FaithWorks!
No, really, faith works. That's what I want to talk about. Truly, I finally understand how faith works. Doesn't mean I practice perfect faith all the time. It just means I now know how to exercise faith. It takes a lot of work. That's the answer. Faith is works and those two words can never be separated if you expect your faith to work.
It all started some time ago:
FAITH “...is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 1:11).
The Apostle Paul was trying to help the Hebrews understand faith. Do you understand the words in this verse? We like to think we know what it means to hope for something we can’t see, don't we? We all wish we were there to hear Paul so as to understand the spirit of his words. And, quite often, we turn that hope into a simple wish.
A simple, heartfelt wish makes me think of a Disney film. In this feature length film, Pinocchio, we're told the story of a wooden puppet that wished to become a real boy. Along the way, a character named Jiminy Cricket, who also becomes Pinocchio's Conscience, sings a wonderful little tune about ‘...wishing upon a star...” and “...how dreams come true”. In a simple wish there is an awful lot of hope. I'm kind of a visual learning nut. I'll probably reference other visual context to help you see how I think. Anyway, I think in today's world, hope often takes a leap and becomes faith to many, just as it does to Pinocchio. However, I think St. Paul has more in mind than a simple wish on a star.
Members of the LDS faith, are familiar with another scripture defining faith. Though very similar sounding, the verse in the Book of Mormon is actually very different than that in the Bible. It's found in the book of Alma and it reads:
“...faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye have hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21).
There is a little difference here. Do you see it?
In Alma’s version, there are obviously a few more words. They are key words. First, I noticed the word have in connection with the word faith. Look at it again. Alma says: ‘...if ye HAVE faith...’. You're asking me....SO? That's a good question. How do you HAVE faith? Just thinking about the word ‘have’, it might mean to get, to gain or to obtain. I thought, how do we do get faith? Alma kind of answers by saying we have faith if we hope for things we can’t see, which are true. There's another bunch of ideas. So, to have or to get, to gain or to obtain faith, we simply must HOPE for something we can’t see which is true? That's a very interesting idea.
What, then, does it mean to ‘hope’? Online dictionary searches will tell you hope is a "feeling of expectation and desire for certain thing(s) to happen". Therefore, in the context of our topic and what Paul and Alma are teaching me, I should expect the things they are telling me about the Gospel of Jesus Christ are true and hope those things happen as they said they would. Is that correct? Yes.
This idea of hope sounds a lot like or at least relates to the word believe. Don't you think? If I put the ideas of belief and the scripture statement of ‘not seen’ together, I immediately think of being blind yet believing or the phrase blind faith. All these words can lead me to being hopelessly lost, but wait, there's more.
Like I said, I'm a visual learner much like the Apostle, Thomas. I often find myself telling people who are just trying to help to "Show Me". Maybe Thomas and I should have been born in Missouri. Look, here’s what I mean about visual learning. My thoughts pictured another scene from another film.
On the horizon I see the Emerald City of Oz. This film is also filled with hope, wishes, things unseen and great examples. After arriving in the city, I see a close-up of the ‘Cowardly Lion’. In another scene, he's ringing his tail in his hands as he repeats out loud ‘...I do believe in ghosts, I do believe in ghosts, I do, I do, I do believe in ghosts...”.
Every Thanksgiving brought with it the anticipation of this endearing movie and seeing it on a television, in color (yes, I'm that old). It was so thrilling as a child to gather at Grandpa's house (yes, he was the first to have a color T.V.) and watch movies on this little screen, in color. Now, as an adult I'm supposed to put away childish things (yeah, right) and look at the Cowardly Lion's portrayal. Was he a hope and belief? Was he trying to increase his belief or even faith in ghosts? He knew that he was afraid of ghosts, seen or unseen. Was he trying to convince these unseen characters (ghosts) that he believed or had faith they really existed? What was going on with the Cowardly Lion? He certainly was ‘exercised’ about something.
It seems, the Cowardly Lion had hope and belief. But, what about his faith? Is faith even part of the equation? Is that how faith works? Was he exercising faith or was he trying to just believe a little harder in ghosts or maybe, convince someone else he believed in ghosts.
