Faith Comes By Hearing the Word of God

King Benjamin (through words delivered to him by an angel) gives us the formula for faith in Christ (and the necessity of) when he asks: has the "knowledge of the goodness of God at this time awakened you to a sense of your nothingness, and your worthless and fallen state... (Mosiah 4:5)?  When King Benjamin had finished speaking the words which had been delivered unto him by an angel of the Lord, "he cast his eyes round about on the multitude, and behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them" because they had "viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth" (Mosiah 4:1-2). 

I had often wondered about this. How could these people have fallen to the earth? How did they experience their own carnal state? Why had the fear of the Lord come upon them? Why hadn't I had a similar experience? 

I began to wonder how they had come to this experience, and what brought them there. 

As I searched more, I realized that it was caused by the words delivered by the Angel to King Benjamin. 

Could I gain a knowledge of the goodness of God only by and through His Words? 

Could His words cause me to fall to the earth by experiencing my own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth? 

If so how could just His words cause such an experience? 

There had to be more than words, I thought. One day, I was reading in D&C 84 and read with interest the verse which told me to "live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God" (D&C 84:44). I had read this before and had looked at his word, but only as a guide for me. I had also thought the rod of iron spoken of by Lehi and Nephi as just a guide. But as I read the next verse it hit me for the first time how His words could have caused such a reaction in the people who had listened to and heard the words delivered by an angel to King Benjamin! 

"The word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is spirit, even the spirit of Jesus Christ" (D&C 84:45). I heard His voice in these words and knew that His words, because they are His light and spirit, can, by themselves cause us to fall down in fear of the Lord, and cause us to experience our nothingness and His goodness. 

In other words we cannot separate His words from Him--His words are Him--His light and His spirit! If we fail to immerse ourselves in what He has revealed (and caused to be written) we will never come to a knowledge of (nor will we ever experience) the goodness of God and our own worthless and fallen state. We will run the risk of worshiping an imaginary God, a God we will have created out of the imaginations of our hearts. 

And in doing so, we will stumble on that stumbling stone where all people stumble who have not received the word of God--we will not seek righteousness through faith in Christ and repentance, but will attempt to seek righteousness through behavior, performance, works and religion (Romans 9:31-33). 

I have often been puzzled as to why Paul says that "...faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Why didn't he say 'faith comes by reading the word of God?' I had been taught that we should 'read' the scriptures daily, so why didn't Paul say read, instead of hear. Could it be, I wondered, if perhaps we hear His voice in His words? It didn't take much searching of His words to discover that we do, in fact, hear His voice in His words.  

"These words are not of men nor of man, but of me...for it is my voice which speaketh them unto you..." (D&C18:33-36). 

In fact God taught men how to write so His words could be recorded for us to hear His voice, not just read His words. In fact we will not hear His voice in His words if we do not search them and treasure them up. 

It never ceases to amaze me, however, how lightly we treat His words, and how lightly I had treated them. It is no wonder that we are under condemnation for treating lightly the words we have received from our Father in Heaven (D&C 84:54-55). Not only have we treated His words lightly, but we have not believed them (D&C 84:54). "And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me. And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked..." (D&C 84:52-53). 

Keeping in mind that we hear His voice through His words (D&C 18:34-36), if we are not ''acquainted' with His voice, it is because we have not 'heard' His words. 

From the time of Adam, the Lord has made it very clear what our conditions are in this life:  

"Because that Adam fell, we are; and by his fall came death; and we are made partakers of misery and woe. Behold Satan hath come among the children of men, and tempteth them to worship him; and men have become carnal, sensual, and devilish, and are shut out from the presence of God" (Moses 6:48-49). 

It is one thing to 'understand' the effect of the fall on us, and yet another thing altogether to experience our own carnal and fallen state. And yet it is only through the experiencing of our own lost and fallen state, that we recognize the need for the atonement, and can exercise our trust and faith in Christ. 

If, however, we harden our hearts against His word, then His word will not "be found in us" (Alma 12:13). The idea of His word being found in us is introduced by Alma, and denotes the importance of the word as truth, light and spirit, even the spirit of Jesus Christ. For when His word is found in us, then is His light and spirit found in us. 

When we receive His light and compare it to our own light, then we begin to experience the darkness within us, and turn to His light by putting our faith and trust in Him instead of in our own meager spark (Isa 50:11).

Without putting our faith in Christ, we will remain "in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state...and (will be) without God in the world" (Alma 41:11). You may ask how can you be without God in the world when you pray to Him daily and come to Church to worship Him? Without faith in Him, these actions are merely a 'form' of worship, and are not counted unto us as righteousness. 

When, however, we turn to Him by experiencing our lost and fallen state, we are repenting and are, therefore, in a state of His righteousness. When we are not repenting we are in a state of wickedness. There are only two ways, and in order to remain in a state of His righteousness we must be repenting--always remembering our nothingness in comparison to His Goodness. This is godly sorrow, and only godly sorrow brings about repentance. And how do we experience this Godly sorrow? By His words being in us! By hearing His voice! In this way we all have our own "On the Road to Damascus" experience by hearing the voice of God along the way. As we feast upon His words we will hear Him say to us, "I am God, hearken unto my voice!"

Nephi, through the use of the words of Christ, tells us how we enter into the Lord's way. He tells us about a strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life, and that we enter into this strait and narrow path through a gate, which gate, he tells us, is repentance and baptism (2 Nephi 31:17-18). He then asks us, after we have gotten in the way "if all is done" (2 Nephi 31:19)? 

Then he answers his own question: "Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save" (2 Nephi 31:19). 

And it is only by continually being "nourished by the good word of God" that we can stay in the right way "relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who (is) the author and the finisher of (our) faith" (Moroni 6:4:).

So we enter into the way because of His word, and we stay in the way because of His word. Faith comes through hearing His words. We are born again and a mighty change is wrought in our hearts as a result of His words (Alma 5:13). His words bring us to a knowledge of the truth. We truly humble ourselves because of His words  (Alma 32:14). Our souls are illuminated by the light of the everlasting word (Alma 5:7).

Through His words we know that repentance and baptism is the gate by which we enter into His way. 

Through his words we know that we endure to the end through faith in His name relying wholly upon His merits. 

Through His words we know that whenever we begin to 'take strength unto ourselves' we are no longer relying wholly upon His merits, and are therefore not enduring in faith in Him to the end.  

Only His words get us in the way and keep us there because not only do His words tell us what repentance is, but by the power of His words, we are brought before the alter of God, to call on his name and confess our sins before Him (Alma 17:4; 36:24-26).

All too often we allow the precepts of men to color our definitions of faith and repentance, and believe me when I tell you, that these precepts are like noxious weeds that grow in our minds and hearts. These noxious weeds cause us to pervert the truth, and can lead us to believe that we are on the strait and narrow path, when we are, in reality, in the large and spacious building. They choke the good seed of the word of God. And how do we get rid of these noxious weeds? We must replace these noxious weeds with His words. We are only nourished by the good word of God.

Alma makes it clear that "...if (w)e will awake and arouse (our) faculties, even to experiment upon (His) words, and exercise a particle of faith... (Alma 32:27), we will know that the seed is good, if we do not cast it out by our unbelief. How will we know that the seed is good? Because it will begin to grow within you, "it beginneth to enlarge" your soul and "it beginneth to enlighten" your understanding and "it beginneth to be delicious unto" you (Alma 32:30). It "shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life" (Alma 32:41). The tree's "most precious fruit" is the result of faith, diligence, patience, and long suffering in nourishing the word of God (Alma 32:42-43).

The knowledge of Good (God's righteousness) and evil (everything else) is the most basic and most important knowledge we can have, and we only get this knowledge through His word. The word repent, according to His words, is to turn to the righteousness of God, and turn away from everything else.

Turning toward Him and His light is the description of repentance. But what is the effect on us of our turning toward Him? He said "if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me" (Ether 12:27).

Consider this: you are driving east on Interstate 80 in the morning. There are no clouds and the sun is shining on your windshield. You can see all the bugs, dirt and streaks on your windshield. So you stop and 'clean' your windshield, only to find that as you continue toward the light, your windshield is still not clean, and the more light that shines on it the dirtier it appears. Even more light would cause more 'dirt' to appear. If however, you turn back and go west away from the light your windshield will appear to be very clean. It is the same with us. By shining His light on us, turning toward His light or toward the voice which is His words, we see ourselves as we really are. This is what caused the people to fall to the earth after seeing themselves in the light of the words delivered by the angel to King Benjamin. 

Turning away from Him causes us to see ourselves as we think we are. This is the deception spoken of by Isaiah that causes us to 'see' ourselves as being something we are not.

Let me again briefly share my own experience:

I would not have described myself as a Sinner when I was younger or even in my middle age years. Only other people were sinners, those bad people who committed terrible acts and transgressions, none of which I had committed. I had been taught that the Gospel was about my righteousness, my goodness, my worthiness and my works. To have been called as a Bishop I had to be righteous. Right? I lived the word of wisdom, was morally clean, had a temple recommend and paid my tithing.  I had to be good. Right?

