"Honoring and Sustaining the Law"

The twelfth Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reads, “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”

My familiarity with the Articles of Faith began many, many years ago while I was a Primary student. Of course like everyone else, my graduation from that Auxiliary was in part dependent upon my being able to quote all thirteen of them to my leaders from memory.

For an eleven year old in 1951, the twelfth one seemed benign to me. Why would I or anyone in my restricted circle of friends and relatives seriously think about doing anything contrary to the laws and interests of the United States government? Most of the other Articles of Faith were gospel centered, and their subject matter was intended to motivate the believer to pursue further study of the topic. Other Articles made reference to personal behavior that would require many years or possibly a lifetime to realize. However, sustaining our various levels of government and obeying their dictates only seemed like the natural thing to do. At that age, I knew almost nothing about the reality of other members of the Church who lived in foreign countries, and of the practical and at times life-threatening difficulties they faced while struggling to live by the dictates of this pattern of belief.

At that age, I also had not made the connection between the era in which the Articles of Faith had been penned and the realities with which those Saints were in fact contending. In 1842, the horrors of mob violence that had succeeded in driving them from their homes, businesses, and lands in Ohio and Missouri were still very fresh in their minds as they gathered to Nauvoo. The Prophet and his fellow prisoners had made their way to Illinois after their escape from Liberty jail, where they had been held unlawfully for months in very inhumane conditions. Appeals to their governmental leaders in the Nation’s capital for redress of their many injuries stemming from unconstitutional and illegal persecutions fell on deaf ears and not understanding minds. In spite of being so rebuffed, the Saints were accepting of their condition and thanked God for the forms of government that had treated them so wretchedly. In human terms, such behavior is amazing and normally unexpected.

What are our circumstances as Saints today? Given that our membership in some numbers has spread into almost all areas of the globe, the dictates of the twelfth Article of Faith provide varying challenges to its adherents. One of the hallmarks of the value systems that dominate in socially stable and economically advanced nations is the attempt to enumerate and protect personal or civil liberties. In such lands, supporting the established governments and obeying existing laws is relatively easy and almost always results in an absence of personal threats. At the other end of the social and political continuums are systems that are incapable of maintaining stability or in fact seek to further ends that are chaotic. These seem hardly worthy of the public’s support. Into such areas generally, the gospel is not taken in any organized fashion, and in such where the Church has been established, missionary and temple activities are at times curtailed. While the substance and expectations of the Articles of Faith in such conditions remain the same as otherwise, the resulting conduct of the members most likely will need to be appropriate to their circumstances.

A brief consideration of the experiences of the Saints living in the communist German Democratic Republic may be instructive here. As a rule, what we as a Church consider normal missionary proselytizing activities were very seriously limited by the laws of that nation. Yet full-time missionary work continued with many young members accepting calls to serve. As one of them, Sister Linford served for twenty-six months. Church meetings were often observed by members of the Stasi, the East German secret police, who sat among the congregations. Teaching manuals and other printed materials from the Church that we take for granted were not allowed into the country for many years. Through all of this, the members remained respectful of the communist government and its suppressive laws. Because the government of the GDR came to realize that the Saints living within its borders were not carrying on subversive activities, indeed, they were obedient citizens, the government invited the Church to build a temple. In fact, the temple in Freiberg is the only temple the Church has constructed inside of a communist nation. Had the Saints not conducted themselves in a manner consistent with the twelfth Article of Faith, it is highly unlikely that miracle would have happened.

As the end draws closer, wickedness in the world will increase. That is a given. It is thus reasonable to assume that the world’s populated areas will experience in numbers and intensity an increase in civil disobedience. Organized government’s natural response to such depreciating conditions will be to exert more and more authority. Both the increase of civil disobedience and the expansion of governmental authority in the hopes of restoring and maintaining order will have the effect of limiting ever more the personal liberties of the denizens of these societies. In such instances, attempting to live in accordance with the tenets of the twelfth Article of Faith will become more and more trying and dangerous. The fallback position for those caught in such circumstances and who seek to obey these increasingly authoritarian governments may well be the dictum that social order maintained by even autocratic governments is generally a better course of action than attempting to live within a society marked by chaos and anarchy.

