Moroni saw me daily
Nephi instructed us in his farewell message about the importance of feasting upon the words of Christ through the ministration of the Holy Ghost. He shared in his record, "Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?" [2 Nephi 32:2] Angels Speak by the Holy Spirit He instructed us that "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ." [2 Nephi 32:3] After receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and having been granted the gift by God to speak with the tongues of angels the words of Christ by the Holy Ghost, we must feast on those words. If speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost constitutes the words of Christ, then reading the scriptures is not all we must do to feast on His words. We must also prepare ourselves spiritually to hear His words through the Holy Spirit, feasting on those words. Reading is Not Enough to Feast Passively reading the scriptures for hours is like eating only one food item on the feasting table. Yes, it is good, but we must feast on the words of Christ to us also. He still speaks. That means we must consume them, His Words, in large quantities because the Holy Spirit "will show unto you all things what ye should do. [2 Nephi 32:5] Moroni teaches what we must do to feast Wrote he, "I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing." [Moroni 10:30] "If ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness," he continues "and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ." [Moroni 10:32] Nephi and Moroni show us that we must feast upon all the words of Christ through the Holy Spirit so that we may receive His grace and be made Perfect in Christ through His atoning blood. The Feasting of RevelationThat means we must prepare ourselves to receive revelation, as President Nelson has instructed us. "My beloved brothers and sisters," he appeals in the April 2018 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation." "If we are to have any hope of sifting through the myriad of voices and the philosophies of men that attack truth," he warned in that April meeting, "we must learn to receive revelation." We must feast on the words of Christ by revelation and through the words of the prophets. After We Have Feasted We Must Pray! It should comes as a natural conclusion tot he spiritual feasting process, but Nephi felt it important to reiterate it to us just in case there is any doubt in our minds. He wrote, "Nephi instructed us in his farewell message about the importance of feasting upon the words of Christ through the ministration of the Holy Ghost. He wrote "if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray." [2 Nephi 32:8] Nephi sends with emphatic truth "I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul." [2 Nephi 32:9] Ye shall have eternal life!When we feast upon the words of Christ in every manifestation thereof His words, we pray to God that He would consecrate our feasting so that our feasting, our performance, may be for the welfare, the benefit of our souls. God wants us to gain revelations, read the scriptures, use the Spirit to speak the words of Christ, and pray that we may do it all well. He then intends to answer our prayers to help our actions benefit our eternal salvation. Nephi reveals the beauty of God's loving plan when he wrote, "Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." People say that often. "Jesus is the Answer." No one really explains why He is the answers that I have seen. So taking a queue from my morning devotions for this second day of March 2020, I give my estimation of why Jesus is the answers. I also posted an adaptation of this on my social media, which is the inspiration of this blog post today. He is the Answer because His grace is with us even as we make mistakes as long as we strive daily to overcome them without giving into the despair the unholy spirit tries to throw at us for have weakness. He is the Answer because he suffered for our sins and all of our infirmities, as Isaiah teaches. He is the Answer because he died to pay for those sins that he suffered for receiving our wages for sin, which is death. Because of that price He paid, when He resurrected he made it possible for ALL of humankind to be resurrected no matter our faiths or religion or ir-religion. He is the Answer because He did what He did out of love and obedience to the Father. The only thing He wants of us is to follow the plan He revealed to us so that we can return to our Father in Heaven to continue with Him in glory and progression. What king do you know who is willing to share his kingdom with each of his subjects as equal inheritors? Jesus is the only one. He is the answer because He is real and true and not just a good way to live or believe. He is the answer because if we followed His teachings all of the ills of society as they now exist would cease! Life would still have trials, but they would not be due to the wickedness that now blinds so many of us away from true joy. During my morning devotional, I decided that instead of reading from the Come Follow Me program today I would listen to the words of the prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. Searching through Facebook, I found a link to a news article that mentioned President Nelson's landmark remarks to the Saints on both sides of the veil to prepare ourselves to worship in the temple and receive the savior ordinances thereof. What was significant about those remarks? Listen first, and I will share why they are significant in my estimations. "Our message to the world is simple and sincere: we invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life." President Nelson offered an invitation to both the living and the dead to prepare for entry into, and covenant partaking from the temples of God--160-plus strong around the world. The potential audience of that message is astronomical. The responsibility of such a flocking to the truth lays on the efforts of the millions of Saints in mortality now!
