The Restoration of Christ’s gospel in the latter days began 202 years ago. This week we are celebrating the monument erected to celebrate the beginning of that restoration, a monument of words. Unlike other dispensations this restoration evolves with Christ’s people until he comes to personally reign on earth in the Second Coming.
Personal note
In the spirit of that ever changing Restoration I am personally struggling with what I should be doing to better serve you when I approach these lessons each week. In the past I have always tried to write a separate piece for each day’s topic for the week. That may or not be the case this year. Instead I may be choosing to write about the topics for the week in one big article that allows you to look at the whole week as a single treatment of the subject matter we are studying. This is a work in progress, just like the Restoration of the gospel is a work in progress.
When I started writing commentary on church lessons back in 2013, to my knowledge I was pretty much alone in my field. I am not aware of anyone else who was trying to help people understand the gospel of Christ so they could talk about it to others. Simplifying the principles of the gospel has always been my primary focus. We can’t live a principle (teaching) if we don’t understand it. As of today there are people coming out of the woodwork who want to tell you about what we are studying. And since that humble beginning in 2013 the leadership of the church has begun to provide us with many helps and supports to assist us in our studying of the gospel that didn’t exist 11 years ago. They have made videos, given talks, provided specific helps for children, and so forth.
The quality of these helps the church is providing has caused me to question the need for what I do. Though I am often somewhat doubtful of my relevance in your life, I believe there are still those whom I can help to better grasp the messages of the gospel that bring us all joy. I don’t usually make videos, because I am uncomfortable showing my face to the masses. I don’t usually record my voice, because I become emotional too easily and have to pause until I get control once again. It seems that the medium of writing is my best option so you can get through my message without me causing you distractions. Thank you for your patience as I try to figure out how best to talk to you about the important ideas and doctrines presented in the Come, Follow Me lessons. I’ve been at this commentary writing thing for 11.5 years now. If I ever feel like I have nothing else to offer I will stop. Hopefully I will stop before you want me to. <wink>
The evolution of the Restoration
Joseph Smith was given the basic principles of the gospel of Christ, along with the needed priesthood authority for God’s covenant children to put those principles into practice. His constant revelations clarified so many things that had either been lost or had become corrupted over the centuries since the Apostles had last governed the church. But since the days of Joseph Smith the Lord has introduced so many things that have enriched our lives and made us stronger Saints. These changes will continue to come until the Savior steps in and personally governs the church on the earth.
It is important to note that the truths of the gospel never change, only how the administration of Christ’s church takes place. When the church was first restored there was no common culture among the members. Over the decades of persecution and heartache a church culture emerged. Now that we have entered a season of prosperity as a church this culture will shift as we mature in our spiritual habits and become more personally obedient to the commandments as a people. Today we have to learn to be more accepting of differences than at any other time in history. Instead of being a select small group who are culturally similar we have become an international church embracing those of almost every culture and habit on earth. This will require us to stretch in ways our forefathers never experienced.
Our meeting times have changed. We have had a couple of years of church worship in our homes, instead of at church. We now have temples being built at breakneck speed all over the planet. People in cultures that are unfamiliar to us are now becoming strong in the gospel and are being called as leaders. This means we have to learn to listen for understanding as they try to speak our language and fit in with the church culture in general. We must be more tolerant and accepting than our grandparents ever could have imagined.
The world is more fully embracing sin as their norm and we must deliberately choose to embrace goodness in all its forms instead of what our communities may be choosing. These are just a few of the many things that create challenges for Christ’s church during the Restoration. The bicentennial proclamation of the Restoration we are studying this week focuses on Christ and his importance to the world, and specifically to us as those who have made covenants with him.
What is the proclamation?
As the gospel of Christ is based on his atoning sacrifice that opens the way to save us from ourselves, and Christ’s resurrection that grants us all a promised resurrection, saving us from eternal death and separation from God, so too does the restoration witness to us of Christ’s continuing love and promise that we have not been abandoned. The heavens are open to us to lead us back into the presence of our Father who is in Heaven. The proclamation is a witness of God’s love and willingness to sacrifice for His children. It is a modern declaration or redeclaration of His New Testament witnesses of His love for us and His promises of life everlasting for all of those who are willing to come and follow His Son, Jesus Christ.
