who opposed Him thought that would be the end of it. But He arose from the dead. He restored His gospel in these last days. He continues to feel after us and invite us to come unto Him through obedience to His laws, His gospel and His humble servants.

It is we as members who are on trial. It is so much easier to be a critic than a contributor when it comes to building faith among ourselves in the Church. When we take the role of the "Devil's Advocate" to spice the debate and do others a service by "testing their faith," we sometimes fail to recognize the Devil already has millions of willing minions who followed him in the pre-existence and they continue to afflict and torment us here in mortality. The earliest reference I've been able to find for the term "Devil's Advocate" is a canon lawyer in the Roman Catholic Church appointed to argue against the canonization or beatification of a person. Then as now, the reasoning seems to go, let's doubt the motives and goodness of a person first, question everything they represent and let's stand against goodness as the loyal opposition to everything that suggests righteousness. That is so progressive, so smart, so forward-thinking, or so they say! Those who are already doing that as unembodied spirits easily outnumber those of us here on earth in physical bodies today. Why would we ever volunteer to do their work for them?

Satan and his followers are always willing to welcome new Advocates within their ranks. Hey, if you've got a body, you're going to offer them much more than they have. Those who defect here in the second estate and fail to remain valiant in their testimonies of Jesus, and especially when they're offering commentary about their long-standing tendency as individuals to question everything first are valuable assets to Satan's cause! They are easy targets for deception. (See D&C 76:75, 79). Let us not be blinded by "craftiness".

In the sanctuary of our dedicated chapels and classrooms, may I suggest that we seek higher ground and stand with the living oracles first? We all have doubts, but let's doubt our doubts before we doubt our faith, as President Uchtdorf suggested recently:

"To those who have separated themselves from the Church, I say, my dear friends, there is yet a place for you here.
"Come and add your talents, gifts, and energies to ours. We will all become better as a result.
"Some might ask, 'But what about my doubts?'
"It’s natural to have questions — the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith — even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true. (See Hebrews 11:1; Alma 32:21).
"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters — my dear friends — please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. (See F. F. Bosworth, Christ the Healer [1924], 23). We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." (emphasis mine).

Since that invitation from President Uchtdorf, some are now positing with the most recent federal court judge in Utah striking down Amendment 3 to the Utah State Constitution that the judge has somehow nullified the living prophets among us. "If the prophets were truly inspired," the latest reasoning goes, "why didn't they know the Amendment they advocated would be declared unconstitutional?" Similar arguments were made when Proposition 8 and DOMA were also overturned, but with an important distinction. California's governor made the decision not to challenge the rulings there, but in Utah the Attorney General under the direction of Governor Herbert will make a vigorous defense of Amendment 3, since 2/3 of Utahns voted in favor of Amendment 3 and the will of the electorate in defining marriage cannot be so easily ignored. I know good members of the Church who are now taking public stands on their social media platforms in exultation over the courts' rebukes of the Church. Really? Why?

When one makes a moral argument, as the Church did over gay marriage rights, we must be cautious to make the leap that the legal authority may have the last word. Remember, there is a higher unseen tribunal. It is as though some in the Church never seem to have been introduced to the LAWGIVER, you know, the One the Founders accepted in the founding documents for America who has given us our rights as free men and women.

The Devil's Advocates today would like you to believe they have made a clear and logical argument, except what is NOT clear at this writing is how the appellate courts will decide. Will they uphold the first federal judge's ruling or set it aside? The Tenth Circuit Court and eventually the SCOTUS will ultimately adjudicate the law of the land, but the law of the Lord is the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. THAT law is eternal, unchangeable, unamendable and immutable.

Upon THAT law of holy matrimony - that marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and a woman - rests the eternal plan of salvation. Does one presume to assert eternal law can somehow be altered by popular opinion or a court decision? There is no earthly tribunal in America, even the SCOTUS, that can compel the churches to solemnize a wedding ritual in violation of its religious beliefs under Constitutional safeguards. And certainly, the highest courts in the land will never be able to rule effectively in matters of conscience and righteousness. That's why the Founders were so explicit that America could never be governed except if the people remained righteous. But Satan will not rest. Since the Garden, he has sought to separate the man from the woman, and he has sworn in his wrath he will never retreat.

We are admonished to gather together in our meetings "to AGREE upon my word." (D&C 41:2). When our high priest groups descend into nothing more than a debating society where we mingle the philosophies of men with scripture, and never once during a lesson cite a single sentence from the prophets' teachings that are laid before us, we are opening ourselves up to being deceived. I suspect this is all in fulfillment of sorting out the wise virgins from among the foolish ones. (See Matthew 25). They were all good girls - virgins! - waiting for the Bridegroom. As members the Church in the last days, we are good girls too for the most part. But about half of us tend to be wise, and about half tend toward foolishness.

President Thomas S. Monson

The demarcation line will likely be those who have embraced the word, honored and defended the humble prophets God has raised up from among our congregations to lead us in the latter-days, and who put their covenants ahead of all other considerations. Whenever I am asked who I think the greatest prophet in this dispensation is, most are surprised when my knee-jerk reaction isn't "Joseph Smith," or "Harold B. Lee." They are both dead prophets, and great as they were, the greatest prophet for me will always be the one who is living on the earth and leading the Church TODAY, Thomas S. Monson. And when he is gone, it will be his successor. I find obedience to the covenants we have made with God leaves me no other option in answering that question.

