On Sunday morning, December 19, 1993, in a special high council meeting, President F. Michael Watson put aside all regular agenda items and invited the members of the stake presidency and high council to share their thoughts and some favorite scriptures about either the Lord Jesus Christ or the Prophet Joseph Smith. In essence, the following represents a summary of the testimony I shared on that occasion. I was serving at the time as the stake executive secretary.
It is amazing how much buying and selling are a part of the celebration of Christmas in our culture. Indeed, the very health of our national economy is measured largely on how much we buy during the holiday season.
Interestingly, the holy scriptures employ monetary terminology in discussing the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the very heart and soul of our religion. Jesus came to “redeem” us, which means to “pay a price for” us. Peter speaks of the Lord’s people as being “a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9), which in the original Greek meant “a purchased people.”
I think often we do not appreciate the cost of the Savior’s gift, the price He paid for us, for as the scriptures affirm, we “are bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23; see also 2 Peter 2:1), the price being His own “precious blood” (1 Peter 1:19).
Jacob, the brother of Nephi, taught that “he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam” (2 Nephi 9:21). That appears to include everyone. If we could somehow remember all the pain and suffering and hurt we have ever experienced personally—mentally or physically or spiritually—and times that by the billions of people that now live or have ever lived on this planet, that might begin to give us an inkling of the price He paid for us. That is a lot of pain!
President John Taylor testified that “in a manner to us incomprehensible and inexplicable, he bore the weight of the sins of the whole world” (Mediation and Atonement, ch. 21). I don’t think we can begin to understand the magnitude of what He went through for us, although the revelations give us glimpses.
Mark records an interesting little detail, not mentioned by the other gospel writers, about the suffering Jesus faced in Gethsemane: “And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy” (Mark 14:33). Sore amazed. The Greek renders this passage as “amazed, awestruck, astonished.” Here was the Savior of the world, knowing full well what He had to face, the cup He had to drink, and yet even He was amazed, awestruck, astonished at the weight of it all, of how terrible it was, of how exquisite it would be.
Some 1,800 years later He would talk of that experience: “Therefore, I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, how hard to bear you know not.
“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
“But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
“Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—
“Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (D&C 19:15–19).
That was the price He paid for us, just as similarly the Prophet Joseph Smith gave his life to seal his witness of the reality of the Father and the Son and all that they communicated through him as the Prophet of the Restoration, which “cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world” (D&C 135:6). There is mention again of the cost.
I am grateful beyond all ability to express for the price that has been paid—not only by the Prophet Joseph Smith, but by all the faithful Saints who have gone before in this dispensation who have made possible what we enjoy here today. I thank the Father and His beloved Son for Their priceless gift, the pearl of great price, that opens the gate to our everlasting salvation in Their presence.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
69. Seeing with an Eye of Faith
A talk I gave in the Bountiful Twentieth Ward at Michael’s missionary farewell on Sunday, August 30, 1992, before he began his mission to the Brazil Manaus Mission. Concerning the writing of the talk I recorded the following in my journal that same day: “Last Thursday about 4:30 in the morning I awoke with some thoughts running through my head about seeing with an eye of faith and felt the distinct impression that I was to get up right then, as opposed to waiting until a more reasonable hour, to look up some scriptures and start writing a talk for sacrament meeting. Between 4:30 and 6:30 that morning I wrote the following talk and was exhausted the rest of the day and the next day. After writing it, I didn't look at or even think about the talk until last night when I read it to Michael to see if it still sounded as good by the light of day as it did at 4:30 in the morning. It did, and I read it today in sacrament meeting, the first time I've ever read an entire talk in church. This is the talk. . . . Tonight as I was telling Claudia the circumstances of coming to write the talk, and the obvious inspiration involved, she was touched deeply by what I said about her efforts during the nineteen years Michael has been growing up and took it, I think rightly so, as evidence of the Lord's love and acceptance of her efforts. That’s a nice feeling to have.”
I am thrilled beyond measure that Michael has been called to Brazil, where I served twenty-plus years ago, to a land and among a people that I love dearly. I want all of you here today to know that it has been a great privilege and blessing in my life these past nineteen years to be honored to be the father of Michael Adam Cleverly. He is a covenant child, prayed here by his mother, who like Hannah of old promised him to the Lord and His service.
The Book of Mormon contains an imagery, an insight into faith that, as far as I can tell, is unique in all of our scriptures. In three places it refers to seeing “with an eye of faith.” As far as I can find, that phrase occurs nowhere else in the scriptures.
Alma, speaking to the Saints in Zarahemla, asked these penetrating questions, which are well for each of us to ask ourselves: “Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?” (Alma 5:15; emphasis added).
And then, about a decade later, this same Alma, preaching among what the record calls “the poor class of people” (Alma 32:2), compares the word to a seed and invites the people to experiment upon it, and says—“And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life” (Alma 32:40; emphasis added).
And finally, nearly five centuries later, as Moroni abridges the record of the Jaredites, he writes this inspired summary: “And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad” (Ether 12:19; emphasis added).
Looking forward with an eye of faith. Seeing with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith.
Let me give two simple illustrations of this principle: In the opening chapters of the Book of Mormon, we read how after traipsing through the desert for some eight years, Lehi and his and his often-less-than-enthusiastic family come to the borders of the sea (to a land, by the way, which they called Bountiful), and little brother Nephi is commanded to build a ship. Nephi knows nothing about building ships. Surviving in the desert, perhaps yes; but building ships, nothing. I don’t know about you, but if I were to build a ship and had that huge ocean staring me in the face, it would take a remarkable leap of faith to want to get in the thing after it was finished and worry about whether it was going to make it.
But Nephi doesn’t hesitate for a minute. Earlier he had seen a panoramic vision of the future of his people upon the promised land, and so he moves forward with what the Lord has commanded him. He has seen with an eye of faith. If his descendants are on the promised land, they apparently have to get there somehow, so he knows the ship won’t spring a leak fifty miles out from shore and everyone drown in the depths of the sea. He has seen with an eye of faith.
A second illustration: Nineteen years ago this Wednesday, Claudia lay in a hospital bed in Provo with her firstborn son in her arms, just hours old, counting his fingers and toes (as I suppose new mothers do), but even more importantly thinking ahead, among other things, to this very day. She was planning in her mind the future course of his life, envisioning his serving a mission, looking forward with an eye of faith. And so what does she spend the next nineteen years doing? The kinds of things the Lord’s prophets have told parents to do to get their sons ready and worthy to serve missions. She has acted in faith, seeing with her eyes the things which she had beheld with the eye of faith.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that faith was a principle of action and a principle of power. It is the Lord’s intent to save us. That’s what His work is all about. That’s what He’s promised to do. And He has sufficient power to do what He says He will do.
The only thing, as I understand it, that can prevent His saving us is our own selves, because He’s granted us our agency and we’re busy choosing every moment of our lives whether we want Him on the one hand or the things of the world on the other. We can’t have both. They’re mutually exclusive.
And that is another principal message of the Book of Mormon: we can set our hearts on the Lord, or we can set our hearts on the world and its riches and fine apparel and spacious buildings and the lusts of the flesh and on and on. But we can’t have both. We have to face one direction or the other.
Elder Boyd K. Packer, in an address some years ago to priesthood leaders, asked the question: “Which way do you face?” We can’t face both directions.
So, what do we see with our eye of faith? Do we envision, as Alma taught, “Can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day; Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?” (Alma 5:16).
Can we look forward with an eye of faith and imagine ourselves saved in the celestial kingdom of God? I suspect that if we can’t, we may not in fact be there. Because, if there is any message at all I get from the Book of Mormon, it’s that the Lord will give each one of us exactly what we desire.
And that brings us down to the precise reason Michael is going off to Brazil to preach the gospel. In the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord says that “the weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones” (D&C 1:19), and He’s talking of course about missionaries just like Michael, and one of the reasons is “that faith also might increase in the earth” (D&C 1:21).
And the reason that the Lord wants faith to increase in the earth is so that more of His children will come unto Christ and be saved. Faith leads to repentance, and repentance leads to the ordinances of the gospel—starting with baptism—and that’s how a person comes unto Christ.
The doctrinal basis of missionary work is contained in the Savior’s statement to Nicodemus: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). The kingdom of God referred to here is the celestial kingdom.
Let me quote here from a talk Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave earlier this summer to new missionaries and mission presidents at the MTC:
“We do not preach and teach in order to ‘bring people into the Church’ or to increase the membership of the Church. We do not preach and teach just to persuade people to live better lives. We honor and appreciate the many ministers and others who are involved in the kind of ministry that makes bad men good and good men better. That is important, but we offer something more. You can qualify for the terrestrial kingdom instead of the telestial kingdom without the aid of this Church. We are concerned with a higher destination.
“The purpose of our missionary work is to help the children of God fulfill a condition prescribed by our Savior and Redeemer. We preach and teach in order to baptize the children of God so that they can be saved in the celestial kingdom instead of being damned in a lesser kingdom. We do missionary work in order to baptize. That is the doctrinal basis of missionary work” (“Baptism, the Atonement, and the Doctrinal Basis of Missionary Work,” MTC devotional message, June 23, 1992, 2).
