APRIL
2005 THE GREAT THINGS WHICH GOD HAS REVEALED @Gordon B. Hinckley
@President of the Church @On the solid foundation of the Prophet
Joseph’s divine calling and the revelations of God, which came
through him, we go forward. @My brothers and sisters, as we have been
reminded, we will commemorate next December the 200th anniversary of
the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith. In the meantime, many things
will occur in celebration of this significant occasion. @Books will
be published, symposia participated in by various scholars, pageants,
a new motion picture, and a great many other things. @In anticipation
of this, I have felt, as 15th in succession from his great pinnacle
of achievement, to offer my testimony of his divine calling. @I hold
in my hand a precious little book. It was published in Liverpool,
England, by Orson Pratt in 1853, 152 years ago. It is Lucy Mack
Smith’s narrative of her son’s life. @It recounts in some detail
Joseph’s various visits with the angel Moroni and the coming forth
of the Book of Mormon. @The book tells that upon hearing of Joseph’s
encounter with the angel, his brother Alvin suggested that the family
get together and listen to him as he detailed “the great things
which God has revealed to you” (Biographical Sketches of Joseph
Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors of Many Generations [1853],
84). @I take that statement as the subject of my talk—the great
things which God has revealed through Joseph the Prophet. Permit me
to name a few of many doctrines and practices which distinguish us
from all other churches, and all of which have come of revelation to
the youthful Prophet. They are familiar to you, but they are worth
repeating and reflecting on. @The
first of these, of course, is the manifestation of God Himself and
His Beloved Son, the risen Lord Jesus
Christ.
This grand theophany is, in my judgment, the greatest such event
since the birth, life, death, and Resurrection of
our Lord in the meridian of time. @We
have no record of any other event to equal it. @For
centuries men gathered and argued concerning the nature of Deity.
Constantine assembled scholars of various factions at Nicaea in the
year 325. After two months of bitter debate, they compromised on a
definition which for generations has been the doctrinal statement
among Christians concerning the Godhead. @I
invite you to read that definition and compare it with the statement
of the boy Joseph. He simply says that God stood before him and spoke
to him. Joseph could see Him and could hear Him. He was in form like
a man, a being of substance. Beside Him was the resurrected Lord, a
separate being, whom He introduced as His Beloved Son and with whom
Joseph also spoke. @I
submit that in the short time of that remarkable vision Joseph
learned more concerning Deity than all of the scholars and clerics of
the past. @In
this divine revelation there was reaffirmed beyond doubt the reality
of the literal Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. @This
knowledge of Deity, hidden from the world for centuries, was the
first and great thing which God revealed to His chosen servant. @And
upon the reality and truth of this vision rests the validity of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. @I
speak next of another very important thing which God revealed.
@The Christian world
accepts the Bible as
the word of God. Most have no idea of how it came to us. @I
have just completed reading a newly published book by a renowned
scholar. It is apparent from information which he gives that the
various books of the Bible were brought together in what appears to
have been an unsystematic fashion. In some cases, the writings were
not produced until long after the events they describe. One is led to
ask, “Is the Bible true? Is it really the word of God?” @We
reply that it is, insofar as it is translated correctly. The hand of
the Lord was in its making. But it now does not stand alone. There is
another witness of the significant and important truths found
therein. @Scripture
declares that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every
word be established” (2
Cor. 13:1).
@The
Book of Mormon has come forth by the gift and power of God. It speaks
as a voice from the dust in testimony of the Son of God. It speaks of
His birth, of His ministry, of His Crucifixion and Resurrection, and
of His appearance to the righteous in the land Bountiful on the
American continent. @It
is a tangible thing that can be handled, that can be read, that can
be tested. It carries within its covers a promise of its divine
origin. Millions now have put it to the test and found it to be a
true and sacred record. @It
has been named by those not of our faith as one of 20 books ever
published in America that have had the greatest influence upon those
who have read them. @As
the Bible is the testament of the Old World, the Book of Mormon is
the testament of the New. They go hand in hand in declaration of
Jesus as the Son of the Father. @In
the past 10 years alone, 51 million copies have been distributed. It
is now available in 106 languages. @This
sacred book, which came forth as a revelation of the Almighty, is
indeed another testament of the divinity of our Lord. @I
would think that the whole Christian world would reach out and
welcome it and embrace it as a vibrant testimony. It represents
another great and basic contribution which came as a revelation to
the Prophet. @Another
is the restored priesthood. Priesthood is the authority to act in the
name of God. That authority is the keystone of any religion. I have
read another book recently. It deals with the Apostasy of the
primitive Church. If the authority of that Church was lost, how was
it to be replaced? @Priesthood
authority came from the only place it could come, and that is from
heaven. It was bestowed under the hands of those who held it when the
Savior walked the earth. @First,
there was John the Baptist, who conferred the Aaronic, or lesser
priesthood. This was followed by a visitation of Peter, James, and
John, Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, who conferred upon Joseph
and Oliver Cowdery the Melchizedek Priesthood, which had been
received by these Apostles under the hands of the Lord Himself when
in life He said, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven” (Matt. 16:19). @How
beautiful is the unfolding of the pattern of restoration which led to
the organization of the Church in the year 1830, 175 years ago this
week. The very name of the Church came of revelation. Whose Church
was it? Was it Joseph Smith’s? Was it Oliver Cowdery’s? No, it
was the Church of Jesus Christ restored to earth in these latter
days. @Another
great and singular revelation given to the Prophet was the plan for
the eternal life of the family. @The
family is a creation of the Almighty. It represents the most sacred
of all relationships. It represents the most serious of all
undertakings. It is the fundamental organization of society. @Through
the revelations of God to His Prophet came the doctrine and authority
under which families are sealed together not only for this life but
for all eternity. @I
think that if we had the capacity to teach effectively this one
doctrine, it would capture the interest of millions of husbands and
wives who love one another and who love their children, but whose
marriage is in effect only “until death do you part.” @The
innocence of little children is another revelation which God has
given through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph. The general
practice is the baptism of
infants to take away the effects of what is described as the sin of
Adam and Eve. Under the doctrine of the Restoration, baptism is for
the remission of one’s individual and personal sins. It becomes a
covenant between God and man. It is performed at the age of
accountability, when people are old enough to recognize right from
wrong. It is by immersion, in symbolism of the death and burial of
Jesus Christ and His coming forth in the Resurrection. @I
go on to mention another revealed truth. @We
are told that God is no respecter of persons, and yet, in no other
church of which I am aware, is provision made for those beyond the
veil of death to receive every blessing which is afforded the living.