I can't remember when I first began to realize that I had been living a perverted gospel, and that I had been deceiving myself into thinking that I was good. But the more I searched His words and listened to them, the more I realized that I was worshiping a false image--an image of myself as a good guy in a world with a lot of bad guys. 

But something changed when I read Romans 10:1-4. I realized I had been going about to establish my own righteousness, and had not submitted myself to the righteousness of God--something I would never have learned had I not 'heard' His voice through His words.

I learned that repentance is the process of turning to God and His Goodness. I began to see myself as I really am. Even though I was born innocent, there were flaws in my nature, weaknesses in my character and evil in my heart. Soon everything I was reading and hearing in the scriptures was telling me: It is not about your righteousness, but about Christ's. I began to experience my own lost and fallen state, and it was then and only then that I realized the need in my own life for the Atonement and the mercy which was introduced to us through Christ's Atonement. And I knew I needed and wanted His mercy.

When I realized that there are divers ways and means whereby we can commit sin, even so many that we cannot number them (Mosiah 4:29), and that one sin no matter how small, subjects me to the Justice of God, hope for me came only in my Savior. I began to rely wholly upon His merits and knew that because of His mercy it was possible that I could be found guiltless at the judgment bar. He would pay for my sins. He would save me from my sins. He would begin to take away my capacity or disposition to sin. I would no longer be under the bondage of sin.

His words caused me to see myself as I really am. Seeing myself in the light of His words, I came to recognize the darkness within myself, and desired to come to the light. Only those who believe they earn their way by performance, will not want to have the light shined upon them. But unless we see ourselves as the Publican, the Prodigal Son and the Lost Sheep, we will not turn to the light and put all our faith and trust in Him who is mighty to save. Alma does not say that none but the performers or none but the active are saved, rather he says, "none but the truly penitent are saved" (Alma 42:24).

The words of Christ made it clear to me that we do not 'live' our way to eternal life, but that we 'die' our way there by experiencing our lost and fallen state, our own carnal and natural state, and by experiencing the evil and darkness that is within each of us. This requires that we do not put our faith in ourselves, but in our Savior and turn to him with a broken heart and contrite spirit, desiring a new heart and to become new creatures (Mosiah 27:25). 

This requires that we actually believe Him when says that He is the way and the only way, and that He sent messengers to tell us of our lost and fallen state and what He had appointed for us in this life, and "made known unto (us) the plan of redemption...and this he makes known...according to (our) faith and repentance..." (Alma 12:29-30). He called on men in the name of His son (this being the plan of redemption) saying: "If ye will repent and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son" (Alma 12:33).

The more we receive of the word of God, the more it transforms us into His likeness. Even as Christ personifies the word of God (John 1:1), we personify that portion of His word which is found in us. 

When His words become our words then we speak with the tongue of angels and by the power of the Holy Ghost (2 Nephi 31 & 32).

This promise comes with a warning, however, that "the time speedily cometh that the Lord God will cause a great division among the people" (2 Nephi 30:10), and this division is caused by His words: those who hear His words and believe them on the one hand, and those who do not on the other. Moreover, don't mistake the words of men for the word of God. 

Men can and do speak His words, but we must know His words to discern when others are or are not speaking His words. For this reason we are told to search and treasure up His words so that when others speak we can know when they are speaking the word of God (D&C 1:38).

Nourished

A Tribute to Tim Merrill

Sacrament meetings for me had become known for what was not taught rather than what was taught. So imagine my delight when I was sitting in a Sacrament meeting and heard the word of God being taught. I listened and was nourished. The speaker was Tim Merrill and I remember thinking I need to get to know this man. It was not long after, that I was speaking in a Sacrament meeting as a member of the High Council and was teamed with Tim Merrill, who was the Stake Sunday School president. How delighted I was when he stood with only his scriptures in front of him and nourished me again with the word of God.

That led to me asking for him to speak with me when my companion speaker was unable to speak. If I remember correctly I asked for him another two or three times. I asked for him because I wanted to be taught more of God's words, but knew the congregation would also benefit.

Not too long after I was called to be the Stake Sunday School President and, you guessed it, I asked for Tim as one of my counselors, and for an entire year once a week I was privileged to be taught by him. See Feasting on His Words.

