Basic Beliefs of Mormons

We have so many examples of miracles in the Holy Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. Miracle after miracle, such as:

• The healing of a leper. (Luke 5:12-13)
• The healing of a man with palsy. (Luke 5:18-25)
• The raising of a dead man. (John 11:1-2,5,11,14,43)
• The healing of a blind man. (John 9:1-12)

Just to name a few. But many have said that miracles ended with the Bible. Many say Jesus Christ is not God. They denigrate the great and crowning glory of mankind, the Atonement, as a falsehood. They deny the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Messiah of the New Testament. They say that God no longer speaks to man.

I challenge all that and I say miracles do exist to this very day. I say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and a member of the Godhead, our Savior and Redeemer. I say the Atonement did happen, that Jesus was crucified, died and broke the bands of death with His Resurrection. All this is truth. God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

President Thomas S. Monson, the 16th called prophet in these modern times, spoke of miracles in 2004:

In my library is a personally inscribed, leather-bound copy of this classic treatment of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. As I have perused its pages, I have paused at the section entitled “The Miracles of Jesus.” I remember as though it were yesterday President [J. Reuben] Clark asking me to read to him several of these accounts while he sat back in his large leather chair and listened. That was a day in my life never to be forgotten.

President Clark asked me to read aloud the account found in Luke concerning the man filled with leprosy. I proceeded to read . . .

When I had read these scriptural stories aloud, President Clark removed from his pocket a handkerchief and wiped the tears from his eyes. He commented, “As we grow older, tears come more frequently.” After a few words of good-bye, I departed from his office, leaving him alone with his thoughts and his tears.

As I reflect on this experience with President Clark, my heart fills with gratitude to the Lord for His divine intervention to relieve the suffering, heal the sick, and raise the dead. I grieve, however, for the many, similarly afflicted, who knew not how to find the Master, to learn of His teachings, and to become the beneficiaries of His power. I remember that President Clark himself suffered heartache and pain in the tragic death at Pearl Harbor of his son-in-law Mervyn S. Bennion, captain of the battleship West Virginia. That day there had been no ram in the thicket, no steel to stop the shrapnel, no miracle to heal the wounds of war. But faith never wavered, and answered prayers provided the courage to carry on. (Thomas S. Monson, “Miracles of Faith,” Ensign, Jul 2004, 2–7)

May I briefly share a recent experience in my life which testifies of a loving, giving Father in Heaven?

As I have mentioned before, in previous posts, my husband will be receiving a kidney transplant next Tuesday, April 15, 2008. He was diagnosed with renal failure seven years ago when he weighed 425 pounds. He has worked out, when he was strong enough, enough to have lost 130 pounds. A miracle in and of itself because he did not use drugs, appetite suppressants or have a gastric bypass. He just paid attention to what he ate and drank and exercised when he was strong enough.

The last two years have been particularly hard on him, multiple hospital stays and ICU stints with every single one of them. He's grown weaker and weaker as the 7 years of dialysis began to take a huge toll on him. But he could not get a kidney transplant until he'd lost all the weight.

The week Mitt Romney dropped out of the presidential race we found out the donor we'd counted on had also been disqualified. For the first time in my life my unshakable faith was shaken. No, not because of Mitt Romney, but because suddenly, there was no longer a donor and my husband was in the hospital one more time, having gone septic again, and I feared he would not live long enough to find another donor.

My heart was broken and I cried out to my God in pain, sorrow and fear. I couldn't understand how this had happened and I didn't know where to go from there. I had believe all along, with a deep and abiding faith, that this woman would save Alvin's life. But a familial disease she'd never mentioned before suddenly took her out of the running.

Three days after Alvin was admitted to the hospital a young woman came to visit. She learned of the loss of the donor and immediately stepped up to the plate. Three weeks after that the phone call came and she was a match.

A modern-day miracle.

As the process moved forward, rather quickly, we learned that Alvin had to lose a drastic amount of weight in a relatively short amount of time. We tightened our diet more, began working out four times a week and redoubled our efforts. He lost 22 pounds, but it was not enough. There were 50 stubborn remaining pounds, all centered around his belly, that were not coming off. He'd gone from a 58" waist to a 44" waist, and it still wasn't enough. But we kept working out and praying hard. Family and friends joined us in the fasting and praying, weight continued to come off. Still not enough.

I received a phone call from our transplant coordinator and she said Alvin would need to have a tummy tuck before the transplant, or rather, tummy tuck and while Alvin was still open, the kidney would then be placed inside. The catch? Although the $250,000 surgery and post care were completely covered by insurance, the tummy tuck was not. We had a week-and-a-half to raise the $2,500 in cash.

