Instead a abbreviated version of the philosophical side of Joseph Smith and the use of the Book of Mormon was given in a more testimony format to finish the time in the meeting. I feel my original talk is still the better talk and think this talk needs to go back to the drawing board.
The Restoration of the Gospel
The greatest event that has ever occurred in the world s ince the resurrection of the Son of God from the tomb and His ascension on high, was the coming of the Father and of the Son to that boy Joseph Smith, to prepare the way for the laying of the foundation of His kingdom, not the kingdom of man, never more to cease nor be overturned (President Joseph F.. Smith)
This is one of President Joseph F Smith's most famous quotes. We just heard a wonderful talk by _________________ on the first visitation or first vision.
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The first visitation of God to Joseph Smith marked the end and the beginning of many things of great importance to mankind. Specifically, it marked the end to the longest drought of revelation from God the world had ever seen. We know this in scripture as the great apostasy from prophets such as Amos, Micah and Isaiah in the Old Testament as well as Paul's teachings to the Thessalonians in the New Testament. From a more history standpoint we might commonly refer to it as the dark ages.
Great evil was seen across the globe from a lack of God, and even greater evil was done in the name of God. Much of the old world's cultures and conflicts still trace their roots to histories, memories, and agendas from these times. The great apostasy destroyed much that we knew about the nature of God and our relationship to him. Man's purpose and destiny was now lost.
Although the scope and length of the great apostasy might seem unique, the pattern of apostasy and restoration has been repeated many times. This pattern has followed from Adam to the present. Indeed, from a world history standpoint, the whole history of the earth might be viewed as just consecutive apostasy's as we the very children of God turn away from our Father over and over.
Looking less at the history groups and countries, this pattern also exists in our families and personal testimonies. Forsaking true principles, disbelief and an unwillingness to conform to God's laws are what create the apostate condition. Greatly magnified this is the only real tragedy in life, which is sin.
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Isaiah 24:5
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance,broken the everlasting covenant.
Once we have sinned we become apostates. We are unworthy to be in God's presence and we are yet again in the pattern of apostasy.
slowly
We, need, help. We, need, truth. We need... a restoration.
slowly
Zooming out again to the world view and the great apostasy the world also needed a restoration. Just as man seems determined to repeat failure and fall from grace, God on the other hand is determined to save his children and exalt them.
God began to pour his spirit out to those seeking truth in preparation to bring about a restoration. He led men in exploration to the new world. He inspired men in new ways of thinking through the renaissance period. Inventions like the printing press paved the way for critical thought about mans relationship to God. The age of enlightenment brought about libertarian concepts of government and eventually our very own constitution and bill of rights.
Freedom of religion was needed to establish the Kingdom of God again on the earth. Where previously satan had stirred of the hearts of the wicked to attack his people with armies and navies, this time God could establish his church in great power with its defense being ideology and freedom of conscience.
Elder Oaks noted about the Bill of Rights specifically about the guarantee of religious freedom. Elder Dallin H. Oaks made the remarks in his keynote address at the Constitution Day Celebration held in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. Sept 2010
“This right to free exercise of religion, he said, is one of the supremely important founding principles in the U.S. Constitution.“We are fortunate to have such a guarantee in the United States, but many nations do not,” Elder Oaks said. “The importance of that guarantee should make us ever diligent to defend it. And it is in need of being defended. During my lifetime I have seen a significant deterioration in the respect accorded to religion in our public life, and I believe that the vitality of religious freedom is in danger of being weakened accordingly.”
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In a landmark address Feb 4th 2011 to the Chapman University School of Law, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of theQuorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirmed the importance of the free exercise of religion and called for people to work together to protect this First Amendment right. “It is imperative that those of us who believe in God and in the reality of right and wrong unite more effectively to protect our religious freedom to preach and practice our faith in God,” he said.
Elder Oaks outlined the positive impact religion has had on society.
“In our nation‘s founding and in our constitutional order, religious freedom and its associated First Amendment freedoms of speech and press are the motivating and dominating civil liberties and civil rights,” Elder Oaks said. This freedom is founded upon “religious principles of human worth and dignity” that protect the conscience of all individuals. He further emphasized that “only those principles in the hearts of a majority of our diverse population can sustain that Constitution today.”
