What I Know

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with what Mormons do on Sundays, we usually go to church for a three hours, with different things happening every hour. One of those hours is one we call sacrament meeting, where we reenact the sacrament that Jesus implemented toward the end of His mortal ministry, and then we hear from a couple speakers chosen from the congregation (chosen with a couple weeks' notice) to speak about different aspects of our beliefs. However, on the first Sunday of the month, we have something called a testimony meeting where anyone who feels prompted to can go up to the stand and bear their testimony. And sometimes, like today, we actually have it at the end of the month, because next month's first Sunday will be when General Conference happens – and I'll write about General Conference later on in this post.

I'm usually one to sit back and let others have the opportunity to bear their testimony, especially when sometimes there are just so many people doing so that they go over the allotted time. (And that's fine, there's really no harm done when that happens.) But I don't want it ever though that I don't have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Because I do.

I know that this is, in fact, the true Church of Jesus Christ. It was restored through a man named Joseph Smith and officially organized on April 6, 1830. As proof of this, we have something called The Book of Mormon, so named after the man who compiled all of the writings in it a few hundred years after Christ's ministry. It serves as a testimony of the divinity of Christ, as well as a history of people who lived here in the Americas over the course of about a thousand years. It isn't to replace the Bible in any way; it actually also testifies of the Bible and works to confirm the teachings found within. It contains an invitation for all to read it and ask Heavenly Father, what we ofter refer to God as, if the book is indeed true, and for those asking with real intent, He will make it known to them that it is.

I know that God lives, and that He loves me. When I was 15, I went to a youth program run by the church called Especially For Youth (which I'm sure I've talked about a couple times on here). Being a church camp, one of the main objectives is to help strengthen our faith and beliefs in the gospel, and the session director there challenged all of us to say a specific prayer that night before we went to bed. The prayer was to ask God, directly, if He loved us. We could use our own words to ask the question, but the objective was to have a sure knowledge that He does indeed love us. So I figured there wouldn't be any harm done. Even having grown up as a Mormon all my life and being used to saying prayers, this time was incredibly different. As I asked God if He loved me, I felt an immediate response: "Marshall, of course I love you." It was as if I heard the words spoken by someone in the room – it wasn't just a thought in my head. I knew that He answered me, proving to me that He is real.

I know that Jesus Christ lives, and His sacrifice through the Atonement brings me more peace and comfort than anything else in this world ever has. He went through everything that I've ever had to deal with and much more, suffered through it all so that I don't have to bear my burdens alone. His teachings can help anyone to live a fuller, happier life. For two years straight I had the privilege of teaching others more about Him and His love for each of us, and would happily do so again. I've seen His gospel change people's lives for the better. I know that it's good and true.

And besides me knowing that it's true, for me it just all makes sense. Here's an example:

#nofilter

This was a picture I took one week when I was working as a counselor for EFY last summer. There were a few minutes when it was raining but the sun was shining quite clearly, and the size of the drops of rain made it look like diamonds were falling all around us. I snapped this shortly after the rain stopped, just in awe of how beautiful the sky looked. I certainly don't believe that we could have moments of beauty like that just by chance. Any multicolored sunset, to me, is a moment for God to just have some fun and paint the sky for a while. The fact that there are over 7 billion people living on this earth in harmony with nature, and that we've advanced so much even in the last few hundred years – that's not just a coincidence. We create, we innovate, we design, we serve, we communicate, we act outside of instinct, we do as we want to. We can even take a look at other planets and see that there really aren't many other places that this could have happened, if at all, so why would this one be so perfect for us if there wasn't at least some kind of being watching over all and guiding its creation? And as far as religion goes, there's plenty of evidence showing that the church that Jesus organized lost its apostles, the heads of the church, without passing along the authority to keep it going. So there needed to be a restoration at some point, which is what Joseph Smith was chosen to do. Receiving a vision of God and Jesus Christ, and after that visits from many other messengers sent to him, he was told to find a set of gold plates containing what is now known as The Book of Mormon. He translated them and, like I said above, found that it testifies of the Bible.

There's a talk (what we usually call sermons) given by one of the apostles we have today, called Safety for the Soul. It was given by Jeffrey R. Holland, and you can read or watch the whole talk here. This is just part of it from the end, talking about the Book of Mormon:

I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies, given today under my own oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I hope I have a few years left in my “last days,” but whether I do or do not, I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days. My witness echoes that of Nephi, who wrote part of the book in his “last days”:

“Hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, … and they teach all men that they should do good. And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day.”

Brothers and sisters, God always provides safety for the soul, and with the Book of Mormon, He has again done that in our time. Remember this declaration by Jesus Himself: “Whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived” —and in the last days neither your heart nor your faith will fail you.

He'll be one of the speakers this week at the General Conference I mentioned at the beginning of this post, along with many other men and women who will only share messages to uplift and help others come closer to Christ. It's free to watch, and will be available by going to conference.lds.org, or you can find it on certain television and radio stations across the country. There's another apostle named M. Russell Ballard, who wrote a short book called Our Search For Happiness. It's a great read, and directed mostly at those who are unfamiliar with the Mormon church. If you're reading this, and you're interested in a copy of that book, or a copy of The Book of Mormon, I would be more than happy to send it/them to you myself. The conference will happen over the course of Saturday and Sunday, and if you miss a broadcast don't fret – they're usually put online shortly after each session.

There are a lot of things I don't know in this life. There are many things I'd like to know. What I do know is this: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has helped me to be a much happier person than I could ever be without it. I know that it's true. And I love that I know.