Upon further questioning, I learned that any fat around the abdomen could damage the newly implanted kidney which would be placed right behind the abdominal wall. To insure the protection of that kidney, that remaining fat had to be removed.

We'd just concluded a medical bankruptcy and had nothing left. Nothing at all. Again, my faith was shaken. It should not have been, but it was. How on earth would we raise $2,500 in a short amount of time. We'd sold everything that could be sold. The bankruptcy court took our tax return and everything in our bank accounts. We literally had nothing left.

Again, I knelt in anguished prayer and when the answer came to me it was something we did not want to do. Alvin and I are hard workers and prefer to work for what we get than ask for help. It's simply how we were raised and who we are. But the answer came to send an email to family and friends and explain the situation asking for help.

It took me four days of begging for any other solution, any pay off for the incredible amount of work I'd put in on numerous projects, any pay off for the thousands of dollars owed to me . . . but nothing happened. This past Saturday I knelt once again and the same answer came to me once again. I reluctantly walked down to my home office and composed an email. I set up a Paypal account for the purpose of collecting the donations and a bank account to download them into. And then I hit send.

My heart heavy, I went upstairs to our bedroom, curled up on our bed and cried. This may have meant to be a humbling experience, but instead it was so humiliating to us that we could scarcely hold our heads up.

Within fifteen minutes money began to pour in. Over the course of the next 48 hours more funds began to accumulate until we have almost reached the required monies.

A modern-day miracle.

I have been the recipient of miracle after miracle in my 44 plus years of life. And yet, this day in this week in this month, more miracles have poured in than we can possibly count.

Yes, sometimes faith is shaken. But if you keep believing, more so, if you simply trust in the Lord then, if it is His will, the miracles will come. If they don't come, there is a specific reason and purpose and it gives us the opportunity to ask what we are to learn.

I testify with my entire heart and soul that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father. I testify that His Son, Jesus Christ, descended from His heavenly throne to fulfill His mission of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39) Through Him, and only through Him, is the path to eternal exaltation. We were never meant to walk this path alone. The development of faith, which precedes the miracle, is sometimes a slow process, but it is a journey and a gift. But I promise you that great happiness await when we reach out to the Savior and give Him our burdens.

I testify to you of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in its entirety. We were meant to be happy, even in the toughest and most tragic set of circumstances. That peace, which brings happiness, comes from the Holy Ghost, the Comforter and the Testifier of Truth.

Believe, for God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Miracles still exist and they always will.

Jesus Christ said,

Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. (3 Nephi 27:13)

Paraphrasing that scripture, I heard a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Mormons, paraphrase the Savior, saying,

I came into the world, because my Father asked it of Me.

This struck me hard. Jesus Christ, knowing what He was facing and His ultimate end, came into the world that He might pay for all the sins, sorrows and illnesses of every one of Heavenly Father's children (the Atonement), suffering unimaginable pain and grief in the Garden of Gethsemane, as well as break the bands of death (Resurrection) after being cruelly and inhumanely crucified, freeing all mankind from the grave. He knew, in theory, what He was facing.

And yet, when He was chosen by the Father in that Grand Council in heaven, He accepted this mission because of His deep and abiding love for Heavenly Father, and for each of us.

And so can we look over our lives, knowing the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been fully restored in these modern time through the Prophet of the Restoration. We were sent to live here in mortality, learn, grow and return in glory to our Father in Heaven. We are here, because He asked it of us.

While Jesus Christ is our Savior, Lord and Redeemer, we are foot soldiers in the army of the Lord. We have been asked to stand tall, bearing witness to the truthfulness of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Jehovah of the Old Testament and Messiah of the New Testament. We have been asked to bear witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, a history of Lehi and his family and their journey to the world, Jesus Christ's subsequent visit to a decimated America and the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We've been asked to bear witness of the fact that the Book of Mormon is a second witness of Jesus Christ. We have been asked to live our lives according to the practices, principles and precepts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And why have we been asked and proceeded to do this?

Because our Lord asked this of us, as did His Father.

As the trials and tribulations of life grow heavier, I have paused amongst the chaos of preparing for my husband's kidney transplant on the 15th of April, to remember . . . I am here, because He asked it of me.

Our great Exemplar, Jesus Christ, has shown by every step He made, every word He spoke and every life He touched how we are to behave in every aspect of our lives. And this is another such example . . . we will do, because He asked it of us.

Thirteen years ago Alvin and I moved into the home we live in now. The ward we belonged to has turned out to be the most astounding group of people whom we have come to love and adore over the years of our acquaintance and friendship.

I was called to be the Young Women President within a month of our marriage. I was professional, young and apparently "hip," according to the girls. I wouldn't ever have classified myself as such, but there you have it . . . me . . . hip.