Are the heavens really open?
The Proclamation declares that the heavens are open for us to receive revelation and direction from God. We need to ask ourselves if that applies just to the prophets or if it also applies to us? We each need to ask ourself the important question “Can God speak to me?” Do I personally believe that I am important enough to God that He will answer my prayers and reveal Himself to me? The scriptures tell us that revelation ceases when faith in Christ stops. Faith is required for the miracles of God to be made manifest. Since faith is belief put into practice, what am I willing to do to show God that I do believe in His promises?
We saw in the last couple of Come, Follow Me lessons that Moroni’s statement that when we pray with “real intent” it means that we pray with the intention that when (not if) an answer comes to us we will change what needs to be changed and live our life according to the revelation/information we receive from the Holy Spirit. This is all based on the belief that God is willing to speak to each of His children and give them personal instructions and directions in life. For centuries people were taught that God had done His work on earth and no longer spoke to us. Very few were able to develop the faith to receive answers to their prayers when the clergy were telling them God does not speak to us any more. Revelation has ceased.
The Book of Mormon promise that God will speak to each person who approaches Him in faith is a landmark promise most have never heard before. The whole Restoration of the gospel is based on the knowledge and promise that God does speak to us and wants to communicate with us. Our prayers are important to God. He is happy to answer our questions and help us find out how much He loves us. We must learn that this sacred communication is based on our willingness to listen and obey. If we don’t listen with the hope of learning, or we don’t obey what we have been told to do then God stops speaking to us, for He never forces Himself on anyone.
If the heavens are open to us it is because we are willing to believe God can and wants to talk to us. That He loves us. That He values our time and attention. To keep the heavens open and that communication with God flowing it is up to us to choose to continue to believe in His love for us, and to be obedient to God’s commandments each day. It is our obedience that shows our return love for Him.
Curiosity versus apathy
Why do we pray? Most of us don’t pray because we need someone to talk to. Prayers can be given to express the longings of the heart, the gratitude of our soul, the frustrations of the day, or the desires of our heart. Unless our prayer is strictly to express gratitude, most of our prayer time is filled with puzzlements, questions, requests, and unfulfilled desires.
I titled this part of the lesson using the words curiosity and apathy. When we question God about anything it is because we want to know something. That is at the heart of curiosity. We want to know more or why or how something works or why it is the way it is. Curiosity in prayer is a desire for more of something than what we now have. Apathy is a lack of desire, lack of caring, or a lack of interest. When we are apathetic we don’t usually pray. By not praying we essentially seal the heavens against communication with God, because we don’t care enough to even approach the throne of Grace to begin a conversation.
My purpose here is to point out that having a questioning mind and heart are so important in our relationship with God. When we want to be more like Christ we ask God how to do that. When He responds with an answer through the Holy Ghost we make the changes needed to follow God’s instructions. When we have a heart full of sorrow and go to God seeking comfort, it is the built in desire for comfort that He uses to send us the peace we seek. Apathy is the lack of that desire.
Never discount the importance of having questions, curiosity, desire, or wanting something you don’t have. God longs for us to want more than what we have. He has the whole universe to lay at our feet when we are ready for it. But we must want it, must want to seek for it, to understand it, and to be willing to become like Him so we can deserve it someday. When people tell us that we shouldn’t question things, that is poison to our soul. That is apathy made manifest. So always remember that our relationship with God is based on us seeking to satisfy the desires of our heart, of wanting to know more, wanting to understand what we currently don’t get about a doctrine or our seeking to understand how things in God’s world work.
