Watching President Russell M. Nelson sustained by the body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a rich and powerful spiritual experience for me. The instant he stood and his name was read, I experienced something powerful, yet difficult to describe, but the message from God to me was clear: This is the Lord’s prophet.
The next week was Fast and Testimony meeting, and so many others expressed what I had felt; that this was the Lord’s next chosen mouthpiece, a representative for Him. This knowledge is priceless. It transcends logic, reason, what can be detected with the five senses, the “arm of the flesh” as Nephi calls it.
Impressions: Unity
There is always room for growth, as well as room to discuss and interpret and parse and ponder in Gospel study. The scriptures present a wall of almost 2500 pages of information spanning thousands of years. That unity can prevail in a Church with that much scripture implies divine influences are at work.
Individual testimony, like the oil in the lamps of the Five Wise Virgins, cannot be bought or sold. It is nontransferable. We can state the reality of what we believe, testify, but that is not the same thing as enabling others to enjoy our personal spiritual witness born of experience.
Such testimony is obtained in the closet, on our knees in prayer, and in the small acts daily, weekly, and consistently done. There is no royal road or privileged shortcut to testimony.
What are the linchpins of testimony? We are bound to have different understandings of details amid all those thousands of pages of scripture (as well as Church history and widely varied personal life experiences). Joseph Smith taught that the closer to the trunk of the tree we are, the less likely we are to fall out of the tree.
In other words, there are more basic, foundational points of doctrine upon which everyone under the influence of the Spirit will agree. These doctrines and principles are closer to the “trunk” of unity that Church members accept as immutable truth.
Here are some of the basics:
God is our Father in Heaven, a perfected, resurrected being of flesh and bone who loves us, His Spirit children.
Jesus Christ is His perfected, resurrected Son, our Savior who makes it possible to overcome physical and spiritual death and return to God forever one day.
The Book of Mormon is the word of God, a second witness confirming and strengthening the testimony of witnesses found in the Bible for the divinity of Jesus Christ and His resurrection.
Joseph Smith was called of God in his early youth to receive revelations and restore what was lost through centuries, not just knowledge, but the keys necessary for sealing on earth and in heaven.
Today we have living prophets and Apostles again on the earth who hold and pass down those keys. Russell M. Nelson is the current successor to the Prophet Joseph, and the other Apostles also speak for the Lord.
Another basic witness we could add to these fundamentals is the validity of Temple ordinances and covenants—if you want sacred spiritual experiences and to grow your witness that all of the above statements are true, attend to any aspect of the work of the Temple.
The Spirit whispers and writes the truth of these things into our hearts indelibly, especially when we are doing those simple things the Lord has asked us to do.
Get and Follow the Spirit
In this most recent General Conference, to a greater degree, we were admonished to get, keep, and follow the Spirit. “Receive the Holy Ghost,” we are told as we are confirmed members of the Church of Christ. Obeying that commandment is this life’s work in a nutshell.
The possible answers to the question of why this is important are too numerous to count here, but the parable of the Ten Virgins illustrates one answer clearly. Each member of the Church must have his or her own testimony to be prepared to meet the Lord when He comes again.
D&C 45:56-57 interprets the parable:
“And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.
“For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.”
Critics and shirkers adopt an easier task; it does not take much effort to walk downhill. Those who choose to follow the voice of the Spirit find themselves asked to climb—to ascend into the difficulty of uphill struggles. The ability to admit the limits of our strength and knowledge, and supplicate the Lord for His enabling power to do His work are and will be essential in coming days.
And how the critics have multiplied.
Assumptions in society today often include that everyone has a right to be declared equal to others; everyone has the right to acceptance and tolerance of others; everyone has the right not to be offended; that nothing should be spoken if it might hurt others’ feelings, even if it is the truth. (Curiously, the Latter-day Saints are often excluded from the shelter of this umbrella of unearned respect, tolerance, and prohibition against criticism. Who wants or requires such a bizarre, ephemeral stamp of approval, though? Those with weaker positions.)
The psychological and emotional nursery wallpaper for Latter-day Saints is persecution, or at least, a lack of acceptance. In every age and every milieu, the Church members, upon arrival, have been ostracized by some, however many or few. We come to expect it, and even grow a bit nervous if the background chatter of anti-Church noise grows silent, like crickets suddenly silenced. We wonder: Is everything OK?