With that statement, President Nelson invited righteous seekers of Christ from generations past and forward to seek God and receive blessing at the hand of the few whom Christ has ordained to work in His vineyard before the Second Coming! That few being millions of Saints in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are called to witness to the world that salvation for all the countless billions of human ever born without the knowledge of the Savior to inform them and usher them towards Him so that when He comes again, they will be ready to be joint heirs with Him. What does that mean in my estimations? It means revelation by the power of the Holy Ghost of ancestors who have accepted Jesus Christ and wait for their blessing at the temple. It means the expansion of the use and growth of temple opportunities in the world and the greater emphasis on Saints living the standards of Christ to qualify to work in them. It means an increase in repentance and increase in understanding of what repentance is, and how it works in our lives to bring about the change necessary to become like the Savior. It means a worldwide increase in the interest of family history across religious and cultural lines to facilitate the billions of us. It means God is keeping his promise to gather the House of Israel before coming to rule the Earth for a thousand years of peace. It is the reality of the beging of the fulfillment of the words Jacob, the brother of Nephi, when he testified "because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel." [2 Nephi 9:12] Jacob further testified besides hell and the grave delivering up their death, "the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect." [2 Nephi 9:13] It is just the beginning, however. It starts in the temple with hell delivering up its captive spirits and eventually the resurrection of all people to receive our final reward. As Jacob would say, "O how great the plan of our God! [2 Nephi 9:13] God does have a plan for all of us. The fullness of that plan can only be found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Is that an arrogant thing to assert? Maybe. Is it true? Ask God. It never hurts to be sure. Elder Neal A. Maxwell changed my life in a talk he gave for Education week at BYU in 1974. How did he do that when it was 2 years before I was born? Thanks to the modern magic of video and Youtube. I find myself constantly praying for God to do things for me. I want Him to be my Jinn. I want Him to take away my problems, heal my ailments, and change my circumstances to be more comfortable and less stressful. The more I think about it, the more like Lucifer's plan I find myself wanting things. "Just let me into heaven, God. Don't test me or see if I can become like Thee," is what I find myself saying to God. "I don't like the plans Thou hast for me or the challenges that I must endure to become like Thee. Remove this cup, and I promise I will be good and grateful. I will praise Thee the whole day long!" I might not say those words, but by the end of my conversation with Him, that is the meaning of my words. I don't really care to hear what He has to say about the matter. He might command me to do something that I don't want to do like he did Jonah! I am ashamed that I had to reflect on my soul to discover that this is true about me. Elder Maxwell let me see where I am in my spirituality and I am not proud of it. It is God's will that should be done and not mine--especially if my will is not in sync with God's. I will not go so far as to ask for trials, but to ask God if my plans are acceptable rather than to ask Him to make my plans His plans is what we need to be doing--what I need to be doing. Some times He will not remove our cups. Jesus said that His cup was bitter and prayed the Heavenly Father would remove it from Him. Elder Maxwell shared that with me. Jesus knew that God, who has all power could make it another way! He did not want to suffer the pains in Gethsemane. It was too much for Him, at least He thoughts so at the time. HOWEVER, He told the Lord, not His will be done, but the Fathers will be done. He accepted that He did not want to do it, but was willing to do it if God wanted it done. It was done. I love the Savior for His humility to suffer, even when He did not want to because He loves and honors the Father and all of us. God did not remove the bitter cup from Jesus. Other times He will remove our cups of bitter them so that we don't have to endure them. In order for us to be like Him, we must be willing to submit to what He sees fit to inflict upon us as a child submits to his or her parents. Moroni Perspective "I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things," said the prophet of faith in Jesus Christ's teachings to submit to the Father. "I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." [Ether 12:6] Moroni did not say that the trial of our faith would be easy, but a proving ground to strengthen us in the Lord so that we can bear testimony of the truthfulness of His love. Our witness comes as we trust the