Let me digress here for a moment. The eleventh chapter of 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon records the initial message the resurrected Savior gave when appeared to the Nephites. Just think what the Nephites had been through: cataclysmic destructions had just rearranged the entire landscape (I think that was to get their attention), and now the Savior is there and speaking.
We don’t have the time today to read it, but 13 times in that eleventh chapter the Savior uses the word baptism. For 600 years the Nephites had been looking forward to this moment: their prophets taught about it in their conferences, the faithful Nephite parents had mentioned it in their family home evenings, and here He is (the very God of the universe), and He talks to them over and over and over about baptism:
“And whosoever believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God” (3 Nephi 11:33).
And so to continue quoting from Elder Oaks:
“Our preaching and teaching is unto baptism. . . . Our missionary work and our baptisms are designed to offer all mankind the means of overcoming what we call spiritual death.
“. . . Baptism is a requirement, but why? Why is it necessary to be baptized in this way and by one holding authority? I do not know. But what I do know is that the remission of sins is only made possible by the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that he has prescribed that condition, again and again. His sacrifice paid the price for my sins, and he has prescribed the conditions upon which I can be saved by his payment. That is reason enough for me.
“. . . As the prophets of this dispensation have told us, the missionaries’ purpose of being in the mission field ‘is to save souls, to baptize converts,’ which is to open the doors of the celestial kingdom to the sons and daughters of God.
“No one else can do this.
“Other churches cannot do it.
“Good Christian living cannot do it.
“Good faith, good desires, and good reasoning cannot do it.
“Only the priesthood of God can administer a baptism that will satisfy the divine decree that ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’ (John 3:5).
“The doctrinal basis of missionary work is the word of God, revealed in every age, that man cannot be saved in the celestial kingdom without the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and that the only way to lay claim to the merits of that atonement is to follow the command of its author: ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you’ (Acts 2:38).” (“Baptism, the Atonement, and the Doctrinal Basis of Missionary Work,” MTC devotional message, June 23, 1992, 3, 8).
Now, let me conclude with this instruction from the Lord, given through the Prophet Joseph Smith in June 1829, nearly a year before the Church was organized: “And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father” (D&C 15:6; 16:6).
That applies to all of us. And may that be our happy lot is my humble prayer. I want all of you here today to know, as I think you do, that I love the Lord Jesus Christ, I love His gospel, I love His servants, and I delight in His word. I close with just one verse of a hymn that I have come to love very much:
And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art! How great thou art!
(Stuart K. Hine, Hymns [1985], 86)
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I am thrilled beyond measure that Michael has been called to Brazil, where I served twenty-plus years ago, to a land and among a people that I love dearly. I want all of you here today to know that it has been a great privilege and blessing in my life these past nineteen years to be honored to be the father of Michael Adam Cleverly. He is a covenant child, prayed here by his mother, who like Hannah of old promised him to the Lord and His service.
The Book of Mormon contains an imagery, an insight into faith that, as far as I can tell, is unique in all of our scriptures. In three places it refers to seeing “with an eye of faith.” As far as I can find, that phrase occurs nowhere else in the scriptures.
Alma, speaking to the Saints in Zarahemla, asked these penetrating questions, which are well for each of us to ask ourselves: “Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?” (Alma 5:15; emphasis added).
And then, about a decade later, this same Alma, preaching among what the record calls “the poor class of people” (Alma 32:2), compares the word to a seed and invites the people to experiment upon it, and says—“And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life” (Alma 32:40; emphasis added).
And finally, nearly five centuries later, as Moroni abridges the record of the Jaredites, he writes this inspired summary: “And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad” (Ether 12:19; emphasis added).
Looking forward with an eye of faith. Seeing with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith.
Let me give two simple illustrations of this principle: In the opening chapters of the Book of Mormon, we read how after traipsing through the desert for some eight years, Lehi and his and his often-less-than-enthusiastic family come to the borders of the sea (to a land, by the way, which they called Bountiful), and little brother Nephi is commanded to build a ship. Nephi knows nothing about building ships. Surviving in the desert, perhaps yes; but building ships, nothing. I don’t know about you, but if I were to build a ship and had that huge ocean staring me in the face, it would take a remarkable leap of faith to want to get in the thing after it was finished and worry about whether it was going to make it.
But Nephi doesn’t hesitate for a minute. Earlier he had seen a panoramic vision of the future of his people upon the promised land, and so he moves forward with what the Lord has commanded him. He has seen with an eye of faith. If his descendants are on the promised land, they apparently have to get there somehow, so he knows the ship won’t spring a leak fifty miles out from shore and everyone drown in the depths of the sea. He has seen with an eye of faith.
A second illustration: Nineteen years ago this Wednesday, Claudia lay in a hospital bed in Provo with her firstborn son in her arms, just hours old, counting his fingers and toes (as I suppose new mothers do), but even more importantly thinking ahead, among other things, to this very day. She was planning in her mind the future course of his life, envisioning his serving a mission, looking forward with an eye of faith. And so what does she spend the next nineteen years doing? The kinds of things the Lord’s prophets have told parents to do to get their sons ready and worthy to serve missions. She has acted in faith, seeing with her eyes the things which she had beheld with the eye of faith.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that faith was a principle of action and a principle of power. It is the Lord’s intent to save us. That’s what His work is all about. That’s what He’s promised to do. And He has sufficient power to do what He says He will do.
The only thing, as I understand it, that can prevent His saving us is our own selves, because He’s granted us our agency and we’re busy choosing every moment of our lives whether we want Him on the one hand or the things of the world on the other. We can’t have both. They’re mutually exclusive.
And that is another principal message of the Book of Mormon: we can set our hearts on the Lord, or we can set our hearts on the world and its riches and fine apparel and spacious buildings and the lusts of the flesh and on and on. But we can’t have both. We have to face one direction or the other.
Elder Boyd K. Packer, in an address some years ago to priesthood leaders, asked the question: “Which way do you face?” We can’t face both directions.
So, what do we see with our eye of faith? Do we envision, as Alma taught, “Can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day; Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?” (Alma 5:16).
Can we look forward with an eye of faith and imagine ourselves saved in the celestial kingdom of God? I suspect that if we can’t, we may not in fact be there. Because, if there is any message at all I get from the Book of Mormon, it’s that the Lord will give each one of us exactly what we desire.
And that brings us down to the precise reason Michael is going off to Brazil to preach the gospel. In the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord says that “the weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones” (D&C 1:19), and He’s talking of course about missionaries just like Michael, and one of the reasons is “that faith also might increase in the earth” (D&C 1:21).
And the reason that the Lord wants faith to increase in the earth is so that more of His children will come unto Christ and be saved. Faith leads to repentance, and repentance leads to the ordinances of the gospel—starting with baptism—and that’s how a person comes unto Christ.
The doctrinal basis of missionary work is contained in the Savior’s statement to Nicodemus: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). The kingdom of God referred to here is the celestial kingdom.
Let me quote here from a talk Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave earlier this summer to new missionaries and mission presidents at the MTC:
“We do not preach and teach in order to ‘bring people into the Church’ or to increase the membership of the Church. We do not preach and teach just to persuade people to live better lives. We honor and appreciate the many ministers and others who are involved in the kind of ministry that makes bad men good and good men better. That is important, but we offer something more. You can qualify for the terrestrial kingdom instead of the telestial kingdom without the aid of this Church. We are concerned with a higher destination.
“The purpose of our missionary work is to help the children of God fulfill a condition prescribed by our Savior and Redeemer. We preach and teach in order to baptize the children of God so that they can be saved in the celestial kingdom instead of being damned in a lesser kingdom. We do missionary work in order to baptize. That is the doctrinal basis of missionary work” (“Baptism, the Atonement, and the Doctrinal Basis of Missionary Work,” MTC devotional message, June 23, 1992, 2).
Let me digress here for a moment. The eleventh chapter of 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon records the initial message the resurrected Savior gave when appeared to the Nephites. Just think what the Nephites had been through: cataclysmic destructions had just rearranged the entire landscape (I think that was to get their attention), and now the Savior is there and speaking.
We don’t have the time today to read it, but 13 times in that eleventh chapter the Savior uses the word baptism. For 600 years the Nephites had been looking forward to this moment: their prophets taught about it in their conferences, the faithful Nephite parents had mentioned it in their family home evenings, and here He is (the very God of the universe), and He talks to them over and over and over about baptism:
“And whosoever believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God” (3 Nephi 11:33).
And so to continue quoting from Elder Oaks:
“Our preaching and teaching is unto baptism. . . . Our missionary work and our baptisms are designed to offer all mankind the means of overcoming what we call spiritual death.
“. . . Baptism is a requirement, but why? Why is it necessary to be baptized in this way and by one holding authority? I do not know. But what I do know is that the remission of sins is only made possible by the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that he has prescribed that condition, again and again. His sacrifice paid the price for my sins, and he has prescribed the conditions upon which I can be saved by his payment. That is reason enough for me.
