Transcription
My fellow missionaries, I count this a great honor to have the privilege of spending these few minutes with you this beautiful day in Texas. I think that one of the greatest blessings that comes to a person in this life is the calling of a missionary.
Now, I can't help but think, and I won't tell you how long ago, what a challenging thing it was to come into the mission field. And I'm sure that it was an equally traumatic experience for you. And you've got loved ones at home that are praying for you and thinking about you and hoping that out there there's some special people that our heavenly father has set up just waiting to hear your testimony and your knock at their door so that you'll have the great thrill of sharing the treasure of the gospel with them.
Now, I received my calling at the age of 17 along with one other 17-year-old missionary that I later became acquainted with from Arizona. And we were two 17-year-olds that were allowed to go on the mission field that particular year. In order to go on a mission, I had worked here in Texas part of the time at a dollar a day and my board driving four mules on a Fresno in order to save up the necessary funds in order to go. And because I was sent to England and my father had to pay the way, he had to sell his favorite team of horses so that I could go.
Everything was just great. It was so exciting. I got a new suit. Just one. Just one. And a new pair of shoes and a new outfit and that was precious money that I spent for it. And it was so exciting going over on the boat with the former Prime Minister of Canada on a boat called the Empress of Australia. We sailed out of Quebec and then we hit the storms in the North Atlantic Sea. We were all ill for about 4 days, but anyway, finally we landed in Plymouth and were taken to London where the mission headquarters were. And by the time I got to London, I was a very homesick 17-year-old boy. I was a man when I left. When I hit London, I was a boy. I didn't see anything that looked familiar to me at all except a Kellogg's Corn Flakes sign.
When I got on the train and they asked me for my fare, I said to the conductor, "How much is it?" And he said, "A couple of bob and tuppence ha'penny." So, I just changed the $5 bill and I reached in my pocket and held it out and hoped he was honest. I had no idea what he was talking about. So, I went up to the mission headquarters and most of the elders that came over with me, they'd been to college somewhat. They knew all the fellows and I was a missionary from California and in those days there weren't very many missionaries going. I didn't know anybody. So, they were all fraternizing and how-to-doing and I kind of enjoyed it the first 15, 20 minutes, but after a while I got a little lonesome.
I was sitting over on a couch all by myself and a great big elder came over and said, "Elder Skousen?" I said, "Yes." He said, "I'm Elder Done from Arizona." Oh, I said, "Hi. Hi." I said, "I know a lot of Skousens in Arizona." I said, "Yeah, that's family headquarters, but I'm from California." He said, "How would you like to be my companion tonight and go out on a street meeting at Hyde Park? My companion is ill and I thought maybe you'd like to go." Well, I said, "Do I have to speak?" "No," he said, "you won't have to speak. Just I just need to have somebody with me." "Oh," I said, "I'd like to go."
So, he went over into a closet and he reached down and he picked up what looked like a bag of sticks. Long round sticks wrapped in a canvas. He took his briefcase and said, "Follow me." So, we went into the underground railroad as they called it. And uh pretty soon we came up and he said, "This is Hyde Park." Amazing. Thousands of people all milling around. Over here was a communist talking against the government. Here was a Salvation Army playing so loud you couldn't hear yourself think. And over here was somebody else talking about their religion, etc. Just thousands of people all milling around listening to speakers. And um some of them selling quack medicine. I mean, there was everything going on there.
And here's Elder Done. He just went right into the middle of that crowd and he'd say, "Pardon me, please. Pardon me. Pardon me." And he was looking at the sidewalk for something. I didn't know what he'd lost, but he was looking for something. "Pardon me. Pardon me." He was looking for a little brass number which had been assigned to him for 2 hours. And he finally located it. He said, "Would you excuse me, please? Would you excuse me? Would you move back, please, just a little?" And he got down and he unwrapped his canvas sack and got out his sticks. Didn't know he was going to build a fire. Didn't know what we were going to have. He started putting together like Tinker Toys. And the next thing I knew he had a little platform. And it had four legs on it. And then it had a little stand up in front and the canvas he flipped over the top and it said, "Mormons." Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And he lifted when his briefcase pulled out a steel plate. And he put that across the four legs. And he was about 200 lb and 6 ft something. And he got up on that. I held my breath. Seemed to hold. And and and by this time I looked out at the crowd and a lot of people just as though they had expected him. They're all turning toward him. And Elder Done stood up there and towered over the audience and I this is exciting. This is exciting. And he turned to me and took off his hat, handed it to me, and there all by himself he stood there and sang "How firm a foundation." Which I thought was interesting. And then he began his talk and he talked for 40 minutes. And I was so proud of him. Everybody was listening intently. Uh when he was finished, why he asked if there were any questions. And there was a little fellow standing right in front of him with a cutaway coat and striped trousers. And he'd been so nervous during the talk and he could just hardly wait for questions. And he looked like he was somebody. He had a top hat and everything and and so right away, "Elder. Elder. Elder." And so, those are the kind you have to always take care of first. And so, Elder Done said, "Yes, my good man." He said, "I've been listening to the Mormon elders for nigh on to 20 years and I have never heard a Mormon elder who didn't come from the Great Wall City of Salt Lake. What I would like to hear is an elder who doesn't come from the Great Wall City of Salt Lake." And I thought, "Boy, Elder Done's from Arizona. He'll take care of this real well." He said, "How many of you people would like to hear from a Mormon elder who doesn't come from the Great Wall City of Salt Lake?" And the whole crowd shouted, "Hear, hear." He said, "I have with me tonight a young man who's only been on British soil upwards of 5 hours or so and he's from America. He comes from near Hollywood. San Bernardino, you know, it's only 60 miles away, but they wouldn't know San Bernardino. Comes from near Hollywood. And I promised him because he's just new that I wouldn't call upon him to speak. But since you have asked him to speak, I will introduce to you Elder Skousen."
There have only been a few times in my life when I have been so frightened I've been paralyzed. And this was one of them. It it it put a shock through me I will never forget. I was almost in a stupor as he pushed me forward onto that little stand. That was the shakiest stand you ever saw. There was nothing firm about its foundation when I got on. And what was worse, I didn't know what to say. And so, I just stood there. And I thought of primary, Sunday school. Must have said something somewhere. I thought of the mission home and what do I say? What do I say? And the spirit then finally came to my rescue and said, "Tell them why you're here." I said, "That's a good question." Anyway, I finally got my wits enough so that I could talk. And and as I began telling them that something wonderful had happened. It could have happened in England or in Denmark from which my people came. But it didn't. It happened in America. And if it had happened in England, we would have expected you to come over to America and tell us about it. And since it happened in America, we've come clear over here to tell you about it. And the more I thought about it, the more exciting it got. So, I I lasted 10 minutes and I bore my testimony and then I started to step down, but there was that little fellow in the cutaway coat. "Elder. Elder. Elder. Elder." "Yes, sir." He said, "Would give me the Mormon interpretation of I think it was 2 Kings 11 and 12 compared to Acts 9 and 3." 2 Kings Book of Mormon had King. I didn't even know which standard work the Book of Kings was in. I really didn't. So, I gave them the answer they told us to in the mission field. And I said, "Well, now if I am here a week from tonight when this meeting is held again, I will carefully study those passages so that I can correctly present the church's position on them." And so, if if if I'm here, I promise that I will do that next time. And thank you very much." And I got off that stand so fast. And Elder Elder Dunn got up, and I thought he'd answer that question, you know. No, sir, that's my question. He's not going to answer that one. He just went on to something else. And so, that's the way that evening ended.
Well, you know, a week after that I was not in London. I was up in Sheffield in the middle of Yorkshire. And I thought I'd come to an English-speaking country, but it was totally hostile. It was a smoky city. They made steel there, and I couldn't understand the people to save my soul. You think Texans are hard to understand sometimes. Well, now you ought to be in Yorkshire. That little saying, it went something like that this. E lad in if thou do ought for naught that you do it for thy send the nose. That's old English, very old English. Which says, "If you do anything for nothing, do it for your self, laddie." E lad in if thou do ought for naught that you do it for thy send the nose. Is that plain? You try to teach the gospel and have that dialogue with Mr. Brown on that basis, you know. Anyway, that's the way my mission began. And uh it was a marvelous experience. I was frightened from the moment I arrived the mission field till I till I came home because it was just one big challenge after another. And the biggest one of all came when I was asked to preside over Ireland, beautiful beautiful Ireland. I didn't even expect to be a senior companion being so young. And here, the mission president said, "Now, we're going to send you up to Ireland. We just had five of the missionaries mobbed and thrown into the bay, and Elder Dunn was badly hurt. So, we're going to send you up there, and you go in and see the chief of police and tell him we're back." Anyway, we had six marvelous months in Belfast, Ireland. We did everything they told us to do, and we didn't get mobbed. As a matter of fact, we were very careful about how we presented it first at the Custom House steps. Then our crowds got so big, we had to go to the place where the five streets in the center of Belfast come together, and the police provided us with a piano box on which we could stand so we'd be high enough to talk to the people. We had the largest hall in Belfast for our big conference in the fall. And when I went home, I went on the boat, and the saints came down to tell me goodbye. And the captain said, "Will you come up higher so the other people can also see you?" I said, "What other people?" He said, "Those other people down on the pier. They want to know when you're coming aboard, and if so, get up on higher deck." I said, "I don't I don't understand." Well, he said, "Come up on anyway." And I went up on that higher deck, and there that whole pier began to sing, "God be with you till we meet again." And I just stood there and cried like a baby. I just thank my Heavenly Father that I'd had that marvelous blessing of coming on a mission and having all these scary experiences. And uh that's the way you just never know what's going to happen to you. And if you just keep working vigorously and pushing forward, it happens.
Now, that question, "Why are you here? Tell them how you came. What are you for out here in the mission field? What are you doing standing here trembling on this little stand? Tell them what you came for." Well, took me a long time really to find out really why I was there. I could testify of the restoration, but that, you see, isn't our main message. The restoration is only incidental. We've got a bigger testimony than that. And there isn't any better time than Christmas time to remind ourselves what our message really is. And I resolved when I went on my mission and got to studying the scriptures because I was so scared after that the experience in Hyde Park. I mean, I read from Genesis to Revelations like I was going to be asked every passage every street meeting from then on. And so, I read it frantically. I gulped it. I underlined it. I marked it. I reread it. It was a desperation reading. And then I did the same thing to the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, and I began to get the thrill of it all. And I resolved I wouldn't stop studying when I got home. If you will resolve to stay with your studies after you get out of your mission, finish your college, get into family life, get into your professional life, keep close to the Lord and the scriptures. And as I used to say to my students when we were studying the Book of Mormon together, "Always say your prayers before you start studying. And when you're studying, not often, but often enough, you'll be studying, and I used to have a little course where they had to fill in blanks. First, they'd read the chapter, and then they'd say, "All right, Brother Skousen, come on with your blanks." And they'd find out they had to read it again. They can't remember what the blank is. And there's a blank for every verse, a key word. And I said, "Now, if you'll do this carefully and methodically, studying these treasures of the Book of Mormon cuz that's what you're mining every once in a while, you'll cry." And when that happens to you, that's the Lord talking and saying, "This is true. This is all true." And you will wonder why you're crying. You feel so good. What are you crying for? And you'll have to say, "Cuz I feel so good. That's why I'm crying." And I said, "Now, when that happens to you, now you get on your knees immediately. And just kneel there and say, 'Thank you, Heavenly Father, for talking to me.' That's what happened. That's what made you cry. When the spirit of the Lord talks to you, it'll often make you cry. And you need to recognize that. It used to thrill me sometimes when big football players or some would stay until all the class was gone, kind of embarrassed about it, but Brother Skousen, it happened to me. Did it? Yes, just this week while I was studying it happened. My, it was great. Just great. I'd say, "Thank you for sharing that with me." Well, he said, "I I didn't think it'd ever happen to me. It really did." Now, that's that's the spirit talking to you. That's the kind of conversion. Once that conversion has started working in your heart, then marvelous things happen. Your mind begins to open up, and you begin to get answers to questions. And that brings me to the next thing that I wanted to talk about.
