Many Voices

I looked back through early church history this morning and was again surprised at the number of people who left the church for various reasons...many of them became disenfranchised with Joseph Smith.

Of the Three Witnesses, they all left. Fortunately, both Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery later returned and were re-baptized.

As I looked at some of the wording of the dissenters, I found their use of language quite interesting, I'll share a couple of brief examples, but the language is similar in many of their cases:

David Whitmer (one of the three witnesses):
After the collapse of the Kirtland Safety Society Bank, David Whitmer became an antagonist to the Prophet and the Church. In 1838, he resigned his membership and interestingly stated these words,

"If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon," wrote Whitmer, "if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens and told me to 'separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints."

Something similar happened with Sydney Rigdon. After Joseph's death, he appeared in a public gathering and announced that he had received a revelation from the Lord stating that he was to be a "Guardian over the Church." Again, people were left to choose who to follow or who not to follow, when claims of revelation are being made on both sides.

There are many voices, both within the church and now outside of the church, teaching truth mingled with scripture. Truth is a wonderful thing, but the voices of men have consistently led men away from truth. We need to be very careful who's voice we listen to and more than anything else, we had better make sure that we HAVE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD to carefully discern between truth and error.

If we look back through history, many of those men were confident in their actions when they made them, but later came to regret what they had done:

Oliver Cowdery
Martin Harris
Thomas Marsh

To name a few...

Amongst many voices teaching what they claim to be truth, let us make sure we have the spirit of the Lord as our guide.

Meet the Mormons Review

Tonight I took my family to watch Meet the Mormons.

My review is simple: In a chaotic and violent world, I found it refreshing to attend a movie that was uplifting and inspiring. It was a movie of hope, repentance, faith, and love. It clearly shows that we (members of the church) are human, that we make mistakes. Yet. at the same time, it illustrates the power of kindness, repentance, and the ripple effect of service.

I hope this will reach people who need hope in their life or who could use an inspiring message. The reality is that we can find that hope through Christ and, in my opinion, the movie did a great job presenting that message!

One of my favorite parts of the movie was the conclusion when David Archuleta sang the song "Glorious".  What a beautiful song!

Being Released

Callings in the church are an interesting thing. Yesterday evening I was released from the Bishopric after 2 ½ years. I had a wonderful Bishop and I enjoyed being able to talk with him about a wide variety of subjects. I was called to serve in the Stake YM Presidency and I’m grateful for the chance to continue working with the youth. In my opinion, the youth are the most teachable and they still have the desire to learn. The old adage goes, “it’s easier to build a man than it is to mend a man”. I love working with the youth.

Reflect on your own callings. What have you learned from them?

As I look back through the years and reflect on my callings, it’s amazing how much I grew as a result. Not only that, some of my closest relationships were developed while serving side by side with someone.

1^st Counselor in the Bishopric

YM President

Ward Mission Leader

Gospel Doctrine Teacher

Temple Prep Teacher

Stake YM Presidency

EQ Presidency

Primary Teacher

I suppose it’s like anything else in life, we get out of something exactly what we put into it. However, as soon as I typed that, I realized it wasn't true. As King Benjamin taught, the very second we think we've done something worthwhile in the service of the Lord, he does immediately bless us and we are still indebted to him. Paradoxically, in my experience, if we will but make our best effort, the Lord will bless us greatly…whether in the primary or any other calling.

The Lord needs people who are willing to serve and will actually put forth the effort. There’s far too much complacency and we can do better as a church and a body of people who wants to follow Christ.