There was word in Alma's description of faith that kind of started me down this road? If you recall, that word was 'have'. How do we have faith? I think most of us have wondered at some time just how do I have more faith? Haven't you asked yourself that question when you've been challenged to just .."have a little more faith.."? Is there a way to focus more of my brain's power and thoughts so as to increase the amount of faith? Is that how we gain more faith? Is great mental exertion the way to more faith? Do we just need to think harder or hope more or believe a little longer in order to have more faith?
I don't know that simply thinking, hoping or trying to believe a little more works as an answer for me. But, here's how I think about such things.
Let’s say we have faith to become a great pianist. Does hoping or believing you will be able to play the piano make you a great piano player? Funny how my mother was certain I would never reach the lofty goal of playing the piano well or at all, by sitting on the piano bench, pining for a half an hour to be outside playing something else. She knew I had to put my fingers on the keyboard and practice what I had been taught. Mom, along with a patient piano teacher, tried to convince me it takes a lot of practice to become a piano player.
Here's another idea. I've always thought I should have been on the PGA tour. I'd like to have been the next Tiger Woods, Michelson or McElroy. Truly, I thought about it a lot, I hoped desperately, at one point I even believed I played golf well. Although most golfers will tell you how much their ‘head’ does get in the way of their golf, just thinking, hoping or believing will not result in you becoming a great golfer. The fact remains, it takes a lot of practice to become a scratch golfer, let alone a professional.
One more idea. So, I always thought, hoped and believed I could get the body I'd been given in great physical shape. Sadly, however, it actually takes serious dedication to exercise and effect any change.
You get the idea. Let's look at becoming more faithful. Does the same thing apply? I mean just a little more thinking, hoping or trying to believe doesn't make me faithful. Something has to be done.
Just like the three previous examples, faith requires exercise. We have to practice and practice faith in order to become full of it. One might speak of being faithful. Are you truly full of faith? We must exercise, unceasingly, to be full of faith, right? One caveat. You have to practice that which is true in order for it to work its miracle.
The same is true for piano, golf, body building or anything else. Someone wise said: "It's not practice that makes perfect, but perfect practice that makes perfect".
I want to give one more shot at working faith by desire, thought, hope or belief. How long would we have to think about a mountain moving, remembering we haven’t seen a mountain move but, truly trying our hardest to believe it would move. How long before that miracle would occur? Truly, how long would we have to think about it? Is that a legitimate question or a fanciful thought? There’s that part about whether it’s necessary for us to move the mountain or the practical concern whether God needs us to move a mountain, etc., etc., but that's not our question for right now. Let’s read the scripture that led us to these questions.
There is a very important aspect to Alma’s statement of faith the New Testament writer did not add or others, in their compiling, may have left out. Paul and Alma mention the idea of hope for things not seen, but, only Alma mentioned the idea of hoping in things ‘...which are true...”. Eureka! How can we hope for something we’ve never seen and know the thing is true? Confusing?
Sometimes we get stuck in confusion until we just go back and read the scripture. Funny how the answers are always there.
Jesus said: ‘...If ye have faith and,...say unto this mountain ‘Be thou removed,...it shall be done...’(Matthew 21:21). I think somewhere in that statement is an answer.
The words of Jesus Christ are true. His words are found in the Scriptures. So, if His words are true and those words are found in the Scriptures, can we say we ‘believe’ the scriptures to be true. If you are stuck on that concept, then proceeding will be difficult, at best. For now, trust me, the scriptures are true and, actually, you can find that out by continuing on with me and learning how to exercise faith.
For our purposes here, we will determine the Word of God, the Scriptures to be one thing, that is true, one thing in which we can have a valid hope.
Makes me think of another movie, “City Slickers” (1991). Billy Crystal and Jack Palance’s characters were talking about 'just one thing’...oh well, maybe you didn’t see it. Nevertheless, we now know there is at least one thing, that is true, in which we may have a correct hope. THE SCRIPTURES!
In The Beginning....
What a great place to start. Adam. We know the story well, ‘... it was not good for man to be alone...’ (Moses 3:18) and the woman, Eve, joined Adam in this adventure. Of course, you know the story and can read it again in The Pearl Of Great Price, the book of Moses, Chapter 3.