“. . . As the prophets of this dispensation have told us, the missionaries’ purpose of being in the mission field ‘is to save souls, to baptize converts,’ which is to open the doors of the celestial kingdom to the sons and daughters of God.
“No one else can do this.
“Other churches cannot do it.
“Good Christian living cannot do it.
“Good faith, good desires, and good reasoning cannot do it.
“Only the priesthood of God can administer a baptism that will satisfy the divine decree that ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’ (John 3:5).
“The doctrinal basis of missionary work is the word of God, revealed in every age, that man cannot be saved in the celestial kingdom without the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and that the only way to lay claim to the merits of that atonement is to follow the command of its author: ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you’ (Acts 2:38).” (“Baptism, the Atonement, and the Doctrinal Basis of Missionary Work,” MTC devotional message, June 23, 1992, 3, 8).
Now, let me conclude with this instruction from the Lord, given through the Prophet Joseph Smith in June 1829, nearly a year before the Church was organized: “And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father” (D&C 15:6; 16:6).
That applies to all of us. And may that be our happy lot is my humble prayer. I want all of you here today to know, as I think you do, that I love the Lord Jesus Christ, I love His gospel, I love His servants, and I delight in His word. I close with just one verse of a hymn that I have come to love very much:
And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art! How great thou art!
(Stuart K. Hine, Hymns [1985], 86)
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
68. Our Country's Birthday
A short talk given by five-year-old Mary in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward on Sunday morning, July 1, 1990, and published in the Family Journal on Monday, July 16, 1990. Our country was celebrating its 214th birthday on July 4, 1990. In another two months Mary would begin Kindergarten.
This Wednesday is the Fourth of July, our country’s birthday. In the Book of Mormon it tells us how Heavenly Father has blessed this land and made it a special place.
It says: “Behold, this is a choice land and it shall be free from all other nations if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ.”
I hope we can celebrate our country’s birthday, not only with fun and fireworks but also by following Jesus and keeping His commandments.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
This Wednesday is the Fourth of July, our country’s birthday. In the Book of Mormon it tells us how Heavenly Father has blessed this land and made it a special place.
It says: “Behold, this is a choice land and it shall be free from all other nations if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ.”
I hope we can celebrate our country’s birthday, not only with fun and fireworks but also by following Jesus and keeping His commandments.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
67. Because of Jesus, We Will Live Again
A short talk given by seven-year-old Eliza on Sunday morning, May 20, 1990, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward. The talk was printed in the May 21, 1990, Family Journal. Eliza at the time was just about to finish her Kindergarten year in school.
Last Monday my dad’s brother [Ray] died. I went to see him. It looked like he was asleep. His spirit went up to the spirit world. The spirit makes you run and jump and play.
Because of Jesus our spirits will come back. Each of us will die, and because of Jesus we will get resurrected.
I’m thankful for Jesus. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Last Monday my dad’s brother [Ray] died. I went to see him. It looked like he was asleep. His spirit went up to the spirit world. The spirit makes you run and jump and play.
Because of Jesus our spirits will come back. Each of us will die, and because of Jesus we will get resurrected.
I’m thankful for Jesus. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
66. Easter
A talk given by eight-year-old Camilla in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward on the morning of Easter Sunday, April 15, 1990. The talk was printed on the cover of the Family Journal on Monday, April 16, 1990. Camilla at the time was a second grader at Bountiful Elementary.
When Jesus was being crucified in Jerusalem, there were many things happening in America. There were floods and earthquakes and storms, and it was dark for three whole days. The people could not see the sun or light candles, and they were scared.
After three days the darkness was gone, and then they could see. They looked around and saw that many people had died.
Then they heard a voice. It was Heavenly Father. He said, “Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him” (3 Nephi 11:7).
And then they looked up and saw a bright light and saw a man coming down from the light. He said:
“Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.
“And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning” (3 Nephi 11:10–11).
He showed the people his hands and his feet. He taught them many things. And he blessed the children. It was a very happy time.
I know that Jesus lives and loves us and wants us to keep His commandments. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
When Jesus was being crucified in Jerusalem, there were many things happening in America. There were floods and earthquakes and storms, and it was dark for three whole days. The people could not see the sun or light candles, and they were scared.
After three days the darkness was gone, and then they could see. They looked around and saw that many people had died.
Then they heard a voice. It was Heavenly Father. He said, “Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him” (3 Nephi 11:7).
And then they looked up and saw a bright light and saw a man coming down from the light. He said:
“Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.
“And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning” (3 Nephi 11:10–11).
He showed the people his hands and his feet. He taught them many things. And he blessed the children. It was a very happy time.
I know that Jesus lives and loves us and wants us to keep His commandments. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
65. Jesus
A talk by six-year-old Eliza Cleverly given on Sunday morning, December 3, 1989, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. During her talk she showed pictures from events in the life of the Savior. The same afternoon Eliza also bore her testimony in fast and testimony meeting. At the time she was in Kindergarten.
I’m going to talk about Jesus. The angels came to tell the shepherds the baby Jesus was born so they could come and worship Him.
Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, and He wants us all to get baptized.
Here is Jesus teaching the people the gospel and telling them about the commandments.
Here is Jesus healing the blind.
Here is Jesus in a boat during the storm when He said, “Peace, be calm.”
Here is Jesus praying in the Garden before He got crucified.
Here is Jesus after He got resurrected, and Mary was the first one to see Him.
Jesus was showing His disciples His hands and His feet.
He took His disciples out of Jerusalem and told them to teach the gospel to all the people. He said, “I'll be back some day.”
Here’s Jesus coming back.
Jesus wants us to obey the commandments. Since it’s almost Christmas, I want you to always remember Jesus and when He was crucified for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I’m going to talk about Jesus. The angels came to tell the shepherds the baby Jesus was born so they could come and worship Him.
Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, and He wants us all to get baptized.
Here is Jesus teaching the people the gospel and telling them about the commandments.
Here is Jesus healing the blind.
Here is Jesus in a boat during the storm when He said, “Peace, be calm.”
Here is Jesus praying in the Garden before He got crucified.
Here is Jesus after He got resurrected, and Mary was the first one to see Him.
Jesus was showing His disciples His hands and His feet.
He took His disciples out of Jerusalem and told them to teach the gospel to all the people. He said, “I'll be back some day.”
Here’s Jesus coming back.
Jesus wants us to obey the commandments. Since it’s almost Christmas, I want you to always remember Jesus and when He was crucified for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
64. Atonement, Crucifixion, and Resurrection
An edited version of a talk I gave as a high councilor in the sacrament meeting of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake, on Sunday, November 12, 1989. I had been called to serve on the high council in March 1987, after serving for about twenty months as second counselor in the bishopric of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward.
Today I want to speak to the young people who are here, those who do not yet know for themselves—independent of their parents or others—that Jesus was the Savior and that His gospel has been restored in our day and that this work is true. And I speak to any others who are still searching, still wondering, still trying to figure out what the gospel is all about. The rest of you can listen if you want.
By assignment, I have been asked to speak today on the atonement and crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is an awesome responsibility.
The Prophet Joseph Smith once declared, “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 which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it” (Teachings, 121).
All other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it. All other things. These events—the Last Supper, the introduction of the sacrament, the Savior’s ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal, the trial, the humiliation, the suffering, his hanging on the cross, his death and glorious resurrection—are the crowning events of Christ’s mortal ministry. They are at the center, the heart, the core of what our religion is all about.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie has said that “nothing in the entire plan of salvation compares in any way in importance with that most transcendent of all events, the atoning sacrifice of our Lord. It is the most important single thing that has ever occurred in the entire history of created things; it is the rock foundation upon which the gospel and all other things rest” (Mormon Doctrine [1966], 60; quoted by David B. Haight in Ensign, Nov. 1989, 60).
In 1935 the First Presidency of the Church—consisting then of Presidents Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and David O. McKay—declared, “Two great truths must be accepted by mankind if they shall save themselves; first, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Only Begotten, the very Son of God, whose atoning blood and resurrection save us from the physical and spiritual death brought to us by the Fall; and next, that God has again restored to the earth, in these last days, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, His holy Priesthood with the fulness of the everlasting gospel, for the salvation of all men on the earth. Without these truths man may not hope for the riches of the life hereafter” (Improvement Era, Apr. 1935, 194–95).
Hugh B. Brown, who for many years was a member of the Council of the Twelve and for some years a counselor in the First Presidency to President David O. McKay, had perhaps as profound an influence on my young life as any General Authority of that generation. I introduce my remarks today with a story that Elder Brown once told:
“I had a companion,” said Elder Brown, “a fellow officer, who was a very rich man, highly educated. He was a lawyer, had great power, was self-sufficient and he said to me as we often talked of religion (because he knew who I was), ‘There is nothing in life that I would not like to have that I cannot buy with money.’
“Shortly thereafter, he and I with two other officers were assigned to go to the city of Arras, France, which was under siege. It had been evacuated, and upon arrival there we thought there was no one in the city. We noted that the fire of the enemy was concentrated on the cathedral. We made our way to that cathedral and went in. There we found a little woman kneeling at the altar. We paused, respecting her devotion. Then shortly she arose, wrapped her little shawl around her frail shoulders, and came tottering down the aisle. The man among us who could speak better French said, ‘Are you in trouble?’
