Juliet informed me a few weeks ago that she was to speak in Sacrament meeting on Father's Day. She asked if I would help her write her talk. The topic was to be based on Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk from the last General Conference -- which happens to be what I did my last Relief Society lesson on. So I was very familiar with the talk. Anyway to make a long story short, I ended up just writing the entire talk for her. I wrote it as if I were speaking except for the few instances where I had to speak as Juliet in the first person. That part was kind of weird. Anyway, I worked really hard writing this talk so I thought I would share it with all of you. :-) Enjoy!
By the way -- we went and watched Juliet deliver my talk today in her sacrament meeting. She did a great job! Job Juliet, job! :-)
Juliet’s Sacrament Meeting Talk –
June 15, 2014
Good
afternoon brothers and sisters. My
husband Aaron and I recently moved into the ward with our two children,
Kingston, almost 6 and Kylee, 2. We have enjoyed getting to know some of you
and look forward to getting to know all of you a little better.
Throughout
the history of the earth members of the Church, including missionaries,
apostles, and prophets have been persecuted and rejected because of their
faith.
Some
examples from the scriptures include: The Prophet Abinadi – who suffered death
by fire for proclaiming the Gospel to the wicked King Noah and his people and
calling them to repentance. Abinadi stood firm in his faith, and declared the
message that God sent him to deliver, taking no thought as to what might happen
to him. He was very courageous and bold.
After boldly
testifying, the Scriptures record:
“And
now, when Abinadi had said these words, he fell, having suffered
death by fire; yea, having been put to death because he would not deny the commandments
of God, having sealed the truth of his words by his death.” 2
Even during
the great apostasy, there were men of great faith who gave their lives in
defending truth. William Tyndale, who was an English scholar, well-versed in
Greek and Hebrew, translated the Bible into English. Knowing that it would
result in a death sentence. In 1536 he was executed and burnt at the stake for
translating the Bible into English. Much of the King James version of the
Bible, which we use today, is the result of William Tyndale’s work.
Another more
recent example from church history is the prophet Joseph Smith. Who suffered
much persecution including being tarred and feathered and being falsely
imprisoned under deplorable conditions, and ultimately dying as a martyr,
simply because of his faith and willingness to follow the Lord’s commandments
and his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A lot of the
early saints in this dispensation have suffered similar persecutions as the
prophet Joseph Smith because of their faith. A lot of them were driven from
their homes and many died, or suffered much physically, in defending the
Gospel.
Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland said, “Surely the angels of
heaven wept as they recorded this cost of discipleship in a world that is often
hostile to the commandments of God. The Savior Himself shed His own tears over
those who for hundreds of years had been rejected and slain in His service.” 1
I doubt that
any of us will be called upon to give our lives in defending the Gospel, as
Abinadi, William Tyndale, and Joseph Smith did. But at some point in our lives,
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland declared, “that if you
haven’t already, you will one day find yourself called upon to defend your
faith or perhaps even endure some personal abuse simply because you are a
member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” 1
Anyone who
has served a full-time mission can probably tell you several stories of being
called upon to defend their faith.
Whether it be persecution from nonmembers in the form of slamming doors,
cussing, or yelling at the missionaries. Or persecution from members of the Church
who have fallen away from the Church and have become apostate. Or even
persecution from current members who are active in the Church but don’t agree
with some of the church doctrine which they feel is outdated, bigoted, unkind,
or provincial.
President
Boyd K.Packer said this, “Atheists and agnostics
make nonbelief their religion and today organize in unprecedented ways to
attack faith and belief. They are now organized, and they pursue political
power. You will be hearing much about them and from them. Much of their attack
is indirect in mocking the faithful, in mocking religion.
The
types of Sherem, Nehor, and Korihor live among us today (see Jacob 7:1–21; Alma
1:1–15; 30:6–60). Their arguments are not so different from those in the Book
of Mormon.
