LIVES WHICH HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY LIVING PROPHETS

As we transition from the Book of Helaman to the Book of Third Nephi in The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ we are greeted with two interesting accounts. First, Nephi who is both the writer of the last chapters of the Book of Helaman and most of the Book of Third Nephi gives a wonderful genealogical synopsis of his line going back to the first chief judge over the lands of the Nephites: Nephi the son of Helaman who was the son of Helaman who was the son of Alma who was the son of Alma. Second, he writes of the extreme differences between those who have rejected Samuel’s prophecies and those who continued to believe in the coming of the Son of God.

Nevertheless, the people began to harden their hearts, all save it were the most believing part of them, both of the Nephites and also of the Lamanites, and began to depend upon their own strength and upon their own wisdom, saying: Some things they may have guessed right, among so many; but behold, we know that all these great and marvelous works cannot come to pass, of which has been spoken.

And they began to reason and to contend among themselves, saying: That it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ shall come; if so, and he be the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, as it has been spoken, why will he not show himself unto us as well as unto them who shall be at Jerusalem?

Yea, why will he not show himself in this land as well as in the land of Jerusalem?

But behold, we know that this is a wicked tradition, which has been handed down unto us by our fathers, to cause us that we should believe in some great and marvelous thing which should come to pass, but not among us, but in a land which is far distant, a land which we know not; therefore they can keep us in ignorance, for we cannot witness with our own eyes that they are true.

And they will, by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one, work some great mystery which we cannot understand, which will keep us down to be servants to their words, and also servants unto them, for we depend upon them to teach us the word; and thus will they keep us in ignorance if we will yield ourselves unto them, all the days of our lives. (Helaman 16: 15-21)

This great manifestation of wickedness happened in spite of the many signs and wonders which took place which were a fulfillment of Samuel’s prophecies. The majority of the people rejected the teachings of their living prophet Nephi and with their hearts hardened they appointed a day on which if the ultimate sign of there being a night and a day with no night was not fulfilled all those who remained faithful to the voice of the living prophet would be put to death.

On the eve of that appointed day of desolation Nephi bowed himself down upon the earth and cried mightily to his God.

And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying: Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given. (3 Nephi 1: 12-14)

Although we are currently living in a day when religious freedom is once again being threatened by those who have made of themselves living gods, gratefully we have not as yet come to the point where believers will be cast into fiery pits, burned at the stake or beheaded. We are definitely in a time when revelation is being denied or at best that there is only individual inspiration, which negates the need for prophets.

My life has been so abundantly blessed because of the words of living prophets that I would be amiss if I did not bear witness of their guidance in my life and pray with all my heart that I will continue to be diligent in hearkening unto their words.

David O. McKay:

The prophet of my youth who I had more personal experience with than any other prophet of the latter days, since we lived in Garden Grove, California and belonged to the Santa Ana, California Stake. During that period of the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints one of their properties was a small house in Laguna Beach, California, where he vacationed and which was also at that time part of the Santa Ana Stake.

It could have been because of his flowing white hair, but mostly because of his example of how a man of God treated his eternal brothers and sisters. Anyway, I never had a doubt that he was the Lord’s anointed.

One stake conference when He was in attendance I also happened to be the youth speaker assigned to speak in a session of conference. Besides being very nervous I also received the understanding that there is a difference in the power of the words of living prophets and a young teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood.

Joseph Fielding Smith:

Although he was the Prophet of the whole church for a very short time, his impact was profound because of his prophetic writings and the changes he made while serving as the longest anointed living prophet.

He made major changes in the publications of the church. The change which was the most dramatic was how it paved the way for setting the priesthood offices of the church in order. He defrock all of the stake seventies which, although we did not realize it at the time, was the beginning of establishing the Seventy as the arm of the Apostles and Prophets to govern The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints throughout the world no matter how much the membership multiplied and spread.

Although I was one of those defrocked stake seventies, I am grateful to have had my days lengthened to see the prophetic manifestation of his words.

Spencer W. Kimball:

His pronouncement that the day would come when there would be hundreds of thousands serving missionaries still causes bumps on the backs of my arms and fills my heart with joy every time I
am blessed to recall his powerful message.

When Kathleen and I were blessed to be called by President Gordon B. Hinckley to preside as leaders of the Bogota, Colombia Mission, we had little idea what a powerful part of our earthly journey would take place while serving with the wonderful missionaries among those spiritual members of the church and the marvelous Colombian people.

When we returned from that exceptional three year experience all reference to our life’s experiences were either BC (before Colombia) and AC (after Colombia).

One of the blessings of my retirement years has been, through the miracle of cyber transmissions to return to be in regular contact with so many of those who were part of our pre mission, mission and post mission life.

We will forever be grateful that we were blessed by the Lord to be a small part of the fulfillment of President Kimball’s prophetic utterance.

Russell M. Nelson:

Will be remembered for many things no matter how long his period of being the Prophet to the whole church may be, but his putting the church in order in so many ways because of his continuing the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints through revelations of the Lord’s will.

Although there have been many more anointed prophets, seers and revelators, such as Boyd K. Packer, Neil A. Maxwell, Bruce R, McConkie, Richard G. Scott and Jeffrey R. Holland who have been tremendous molders of my faith, my understanding and conversion to the worship of a God of Mercy, Grace and Love, I will have to allow the testimony of these few to stand as a witness to my gratefulness to have lived when the world was blessed to have living prophets to guide and direct those who were of a contrite spirit and a humbled heart.

My prayer is that each of us will be wise like those who faithfully believed in the words of Samuel and Nephi and thereby had the privilege of being personally ministered to by the resurrected Savior.


THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY

❣️THINK + PLAN + PREPARE + DO ➡️ GENTLENESS + KINDNESS + CARING + GENEROSITY ➡️ HUGS + PEACE + JOY + LOVE ➡️ INTEGRITY + FAITH + HOPE + CHARITY❣️ = 💞THE GOOD LIFE💞