“She straightened her shoulders, pulled in her chin, and said, ‘No, I’m not in trouble. I was in trouble when I came in here, but I’ve left it at the altar.’
“‘And what was your trouble?’
“She said, ‘I received word this morning that my fifth son has given his life for France. Their father was first, and then one by one all of them have gone. But,’ straightening again, ‘I have no trouble; I’ve left it there because I believe in the im¬mortality of the soul. I believe that men will live again after death. I know that I shall meet my loved ones again.’
“When the little soul went out, there were tears in the eyes of the men who were there, and the one who had said to me that he could purchase anything with money turned to me and said, ‘You and I have seen men in battle display courage and valor that is admirable, but in all my life I have never seen anything to compare with the faith, the fortitude, and the courage of that little woman.’
“Then he said, ‘I would give all the money I have if I could have something of what she has.’”
I would give all the money I have if I could have something of what she has. A Book of Mormon king expressed the same thing in different words: “I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day” (Alma 22:18). And, of course, that is precisely what He does require—that we give away all our sins to know Him and to be saved at the last day.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam introduced death into the world—first, a temporal or physical death, the separation of our spirits from our bodies, and second, a spiritual death, which is a separation or an alienation of our spirits from God.
We are in a fallen state, the Book of Mormon teaches us, and without the Savior’s atoning sacrifice to lift us out of that fallen condition, we would be hopelessly, eternally lost. In and of ourselves, we could never overcome the effects of the temporal death or the spiritual death. When our bodies die and are placed in the grave, they would remain there forever, and there would never be a resurrection. And we would be banished eternally from the presence of our Heavenly Father, for no unclean thing can dwell in His presence, and all of us who have reached the age of accountability have sinned and have fallen short and have become unclean.
Elder Boyd K. Packer some years ago, in what he called the most important message he had ever delivered, spoke of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how He stands as the Mediator between us in our sinful, fallen state and the demands of the eternal law of justice.
It is as though we, in our youthful foolishness, had contracted a great debt quite literally beyond our ability to repay. We knew someday the contract would fall due and we would have to pay, but that day seemed so distant, so far in the future, that we would worry about it later.
Well, as it always happens, the day of accounting arrived, and the contract was due. And our creditor arrived to demand payment. We could not pay; he insisted that we pay.
“Will you show me no mercy?” we pleaded.
“Ah, but mercy is always so one-sided,” he replied.
And there we stood facing each other, neither party wanting to give, our creditor demanding that which he claimed was justly his, we the debtor begging for mercy. It seemed that both could not be satisfied.
And then a Mediator steps forward. He says to the creditor, “I will pay you. It will be just. You can ask for no more.” And turning to us, the debtor, He says, “I will extend mercy to you, but on my own terms.”
And what are those terms? Simply stated, that we have faith in Him, that we repent of our sins, that we express a public willingness to humble ourselves and follow Him into the waters of baptism as a witness that we desire to take His name upon us and follow Him always, that we receive His Holy Spirit to purge out all the uncleanliness within us, that we endure in faith to the end of our lives.
A small price to pay on our part considering what it cost on His part.
Well, His atonement, worked out in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, paid the price. He gave His life for us—for you, for me.
Some lines from one of the great hymns of Christianity, now in our hymnbook, express better than I ever could the overwhelming love and awe and wonder I feel:
And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin.
(Stuart K. Hine, Hymns [1985], 86)
Elder McConkie, in the April 1985 general conference, just days before his death delivered a powerful witness of the Lord Jesus Christ:
“His atonement is the most transcendent event that ever has or will ever occur from Creation’s dawn through all ages of a never-ending eternity.
“It is the supreme act of goodness and grace that only a God could perform. . . .
“As pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person.
“I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
“But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way” (Ensign, May 1985, 11).
No one who heard Elder McConkie bear that powerful testimony will ever forget it. I have thought about that witness often since I heard it, and I have concluded I can say the same thing: I am one of His witnesses, and in a coming day I too shall wet His feet with my tears, and I shall not know any better then than I know now that He is God’s Almighty Son and that salvation comes in and through His atoning blood and in no other way. The Holy Ghost has revealed that knowledge to my soul.
“How do you prove spiritual truths?” asked Elder McConkie. “How do you prove the resurrection? How do you prove that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith? Or that any of the angelic ministrants came who gave him keys and powers and authorities as this was established? Well, as pertaining to Jesus’ day: If Jesus rose from the dead, he is the Son of God! If he is the Son of God, his gospel is true! If his gospel is true, men must believe and obey at their peril! They must accept his truths and be baptized and live the law, or they will be damned! Now what this comes down to is that if the apostles in that day had the power and ability to convince men that Jesus rose from the dead, then they had established the truth and divinity of the Work! And how do you prove the resurrection? As we are going to see, you prove it by testimony” (“The Life of Christ,” address given at the seminar for new mission presidents and wives, June 22, 1979, 2).
Then Elder McConkie proceeds to recount some of the scriptural witnesses of the Savior’s resurrection as recorded in the New Testament. The first was Mary Magdalene, the first mortal to see a resurrected person. She became the first witness of the resurrection. And then there were appearances to other women who had followed Him and to Peter, who was to be the president of the Church.
Later, in the afternoon of that first Easter day, the resurrected Lord appeared to two disciples on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a village apparently seven or eight miles from Jerusalem, about the distance from Bountiful to Salt Lake City. As the two disciples walked along, a stranger joined them and asked them what they were talking about. What? Are you a stranger here? Don’t you know what’s going on? Don’t you listen to the news? (see Luke 24:18–21).
Then He said to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25), and He proceeded for the next couple of hours as they walked along to unfold the ancient scriptures concerning Himself. As they arrived at Emmaus, Jesus made as though He would go on, but they insisted that He stop and eat with them. Abide with us, they said, ’tis eventide (see Luke 24:29). So He accepted their invitation, and as He was blessing and breaking the bread the eyes of their understanding were opened and they recognized the resurrected Jesus, and then He disappeared out of their sight.
“Did not our hearts burn within us?” they said to each other as they hurried back to Jerusalem to join an assembly of other disciples who were gathered together that first Easter evening. And as they brought the joyful tale that Jesus was indeed risen, the resurrected Lord appeared again and showed them his hands and his feet and ate in their presence.
There were various other appearances, some of which are recorded in the New Testament record and also in Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon—all affirming that Jesus was indeed the risen Lord, the resurrected Savior, the very Son of God, who died to save us from the temporal and spiritual death that had been introduced into the world.
There is one other witness I want to mention. Elder David B. Haight, in the recent general conference just a month ago, shared a deeply personal and sacred experience he had last spring when he was unconscious after he had had his heart attack. Elder Haight said:
“During the hours and days that followed, there was impressed again and again upon my mind the eternal mission and exalted position of the Son of Man. I witness to you that He is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, Savior to all, Redeemer of all mankind, Bestower of infinite love, mercy, and forgiveness, the Light and Life of the world” (Ensign, Nov. 1989, 59).
He then told of the panoramic view he had of the Savior’s earthly ministry: His baptism, His teaching, His healing the sick and lame, the mock trial, His crucifixion, His resurrection and ascension.
“There followed,” Elder Haight continued, “scenes of His earthly ministry to my mind in impressive detail, confirming scriptural eye-witness accounts. I was being taught, and the eyes of my understanding were opened by the Holy Spirit of God so as to behold many things.
“The first scene was of the Savior and His Apostles in the upper chamber on the eve of His betrayal. Following the Passover supper, He instructed and prepared the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for His dearest friends as a remembrance of His coming sacrifice. It was so impressively portrayed to me—the overwhelming love of the Savior for each. I witnessed His thoughtful concern for significant details—the washing of the dusty feet of each Apostle, His breaking and blessing of the loaf of dark bread and blessing of the wine, then His dreadful disclosure that one would betray Him.
“He explained Judas’s departure and told the others of the events soon to take place.
“. . . My soul was taught over and over again the events of the betrayal, the mock trial, the scourging of the flesh of even on of the Godhead. I witnessed his struggling up the hill in His weakened condition carrying the cross and His being stretched upon it as it lay on the ground, that the crude spikes could be driven with a mallet into His hands and wrists and feet to secure His body as it hung on the cross for public display.
“Crucifixion—the horrible and painful death which He suffered—was chosen from the beginning. By that excruciating death, He descended below all things, as is recorded, that through His resurrection He would ascend above all things” (Ensign, Nov. 1989, 60).
Well, my young friends, what does all this mean? What does it have to do us here and now? What does it have to do with the way we view the world and understand the gospel? and how we treat others? and the way we live our lives?
At the beginning I shared a story told by Hugh B. Brown. When I was 18 years old, a freshman at Brigham Young University, I had one of the pivotal experiences of my life. President Brown, then a counselor in the First Presidency, spoke that fall at the October 1967 general conference. It was in the priesthood session, and President Brown said:
“O Father, help these young men who are listening tonight, when they go home to get on their knees and commit themselves to thee; and then they may know, and I promise them that they may know, that with thy help they need not fear the future” (Improvement Era, Dec. 1967, 92).