Those who will yet lose their way in the mists of darkness will be those who treat casually the glorious gifts we have received in the Restoration. It's a marvelous flood of light for those who choose to live in the light.

So no matter which version of scripture you favor, electronic or paper, feast upon the word, familiarize yourselves with their contents, and avoid the winds of deception that are blowing at gale force all around you. In this course there is safety, light and LIFE.

Remember - eternal life comes only from the Lawgiver, and it is given on His terms.

Why the Church is as True as the Gospel

Several years ago, Eugene England published a series of essays he titled, Why the Church is as True as the Gospel. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1986). It's a serviceable title, and remains intriguing as I borrow it for today's post. He also wrote another compilation entitled, Dialogues with Myself. (Midvale, Utah: Orion Books, 1984).

Eugene England

Said England: ". . . the Church community is blessed, not fractured, by those who express themselves sincerely and openly — even their disagreements and their vulnerability — rather than those who keep silent in public but criticize in private or harbor resentment or guilt or gnaw alone on the bones of their failures and hurts." (Dialogues, 55). I believe that's a useful message for us to consider.

In the Church we encounter imperfection in all its stripes and hues. Each month that diversity is on full display in our fast and testimony meeting, where anyone in the audience who feels so inclined can either walk to the pulpit and testify, or stand in their pew and share whatever they feel inclined to discuss. It's free-wheeling unscripted worship at its best and routinely inspiring, as it was again today in the Woodland Ward. Some people who leave the Church say they still can have Jesus without His Church. I guess that's true for them, but I have always rejected it.

We are prone to believe in the Church that the gospel in its purity and perfection is somehow superior to the messiness we find in the organization of the Church. It isn't so much the institutional organization itself with which we take exception. The organization of the Church is really rather tidy in its vertical top-down efficiency. Rather, it's the people who are messy. We give them all stunning responsibility to administer in all facets of the ordinances necessary to salvation. We teach and instruct on a regular basis, then we get out of their way and allow them to do their very best using their agency and their divinely-appointed gift of revelation. It's awe-inspiring to me that we entrust all these truths in the hands of eighteen-year-old young men and nineteen-year-old young women and turn them loose throughout the world to invite all who will to come unto Christ and learn more.

In conversation late one night last week with a visiting son-in-law who is currently serving as a bishop, this theme was re-born in my mind, inviting further examination.

He spoke of a dear friend who had left the Church after being shattered by a book written about plural marriage (popularly referred to inaccurately as "polygamy.") I commented that I had read the book years ago when it was first published, and felt it to be not only faith-building for me personally, but I believed it represented the de facto best book ever written on the topic. It's highlighted at the right on my recommended reading list, entitled In Sacred Loneliness, by Todd Compton.

I was inspired and deeply edified by the multiple accounts and compelling evidence of the supernal spiritual gifts of these incredible women. That their lives were hard is an understatement. That they endured what they did is testament to their faith. That's what I was focused on, to the exclusion of what to some would seem abhorrent behavior in the Victorian age. Seriously, compared to what we observe today, can what happened in the Mormon experience in Nauvoo in the 1840s even be compared?

We mused together about the differences in his friend's and my reaction to Compton's book. It has been my experience with many, many people over the years that a little knowledge about Joseph Smith is a dangerous thing. Reading one book about plural marriage is not advisable. If you want to know, really know, about the Prophet Joseph Smith, you're advised to do a very deep dive. Get your hands on everything you can find about the man, the times in which he lived, the contemporaries who knew and studied him carefully, and then calculate the long odds against the stellar achievements of one so young.

Joseph Smith

If you are the least bit objective after that degree of effort, even if you can't muster the faith to believe he was a divinely-appointed prophet of God, you must conclude Joseph Smith was no ordinary man. What made him tick? Why did he do the things he did? Where did he find his motivation, his devotion, his native optimism in the face of the almost insurmountable opposition he routinely faced?

He was dead at age 38, assassinated by the hands of men who believed they were doing the will of God to dispatch this pretender from the face of the earth. Gather your sources as you research his life from his avowed enemies, his devoted apologists and his staunchest advocates. Consider long and persistently his mission and his legacy. It isn't enough to encounter your first jolts in the ride, then leave it alone and wander off disillusioned with your first taste of something sour. I've described my journey of discovery in that advice to you, and I can testify the man was everything and more he purported to be, imperfections and all. What he left for all of us was solid gold revelation from God and he penned it in spite of his imperfections.

With Joseph and all his successors, one must overcome the initial bite of the bitterness of lemons, it seems, until one acquires a taste for lemonade.

