BRUCE R. MCCONKIE - "THE PURIFYING POWER OF GETHSEMANE"

This talk, given by Elder McConkie at General Conference, a few days before he passed away, is featured in this month's Ensign. I remember my mission president shared part of it with us at a zone conference. It is humbling to read the account of the Savior's suffering in Gethsemane, his crucifixion, and his rising from the dead to visit the spirit world. It's a great talk to read and reflect upon as we celebrate the Atonement and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior during this Easter season.

"I feel, and the Spirit seems to accord, that the most important doctrine I can declare, and the most powerful testimony I can bear is one of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

His atonement is the most transcendent event that ever has or ever will occur, from creation's dawn and through all the ages of a never ending eternity. It was the supreme act of goodness and grace that only a God could perform. Through it all the terms and conditions of the Father's Plan became operative. Through it was brought to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Through it all men are saved from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment. Through it all men who believe and obey the glorious gospel of God, those who are true and faithful and overcome the world, all who suffer for Christ and his word, all who are chastened and scourged in the cause in whom we are, all shall become as their maker and sit with him on his throne and reign with him forever in everlasting glory.

In speaking of these wondrous things I will use my own words. Though you might think these are the words of scripture, words spoken by other Apostles and Prophets, true it is that they were first proclaimed by others, but they are now mine. For the Holy Spirit of God has born witness to me that they are true and it is now as though the Lord has revealed them to me in the first instance. I have thereby heard his voice and know his word.

Two thousand years ago, outside of Jerusalem's walls, there was a pleasant Garden spot, Gethsemane by name, where Jesus and his intimate friends were want to retire for pondering and prayer. There Jesus taught his disciples the doctrines of the Kingdom and all of them communed with him who is the Father of us all in who's ministry they were engaged and on who's errand they served. This sacred spot like Eden where Adam dwelt, like Sinai where Jehovah gave his law, like Calgary where the Son of God gave his life as a ransom for many, this holy ground is where the sinless Son of the Everlasting Father to upon himself the sins of all men on conditions of repentance.

We do not know we cannot tell, no mortal mind can conceive the full import of what Christ did in Gethsemane. We know he sweat great gouts of blood from every pore as he drained the dregs of that bitter cup his father had given him. We know he suffered both body and spirit more than it is possible for man to suffer except it be unto death. We know that in some way incomprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justice. Ransoms penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin and made mercy available to those who believe on his holy name. We know that he lay prostrate upon the ground as the pains and agony of an infinite burden caused him to tremble and would that he might not drink of the bitter cup. We know that an angel came from the courts of Glory to strengthen him in his ordeal. And we suppose that it was mighty Michael who foremost fell that man might be. As near as we can judge, these infinite agonies, the suffering beyond compare continued for some three or four hours.

After this, his body then wrenched and drained of strength, he confronted Judas and the other incarnate devils, some from the very Sanhedran itself and he was lead away with a rope around his neck as a common criminal to be judged by the arch criminals who as Jews sat in Aaron's seat and who as Romans wielded Caesar's's power. They took him to Annas, to Caiaphas, to Pilot, to Herod, and back to Pilot. He was accused cursed and smitten. Their foul saliva ran down his face as vicious blows further weakened his pain engulfed body. With reeds of wrath they laid blows upon his back. Blood ran down his face as a crown of thorns pierced his trembling brow. But above it all he was scourged, scourged with forty strips save one. Scourged with a multi-thonged whip in to whose leather strands sharp bones and cutting metals were woven. Many die from the scourging alone, but he arose from the sufferings of the scourge that he might die an ignominious death upon the cross, the cruel cross of Calvary.