I went home that night, back to my room, and knelt down and offered my life to the Savior and committed everything I had—my time, my talents, my means, my energies—to the Lord for the building of His kingdom. I placed my life on the altar, just as the little woman we mentioned at the beginning placed her burdens on the altar. I have not always lived up to that commitment, but I have tried, and every time I have tried the Lord has blessed me with added blessings and understanding and knowledge and revelation.
So I urge you to go and do likewise. Get on your knees and plead with Heavenly Father to let you know these things are true, that Jesus really was and is all that has been said and written about Him, and that He really did do for us what we’ve talked about here today. Commit your lives to Him and His cause. Give Him everything you have.
That’s one thing we can do as a result of knowing these things. What’s another? Father Lehi—and this is in conclusion—Father Lehi taught his son Jacob: “Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.
“Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.
“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth . . .” (2 Nephi 2:6–8).
How great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth! We have to be missionaries. We have to share these truths with all of our Father’s other children. We have to go out in the world and tell these things to every living creature.
“. . . Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.
“Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved” (2 Nephi 2:8–9).
Today I want to speak to the young people who are here, those who do not yet know for themselves—independent of their parents or others—that Jesus was the Savior and that His gospel has been restored in our day and that this work is true. And I speak to any others who are still searching, still wondering, still trying to figure out what the gospel is all about. The rest of you can listen if you want.
By assignment, I have been asked to speak today on the atonement and crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is an awesome responsibility.
The Prophet Joseph Smith once declared, “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 which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it” (Teachings, 121).
All other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it. All other things. These events—the Last Supper, the introduction of the sacrament, the Savior’s ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal, the trial, the humiliation, the suffering, his hanging on the cross, his death and glorious resurrection—are the crowning events of Christ’s mortal ministry. They are at the center, the heart, the core of what our religion is all about.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie has said that “nothing in the entire plan of salvation compares in any way in importance with that most transcendent of all events, the atoning sacrifice of our Lord. It is the most important single thing that has ever occurred in the entire history of created things; it is the rock foundation upon which the gospel and all other things rest” (Mormon Doctrine [1966], 60; quoted by David B. Haight in Ensign, Nov. 1989, 60).
In 1935 the First Presidency of the Church—consisting then of Presidents Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and David O. McKay—declared, “Two great truths must be accepted by mankind if they shall save themselves; first, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Only Begotten, the very Son of God, whose atoning blood and resurrection save us from the physical and spiritual death brought to us by the Fall; and next, that God has again restored to the earth, in these last days, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, His holy Priesthood with the fulness of the everlasting gospel, for the salvation of all men on the earth. Without these truths man may not hope for the riches of the life hereafter” (Improvement Era, Apr. 1935, 194–95).
Hugh B. Brown, who for many years was a member of the Council of the Twelve and for some years a counselor in the First Presidency to President David O. McKay, had perhaps as profound an influence on my young life as any General Authority of that generation. I introduce my remarks today with a story that Elder Brown once told:
“I had a companion,” said Elder Brown, “a fellow officer, who was a very rich man, highly educated. He was a lawyer, had great power, was self-sufficient and he said to me as we often talked of religion (because he knew who I was), ‘There is nothing in life that I would not like to have that I cannot buy with money.’
“Shortly thereafter, he and I with two other officers were assigned to go to the city of Arras, France, which was under siege. It had been evacuated, and upon arrival there we thought there was no one in the city. We noted that the fire of the enemy was concentrated on the cathedral. We made our way to that cathedral and went in. There we found a little woman kneeling at the altar. We paused, respecting her devotion. Then shortly she arose, wrapped her little shawl around her frail shoulders, and came tottering down the aisle. The man among us who could speak better French said, ‘Are you in trouble?’
“She straightened her shoulders, pulled in her chin, and said, ‘No, I’m not in trouble. I was in trouble when I came in here, but I’ve left it at the altar.’
“‘And what was your trouble?’
“She said, ‘I received word this morning that my fifth son has given his life for France. Their father was first, and then one by one all of them have gone. But,’ straightening again, ‘I have no trouble; I’ve left it there because I believe in the im¬mortality of the soul. I believe that men will live again after death. I know that I shall meet my loved ones again.’
“When the little soul went out, there were tears in the eyes of the men who were there, and the one who had said to me that he could purchase anything with money turned to me and said, ‘You and I have seen men in battle display courage and valor that is admirable, but in all my life I have never seen anything to compare with the faith, the fortitude, and the courage of that little woman.’
“Then he said, ‘I would give all the money I have if I could have something of what she has.’”
I would give all the money I have if I could have something of what she has. A Book of Mormon king expressed the same thing in different words: “I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day” (Alma 22:18). And, of course, that is precisely what He does require—that we give away all our sins to know Him and to be saved at the last day.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam introduced death into the world—first, a temporal or physical death, the separation of our spirits from our bodies, and second, a spiritual death, which is a separation or an alienation of our spirits from God.
We are in a fallen state, the Book of Mormon teaches us, and without the Savior’s atoning sacrifice to lift us out of that fallen condition, we would be hopelessly, eternally lost. In and of ourselves, we could never overcome the effects of the temporal death or the spiritual death. When our bodies die and are placed in the grave, they would remain there forever, and there would never be a resurrection. And we would be banished eternally from the presence of our Heavenly Father, for no unclean thing can dwell in His presence, and all of us who have reached the age of accountability have sinned and have fallen short and have become unclean.
Elder Boyd K. Packer some years ago, in what he called the most important message he had ever delivered, spoke of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how He stands as the Mediator between us in our sinful, fallen state and the demands of the eternal law of justice.
It is as though we, in our youthful foolishness, had contracted a great debt quite literally beyond our ability to repay. We knew someday the contract would fall due and we would have to pay, but that day seemed so distant, so far in the future, that we would worry about it later.
Well, as it always happens, the day of accounting arrived, and the contract was due. And our creditor arrived to demand payment. We could not pay; he insisted that we pay.
“Will you show me no mercy?” we pleaded.
“Ah, but mercy is always so one-sided,” he replied.
And there we stood facing each other, neither party wanting to give, our creditor demanding that which he claimed was justly his, we the debtor begging for mercy. It seemed that both could not be satisfied.
And then a Mediator steps forward. He says to the creditor, “I will pay you. It will be just. You can ask for no more.” And turning to us, the debtor, He says, “I will extend mercy to you, but on my own terms.”
And what are those terms? Simply stated, that we have faith in Him, that we repent of our sins, that we express a public willingness to humble ourselves and follow Him into the waters of baptism as a witness that we desire to take His name upon us and follow Him always, that we receive His Holy Spirit to purge out all the uncleanliness within us, that we endure in faith to the end of our lives.
A small price to pay on our part considering what it cost on His part.
Well, His atonement, worked out in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, paid the price. He gave His life for us—for you, for me.
Some lines from one of the great hymns of Christianity, now in our hymnbook, express better than I ever could the overwhelming love and awe and wonder I feel:
And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin.
(Stuart K. Hine, Hymns [1985], 86)
Elder McConkie, in the April 1985 general conference, just days before his death delivered a powerful witness of the Lord Jesus Christ:
“His atonement is the most transcendent event that ever has or will ever occur from Creation’s dawn through all ages of a never-ending eternity.
“It is the supreme act of goodness and grace that only a God could perform. . . .
“As pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person.
“I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
“But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way” (Ensign, May 1985, 11).
No one who heard Elder McConkie bear that powerful testimony will ever forget it. I have thought about that witness often since I heard it, and I have concluded I can say the same thing: I am one of His witnesses, and in a coming day I too shall wet His feet with my tears, and I shall not know any better then than I know now that He is God’s Almighty Son and that salvation comes in and through His atoning blood and in no other way. The Holy Ghost has revealed that knowledge to my soul.
“How do you prove spiritual truths?” asked Elder McConkie. “How do you prove the resurrection? How do you prove that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith? Or that any of the angelic ministrants came who gave him keys and powers and authorities as this was established? Well, as pertaining to Jesus’ day: If Jesus rose from the dead, he is the Son of God! If he is the Son of God, his gospel is true! If his gospel is true, men must believe and obey at their peril! They must accept his truths and be baptized and live the law, or they will be damned! Now what this comes down to is that if the apostles in that day had the power and ability to convince men that Jesus rose from the dead, then they had established the truth and divinity of the Work! And how do you prove the resurrection? As we are going to see, you prove it by testimony” (“The Life of Christ,” address given at the seminar for new mission presidents and wives, June 22, 1979, 2).
Then Elder McConkie proceeds to recount some of the scriptural witnesses of the Savior’s resurrection as recorded in the New Testament. The first was Mary Magdalene, the first mortal to see a resurrected person. She became the first witness of the resurrection. And then there were appearances to other women who had followed Him and to Peter, who was to be the president of the Church.