The reason one must persist in their quest for understanding of mortal men who are called to the work in this dispensation is the perfection of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Church we rub shoulders with one another to learn to forgive our contemporaries. It isn't enough to come to know the gospel is true. That's the easier task. No, we must learn on a deeper more cognitive level by experimenting on each other in overlooking the sins and follies of our fellow saints, nurturing, serving and loving them as Christ would and did in the meridian-day Church of Jesus Christ.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Frankly, in some people we encounter in the latter-day Church there is little of "saint" and a lot more of "sinner." It seems we must see the Church as a hospital for sinners, not a rest home for saints, as Elder Neal A. Maxwell once reminded us. We can learn to love one another in spite of the stench of each others' sins. That includes most of all our leaders. I remember being seated on a plane years ago when I traveled a lot and was routinely upgraded to first class. Across the aisle was a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, who was served a cup of coffee "black without sugar." That was his order and it was not decaffeinated. Shock. Bitter lemons. But who was I to judge that act? I had my own list of cherished sins that maybe weren't quite as obvious.

That's why the Church is as true as the gospel. One must come to appreciate and value the mess in organized religion. Be wary of those who say they have no use for organized religion. I used this rejoinder to some who told me that: "Then come join the Mormons, we're as disorganized as you can imagine!" When we have learned by long years of experience to validate one another despite everything that is so obvious in shortcomings and backsliding, then and only then are we becoming "truly converted" mature disciples of Jesus Christ.

I routinely ponder the imperfections I observe in how the Church gets administered. Yes, I see things done differently than how I would do them, but for the most part these are minor irritants and don't amount to much. For some it's a parlor game to point out the obvious dereliction so readily available to all observers. On the macro level, think of all the departures from the procedural norms one has observed from Joseph to Thomas S. Monson. Avowed enemies of the Church love to point out the differences in the statements of earlier dead prophets compared to the living oracles among us. It is a test for many to follow the living prophets.

On the micro level, regardless of which granular ward to which we belong, there are sometimes jarring experiences to which we are exposed that try our faith and challenge our testimonies. To those who are jarred by their discoveries of the dereliction of others, including Joseph and all his successors down through and including local leaders, I would say hold on, anchor yourselves in the scriptures, and continue your search for truth on both the macro and the micro level.

Seek to become flexible enough that your testimony is not "brittle," as son-in-law Phil Sharp described it. Brittle testimony seems unable to allow for imperfection in others. Making that accommodation and pointing it out publicly without harboring and festering in quiet solitude or whispered gossip is what an active faith requires. I have little use for private critics of others and Church policy, and I routinely have to remind myself to bite my tongue when so tempted. I hate that fault in me when the words escape my lips and I work to stifle those expressions. I've noticed my negativity when allowed to escape my lips rarely affects anyone but me.

In both cases at the micro and the macro level, change is inevitable. Change in individuals comes in the form of repentance, and in the institutional Church it also involves almost constant adaptation in policies and procedures in a changing world as the growing Church expands around the globe.

Being anchored in absolute unchanging doctrine, however, will help you absorb the shocks that often accompany a dynamic organization filled with people who routinely are mired in addiction, ineptitude, sin, even deceit and fraud.

I grew up in a home where scathing criticism and judgment of others was routine. As I got to know those people later in life, I discovered that many of the faults and frailties of which they had been accused by my father were simply not true as I formed my own opinions of those people. To the degree my own children may have detected that fault in me, I am repenting. Please forgive me. To them and to myself I would say, don't be the voice of private criticism. Instead, be the public voice for testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel principles as they are being tested and tried in the hearts and minds of imperfect people among whom you serve, love and follow in faith.

That's why the Church is at least as true as the gospel. I don't believe you can have one without the other.

The Scriptures: Like a "Big Daddy Hug"

We have a family website we use to keep in touch with each other.  For ten years we have compiled letters, stories, pictures, and intimate pleas for faith and prayers for each other.  We have shared each other's lives and kept in touch, though the miles have separated us as an extended family. 

Patsy reminded me tonight about an e-mail exchange dating back several years.  She is preparing for a Relief Society meeting tomorrow night.  Her topic is the value of scripture study.  She recalled this story and asked me for a copy of it.  As I re-read the words, I thought it might be useful to many others and decided to share it here.

For each of us there is always a "big daddy hug" when we seek solace in the scriptures:

January 1, 2004

Dad,

I just wanted to take a second to thank you for all you do to keep us in touch with each other. I just spent a while today (two separate times) trying to catch up on some of the letters and journal pages from the past month or so. What a blessing it is in my life to be able to turn this computer on and feel close to not only you, but Mel and Jake [a sister and a brother then serving as missionaries] who are on the other end of the earth. Their journal pages and letters, and your letters to them are truly inspiring. As I read these amazing experiences and testimonies of these younger brothers and sisters I just can't help but admire them for the wonderful people they have become and the awesome examples they are to me. I can't believe that I was ever called "the brilliant one" because I really feel like the dumb bell now.

I am thankful for the experiences I have had these past few months and years and can see the wisdom of a loving Heavenly Father in allowing me to have them. I especially appreciated your letter to Mel and Sis. Sorenson about being healed and the will of the Lord. I have been a brat, whiny, wondering why I have to go through these things, why I have to do all these things I find no joy in, etc. But I have come to realize that through these experiences, I have gained a greater understanding and compassion for people who suffer with depression. Before I always just thought why can't they get over it? or they just must not have enough faith. It is amazing to me how judgmental we can all be even when we don't think we are.