I've always been puzzled as a boy by the Easter story. I used to sit there in Sunday school in Raymond, Alberta, Canada, and I used to sit there, and they'd tell me how Jesus suffered on the cross. And I That just left a lot of questions in my mind. Now, here's a person, a beautiful beautiful person, son of our Heavenly Father. He's up on that cross. Got crown on his head made of thorns. Got dried blood down his face. He's been all lacerated with a cat of nine tails. He's up there on that cross. Got spikes in his hands. He's got them in his wrists. He's got them in his feet. And he's just all sweaty and bloody, and and he's hanging there on the cross. I want to know what that's for. I don't know what that does. Oh, what does that help do? And who wanted that anyway? Everybody said it's necessary. I want to know why said it's necessary. I want to know why. I want to know what it accomplished. What's he doing up there? Romans crucified a lot of people, but why the Son of God? What was this for? Why did they prophesy? Why did Enoch say he would die on a cross? I used to say that to myself every Easter.
So, when I got on my mission, age 17, I'm riding on a train with an Apostle of the Lord. And he's sitting there like all mission presidents do, worrying about the conference that we're going to have with the missionaries, I guess. He's very quiet meditative, and I said, "Brother Woodsoe, can I ask you a question?" He said, "Oh, oh, yes." So, I knew I'd wakened him from a reverie of meditation on something. He was a very famous scientist, by the way. Brother Woodsoe, I said, "I wanted to just ask you about why the Atonement was necessary. I said, I accept the fact that it is, but I just wondered why. I wondered what would happen or what caused it to have the Father require the Son to go through this. And he said, "Elder McConkie, who asked you to ask me this question?" Oh, I said, "Well, I nobody. My question uh nobody asked me to ask it." He said, "I'm not asked that question very often. Do you really want to know why the Atonement was necessary?" And I said, "Well, if it's all right." "Yes," he said, "it's all right. How badly do you want to know the answer?" And I said, "Well, I've I've wanted to know it ever since I was a little boy." All right. He said, "You know, if people don't ask questions, they can't hear the answer. So, I'll share the answer with you over a period of time." Oh, I said, "I so appreciate that." And I got out my pencil and I said, "Oh, if you give me the verses and everything, I'll write it right down here." Well, he said, "I'll tell you what to look for and I'll tell you which standard work it's in." I said, "Aren't you going to give me the chapter and verse?" He said, "I wouldn't deprive you of the thrill of finding it." So, he'd tell me, "Now, this is what you look for. This is the source of God's power. And and uh this is where you'll find it in the early part of the Doctrine and Covenants. And here's where Jesus asked if he couldn't get out of it. And this is in several passages in the New Testament. And and it will say these things. Now, you look for that. And then you'll find some very basic scientific truths uh located in Second Nephi. And this is what it will tell you." Do you know it took me 7 all of those passages? And each time I'd see President Woodruff, both on my mission and after I returned home, I'd report in. And he'd say, "Well, you're doing pretty good. I'll give you the section of the Doctrine and Covenants. Try 88 or 29 or whatever it was." And so, I'd look in there. It was there. It was. I'd read right past it several times and missed it. And finally, finally, I wrote it all up and put it together and sent it to him. "All right," he said, "now, we need to get some of these things back into the mainstream of thought because the Latter-day Saints aren't doing what Jacob said to do. Said, "We ought to talk about the Atonement and why it's necessary a little more." So, he said, "Put that in your next book." And so, I did in the in the first 2,000 years in the appendix, "Why is the Atonement necessary?"
Now, you listen to the angels when they appeared to the shepherds. The fact that Jesus was born wasn't the important thing. Just being born wasn't important. He frightened the shepherds terribly. I mean, they were just out It was early in in the spring. It was April. It wasn't December the 25th. That's when the the Romans were celebrating the birthday of Saul, their sun god. Christians didn't have a birthday, so they said, "Well, well, now that we're adopting Christianity, we'll take birthday of King Saul." I mean, the god Saul, sun god. That's how it's happened to be the 25th of December. Now, aren't any sheep out on the 25th of December. They're out in the spring when the grass is starting. It starts the second week in March. So, that's why the shepherds are out there. So, they're watching their sheep. Lots of wolves out there in those days. That's why they're watching them. And all of a sudden it happened. Here's a burst of light and a personage appears. And and he said he knew he'd scare them. Joseph Smith said, "When I prayed and Moroni came, I was expecting something to happen, but even so, when he came, he he comforted me. That was the first thing he said was not to be afraid. It's all right. It's all right." So, that's what the angel said, "Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find him wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger." And then the heavenly choirs couldn't be held back. And they just split back the veil and they sang until music just filled the skies. And they said one sentence over and over again. At least um the the shepherds were able to hear it enough times so they could remember it. Glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men. Now, I think maybe we were there. I'm sure the saints from Adam on down. Maybe those of us who hadn't been in the Earth weren't allowed to be there, but a lot of people were there and they sang. It was exciting to be there in that great conference just before Jehovah, who'd appeared to Nephi the Second just the that day before and said he was going to come in the flesh tomorrow. And tonight would be the sign. Remember that? All right. Now, here he is and he's ready. He's telling us all goodbye and he's about to go down into the amnesia of the second estate. So, he won't even know who he is. You won't even know who you are. I don't even know who I am. Isn't that exciting?