On Liberty

“Liberty is by no means an invitation to indifference or to irresponsible power; nor is it the promise of unlimited well-being without a counterpart of toil and effort. It supposes application, perpetual effort, strict government of self, sacrifice in contingencies, civic and private virtues. It is therefore more difficult to live as a free man than to live as a slave, and that is why men so often renounce their freedom; for freedom is in its way an invitation to a life of courage, and sometimes of heroism, as the freedom of the Christian is an invitation to a life of Sainthood.”

Georges Lefebvre

The Coming of the French Revolution

This quote having been integrated into some of my lectures over the years impressed one of my students sufficiently that he had it beautifully reproduced and framed for me. For many years, his gift hung on the wall of my office. Now it has a similar place at home. Recently, a friend of many years wrote to see if I was still in possession of this quote as his copy had been misplaced. His request reminded me of the appropriateness of this topic given our expanded consideration of the eleventh Article of Faith. Sometimes, things happen this way.

The exercise of personal agency is very much bounded by the rules, customs, and biases of organized and unorganized societies. Liberty, as discussed here, pertains directly to the degree of protection and furtherance or, to the contrary, restraint organized societies place on the ability of their individual members to exercise their God-given right of personal choice.

The desire to protect the degree of personal liberty that had evolved in most of the American based British colonies from the growing encroachments of the Parliament was at the heart of the American revolutionary movement. Historians have argued and it was very likely the case that the American revolution was over before it began. At least in the minds of its leaders, the separation of the colonies from the Mother Country was a fait accompli before the first shot was fired in Massachusetts. The success of this revolution provided support and direction for others. The desire to expand and protect the basic notions of personal liberty was a powerful motivator in the coming of many subsequent revolutions in two hemispheres that successfully overthrew forms of monarchal government beginning in France.

Given the natural affinity between the true gospel of Jesus Christ and true forms of representative government regarding the necessity of providing and protecting substantive personal liberties for their citizens, our recent experience in the former communist area of Germany was an eye opener. The Marxian socialist value system that dominated the region for approximately fifty years had significantly curtailed its citizens’ ability to exercise independent behavior. On the other hand, it had provided a “social safety net” whereby its citizens were guaranteed such basic necessities as housing, employment, and medical care. This was the trade-off. Restricted personal liberty made possible the satisfying of certain basic human needs. When their system collapsed in 1989, their safety net was gone, and the former citizens of Eastern Germany found themselves largely responsible for providing for themselves in the absence of government guarantees. This was very unnerving to many of these individuals, and we as citizens of the United States were the brunt of verbal attacks by many as we mingled with them. The dissatisfied were generally displeased with the role our government had played in the fall of their communist system. Even more troubling were the confrontations we experienced on this subject from Church members. After experiencing political domination and restricted personal liberty for so many years, they had substantially lost their vision of the importance of exercising personal agency in all of its possible forms.

Marxian socialism overtook Eastern Europe so quickly that the populations of those lands were powerless to prevent themselves from being inundated. However, in the Americas, socialist thought, laws, and institutions are spreading at a more incremental pace, and in their wake the personal liberties of the impacted citizenry are slowly being eroded. How did Professor Lefebvre put it?

“Liberty is by no means an invitation to indifference or to irresponsible power; nor is it the promise of unlimited well-being without a counterpart of toil and effort. It supposes application, perpetual effort, strict government of self, sacrifice in contingencies, civic and private virtues. It is therefore more difficult to live as a free man than to live as a slave, and that is why men so often renounce their freedom; for freedom is in its way an invitation to a life of courage, and sometimes of heroism, as the freedom of the Christian is an invitation to a life of Sainthood” (Georges Lefebvre).

Personal Agency

The eleventh Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reads, “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”

Agency is an eternal principle. It is through the exercise of agency that personal progression in the gospel sense is possible. It was the Prophet Abraham who reported God’s purpose concerning the exercise of personal agency: “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;” (Abraham 3:25). So integral is agency to God’s eternal plan for us, that the presentation of a counter proposal that would have subverted the agency of God’s spirit children while they were living in mortality was in and of itself an important factor in Lucifer’s fall.