Later, in the afternoon of that first Easter day, the resurrected Lord appeared to two disciples on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a village apparently seven or eight miles from Jerusalem, about the distance from Bountiful to Salt Lake City. As the two disciples walked along, a stranger joined them and asked them what they were talking about. What? Are you a stranger here? Don’t you know what’s going on? Don’t you listen to the news? (see Luke 24:18–21).
Then He said to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25), and He proceeded for the next couple of hours as they walked along to unfold the ancient scriptures concerning Himself. As they arrived at Emmaus, Jesus made as though He would go on, but they insisted that He stop and eat with them. Abide with us, they said, ’tis eventide (see Luke 24:29). So He accepted their invitation, and as He was blessing and breaking the bread the eyes of their understanding were opened and they recognized the resurrected Jesus, and then He disappeared out of their sight.
“Did not our hearts burn within us?” they said to each other as they hurried back to Jerusalem to join an assembly of other disciples who were gathered together that first Easter evening. And as they brought the joyful tale that Jesus was indeed risen, the resurrected Lord appeared again and showed them his hands and his feet and ate in their presence.
There were various other appearances, some of which are recorded in the New Testament record and also in Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon—all affirming that Jesus was indeed the risen Lord, the resurrected Savior, the very Son of God, who died to save us from the temporal and spiritual death that had been introduced into the world.
There is one other witness I want to mention. Elder David B. Haight, in the recent general conference just a month ago, shared a deeply personal and sacred experience he had last spring when he was unconscious after he had had his heart attack. Elder Haight said:
“During the hours and days that followed, there was impressed again and again upon my mind the eternal mission and exalted position of the Son of Man. I witness to you that He is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, Savior to all, Redeemer of all mankind, Bestower of infinite love, mercy, and forgiveness, the Light and Life of the world” (Ensign, Nov. 1989, 59).
He then told of the panoramic view he had of the Savior’s earthly ministry: His baptism, His teaching, His healing the sick and lame, the mock trial, His crucifixion, His resurrection and ascension.
“There followed,” Elder Haight continued, “scenes of His earthly ministry to my mind in impressive detail, confirming scriptural eye-witness accounts. I was being taught, and the eyes of my understanding were opened by the Holy Spirit of God so as to behold many things.
“The first scene was of the Savior and His Apostles in the upper chamber on the eve of His betrayal. Following the Passover supper, He instructed and prepared the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for His dearest friends as a remembrance of His coming sacrifice. It was so impressively portrayed to me—the overwhelming love of the Savior for each. I witnessed His thoughtful concern for significant details—the washing of the dusty feet of each Apostle, His breaking and blessing of the loaf of dark bread and blessing of the wine, then His dreadful disclosure that one would betray Him.
“He explained Judas’s departure and told the others of the events soon to take place.
“. . . My soul was taught over and over again the events of the betrayal, the mock trial, the scourging of the flesh of even on of the Godhead. I witnessed his struggling up the hill in His weakened condition carrying the cross and His being stretched upon it as it lay on the ground, that the crude spikes could be driven with a mallet into His hands and wrists and feet to secure His body as it hung on the cross for public display.
“Crucifixion—the horrible and painful death which He suffered—was chosen from the beginning. By that excruciating death, He descended below all things, as is recorded, that through His resurrection He would ascend above all things” (Ensign, Nov. 1989, 60).
Well, my young friends, what does all this mean? What does it have to do us here and now? What does it have to do with the way we view the world and understand the gospel? and how we treat others? and the way we live our lives?
At the beginning I shared a story told by Hugh B. Brown. When I was 18 years old, a freshman at Brigham Young University, I had one of the pivotal experiences of my life. President Brown, then a counselor in the First Presidency, spoke that fall at the October 1967 general conference. It was in the priesthood session, and President Brown said:
“O Father, help these young men who are listening tonight, when they go home to get on their knees and commit themselves to thee; and then they may know, and I promise them that they may know, that with thy help they need not fear the future” (Improvement Era, Dec. 1967, 92).
I went home that night, back to my room, and knelt down and offered my life to the Savior and committed everything I had—my time, my talents, my means, my energies—to the Lord for the building of His kingdom. I placed my life on the altar, just as the little woman we mentioned at the beginning placed her burdens on the altar. I have not always lived up to that commitment, but I have tried, and every time I have tried the Lord has blessed me with added blessings and understanding and knowledge and revelation.
So I urge you to go and do likewise. Get on your knees and plead with Heavenly Father to let you know these things are true, that Jesus really was and is all that has been said and written about Him, and that He really did do for us what we’ve talked about here today. Commit your lives to Him and His cause. Give Him everything you have.
That’s one thing we can do as a result of knowing these things. What’s another? Father Lehi—and this is in conclusion—Father Lehi taught his son Jacob: “Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.
“Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.
“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth . . .” (2 Nephi 2:6–8).
How great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth! We have to be missionaries. We have to share these truths with all of our Father’s other children. We have to go out in the world and tell these things to every living creature.
“. . . Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.
“Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved” (2 Nephi 2:8–9).
63. Daniel in the Lion's Den
A short talk given by ten-year-old Anna Cleverly on Sunday, February 19, 1989, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. The talk was published in the March 1989 issue of the Family Journal. Anna at the time was a fourth grader at Bountiful Elementary.
My talk is on Daniel in the lions’ den. Daniel lived a long time ago. One day the king’s princes got so jealous of him they wanted to kill him. They made up a law that said nobody could pray for thirty days. Then the princes spied on Daniel at his home. They saw him praying, so they reported it to the king. The king liked Daniel, and he didn’t want him to be killed. Then they threw him in the lions’ den. And then he prayed the lions wouldn’t eat him. The next day the king rushed to see if he was hurt, and he wasn’t. Then the king threw all the princes in the lions’ den, and they were killed instantly by the hungry lions. I hope we can all pray like Daniel. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
My talk is on Daniel in the lions’ den. Daniel lived a long time ago. One day the king’s princes got so jealous of him they wanted to kill him. They made up a law that said nobody could pray for thirty days. Then the princes spied on Daniel at his home. They saw him praying, so they reported it to the king. The king liked Daniel, and he didn’t want him to be killed. Then they threw him in the lions’ den. And then he prayed the lions wouldn’t eat him. The next day the king rushed to see if he was hurt, and he wasn’t. Then the king threw all the princes in the lions’ den, and they were killed instantly by the hungry lions. I hope we can all pray like Daniel. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
62. Samuel the Lamanite
A short talk given by eleven-year-old Talmage Cleverly on Sunday, January 15, 1989, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. The talk was published in the February 1989 issue of the Family Journal. Talmage at the time was a fifth grader at Bountiful Elementary.
There was a prophet, and his name was Samuel, and he was a Lamanite.
Once when Samuel was teaching some Nephites, they got mad at him, and he got discouraged and left. But then he saw a vision and was told to go back.
So he came back and got on a high wall and told everybody to repent and told them that Jesus was going to come in about five years and told them what the signs were. The Nephites were angry, and they tried to hit Samuel with arrows and rocks and things. And then he got down off the wall and went back to his own land and was never heard of again.
And we should repent and do what the prophet says. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
There was a prophet, and his name was Samuel, and he was a Lamanite.
Once when Samuel was teaching some Nephites, they got mad at him, and he got discouraged and left. But then he saw a vision and was told to go back.
So he came back and got on a high wall and told everybody to repent and told them that Jesus was going to come in about five years and told them what the signs were. The Nephites were angry, and they tried to hit Samuel with arrows and rocks and things. And then he got down off the wall and went back to his own land and was never heard of again.
And we should repent and do what the prophet says. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
61. Testimony
Excerpts from an account I wrote of a talk given by fifteen-year-old Michael on Sunday, September 11, 1988, in the sacrament meeting of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. This account is taken from the October 1988 issue of the Family Journal. Michael at the time was a sophomore at Bountiful High School.
“There are at least three elements to a testimony,” explained newly turned 15 Michael as he spoke in sacrament meeting on September 11. “First, that God lives and Jesus Christ is His Son. Second, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and restored the Church. And third, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth.”
Michael defined testimony as a revealed knowledge from God that something is true. It comes in response to prayer. He quoted from the Book of Mormon:
“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
“And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:4–5).
He concluded his talk by sharing a story of a missionary in Germany in 1928:
“As I spoke with a woman at the doorway to a nearby apartment, I heard someone coming up behind me. I turned and saw a policeman in uniform. I continued to talk, believing he had business with someone upstairs.
“To my astonishment, he dropped a heavy hand on my shoulder and turned me around to face him.
“‘You will have to come with me,’ he said quietly. ‘You’re under arrest.’
“ . . . ‘Why am I being arrested?’ I asked the policeman. He told me that I was accused of burglarizing an apartment and carrying off a valuable heirloom watch.
“The officer explained that my accuser had found the watch missing the morning before. He contended that I had been the only person other than himself and his family to enter the building.
“ . . . At the police station, I was ushered into the chief’s office. A police court, consisting of several plainclothes and uniformed policemen, was waiting for me. In the corner sat seven people who said they had witnessed my entering the building.
“During the hour-long interrogation, I answered every question honestly and directly, with a prayer in my heart that the Lord would help me.