It was several years later that I was in Utah and called Tim to go to lunch. Besides a delightful conversation with much edification (he even paid for my lunch), he told me about his blog 

www.owlofthedesert.blog and I must say that I have read and re-read his posts and continue to be edified, enlightened and delighted by his creativity in using the word of God to remind us of who, what and why we worship--God and Christ. His ability to separate religion from truth reminded me of the first time I heard him say in one of our weekly 'feasting' sessions that in the Book of Mormon religion is always portrayed as moving us away from Christ

Needless to say he has stretched my mind and continues to do so with his blog. He picks a series and I would guess only completes it when moved upon by the Holy Ghost. But they are all interrelated and you will benefit from his insights, his creativity, his humor and most of all his command of the Lord's language.

His is not a blog for the timid, however, and if you are looking for pats on the back for being good members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, forget it. He just completed a series of 23 posts on "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Charting the Course of the Church from Here to the Second Coming, and he does not hold back. Why? Because the Lord does not hold back and he is, after all, teaching us what the Lord wants us to know and experience in these last days before His second coming. 

One of my all time favorite quotes comes from Tim's series "Give Heed to This Compass" which is now a 10 part series, which I don't think he has finished yet.

Ready? Here it is.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, and I'll keep saying it until I am served with a restraining order sighed by a judge: It doesn't matter who's speaking:  it only matters whose words are being spoken. Are they the words of Christ?

     a. If yes, then give heed and hearken to the message, no matter whose lips are moving.

     b. If no, then we may disregard the message, no matter whose lips are moving."

Also, as he reminds us, it is up to us to know the difference.

I see Tim as one of the many prophets and teachers sent by God to help prepare for His second coming, a pattern repeatedly recorded in the Book of Mormon. How do I know? By what comes out of his heart and mind onto the computer software he uses to create his blog. You will do well to listen and hear.

And This From Joseph Smith

This quite sobering.

"I will proceed to tell you what the Lord requires of all people, high and low, in order that they may escape the judgments of God which are almost ready to burst upon the nations of the earth. 

Repent of all your sins."

There it is! After all is said and done this is the first and last commandment. This is the main message of the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, of all scripture. Say "nothing but repentance unto this generation." Sadly most Latter-day Saints do not even know what the Lord means by repentance. They have as a group failed to teach their children to understand the doctrine of repentance. Why? Because they cannot teach what they do not understand and have not experienced themselves. Theirs is a generation based upon religious tradition that has been riveted upon the hearts of their children. They have joy in their works, but by and by when the end cometh they shall be cast into the fire, and it shall be because of their works.

"Not many years away, the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not had a parallel in the history of our nations. Pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation off the face of the land to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel."

Note the cause of this bloodshed and destruction--the failure of the Ephraimite Gentiles to repent. Also note the reason--to prepare the way for the return of the House of Israel--the Jews, the 10 tribes and Lehi's descendants. When? Just prior to the Lord's second coming.  What of the Ephraimite Gentiles (Latter-day Saints)? Only those who repent will be numbered among the House of Israel. 

"Repent, repent is the voice of God to Zion, and strange as it may appear, yet it is true, mankind will persist in self-justification until all their iniquity is exposed, their character past redeeming."

"... the voice of God to Zion."  Not to the world, but to us! There is a window, but it is closing. But notwithstanding the Ephraimite Gentiles will persist in self-justification--the antithesis of repentance--until it is to late--until all their iniquity is exposed, their character past redeeming! They will, except for an individual here and an individual there, fail to repent.

"Hear the warning voice of God lest Zion fall and the Lord swear in his wrath the inhabitants of Zion shall not enter into his rest. Intemperance, immorality, extravagance, pride, blindness of heart, idolatry, loss of natural affection, love of this world, indifference toward things of eternity are increasing among those Latter-day Saints who profess to believe in the religion of heaven."

This warning (which should be read over and over) comes directly from God. For the Latter-day Saints there will be no excuse. They will not be able to blame anyone but themselves. 

"Who but those can see the awful precipice upon which the world of mankind stands in this generation and can labor in the vineyard of the Lord without feeling a sense of the world's deplorable situation?"

And for those who do see--they will labor diligently to warn others and will say nothing but repentance.

Hence, the reason for this blog.

Road to Damascus

A young attorney in my law firm in Salt Lake City, who was also a good friend, had an experience that caused him to want to find answers to questions, that before were not high on his list of important things to know. He, like most of us when our lives are good, did not feel an urgency to learn and search out answers or mysteries or treasures. That changed very quickly, however, when his active wife was diagnosed with MS and began having anxiety attacks and other emotional and physical reactions. One of the reactions was to turn against her husband, and make it clear that she did not want to be married to him any longer and insisted that he leave.  