The faintest whiff of favoritism or inequality is enough to send some into paroxysms today. Egalitarianism is a strange god; it flies in the face of a cursory survey of reality. Equal means same. If everyone is unique, then how can we truly be equal?
A more parsimonious explanation is needed. We like hearing that we are all equal to each other because it feeds our vanity. (Observe how kids argue over dessert disbursement sometime; if the portions aren’t precisely identical, tempers can flare.)
Being told we are unique also flatters our vanity. Unique typically means valuable; it also implies that we hold a metaphysical territory of sorts, best-in-category in some kind of unspoken contest to outdo others. “I am the best chess-playing skier with red hair on earth.” It’s not much, but it’s something. Niche = identity.
So we swallow contradictory statements combining equality and uniqueness because they are coated with the saccharin of flattery. Pride is a truth-allergy, and this is another example of departure from reality to prevent emotional inflammation.
Add the Lord
Those who lack actual spiritual experiences (at least, any they are aware of) are left, like scavengers, to pick through such bones and tendons and sparse gristle to feed self-esteem. Even the best of any category are likely to be dethroned tomorrow. To become great in the eyes of the world is not to become much, or for long.
Instead of becoming the best hockey-playing cellist with sleep apnea, or something desperate like that, in order to feel a sense of worth and specialness, Latter-day Saints are encouraged from childhood to look up to God for such affirmations.
We came from God, the Father of our spirits, in a forgotten pre-mortal state. We existed as conscious beings with God, even before this world existed. We agreed to come to this earth to be tested, to receive physical bodies, and that the Savior would be Jesus Christ. Everyone accepted Him before we were born into this life.
Though our memories of that life with God are veiled as part of this mortal probationary time, we can learn about God and re-initiate our relationships with Him. “I am a child of God,” sing our three and four year-old children. And yet it is not an invitation to arrogance; quite the opposite, in fact.
As with so many things, the Lord’s way is inverted from the world’s. This is the case with leadership in the Lord’s Church.
Here the Lord displays His shocking policy:
“He riseth up from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
“After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded… (Peter protested this vocally.)
“…So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
“Ye call me Master, and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
“If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
“If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:4-5, 12-17).
This flips the worldly notion of authority and prominence on its head. And this orientation towards service is characteristic of the Brethren, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. Rather than retire into passive comfort as they age, we can watch them wearing out their lives, serving the Lord by serving His children.
Accepting any authority figure is becoming increasingly unpopular. Why are Latter-day Saints so willing to accept the authority of the Church’s General Authorities?
Add the Lord and His invisible spiritual influence to the analysis. Faithful members have a personal, immutable spiritual witness (at least, ideally) that those leaders are called of God. Start with that assumption; from there it becomes reasonable to follow them and pay close attention to their instructions.
Also—the love these men have for the members of the Church is obvious when they speak.
More leadership policy from the Lord:
“…when we…exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man” (D&C 121:37).
In contrast to such negative behaviors or feelings, the Spirit of the Lord is present and confirms what Church leaders say. What behaviors and attitudes instead grace their conduct?
“No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
“By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile…” (D&C 121:41-42).
Love of Truth
Nephi chastened his brothers:
“…I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center” (1Ne. 16:2).
Their younger brother, Jacob, gives a sermon that applies well to this most recent General Conference, but to the Church in general of any age:
“O, my beloved brethren, give ear to my words. Remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel. Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you; for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken” (2Ne. 9:40).
Weaning ourselves away from dependence upon false flatteries and accolades of the world and sensing God’s love for us instead will enable us hear difficult truths—about ourselves, our behaviors, our desires—and to make necessary changes when the Lord’s servants speak for Him.
Rather than point downward to retirement and ease and comfort and convenience and shedding burdens, Church leaders stand at the base of the mountain, asking us to drop what will not help us, pick up the necessary tools, and ascend into the high peaks where struggle and upward pushes are the daily norm. (It is also possible to inconvenience ourselves unwisely; not every call from others inviting us to struggle is an invitation to expend time and energy and resources profitably. Again, staying attuned to spiritual promptings is key.)
This General Conference it felt like the bar was once again being raised. Nothing short of an active, vibrant personal relationship with the Holy Spirit will suffice anymore. Being able to receive and follow personal revelation is indispensable. The world seeks kindness in flattery, but kindness resides ultimately (and then solely) in truth. Even if that truth is a call to repentance.
We can trust that Jesus Christ will still support us if we are offering Him our best efforts, and He will cover our sins and shortcomings and foolish errors with His matchless love.