“Then the seven witnesses testified against me. All stated that, except for family, I had been the only person to go to the third-floor apartment the day before. It began to look as though I might spend several years in a German prison.
“The police chief asked me if I had anything to say in my defense. I prayed fervently for assistance, then began speaking, hesitantly at first, in my broken German. I told those in the room why I was in Germany and explained my mission. Suddenly I began to preach the gospel. A strange feeling came over me. I gradually lost control of my tongue, my arms, and my facial muscles.
“The Holy Spirit had come to my rescue. I began to speak the language fluently, with confidence and power. When I concluded my testimony forty-five minutes later, I nearly slumped to the floor in exhaustion. There was complete silence in the room for at least a full minute.
“Then the police chief said simply, ‘This man didn’t take the watch.’
“He asked me many questions about myself and the Church. The hostility in the room had vanished. Then he turned to a detective and said, ‘Go with this young man to his room and search his belongings. If you don’t find the watch—and I’m sure you won’t—let him go. End this foolishness’” (Walter M. Horne, “You’re Under Arrest!” in Ensign, Aug. 1988, 67–68).
“There are at least three elements to a testimony,” explained newly turned 15 Michael as he spoke in sacrament meeting on September 11. “First, that God lives and Jesus Christ is His Son. Second, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and restored the Church. And third, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth.”
Michael defined testimony as a revealed knowledge from God that something is true. It comes in response to prayer. He quoted from the Book of Mormon:
“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
“And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:4–5).
He concluded his talk by sharing a story of a missionary in Germany in 1928:
“As I spoke with a woman at the doorway to a nearby apartment, I heard someone coming up behind me. I turned and saw a policeman in uniform. I continued to talk, believing he had business with someone upstairs.
“To my astonishment, he dropped a heavy hand on my shoulder and turned me around to face him.
“‘You will have to come with me,’ he said quietly. ‘You’re under arrest.’
“ . . . ‘Why am I being arrested?’ I asked the policeman. He told me that I was accused of burglarizing an apartment and carrying off a valuable heirloom watch.
“The officer explained that my accuser had found the watch missing the morning before. He contended that I had been the only person other than himself and his family to enter the building.
“ . . . At the police station, I was ushered into the chief’s office. A police court, consisting of several plainclothes and uniformed policemen, was waiting for me. In the corner sat seven people who said they had witnessed my entering the building.
“During the hour-long interrogation, I answered every question honestly and directly, with a prayer in my heart that the Lord would help me.
“Then the seven witnesses testified against me. All stated that, except for family, I had been the only person to go to the third-floor apartment the day before. It began to look as though I might spend several years in a German prison.
“The police chief asked me if I had anything to say in my defense. I prayed fervently for assistance, then began speaking, hesitantly at first, in my broken German. I told those in the room why I was in Germany and explained my mission. Suddenly I began to preach the gospel. A strange feeling came over me. I gradually lost control of my tongue, my arms, and my facial muscles.
“The Holy Spirit had come to my rescue. I began to speak the language fluently, with confidence and power. When I concluded my testimony forty-five minutes later, I nearly slumped to the floor in exhaustion. There was complete silence in the room for at least a full minute.
“Then the police chief said simply, ‘This man didn’t take the watch.’
“He asked me many questions about myself and the Church. The hostility in the room had vanished. Then he turned to a detective and said, ‘Go with this young man to his room and search his belongings. If you don’t find the watch—and I’m sure you won’t—let him go. End this foolishness’” (Walter M. Horne, “You’re Under Arrest!” in Ensign, Aug. 1988, 67–68).
60. The Influence of the Book of Mormon
A report published in the October 1988 issue of the Family Journal on nine-year-old Anna’s participation in the Primary sacrament meeting program in the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake, on Sunday, August 21, 1988. Anna at the time was just about to begin her fourth-grade year at Bountiful Elementary.
In the Primary children’s sacrament meeting program on Sunday, August 21, Anna was assigned to talk about how the Book of Mormon has influenced her life. Despite a lot of suggestions and coaching during the week or two before the program, no one knew what she was going to say. No hints. No rehearsing. Nothing.
As she stood at the pulpit, looking out over the vast congregation, Anna simply said: “If it wasn’t for the Book of Mormon I wouldn’t be here because my mom and dad wouldn’t have gone to Brigham Young University and they wouldn’t have met and got married.”
That was all. Short and sweet. And the congregation loved it.
In the Primary children’s sacrament meeting program on Sunday, August 21, Anna was assigned to talk about how the Book of Mormon has influenced her life. Despite a lot of suggestions and coaching during the week or two before the program, no one knew what she was going to say. No hints. No rehearsing. Nothing.
As she stood at the pulpit, looking out over the vast congregation, Anna simply said: “If it wasn’t for the Book of Mormon I wouldn’t be here because my mom and dad wouldn’t have gone to Brigham Young University and they wouldn’t have met and got married.”
That was all. Short and sweet. And the congregation loved it.
59. He Just Said "No!"
A talk given by six-year-old Camilla Cleverly on Sunday, March 20, 1988, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. Camilla at the time was in Kindergarten.
Once there was a boy, and his name was Michael. He had a cold. He wanted to go out and play in the snow. He went and asked his mom. She said no.
He remembered what he learned in Primary about Heavenly Father answering prayers. He prayed to Heavenly Father that Mom would change her mind.
Then his friend came over and wanted him to play outside in the snow. Michael said, “No, my mom said I can’t. But come back after lunch because I prayed to Heavenly Father that she’d change her mind.”
He came back after lunch, and Michael asked, “Mom, can I go outside and play?” She still said no.
His friend said, “I guess Heavenly Father didn’t answer your prayer.”
“Yes, he answered, but he just said no.”
Heavenly Father always hears our prayers and answers them but sometimes not in the way we want. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Once there was a boy, and his name was Michael. He had a cold. He wanted to go out and play in the snow. He went and asked his mom. She said no.
He remembered what he learned in Primary about Heavenly Father answering prayers. He prayed to Heavenly Father that Mom would change her mind.
Then his friend came over and wanted him to play outside in the snow. Michael said, “No, my mom said I can’t. But come back after lunch because I prayed to Heavenly Father that she’d change her mind.”
He came back after lunch, and Michael asked, “Mom, can I go outside and play?” She still said no.
His friend said, “I guess Heavenly Father didn’t answer your prayer.”
“Yes, he answered, but he just said no.”
Heavenly Father always hears our prayers and answers them but sometimes not in the way we want. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
58. A Final Word
An article I wrote in Bountiful, Utah, in late December 1986 and published in the January 1987 issue of Die Lange Zeit. This message was based on a talk I gave on Sunday, December 28, 1986, in the final sacrament meeting of the year in the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. I was serving at the time as the second counselor in the bishopric.
The Prophet Mormon spent fifty years of his adult life in reviewing, selecting, abridging, and summarizing a thousand years of Nephite records. It must have been a glorious experience. At the same time he witnessed the sad destruction of his people.
As he came to the closing moments of his own life, knowing that soon he would stand before his Maker to answer for the unique mission that had been his, what were the final thoughts running through his mind? What was the final message he wanted to leave as he closed his record? What would be the last thing he would choose to say to those of us who lived in our day?
Of all the things he might have chosen to write, his final message was a simple one:
“Therefore repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and lay hold upon the gospel of Christ, which shall be set before you, not only in this record [the Book of Mormon] but also in the record which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews, which record [the Holy Bible] shall come from the Gentiles unto you.
“For behold, this [the Book of Mormon] is written for the intent that ye may believe that [the Bible]; and if ye believe that ye will believe this also; and if ye believe this ye will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them.
“And ye will also know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant; and if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy Ghost, following the example of our Savior, according to that which he hath commanded us, it shall be well with you in the day of judgment. Amen” (Mormon 7:8–10).
This brief closing message is in a nutshell the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ: have faith in Christ, repent of our sins, be baptized, first with water and then with the Holy Ghost, and endure in faith to the end. If we do these things, it shall be well with us in the day of judgment. It is the very same message heralded by the angel at the first coming of Jesus: “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10).
The Prophet Joseph Smith said it in another way: “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 which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it” (Teachings, 121).
On another occasion the Prophet declared: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
“For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father” (D&C 76:22–23).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s final testimony, borne less than two weeks before his death, was especially moving to any who heard it:
“As pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person.
“I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
“But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way” (Ensign, May 1985, 11).
The Prophet Mormon spent fifty years of his adult life in reviewing, selecting, abridging, and summarizing a thousand years of Nephite records. It must have been a glorious experience. At the same time he witnessed the sad destruction of his people.
As he came to the closing moments of his own life, knowing that soon he would stand before his Maker to answer for the unique mission that had been his, what were the final thoughts running through his mind? What was the final message he wanted to leave as he closed his record? What would be the last thing he would choose to say to those of us who lived in our day?
Of all the things he might have chosen to write, his final message was a simple one:
“Therefore repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and lay hold upon the gospel of Christ, which shall be set before you, not only in this record [the Book of Mormon] but also in the record which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews, which record [the Holy Bible] shall come from the Gentiles unto you.