The great doctrine of salvation for the dead is unique to this
Church. @Men
boast that they are “saved,” and in the same breath admit that
their forebears have not been and cannot be saved. @Jesus’s
Atonement in behalf of all represents a great vicarious sacrifice. He
set the pattern under which He became a proxy for all mankind. This
pattern under which one man can act in behalf of another is carried
forward in the ordinances of the house of the Lord. Here we serve in
behalf of those who have died without a knowledge of the gospel.
Theirs is the option to accept or reject the ordinance which is
performed. They are placed on an equal footing with those who walk
the earth. The dead are given the same opportunity as the living.
Again, what a glorious and wonderful provision the Almighty has made
through His revelation to His Prophet. @The
eternal nature of man has been revealed. We are sons and daughters of
God. God is the Father of our spirits. We lived before we came here.
We had personality. We were born into this life under a divine plan.
We are here to test our worthiness, acting in the agency which God
has given to us. When we die we shall go on living. Our eternal life
is comprised of three phases: one, our premortal existence; two, our
mortal existence; and three, our postmortal existence. In death we
die to this world and step through the veil into the sphere we are
worthy to enter. This, again, is a unique, singular, and precious
doctrine of this Church which has come through revelation. @I
offer this brief summary of the tremendous outpouring of knowledge
and authority from God upon the head of His Prophet. Were there time
I could speak of others. There is one more that I must mention. This
is the principle of modern revelation. The article of faith which the
Prophet wrote declares, @“We
believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and
we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things
pertaining to the Kingdom of God” (A
of F 1:9).
@A
growing church, a church that is spreading across the earth in these
complex times, needs constant revelation from the throne of heaven to
guide it and move it forward. @With
prayer and anxious seeking of the will of the Lord, we testify that
direction is received, that revelation comes, and that the Lord
blesses His Church as it moves on its path of destiny. @On
the solid foundation of the Prophet Joseph’s divine calling and the
revelations of God, which came through him, we go forward. Much has
been accomplished in bringing us to this present day. But there is
much more to be done in the process of taking this restored gospel to
“every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Rev.
14:6).
@I
rejoice in the opportunity of association with you as we go forward
in faith. The burden is at times heavy, as you well know. But let us
not complain. Let us walk in faith, each doing our part. @In
this year of celebration, through our own performance, let us honor
the Prophet, through whom God has revealed so much. @The
sun rose on Joseph’s life on a cold day in Vermont in 1805. It set
in Illinois on a sultry afternoon in 1844. During the brief 38 and
one-half years of his life, there came through him an incomparable
outpouring of knowledge, gifts, and doctrine. Looked at objectively,
there is nothing to compare with it. Subjectively, it is the
substance of the personal testimony of millions of Latter-day Saints
across the earth. You and I are honored to be among these. @As
a boy I loved to hear a man who, with a rich baritone voice, sang the
words of John Taylor:
The
Seer, the Seer, Joseph, the Seer! …
I
love to dwell on his memory dear;
The
chosen of God and the friend of man,
He
brought the priesthood back again;
He
gazed on the past and the future, too, …
And
opened the heavenly world to view.
He
was truly a seer. He was a revelator. He was a prophet of the living
God who has spoken to his own and all future generations. @To this I
add my solemn witness of the divinity of his calling, of the virtue
of his life, and of the sealing of his testimony with his death, in
the sacred name of our Redeemer, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Dear JPaul, I have listened to this talk about 10 times in the last week. It is at the end of a 2 hour session of General Conference. I have stayed awake to hear it about 4 of those times. As I listened I realized that some of the conflicts/ issues/ irreconsilables we have discussed are in here. No wonder they are strange, new or weird. They may resonate with your spirit inside your body because they were mostly familiar to you you in the premortal existence. But that was 50 years ago and behind the veil! So here they are full fledged introduced by Our prophet and president Gordon B Hinkley. If you want to listen or watch instead of reading. . . . Here is the website:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/the-great-things-which-god-has-revealed?lang=eng
I considered sending you one section at a time so you wouldn't feel inundated. I am still going to do that. Love you Cuz! I titled this 7 revealed truths on my blogspot, Adventurebill1.
You will notice I never used yellow. It doesn't show up well. These colors were red 5, orange 5, green 5, blue 5, sky blue 5, yellow green 5, magenta 5, cyan 5, purple 5, pink 5 from Libre Office color pallet. (Not in order) I repeated red 5 and then black. Probably silly but when I get an idea I like to try it and see if it works. : )
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