By the time he was 12, he'd been ministered to by angels and they had told him who he was. And they had been see he'd seen enough visions and revelations so he could pick up Isaiah. He could take Jeremiah, Ezekiel and talk to the most learned scribes there in the Solomon's porches on the temple square and say, "Now, this is what Isaiah really saw." They were fascinated. That 12-year-old boy hadn't even been to the school of Gamaliel yet. He knew all the answers to all these mystical scriptures that they had studied so hard trying to understand. By the time he was 30, he was ready for his ministry. He had some marvelous experiences. He's still learning about himself. In fact, when he'd get wonderful things like Lazarus rising from the dead, he would say, "Thank you, Father. Thank you." And he would cry. "You did it for me. Thank you, Father." And he'd cry. He was just kind of learning what it was like to be the Son of God and have these wonderful powers. But I'll tell you, as he approached that great final Gethsemane, that shook him. He thought he was equal to it. He was doing pretty good right up to the time that he saw Judas go out. He was pretty sad and he was looking around the table and he said, "One of you will betray me." Peter said, "John, ask him which one." So, John the beloved said, "Which one?" "He to whom I give the sop." And he took some bread, dipped it into the gravy, and handed it to Judas and said, "Whatsoever thou doest, do thou quickly." It was beginning to get to him. He'd washed their feet already. And as soon as Judas went out, he stood up in that 17th chapter of John gives that great high priest prayer in which he said, "And now, Father, neither pray pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on them through their words that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." That's a great prayer. Then he said to his disciples, "I must go pray. I must pray." And so, he went from the upper room and apparently across the temple square and down to the Golden Gate and across Brook Kidron, where we've walked so many times. I I visited it for the 23rd time here in October. Went on up into the groves of the olive trees and then something interesting happened. Eight disciples he had waiting sort of at the gateway. They immediately fell asleep. Went further up the hill and had the the three remaining apostles. There are only 11 of them since Judas left. And had them wait. And apparently, John was the only one that stayed awake as far as we know. At least he's the only one that recorded the details of what we know about what happened. And it says that Jesus went and threw himself full length. He didn't kneel at a rock or at a tree. He just threw himself on the ground.
And now, I'm going to ask you to take out a piece of paper so that you won't have to search for 7 years for some of these choice choice passages. You can put it on the back of your program or wherever is convenient. I want you to put down first of all, Mark 14 and 36. Mark 14 and 36. Where Jesus said to his Father, "Oh, Father, all things are possible unto thee." In other words, "You are God. You can do anything. You have it within your power." And then the petition take this cup from me. Don't make me do it. Work it out some other way. Please do it without my having to go through with this. He was trembling. All right, now the father knew there wasn't any other way. All things are possible unto God, but he's a God of law. He's a God of cause and effect. He's a God of love. He's a God of justice. But what the son had been called to do is the way. There isn't any other way. So he had to send an angel. I wish we had the conversation. We can only guess what the angel might have said. But he ministered to Jesus and he probably said, you don't have to do this. Everybody has their free agency. But the father knew you would do it. That's why you were ordained from the preexistence because he knew you would. But you don't have to. If you don't do it, everything in which your hand participated by way of creation will go back to outer chaos. The earth, the animals, plants, the human beings, their bodies, all the other planets on which there are similar families that you helped create. They all go back to chaos. The only way they can be preserved and perpetuated and exalted is to have you do this. The angel probably said something like that. At least he convinced the savior that he must go forward if he wanted the father's will to be done. And so that's when Jesus said, thy will be done. And he sweat great drops of blood.
Now let me give you the other passages that fill in the details. Matthew 26 and 39. Let this cup pass from me. Luke 22 and 43. The angel came and ministered to him. Luke 22 and 44. As soon as he had said thy will be done, the terror of the assignment came upon him with such an overwhelming impact that the capillaries of his circulatory system couldn't even contain his blood. And it came through the sweat glands onto his skin as it were great drops of blood. That's a kind of suffering you and I probably couldn't even contemplate, let alone endure. But he did. And then he said in Matthew 26 and 42, thy will be done. One of the things that you learn in studying the scriptures is to get all of the authorities who talked about the same incident. Take all of the details that each of them have and then piece them together so that you've got the whole picture. And that's the one we have here. Now, Jesus describes his terror in Doctrine and Covenants 19, DC 19 15 to 19, verses 15 to 19 in DC 19. I'm going to read that to you in a moment, not now. In Acts 4 and 12, we are told that the father could not have saved us. There is only one name given under heaven whereby you can be saved and it is not Elohim. I don't know whether that disturbs you or not. I thought God could do anything. Why couldn't he save us after we had fallen? Does that question bother you a little? That's the one I asked Brother Widtsoe. Doesn't God love us as much as the son? It's his plan to have us come down. Why is there only one name given under heaven whereby we can be saved and it's not doesn't include the father, only the son? I want Is there an answer to that? Yes, Brother Widtsoe said there's an answer. Seven years, you know, didn't tell me about that part. But anyway, Now I think that's enough. Just draw a line. That raises all the questions. Now let's look for some answers. Brother Widtsoe didn't give me the answers the way I have lined them up here. He gave me some of the big answers first and I want to start with one of the fundamental answers, which is the bottom line of where it all happens.
Will you write down Second Nephi 2 and 14? Father Lehi is on his deathbed. He's trying to share with his sons the last element of gospel testimony before he passes away. He's pleading with his sons to acknowledge and recognize the great truths of the gospel. And he said, you must realize that there is a God and that he created everything either to act or to be acted upon. Now, there are two building blocks in the universe. One building block consists of an an active ingredient. It acts. There's another thing that doesn't act, but it can be acted upon. Now, you've read that in Second Nephi. I have read it. I've gone through the Book of Mormon as a teacher over a hundred times teaching it or studying it, over a hundred times. And it's like President Romney said in the brethren, people keep adding things to the Book of Mormon for me. Keep finding new things. Well, that's one that I finally found when I didn't find it on my own. Brother Widtsoe said it's there. Now you look for it there in the early part of Second Nephi. Well, there it was, something to act and something to be acted upon.