Only in an environment that permits mankind to exercise the requisite degree of freedom of thought and action is each individual able to work out their salvation. Given its importance, the use or misuse of agency at times gives rise to effects of enduring consequence. Among the rebellious are those who believe that the exercise of their agency gives them the right to obey or not to obey the commandments of God, seemingly without personally harmful consequences. If by this they mean to suggest that agency provides them the right to determine what is right or wrong, they are seriously mistaken. As Elder Charles Didier taught in one of our stake conferences, “Agency is given to us to choose between right and wrong and not to decide what is right and what is wrong” (April 28, 2002).

The most defining moments in an individual’s life are those wherein substantive choices are presented, and a decision is made that has the potential to alter the person’s subsequent course through not only mortality but also throughout eternity. President David O. McKay spoke to this point when he said, “There are three great epochs in a man’s [or woman’s] earthly life, upon which his happiness here and in eternity may depend, his birth, his marriage, and his choice of vocation.” However in reality, the potential effects of the defining decisions made by a single individual in mortality will be perhaps limitless. For whether the course followed is consistent or contrary to the will of God, future generations will tend to reap either the blessings or the heartaches inherent in the course of life upon which their feet are set. This says nothing about the nature of the multitudinous relationships in which each of us is involved with non-family members and in consequence the potential we have to effect them for good or for ill.

Given our understanding of the centrally-important role agency should play in each individual’s life, we ought to support those institutions, actions, and beliefs both domestic and foreign that possess the power to provide, protect, and further the exercise of personal agency among the largest possible number of God’s children. In so doing, we encourage the realization of an environment wherein as many as possible will be free to live and worship “according to the dictates of [their] own conscience.”

American Exceptionalism

The confluence of two trains of thought have brought me to this writing. Recently, we celebrated Memorial Day which is intended to direct our thoughts toward our dead. In my youth, we often referred to this holiday as Decoration Day for a portion of our time was spent caring for and decorating the graves of our relatives in the city cemetery. As a nation, we use Memorial Day as an opportunity to remember and give thanks for the sacrifice of those who have served in the armed services in the defense of our country thus reaffirming thereby the importance of the liberties and safety that we enjoy daily as a result of our continuing history.

My other thoughts are a product of having recently read Brother Hugh Nibley’s work entitled Lehi in the Desert and The World of the Jaredites. Among other things, I was reminded again of just how clearly both the followers of Lehi and the Jaredites were informed by the Lord as to the exceptional status of the land to which they were being led and of the conditions that would apply there. This is a promised land, and the Lord will not tolerate indefinitely abuse of His will by those He has permitted to live here. When the cup of the Lord’s forbearance is full, the unrighteous are swept from this land. The descendants of both of these migrations experienced in due time the devastating full measure of this warning. It is interesting to consider in this context, that not all who are allowed to live here are of Israel. Certainly, Lehi’s followers were, but the Jaredites were not given that their story as reported by the Prophet Ether began with the confusion of languages following the tower of Babel debacle.

One of the many paradigms used to interpret particularly the history of the United States is known as “American Exceptionalism.” It may be worth noting that while American Exceptionalism applies specifically to the United States, the term “America” does not. There are those in the United States who experience some personal discomfort at the thought that say Canadians, Mexicans, and Brazilians, for example, rightfully may also refer to themselves as “Americans.” True is it not, this entire hemisphere is America? If so, then all who are citizens of the various nations which comprise this hemisphere are Americans.

From which source did the notion of American Exceptionalism spring? While the answer to this question is debatable, a popular and defensible answer is Alexis Charles Henri Clerel de Tocqueville. De Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat, and his traveling companion were sent by France to the United States in the early 1830s to report on our penal institutions as the French were considering reforms in their houses of correction. In addition to making the report the purpose of which had brought him here in the first place, de Tocqueville wrote a two-volume work entitled, Democracy in America, which provides all future generations a window into this dynamic period of early United State history. His understanding of republican government, democracy, equality, and liberty and what he believed their long-term effects would be on our nation’s history are a fertile seedbed for important elements of American Exceptionalism.