It has been an interesting experience being in this calling and now being released this past week. I have come to the conclusion that we may always feel like we could have or should have done more in a calling, but we can also feel like we have served well and done the best that we could have done with the other circumstances in our lives. As I have reflected on this past almost 2 years in the YW, I came to the conclusion that I really did accomplish what I set out to do and what I was challenged to do by my bishop. He told me to love the girls through good and bad, to love the Lord and share that love and my testimony with the girls, to get them focused on the path that leads them to the temple and to help them to "come unto Christ."

Someone made the comment to my friend Linda this week about how great the new YW pres will be because she has so much enthusiasm and will be so fun. I was grateful that Linda came back with "Well Emily has brought a spirituality to the Young Women that I for one (as a mother of one of the YW) am grateful for." It is true, I probably wasn't very fun for some of the girls, I cut a lot of the fluff, but I don't think the girls could ever deny that I love them and that I shared my testimony with them and that we were focused on the temple. It just frustrates me that some people have to be so critical. Why is it that we can't just appreciate each other for our unique talents and abilities and realize that we are all human and therefore prone to be imperfect. It is these people that think they do everything right and have perfectly well-behaved children who are all "shoulding" on me that drive me crazy. Can't we all just love? I am actually really looking forward to getting outta here and moving on. I am excited about my new, bigger house and a new and fresh ward to start over in. I have let a few too many things get in the way lately of what is really important and look forward to this new experience and year to set some of my priorities back in order. I will miss some of the people here, but we've been there done that and I know we will see them all again eventually (whether in this life or the next) and hey, that's what Christmas cards are for right?

Anyway, I don't know exactly where that all came from because really I just wanted to tell you that I love you and am so thankful for your influence in my life. This was sort of a rushed holiday season, so I didn't get much out to others, but I did eat a box of orange sticks in honor of you and I have spent a lot of time counting my blessings. My family is at the very top of my list of those blessings. Thank you for showing us, not telling us. Thank you for your patience with me. I have felt that I have really struggled with a lot of basic things this past year and am so thankful for the foundation that you and mom have given me to help combat that. This depression thing really sucks sometimes. I find myself barely able to cope with the most simple things sometimes and I never used to be like that. I have been thankful that Di and Mom talked me into seeing a counselor because she has helped me to see things in a different light and realize that I can do things for myself and discover again who I am and what my talents are. She also has given me some techniques to use to help pull me out of the funk - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but it is good advice nevertheless. Thank you for your love and support.

I did want to tell you an experience I had a few months ago.....it was one night when everyone had gone to bed and I was feeling especially low, sad, and really lonely. Jay was tired and had gone to bed without telling me he was going and all I could think was that I just really wanted a big hug from my daddy. Just a big hug that says I love you and everything will be okay. It was late and I knew it couldn't happen because you are so far away physically. My Book of Mormon was laying on the side of the couch and I thought well, if my dad can't be here in person to give me a hug, maybe if I open this book I can feel closer to him and to my Father in Heaven as well. And it worked, it settled me down and lifted my spirit and filled me with love and hope. I also made that connection because I knew of your love for the B of M and the gospel of Jesus Christ. When I told my counselor about the experience her comment was "What a wonderful thing that you have an earthly father that is so wonderful that you get a glimpse of the love our Heavenly Father has for us too. And that you can make that connection so easily. Many people don't get that from their fathers and therefore have a totally different take on what our Heavenly Father is like." So in a sense, I felt like you were there with me that night when I needed a hug, because of the things you had taught me in my youth and because you had taught me where to look for comfort and support.

I love you, daddy of mine. There have been days when I wish I could just go back in time and be the carefree little girl again, instead of the mommy. Thank you for giving me such a wonderful childhood and providing me with such a happy home. You really made it look a lot easier than I am finding it is to provide for my own children. I hope you have had a great holiday season and look forward to being closer so we can see you more often.

Love, Em

* * *

Fast Forward 7 Years

Em --

How I love you, and your sweet expressions in your e-mail this morning. I was particularly humbled by your story about finding that big daddy hug in the Book of Mormon. There have been so many times in my life when I felt all alone, and like you, I have found the guidance and comfort I was seeking again and again in the Book of Mormon.

I remembered when I read about your therapist's comments an experience so many years ago when George and Janice [not their real names] were going through their winter of discontent with their parents on both sides. George made a comment to me once about his father, who was emotionally and physically abusive. He said he had never been able to visualize a loving and compassionate Heavenly Father because of the abusive nature of his relationship with his earthly father. I am so grateful to have not repeated that pattern in my children's lives -- hopefully so far so good anyway. . .

When I pointed out to George and Janice the pattern the scriptures reveal of who our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ really are, he could scarcely understand it. Interestingly though, somewhere along the line he must have discovered the truth, because today I see him fulfilling his role as a father with great success and happiness, even though he missed it in his own life. That's the lesson, I suppose, to do for our own families what we missed in our childhood. I know we weren't perfect -- maybe your memory is simply fading away after all these years -- but I am grateful for whatever degree of happiness you have received because that was always our greatest desire to help you find happiness and fulfillment.