Elder Oaks stated that religious values and political realities are “so interlinked in the origin and perpetuation of this nation that we cannot lose the influence of religion in our public life without seriously jeopardizing our freedoms.”
Elder Oaks noted instances in which individuals who have spoken out or acted in accordance with their religious beliefs have been disciplined, dismissed from their employment and otherwise punished, describing these cases as another sign of the threat to the free exercise of religion.
“All of this shows an alarming trajectory of events pointing toward constraining the freedom of religious speech by forcing it to give way to the ‘rights’ of those offended by such speech,” Elder Oaks said.
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Even with freedom of religion the restoration was difficult. It involved great persecutions, conflicts and hardships. But, we declare boldly that this is the Church of Jesus Christ! The very same which preached the law of sacrifice during restorations of Adam, Noah and Moses. The very same that witnessed the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ in the meridian of time. We pray in in his name, we worship in his name, we are called by his name and our church is so named because this is his church of which he is its master.
Loudly we proclaim that which started with a visitation to the boy Joseph Smith, we have received the new and everlasting covenant.
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Hebrews 13:20
20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
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DAC 66:2
2 Verily I say unto you, blessed are you for receiving mine everlasting covenant, even the fulness of my gospel, sent forth unto the children of men, that they might have life and be made partakers of the glories which are to be revealed in the last days, as it was written by the prophets and apostles in days of old.
What is the everlasting covenant, and if it is everlasting how is it new?
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I pause for a minute with an aside many might find beneficial. Many times much smarter men than us have summarized difficult definitions or labeled out with wonderful clarity hard concepts. The bible dictionary is a treasure trove of many of these. However, it is old and many of its best quotes and comparisons come from scholars of a different time. There is a sort of bible dictionary 2.0 for our time which builds upon much of the gems of the bible dictionary and is current to the positions and teaching of our time. I am referring to The Guide to the Scriptures which is a study aid the church has released alongside our many other aids with the latest online version of our scriptures. In this case the specific phrase new and everlasting covenant is not found in the bible dictionary but is found in the The Guide to the Sciptures.
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I quote from it(The Guide the Scriptures) as follows on the new and everlasting covenant:
NEW AND EVERLASTING COVENANT
The fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ (D&C 66:2). It is new every time it is revealed anew following a period of apostasy. It is everlasting in the sense that it is God’s covenant and has been enjoyed in every gospel dispensation where people have been willing to receive it. The new and everlasting covenant was revealed again to men on earth by Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. It contains sacred ordinances administered by priesthood authority—such as baptism and temple marriage—that provide for man’s salvation, immortality, and eternal life. When people accept the gospel and promise to keep God’s commandments, God covenants to give them the blessings of his new and everlasting covenant.(https://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/new-and-everlasting-covenant)
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I witness that I have seen the blessings of this covenant. I declare that this church has the authority of God to administer the ordinances required to enter in to the everlasting covenant. Further, I rejoice in the good news of our Lord's triumph over death and his ascension on high. This is our message. It is for all men. It is the message of the restoration! I close with a quote from Bruce R McConkie from a 1981 Ensign report.
“The message of the Restoration includes three great truths, truths which must be accepted by all mankind if they are to save themselves. These are, first the divine Sonship of Christ; second, the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith; and third, the truth and divinity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
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I admit to have given this talk many times during my ministry as an elder and in a couple meetings afterwards when the topic was the restoration of the gospel. Never had I written my talk out however, and the importance of religious freedom was never included. As I prepared this talk I felt very strongly that the conditions for the restoration were very connected to the teachings of the restoration. Further after reading Elder Oaks excerpts and listening to his warning on the erosion of religious freedom, I feel very strongly that I need to be more engaged in efforts to maintain it.
When speaking about apostasy I touched on how apostasy is a pattern which does not just affect nations and groups but families and individuals. We must be vigilant in defense of our religious freedoms because although the kingdom of God will not be taken again from this earth, we have no promise that individuals, communities, states and countries may lose their religious freedoms and slowly fall into apostasy without the ability to worship freely. And if we have religious freedom and are not in apostasy, let us make haste to remind our lost loved ones of the restoration and the blessings that await should they return to their covenants.
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In the name of Jesus Christ amen.
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