“For behold, this [the Book of Mormon] is written for the intent that ye may believe that [the Bible]; and if ye believe that ye will believe this also; and if ye believe this ye will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them.
“And ye will also know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant; and if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy Ghost, following the example of our Savior, according to that which he hath commanded us, it shall be well with you in the day of judgment. Amen” (Mormon 7:8–10).
This brief closing message is in a nutshell the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ: have faith in Christ, repent of our sins, be baptized, first with water and then with the Holy Ghost, and endure in faith to the end. If we do these things, it shall be well with us in the day of judgment. It is the very same message heralded by the angel at the first coming of Jesus: “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10).
The Prophet Joseph Smith said it in another way: “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 which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it” (Teachings, 121).
On another occasion the Prophet declared: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
“For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father” (D&C 76:22–23).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s final testimony, borne less than two weeks before his death, was especially moving to any who heard it:
“As pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person.
“I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
“But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way” (Ensign, May 1985, 11).
57. The Blessing of a Name
An edited version of a thought I gave in the weekly devotional of the Missionary Department on Tuesday morning, October 16, 1984, and later published in the November 1984 issue of the Family Journal. Our eighth child and sixth daughter, Mary Elizabeth Cleverly, had been born two weeks earlier on Monday, October 1, 1984. She was our final child.
The pattern in recent months in these devotional talks has been to give some background about ourselves. I was born the seventh of nine children, the next to last of my parents’ eight sons before their final child turned out to be a daughter. I was born in eastern Oregon and lived there until I was nine. Then we moved twenty or so miles eastward into Idaho, where I finished growing up in the Nampa area until I went away to BYU, a mission to Brazil, and back to BYU to graduate in English and Portuguese.
I met my wife on a blind date at BYU, and we have been living happily ever after since that time. And here we are eight children later.
And that brings us to what I wanted to talk about.
Since the birth of our eighth child two weeks ago, I have thought a lot about the importance of names. Interestingly, for the first time in our career as parents, we didn’t have a name ready for this new little one, so she was named by committee.
Over the years we have tried to give our children names that would give them something to live up to. In the book of Helaman in the Book of Mormon we read of how Helaman did a similar thing with two of his sons, Lehi and Nephi. Let me read just two verses from the fifth chapter:
“Behold, my sons, I desire that ye should remember to keep the commandments of God; and I would that ye should declare unto the people these words. Behold, I have given you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were good.
“Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good, that it may be said of you, and also written, even as it has been said and written of them” (Helaman 5:6–7).
I suspect as we seek to obey the commandment the Lord has given us to honor our fathers and mothers we could do no better than to honor the names they have given us—whether our given names or the family names we bear.
President George Albert Smith, while he was President of the Church, told of an incident earlier in his life when he was quite ill and hovered for some weeks between life and death. He was down in St. George, where the climate was supposed to be more healthful for his particular condition.
While there he had a dream or vision, or perhaps even entered into the spirit world, where he met his grandfather, George A. Smith, whom he was named after. His grandfather was a very large man, and he approached George Albert Smith and asked him what he had done with his name.
President Smith was happy to report that he had nothing to bring shame or dishonor to that name. And it was a time of renewed resolve for him to make something of his life, which of course he did, including being called to preside over the Lord’s church.
There is another name that is very important to each of us. At the time of our baptism we covenanted with God that we would take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. We became His disciples. We were adopted as His sons and daughters. We were purchased by His blood. In the very finest sense of the word, we became Christians, followers of Christ, His children.
We read in the scriptures in several places that there is none other name by which we may be saved.
And just as Helaman told his two sons, Lehi and Nephi, we “should remember to keep the commandments of God.” As we seek to keep His commandments, as we seek to remember Him always (as we promise each week to do), as we seek to love Him and our fellowmen, as we seek to reverence Him, we will be remembering Him and honoring His name and becoming more like Him, which I pray each of us may do. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The pattern in recent months in these devotional talks has been to give some background about ourselves. I was born the seventh of nine children, the next to last of my parents’ eight sons before their final child turned out to be a daughter. I was born in eastern Oregon and lived there until I was nine. Then we moved twenty or so miles eastward into Idaho, where I finished growing up in the Nampa area until I went away to BYU, a mission to Brazil, and back to BYU to graduate in English and Portuguese.
I met my wife on a blind date at BYU, and we have been living happily ever after since that time. And here we are eight children later.
And that brings us to what I wanted to talk about.
Since the birth of our eighth child two weeks ago, I have thought a lot about the importance of names. Interestingly, for the first time in our career as parents, we didn’t have a name ready for this new little one, so she was named by committee.
Over the years we have tried to give our children names that would give them something to live up to. In the book of Helaman in the Book of Mormon we read of how Helaman did a similar thing with two of his sons, Lehi and Nephi. Let me read just two verses from the fifth chapter:
“Behold, my sons, I desire that ye should remember to keep the commandments of God; and I would that ye should declare unto the people these words. Behold, I have given you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were good.
“Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good, that it may be said of you, and also written, even as it has been said and written of them” (Helaman 5:6–7).
I suspect as we seek to obey the commandment the Lord has given us to honor our fathers and mothers we could do no better than to honor the names they have given us—whether our given names or the family names we bear.
President George Albert Smith, while he was President of the Church, told of an incident earlier in his life when he was quite ill and hovered for some weeks between life and death. He was down in St. George, where the climate was supposed to be more healthful for his particular condition.
While there he had a dream or vision, or perhaps even entered into the spirit world, where he met his grandfather, George A. Smith, whom he was named after. His grandfather was a very large man, and he approached George Albert Smith and asked him what he had done with his name.
President Smith was happy to report that he had nothing to bring shame or dishonor to that name. And it was a time of renewed resolve for him to make something of his life, which of course he did, including being called to preside over the Lord’s church.
There is another name that is very important to each of us. At the time of our baptism we covenanted with God that we would take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. We became His disciples. We were adopted as His sons and daughters. We were purchased by His blood. In the very finest sense of the word, we became Christians, followers of Christ, His children.
We read in the scriptures in several places that there is none other name by which we may be saved.
And just as Helaman told his two sons, Lehi and Nephi, we “should remember to keep the commandments of God.” As we seek to keep His commandments, as we seek to remember Him always (as we promise each week to do), as we seek to love Him and our fellowmen, as we seek to reverence Him, we will be remembering Him and honoring His name and becoming more like Him, which I pray each of us may do. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
56. Why Jesus Came Down to Earth
A talk given by seven-year-old Rachael Cleverly on Sunday, December 26, 1982, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. On Christmas night Claudia and I had asked the children, "Why was Jesus born?" They weren’t really sure. Rachael was excited by the answers and decided to talk about them the next afternoon in a talk she had been assigned to give in Primary. The talk was published complete with her original spelling in both the January 1983 issue of the Cleverly Newsletter and the January 1984 issue of Die Lange Zeit. Rachael at the time was a second grader at Bountiful Elementary.
Today I’m going to talk about why Jesus came down to earth.
OK, when we were still up in heven, our hevenly father said, “I know you want to be like me with a body. And I do to, but in order to do that, we’ll have to have a world, but you’ll make mistakes. So I’ll have to get someone to corect them.”
Jesus and Saten were the only ones who volintered. They both wanted to do that. Then Saten spoke up and said, “I’ll make sure no-one is bad.” Our hevenly father did not like his idea. Our hevenly father wants us to choose by our selfs.
Suddenly Jesus said, “I’ll do it your way. I won’t force them. I will let them choose, and give you all the credet.”
Saten was very mad at this point. Our hevenly father kicked Saten right out of heven, and a third of his followers. Saten is still mad. And he tries to make us do bad things.
But the real reasons why Jesus came are to show us an example, to teach us, to pay for our sins, and he died for us so we could live with him agin.
There are two kinds of deth, spirichle deth, and phisicle deth. Phisicle deth is when our spirit departs from our bodies. Spirichle deth is when we do rong, and we depart from God.
And I hope we won’t have spirichle deth, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Today I’m going to talk about why Jesus came down to earth.
OK, when we were still up in heven, our hevenly father said, “I know you want to be like me with a body. And I do to, but in order to do that, we’ll have to have a world, but you’ll make mistakes. So I’ll have to get someone to corect them.”
Jesus and Saten were the only ones who volintered. They both wanted to do that. Then Saten spoke up and said, “I’ll make sure no-one is bad.” Our hevenly father did not like his idea. Our hevenly father wants us to choose by our selfs.
Suddenly Jesus said, “I’ll do it your way. I won’t force them. I will let them choose, and give you all the credet.”
Saten was very mad at this point. Our hevenly father kicked Saten right out of heven, and a third of his followers. Saten is still mad. And he tries to make us do bad things.
But the real reasons why Jesus came are to show us an example, to teach us, to pay for our sins, and he died for us so we could live with him agin.
There are two kinds of deth, spirichle deth, and phisicle deth. Phisicle deth is when our spirit departs from our bodies. Spirichle deth is when we do rong, and we depart from God.
And I hope we won’t have spirichle deth, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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