My Brethren And Sisters Although We Face...

MY BRETHREN AND SISTERS, although we face this challenging assignment semi-annually, we still anticipate and approach it with trepidation and deep humility. We are fearful that sometime we may depend upon ourselves alone, and we know that if we should our words would be as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. ¶

Now I know that I cannot say anything that will be new to members of the Church. I cannot say anything that has not been said many times before, and of course better said, but I am encouraged by the announcement of the President that we are favored this morning with the presence of many of our friends, both in the Tabernacle and in the radio and television audience, whom he has welcomed as our invited guests. May I assume that some of you, our brothers and sisters who are not in the Church, might be interested in a very brief review of some of the teachings and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which distinguish it, for it is somewhat unique. ¶

We are not Catholic, Protestant, nor Jewish, and yet this disclaimer should not be taken to mean we are not Christian. You who heard the powerful address of President Clark this morning will know that we are Christians, for central to everything we believe and teach is our faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. We are grateful for our Judeo-Christian heritage, for the Holy Bible which we accept without reservation as the word of God, except as to some errors that have crept in through translation. ¶

But the difference between us and other churches lies in our faith in and proclamation of what we believe to be the most important message that has come to this earth since Christ lived among men. We make that statement because we believe that the restoration of the gospel was introduced by Jesus Christ personally, and therefore there could be no more important message. ¶

Now when we say, as we do say, that there has been a divine restoration of the apostolic Church, with all of the power and authority thereof, we are aware that it presupposes, and we declare, that there was a need for a restoration; that there had been an apostasy; that during the middle and dark ages there was spiritual stagnation. If it is not true that there was an apostasy, then our declaration of a restoration is superficial and meaningless. If it is true that there has been a restoration, then all men everywhere should know of it, for the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all the world. ¶

The apostles and prophets predicted an apostasy, and great historians such as Mosheim and Eusebius record it as a fact. We are not alone among the churches in proclaiming a universal apostasy. The Church of England frankly sets it forth in the following words: ¶

So that laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children of whole Christendom . . . have been at once drowned in abominable idolatry; . . . and that by the space of eight hundred years and more. ¶

(Homily against Peril of Idolatry.) John Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, comments as follows on the early decline of spiritual power and the cessation of the divine gifts and graces within the Church: ¶

It does not appear that these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit were common in the Church for more than two or three centuries. We seldom hear of them after that fatal period when the Emperor Constantine called himself a Christian. . . . From this time they almost totally ceased, very few instances of the kind being found. The cause of this was not, as has been supposed, because there was no more occasion for them, because all the world was become Christians. This is a miserable mistake; not a twentieth part of it was then nominally Christian. The real cause of it was that the love of many, almost all Christians, socalled, was waxed cold. The Christians had no more of the spirit of Christ than the other heathens. . . . This was the real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian church — because the Christians were turned heathens again, and only had a dead form left. (John Wesley's Works, Vol. VII, 89; 26-27.) Peter said the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts they should heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears. The Apostle Paul warned against the intrusion of falsehoods and said, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. ¶

Let no man deceive you by any means: ¶

for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. ¶

(II Thess. 2:2-4.) John, on the Isle of Patmos, beheld the great dragon that should overcome the Church, and that that dragon should have power in all nations, kindreds, and tongues. All of these things being predicted, and now recorded by the historians, justifies at least in a measure our statement that following that apostasy there has been a restoration. ¶

Perhaps you, our friends, ask what was restored that we did not have before? We humbly, but without equivocation, reply that the kingdom of God has been set up upon the earth, organized under his divine guidance — the very kingdom for which you and Christians in all nations and climes have been praying since Jesus first taught the Lord's Prayer to his apostles, the central thought of which is, "Thy kingdom come." (Matt. 6:10.) We announce the organization of the kingdom which Jesus commanded all men to make the first object of their search when he said, ". . . seek ye first the kingdom of God." (Ibid., 6:33.) We believe this is the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times of which the Apostle Paul spoke, That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Eph. 1:10.) Now you, my friends, may think it presumptuous for us to claim that this is the Church and kingdom of God — and it would be presumptuous if we said men had organized it, or that men were responsible for its restoration. That certain men were chosen and had part in it is true. But it is not presumptuous to announce that the God of heaven has set up his kingdom, for he did it pursuant to divine decree, and in harmony with what the apostles and prophets of old saw in holy vision. ¶

It has been said that history repeats itself, but someone recently observed: ¶

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history." Christians have often wondered how the Jews could have rejected Christ when they had been hoping and praying through the centuries for the coming of the promised Messiah. Let us add to our prayer "Thy kingdom come" — also centuries old — a petition that we may not reject it when it comes. ¶

We believe that this kingdom is now set up in order that the will of God might be done in the earth as it is in heaven, and that it is preparatory to the second coming of the Son of God. ¶

We believe it is the kingdom which Daniel saw. All of you will remember reading the story of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, who had a dream in which he saw a great image with a head of gold, shoulders and arms of silver, body of brass, legs of iron, and feet and toes of iron and clay. You will remember that the king called in his wise men but could not get the interpretation of his dream, that he sent for Daniel who, when asked if he could interpret the dream, said, "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known what shall be in the latter days." ¶

Then he said, Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. ¶

(Daniel 2:37.) He went on to say the king had power and control over all things, and then he said, "Thou art this head of gold." ¶

Then Daniel, with prophetic insight, and in amazing detail, foresaw the rise and fall of the nations of the earth — the great Babylonian empire, represented by the head of gold, the Medo-Persian empire, by the shoulders and arms of silver, the Greek, by the brass, the divided kingdom of Rome, by the legs of iron, and the feet and toes which represented the divided kingdoms of Europe and the world, which would not cleave together, and, said Daniel, ". . . in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which . . . ¶

shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." {Ibid., 2:44.) Is it presumptuous for us to say that that prophecy has been literally fulfilled? Do you not think it likely that inasmuch as Daniel saw so accurately the rise and fall of these kingdoms, each in turn, that the latter part of his great prophetic declaration must be also fulfilled? If the kingdom of God is not on the earth, then we believe firmly that that part of Daniel's vision will yet be fulfilled. ¶

That it has been and is being fulfilled in these latter days we humbly declare. ¶

We should like to say to you, our friends, that there is a way that you may know whether what we say is true or false. ¶

Paraphrasing an ancient prophet, we exhort you who hear these things that you ask God the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, if what we say is true, and if you will ask in faith, he will reveal the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is a promise made under the inspiration of the Spirit of God to all who will hear and put it to the test. ¶

Hundreds of thousands of people from almost every country have put it to the test, and over a million and a quarter of them will testify, each in his own tongue, that they did ask God the Eternal Father whether these things are true, and that he did reveal the truth of it unto them. I humbly and sincerely declare to you that God has revealed to me the truth of the prophet's declaration of the restoration of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, pursuant to John's revelation when he said: ¶

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come. (Rev. 14:6-7.) Humbly I bear witness to the truth of the declaration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that that angel has flown; that Christ has appeared; that other heavenly beings have visited the earth and restored the priesthood; that the kingdom of God is set up; and that the Savior will come to this earth and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords pursuant to promise, to which I testify humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