Up until that point their marriage had been good. They had young children and concentrated much of their love and energy not only on each other, but on their family. What was one day a love story, turned into a nightmare almost overnight. 

I was close to him and he confided in me and told me what was happening. The one thing he was always doing each time I walked into his office was looking for some answers in his scriptures. He focused on one that he shared with me found in 2 Nephi 32:3, specifically the admonition to "feast upon His words, for His words will tell you all things that you must do." He wanted to know what he was supposed to do and was having a hard time finding answers, or at least the answers he was looking for. And that is what he did, everyday for hours--feast upon the words of Christ so that hopefully he would know what to do.  

During this ordeal which lasted for more than a year, he found answers to questions he was not even asking and discovered the good news of the Gospel. He discovered Christ and His plan of redemption, and he began 'listening' to His voice in His words. He found what he was looking for and it was to "hear ye him."

His wife was able to find help and her mental issues were being treated, and they were able to love even more and deeper, notwithstanding her MS, and what he found, even without a successful outcome with his wife and his marriage, would have been much more valuable, because it was eternal. 

It was his Road to Damascus experience, and like Paul what my friend initially set out to do was not what the Lord wanted him to do. Can we even imagine what the Lord means by "the words of Christ will tell you all things ye should do?" We can't come close until we have done as he tells us: "feast upon the words of Christ." Note that He does not say that the words of Christ will tell you all things ye must learn, but "all things ye should do."  

Without an experience like Paul's

road to Damascus, or Alma's visitation by an angel, or my friend's harrowing experience, can we even be led to want to feast upon his words? What are the obstacles that stand in the way of our receiving that which is most valuable to us? I maintain that all need a road to Damascus experience, but it does not necessarily need to be an angel, or even a life shattering or life threatening experience.

How will we ever have a desire or, like my friend, a compulsion to feast upon His words? What will it take?

Let me ask you a question. If during the pandemic you were told that at least one of your immediate family members would get Covid and die, unless you did two very specific things, would you do them if you knew for sure that by doing them you would save a family member?

What if you did not know for sure and were only told that it was a 50% chance that one would die, or 10% or even 1%? Would you still do them? 

Now, what if you were told that it was an extended family member, a good friend or a neighbor? Would it make a difference in how you responded? What would you want to know about this threat? What data would you look to as validation that the threat was real? Would it make a difference if you did not trust the source of the information?

Of those I have asked this question the response has always been to ask "what are the two things I would need to do?" Let's just say they are 1) wear a mask, and 2) social distance, and by doing these you would save the life of a family member, friend or neighbor. I don't know many who would not do them. What if one of the two things was rather than social distance, was to get vaccinated? Does that change the scenario for you? Can you put aside your beliefs to save someone else?

Since this paper is not about the pandemic or vaccines, let me give you another scenario. If you were told that if you did not repent you would perish, would you repent? What if you were told that all who failed to repent would perish, even your immediate and extended family members? What, if anything, would you do? Would you warn them? What if it was just a friend or neighbor?

In both scenarios, you may want to know the source, whether the source could be trusted, and the data or factual basis upon which the warning was based. You would also want to know exactly what it is you are supposed to do and when you are to do it to avoid the calamity. You would not want to risk the outcome by not knowing exactly what to do, or by basing your response on faulty information. 

Or would you? Who would be a trusted source for you? What would it take for you to believe your source and do as instructed? 

Is the promised result in either scenario enough to motivate you to action? Perhaps the first scenario is more compelling because we can see and understand the immediate result if we fail to take the required action. The second scenario may not seem so immediate and is therefore easier to dismiss or more likely to put off, even though the source for the second scenario may prove to be the ultimate source, as in: just because the source said it will happen it will! If it does prove to be the ultimate source, will you recognize it, even if it comes from another person?

Hear Him say it:

"I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3;5).

The source is the key or is it? I believe that the biggest obstacle will be you! Because if you can't get yourself, your heart's desires and your preconceived ideas and beliefs out of the way, the source will not matter! Even if the source is God! You may even acknowledge that God is the source, which is another way of saying, give lip service, that the source can be trusted, but is that enough to get you to act? 

What data would you rely on? If you were shown one specific historical example of destruction or captivity which resulted in a people's failure to repent, would it make a difference in your response? What if you were shown 5, 10 or even 15 historical examples and were told that they were types of endtime events, would you then give heed? Or would it require something much more personal like your own Road to Damascus experience? 