Em, let me share one other important insight. I smiled when I read the part about feeling like the dunce these days. Let me assure you -- it only gets worse. I wish I had the self-assurance I felt when I was nineteen as a green missionary. No matter how long we live and no matter whatever degree of success we may attain in the world's eyes, we are only happy if we achieve what we alone determine with our companion is the definition of our success. If we set our standard for measurement by anyone else's expectations, we are sad and frustrated most of the time because we never measure up to those false traditions and standards that others may superimpose upon us. It is only by looking deep within ourselves that we finally and accurately determine what we will define as success in our own lives, and thus finally and accurately determine what Heavenly Father's purposes in our lives can be magnified with our submission to his will. He will always make of us something far greater and finer than we can ever make of ourselves in the eyes of others.

I can't begin to tell you how pleased Mom and I have been as we have observed the step-by-step spiritual process that you and Jay have undertaken in the last several months to finally arrive at this point of embarkation on another important step in your progress as you move to Rexburg. We could sense for so long your collective frustrations with the NFL imperatives that took Jay away from home so often, particularly on Sunday. Looking back now, you can both readily observe the Lord's hand in it, guiding you step by slow and tortured step to this decision. That will be even truer in the years ahead, I believe. And we are grateful that in it all you have found the keys to receiving answers to your prayers.

We often wonder why it has to be so painful, and I can tell you both by my own experiences this past year how valuable the chastening can be in our spiritual progression. God only chastens us when he is determined to show us his love for us. The chastening is what produces the true disciples, because only in the chastening are we purified. It's a true principle, and he only chastens those he loves most who are seeking membership in his kingdom.

I know this move will require sacrifice, and in the sacrifice will emerge the blessings you seek as a family. How often have I wondered what might have been if we had stayed in SLC, living in relative ease and comfort in our spacious home. What if? We can always speculate endlessly on the question, can't we? But I truly believe after all these years of observing the consequences of that choice to move to our wilderness home in Woodland, that we took the path "less travelled" and that truly "has made all the difference." And so it will be for you and Jay. I cannot accurately forecast today what the future will hold for you both and for your children, but I do know this much -- God is in the details, and now you can embrace him more fully having chosen him first.

This morning we are buried in snow. There are two feet on the back deck that was shovelled off two days ago! The prayers for moisture have been answered in Utah. The wind was blowing all night last night and drifting snow everywhere!

All my love, and hugs and kisses to Logan, Katelyn and Spencer -- I loved your pictures!!

Dad

The Unchangeable God, Church and Prophets

I couldn't help noticing the results of yet another poll the other day.  The polling, one would think, would end with the end of campaigning for this election cycle, but not so. . . the sampling of human opinion seems perpetual and neverending.


President Boyd K. Packer

In the ongoing "great debate of 2010," this poll asked Utahns how many believed gay and lesbian people could change their sexual orientation.  President Boyd K. Packer, consistent with "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" issued in 1995 by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, asserts:

"Fifteen years ago, with the world in turmoil, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued 'The Family: A Proclamation to the World,' the fifth proclamation in the history of the Church. It is a guide that members of the Church would do well to read and to follow.

"It states in part: 'We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.'  (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102).

“'The Gods went down to organize man in their own image, in the image of the Gods to form they him, male and female to form they them.

"'And the Gods said: We will bless them. And … we will cause them to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.'  (Abraham 4:27–28).

"This commandment has never been rescinded.

“'And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.'  (Abraham 3:25).

"It is intended that we be happy, for 'men are, that they might have joy.'  (2 Nephi 2:25).

"Lehi taught that men are free and must be 'free … to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day.'"  (2 Nephi 2:26).

So, the pollsters say among themselves, "Let's test those assumptions and take a poll; let's find out what people think, because that will surely settle it."

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:  "More people in Utah agree with Packer than don’t, according to a recent poll by The Salt Lake Tribune. In a random survey of 625 registered voters conducted Oct. 25-27, 44 percent said it is possible for those with same-sex attraction to change it, while 25 percent said they were unsure. Nearly a third said change isn’t possible, an opinion consistent with most scientific research."

A third part said exercising agency just isn't possible.  That's an interesting number.  More on that later, but remember that percentage. 

The report on the polling data is useful in this sense:  It correctly draws the lines in the "great debate."  The living prophets among us declare fallen man can and must change to be forgiven and sanctified.  President Packer's talk is about repentance.  It's titled, "Cleansing the Inner Vessel."  However, the scientific community (whoever "they" are) claims the question is settled in the science -- they have proven sexual orientation is not something anyone can change.  They maintain those who are born that way cannot exercise agency.

This laboratory we call mortal life is staged in an imperfect fallen world.  In this state we walk by faith not seeing, not knowing and certainly not capable of having enough cumulative life experiences to have a perfect knowledge of much of anything.  However, there is something we all came here to do -- to trust God.

Our Father in Heaven is the personification of perfection in the three categories I just mentioned:  He is omnipotent (always all powerful), omniscient (always all knowing), and omnipresent (always in the present and present in the present, the unchangeable God who is the same today, yesterday, and forever).

True Prophets

He has called and sent prophets among us to teach the truth, His truth.  What is truth?  We have the perfect definition in scripture:

"And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come; and whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning.  The Spirit of truth is of God.  I am the Spirit of turth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth; and no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth the coommandents.  He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and knoweth all things.  Man was also in the beginning with God.  Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.  All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence.  Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light.  And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation.  For man is spirit.  The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.  The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple.  The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.  Light and truth forsake that evil one.  Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.  And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.  But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth."  (D&C 93:24-40, emphasis mine).