Put down Doctrine and Covenants, DC 93 and 30. That which acts, the Lord said, is called intelligence or light. Intelligence or light. All right, you put that note down if you wish. Maybe you'll remember it anyway. Now, what's an intelligence? What's an intelligence? No description except that it's it's like light. And everything that exists, which is truth, is filled with intelligence. Everything is filled with it. Now, the best way for you to know about intelligence is to find out about it the way I found out about it. I said, Brother Widtsoe, what's an intelligence like? And he said, well, look in the mirror and tell me. You're an intelligence. Oh, that's right. Oh, that's good. Yes, I'm an intelligence, aren't I? Now he said, um, how big are you? I said, I don't know. He said, where are you? Well, I'm right here. No, he said, you're not down there. Did you notice? Isn't that down from where you are? Oh, yeah, it is. He said, take hold of your chin. Touch your eyes. So I did. Now he says, is Is that below you or above you or is that right on? I said, that's below me. He said, take hold of your ear. He says, is that beside you or I said, yeah, that's that's out there. He said, where is your little I am? I said, it's way in there, isn't it? He said, I think so. Way back in there. It's a little tiny I am. It's self-knowing. It's self-determining. It's anticipatory. It can learn. It's a little intelligence. Fascinating. And it always existed as an independent entity. A little I am. Oh, all right, that's an intelligence. All right. Now, Doctrine and Covenants 93 29 and 30. DC 93 29 and 30. Intelligence is eternal and it is independent to act for itself. And that's what the Lord says. This is the at the essence of reality that acts for itself. All right?
Abraham 3, ABR. Abraham, in college you learn to abbreviate everything so you can keep up with the professors. All talk 400 words a minute. Abraham 3, verses 19 to 23. The intelligences, see it talks about spirits and the that some are more intelligent than the other. And then it tells you that it's talking about spirits which are organized intelligences. So you you're really talking about intelligences that are one above another. So this is the fact that the intelligences are organized and graded. And what the Lord is saying, we start out with the little ones and we come up and here you are, some of my most magnificent intelligences that I I gave bodies in my image. You're real super. You're special. Joseph Smith described the graduated intelligences are structured in nature. DHC, that's Documentary History of the Church. DHC. Volume 4, page 519. And he says he gave this sermon to the apostles and their wives so that they know this wonderful, marvelous God science of graduated intelligence. But then he didn't say anything more about it and so we have to go to the brethren, the early brethren who heard it to get more details.
That which is acted upon is called element. Now, that's D&C 93 and 33. That which is acted upon is called element. Now, put down JD. That's Journal of Discourses. Seven and two. That's volume seven, page two. Where Brigham Young says, "These little bits of element are capacitated to receive intelligence." Now, notice what happens. You get a little piece of element and it must be extremely tiny. You attach a little intelligence to it and you can now talk to it. And say, "Move move that little fellow over here. All right, now you two combine together. Now, bring in three more. All right, now that's five. All right, now that's Now, start Let's get this thing going now. We got ourselves a little little atom here working around. We get enough of those and you'll get a molecule. It's a universe. When you got through, you got I don't know how many maybe a million little intelligences and bits of elements all spinning around that little universe there. We call it an atom. It's so tiny you can't see it. We put a lot of them together, we get a molecule. And they'll do certain things. And the Lord says in the 88th section how he gives them orders and he gives them a pattern that they follow. And they'll always follow that pattern unless you want them to do something else. And so you get um two little molecules that we call hydrogen and another little molecule that acts completely different called oxygen. You put them together and you got water. Isn't that nice? We got water. But Jesus said, "Wine. You know what to do. High grade of wine, please." And it happened. All of a sudden the mystery has gone out of the miracles. You and I perform things by playing force against force. That's the way you make a motor go, you know, you explode something and it's force. The Lord talks to things. That's a better way, won't you agree? See, God doesn't violate law. He sets things going. And so you got H2O, it's water. He said, "But I need wine." Oh, all right. Now, that's the universe in which we live. This is God science. And Brother Wirthlin said, "Isn't that thrilling, Elder Skousen?" And I said, "I never even thought of that being a possibility." He said, "God has revealed so many marvelous things to us if we'll just study it out and put it all together."
All right, just a little bit more. Abraham four, ABR, Abraham four, verses nine, 10, 12, and 18. Where you see intelligence responding to the commandments of the gods during the creative process. Now, watch what it says. And the gods commanded the dry earth the dry land to come up and they watched until they were obeyed. Dirt doesn't obey as dirt unless it had intelligence in it, would it? I mean, if it's uh if it's just stuff, it has no capacity to obey. This is one of the great revelations of God. These little intelligences are in everything. I can move a mountain. I just tell it to move. And I can let my priesthood tell it to move and if it's authorized, it'll move. Nephi the second was told The Lord said, "I have declared before all my angels that when you speak, all things are to obey you as though God had spoken it. And I know that I can share this power with you because you'll never use it till I tell you to." And he could say to the clouds, "Don't rain. Go away." Or he could say, "Clouds, come in and let us have rain." That's the power of God. Jesus would come and say to the little cells of the eyes, "You have not functioned properly since the birth of this man. In your places, please." The man says, "I can see." Crooked arm, straighten. And it's straightened. Feet, walk. And everything goes into its proper order. And we call these miracles. It is the science of God speaking to his creations and saying, "Straighten up and fly right like you were supposed to." That's what he's doing. Now, there's the key to the miracles. Now, this is going to bring us closer to something else in just a moment. When God commands, they obey. Let's Let's take Helaman 12, HE, Helaman 12, three to 18, where it describes all of the things that obey on God's command. They obey. Just like they did during the creation process. Take Jacob four and six. Add that also. And First Nephi 20 and 13. Where Jacob says, "We can have the water obey us, trees obey us when we speak with the priesthood." And Doctrine and Covenants, D&C 88:38-42. Where the Lord says an intelligence cleaveth to intelligence and do all these little things. Doctrine and Covenants 88:38-42. That's where intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence to do the things God has instructed it to do.
All right, now we come to a most interesting passage hidden away. It took me a long time. I read over it at least 10 or 15 times. Brother Wirthlin says, "You're missing it. It's in section 29." I said, "But I don't I couldn't find it." "Read it again." Still didn't find it. "I know, but you've got to get the spirit when you read. Maybe you'll get it this time." Finally got it. Doctrine and Covenants 29 and 36. God says, "My honor is my power." I don't know where God got his power from. He said, "It's my honor that gives me power. My honor gives me power." And Brother Wirthlin said, "This is a priesthood principle that often isn't quite appreciated. You are ordained from above. Your power comes from that over which you have supervision." What makes a great bishop? His ordination? He's ordained from above, isn't he? What makes him a great bishop? It's home teachers home teaching. It's Sunday School teachers preparing their lessons. It's people having home evening, paying their tithing, going to the temple. And people say, "My, what a great bishop." Why? He's being honored in his calling. That's what makes a great bishop. He was ordained from above. He was supported from those below that he supervised. You follow that? My honor is my power. Water, wine.
