His Servants

We had wonderful meetings at church yesterday. During a talk in sacrament meeting, a young newlywed couple, Bro and Sister Locke, spoke. They are both converts, the husband, Austin, joined the church when he was 18. He shared that recently on a business trip, when he was late for a gathering because he attended his Sunday meetings, someone asked, "So, I guess you're Mormon?" He replied yes. The person then asked if he'd always been a member, and was surprised when he replied no. He chose to join the church when he was 18. "Why would you chose to join that church! ...All those restrictions!!" and I loved his answer "Well, I wasn't worried about restrictions. I was grateful for direction."

That is what the Church, the Scriptures, and the Prophets give us - DIRECTION!!!

I received wonderful direction yesterday. I woke up early and read my scriptures. I started in 3 Nephi 11. I planned on just reading until I found the part where Christ tells the Nephites that they were blessed because they had seen him, and that "more blessed are those who have not seen me, yet have believed on your words" - something to that effect. I found it quickly cause it was in 3 Nephi 12:1-2:

And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words unto Nephi, and to those who had been called, (now the number of them who had been called, and received power and authority to baptize, was twelve) and behold, he stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them, saying: Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen from among you to minister unto you, and to be your servants; and unto them I have given power that they may baptize you with water; and after that ye are baptized with water, behold, I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost; therefore blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized, after that ye have seen me and know that I am. 

And again, more blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know that I am. Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.

I was thinking about what is the greatest thing we can achieve in this life - is seeing God and having him minister to us the greatest thing we can strive for and hope to achieve? How about a promise to have eternal life? What about having power over death to be able to stay on earth and serve and minister until Christ comes again? (that last one I think has the Savior's stamp of appoval 3 Nephi 28:7-9) It would be a blessed experience to see the Lord, that is sure, but Christ says it is even "more blessed" (3 Nephi 12:2) if we just believe on the words of those who have seen. Also, Christ taught this to his people after he had just called 12 apostles from among them. Which was the other thing on my mind: Some people on the blog-osphere seem to be upset about having leaders trying to come between them and God - "Follow the Prophet - NO! I follow Christ!" Well guess what we learn from these verses (and really from ALL OF THE BIBLE and written word (which was written by PROPHETS!)) we learn that Christ calls servants to do this work! Just because we follow a prophet and apostles does not mean we are following them instead of Christ, we follow them because they are called by him and chosen by him to minister unto us! If you don't believe that you pretty much are discounting all scripture. Don't do that - Christ calls prophets, they are chosen by HIM, and Christ testified that we will be blessed if we give heed unto their words.

So, after reading that, I went to check in on a blogger who I read occasionally who is favoring Bro. Snuffer over the Prophet and Apostles. And was disappointed but I can't say surprised that his most recent post stated that he had resigned from the church.

A few things that they seem to have concerns about are:

• The Correlation Department
• The Church Handbook of Instructions
• Tithing not going 100% to help the poor (some used for churches, temples, BYU, etc)
• That the Church lies in claiming it says it has something that it does not actually have (fullness of the priesthood I think?)
• The Conference Center is like a big and Spacious building, and perhaps our Pioneer ancestors would be disappointed to see how worldly we've become (end of this post)
• That the church today is nothing like the church Joseph Smith organized in 1830.

There are more things that they say, I don't have the time to address these very much, but on the last point there, that is one the resigned brother mentions in his post under "Study the doctrine, but not too much" - and I have to say yes, he is absolutely right. The Church today has changed dramatically from the one Joseph Smith organized. Joseph Smith himself said to the brethren in 1834 that they didn't comprehend what the church would become (...and if it was the same today as it was then, then they would have been able to comprehend it, right? Yes. But they didn't, cause it's going to change and grow and become so much more than they could envision)... here's the quote:

Although the Church was very small in the beginning, Joseph Smith had a prophetic sense of its grand destiny. Wilford Woodruff recalled that during a priesthood meeting at Kirtland, Ohio, in April 1834, the Prophet tried to awaken the brethren to a realization of the future state of God’s kingdom on earth:

“The Prophet called on all who held the Priesthood to gather into the little log school house they had there. It was a small house, perhaps 14 feet square. But it held the whole of the Priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were then in the town of Kirtland. … When we got together the Prophet called upon the Elders of Israel with him to bear testimony of this work. … When they got through the Prophet said, ‘Brethren, I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it.’ I was rather surprised. He said, ‘It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America—it will fill the world.’” - Teaching of Joseph Smith, Chapter 11

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today is that church that Joseph foresaw. It is in all the world, and will continue to grow to fill the earth. It is important that we remain with the church, I know that the church is on course. I know that the prophet and apostles are His servants. As Elder Maxwell counseled, let us become settled in our hearts ~ and not be found "in deliberate noncompliance, including some who cast off on intellectual and behavioral bungee cords in search of new sensations, only to be jerked about by the old heresies and the old sins."