Transfers this week were a challenge.
Elder Erickson wrote: “We were expecting fourteen new missionaries, but as we worked with the departing missionaries, we received notice that seven of the new missionaries were delayed at JFK airport in New York. After waiting several hours, their flight was finally cancelled and they had to spend the night in the airport. After cancellation and a couple more delays, they finally arrived at two o’clock on Sunday morning more than 36 hours after their scheduled arrival time. To add insult to injury, none of their baggage arrived with them. Several of them had to check their carry-on bag and literally arrived with only the clothes in their back.”
On Wednesday, October 19th we met Elder Heath Alger from Phoenix, AZ, on the left. He was one of those seven delayed missionaries. He and Elder Worley arrived in Braganca the day before. He is still missing his luggage and the pants he was loaned are way too big for him.
SCRIPTURE POWER
When we choose to believe in Jesus Christ our heart and life changes. A hard heart describes those who do not believe.
Sin leads to unbelief. “And because of their iniquity the church had begun to dwindle; and they began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and in the spirit of revelation” (Hel. 4:23) “they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness” (Hel. 4:25)
Samuel the Lamanite while speaking from a wall explains 4 things he wants the Nephites to know with the intent that they will believe in Jesus Christ. Belief in Jesus, always leads to repentance.
“for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, 1.) that ye might hear and know of the judgments of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also 2.) that ye might know the conditions of repentance; And also 3.) that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and 4.) that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name. And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins” (Hel. 14:11-13)
Nephi explains that his intent is exactly the same as Samuel, even using similar words: “to the intent that they might believe” (Hel. 16:5) “Nevertheless, the people began to harden their hearts, all save it were the most believing part of them” (Hel. 16:15)
Interestingly, in order to understand the scriptures we must first believe. Unbelief leads to hard hearts.
“Now it came to pass that there were many of the rising generation that could not understand the words of king Benjamin, being little children at the time he spake unto his people; and they did not believe 1.) the tradition of their fathers. They did not believe 2.) what had been said concerning the resurrection of the dead, neither did they believe3.) concerning the coming of Christ. And now because of their unbelief they could not understand the word of God; and their hearts were hardened. And they would not be baptized; neither would they join the church. And they were a separate people as to their faith, and remained so ever after, even in their carnal and sinful state; for they would not call upon the Lord their God.” (Mosiah 26:1-4) Without belief and prayer they “remained so ever after”.
Interestingly, after the miraculous even of an entire night of “no darkness..as light as though it was mid-day..and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given. And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets..from this time forth there began to be lyings sent forth among the people, by Satan, to harden their hearts, to the intent that they might not believe” (3 Ne. 1: 19-22)
Satan’s goal is accomplished when he is able to “lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and a vain thing.” (3 Ne. 2:1-3)
“Moroni calls upon those who do not believe in Christ to repent” (Mormon 9 chapter heading)
Joseph Fielding McConkie said: “The pattern of scripture is that God reveals that which those to whom the revelation is initially given are willing to believe. When Nephi sought to see the vision shown his father, the angel who acted as his mentor asked, "Believest thou that thy father saw the tree of which he hath spoken?" (1 Ne. 11:4). Only Nephi's affirmative response allowed him to proceed. Before the Lord manifested himself to the brother of Jared, He asked, "Believest thou the words which I shall speak?" (Ether 3:11). It was clearly expected that the commitment to believe preceded the explanation of what he was to believe. We find this same spirit in the story of Aaron teaching Lamoni's father. When Aaron asked, "Believest thou that there is a God?" the king responded, "If now thou sayest there is a God, behold I will believe." And again the king said, "I will believe thy words" (Alma 22:7, 11). Still again we find this spirit in Alma's often quoted discourse in which he likens the word of God to a seed: "Blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe" (Alma 32:16)
Nephi said: “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ,” (2 Ne. 25:23) “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we writeaccording to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” (2 Ne. 25:26)
Mormon was not permitted to preach to his people when he was about 15 years old (Mor. 1:15-17) However, when he is about 50 years old (after ten years of peace) he is commanded to preach unto them. Perhaps as a final opportunity to return to God. “the Lord did say unto me: Cry unto this people—Repent ye..And I did cry unto this people, but it was in vain:” (Mor. 3:2-3) Mormon refuses to lead their army instead he writes. He repeats five (5) times the statement “I write” (Mor. 3:17,18,19,20)
“And these things doth the Spirit manifest unto me; therefore I write unto you all. And for this cause I write unto you, 1.) that ye may know that ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil; And also 2.) that ye may believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which ye shall have among you; and also 3.) that the Jews, the covenant people of the Lord, shall have other witness besides him whom they saw and heard, that Jesus, whom they slew, was the very Christ and the very God. And I would 4.) that I could persuade all ye ends of the earth to repentand prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.” (Mor. 3:20-22)
When we choose to believe the Spirit is poured out. However, when we dwindle in unbelief it is withdrawn.