When God appeared to Moses and said at the age He was 80 years old when God appeared to him on Mount Sinai, which means bush, the burning bush. It's always been called Sinai ever since because it means bush. And the Lord said, "I'm now going to rescue Israel out of Egypt." "Oh, Moses I I think that's just great because I've got uh Miriam, my sister's down there and mother's still down there and Aaron's still there. Oh, I'm so happy to hear about that." And the Lord said, "And I'm going to have you bring them out." "Oh, no. No. No, I'm a capital fugitive. I know, they'd kill me." Well, the Lord said, "I'll go with you." Moses said, "I'm still scared." Well, the Lord said, "What do you have there in um your hand?" He said, "My shepherd's staff." "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground. A serpent. A metamorphosis took place. The Lord said, "Pick it up." So he did, by the tail, of course. And it became a staff. Now, watch what the Lord said. "You see that hand? You want to see the miracle of God? See that hand? That hand is made of dirt." Isn't that fantastic? That hand is made of dirt. The Lord said to Moses, "Put your hand in your bosom." So, he did. And the Lord talked to that hand and said, "Now, my children, don't go all the way back. Let's Let's go back leprosy. Simulate leprosy. Moses, take your hand out. Dripping with an incurable disease. Moses, put your hand back in your bosom. And the Lord said, "My children, as you were." Moses, take your hand out. Ah, beautiful pink flesh. Isn't that marvelous? And the Lord said, "And if you want to take water and pour out and have it be blood, I'll do that for you. That they may know that you come to them not by your own strength only, but by the very power of God." So, Moses did it, you remember? Finally, he consented to go.
Now, once we understand some of these principles, we're beginning to comprehend a little bit a about the God we worship. And that's what the Lord says, "I want you to understand more about me. Want you to understand I'm not way off a mystical being. I'm your loving heavenly Father, and I operate in an atmosphere of cause and effect and in a law in a in a in a a universe of law. There's nothing magic about what I do. Everything is based on a science, and I'm trying to teach it to you gradually. All right, now just a little bit more.
We are told that God must maintain the confidence of these intelligences in order that they will sustain him and honor him. No other church has even dared to preach this doctrine. And no other scripture contains it save the Book of Mormon. That it is possible for God to fall. Now, he isn't going to cuz he knows how to avoid it. He just wants us to know that he walks a razor's edge of necessity of having his conduct as the great arbiter of heaven, whom they all love and respect, absolutely immaculate in dispensing justice and truth and his love among them. Now, that's a great discipline, is it not? All right, now put Put it down now. This is Alma 42 verses 13 22 and 25 and Mormon chapter 9 verse 19. 9:19. All of these passages say, "Or he would cease to be God." Who dares preach such a a principle? That God is under the necessity of maintaining certain conditions or he could cease to be God. He wouldn't have power anymore. How could he lose his power? By not being honored anymore. Now, you have the problem of the atonement. Our Father wanted us to come into a a laboratory where good and evil existed side by side, where you and I could learn for ourselves, not because Father said so, but we
could learn for ourselves the difference between good and evil. And have you noticed a little rubs off? Fact, you have to repent and erase it continually. Keeps rubbing on to us. Think you've just got about got it whipped, and the next thing you know you're doing it again. Or you're tempted to do it again. That's life. And that's how we learn the difference between good and evil and the penalties thereof.
You never went through this before. You learned how to be obedient in heaven cuz our heavenly Father told you what the results would be if you didn't, and sure enough it would happen. But you couldn't quite understand. He He gave you the criteria, but you didn't know for yourself, the Book of Mormon says. That's why you came into this life. You're really learning for yourself. And so am I. Believe me, I'm learning.
All right. So, the next passage is Alma 34 and 9. Where the Father cannot save us, the atonement is indispensable. You have to have an atonement. Well, what would happen if there hadn't been an atonement? Would you like to know that one? All right, it's Second Nephi 9:7-9. That's what would happen if there wasn't hadn't been an atonement. You would have all become I should say we all should would have become subject to Lucifer and suffering the same consequences, which the early brethren made very clear was total dissolution. Which means that they are stripped of their spirit body. They're stripped of all things that pertain to the organized kingdom of God and are cast back into outer darkness. Naked. A naked intelligence. Unorganized. And the early brethren thought, "Well, maybe then they'll get another chance. I'll be scooped up again, you know, and come into another creation." And the Father said, "Don't ever Or the Lord said in the Doctrine Covenants, 'Don't ever preach that they get a second chance. I've never authorized that to be taught that they get another chance.'" So, we don't preach that.
Now, how does the atonement work? Alma 34 and 11. We can go quickly now. We have the problem. We have the basic ingredients for the solution. Alma 34 and 11. One person cannot pay for the sins of another. It says. Now, that's Amulek. That's not Alma talking. That's a new convert to the church, a missionary companion of Alma talking to the Zoramites. Name's Amulek. That's him talking. I hear people quoting Alma on this. No, this is Amulek talking. All right, Alma 34 and 11. He said, "One person cannot satisfy the demands of justice by paying for the sins of another." Now, you just stop and think whether or not this is true. You see, I am have committed a heinous offense, capital offense. And this good elder loves me enough to offer his life on behalf of my offense for which I should die. And he said, "No, Brother Skousen still got a lot of teaching to do. I'm going to I'll go on the gallows for him or whatever." Now, I want Does that satisfy any of you? You feel good about that? Are you satisfied? Do you feel justice has been done? Has it satisfied your sense of justice? And Amulek said Amulek said, "No, it won't."