You
who are young will see many things that will try your courage and test your
faith. All of the mocking does not come from outside of the Church. Let me say
that again: all of the mocking does not come from outside of the Church. Be
careful that you do not fall into the category of mocking.” 3
Elder Neil L.
Anderson, shared the following experience:
“Recently, I spoke with a Laurel from the United States. I quote from her
email:
“This
past year some of my friends on Facebook began posting their position on
marriage. Many favored same-sex marriage, and several LDS youth indicated they
‘liked’ the postings. I made no comment.
“I
decided to declare my belief in traditional marriage in a thoughtful way.
“With
my profile picture, I added the caption ‘I believe in marriage between a man
and a woman.’ Almost instantly I started receiving messages. ‘You are selfish.’
‘You are judgmental.’ One compared me to a slave owner. And I received this
post from a great friend who is a strong member of the Church: ‘You need to
catch up with the times. Things are changing and so should you.’
“I
did not fight back,” she said, “but I did not take my statement down.”
She
concludes: “Sometimes, as President Monson said, ‘You have to stand alone.’
Hopefully as youth, we will stand together in being true to God and to the
teachings of His living prophets.” 4
This young
woman is a great example of standing for truth and righteousness while still
respecting others’ beliefs and not being confrontational.
A short time
ago my sister was going to the temple with one of her acquaintances from her
ward. This Sister from her ward brought
up the fact that a new movie remake was just coming out. Knowing that my sister does not watch movies
that are offensive to the Spirit or that contain material that is spiritually
damaging. My sister’s acquaintance made the following comment, "You
probably didn't see the original did you? It was probably (in best mocking
voice) too scummy for you." My sister replied that she,
indeed, had not seen the original movie. Precisely because of the “scummy”
content. This mocking persecution came from a supposedly strong active member
of the Church, who ironically happened to be on her way to the temple at the
time.
Just to
reiterate the Church’s stance on movies and television,
“Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:
“The
choices we make in media can be symbolic of the choices we make in life.
Choosing the trendy, the titillating, the tawdry in the TV programs or movies
we watch can cause us to end up, if we're not careful, choosing the same things
in the lives we live.
”If
we do not make good choices, the media can devastate our families and pull our
children away from the narrow gospel path….This pernicious evil is not out in
the street somewhere; it is coming right into our homes, right into the heart
of our families. . . .
“The
time has come when members of the Church need to speak out and join with the
many other concerned people in opposition to the offensive, destructive, and
mean-spirited media influence that is sweeping over the earth.” 5
President
Boyd K. Packer said, "Largely because of
television, instead of looking over into that spacious building, we are, in
effect, living inside of it. That is your fate in this generation. You are
living in that great and spacious building." 3
I attended
college at the University of Hawaii. I
often felt persecuted when people would ask me where I was from, and I would
reply Utah. They always asked me if I
was “Mormon” and would generally make snide comments about the Church.
Another
example is from my sister’s mission. She and her companion were out tracting
one day and came across a young man who seemed very interested in learning the
Gospel and hearing the discussions. As they made an appointment to return to
teach the first discussion, the young man asked the missionaries if he could
invite some friends over to also listen to discussion. Of course as missionaries, my sister and her
companion were ecstatic, thinking that they were going to be able to teach a
group of people. They eagerly agreed and
made the appointment.
As they
returned for the appointment, sure enough, there was a small group. As they
began building relationships of trust and making small talk with the group it
became apparent very quickly that they were ex-members of the Church who had
apostacized and began attacking the Church and my sister and her
companion. It was obvious that this
group of people had no intentions of listening to the first discussion. And were, in fact, hardhearted and
stiffnecked and drove the spirit away with their confrontational attacks and
much contention, while trying to drag my sister and her companion down with
them. There was nothing left for my sister and her companion to do except bear
testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and leave. Which is what they did.
So even
though we might not have to suffer persecutions like the prophets of old, we
will be called upon to defend our faith and will be mocked and perhaps even
have to endure some forms of personal abuse, simply because we are members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We might ask
ourselves if it’s worth it. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said the following, “You may wonder if it is worth it to take a courageous moral
stand…only to have your most cherished beliefs reviled or to strive against
much in society that sometimes ridicules a life of religious devotion.
