Another friend is thinking of leaving the Church. I listened to her reasons and said: “Time will answer your questions. Feed your faith. Let God prevail in your life.” She told me she has joined with other likeminded members and former members to increase pressure on Church leaders, hoping they will adapt doctrine or policy to align with current social trends. She summarized: “Don’t you think I should have influence on doctrine and policy of the church I choose to belong to?” I thought: “Yes, if you want a manmade church comingled with worldly philosophy.”
I think she is trying to stir the gospel pot with a worldly spoon. The scriptures and Church history are replete with people who have tried this. The outcome is predictable. They have their moment and the Church moves forward with or without them. God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. He doesn’t need human help to influence His doctrine. “Let God prevail” means: Let God be God.
“Let God prevail” is the most important choice we can make because in the end, He will prevail. He knows the end from the beginning. “How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints” (D&C 121:33).
There is a major difference between trying to have influence on the Church and having influence in the Church. This is reflected in Mosiah chapters 7-8, when Ammon accepts a temporary leadership assignment. Through his example, we see how the power of God can work through His children and make puny arms equal to the task at hand.
Ammon was asked to lead fifteen men on an expedition. Ammon was not a king or a prophet, just an ordinary person. As the purposes of God became evident, Ammon said: “God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings” (Mosiah 8:18). Everyday members of the Church can be of great benefit, have significant influence, if they, we, let God prevail rather than challenge His leadership.
Opportunities to leave the Church often stem from political issues. I lost a dear friend who separated herself from the Church and from me over the Equal Rights Amendment of 1976. You may wonder why the Church would oppose anything called “Equal Rights.” “Church leaders were not opposed to the principle of women’s rights; they were in fact strongly in favor of them, but they felt that the ERA was not the correct legal solution to protect and promote women’s rights. They favored specific legislation at the state level, rather than a sweeping constitutional amendment” (http://exhibits.usu.edu/exhibits/show/mormonsforera/ldschurchstanceonera). Although the fervor over the ERA faded, my friend did not return to the Church.
You may remember the salamander letter and those who left the Church over that issue. It was controversial because it cast aspersions on Joseph Smith. After additional documents came to light and two murders were committed, the salamander letter and other documents were proven to be forgeries.
In October 1987, President Gordon B. Hinckley, then first counselor in the First Presidency, spoke of the salamander letter. “There came into our hands two letters that were seized upon by the media when we announced them. They were trumpeted across much of the world as documents that would challenge the authenticity of the Church. In announcing them we stated that they really had nothing to do with the essentials of our history. But some few of little faith, who seemingly are always quick to believe the negative, accepted as fact the pronouncements and predictions of the media. I recall a letter from an individual who asked that his name be taken from the records of the Church because he could no longer believe in a church that had to do with an experience with a salamander…. I have wondered what those whose faith was shaken have thought since the forger confessed to his evil work” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1987/10/lord-increase-our-faith?lang=eng). I think President Hinckley was asking: how many who left over this letter returned to the Church?
On what altar are you willing to sacrifice your testimony—ERA, salamander letter, DNA, polygamy, same-sex marriage, abortion, race, tithing, versions of the First Vision, etc.? The Church is either The Church of Jesus Christ or it isn’t. If it is, cling to His teachings, and follow His prophet. To quote President Hinckley’s warning, you can choose to be faithful or choose to be among the “few of little faith, who seemingly are always quick to believe the negative.”
If we turn our attention to knowledge the Almighty has already poured down upon us, current social trends pale in comparison. What is more far-reaching than the plan of salvation? What matters more than what we learn in the endowment? What is more current than work for those who have finished mortality and live on the other side of the veil? Is there a more comforting doctrine than the fact that little children arrive on earth in purity and that Atonement of the Savior covers for them until the age of accountability? Is there a more glorious study than to learn all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and look forward to what will yet be revealed?
My life is continually enriched by God’s mysteries, which Guide to the Scriptures defines as “spiritual truths.” Mysteries has the connotation of things we don’t know, but if we think of them as spiritual truths, we realize we have learned many— “precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). Guide to the Scriptures also adds the important fact that mysteries are revealed “to those who are obedient to the gospel” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/mysteries-of-god?lang=eng).
I enjoy the gospel soup. It is full of spiritually nutritious ingredients. Within the soup are healthy, beneficial doctrines—mysteries that have already been revealed. God, our Eternal Father, is generous with His mysteries: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Jesus Christ said to His Apostles: “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 13:11). The Apostle Paul said: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery” (Romans 11:25).
If you asked Nephi how to access mysteries, he would say: “Having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord” (1 Nephi 2:16). If you asked our Savior, He would say “Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit” (D&C 19:23). King Benjamin advised: “I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view” (Mosiah 2:9, italics added). The opposite of to trifle with is to hearken to. Hearken means to listen with intent to obey. Our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, encourages us to “Hear Him.” God’s ways are not our ways. His timing is not our timing. His knowledge dwarfs the knowledge of all humankind combined.
God’s mysteries can be found in the sacrament prayers, the temple endowment, scriptures, sacred hymns, the Articles of Faith, The Living Christ, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, The Restoration Proclamation, general conference talks. The prophet Jacob said: “Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God” (Jacob 4:8). Letting God prevail is not trifling with but hearkening to prophetic words.
President Nelson teaches mysteries, spiritual truths, in every conference:
April 2018: “Nowhere are those truths taught more clearly and powerfully than in the Book of Mormon.”
October 2018: “Jesus Christ directed us to call the Church by His name because it is His Church, filled with His power.”
April 2019: “What is required for a family to be exalted forever? We qualify for that privilege by making covenants with God, keeping those covenants, and receiving essential ordinances.”
October 2019: “Every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants, and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances, has direct access to the power of God.”
April 2020: “Our Father knows that when we are surrounded by uncertainty and fear, what will help us the very most is to hear His Son.”
October 2020: “Are you willing to let God prevail in your life? Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life?”
April 2021: “Faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest power available to us in this life. All things are possible to them that believe.”
October 2021: “Whenever any kind of upheaval occurs in your life, the safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants!”
April 2022: “With frightening speed, a testimony that is not nourished daily “by the good word of God” can crumble. Thus, the antidote to Satan’s scheme is clear: we need daily experiences worshipping the Lord and studying His gospel. I plead with you to let God prevail in your life. Give Him a fair share of your time. As you do, notice what happens to your positive spiritual momentum.”
October 2022: “Find rest from the intensity, uncertainty, and anguish of this world by overcoming the world through your covenants with God.”
You know many of the mysteries of God. You know obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel will open your spiritual eyes. President Nelson prophesied: “In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time he returns ‘with power and great glory,’ he will bestow countless privileges, blessings and miracles upon the faithful” (October 2, 2022). As he said in his first press conference after becoming our prophet: “No matter your personal circumstance, you can face the future with optimism and joy, if you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vaw8-MB-aM).
Instead of stirring the gospel pot with a worldly spoon, savor and share the soup made with living water, served with the bread of life.