Now, this is a very important thing to understand about the atonement. I hear people preaching, "Well, for this much sin there had to be this much suffering." And that's what Jesus provided. No, that's the law of quid pro quo. Amulek says the atonement is based on a completely different principle. It isn't quid pro quo. It isn't this much suffering for this much sinning. A different doctrine entirely. That's what Paul was so upset about when the Jews tried to preach that doctrine. We've got it back in the church being taught occasionally that way. And what does Amulek say the key to the atonement was? He said it was Jesus going on that cross. It had to be somebody, not you and me, but someone who is infinitely loved. Now, that's universally. Infinitely means universally loved. Who would be so terribly tortured in his role as our leader that the sense of compassion in every little intelligence would be touched. Now, isn't this interesting? You're the same way. You are subject to compassion. Every intelligence can be reached. He has a sense of compassion. And it's necessary to somehow reach that sense of compassion sufficient to overcome the demands of justice. Because when our heavenly Father puts us down here and we try to repent the best we can, we're still unworthy to come back, are we not? It's impossible to become perfect in this life, right? Everybody agree to that? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Does that sound familiar? All right. You can't become perfect in this life. Those little intelligences say, "Father, remember you held us back." You can't overlook them. Our Father wanted us to learn the difference between good and evil, and it's impossible for him then to bring us back. Everybody see the problem? Now, how does he get us back? He asked us to do the best we can and he said I have a we've worked it out. We found out how we could reach those little intelligences. So when Jesus is on that cross, that suffering has got to be so terrible. That is it it is infinite in its persuasive power that we mean that much to him. So that when he pleads for us he doesn't do it because of our righteousness because it wasn't that good. We did the best we could but still wasn't perfect. He says they did the best they could now for my sake will you let them come up. I'll be robbed of my reward of my labor. Will you let them come up? And then they say Jehovah not for their sake because they were imperfect but if they mean that much to you let them come up. And so Amulek says that compassion that has been created in the in those little intelligences is enough to overcome the demands of justice. That's Alma 34. Let me give that one to you. 15 to 16 Alma 34 15 to 16. So the atonement is not based on the law of so much suffering so much sin. It's based on mercy and love. That's all it's based on. It's those little intelligences saying oh all right if they if they mean that much to you after all you went through.
How much did he go through? When Jesus was dedicated as the eldest son in the temple an old man came hurrying up named Simeon. And the Holy Ghost had whispered to him rush to the temple today you'll see the face of the Messiah as I promised you before you would not die till you had seen him. And he came up and he took that little baby out of the arms of Mary and said now oh Lord God Jehovah let me depart in peace for mine eyes have beheld thy salvation the glory of thy people Israel and a light unto the Gentiles. Then he handed the baby back and he said because of him little mother one day sorrow will pierce your soul like a sword. And 33 years later on Golgotha the place of the skull she saw that beloved boy of hers nailed to that cross spiked crown on his head blood on his face lacerated sweating crying out in suffering. What do you think that did to that mother? It was so intense that the father finally had to do one final thing to make it supreme. He had to withdraw his spirit from Jesus. And that had sustained Jesus as it sustains all of us up to a point because it's in all of us and all of a sudden the father withdrew his spirit from Jesus. And as it left him he cried out Eli Eli lama sabachthani my God my God why hast thou forsaken me? And then the spirit came back and Jesus said I did it. It is finished. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he died. At that moment Jesus became the Christ.
You see, it's since I came to understand this and the suffering of the father that was a terrible experience for the father when he had to tell his son that it was necessary for him to go forward with it in the garden of Gethsemane when he had to withdraw his spirit from him on the cross that was a terrible experience and in the Book of Mormon says the reason that Abraham was commanded to slay his own son Isaac was so that one earthly father would at least know what it's like to have the role of the father and have to sacrifice your son. Abraham didn't have to go with it but he was reconciled. He was going to go through with it because he knew it was for a righteous purpose that he didn't understand. So he was going to go the father just wanted Abraham to know at least one father to know a little bit what it's like to be the father on the night of Golgotha. And then Jesus became the Christ. Since this began to clarify itself in my mind and I began to see what was what the meaning was of Jesus on that cross he's become my personal savior. I love Jesus. I love my heavenly father. Never realized before what they went through for me and my children and for you and all the rest of us. I've learned to love God with all my heart and feel closer to them. And now I love to testify about them. I love to testify testify of their their great mission to us and their great sacrifice both the father and the son what they went through for our sakes.
Quite often I'm asked down here in Texas where I speak quite often Dr. Skousen are you saved? And I usually reply by saying thank you for asking me that. May I bear you my witness? And they're used to that. They want to hear my witness. And I say I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior and I've asked my heavenly father to forgive my sins. I have made a commitment to my heavenly father that I will try to obey all his commandments by going down into the waters of baptism by immersion administered by one having authority and then I have had hands laid upon my head by one holding the holy Melchizedek priesthood so that I could receive the great gift of the Holy Ghost. And now I am endeavoring to endure to the end that I might have the great privilege of overcoming the very last hurdle death and being resurrected to glory and going back into the father. That's my witness. And these wonderful Baptists will put their arms around you and say thank you brother for your testimony.
I appeared on television and radio here just recently about 3 weeks ago. The minister who interviewed me and and a group of them will be interviewing me this afternoon. They asked me to go into their prayer room and we all took hold of hands and that minister bowed his head and asked that the work that we were doing be blessed and that we each be blessed in our desire to serve God. The spirit of the Lord was in that circle. The spirit of brotherhood was there. We were all children out of the preexistence standing there together. They were all Baptists and I was a Mormon. We were praying the same heavenly father.