Adam and Eve were given a choice. Eve chose first and according to the story, Adam finally chose and chose wisely I might add (that reminds me of another film...‘Indiana Jones, The Last Crusade (1989)’, never mind). Upon finding themselves ‘...driven out...’ (Moses 5:1) of the Garden, because of their choices, they were given other choices. Adam and Eve wisely chose to obey the commands of God (Moses 5:1–4) by offering sacrifice. The scriptures tell the story best. Let’s pick it up in Moses 5:5, where it says:
5 And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.
6 And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.
7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.
8 Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore (Moses 5:5–6).
In verse 5 Adam and Eve chose obedience to the command of God to sacrifice.
In verse 6 Adam and Eve remained obedient by offering sacrifice for many days.
Also in verse 6 after those many days of exercising their faith by sacrificing and obeying, an angel appeared to Adam and Eve.
Again in verse 6, Adam and Eve didn’t know why they were to obey the command to sacrifice. They simply hoped and believed what God was asking them to do was right.
This idea rumbled around in my head for ‘many days’, until one interesting time when I was reading the Book of Mormon.
I happened to be near the end of the Book of Moroni, reading Moroni’s remembrances of the words of his father Mormon. These are the words that caught my attention.
“AND now I, Moroni, write a few of the words of my father Mormon, which he spake concerning faith, [and] hope” (Moroni 7:1).
The words faith and hope caught my attention. I also remembered the words in Moses 5 about Adam and Eve, their sacrifice and obedience for many days and an angel appearing. I kept reading the rest of chapter seven. You should read it too! As you do, keep in mind Moroni is reciting his father’s words all in context.
In verse 1 of Chapter 7, Moroni remembers his father speaking about faith. In verse 21, you see Mormon come back around to this idea of faith as he says: “And now I come to that faith, of which I said I would speak” (Moroni 7:21).
By verse 37, an interesting thing occurs. Let's read it: “...it is by faith...that angels appear and minister unto men...” (Moroni 7:37). Or, in reverse, angels appear and minister. Thinking again about Adam and Eve's experience, I remembered to have read: “...and after many days, an angel...appeared...”(Moses 5:7) and did what? The angel ministered to them. Cool! So between Mormon and Moses teaching me in the scriptures, I find that angels appear and minister to men after many days of offering sacrifice and obeying God's command.
About this same time, I was teaching in the priests' quorum. We thought it a good idea to have the priests learn 13th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants by having them recite this short section as often as they met.
"UPON you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.” (Doctrine and Covenants 13:1, underline, mine).
The ministering of angels stood out like the proverbial sore thumb. The section uses the word keys which is plural. Reading closely, it occurred to me it spoke of two keys in this manner; One - the key to the ministering of angels, and Two, the key to the gospel of repentance, which Gospel includes baptism for the remission of sins.
Asking myself questions, I came up with these.
If there is a key to the ministering of angels, what is that key? (D&C 13:1)
Moroni told me his father Mormon said: ‘...it is by faith...angels appear and minister...’ (Moroni 7:37).
In the book of Moses an angel appeared and ‘ministered’ to Adam and Eve after many days of offering sacrifice and obedience (Moses 5:6–7).
The answer the answer to the question of 'what is that key' seems to be pretty evident. Adam and Eve had the first key to the Aaronic Priesthood key to the ministering of angels as described in D&C 13:1?
Lastly, what were Adam and Eve doing before the angel appeared? The scripture in Moses says they were sacrificing and obeying God's command.
Adam and Eve seemed to have had the first key mentioned in Section 13, that being the key to the ministering of angels. If Faith is the key to the ministering of angels, how was it exercised? The key was exercised by sacrifice and obedience. More specifically, sacrificing their will and obeying God's command.
Don't we see that in our own lives over and over again? Faith doesn't come all at once. It takes sacrificing what we would choose and turning our hearts to God's commands. We must do it over and over again.
You've heard, faith precedes the miracle. Well, yes, those miracles come but only by faith, exercised through sacrifice and obedience for many days, or enduring to the end in sacrifice and obedience.
Take a moment and read Hebrews 11. Examine Paul’s examples of people exercising faith. Read Moroni 7 again and review those descriptions of how people exercised faith. Read Alma's treatise on faith in Alma 32 and see how these people exercised their faith.
You will see that in every instance of exercising faith, it is accomplished by the individual sacrificing their will and obeying God's. What is the sacrifice? It is always the same. It is the sacrifice of one’s own will to the will of the Father. When we speak of one who is faithful or full of faith, we speak of one who is obedient, in every instance, to the will of God by sacrificing personal will.