Then he carried his own cross until he collapsed from the weight and pain and mounting agony of it all. Finally on hill called Calvary, again it was outside Jerusalem's walls, while helpless disciples looked on and felt the agonies of near death in their own bodies, the Roman Soldiers laid him upon the cross. With great malice they drove spikes of iron through his feet and hands and wrists. Truly he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Then the cross was raised that all might see and gape and curse and deride. This they did with evil venom for three ours from 9 a.m. until noon. Then heavens grew black darkness covered the land for the space of three hours as it did among the Nephites. There was a mighty storm as though the very God of nature was in agony, and truly he was for while hanging on the cross for another three hours, from noon until 3 p.m., all the infinite agonies and merciless pains of Gethsemane reoccurred. And finally when the atoning agonies had taken their toll, when the victory had been won, when the Son of God had fulfilled the will of God in all things he said "It is finished" and he voluntarily gave up the ghost. As the peace and comfort of a merciful death freed him from the pains and sorrows of mortality he entered the Paradise of God. When he had made his soul and offering for sin he was prepared to see his seed according the Messianic word. These consisting of all the Holy Prophets and Faithful Saints from ages past, these comprising of all those who took upon them his name and who being spiritually begotten by him had become his sons and daughters even as it is with us. All these were assembled in the Spirit World there to see his face and hear his voice.

After some 38 or 40 hours, three days as the Jews measure time, our blessed Lord came to the Arimathaeans tomb where his partially embalmed body had been placed by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea. Then in a way incomprehensible to us he took up that body which had not yet seen corruption, and rose in that glorious immortality which made him like his resurrected Father. He then received all power in Heaven and on Earth, obtained Eternal Exaltation, appeared to Mary Magdalene and many others and ascended into Heaven. There to sit down on the right hand of God the Father almighty there to reign forever in eternal glory.

His rising from death on the third day Crowned the Atonement. Again in some way incomprehensible to us the affects of his Resurrection pass upon all men so that all shall rise from the grave. As Adam brought death so Christ brought life. As Adam is the father of mortality so Christ is the father of immortality. And without both, mortality and immortality, man cannot work out his salvation and ascend to those heights beyond the skies where God and angels reign forever in Eternal Glory.

Now the Atonement of Christ is the basic fundamental of the Gospel and it is the least understood of all our revealed truths. Many of us have a superficial knowledge and rely upon the Lord and his goodness to see through the trials and perils of life. But if we are to have faith as Enoch and Elijah, we must believe what they believed and know what they knew and live as they lived.

May I invite you to join with me in gaining a sound and sure knowledge of the Atonement. We must cast aside the philosophies of men and the wisdom of the wise and hearken to that Spirit which is given to us to guide us into all truth. We must search the scriptures accepting them as the mind and will and voice of the Lord and the very power of God unto salvation. As we read ponder and pray there will come to our minds a view of the three gardens of God. The Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Garden of the empty Tomb where Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. In Eden we will seen all things created in a paradisiacal state without death without procreation without probationary experiences. We will come to know that such a creation now unknown to man was the only way to provide for the fall. We will then see Adam and Eve the first man the woman step down from their immortal and paradisiacal glory to become the first mortal flesh on earth. Mortality including as it does procreation and death enter the world. And because of transgression a probationary state of trial and testing will begin. Then in Gethsemane we will see the Son of God ransom man from the temporal and spiritual death which came to us because of the fall. And finally before an empty tomb we will come to know that Christ our Lord has burst the bands of death and stands forever triumphant over the grave.

Thus, creation is father to the fall and by the fall came mortality and death. And by Christ came immortality and eternal life. If there had been no fall of Adam by which cometh death, there could have been no Atonement by which cometh life.

And now as pertaining to this perfect Atonement, I testify that it took place at Gethsemane and at Golgotha. And as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God who was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his Witnesses. And in the coming day I will feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God's almighty Son and he is our Savior and Redeemer and that Salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.

God grant that all of us will walk in the light, as God our Father is in the light so that according to his promises the blood of Jesus Christ his son will cleanse us from all sin. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Amen."

-Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85)

http://lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/magazines/ensign/2011/04/EN_2011_04_00___09604_000_000.pdf

1 NIFAI 19:16

 ʻIo, te ne toki manatuʻi ai ʻa e ngaahi motu ʻo e tahí; ʻio, pea mo e kakai kotoa pē ʻoku ʻo e fale ʻo ʻIsilelí, te u tānaki mai, ʻoku folofola ʻe he ʻEikí, ʻo fakatatau ki he ngaahi lea ʻa e palōfita ko Seinosi, mei he ngaahi vahe ʻe fā ʻo e māmani.
  -1 Nīfaí 19:16

ELDER HOLLAND - "THE BITTER CUP AND THE BLOODY BAPTISM"

 My Mom sent me this talk from Elder Holland when I was on my mission, and I read it often as it provided strength to me. It was given at a BYU devotional in 1987.

 http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6989

"As time goes by, we ought--as a matter of personal maturity and growth in the gospel--to spend more of our time with and devote more of our energy to the good things, the best things, the things that endure and bless and prevail. This is why, I believe, family and true friends become increasingly important the older we get, and so does knowledge and so do simple acts of kindness and concern for the circumstances of others. Peter lists a whole handful of these virtues and calls them "the divine nature," and he promises us "divine power" in possessing and sharing them (see 2 Peter 1:3­8). These gospel qualities and principles, as I understand them, are the most important as well as the most permanent of life's acquisitions. But there is a war going on over such personal possessions, and there will yet be a bazooka shell or two falling into your life that will prompt--indeed, will require--careful examination of what you say you believe, what you assume you hold dear, and what you trust is of permanent worth.When difficult times come upon us or when temptation seems all around, will we be--are we now?--prepared to stand our ground and outlast the intruder? Are we equipped for combat, to stay loyal for as long as it takes, to stay true for the duration of the war? Can we hold fast to the principles and the people who truly matter eternally to us? "

"You see, a disciple of Christ--which I testify to you Joseph was and is--always has to be a disciple; the judge does not give any time off for bad behavior. A Christian always stands on principle, even as old Holland is out there swinging a pitchfork and screaming an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth--forgetting, as dispensation after dispensation has forgotten, that this only leaves everyone blind and toothless.
No, the good people, the strong people, dig down deeper and find a better way. Like Christ, they know that when it is hardest to be so is precisely the time you have to be at your best. As another confession to you, I have always feared that I could not have said at Calvary's cross, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Not after the spitting, and the cursing, and the thorns, and the nails. Not if they don't care or understand that this horrible price in personal pain is being paid for them. But that's just the time when the fiercest kind of integrity and loyalty to high purpose must take over. That's just the time when it matters the very most and when everything else hangs in the balance--for surely it did that day. You and I won't ever find ourselves on that cross, but we repeatedly find ourselves at the foot of it. And how we act there will speak volumes about what we think of Christ's character and his call for us to be his disciples."

"The question then, for all of us milling around the Greyhound bus depot about to report for duty, is: When gospel principles get unpopular or unprofitable or very difficult to live, will we stand by them "for the duration"? That is the question our experiences in Latter-day Saint life seem most determined to answer. What do we really believe, and how true to that are we really willing to live? As university students--bright and blessed and eager and prosperous--do we yet know what faith--specifically, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ--really is, what it requires in human behavior, and what it may yet demand of us before our souls are finally saved?"

JOHN 9 - LORD, I BELIEVE

"And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this

world, that they which see not might see."

- John 9:39 

John's account of Christ healing a blind man on the Sabbath is one of my favorite miracles in the New Testament.  As do many of the miracles performed by Christ, it not only exemplifies the power of the Savior to heal, but also teaches important aspects of the Gospel that are easily overlooked.

The Book of John, or the Gospel According to St John, was written by John the Apostle. John was the brother of James, also a son of Zebedee, and before being called as an apostle, was a fisherman. John was present for the raising of Jarius's daughter, at the Transfiguration, in Gethsemane, and present for many other miracles and important teachings of the Savior. In the Gospel of John he refers to himself as, "the disciple whom Jesus loved." From Christ he received the named Boanerges, "a son of thunder." The Book of John deals primarily with the Judean ministry written with the purpose of testifying that Jesus is the Christ and that Jesus is the Son of God. (LDS Bible Dictionary) The writings of John, this specific account not being an exception, clearly fulfill this purpose.

Christ noticed individuals and looked after "the one." John writes that, "as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth." (John 9:1) Christ noticed this man as He was going about his father's business, He took time for someone that He found in need during the course of His traveling. His whole ministry was filled with meeting the needs of others, of uplifting the downtrodden, succoring the weak, and finding those in need. He paid attention to, "he that sat and begged." (vs. 8) If we are to be true followers of Christ - we ought to try to do the same.