Mortality has many wonderful things for us to learn and to grow from in it. This is a very valuable experience for our eternal education. What we need to remember while we are here is that mortality is limited in its scope of understanding. All things spiritual, and remember that to God ALL things are spiritual, have to be learned through the Spirit. All spiritual information and understanding is a gift from God, for the mortal mind cannot comprehend the things of eternity. These are the things God wants us to be curious about. He wants us to seek for the understanding only He can give us. The things of mortality, if not coupled with the things of eternity, will only serve us well while here in mortality. When we couple the mortal perspective with the eternal perspective we learn how to behave and act in a way that will serve us well for the rest of eternity.
This perspective is the hope that is built into the Restoration of Christ’s gospel in the latter days. The Restoration is all about continuing revelation, about growth, about preparing ourselves for the Savior’s Second Coming. The purpose of the Restoration is to begin preparing God’s people for the personal reign of His Son. Change came with the Restoration of Christ’s gospel, and change is what each day of our lives should be about. Just as we are never completely stagnant, but always either growing or slipping backward, so too does God’s church grow and change for the better. God’s church doesn’t go backwards, for God doesn’t allow for that in this dispensation of time. He has a work to accomplish, and with or without any one of us, God will accomplish His work. This proclamation is the written hope that we will embrace that foundational principle that God does love us and will speak to us, giving us the personal revelation we need to help us keep up with His church and kingdom in the last days.
Click the link below to
print a PDF copy of the article.
I so much enjoy your insight on the gospel & bringing it to Lamans terms. Thank you so much for what you do. I luv the simplicity of your lessons and talks. Many times I have a hard time understanding even the general authorities at times. So thank you!
rother, continue with your beautiful and profound lessons. There will always be someone who needs to hear a spiritual word in this world. Thank you and happy new year.
I love, Love, LOVE your writings!!! I collect quotes, and often share them with others. Quite often they are quotes from you. Today’s quote is: “We each need to ask ourself the important question “Can God speak to me?” Do I personally believe that I am important enough to God that He will answer my prayers and reveal Himself to me? The scriptures tell us that revelation ceases when faith in Christ stops. Faith is required for the miracles of God to be made manifest. Since faith is belief put into practice, what am I willing to do to show God that I do believe in His promises?”
Keep up the great work – I look forward to what is next from you in the coming year! – Diane
Keep writing for us.
Heartfelt thanks
I so much appreciate the beautiful writings each week that you email out to us. I don’t have to see your face or hear your voice to feel your spirit.
Thank you.
Dear Brother, thank you for what you do. I can understand the need to question the relevancy as things are swiftly moving and changing these days! I benefit greatly from your lessons and look forward to them. Here’s to another year, of new lessons to learn, obstacles to face and the strength to keep the faith and keep up the fight! My love to you! : )
Thanks for sharing your insightful wisdom.
Your article this week is truly a blessing prayed for! You may never know how much you have blessed the lives of so many of us; helping us to better navigate days of very difficult struggles. Along with many others, I thank you! I pray you will be blessed to continue writing: encouraging and helping us!
I read and listen to many lesson helps each week and you are always com I ng up with another perspective. Please continue this beloved work!!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about continuing to write these lesson helps. They are very much appreciated by me. Yours is the first email I read each morning and it gets me in a proper frame of mind for more study and journaling. What a beautiful expression of love for our Savior; sharing His gospel with His Children, most of whom you don’t even know.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Diane Donovan
Brother Merrill, your website is always an inspiration to me with my studies of the Come Follow Me program because I am a senior, and I am not very good with using technology for all of the suggested readings, that come with each week’s lessons, so I rely upon your writing because iI can reread it at my own pace, and not have to keep up with a utube chat. Thank you for your insights, they are basic with commonsense wording, and sensible spritual insights for someone like me to understand. Bobbi Australia.
My wife and I look forward to your views on mortal life and the eternal perspective. Please continue to write. Your Christ like spirit spills over into our lives and helps us to push on. Thank you for this!
I will ditto all of the above comments. I read each lesson eagerly and share what I feel is needed in FHE. I always find something to use. Thank you so very much. And please don’t stop writing.