Yes,
it is worth it, because the alternative is to have our “houses” left unto us
“desolate”—desolate individuals, desolate families, desolate neighborhoods, and
desolate nations.” 1
I find it
interesting that the very people who preach tolerance and acceptance are
usually the ones to be first in line to ridicule and persecute those who are
trying to live a righteous life.
The Prophet
Abinadi said the following to the wicked King Noah,
“Because I have told you the truth ye are angry with me. … Because I have
spoken the word of God ye have judged me that I am mad” 6
If anyone
derogatorily calls me names, such as Molly Mormon or a religious zealot, I
kindly thank them for the compliment.
What greater compliment could you receive than for others to think
you’re doing your best to follow the Lord’s commandments?
I have a
niece who is in high school and one day at the lunch table some of her
classmates were mocking her standards and called her, “Virgin Mary”. Her
reply to them was, "You're going to compare me to the mother of Christ and
act like that is an insult? That's the best compliment anyone could give
me." Nobody said a word after that.
Being a
disciple of Christ – or in other words a member of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints – can be both pleasant and painful at times.
Elder
Holland said, “In addition to teaching,
encouraging, and cheering people on (that is the pleasant part of
discipleship), from time to time these same messengers are called upon to
worry, to warn, and sometimes just to weep (that is the painful part of
discipleship).” 1
I’m sure all
of us know someone either directly or indirectly, who has lost their way and
fallen
into inactivity or worse yet, apostasy. If it is someone we are very
close to, and love deeply, it can be very painful to watch them lose their
faith and make poor choices.
Because of
the wonderful plan of our Heavenly Father, we were all given agency to make our
own choices. Therefore, no matter how
much we want to help our loved ones who have fallen away return to the iron rod
and get back on the straight and narrow path, the only thing we can do for them
is love them and pray for them. And try
to be a good example. And hopefully one
day they will return.
Speaking of
holding to the iron rod and staying on the straight and narrow path as noted in
Lehi’s dream, found in 1 Nephi, President Packer said, “One
word in this dream or vision should have special meaning to young Latter-day
Saints. The word is after. It was after the
people had found the tree that they became ashamed, and because of the mockery
of the world they fell away.
“And after they
had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing
at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost. …
“And
great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building. And after they
did enter into that building they did point the finger of scorn at me and those
that were partaking of the fruit also.” 3
We read in
the New Testament, in the book of Matthew, “For
there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect.” 7
Let us not
be among those who are deceived “after we have tasted the fruit” and are
ashamed and fall away because of the mockery of the world.
Let us not
become like my sister’s acquaintance, who as a member of the Church, mocked her
for living the gospel. Let us have both
courage and courtesy as we defend our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His
teachings and commandments.
Elder
Holland counseled, “Be strong. Live the gospel
faithfully even if others around you don’t live it at all. Defend your beliefs
with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them.
In
courageously pursuing such a course, you will forge unshakable faith, you will
find safety against ill winds that blow, even shafts in the whirlwind, and you
will feel the rock-like strength of our Redeemer, upon whom if you build your
unflagging discipleship, you cannot fall.” 1
I add my
testimony to that of Elder Holland. As we boldly and courageously defend our
beliefs with courtesy, we will develop an unshakable faith that will withstand
all blows from the adversary. [Add your own testimony here, Juliet]
In the name
of Jesus Christ, amen.
Works
cited:
1— The Cost-
and Blessing- of Discipleship, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, April 2014 General conference
2—Mosiah
17:20
3 -- President Boyd K. Packer, August 2010 Ensign, Finding
Ourselves in Lehi’s Dream
4 – Elder
Neil L. Anderson, Spiritual Whirlwinds, April 2014 General conference
5
--https://www.lds.org/topics/movies-and-television?lang=eng
6 -- Mosiah
13:4
7 – Matthew
24:24