What do you think Abraham’s will or desire was regarding Isaac? He had waited a long for this son of promise. But, Abraham knew God. He had conversed with God. He knew God was true and though Abraham hadn’t seen or heard of this command before, he believed and hoped what Father was asking was right. He was willing to do as Father commanded, and, that is another clue, ‘...willing to...’.
In the Doctrine and Covenants 20:77 and 79 we read the prayers on the sacrament. Keep in mind Abraham’s sacrifice as you read. You are very familiar with this scripture. It says in part: “...that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments...” (Section 20:77).
By the ‘flesh’ or in the flesh as we are, we must be willing to submit our temporal, telestial will to that of God. Eating the bread of the sacrament brings a flood of thought to mind. Jesus was willing to give up his physical will to bring us all an opportunity to live again in the flesh. He sacrificed as He was commanded. Even, Jesus, the great God learned to be faithful by obedience. We see his desire to have it be another way “...let this cup pass...”, but His ultimate willingness to obey by submitting to His Father’s will was his choice. Are we willing to do the same? We are not necessarily asked to die on a cross, but we are asked to sacrifice our will daily?
After we take of the bread and ponder the idea, the prayer on the water is read. It reads in part: “...they DO always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them...” (Section 20:79).
Once we swallow our pride and come to the realization we must sacrifice our temporal will and obey God’s command, we have actually accomplished the mental and emotional task in exercising faith. There is another task.
The next step is to DO something about it. Just as the prayer on the water (blood) suggests, after we are willing, we must DO! We speak in lofty terms of the ‘blood spilt’ by Jesus, but do we understand just what that means? It means He, Jesus, did do what he was asked to do. All He asks us to DO is keep the commandments. When we DO keep the commandments, we exercise faith by being obedient.
Here it is again, sacrifice and obedience. The 'doing' of these two things; sacrifice our will (mental exertion or submission of the spirit) and keeping or obeying commandments (physical exertion), we exercise faith.
It is by faith that mountains move, it is by faith that the course of the river is changed, it is by faith that the dead are raised. After many days of practicing faith, we will have exercised faith in our own behalf. We will become full of that faith. There is one more hugely significant part to these sacrament prayers. By sacrificing our will and being obedient, we have a promise. We are promised that we ‘...may have his Spirit to be with [us] them”. And, once again, it is the Scripture that clarifies. 2 Nephi 32:5 tells us that by receiving the Spirit, as promised in the Sacrament Prayer, "..it will tell you all things what ye should do". All things.
The sacrament prayer is a renewal of the baptismal covenant. Baptism is something we must DO. Partaking of the Sacrament is something we must DO. When we partake of the bread and water we are promising (again) to exercise our faith. When we live the Sacramental Prayer we are exercising our faith. If we promise to “...always remember Him...”, we, in turn are promised to “...always have His spirit with them [us]”.
Come back with me to Moroni and his father Mormon for just a moment. Moroni tells us Mormon was trying to teach us this very concept, the one about having the Spirit with us always. Remember in the beginning of chapter 7 of Moroni. In verses 2–20, Mormon identifies to whom he is speaking. He’s speaking to us the ‘..peaceable followers of Christ...’ (v.4). He then tells us as followers of Christ how we might judge what is good. Always. He tells us ‘...all things which are good cometh of God...’ (v.12), and in verses 13–20 he explains we are given a way to judge.
Then, in verse 21 he tells us it is faith he is speaking of here. That by faith we are able to ‘...lay hold on every good thing...’. Now watch! In verse 22 he tells us ‘...God....sent angels to minister unto the children of men ...’, continuing on with his treatise on faith through verse 37, he tells us by what power angels appear and minister (don’t forget D&C 13). Mormon then completes this wonderful teaching with charity, which is a gift of God to man after the exercising of faith. We’ll discuss charity another time.
Let’s review again:
1. There are keys to the Aaronic Priesthood. (D&C 13)
a. The first is the key to the ministering of angels (D&C 13). What is that key?
b. That key is Faith (Moroni 7:37).
c. The second key is the gospel of repentance which includes baptism and the sacramental promises (D&C 13).