Recently I was invited by the largest church largest Methodist church in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the largest Baptist church in Tulsa, Oklahoma to teach all of their people and their friends the wonderful success formula that God inspired the founding fathers to write down as the Constitution which God said was inspired. In fact he said anything that's more or less than this is evil. And it's about 13 hours of instruction. 1250 people sat in that lovely auditorium at the Oral Roberts University. And while I was giving this talk or or during the series during a rest period of the of the talks the Methodist minister came up and said um Dr. Skousen what church do you belong to? And I thought to just kind of keep the conversation going I said well what church would you think I belong to and I thought he would say well you're from Salt Lake I suppose you're a Mormon but he didn't. He said well I of course I'm a I'm I'm a Methodist and you sound like a Methodist to me. And I said well let's say I I am a committed Christian. Well he said I could tell that from your talk. Then somebody came along and interrupted us and I didn't ever get to tell him. And I that bothered me a little bit. I wanted to tell him before I left. Well just as we were concluding the seminars he came up and he said Dr. Skousen I understand you're a Mormon. And I said yes. Well he said there there must be different kinds of Mormons. And I said, "Well, I guess there are. There are different kinds of all denominations, but I I just try to be a a standard sort of run-of-the-mill Mormon. I'm just a traditional Mormon." He said, "You know, you don't fit the literature I've got in the front of my church." And I said, "Well, it probably was written by somebody who doesn't really understand the Mormon people." Now, he said, "You do believe in Christ, don't you?" And I said, "Oh, yes, that's our real name, the Church of Jesus Christ, and the members are the Saints of the Latter-day Saints." And all they try to do is just share the message that the gospel's been restored, and we're preparing for the Second Coming. And that's what John Wesley said to look for. To live a methodical Christian life and study the scriptures methodically, so that all of them the the the people would recognize the restoration when it came. So, that's what you're preaching. You you It's already in process. Yes, we're preparing for the Second Coming and inviting everybody to come and join us. Well, what a beautiful message. I said, "It is a beautiful message, and some great things are going to happen." And he just put his arm around my shoulder and said, "God bless you, brother. God bless you." And walked away.
Well, you're in a great a very rich field where the descendants of Father Abraham dwell in abundance. And if you let the spirit work on them and bear your testimony to them and take advantage of all these wonderful resources the brethren have provided, and be valiant in your calling from morning until night. Be a good student. Mark your books. Study it out. Be prayerful. Try to understand God's science of salvation. That's all I've been talking about this morning. The real science of salvation. Why the atonement was necessary, and it was. And why God the Father couldn't do it, and why he sent his Son is the only name given under heaven whereby we may be saved. So, that we will know that they've done their part. Now, all we've got to do is our. And so, that's why Jesus makes such a plea to us. And I'm just going to read this now in closing. I'm going to turn now to Doctrine and Covenants 19. Beginning with verse 16, listen to this. Let's start with 15. It's even better. Therefore, I command you to repent. Repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth. You see, he's a God of love, but he also has to be a God of justice, or the intelligences would lose confidence in him. And by my anger, and your suffering be sore. How sore you know not. How exquisite you know not. Yea, how hard to bear you know not. For behold, I God have suffered these things for all that they might not suffer if they would repent. In other words, what we do is to repent in order to qualify. But if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I. Now, notice how terrible it was. Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit. And would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink. Then, verse 19 is wonderful. Nevertheless, I partook and finished my preparation unto the children of men. I did it. I did I was so frightened. I was so scared. I trembled. I asked the Lord not to make me go through with it, and he said I didn't have to, but let him know the consequences no doubt. I did it. He's just so thrilled about it. I did it. Now, he said, "Don't let that be wasted."
Now, turn to section 45. Verse three. Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him. See, the Father loves us as much as the Son. It's his plan, really, because that's what Jesus said in the preexistence, "Father, I'll do it the way you want it done." Lucifer wanted to do it a different way and take credit. And the Son said, "I'll do it as it's been done before. I'll do it. I will suffer." Who is pleading your cause before him, saying, "Father." Now, watch what he does. Behold the suffering and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased. Behold the blood of thy Son, which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified. Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life."
Now, turn to Alma 34, and we have our concluding thought there from Amulek. A great tribute to the Savior and what his sacrifice accomplished. Alma 34, beginning with verse 14. And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, meaning the law of Moses. Every whit pointing to that great last sacrifice, and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal. It's going to reach every corner of the universe. And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name. This being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about the means unto man that they may have faith unto repentance. And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice and encircle them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice. Now, that's what you're in the mission field to tell about. Now, the story that I've told you this morning, the one that we worked out with such difficulty, is the most profound principle of the whole gospel, the atonement and why it's necessary. So, that isn't what you preach, but that's what you must know in order to preach and testify of Christ. And let me just give you a an example now and as I as I finish, of Abraham Lincoln. I just want to show you how this happens every day in real life. If you want to see how intelligence overcomes the demands of justice, watch this.
There was a boy fighting in the Union forces, 19 years old, went to sleep on guard duty. And the opposition broke through and wiped out a whole flank of the army. Several hundred were killed, including some of the best friends of this young man. But he survived. Court-martialed, sentenced to die. He expected to die. He thought it was only just that he die. And President Lincoln was ready to sign his death warrant for his execution. And a little mother appears on the scene. She says, "President Lincoln, when this war started, I had a husband and six sons. First, I lost my husband, and one by one, I lost five of my sons. Now, I only have one son left, and he's sentenced to be executed with a firing squad because he went to sleep. He feels awfully badly. He lost some of his best friends, and he expects to die. President Lincoln, I'm not asking for the sparing of this boy's life for his sake, but for his mother's sake. He's all I have left. For my sake, could you spare him?" President Lincoln said, "For your sake, little mother, I will spare him." And as far as I know, President Lincoln was never criticized for that decision. Does that touch the heart of compassion? Notice how that overcame the demands of justice. For her sake, I will spare him. And so, that's what's happened for us. And the salvation of Jesus Christ is very real, and the price he paid was very terrible. And you're here to testify that Jesus is the Christ, and that the gospel has been restored to prepare for his Second Coming. Now, that's our mission. I went to the mission field thinking that testifying the restoration was my whole mission. No, that's incidental. The divinity of Jesus Christ is our main message, and the fact that he has now spoken to prophets and raised them up. They're walking the earth. The priesthood is back. That's our good news. We're preparing for the Second Christmas, when there'll be a thousand years of peace on earth, goodwill toward men. I only pray that God will bless every one of us to fulfill our callings with valiance, that the spirit can testify to thousands of his children that Jesus is the Christ. That's my prayer this beautiful Christmas season in the year 1980. And I pray God's richest blessings on you, my brothers and sisters, as upon myself, that our Heavenly Father will not be disappointed in our efforts and I say it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.