President Packer wisely observed:  ". . . if we are not alert, there are those today who not only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that would legalize immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God’s laws and nature. A law against nature would be impossible to enforce. For instance, what good would a vote against the law of gravity do?

"There are both moral and physical laws 'irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world' that cannot be changed.  (D&C 130:20). History demonstrates over and over again that moral standards cannot be changed by battle and cannot be changed by ballot. To legalize that which is basically wrong or evil will not prevent the pain and penalties that will follow as surely as night follows day.

"Regardless of the opposition, we are determined to stay on course. We will hold to the principles and laws and ordinances of the gospel. If they are misunderstood either innocently or willfully, so be it. We cannot change; we will not change the moral standard. We quickly lose our way when we disobey the laws of God. If we do not protect and foster the family, civilization and our liberties must needs perish."

It's so delicious, isn't it?  The Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual,Transgender (LGBT) community maintains they cannot change from the way they were created, and would have the leaders of the Church change EVERYTHING undergirding and upholding eternal truth, while the Church and its leaders cannot change revealed principles of unchanging truth that cannot be changed to satisfy their demands.  Satan is having a field day -- it truly is the great day of his power on earth!

God cannot and will not change.  He is unchangeable.  (Moroni 8:18; Mormon 9:19).  He is the same today, yesterday and forever. (See 1 Nephi 10:18; 2 Nephi 27:23; 29:9; Alma 31:17; Moroni 10:7, 19; 2 Nephi 2:4; D&C 20:12; 35:1; 76:4).  His Church cannot and will not change if it is His Church founded on the eternal revealed doctrines of truth and light.  As fallen mortals, however, each of us must change, repent and become sanctified, and we are given our agency to do so, the scientific community's "findings" notwithstanding.

Exercising faith in God is imperative in this process.  Long before the "great debate of 2010" was upon us, but sensing it might arise in a future day, with my good friend Scott Strong many, many years ago we wrote about these eternal principles:

The Plan of Salvation

If we do not come to earth and experience evil with its terrible consequences of sorrow and death, we will never become like God because we will not know and understand what he does. When we do partake of evil we cannot be with God nor be like him, because we are guilty under the law. We are sentenced to physical and spiritual death, because those are the wages we must pay for sin. (See Romans 6:23). How do we experience evil so we can know what God knows, but not fall eternal victim to the consequences of evil?

The answer is the divine solution of the Gods: Take the memory of the children from them, then put them in a carefully prepared probationary state of accountability. Let them experience sin, evil and the consequences of sorrow and death for themselves, but only to a necessary point -- only temporarily -- only long enough for the children to gain this important knowledge for themselves. Then provide an atonement through the infinite Creator, who can justly meet all the conditions and requirements of the law because he is responsible, sinless and infinite.

The Creator, the Redeemer, the Messiah

Imagine this dialogue between the Savior and Satan to further illustrate the point. Jesus Christ the Messiah stands between man and justice (see Mosiah 15:9) and says, “I will pay, I will satisfy the demands of justice for all these children who have sinned.” Satan the destroyer says, “You can’t. No one can pay for sins they are not responsible for. It would not be just and I demand justice. Who are you to pay for their sins?”

“Their Creator,” responds Christ. “I am responsible for giving them life. I gave them power to live, to move and to do. I gave them their agency. All they have and are is because of me. I am responsible for them because I created them.”

“That may be true,” counters Satan, “but how can you possibly pay for their sins when you must pay for your own transgressions? You already owe the demands of justice for your own sins.”

“I have no sins as you well know, despite your temptations,” reminds Christ. “I owe justice nothing because I am sinless.”

“That may also be true,” Satan responds, “but how could you possibly pay the price of all the doings of all God’s children? Why, that is an infinite impossibility!”

“I am infinite,” answers Christ, “and my infinite creations are all known to me and the Father.”

Adam was infinite (not mortal) at the time he transgressed the law. (See 2 Nephi 2:22). That means Adam’s transgression (his fall) was infinite. Christ had to be an infinite being to cure an infinite transgression. Christ was and is infinite. He was specially designed for his mission as the Messiah. He had a mortal mother so he could spill his own blood and lay down his body and die. He was sired by an infinite and divine Father so he had infinite capacity and power to take up his body in the resurrection following his crucifixion. He was sinless. Neither death nor hell had any claim on him.

Every contingency was anticipated, every preparation was made from the very foundations of this world to make this plan just and effective in bringing about the eternal life of God’s children. Nothing has been left to chance. Nothing is arbitrary or out of order. All is according to law. The love of faithful parents who create, teach and nurture their children in the gospel covenant can appeal to this infinite sacrifice on behalf of their children who have wavered.

The Law and Justice of the Universe

When we consider the atonement of Christ, we often focus on the principle of mercy. Nothing more beautifully typifies the love of God than the sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son. However, there is actually nothing that better typifies God’s respect for the eternal principle of justice either. A proper understanding of these truths is most essential, as a misunderstanding could lead to some poor judgment decisions in our personal lives because we falsely perceive the actual workings of justice and mercy in the gospel plan.