2. Faith is mental submission of one's will as well as physical obedience.
a. Adam and Eve obeyed God’s command to offer sacrifice (Moses 5:6).
b. This is how we arrive at Faith being exercised by sacrifice and obedience (Moses 5:6–8). Why? Because by so doing, an angel appeared and ministered which appearance occurs by faith.
c. When asked, Adam didn’t know why he obeyed, except he believed what God had asked him to do was a true even though he hadn’t seen the answer (Heb 11:1; Alma 32:21).
3. Hope is a qualified belief. It comes of belief in something we can’t see, yet we hope is true. How do we know something to be true? By exercising (sacrifice and obedience) faith which, in turn, allows the Spirit to be with us always. The spirit will tell us all things that we should do.
4. “One Eternal Round” If we believe, we have hope, if we have hope, we exercise faith, if we exercise faith, the spirit will always be with us and we will know how to judge what is of God or true. If we know a thing to be true we can have hope in that thing and thus the continuation of faith in one Eternal round.
5. Enduring to the end means exercising faith (sacrifice and obedience) ‘...for many days...’ until the ultimate fulfilling of the exercising of faith ‘...for it is by faith that angels do appear and minister...’
I think the more we ‘search’ the scriptures, the more we come to understand the ‘big picture’ Father is trying to get us to see. I would conclude with the following verses from the Twelfth Chapter of the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon.
4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works (sacrifice and obedience), being led to glorify God.
5 And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people, which they did not believe, because they saw them not.
6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial (practice, exercise) of your faith.
7 For it was by faith that Christ showed (appeared, angels appear) himself unto our fathers, after he had risen from the dead; and he showed not himself unto them until after they had faith in him; wherefore, it must needs be that some had faith in him, for he showed himself not unto the world.
8 But because of the faith of men he has shown himself unto the world, and glorified the name of the Father, and prepared a way that thereby others might be partakers of the heavenly gift, that they might hope for those things which they have not seen.
9 Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith.
10 Behold it was by faith that they of old were called after the holy order of God.
11 Wherefore, by faith was the law of Moses given. But in the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way; and it is by faith that it hath been fulfilled.
12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.
13 Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth.
14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
15 Behold, it was the faith of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites.
16 Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after.
17 And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith.
18 And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God.
19 And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad.
20 And behold, we have seen in this record that one of these was the brother of Jared; for so great was his faith in God, that when God put forth his finger he could not hide it from the sight of the brother of Jared, because of his word which he had spoken unto him, which word he had obtained by faith.
21 And after the brother of Jared had beheld the finger of the Lord, because of the promise which the brother of Jared had obtained by faith, the Lord could not withhold anything from his sight; wherefore he showed him all things, for he could no longer be kept without the veil.
22 And it is by faith that my fathers have obtained the promise that these things should come unto their brethren through the Gentiles; therefore the Lord hath commanded me, yea, even Jesus Christ.
23 And I said unto him: Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them;
24 And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them.
25 Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words.
26 And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness;
27 And 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; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
28 Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness.
29 And I, Moroni, having heard these words, was comforted, and said: O Lord, thy righteous will be done, for I know that thou workest unto the children of men according to their faith;
30 For the brother of Jared said unto the mountain Zerin, Remove—and it was removed. And if he had not had faith it would not have moved; wherefore thou workest after men have faith.
31 For thus didst thou manifest thyself unto thy disciples; for after they had faith, and did speak in thy name, thou didst show thyself unto them in great power.
32 And I also remember that thou hast said that thou hast prepared a house for man, yea, even among the mansions of thy Father, in which man might have a more excellent hope; wherefore man must hope, or he cannot receive an inheritance in the place which thou hast prepared.
33 And again, I remember that thou hast said that thou hast loved the world, even unto the laying down of thy life for the world, that thou mightest take it again to prepare a place for the children of men.
34 And now I know that this love which thou hast had for the children of men is charity; wherefore, except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father.
35 Wherefore, I know by this thing which thou hast said, that if the Gentiles have not charity, because of our weakness, that thou wilt prove them, and take away their talent, yea, even that which they have received, and give unto them who shall have more abundantly.
36 And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity.
37 And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.
38 And now I, Moroni, bid farewell unto the Gentiles, yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment–seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood.
39 And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things;
40 And only a few have I written, because of my weakness in writing.
41 And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen. (Ether 12:4 - 41)
What do you think of when you see the word Scriptures? If you could find incredible meaning and new answers adding to your understanding, would you be interested in reading more?