There were two particular girls, seniors, who were having personality conflicts with some of the people in the Young Women organization. They decided to give me one chance, on the day I was called and sustained, before leaving for good.

I stood that Sunday and bore my testimony of Jesus Christ, His Restored Gospel and the Book of Mormon as a second witness of Jesus Christ. I talked of how my study of the New Testament had led me to seeking my testimony and confirmation of the principles and precepts I'd been taught growing up. I spoke of the beauty of eternal marriage and having my family around me throughout the eternities. But most of all I spoke of how happy I was to be called as the Young Women President and was looking forward to getting to know each and every one of the girls.

Rosa and Tara became frequent visitors in our home. Alvin and I came to love them so deeply. Rosa eventually moved in with us before finally taking the leap and moving out on her own. Tara married a wonderful man who joined the military. They were stationed in Turkey and then ended up stateside before her husband was shipped out again, to Iraq.

Tara became my visiting teacher and I was privileged to get know her better, as a grown woman, wife and mother. She has grown into a marvelous woman, with a firm grasp of the gospel and an iron strength typical of military wives.

A few months ago, really probably about 8 to 10 weeks, Alvin was rushed to the hospital with yet another infection which threatened his life. He spent three days in ICU before they moved him to a regular floor. During that time Tara came to visit and she learned we'd lost the donor we thought was going to give Alvin a kidney. She asked me more questions and as we were walking down the halls of the hospital she asked what blood type Alvin was . . . I responded.

"That's my blood type. I'll give Alvin my kidney."

I was shocked, stunned . . . really, my head was reeling because of the suddenness. Although I knew the chance of her being a match was slim to none, I gave her the transplant coordinator's phone number. Three weeks later we received the call, Tara was a match! Now, on April 15th, as mentioned in a previous post, Tara will be giving a kidney to my husband.

I have paused to reflect over the last thirteen years and all the interactions between Tara, Alvin and me. I shudder to think, had we been condescending, arrogant, impatient or obnoxious at any given time in the last decade would be arriving at this moment today?

An age-old lesson applies here, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Never could I have imagined that Tara, with her husband in Baghdad, would one day be the one who would save Alvin's life. I can certainly say this much, we are forever indebted in gratitude to her for the astounding gift of life she has given him. Because of her Alvin will be able to live free of dialysis and all that comes with it.

May God open the windows of heaven and pour them out upon this little family that they may be protected and blessed beyond their wildest imagination.

Today we received notification of Alvin's transplant surgery. From the moment he was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure seven years ago we have pushed forward with faith, diligence and an astounding amount of courage and strength. My husband has remained unfailingly cheerful and optimistic even when the greatest of trials weighed him down. Me, there were times I shut myself in the bathroom where no one could hear and cried. Nonetheless, the moment is finally here. A chance for my husband to live a life free of dialysis and the innumerable dialysis induced traumas and illnesses.

As I have paused amongst the hustle bustle of trying to get everything organized and in place (you cannot imagine the amount of doctors appointments, paperwork, etc. that have be waded through) I have begun to realize the magnitude of the Lord's hand in this miracle.

Thirteen years ago Alvin and I were married for time and all eternity in the Bountiful Temple. It was an extremely sacred experience which culminated a very long start and stop courtship. We have been very happy since that day, except for the instance of Alvin's health.

Faith is a very simple thing. There were times when it appeared Alvin would not survive the illness striking him down. At those times I became so confused because I was told to have faith and I did and do, but I also realize that we must be willing to submit ourselves to the Father's will. That is simply not as easy as it sounds.

President Gordon B. Hinckley, the 15th called prophet in these modern times, said:

We know not all that lies ahead of us. We live in a world of uncertainty. For some, there will be great accomplishment. For others, disappointment. For some, much of rejoicing and gladness, good health, and gracious living. For others, perhaps sickness and a measure of sorrow. We do not know. But one thing we do know. Like the Polar Star in the heavens, regardless of what the future holds, there stands the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, certain and sure as the anchor of our immortal lives. He is the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith.

In sunshine and in shadow we look to Him, and He is there to assure and smile upon us.

He is the central focus of our worship. He is the Son of the living God, the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten in the flesh. He is “risen from the dead, … the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20). He is the Lord who shall come again “to reign on the earth over his people” (D&C 76:63; see also Micah 4:7; Revelation 11:15).

None so great has ever walked the earth. None other has made a comparable sacrifice or granted a comparable blessing. He is the Savior and the Redeemer of the world. I believe in Him. I declare His divinity without equivocation or compromise. I love Him. I speak the name of Jesus Christ in reverence and wonder. He is our King, our Lord, our Master, the living Christ, who stands on the right hand of His Father. He lives! He lives, resplendent and wonderful, the living Son of the living God. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “We Testify of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, Mar 2008, 4–7)

For one, even as I, who might struggle with understanding where faith leaves off and God's will picks up I have come to a single conclusion:

We must have faith that God's will is the best way to go.