There are those who believe the law (meaning all the commandments) is not really very important in the gospel. From the standpoint of the individual sinner, of course, this is true. The writings of Paul are full of his realization he could not be saved even by living the law “perfectly,” as he had attempted to do in his Pharisaic traditions. These believe grace is the real key to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some believe, for instance, that Christ would somehow be offered the same grace by the Father he offers mortal sinners. They maintain Christ did not answer the ends of the law by fulfilling the law, but rather by suffering so much the Eternal Judge might say, “You suffered so much I will mercifully suspend the law this time. I really shouldn’t, but I will because my bowels are so full of love and mercy because of your suffering.”

Once again, this assumption does not comport with revealed truth regarding justice. He has answered all the ends of the law. (See Moroni 7:28). Justice exerciseth all his demands. (See Alma 42:24). The law must be fulfilled. (See 2 Nephi 9:17). The works of justice cannot be destroyed. (See Alma 12:32; 42:13, 22). Justice cannot be denied. (See Mosiah 15:27; Jacob 6:10). Mercy cannot rob justice. (See Alma 42:25).

The system of justice and law spoken of in the scriptures is divine and eternal, because the eternal Gods, even the Eloheim who presided in the eternal worlds in which our God gained his exaltation, are its author. 1 Nephi 15:30 speaks of “the justice of God.” Mosiah 2:38 mentions “the demands of divine justice.” 1 Nephi 12:18 refers to “the word of the justice of the Eternal God.” Christ would never destroy the Father’s creations, so he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law (see Matthew 5:17), to pay the full debt under the law, to honor the law and to keep the law without exception.

He did not come to overpower the law by breaking it, robbing it, denying it and destroying it. He came to ensure that the ends of the law were answered, that justice exercised all its demands. He knew the law must be fulfilled. He understood the works of the law could not be destroyed, or God would cease to be God. He knew the law cannot be appeased by denying the law its right to exercise all its demands. The law is not satisfied with the currency of grace and mercy. The law demands the cold hard cash payment of absolute compliance.

Satan is a Liar

It is little wonder Satan’s offer to save all the Father’s children by suspending agency and mandating obedience and compliance seemed so attractive to "a third part" of his audience in the pre-existence. On the day of judgment he will still be demanding the law’s fulfillment -- every jot and tittle. The poll results from the earlier citation today seems to indicate a third part still believes suspending agency is desirable.  He is our hateful enemy, and he will demand what he thinks is rightfully his -- our eternal souls. He will have no compassion because of Christ’s suffering. He knows no mercy. He will demand of a God who cannot lie that the ends of the law be answered. He will require that justice exercises all its demands. He knows anything short of this would make God a liar and break eternal law.

There was only one way for God to righteously overpower the adverse effects of eternal justice upon his beloved children. (See Alma 34:15). He must satisfy justice (see Mosiah 15:9; Alma 34:16), appease justice (see Alma 42:15), and fulfill the law (see 2 Nephi 9:17). The only way the Father could do that and still mercifully forgive and save us, was to offer his perfect Son as the willing sacrifice who would pay the penalty, fulfill the law, and satisfy the demands of justice. (See Alma 34:14-15).

The Scriptures Teach Truth

These truths are fully described in the scriptures. The scriptures teach Christ suffered the pains of “. . .every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” (2 Nephi 9:21). They do not say Christ’s suffering was to fill up the bowels of the Father with mercy so the Father would be justified in suspending justice. Rather, Jacob declares, “O the greatness and the justice of our God! For he executeth all his words, and they have gone forth out of his mouth, and his law must be fulfilled.” (2 Nephi 9:17).

One of the atonement metaphors in the scriptures is prison. Christ pays the bail so we can be released from prison. He does not merely “cut a deal” with justice -- he pays the “uttermost farthing” (Matthew 5:26), to “the very last mite” (Luke 12:59). We are “bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20), and Christ did not get wholesale prices. He was obliged to pay our debt in full when he redeemed our souls.

The “merciful bowels” hypothesis some have proposed would make God very merciful but not very just. The scriptures declare he is not only perfectly merciful, but perfectly just as well. (See Alma 42:15). Any thoughtful analysis of law and order in the universe makes both the supreme power and unyielding rigidity of the law imperative.

As we consider the merciful atonement of Christ wrought with love, compassion and amazing grace, we must never forget justice was never robbed. On the contrary, at every turn the atonement met every single demand of justice completely. Such is the love and wisdom of God.

Only Christ Qualifies as our Redeemer

These are the characteristics of Christ that qualify him as our Redeemer:

1. Creator. Being our Creator makes him a responsible party to our sins. The only two beings who qualify as responsible parties are the “giver” of life (Christ), and the “liver” of life (each of us).

2. Sinless. Having no sin of his own, justice has no claim upon him. He has escaped the necessity to pay the wages of sin (death), since he is without sin.

3. Infinite. Not only was Adam’s transgression infinite because he was infinite when he transgressed, but the scope of the atonement is also infinite. To take upon himself the sins of an entire eternity required Christ to have infinite capacity. Christ inherited his infinite quality from his infinite and divine Father.