“And it came to pass that all these iniquities did come unto them in the space of not many years,…And they did grow in their iniquities…the Nephites did begin to dwindle in unbelief, and grow in wickedness …while the Lamanites began to grow exceedingly in the knowledge of their God; yea, they did begin to keep his statutes and commandments, and to walk in truth and uprightness before him. And thus we see that the Spirit of the Lord began to withdraw from the Nephites, because of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts. And thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words.” (Hel. 6:32-36)
Jacob states his purpose: "Wherefore, we would to God that we could persuade all men not to rebel against God,....but that all men would believe in Christ" (Jac.1:8)
Christian writer Philip Yancey said: "Jesus never met a disease he could not cure, a birth defect he could not reverse, a demon he could not exorcise. But he did meet skeptics he could not convince and sinners he could not convert. Forgiveness of sins requires an act of will on the receivers part, and some who heard Jesus's strongest words about grace and forgiveness, turned away unrepentant." (The Jesus, I Never Knew)
We continue to have a choice every day to believe. What do we believe ?
Do we believe that “Jesus Christ, [is] the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning” ? (Mosiah 3:8, Hel. 14:12) Do we believe that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, “the most correct of any book on earth” (Book of Mormon-Introduction) and that: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" ? (D & C 1:30) If we no longer believe these things "And your minds ...have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received" the solution is to: "repent and remember ...the Book of Mormon" (D & C 84: 54, 57)
Elder D. Todd Christofferson said: "The importance of having a sense of the sacred is simply this—if one does not appreciate holy things, he will lose them. Absent a feeling of reverence, he will grow increasingly casual in attitude and lax in conduct. He will drift from the moorings that his covenants with God could provide. His feeling of accountability to God will diminish and then be forgotten. Thereafter, he will care only about his own comfort and satisfying his uncontrolled appetites. Finally, he will come to despise sacred things, even God, and then he will despise himself." (“A Sense of the Sacred”, CES Fireside for Young Adults, November 7, 2004, Brigham Young University)
Elder L. Whitney Clayton said: “Perceiving spiritual light is different from seeing physical light. Recognizing the Savior’s spiritual light begins with our willingness to believe. God requires that initially we at least desire to believe. “If ye will awake and arouse your faculties … and exercise a particle of faith,” the prophet Alma teaches, “yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of [the Savior’s] words.”
Alma’s call for us to desire to believe and to “give place” in our hearts for the Savior’s words reminds us that belief and faith require our personal choice and action. We must “awake and arouse [our] faculties.” We ask before it is given unto us; we seek before we find; we knock before it is opened unto us. We are then given this promise: “For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened….The decision to believe is the most important choice we ever make. It shapes all our other decisions.
God does not compel us to believe any more than He compels us to keep any commandments, despite His perfect desire to bless us. Yet His call to us to believe in Him—to exercise that particle of faith and to give place for His words—remains in effect today. As the Savior said, “I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.” (3 Ne. 11:32)
Belief and testimony and faith are not passive principles. They do not just happen to us. Belief is something we choose—we hope for it, we work for it, and we sacrifice for it. We will not accidentally come to believe in the Savior and His gospel any more than we will accidentally pray or pay tithing. We actively choose to believe, just like we choose to keep other commandments.” (“Choose to Believe”, Ensign, May, 2015)
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