Lord through our trials--living the gospel with thanksgiving as we endure what the Lord sees fit to put us through to become more like He is. What has Moroni seen in you? October 18, 2019 came and went. It was the second birthday I spent without Mother. She died July 11, 2018, several months before her birthday. The tragic memories surrounding her passing I have yet felt the need to write about in full, but they impact my heart overwhelmingly. She was kept from me, stolen, actually. And it took great effort to retrieve her because of her illness. Mother had vascular dementia in its final stages, I gather. I say I gather because I do not know. She lived with us for two weeks before she died on the sofa in our home as I slept upstairs. My youngest son sat in the living room with her not knowing that she was taking her last breaths. He said that she started snoring really loud, then she just stopped. he thought nothing of it until my wife went down stairs to check on her finding out that she was cold to the touch. Once he medics arrived following my failed attempts at CPR, I sat in the Front room waiting to hear the verdict of her sentence to death from the medics. They did not give it. I, however, felt a familiar presence brush by me before they carried her out of the house and to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. Moroni saw this too? The Lord gave him a view of the latter-days. Was this one of the views that He gave Moroni of me? I like to think he did. I doubt that Moroni saw every detail of my life or any other person's life, but he saw enough to vouchsafe the words of eternity in the Book of Mormon. Moroni Perspective Moroni lost all of his family and his nation at the same time. He wandered the land for years until God inspired him to inter the Plates of Gold that became the Book of Mormon. What happened to him after is his story to tell one day. When he returned as a resurrected being, his only aim was to further the messages of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What could he tell me about the mother I mourned? Moroni received a letter from his father about the debauchery occuring on the front lines of the war before his people where destroy. The last days of his nation were spent in horror. Mormon told Moroni that his people were without compassion anymore. "So exceedingly do they anger," he wrote, "that it seemeth me that they have no fear of death; and they have lost their love, one towards another; and they thirst after blood and revenge continually." [Moroni 9:5] Since I have heard tale of how the Book of Mormon is a shadow of what will happen in the Americas, it appalled me to think of that happening! Moroni's father further wrote of the exploits of his compatriots towards their enemies before their destruction that "they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts, because of the hardness of their hearts; and they do it for a token of bravery." [Moroni 9:10] Then it hit me. That stuff does happen in the last days, and in the Americas, the whole world. Revenge! Those people were so full of wrath that to satiate their feelings that has to do the most vile things! Could that possibly have been me if I would have allowed my anger over the circumstances of my mother's last days fester in my soul? Could I have wanted to harm someone? Yes. I bet. Moroni included that letter from Mormon, his father. Moroni could have sought revenge for the slaughter of his people, but his father instructed him, 'My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.' [Moroni 9:25] The hard times of life can destroy us. Moroni wanted everyone to know that if we have faith and focus on the promises Christ gave in His teachings we can have peace. It does not mean that those horrible things aren't horrible, but that God's plan of happiness with recompense our suffering if we follow His laws in this life. I can be sad that Mom died. I can be hurt that she died in the manner and environment she did. I can then know the hope of eternity will soon make up for the horrors of this life. What has Moroni seen of you? Temples are the central feature of The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints that points the Saints to Jesus and eternal covenants with Him. I type in my journal of that experience says latter, "On September 19, 1998, Saturday I went to the Atlanta Temple for the first time to received my own endowments. I at first was nervous about what to expect. I didn't really know all that I would need to do. Now that I have gone through, I know what I need to know to enter the celestial kingdom to the highest degree--after I have finished all I can in this life. This experience is one of constant remembrance. I shall not too soon forget my first temple cession. Brother T. Burns escorted me through the temple. I wanted A. Burns or Brother Alderman to do so, but the Spirit with either of these men or Brother Burns would have been the same. I was happy, almost giddy. The Spirit testified to me that it was true. Though, as the hours pass, Satan tempts me with