Upon finding the blind man, the Savior's apostle's asked Him who had committed the sin to have caused such a disability, "this man or his parents?" (vs. 2) Christ responded that it was neither of them, "but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." (vs. 3) Here Christ not only declares this man free from serious sin, but also teaches why we are often given trials and burdens in life. Similar to what we are taught in the Book of Mormon, we are given trials, "that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." (Mosiah 24:14) Christ teaches that we are given weakness, that the glory of God may be made shown in the healing, in the struggling, in the becoming whole - not only to the individual being healed, but and also to others. What a great goal for all of us to strive for, being able to be declared free of sin by the Savior and for the works of God to be made manifest in our lives.

Metaphors of light and dark are repeated throughout The Gospel of John. They not only testify of Christ being The Light of the World and His illuminating transcendental power, but also show the individual path of discipleship that we each must take of traveling from darkness to the light. The blind man who knew nothing but darkness since his birth, was at last allowed to see the light. Only through the healing power of the Atonement are we each enabled to truly leave the darkness of sin and unbelief for the light of Gospel truth. Like the blind man, this requires each of us to be humble, have faith, and practice obedience to be able to truly see. C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” The Gospel truly gives us new eyes to see things as they really are.

Once the Savior had made clay and anointed the eyes of the blind man, He told him to go and wash in the pool. Cleansing by water is used throughout the scriptures as a symbol of the power of the Living Water to purify our lives. Washing was also part of the Law of Moses and strict cleanliness was imperative in all aspects of the ordinances and sacrifices of the temple and eating. Many of the great stories and miracles of Christ involve water. I find it interesting in this story that the blind man was required to wash to complete the healing. The power of the Atonement not only heals us, but washes us clean and makes us whole.

The Jews had such a problem with this miracle of Christ because He performed it on the Sabbath. According to the rules and traditions of the Pharisees, it was okay to prevent someone from dying on the Sabbath, but it was unlawful to heal. This tradition originated from the commandment not to perform work on the Sabbath. What the Pharisees didn't understand, is that this miracle does not show Christ breaking the Sabbath, but shows him fulfilling the commandment to do good on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:12) This story teaches us that we are not to focus on physical outward details, but instead on fulfilling the inward higher purpose of the law, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) We are taught to focus on serving others and allowing the Savior to heal us from our imperfections - what the Gospel is all about.

I love the end of chapter 9 when the blind man later encounters his healer, sometime after the miracle has taken place. The man had been cast out by the Jews, and Jesus went again, "and found him." (vs. 35) It is clear that this man did not at first recognize with whom he spoke and that he was his Savior. I find it fascinating that the man never saw Christ before the miracle with his own eyes - not until the miracle had taken place and after the further testing of his faith by the Jews. Then the man is able to see Christ with his own eyes and to worship that man who made him able to see.

So it is with us today, we are asked to believe in and trust in a Savior whom we have not seen, we are to do what He asks, we are to," go wash in the pool" (vs. 7) of living waters, to cleanse ourselves, to purify our hearts, and we are to keep the faith during times of testing and ridicule from those that do not believe. And then we are to wait, to endure for that day when we too will see the Master Healer of our own lives. Then, only then, may we proclaim, with the man who once was blind, "Lord, I believe!" (vs. 38) and worship Him also.

FOR ME THIS IS HEAVEN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E23PJbQbnE

MAN'S POTENTIAL - C.S. LEWIS

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously -- no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner -- no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment." 

-C. S. Lewis 1898-1963, The Weight of Glory

CONTINUITIES - WALT WHITMAN

Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost,
No birth, identity, form—no object of the world.
Nor life, nor force, nor any visible thing;
Appearance must not foil, nor shifted sphere confuse thy brain.
Ample are time and space—ample the fields of Nature.
The body, sluggish, aged, cold—the embers left from earlier fires,
The light in the eye grown dim, shall duly flame again;
The sun now low in the west rises for mornings and for noons continual;
To frozen clods ever the spring's invisible law returns,
With grass and flowers and summer fruits and corn.

-Walt Whitman 1819-1892