Joseph Smith said to a group of priesthood holders in 1834, “You know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it…”
You’ve probably heard this quote many times and even more so when it was further fulfilled this past weekend. Last general conference the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints had expanded its membership to 16 million members all over the globe. Something I focused on last conference was the call of the first Latin-American and Asian-American apostles. Yesterday afternoon, the church announced 12 new temples- the majority of which are outside of the US. The church has always put temples all over the world, but why is this so huge? Never in the history of the church has there been an announcement to build 12 temples. That is simply amazing. As a son of two converts of the church and a returned missionary, these announcements were a myth just a few years ago- now they’re a reality. One of the biggest feelings I have felt since the death of President Thomas S. Monson that never before has there been a call so urgent to prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ. His coming is near. We don’t know when but church leaders are calling us to prepare. Changes are being put into place- from ministering to 2-hour church. Conversion is the message to church members.
While I served as a missionary in Oaxaca Mexico, I was able to meet amazing, converted Saints who sacrificed everything for the gospel. On the other hand, there was a lack of true conversion. While I was serving as a local leader for a group of missionaries in a jungle area of my mission, I was able to see this with my own eyes. This area was known for finding lots of people to teach that lead to many baptisms. What I had learned, just because more people were willing to listen to the gospel didn’t mean that there was more conversion. In fact, with the only 2 stakes in that area, there were over 2000 active members with 10,000 listed as baptized. That is appalling. I was very concerned and overwhelmed with that number. I knew that with a group of 20 missionaries that would be practically impossible to reactive everyone within a few months. I had asked and trained local leaders to help us with visiting and reaching out to those who were outside the church. Although lots did not change overnight, that area has created a new district and continues to baptize new members and bringing those back to the fold. It seems that this was the core message throughout the conference. Elder Holland and Elder Soares continued to ask church members to reach out to those who are different and forgive those who have done wrong to us. On the other side of the coin of conversion, President Oaks sent a bold message of conversion to all of us about hot social issues.
True conversion is based on this phrase taught by President Ezra Taft Benson, who also served as Secretary of Agriculture for the Reagan administration while also serving as an apostle. “The living prophet tells us what we need to know not necessarily what we want to hear.” Regardless of our social status, we are called to join the cause of Christ. This past weekend we heard many things that we wanted to hear yet some were not willing to accept that we needed to hear. “Sometimes there are those who feel their earthly knowledge on a certain subject is superior to the heavenly knowledge which God gives to his prophet on the same subject… You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. It may conflict with your political views. It may contradict your social views. It may interfere with some of your social life. … Your safety and ours depends upon whether or not we follow… Let’s keep our eye on the President of the Church.” Whether in 1820, 1972, or 2018- this teaching has not changed. We are called to listen to the prophet and accept his counsel. No matter where we come from, or what education level, and yes even our political views. Just as much as we are called to love those equally from unique backgrounds, we are called to equally listen and heed the counsel of our prophets. We simply don’t pick and choose what message or apostle we like more and disregard the ones we don’t. We are called to humble ourselves and understand. President Benson ends with this, “How we respond to the words of a living prophet when he tells us what we need to know, but would rather not hear, is a test of our faithfulness.”
One of my first zone leaders from Argentina and I had an interesting discussion about different government systems. This Elder told me about his journey back to the church and how many of his viewpoints contradicted what the church had thought on certain issues. His journey back did not stop him from moving forward. From this, he later decided to go on a mission and serve. This experience allowed me to reflect how different the world is from where I have lived. At the end of our conversation and as we talked about various ideas, he told me that he still had to make adjustments to his thinking in terms of the gospel and what its leaders taught. My friends, I am simply stating this: The world has a viewpoint that we are called to leave the world. We are all on a higher plane. That does not make us better or qualify us more for God’s love. But what it does mean as President Nelson taught, we are peculiar. We are not part of the Mormon church, or the LDS one, or the ‘church that those young boys in white shirt and tie go’, and neither is it the church of ‘old, white men.’ This is the church of Jesus Christ, this is His church and these are the latter days. Let us not allow our political viewpoints- liberalism, conservatism, feminism, or extreme male domination, false traditions or noble ones, stop us from truly living the gospel message which is this- to become more like Jesus Christ and conversion is key.
We are all babes on its mother’s lap, we know nothing and we are nothing. We are dust and we will return as dust. God reveals His message to the prophets and no one else has that duty. Not even if you know more or have more education, not if you think your opinion is better or logical. We are a church of families, love, mercy, justice, and of Jesus Christ. These are eternal principles. Just like Elder Neal A. Maxwell said and how President Oaks echoed, “Don’t be among those who would rather change the church than to change themselves.” My friends, the blunt truth is once we see that we are trying to change the church we’ll quickly find ourselves outside of it. We are nobody to change the church and for more of a reason another person. Rather, we are called to humble ourselves and understand why we may not agree with a certain policy or issue of the church- and this with both sides of the aisle. Let us leave the world, understand the gospel message, love others, and further humble ourselves to the teachings of the prophets. No more criticizing of church leaders on social media. Let us stop rethinking whether one opinion is better than the other. Let’s embrace this dispensation with all of its challenges, questions, and uncertainties. Let us embrace the overarching message- our personal and individual conversion is the key.
12 new temples announced October 7th, 2018 by President Russell M. Nelson.
Hunter Avilio Thomas 