4. Mortal. The atonement required that Christ also be mortal, capable of separating his body and spirit in death. He had to have blood coursing through his veins so he could effectuate the blood atonement and die. The wages of sin had to be paid in the vicarious death of the Savior. He inherited this quality from his mother, Mary, who was mortal.

5. Foreordained. No man can take any priesthood honor upon himself. He must be called of God. The Messiah is an office in the priesthood (see TPJS, 341), requiring that proper authority be given of God as with other priesthood offices.

6. Sustained. Officers in the Church are never arbitrarily imposed upon God’s children. All officers must be sustained by the common consent of the Church. Christ was accepted and sustained as the Messiah by the general voice of two-thirds of all the host of spirits in the grand council of heaven before the world was.

7. Willing. Moral agency is ever present in the gospel plan. Christ was willing to make the requisite sacrifice for the Father and all the heavenly family. Through the entire process of trial, crucifixion and atonement he had the option to choose otherwise at any moment. The love, courage and devotion here manifest is beyond the comprehension of mere mortals.

8. Lineage. Christ was of the royal lineage of the house of Israel, and therefore possessed the actual birthright to ascend through the Davidic line to the throne as king of Israel. Christ was the spiritual king of Israel, and the physical king of Israel, when he took upon himself the iniquity of his people and suffered in spirit and body (see D&C 19:16-19) to redeem his people.

While the great mercies of the atonement can never be overemphasized, all the above illustrates the atonement as perfectly just not merely merciful. All the qualities outlined above were necessary for Christ to enable him to meet all of the demands of justice as he effectuated the atonement. Lacking even one of these essential elements of the atonement he could not have satisfied all the demands of justice. A cursory glance of these eight credentials alone compels one to see how completely God respects, honors and obeys exactly his own eternal law.

Keep the Covenants You Have Made

Little wonder, then, we are required to keep our temple covenants with “exactness and honor” if we are ever to become holy as he is holy. The Savior’s words, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as I and your Father in Heaven are perfect,” are not idle words. While we need to keep in mind the Prophet’s wisdom that “no man ever arrives in a minute,” (see TPJS, 51), we must not become complacent in the false opium of a misunderstood grace doctrine. We must come unto Christ with more than our lips. Our minds and hearts must be illuminated by his light, our souls empowered by his glory and our hearts sanctified by his spirit until we do become perfect even as he is.

The true gospel plan is a perfect balance existing between God and man. God cannot save man by himself, any more than man can become a god by himself. Only the two in a harmonious duet can accomplish the miracle of exaltation -- the creation of a new god! The true gospel plan is also a perfect balance between men and women. We are unique halves who can only become whole and complete in full partnership with each other.

Further, the true gospel plan reveals parenthood to be the paramount principle of godhood. These partnerships must possess the power to procreate and the love to righteously preside as dedicated parent-servants, faithfully keeping as priest and priestess the laws, rites and ordinances of the patriarchal priesthood. They entered into this priesthood order by covenant, shouldering their responsibilities as creators, giving themselves wholly as kings and queens to their family kingdoms.

The highest expression of the true gospel plan is the greatest power in the priesthood that God can bestow upon us and upon our posterity -- the power of the seeds. By this power comes the continuation of the lives, the creation of man worlds without end.

The true gospel plan is the blessing and empowerment of intelligences with bodily temples, thereby enabling them to house ever ascending degrees of light. By the power of their bodies they gain ascendancy or power over those intelligences who are not so tabernacled.

And finally, the true gospel plan reveals the universe as a system of order wherein all bodies physical, spiritual and social are governed by eternal law.

President Boyd K. Packer

As the foregoing has amply illustrated, President Boyd K. Packer did not one day a few weeks ago wake up and say to himself, "I wonder what I can do to purposefully discomfit the LGBT community.  What could I say that would stir them up and make them miserable?"  Nor did he take a poll to sample public opinion in advance of what he would say.  He simply speaks truth, and hit pigeons flutter.  It has always been thus with living prophets, and so shall it always be until He reigns whose right it is to reign upon this earth.  (See D&C 58:21-22).

President Packer is one of God's noblemen.  He is a "sent servant."  "The great debate of 2010" is nothing more than a modern restatement of the very question posed in the pre-existence, "I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it, wherefore give me thine honor."  The other said, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever."  (Moses 4:1-2).

Satan rebelled, and from that moment has sought to destroy the agency of man.  He has succeeded beyond his wildest imaginations when he can get the "scientific community" to conclude there is an element of our society incapable of exercising their God-given agency unto repentance.  How exquisite, how delightful, how deceitful, how damning!

Next time you take the name of President Packer and any other true servant of God in your lips, let it be with full awareness of what you say before you criticize them without knowledge.  To trust them is to trust God, who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.  To do less is to side with that evil one who has been a liar from the beginning.  (See D&C 93:25).

"And it came to pass that from this time forth there began to be lyings sent forth among the people by Satan, to harden their hearts, to the intent that they might not believe in those signs and wonders which they had seen; but notwithstanding these lyings and deceivings the more part of the people did believe, and were converted unto the Lord."  (3 Nephi 1:22).

May it ever be thus with this generation of Latter-day Saints is my prayer.