Even though having your own unique experience may motivate you to take the necessary action, you must experience and see what others don't see, and see it clearly. I am sure that Paul came away from his experience on the Road to Damascus clearly seeing things that he had never before seen. But how does that happen to you? 

The solution is not found through reason or rational thinking alone, but requires a change of heart or an experience that changes your heart. Trusting the source and gathering data may give you more information and maybe even cause you to be better informed, but will it be enough to cause you to want to repent, or to actually repent?

The scriptures are full of examples where experiences change the heart and therefore the desires of the heart. Without a willing heart, one that is not distracted by Babylon, all the data will not be enough, even if you think you trust the source. Alma beheld with great joy that the Zoramites were compelled to be humble and that they were in a preparation to hear the word of God (Alma 32:6). "...for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance" (Alma 32:13). 

But then Alma says that they were blessed because they were compelled to be humble, but "they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word" (Alma 32:14). "Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God..." (Alma 32:16).

Two other examples involve King Lamoni and his father.  Both were taught by Ammon and Aaron in such a way that made them part of the play, not just observers (Alma 18 & 22). It wasn't just Adam's fall that they learned about, but its impact upon them, and their need for the atonement, and because of the word they were humbled sufficiently to desire to believe what they were being taught by the Spirit through Ammon and Aaron. 

Through the word they actually experienced their own lost and fallen condition and the need to repent and come unto Christ. They didn't need to be warned of destruction before they repented. They were humbled because of the word. And they both later said that all they could do was repent. (Alma 24:11). Usually the warnings come because we have refused to repent or think we need no repentance. 

I could elaborate on this, but it requires a willing heart, and a desire to believe His words. If we haven't already learned and experienced through His words our need for Christ, He will continue to do whatever it takes to get us to see and experience the need. And He will do this through warnings, reminding us of His Justice, inviting and even commanding us to repent. Even through people like me.

For Paul it was the Road to Damascus, for Alma the elder it was Abinadi, for Alma the younger it was an angel, and for my friend it was a year of hell filled with uncertainty and concern. For Tom Christopherson it was being Gay, for the Zoramites it was being cast out of their synagogues, for Alma the Elder it was hearing the words of God through Abinadi, and for Joseph Smith it was a question that he wanted an answer to. For some it was having their souls illuminated by the light of the everlasting word. And for Amulek, for Zeezrom, for the Sons of Mosiah, for Corianton, and for you?

If you are not repenting because of His word, then perhaps prophetic warnings may be for you. But maybe before you will repent, the prophecies need a warning like the one on your car mirror--things are much larger than they appear!

Perhaps we can see the smoke, but not the fire. And even though the fire is racing up the hill, we may have not gone far enough down the valley to see it. 

Known as the Mann Gulch fire, after an area in Montana that had burned back in 1949 is a good example.  A decade earlier the U.S. Forest Service had created an elite team of smoke jumpers who parachuted into fires. One August afternoon, fifteen young men, most between the ages of seventeen and twenty-three, parachuted into what they thought was a small and simple fire. They landed by 4:10 p.m. and began to hike down into Mann Gulch, with the heavy packs and Pulaski axes on their backs. They didn't know each other and, as they hiked, they split into smaller groups. To their right was a steep ridge, to their left a creek, or so they imagined. There weren't many trees, just tall grass, but they were unable to see much ahead of them. A mile or so down the gulch, the creek drained into the Missouri River. Their plan was to walk to the river, cross over the creek, and fight the fire with the river at their backs. The river at their backs was their escape route.

However, as they neared the river, there came a shocking sight--fire. It had jumped across the creek and now blocked them from the river. Worse, it was moving across the grass toward them. One moment the fire had been invisible, the next a terrifying wall of flames thirty feet high. It was now 5:45.

They turned to flee, but the only escape route was up and over the steep ridge. Investigators later measured the ridge's 76 percent slope. The fire had a tailwind of 3 or maybe even 4 miles an hour when the young men first spotted it. Ten minutes later, at 5:55, the fire was traveling at 7 miles per hour. One minute later, at 5:56, the hands on the wristwatch of one of the young men melted in place: that's how the investigators determined exactly when ten of the fifteen had burned to death, still carrying their heavy packs and Pulaski axes.

The other five had escaped. Three had dropped their Pulaskis and made it over the top of the ridge--though one died the next day of his burns. The fourth also died within a day. The fifth, their thirty-three-year-old leader, the beautifully named Wag Dodge, survived.

