Holding on

I was assigned to speak in church last Sunday.  I asked with a laugh if this was because I was done with teaching the Institute class for the summer and didn't have to put in that preparation time this week, and the bishop's counselor said, "I'm afraid I wasn't that astute.  It was because the topic suggested you to me."  The topic was on being prepared for the last days.  There was another sister who would speak first(she ended up home with a sick child, so the counselor spoke), and I was scheduled second.  In our ward sometimes they do the standard husband and wife assignments, but sometimes they don't.

The last days, as a topic, can include a great many concerns and lots of scriptural warnings.  We hear a lot about the tribulations, disasters, and wickedness that will occur left and right.  It seemed to me that the focus point I wanted to address was the warning that in that day men's hearts will fail them, because that's what makes or breaks us in hanging on through the alarming, yes scary, stuff.  We have to be troubled, or we're not paying attention.

We see it daily, Paul's description of those who are without natural affection, wicked, covetous, malicious, deceitful, filled with unrighteousness.  Those who stand for light and virtue are being drowned out by the noise of our society's fixation on celebrity, novelty, self-indulgence, and materialistic pursuits.

I knew how I wanted to begin, and that I wanted to focus on holding strong, but for two days I had nothing coming to me as to what to say,  Then, when I couldn't sleep, three words came to me, and I actually got out of bed and spent some time pursuing that idea and making notes. 

I began my talk with a children's song (no, I just recited the words, I didn't sing it)

I wonder when He comes again,

Will herald angels sing?

Will earth be white with drifted snow,

Or will the world know spring?

I wonder if one star will shine

Far brighter then the rest.

Will daylight stay the whole night through,

Will songbirds find their nest?

I know he'll take His little ones

Together round his knee,

Because He said in days gone by,

Suffer them to come to me.

I realized, I said, when I was a child of nine or ten, that it didn't really matter whether I was alive on the earth when He came again, or whether I had passed away from this life, because the requirements are the same if I am going to be with Him.  If I am not here to see it happen, I want to be one of the righteous who will return with Him when He comes.

We all know that the troubles of the earth, both in wickedness and physical disasters, are increasing.  The Lord's judgements upon a wicked world will become more and more stringent.  It's easy to feel overwhelmed, and give up hope.  (see Doctrine & Covenants 88 verses 86-91)

Luke 21 says: 

25 ¶ And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

But the rest of the message is hope:

27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

How do we 'not fail' in our hearts? I thought about what I should say, and three words came to me:

Pick a hero.

I thought about Joseph Smith and everything that he went through for the sake of the truth and of his calling.  Chased, beaten, tarred and feathered, thrown into horrible conditions and left for months in Liberty Jail.  Death threats, and finally mobbed and murdered under the supposed protection of the law. We are not likely to be dodging bullets, but the threats we face are more insidious.  They poison the soul.  We are threatened with despair if we turn our heads to the wall and die, spiritually, we are lost.  We know that Satan will rage abroad and, if it were possible, deceive the very elect.  I am grateful for the apostle who said that it will not be possible, for if we have the companionship of the Holy Ghost, if we truly walk in the Spirit daily, we will not be deceived.

Besides Joseph Smith, I thought of Moroni.  He and his father tried to lead the Nephites; Mormon had led their armies, and when they had been victorious they declared that God had been no part of it.  He came to the point where he could no longer pray for them, and he was commanded not to lead them in battle and not to contend with their wickedness.  It came to the point that father and son were outcasts and fugitives, committed to preserving the records which had been compiled by leaders and prophets over a period of centuries.

Moroni is left to finish the records after his father is killed by the Lamanites.  With no idea of how long he will survive, left totally alone, he continues in the work that was given to him, and he bears powerful testimony.  (See Moroni 10 .)He knows the final record, which we have as the Book of Mormon, will come forth to teach the people of a later day, but he has no idea of how that will happen.  He simply trusts in his divine commission and in the Lord's purpose.  I imagine his joy and surprise when it turns out that he himself is chosen to be the messenger of salvation sent to the latter day prophet, Joseph Smith.

It is hard to imagine anyone more alone than Moroni in his final circumstances.  We have no idea how long he lived in hiding and wandered the land, but we know that he was faithful to the end.  I imagine him finding a kindred spirit in Paul, when they met beyond the veil.

          8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not 

          in despair; 

          9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; ....

15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  (2 Corinthians 4)

 We will never be all alone.  We have each other, and we can draw strength from each other.  We have the keys of the restored priesthood and the ordinances of the temple, and just as the darkness gathers and gets darker, so the light gathers and gets brighter.  The blessings of the gospel will never be taken away from the earth again, that is the promise of our day.  Do not let your heart fail.

Pick a hero.  There are real live actual human beings who have persevered and followed faithfully.  We need, sometimes, to know we have that connection instead of merely the abstract, theoretical goal.

I found a talk by Brother Holland in October 2009: 

Love. Healing. Help. Hope. The power of Christ to counter all troubles in all times—including the end of times. That is the safe harbor God wants for us in personal or public days of despair. That is the message with which the Book of Mormon begins, and that is the message with which it ends, calling all to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.”  That phrase—taken from Moroni’s final lines of testimony, written 1,000 years after Lehi’s vision—is a dying man’s testimony of the only true way.

May I refer to a modern “last days” testimony? When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum started for Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent martyrdom, Hyrum read these words to comfort the heart of his brother:

“Thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean and thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.

“And now I, Moroni, bid farewell … until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ.” 

A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the page from which he had read, marking it as part of the everlasting testimony for which these two brothers were about to die. I hold in my hand that book, the very copy from which Hyrum read, the same corner of the page turned down, still visible. Later, when actually incarcerated in the jail, Joseph the Prophet turned to the guards who held him captive and bore a powerful testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Shortly thereafter pistol and ball would take the lives of these two testators.

 Joseph and Hyrum, heroes of truth, chose a hero of their own--Moroni--whose testimony sustained them in their final extremity.  Moroni was told by the Lord that if they took his life, it mattered not, for he had been faithful.

Jesus said, "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33)
Paul said, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."  (Romans 15:13)

There are heroes whose example can sustain us.  There are promises which will be fulfilled.  We have each other as Saints of God, and we can walk in the light of the Spirit no matter what befalls.

Hope is not a pipe dream.  Hope is a promised gift, and we can hold fast to it.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.