In general terms, this paradigm of United States history assumes that the fundamental institutions of our society and government are different from those of every other nation in the world in at least small but identifiable ways. These institutions and their underlying value system have produced a nation that is not only destined to be an example to others but is expected by a majority of its citizens and countless others living abroad to be a world leader. This was not always the case. It took time for this nation’s institutions and citizens to mature through the processes of trial and error. However, it may be argued that for about a century, the United States government has shouldered well its domestic and international responsibilities in spite of expected missteps.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we know what the vast majority of the world’s citizens does not namely, that God has declared the land of America to be a promised land, and He expects that those who live here will serve Him. If they do not, in due time their offenses will be the cause of their destruction. As for the United States specifically, we know that our Constitution was written under circumstances determined by God. “And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:80; see also verses 76 to 80).

It is not my purpose here to become embroiled in a contest of philosophies or opinions. However, it does seem apparent to me that more and more forces are at work without and within this nation seeking to challenge its unique role in the modern world and to cause both its leaders and its citizens to question ever more critically the propriety of continuing on our historic course. For me, our challengers fall into at least two major categories. First, there are those who sincerely desire to rid our societies both domestic and international of notions or philosophies they deem to be inherently divisive. Notions such as “political correctness” and “I’m okay, your okay” are general approaches whereby many of this group attempt to accomplished their desired ends. The other major group of challengers appears to have less than honorable ends in mind as they seek to dissuade policy makers and their supporters from continuing on a course whereby the United States plays a leadership role.

For those of us who have an understanding of God’s assumptions pertaining to America, both of these groups are problematic. Whether the rejection of American Exceptionalism is rooted in ignorance or in evil intent, the results may eventually be the same. When a people rejects God’s ways long enough, their lives are made more difficult through external means. An example of this concerns the inhabitants of Western Missouri in the 1830s who rejected the coming of the Latter-day Saints to that area. The Lord said, “I, the Lord, am angry with the wicked; I am holding my Spirit from the inhabitants of the earth. I have sworn in my wrath, and decreed wars upon the face of the earth, and the wicked shall slay the wicked, and fear shall come upon every man;” (D&C 63:32-33).

Given God’s expectations for both His Kingdom as well as the United States in America, the inherent responsibilities for those of us who are citizens of both would seemingly deny us the right to believe we are no more enlightened than those who have not been so blessed. By what right do we seek to opt out of setting an overt example to others of God’s children of those values, behaviors, and truths that are most consistent with gospel goals? In other words, by what right do we seek to hide our light under a bushel?

In addition to our regular study of the Book of Mormon and latter-day published revelations, a thoughtful reading of our history for the past century should serve as a timely reaffirmation of our various opportunities, blessings, and commitments relative to this subject. In these last days, maintaining clarity of purpose and direction will become more and more difficult as the noise with which we are bombarded becomes more intense and its effects more confusing.

The Gathering of Israel

Some of the events surrounding the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ are encapsulated in our tenth Article of Faith: “We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.”

In the tenth century B.C., the house of Israel was divided into two kingdoms which were located north and south of each other. The Kingdom of Judah or the southern kingdom was comprised of the tribe of Judah and most of the tribe of Benjamin. Jerusalem was its capital. This kingdom was destroyed through successive Babylonian invasions occurring at about the start of the sixth century B.C., and over time most of its inhabitants were taken away into captivity. The Kingdom of Israel or the northern kingdom was comprised of the remaining ten tribes. Because of one tribe’s dominance, collectively they are also referred to as the tribes or kingdom of Ephraim. About 721 B.C., the Assyrians invaded the area of the northern kingdom taking most of its inhabitants away to the North. Given the dearth of information concerning their eventual destination or destinations, we generally refer to them as the “lost tribes.”

In the last days and during the early stages of the Millennium, Israel will be gathered home. This gathering of which ancient and modern prophets have foretold is presently underway. To the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord said in 1831, “Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour [of His coming]. Let them, therefore, who are among the Gentiles flee unto Zion. And let them who be of Judah flee unto Jerusalem, unto the mountains of the Lord’s house” (D&C 133:11-13). Eventually, the Lord’s Kingdom by which He will reign personally upon the earth will have two centers, Old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem. Even though the latter-day gatherings have commenced, the reconstruction of the old capital and the construction of the new Zion have not. The location of the New Jerusalem will be in the vicinity of the city of Independence, Missouri and is well documented having been spoken of in specific terms in revelations received by and in discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. (See D&C 84:2-5, for example.) The authority to make the necessary preparations for the gathering of Israel and the restoration of the ten lost tribes was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by Moses in the Kirtland Temple when he appeared to them in 1836 (D&C 110:11).