His may be the most interesting story. At 5:55 p.m., with the fire just a minute away and rushing toward him at ever greater speed, he’d lit a second fire, up the hill he needed to climb. As his fire burned the grass in front of him, he walked into it and threw himself onto the hot ashes. He’d called for his men first to abandon their packs and Pulaskis, and then to follow him into the fire he’d set. Either they didn’t hear him or thought he’d lost his mind; at any rate, they didn’t really know Wag Dodge or have any reason to trust him. Dodge alone heard and felt the main fire passing by on either side of him, leaving him unscathed. Until that moment there was no history of a firefighter having done such a thing, but it became an accepted strategy in the fighting of grass fires. “Escape fire,” was what they’d call it. The event so captivated the writer Norman Maclean, best known for his only other book, A River Runs Through It, that he wrote a book about it, called Young Men and Fire.

We are reactive and tend to only intervene when things are getting bad, but what we underestimate is the speed at which bad moves. Or perhaps we aren’t seeing what we cannot see because we aren’t looking for it. And unless we see very clearly that the fire is a real danger, we will not feel the urgency of the situation.

That is the tragedy! Because once you have seen what is in store—once you have seen that process—you want no one to be lost, you want no soul to be lost. 

"And we have suffered 

all manner of afflictions, 

and all this, that perhaps 

we might be the means 

of saving some soul; 

and we supposed that 

our joy would be full if 

perhaps we could be 

the means of saving some."

(Alma 26:30)

And the tragedy is they will not hear. They bring that death upon themselves and that destruction upon themselves, and others and nothing that is said or done stops them. It is best to repent because of His words, before the need to be warned, because for some the warnings are not heard until it is too late.

"O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared, and they would not have been burned in that great city Zarahemla" (3 Nephi 8:24).

Everyone has a story they tell themselves about themselves. Even if they don’t explicitly acknowledge it, their minds are at work retelling or editing or updating a narrative that explains or excuses why they have spent their time on earth as they have. They fall victim to their own self image. If everyone has somehow come to believe that you speak French fluently, why contradict them?

Assuming all is well denies the possibility of disease already in the heart, just hidden from sight or diagnosis because of a bit of a Catch-22. So how exactly do you find something that you refuse to look for (the Catch-22) because you believe it can’t be there? Or you believe it won't affect you or those you love? 

One could think of the interventions like a fire extinguisher. It will be effective if the fire is caught early (say only a grease fire on the top of a stove). But once the fire has spread and half the house is ablaze, you can empty the fire extinguisher, but it won’t do much.

By the time people realize that their house is on fire, they need more than a fire extinguisher. The trick is to learn how to smell the smoke and see that it is your house and not someone's down the street.

There is this arrogance, or unwillingness, even to fathom that Book of Mormon prophets might know more about this than you do. Or that history has nothing to teach you. But it does!

Back to the pandemic for a moment as an example. If the citizens in certain zip codes still insisted on some fiction, the virus would expose the lie. The virus will always expose that we are lying about ourselves, and what we think we need to do.

You let the falsehood continue until slowly the falsehood takes over. By the time you’re done, you are no longer just filling blank spots. You have this burden of maintaining optics. It’s all optics!

Learning lessons is like someone who looked down at their phone while driving and drifted onto the shoulder but didn't hit anything. The lesson is not as strong and defined. But had that person hit a mailbox or ended up in a ditch and wrecked his car, he would have learned a harder lesson. But if he had hit and killed a pedestrian or a child in his car, he probably would not want to get into the driver's seat again for a long time. In each case, though, the lesson is the same, even though our response to it is not. And our response is different because of the outcome or what we think the outcome will be.

If you want to preserve your personal immunity to the hard problems, it’s better never to really understand those problems. There is an upside to ignorance, and a downside to knowledge. Knowledge makes life messier. It makes it a bit more difficult for a person who wishes to shrink the world to a worldview. Perhaps this is why we have been told that we are ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Maybe we don't want to. Why upset the good life, the comfortable life with endtime prophecies?

If you told someone that a tornado might be headed her way in a week, she’d give you a funny look and go about her business. If you pointed out to that same person the tornado bearing down on her house, she’d dive for cover. 

I am interested in figuring out when and why complacency turns into alarm, and when and why alarm turns into action.

All kinds of things might happen to you in life. By sheer accident only a few of them do. That tiny subset shapes your view of the world, to an alarming degree. If your whole life had been lived in a war zone, you would react to warnings of an attack to protect yourself and your loved ones. But if you have lived your whole life in peace and comfort, warnings would mostly go unheeded. 