things, it does not diminish my experience. For the entire time, Satan has no power over me. The blessings of the temple has set me free from his grasp--if I remain true and faithful to my covenants." Moroni Perspective That experience was a gift. September 19, 2019 marks 21 years. What better way than to go to the temple to commemorate that sacred experience? "I would exhort you, my beloved brethren," admonishes Moroni, "that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ." [Moroni 10:18] What has Moroni see in you? When I arose this Sunday morning, I did so to a swollen stiff body. The first thing I said to myself was, "I'm not going to church." I was tired and hurt and upset that another day was happening where I could not function like a normal person. Swollen legs made it hard to walk or function. My hands did not work the fluid way I wanted to take my morning pills. Reading in New Testament and hearing the healings that Jesus and the apostles gave, I fumed silently that I could not get that same healing. Jealous of those people, I went to church. The primary kids performed a program. Their voices soften my mood and gladdened my heart. The last song they sang caused me to cry. Listen. In Sunday School, the lesson spoke of trials of life. Again, my self-pity opened the wound from this morning of not having the healing from God that I wanted. As the lesson proceeded, Afryka Unyque, my wife, asked a question that I felt too afraid to asked. She wanted to know why the righteous suffer even when the Scriptures explicitly state that we will prosper in the land. The people not keeping the commandments seem to prosper more. Following her question came a shower of loving, embarrassingly so, compliments about our family. The most important thought came through my friend Colby from his grandmother. She taught him that God is slow but He always comes. Tears filled my eyes and the eyes of the other participants in class as we discussed the tender mercy of God and how He helps us through our trials. No matter how hard it gets in life, Jesus Christ suffered those pains for us so that He would know how to succor us when our time came to endure a trail. Death and tragedy are not necessarily punishments, but teaching tools to help us become more like Heavenly father. Moroni Perspective God informed Moroni, "If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." [Ether 16:27] What has Moroni seen in you? Years ago sparked for me the beginning of a terrible conclusion that I would rather have never considered. Losing myself was the conclusion. Everything about me over the next twenty years of my life would diminish into nothingness. Blind eyes and tinted mind, what defined me were the things that I could do with my physicality, my body alone. First went my health. The phrase that people say when the bad things happen, "At least you have your health," would no longer apply to me. After my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I received a diagnosis for diabetes. That was no problem to me until it was. Years of losing to the control of that disease brought with it other complications. It weakened my immune system. Not an issue to me. I had a strong body! It affected my sight. Not and issue, glasses and contacts work. In and out of the hospital for hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels as a result of uncontrolled diabetes), insulin works! Weight gain? P90X did the job very well! Injury to my foot, swollen infected legs, and high blood pressure? Okay, wait. That spelled the beginning of the end of my once happy-go-lucky smiling all the time behavior. Then came the pain, constant pain. Then came the wheelchair and the loss of muscle. Then came the recovery only to end up in the same predicament. During recovery came the discovery that I had epilepsy. Then came the treatments that almost ended my life. I lost the ability to work. I lost the energy to socialize. Still happy through it all, I fought through. I forced myself to work. I forced myself to participate in life though I hurt constantly from head to toe. Then it happened. My body stopped doing what I forced it to do. I could not jump one day. Then soon I could not run. Later I could not walk without support. I could not shower with ease anymore. I could not put my clothing on without concentrating because I lost most of the feeling in my legs and much of the grip strength in my hands. Oh, function came back in spurts for almost two years until they didn't come back. That's when my doubts came. No longer was I a real man because I could not protect my family or provide for my family. Depression came when I started to believe that I was worthless. Every day I prayed to God to take me until I lost my life insurance. I stopped reaching out to my friends. I wanted to die so that I would not burden my wife and kids. Moroni Perspective Recorded Mormon regarding what happened among the children of Lehi once the resurrected Jesus Christ appeared to them, "When Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were in tears, and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them. And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you. Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy. For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you. [3 Nephi 17:5-8] Was not I a faithful believer in Christ? Why can't Jesus heal me of my lameness, poor eyesight, or many afflictions? I have faith to be healed. I know He can heal me! Does he have no compassion for me? Do I not have sufficient faith? No. He loves me and I know I have the faith. Why not me? Moroni says to me, "I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." [Ether 12:6] What, then, is the trial of my faith, I ask of God. This is dragging me in to hopelessness. What is my trial? What does Moroni have to say about that!? Preserved by Moroni's hands are the words of King Benjamin in answer to my plea, "becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." The trial of my faith is to be submissive, easy to approach, humble, patient, loving, and willing to go through any trial. I must be willing to submit to whatever God sees fit to allow to happen in my life--my illnesses. To win at life, I must be willing to lose at what once defined me as Rodric Anthony Johnson and accept what God puts before me to become a better person. As Moroni wrote of what Jesus spoke to him, "if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." [Ether 12:27] What has Moroni seen of you? Related Reading #ShareTheGift and #LightTheWorld After watching the video above, what do you think? Have you ever had an experience where you wanted to do one thing for whatever the reason, but God was telling you to do something else. More relatable to some: Have you ever felt like you know the thing you should do but fear or embarrassment gripped you away from doing it? It happens. Moroni Perspective In his farewell address to the modern era, all of those who have and will read this book, Moroni affirms that "nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is. And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever." [Moroni 10:6-7] Just as God gave a command for the faithful followers of Christ to heal or to bless, to serve or to preach, He can give it to us to minister to our brothers and sisters. Fear is not of God. Embarrassment at the word of God is of a dark source. "And again," Moroni pleads, "I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the Spirit of God unto men, to profit them." [Moroni 10:8] If it is good and persuades to believe in Christ, it is of God Moroni wants us to understand that God gives good gifts to His children as Jesus taught. What has Moroni seen in you? Serving as a missionary in the South Africa Cape Town Mission, I spoke to many men and women who spoke English as a second or third language. Xhosa was the major language of the majority of the people I encounter in the missionary field, and I could not speak the language well enough to discuss the gospel with the passion it creates in me. When it came to speaking about the act of repentance, a wise missionary told me that the meaning of repentance is to change. Inguquko is the equivalent word in Xhosa, but I am glad that I focused on the word Change. God does not want us to change from being individuals, but from being full of, influenced by, and encumbered in sin from thoughts, words, and action= CHANGE! President Russel M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in the April 2019 General Conference, "The word for repentance in the Greek New Testament is metanoeo. The prefix meta- means “change.” The suffix -noeo is related to Greek words that mean “mind,” “knowledge,” “spirit,” and “breath.” Thus, when Jesus asks you and me to “repent,” He is inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit—even the way we breathe. He is asking us to change the way we love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our wives, teach our children, and even care for our bodies. Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ." [We Can Do Better and Be Better By President Russell M. Nelson] Repentance means more than apologizing for wrongs we commit or omit in our daily walk, but also change into a better version of ourselves. Little by little we leave the old self behind through small changes we make on a daily basis. Jesus Christ commands, "Be ye therefor Perfect..." Matthew 5:48. He did not say that perfection would come immediately. The tool to obtain perfection is repentance made possible by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Moroni Perspective In his farewell engraving on the Golden Plates that became the modern Book of Mormon, Moroni leaves his testimony and admonishment saying, "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him..." How are we to be perfected in him? Moroni continues with the answer, "deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ." Moroni 10:32 What has Moroni seen of you? |
Rodric AnthonyWriter of the Book Moroni Saw Me and Father of Seven. Archives
November 2021
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