4/10/2017 - Section 10:33-34

April 10, 2017

Section 10:33-34

Satan’s Tactics, Stone Cut From the Mountain Without Hands, Testimony, Keep The Commandments, Obedience,

I went back a little to v 33 because the first few words of that verse grabbed my attention: “Thus Satan thinketh to overpower your testimony in this generation, that the work may not go forth in this generation.” Certainly, I can see Satan’s strategy here. The Lord has prophesied that in the Latter-days His gospel shall be as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands that would become a great mountain and would fill the whole earth. If Satan could stop that just by stopping one, young Joseph Smith, it would do wonder’s for Satan’s cause. For “the Prophet Joseph Smith’s mission signaled the eventual triumph of God’s kingdom over Satan’s.” (p 23)

As I see the trends of today-- where so many are failing to see the power of faith or feel the reality of the spirit-- it is very possible that the words of verse 33 can be applied to any of us individually. Satan still “thinketh to overpower [our] testimony”, and if he is successful with just one set of parents, he has taken not just those parents, but also innumerable offspring of their future generations. For him, a little work now reaps great long term benefits for him in his wicked efforts to defeat the eternal effects of the Lord’s gospel.

As tragic as Satan’s efforts are –especially when they affect our children and our grandchildren—I do know that the Lord knows the final outcomes. I will always remember the talk from the 1980’s that went something like this: ‘There is no question as to which side will win. The question is which side will we be on.’

In the very next verse, 34, God gave us the key to our protection against the subtle & powerful efforts of Satan: “But behold, here is wisdom, and because I show unto you wisdom, and give you commandments concerning these things, what you shall do…” The solution is simply to keep the commandments—a solution so simple that it is sometimes hard for us to realize it’s tremendous power.

President Hinckley’s spoke of individual testimony: “The Bible had stood for centuries. It is a precious and wonderful book. Now there was a second witness declaring the divinity of Christ. The Book of Mormon is the only book ever published, of which I know, that carries in it a promise that one who reads it prayerfully and asks concerning it in prayer will have revealed to him by the power of the Holy Ghost a knowledge that it is true (see Moroni 10:4).”

In these perilous days—more important than our 2 year supply--it is our spiritual supply. If we ever feel it running low, the solution is to go to the Lord in prayer and each day add some reading in the Book of Mormon with the repeated request that it will bolster our faith with spirit. And once we feel that spirit in our lives again, then praying to recognize the Lord’s hand in our lives everyday, and everyday express our thanks for His divine help and aid---that’s when the ‘spiritual knowledge’ comes. We have taken our hypothesis, we have tested it, we have recorded the results: that is the ‘I know’ of our testimony. It’s perfectly fine to start out with the ‘I hope’, but we need to remember that the ‘I know’ is just a little, sustained effort away. The Lord stands with open arms, but it’s up to us to seek those arms…to knock and request His loving help and comfort. It is there, for I KNOW.