The Lord only warns those who have not either been compelled to be humbled or have not humbled themselves because of the word. Nothing is more effective in putting us in the play than His words. Even Paul's Road to Damascus experience was an invitation to hear His words.  

Perhaps the best example for how we can have our own Road to Damascus experience is found in 3 Nephi 11.

As the people of Nephi were conversing one with another about changes that had taken place in the land Bountiful and about 'this Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death,' they heard a voice and cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice.  They heard the voice again and again did not understand it. But on the third time that they heard the voice "they did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were toward the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came," and they did understand the voice, and it said unto them: "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name--hear ye him" (3 Nephi 11:1-7 emphasis added). The key to their hearing and understanding was that they finally "did look steadfastly toward heaven, from whence the sound came," and quit conversing among themselves!

Calling others to repentance comes as a result of hearing Him. Can you hear His voice in these words?

"I give unto you 

these words:

Behold, I have 

manifested unto you, 

by my Spirit 

in many instances, 

that the things which 

you have written are true; 

wherefore you know 

that they are true"

(D&C 18:1-2)

"Behold, the world is 

ripening in iniquity; 

and it must needs be 

that the children of men 

are stirred up 

unto repentance, 

both the Gentiles 

and also the house of Israel."

(D&C 18:6)

"...for, behold, I command 

all men everywhere to repent, 

and I speak unto you, 

even as unto Paul mine apostle, 

for you are called even 

with that same calling 

with which he was called.

Remember the worth of souls 

is great in the sight of God;

For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer 

suffered death in the flesh; 

wherefore he suffered 

the pain of all men, 

that all men might repent 

and come unto him.

And he hath risen again 

from the dead, that 

he might bring all men unto him, 

on conditions of repentance.

And how great is his joy 

in the soul that repenteth!

Wherefore, you are called 

to cry repentance 

unto this people"

(D&C 18:9-14).

Talk about your own Road to Damascus experience! You are called like Paul to not only repent but to call others to repentance! Can you hear Him speaking to you?

"And I, Jesus Christ, 

your Lord and your God, 

have spoken it.

These words are not of 

men nor of man, but of me; 

wherefore, you shall testify 

they are of me and not of man;

For it is my voice which 

speaketh them unto you; 

for they are given 

by my Spirit unto you, 

and by my power 

you can read them one to another; 

and save it were by my power 

you could not have them;

Wherefore, you can testify 

that you have heard my voice, 

and know my words."

(D&C 18:33-36)

I like the phrase 'stirred up unto repentance.' What better way to stir people up than with His words! And a lot of people saying nothing but repentance will stir people up. He is the source. He has spoken and given us His words, and by His words we can know that if He says "repent or perish' if we do not repent we will perish! It is now up to us to hear them and teach them to others!

But how does He define repentance? 

Being active is not repentance. 

Being a good father or mother is not repentance. 

Being nice and kind is not repentance.

Paying tithing is not repentance. 

Going to the temple is not repentance. 

Having an important calling is not repentance.

And these have nothing to do with repentance.

As evidence--

"And he spake this parable 

unto certain which trusted 

in themselves that 

they were righteous, 

and despised others:

Two men went up into 

the temple to pray; 

the one a Pharisee, 

and the other a publican.

The Pharisee stood and 

prayed thus with himself, 

God, I thank thee, 

that I am not as other men are, 

extortioners, unjust, adulterers, 

or even as this publican.

I fast twice in the week, 

I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the publican, 

standing afar off, 

would not lift up so much 

as his eyes unto heaven, 

but smote upon his breast, 

saying, God be merciful 

to me a sinner.

I tell you, this man 

went down to his 

house justified rather 

than the other: 

for every one 

that exalteth himself 

shall be abased; 

and he that humbleth 

himself shall be exalted" (Luke 18:9-14).

And another--

"What shall we say then? 

That the Gentiles, which 

followed not after righteousness, 

have attained to righteousness, 

even the righteousness which is of faith.

But Israel, which followed 

after the law of righteousness, 

hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

Wherefore? Because 

they sought it not by faith, 

but as it were by 

the works of the law. 

For they stumbled at that stumblingstone."

(Roman's 9:30-32 emphasis added)

Just make sure you do what He tells you to do, and how He tells you to do it. And how do you know? 

"Wherefore, I said unto you, 

feast upon the words of Christ; 

for behold, the words of Christ 

will tell you all things 

what ye should do"

(2 Nephi 32:3).

My own Road to Damascus experience.