![]() ![]() ![]() As lonely Mormon, whose only music was in his soul, moved toward culminating Cumorah, Bishop Ambrose of Milan instituted hymn singing in church. ![]() Approximately when Jacob was tediously engraving on the plates, a physician in India reportedly performed cataract surgery.Ībout when Ammaron hid the sacred records witnessing of God’s introducing His resurrected Son, Jesus Christ, to the Nephites-Constantine convened a council to discuss whether or not God and Christ were of the same substance. 2:31–45.)Ībout when Lehi and his pioneering party landed in the Americas, Solon, the Greek reformer, was striving to end economic distress caused, partly, by an 18 percent interest rate.Īs Pompey conquered Jerusalem, two thousand stripling warriors were fighting for Nephite liberty. They could scarcely be expected to know about Daniel’s stone cut out of the mountain without hands. The Chinese in the Ch’in Dynasty were busy with stones and the Great Wall of China. Furthermore, secular history is usually silent concerning spiritual things. ![]() However, unlike our time, ancient nations and cultures were often unaware of each other. They, no less than we, are children of an Almighty God and are fully included in His redemptive plans. Yet these, and all other peoples, will be indelibly and irrevocably blessed by Jesus and His atonement. Yet consider: the wondrous four Gospels tell us vital, salvational truths, but not what the Persians, Chinese, and Indians were about during Jesus’ mortal ministry. The Holy Land was a comparatively small strip of sand, about two hundred by seventy-five miles! Even so, therein occurred the central drama of all human history. Truth, as Mount Sinai showed, transcends the importance of the terrain on which it is given. 12:3), trying our patience and our faith until we, too, learn that “none could deliver but the Lord God.” ( Mosiah 23:23.)Īs to scale, what occurred in the gardens of Eden and Gethsemane is of enormous significance to all mankind, but it was inversely proportioned to the tiny plots of earth on which those eternity-shaping dramas were played out! The Lord chastens so that we will remember Him (see Hel. Thus, the lesson taught ancient Israel is still relevant: only three hundred warriors were used by Gideon to triumph over Israel’s enemies, “lest Israel vaunt themselves.” (See Judg. 1:26.)īut there is still more to be allowed for!Īs if comparative obscurity, smallness as to scale, and ample human imperfection in the membership of His Church were not enough, the Lord wants a humble as well as a pure people. 1:27.)ĭisciples need not be embarrassed by considerations of scale any more than by the infrequency of prestigious converts, since, as Paul said, “Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” ( 1 Cor. Nevertheless, “God hath chosen the foolish … to confound the wise … the weak … to confound the … mighty.” ( 1 Cor. 1:27 D&C 1:19, 28 D&C 133:58–59.) With heightened visibility, this fact, too, then creates its own set of challenges. For instance, though the gospel light is small, the adversary knows what it signifies, hence his disproportionate efforts to dim it.įurthermore, God has chosen to work through those whom the world regards as weak and foolish. (See D&C 14:9.) This emerging reality brings with it its own set of challenges and opportunities. 27:29.) Thus, as foreseen, Christ and His work are becoming a light which can no longer be hidden. The Lord described how He will bring His latter-day work “forth out of obscurity and out of darkness.” ( D&C 1:30 see also 1 Ne. Obscurity denotes that which is “generally unknown” and “withdrawn from the centers of activity”: hence, the obscure is often misunderstood. (See D&C 38:30.)Īmong other things, the past obscurity of the Church is giving way to visibility. If we are prepared, we shall neither fear nor fail in our particular time. My brothers and sisters, the Church is at one of those hinge points in its history-the ending of one era and the beginning of another, each with its blessings and its challenges. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |