Micro Managing

INTO ALL THE WORLD

The Church has a radio program called "Into All the World" on "The Mormon Channel," that deals primarily with missionary work all over the earth, usually featuring mission presidents and their wives, or missionary moms.  Here is one of them, with a slight blend from other stories from the same program produced in 2009.

The host of the show, Bro. Tim Taggert, himself a former mission president, has said, "Missionary coincidences (and miracles) are the way that God micromanages his kingdom."  For Instance:

Two female full time missionaries were driving down a seldom used road in the middle of the day, out in the country, when one sister felt impressed to park the car and walk along the road.  Her companion asked, "Why are we doing this?  There is not a house around here for miles?

"I don't know," she responded. The Spirit just told me to walk along the road."  Not 15 seconds had passed before an SUV slowly went by and the driver said:  Are you Mormon Missionaries?  I have seen searching for missionaries from your Church to teach me."  Not long after, this person was baptized.  Sometimes, investigators seek us out.

Another example:  Two Elders were riding their bikes thru town when one missionary felt prompted to go down a blind alley.  He shrugged off the thought but the impression was repeated.  He called to his companion and down the alley they went, only to find a group of men drinking, swearing and being loud and rowdy.  The Elders thought to themselves, this is not a place for us.  Suddenly, one of the rowdy men motioned for the Elders to come to them.  The Elders were a very reluctant but the Spirit bid them go.

The rowdy man remarked, "We know what you're selling and we're not interested but here's the name of a Christian that wants your message."  They gave the Elder the piece of paper and the Christian later joined the Church.

Some Elders come from families that do not want their son to go on a mission.  One Elder's family sent him anti-Mormon literature and then told him to come home, but he refused.  Later they wrote him a letter saying his father had terminal cancer and when he would not come home they told him his father had died.

Fortunately, another relative wrote him that there was no cancer and no death.  They lied hoping he would come home, but he finished his mission honorably despite their deception.

On another occasion, every transfer, one Elder pleaded with God not to give him a particular companion, but every time, that companion was the one he got.  Over time these unlikely companions became good friends.  The words used by Howard W. Hunter about marriage fit here with a slight difference.  Instead of the word "marriage" we substitute companionship by saying, "Companionship is not so much about getting the right companion as it is about being the right companion."

One investigator went thru 14 sets of Elders over a period of years before he became convinced that the Church was true.  Just before he was baptized he requested that all 14 sets come to his baptism, which, of course, was not possible.

After her mission, one wife of a former mission president decided to sign up for Facebook, to see if any of her missionaries from their mission would notice.  The next day she got over 500 emails.  Welcome to social media.

The Power of Faith

The Power of Faith  (By Joseph Fielding McConkie, From the Book, The Bruce R. McConkie Story: Reflections of a Son, Chapter 20, The Nature of His Ministry) (Only a small part is included here).

While on a stake conference assignment in 1961, Elder McConkie was invited to the home of the Pratt's for something to eat between sessions. Their eighteen-year-old son, who had been afflicted since birth with an incurable skin disease, got out of his bed to meet Elder McConkie. He asked what was wrong with the boy. His response to the explanation was to inquire, "Have the elders administered to him?" He was told that they had, many times. Doctors could only offer the young man relief for his pain, recommending that he be kept comfortable until he died.

Sister Pratt recalled: "After the dinner the authorities left and went back to church to prepare for the second session of conference. I was trying to clean up the dishes so I could get back to church when I heard the door open and the booming voice of Bruce R. McConkie, saying, 'Sister Pratt, I want to give that young man a blessing before I leave here today. Have him at the church at the close of the meeting.'

"I got Ray ready and took him to the church. When they laid their hands on Ray's head, Elder McConkie was silent. I panicked, thinking there was no blessing for him. I was shedding tears when Elder McConkie started to speak. In his very distinct and articulate voice he said, 'Brother Ray Grant Pratt, the Lord has given you this affliction to prepare you for the work that lies ahead. I promise you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that your health will never stand in the way of your serving the Lord.'" The disease was rebuked, and the blessing of healing was soon realized.

Another remarkable instance of the power of faith is that of a woman, a mother of two, who had contracted a rare blood disease. Though not fatal, it prohibited her from having more children. In an administration at the hands of her husband, she received the promise that her body would heal itself. Yet all medical efforts proved painful, frustrating, and ineffectual. At a stake conference attended by a member of the Twelve, she experienced the impression that if her faith were great enough, she could be healed. She labored to increase her faith. Six months later another apostle, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, was sent to the stake in which they lived. Her children were ill that Sunday, and though she usually would have been the one to stay with them, she and her husband decided that she should attend the conference. "I took a seat in the middle of the auditorium," she wrote to Elder McConkie later, "and watched as you shook hands with many before the meeting. I was delighted as I watched the smiles of many I recognized enjoying your touch and smile.

"Throughout the meeting I found it difficult to concentrate, and as it came to a close, I could hardly remain seated. As the closing prayer was said, I felt very calm. Then," she continued, "the Spirit whispered to me, 'You could go up on that stage and be healed by Brother McConkie.' I replied, 'I don't want to bother him—look at all those people who want to talk to him. I'm just thrilled to be able to have heard him.' Then the Spirit reminded me—'just touch the edge of his jacket'—as I recalled the story of the woman who had touched the hem of the Savior's garment. I'm sure I literally shook my head and said, 'No. I can't possibly do that!'" She and the Spirit continued their debate. Finally she went.