I do know this, in times of great despair I have felt the comfort and love of my Savior sweep over me. At moments when I feared I was facing Alvin's death, the peace, despite the overwhelming sorrow, swept over me and calm settled within my soul.

Now is a time of great rejoicing for our family. We are so thrilled Alvin will be receiving a new kidney and a new lease on life. We have faith that whatever the outcome it will be in our best interest. But to be honest, we're believing the best of everything is going to happen and preparing for the worst. And we will lean on our Rock, our Redeemer . . . for only through Him can we truly find the faith to continue down this path.

The scriptures are filled with examples of what happens when we are obedient, and conversely, disobedient.

Noah was commanded to build a boat and gather the animals, male and female, because the Lord was going to flood the earth due to the extreme wickedness. (Good thing He promised to never do that again!) Noah obeyed and because he did, every single one of us is here. Every human being on this earth today is descended from Noah.

“A just man and perfect in his generations,” one who “walked with God,” (Genesis 6:9) was the prophet Noah. Ordained to the priesthood at an early age, “he became a preacher of righteousness and declared the gospel of Jesus Christ, … teaching faith, repentance, baptism, and the reception of the Holy Ghost.” (Bible Dictionary, “Noah,” 738–39) He warned that failure to heed his message would bring floods upon those who heard his voice, and yet they hearkened not to his words.

Noah heeded God’s command to build an ark that he and his family might be spared destruction. He followed God’s instructions to gather into the ark two or more of every living creature that they also might be saved from the floodwaters.

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) taught in general conference more than half a century ago: “As yet there was no evidence of rain and flood. … [Noah’s] warnings were considered irrational. … How foolish to build an ark on dry ground with the sun shining and life moving forward as usual! But time ran out. … The floods came. The disobedient … were drowned. The miracle of the ark followed the faith manifested in its building.”

Noah had the unwavering faith to follow God’s commandments. May we ever do likewise. May we remember that the wisdom of God ofttimes appears as foolishness to men; but the greatest lesson we can learn in mortality is that when God speaks and we obey, we will always be right. (Thomas S. Monson, “They Marked the Path to Follow,” Ensign, Oct 2007, 4–9)

Sometimes it seems as if it is impossible for us to follow God's commands, but it behooves us to remember what Nephi tells us in the Book of Mormon:

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. (1 Nephi 3:7)

This is a good lesson for me right now too. Heavenly Father is not a capricious God. Neither is His Son, Jesus Christ. When we are asked to do something it really is for our own good.

In 1833, Joseph Smith - the prophet of the restoration, received a revelation known as the Word of Wisdom (D&C 89) which gave Mormons a clear outline of the way to good health through diet. We were asked to not drink alcohol, smoke or chew tobacco or drink coffee. We were asked to eat meat, fruits and vegetable in their seasons, etc. In 1833 that seemed insane to many people. And yet look at what we know today.

Alcoholism is a crippling and destructive disease which decimates lives and families.

Smoking or chewing tobacco causes all kinds of horrible cancers.

Coffee can keep you awake, but it turns out caffeine coats your nerve endings and interrupts the messages being sent. In the long run, it can cause you so much damage.

Obedience, being the first law of heaven, helps us to understand that Heavenly Father is simply looking out for us. He would like us to go through this mortal phase of our eternal existence without chains which bind us physically, emotionally and psychologically . . . life is hard enough without being a slave to a destructive habit.

Nephi is right. There is nothing God commands we do that He does not prepare a way. Always, always . . . if we are willing to follow He lays the path. Jesus Christ, our Exemplar, Savior and Redeemer, is that path back to our Father in Heaven and our heavenly home. All we must understand is that obedience frees us from the chains and inevitable result of destruction on many levels.

President Boyd K. Packer:

“By following the rules,” said President Packer, “you will never make a serious mistake … either while you are on your mission or thereafter without being warned. You will never take the wrong road, you will never go around the wrong bend, or make the wrong decision without your having been warned. That pattern is the pattern of the Latter-day Saint. You were confirmed a member of the Church, and you had conferred upon you the gift of the Holy Ghost to be a guide and a companion to you.” (William D. Oswald, “The First Law of Heaven,” Ensign, Jan 2008, 10–11)

Indeed this is the promise given those who choose to live worthily enough that we may receive promptings from the Holy Ghost. Not to preclude all trials and tragedies we may face, but to face only those we must rather than those which are a direct consequence of our actions. We are given peace, comfort and strength from the Holy Ghost that we might return to our heavenly home in triumph. This is I testify to you is absolutely truth . . . you have been given the path and the way, follow it home.