While the descendants of Judah will be gathered to Jerusalem, the remainder of Israel will be gathered to Zion or the New Jerusalem on the American Continent. Isaiah and Jeremiah both prophesied concerning these events: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2-3). “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:14-15).

With His coming, the wicked, in this case those who are destined to inherit the telestial kingdom, will be cleansed from the earth making it possible for the earth to be restored to its paradisiacal glory or the state in which it existed at the time our first parents inhabited the garden of eden. The governments of the earth will be thrown down and “Christ will reign personally upon the earth” by means of the Kingdom which He has established in preparation for His coming namely, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Reverence

“Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:30).

Recently, Elder Kenneth Johnson, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, was the visiting General Authority at our stake conference. It has long been my belief that the most spiritual of the general sessions at such conferences is the one held Saturday evening. It is viewed as an adult session to which generally the more faithful are in attendance. As such, the distractions from the proceedings are minimal allowing those present to enjoy a spiritual uplift.

When the usual opening for such a meeting was completed and the stake president had given his brief remarks, the remainder of the meeting was turned over to Elder Johnson. The first thing he did was to call all who were in attendance to repentance. In words that left no room for personal interpretation, he made clear that the noise we in the congregation had made prior to the start of the meeting was absolutely inappropriate. How he asked could we expect to receive personal revelation or inspiration from the proceedings if we were not reverent in preparation for and during the session? For almost two hours, he taught us what behavior on our part was necessary to receive the personal revelation that we must have if we hope to be successful in living the gospel in these wicked times. Here was a visiting authority who taught from the scriptures and left behind a very specific understanding of what we should change in our approach to all Church meetings if we expect to receive the desired benefits from our attendance.

Sister Linford and I have been more aware of the general irreverence we have experienced in the Church meetings we have attended since returning from our temple mission almost two years ago. Some with whom we have discussed this matter have outwardly assumed that our sensitivity stemmed from the fact that we spent five of every seven days laboring in a temple. But they have misunderstood. The congregations of German Saints with whom we worshipped each Sunday taught us that noise and confusion do not have to reign before and after our services and to continue to distract during the service itself. We were particularly impressed with the reverence we experienced in the congregations in Bernburg and Meerane. Quiet reverence reigns in their chapels beginning at least ten minutes before the beginning of their Sacrament Meetings. Even in the larger congregations located in Freiberg and Leipzig, for example, the reverence before the start of meetings would be a worthy example for most of the stateside congregations that we have visited in recent years. Clearly, irreverence is unnecessary and inappropriate in our worship services. True reverence requires thoughtful, overt action. It is not a passive activity.

What are some of the hallmarks of behavior that distinguish reverent from irreverent congregations? Reverence will improve when and where leaders [Priesthood leaders, auxiliary leaders, and classroom teachers] make it a priority and an expectation. Members generally follow their leaders’ instructions and examples. Reverence music is played before the beginning of our major services for a reason. We should take advantage of this time to make final personal preparations for that which is to follow. Unnecessary conversation during meetings is by definition unnecessary and disturbing to those sitting close by. How we address one another while at church is also a factor that contributes to or detracts from reverent behavior. When have we experienced President Thomas S. Monson stand to conduct a session of general conference and heard him say, “Good morning, you guys. It is great to see you all here this morning”? When did the use of “brothers and sisters” become passe’? We are addressed as “guys” from the pulpit, by teachers in classes, by quorum leaders, and full-time missionaries. Such a form of address is irreverent. More and more, investigators attending meetings are address by their given names, a practice that continues right through the ordinance by which they are confirmed members of the Church. Commencing meetings and classes late is another form of irreverence that is becoming more and more the accepted norm. If anyone is asking themselves why these actions are forms of irreverence, the answer is simple. All of these things and more are examples of behaviors that diminish the importance and sacredness of what we are about in the Lord’s Church.

In order to understand how we ought to reverently approach our religious meetings, we need only ask ourselves what steps we take to ensure that we receive the necessary inspiration while preparing to speak in sacrament meeting [not "sacrament"] or to teach a lesson in an auxiliary class. Not seeking such inspiration when we are preparing for such assignments is to court disaster.