"As I made my way through the crowd," she wrote, "I felt very anxious and wanted to turn around, but I edged forward until finally I was right behind you and you were engaged in conversation. I fixed my eyes upon your jacket edge and held my breath—you were so tall—I reached out and quickly touched with my index finger the hem of your jacket. Suddenly, you spun around and extended your hand to me. I shook it and tearfully uttered, 'Thank you.' You simply nodded and returned to your conversation, and I went to my car practically dancing!"

When she entered her home, she announced to her husband that she was healed. They knelt together in a prayer of thanksgiving. The doctor was baffled. At the time of her writing she had become the mother of three more children. Her faith had made her whole.

Teaching Pure Doctrine

Ogden Temple

From the book, Here We Stand, Chapter Seven, Teaching Pure Doctrine, pages 114-117, by Joseph Fielding McConkie: (emphasis added)

"AS HE WAITED FOR HIS flight to be announced, my father buried himself in a book by a renowned New Testament scholar. He was delighted to discover material by a sectarian scholar that constituted a marvelous defense of Mormonism.

As he boarded the flight he met Marion G. Romney, then a member of the First Presidency. He said, 'President Romney, I have got to read this to you. This is good,' and proceeded to share his newfound treasure. When he was finished, President Romney said, 'Bruce, I have to tell you a story. A few years ago I found something that I thought was remarkable written by one of the world's great scholars. I read it to J. Reuben Clark, and he said, 'Look, when you read things like that, and you find that the world doesn't agree with us, so what? And when you read something like that and you find they are right on the mark and they agree with us, so what?'"

My father thought that a good lesson. The world is not the source of the doctrines we teach nor is it the source from which we seek confirmation for our doctrines. We simply do not bear testimony on the basis of the wisdom of the world. Doctrine and testimony must come from a pure source. To get that idea across to his children, Dad used a little cowboy wisdom. 'Don't drink below the horses,' he said. 'All true religion is revealed religion.' Which is simply to say, we must drink at the fountainhead.

In so saying I am not picking a fight with good scholarship. My father read widely. He had a fine library of well-read books. He read the best of Latter-day Saint writers and the best of secular scholars. His standard of measure, however, was always the revealed gospel.

A doctrine is something learned, because, as the word doctrine implies, it is something taught. The source of all good doctrine must be God himself. If a doctrine cannot clearly demonstrate its divine origin, it cannot claim place in the family of saving principles. Members of the Church share a loyalty to and a faith in certain principles we accept as doctrines of salvation. By revelation the Lord said, "For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (D&C 115:4). 'The' in the name of the Church carries a meaning quite different from 'a' Church of Jesus Christ.

To say it is 'The' Church is to say, as the Lord did in the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, that it is the "only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" (D&C 1:30). We hold that declaration to be a doctrine of salvation. Salvation cannot be found in any other organization, ordinances, priesthood, or doctrines. Needless to say, that announcement has given offense to many. Doctrines created in heaven never seem to find a comfortable resting place in theologies crafted by the wisdom of men. No saving doctrine can stand independent of faith in Christ and the necessary discipline associated with membership in his church.

Saving doctrines do not grow wild. Salvation is not found in everyone doing his own thing. Those who falsely suppose that they can negotiate their own salvation often choose to be offended by such declarations. If, as Latter-day Saints hold, there is only one true church, then all others are false and thus the doctrines of salvation are not found in them. Such a position, we are frequently assured, is both judgmental and unchristian.

The irony of such an accusation should not go unnoticed. To be Christian, in any meaningful sense of the word, is to believe that the hope of salvation is in Christ. It is to embrace the dogma that mankind is in a fallen state from which Christ alone can redeem them. Thus, all who make a serious profession to being Christians must draw the same narrow and judgmental line relative to Christ that Latter-day Saints draw relative to his Church and its doctrines. The real issue is not the necessity of drawing such a line but rather where it should be drawn and who has the authority to draw it.

The essence of our faith centers on preserving the purity of our doctrine. No principle of salvation can ever be a matter of private interpretation or of speculation. Faith cannot be exercised in principles that are not true. As we must not be seduced by false doctrines, so we must not be distracted by doctrinal decoys. Let me suggest a few of the common forms such decoys take.

When I was a young seminary student, our teacher gave a lesson for which he placed pictures of a dozen world-renowned scientists in the front of the room. Then he read a quotation from each of the men represented, in which they indicated a belief in God. The idea was that we shared a faith in common with these great scientists and thus our faith was justified. In truth that is not the case. What they were calling God, we call nature. The statements he read merely illustrated that these men acknowledge that there is order in the laws of nature and that those laws govern our universe.

The faith, however, that God is a personal being, that he is the father of our spirits, that he was literally the father of Jesus of Nazareth, that Jesus worked out an atoning sacrifice that assures that we will all be resurrected and if we choose to live worthy may return to the presence of God, is quite another matter. If any of those men embraced that faith, which is peculiar to Latter-day Saints, then why hadn't they numbered themselves among us? And if they had, then their testimony of God, of necessity, would have rested on spiritual, not scientific, principles. I assume they were all wise and good men, but their affirmation of God's existence rested on their wisdom, not on the revelations of heaven.

A Bible scholar of considerable reputation recently told a group of divinity students at an Ivy League school that Joseph Smith was a prophet just as Moses was a prophet. The statement loses much of its luster, however, with the discovery of what this man really thinks of Moses. Academic acknowledgments and spiritual commitment are not the same thing. Had he lived in the days of Moses, this man would not have followed him any more than he would now seek admission into the Church by confession of his sins and baptism at the hands of our young missionaries."