We read about the prophets being persecuted. We know that
they were cast out and stoned and killed for what they preached to the
people. We admire the early saints for their resilience in the face of
the adversary. But it isn't until we stand up on the wall and cry
repentance ourselves that we can begin to understand the kind of faith
we need to have to resist the arrows of the adversary.
The
people of Dandenong threw me some interesting arrows this week. Person
after person used the same one. I would tell them about how the truth
was lost and brought back through a prophet named Joseph Smith, and how
the proof of that is in a book called the Book of Mormon. They all told
me, "That's not true." I've had people say they don't believe it, or
people question the message of the restoration, but never have I had
people tell me outright, "That's not true." And then this week, person
after person after person, angrily told me that I have it wrong, that my
convictions are false, that I have been deceived. People have told me
to go away and cursed me in unkown languages and offered to sit down
with me and tell me the "truth" because I am confused and what I believe
won't get me to heaven. They told me I should be afraid of hellfire. I
told them they cannot tell me what I know and do not know. I shook their
hands and walked away.
But what they don't know is that
what they are reviling against is the way, the truth, and the life. They
don't know that they are following in the footsteps of many before them
in rejecting the fruit of the tree of life and feeling their way
towards the great and spacious building. It doesn't matter that they
reject me; I'm just a 20 year old who still has a lot to learn. But it
does matter that they reject the message that I have been sent to
deliver. "For behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I
have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they
might have everlasting life." His word is the truth. His word is the
way to everlasting life. That truth and that way does not change with
the opinions of men. They can deny the truth all they want, but that
does not change universal, eternal truth.
And though men rebel against it, I know with a surety that the truth is on the earth again. I know that I have been called to share it with the world. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the way. And I come to cry repentance. Let men say what they will. I will just be grateful that they no longer use stones.