We cannot expect to receive Inspiration in an inappropriate environment. We will most probably not receive heaven's direction while in the midst of watching or listening to inappropriate media. We need to have cleared our minds of all unworthy images and thoughts. Our creative setting should be a quiet one. Our effort should be prefaced with a prayer offered while on our knees and beseeching God for inspiration in order that we might accomplish our assigned task in a manner that would have His approval.

Possibly, these thoughts might provide hints as to the steps we might take as we prepare to attend our regular Sunday gathering, conference sessions, and firesides. Approaching these gatherings with prayerful preparation and reverent desires would better place us in a position to receive the inspiration we desire while in attendance at such gatherings with our fellow Saints.

God Speaks to His Modern-day Prophets

The ninth Article of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is “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.”

The thirteen declarations of belief from which the above Article is taken were published on March 1, 1842 in the Times and Seasons of Nauvoo, Illinois. By that date, the Prophet Joseph Smith had translated the Book of Mormon through the inspiration and power of God, and the printed product had been in circulation for twelve years. Between June 1830 and February 1831, the Prophet received by revelation the contents of the Book of Moses that contains revelations given to the ancient prophets Adam and Enoch as recorded by Moses. The Book of Abraham, a translation by the Prophet Joseph Smith of Egyptian papyri that came into his possession earlier, began to appear in the Times and Seasons on March 1, 1842. These latter two works are published today as a portion of the Pearl of Great Price. In 1831, the Prophet began his inspired translation of the Old and New Testaments that was a work in progress for more than two years. Although he did not live to see his work on the Bible published, we use his translation today to enhance our understanding of many important verses of Biblical scripture. By March 1842, 129 of the 138 revelations and writings published today in the Doctrine & Covenants had been documented by the Prophet Joseph Smith. The remaining nine revelations and writings were received or published by the latter-day prophets, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Joseph F. Smith.

With these evidences before us, what insights may we draw from them? First, God is not a respecter of persons and has manifest Himself to his spirit children in mortality far more than we realize. While instructing the Prophet Nephi concerning the shortsightedness of future generations to accept only the Bible as being the revealed word of God, the Lord said, “Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; . . .” (2 Nephi 29:7-9).

Second, during the mortal mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the “running together” of the words of God to several nations was accomplished with the intended result that in this final dispensation, we are benefited by having available for our use some of the words and testimony of God directed to our distant ancestors.

Third, the heavens are open, and God has spoken to His modern-day prophets. The Lord’s true Church has been restored to the earth, and thus the Kingdom of God is on the earth. If it is His Church and Kingdom, then ought we not to expect that He is at its head? How else other than by revelation to His chosen prophets would He be able to direct His work here? The contents of the Doctrine & Covenants provide tangible proof of this direction.

Fourth, the successful and intricate workings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in these last days complicated as they are by the evil conduct of many and the effects of plagues of disease and natural disasters are evidence that the Lord is still at the head of His Church directing it by revelation. The major thrusts of the Church’s missionary program illustrate the Church’s three major goals and more. Full-time missionaries are preaching the gospel to non-members in most of the world’s nations. Missionaries who have been called to serve in the Church Educational System (CES) are busy teaching the gospel to members of the Church thus working to “perfect the saints” while also spending time to seek out and strengthen particularly the challenged single adults in the areas to which they have been assigned. Other full-time missionaries are serving as temple ordinance workers in many temples around the world where the Church membership is unable to fully staff their local temples. In many areas of the developing world, humanitarian missionaries are working to alleviate the debilitating effects of disease and death through the improvement of medical care, personal hygiene, clean water supplies, and an improved understanding of nutrition, to mention only some of the more obvious areas of focus. All of these endeavors and many, many more illustrate the continuing revelation from God whereby these efforts are administered according to His direction.

So the reality today is as the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote in 1842, we Saints accept and seek to apply in our lives and activities the revealed word of God whether received in ages past or in these modern times. We also believe that revelation continues day by day to the prophets, seers, and revelators who stand next to Jesus Christ in the leadership of His Church. This continuing direction we await and wholeheartedly accept, for by doing so our lives are improved, and we become more valiant workers in His Kingdom.