Nov. 2023
What is the evidence of my testimony?
One of the evidences of my testimony, revealed to me when praying recently, is the simple fact that I, as a human being, with God-given intelligence and sound powers of reasoning, have persisted in following the commandments of God as revealed to living prophets. This consists in regularly studying the doctrine in the Holy Scriptures and the revealed word and writings on gospel topics, serving faithfully in my callings, forming a committed marriage to a faithful daughter of God in the temple, going on two church missions with her to Cambodia and Massachusetts, in addition to my first mission as a 20 year-old in 1960 to The Southern States and Florida mission, raising a loving family with spouses, grandchildren and great grandchildren that bless those around them. I am currently in the process of trying to endure to the end as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.
I have had spiritual confirmation of my testimony in various ways throughout my life and I will share a few of those in the following.
As I think about the evolution of my testimony it cannot be tied to one or two events or experiences. Gaining a testimony for me requires an acknowledgment of all of my life experiences. There isn’t a day that goes by without my thoughts being influenced by my testimony. It impacts what I think, what I say, how I act and react.
My upbringing was influenced by people around me who had varying and different levels of testimony and influence upon me.That would include my parents, brothers and sisters, members of my LDS ward as I grew up, friends I associated with in school and at church along with all the people I have met since those early years. .
I was taught the principles of responsibility and dependability in my home and it served me well through all of my years since: as I grew up, married, and helped in raising our children. It influenced my service in the church, how I served in my church callings. I wouldn’t think a day would go by where those attitudes didn’t come into play in home, school, my vocations and avocations,and as I changed over time.
Recently, during the course of reading several chapters in the Book of Mormon, thoughts and feelings came to me that reminded me of similar experiences in the past. I remembered a time on my mission to Florida when I shared some statements in 3rd Nephi Ch. 11 concerning the survivors of the terrible destruction associated with the crucifixion of Jesus. These people had gathered around the temple in the land of Bountiful discussing events that they had recently experienced. As they were talking with each other, they heard a voice, a voice that appeared as if it came out of heaven, “it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice,...it being a small voice, it did pierce them…to the center.” A second time the voice was heard but they couldn’t understand it. It was not until the third time that they understood the voice that came from God the Father, saying: “Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.”
As the people looked into heaven, they saw Jesus descending from heaven and who then invited them to approach him and feel the wounds of his crucifixion.
As I related that experience to the individuals who had invited them into their home I felt a tingling feeling go through my body that what I was telling them was the truth.
Another momentous testimony affirming event took place on a Sunday in October of 1962, after I had come home from my mission in Florida. Bonnie and I had been seeing each other and dating exclusively since I returned in June of that same year. The Saturday night before this Sunday she challenged me to find out where I felt this relationship was going, and not to contact her until I knew for myself whether I was serious about our relationship. Well, we had been writing to one another (she was working in Salt Lake) multiple times each week and seeing each other every weekend. On Sunday evening I would ride back to Provo to my room and board location with her when she drove back to Salt Lake for the next week’s work.
On my mission in Florida, I had been influenced by a statement by Elder Marion G. Romney concerning D&C 9:8 about making correct decisions. You were to study it out in your mind, make a decision and then if it is right you will receive a burning in the bosom. I assumed that a burning in the bosom would be similar to that feeling I had received on my mission. I spent the whole of Sunday fasting and praying, seeking that confirmation. Finally, late that Sunday it came.
That I had received a correct, confirming answer to my prayers is clearly in evidence as you examine our resulting decision to marry and commit ourselves to one another. That is 60+ years of ongoing proof that the spirit had confirmed a decision on that fall Sunday in 1960.
One last instance–a few years later, during the time we were in Oxen Hill, Maryland, I read through the Book of Mormon again. I gained a witness that the prophets of the Book of Mormon were real people, testifying of Christ and His teachings. I knew that in a way I had not known it before.
What do I have a testimony of?
Thinking back it seems that most of the instances of testimony building for me have been associated with the Book of Mormon and the witness from the Holy Ghoast that what I was reading was true. I have come to see that for me, the Book of Mormon is more to me than “another Testament of Jesus Christ.” For me it was the crowning testament of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon prophets throughout the 600 years before Christ, and the 400 years after knew His name and taught His teachings. They knew and understood the principle of the atonement and his gift of grace. They knew that He was to come in the meridian of time and they were aware of the signs of his birth and death. Some of them were ministered to by Him when he appeared after His resurrection. He prayed for them and their children and ushered in a period of peace and prosperity that lasted for several centuries.
The veracity of the Book of Mormon as restored in the Fullness of Times has numerous implications and makes numerous connections for me. It confirms the Prophet Joseph Smith as a Prophet of God and ratifies Joseph’s account of seeing God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove. As a result, Joseph saw other heavenly messengers such as Moroni to whose charge the Gold plates were given which were eventually translated by Joseph Smith by the gift and power of God. John the Baptist restored the Aaronic Priesthood to him and Oliver Cowdery.. They were visited by Peter, James and John who restored the Melchizedek Priesthood.
He was taught the importance of temples and step by step learned what the purpose of the temple was. Priesthood keys and certain ordinances were introduced in the Kirtland Temple as heavenly messengers restored them. A fuller understanding of ordinances and the endowment of power was made available in Nauvoo, and in the Nauvoo Temple.
Joseph gave all of the necessary keys to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in Nauvoo before his martyrdom. Brigham Young understood the first steps of the succession in the presidency shortly after Joseph and Hyrum were removed and the First Presidency was no longer intact. Brigham Young, as president of the Twelve Apostles led the church to the mountains in the west and to the Salt Lake Valley, a location previously revealed as the location to which the saints were to start their new settlement.
One of the first major construction projects was to build a meeting place, which was called the Bowery. And then plans were set in motion to construct the Salt Lake Temple, the third temple in this dispensation. This work was slow going and Brigham saw the need to put in writing the details of the endowment ceremony before his death. Thus the construction of a temple in St. George was begun and he along with Apostle Wilford Woodruff began this project. The St. George temple was initially dedicated for use in January of 1877, with the formal dedication being done in a General Conference of the church held in St. George Utah, the first time the General Conference of the church was held at a site away from Salt Lake. This was the first temple where all of the temple ordinances related to sealing and work for the dead were performed. Brigham passed away in August of 1877, having completed his work as the prophet and seer succeeding Joseph Smith. But the keys held by him have been passed down in an orderly way from that time to the present. President Russell M. Nelson holds those keys today.
Since that time there have been adjustments made in parts of the endowment ceremony but nothing has been changed concerning the ordinances and covenants of the temple. Mom and I have seen many of these “adjustments” take place during our time as active temple attenders, with the most profound being introduced this year, 2023. The temple today represents the place where the plan of salvation becomes clearly laid out to enable us to understand the plan of exaltation.
All of the events cited above certify the testimony I have of the life and Gospel of Jesus Christ and support the stories of his life and earthly ministry described in the Bible. This is the testimony that I share with each of you who read this account. May you be blessed as I have been blessed.