All Things Witness

Thoughts on the mission and power of Jesus Christ

Tag Archives: LDS

Woman lying in bed waking up


by Leave a comment

Awakening

If you’re a believer in the Book of Mormon, then you’ve probably read the opening chapters of 1 Nephi seeing the young man Nephi as the example we are to follow. As we read the scriptures – any scriptures – we tend to put ourselves in the shoes of the ‘hero’. After all, we’re to pattern ourselves after the lives of righteous men and women of the past, right? Abraham and Sarah, Enoch, Noah, Deborah, Esther; in the Book of Mormon: Nephi, Alma and Helaman. Of course, Christ is our great exemplar, but many of these ancient prophets show us patterns to follow in our quest to become like Him.

While that is true, I believe there are also other characters and people we are supposed to consider ourselves as – not in terms off what we should be doing, but perhaps given by prophets as something of a ‘reality check’ of where we actually are in our lives. A few years ago as I began another read of the Book of Mormon, the realisation came to me that Laman and Lemuel serve exactly that purpose; and at the very beginning of 1 Nephi, the Jews at Jerusalem do, too.

Latter-day Saints like to talk about how wicked Laman and Lemuel were. We would never be like them, right? Except … maybe we are.

Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

Rebirth

Last year I returned home for first time in over 40 years. You see, home for me is Australia. It’s where I was born and raised for the first 12 years of my life. While I’m now well into my 50’s and sound like a proper pom, my heart has always remained down under.

That visit home was very special in so many ways, not least because I was able to spend loads of time with my older brother Tony and his very special family. He and I are like chalk and cheese. We really are polar opposites in almost every way – we don’t even look anything alike. In fact, a common question we were asked was, ‘Are you really brothers?’

Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

Greater Things

I’ve just finished reading 3 Nephi on my latest read-through of the Book of Mormon. I’m always amazed at how much more I gain from this magnificent book of scripture each time I read it, and marvel at how much more there must be to learn, if I could only have eyes to see.

Christ begins speaking to the people in the land from chapter 9 of 3 Nephi, then appears to them in chapter 11. The last words we have from Christ to the Nephites are in chapter 28, so it makes about 20 chapters in total containing the direct teachings of Jesus.

Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

For Our Day

‘I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents…’ (1 Nephi 1:1). Latter-day Saints will be familiar with these words and can probably quote much of the rest of this verse, having read it and heard it countless times over the years.

It’s not possible for me to put into words just how much I love the Book of Mormon, It was written specifically for our days and is so wonderfully complex, beautiful and applicable that I constantly marvel at it. 

Now, if you’re not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you might be a little wary of the Book of Mormon. You might think the ‘Mormons’, as we are usually known, are a little weird, maybe you worry that we’re a cult, or maybe you’ve heard some really troubling things about our history (or present). You might want to stay away from the Book of Mormon in order to keep your distance from the religion.

Continue reading →
Noah's ark on the waves


by 2 Comments

Follow … who?

‘Follow the Prophet’. Since its inclusion in the Primary songbook in the 1990’s this has become a refrain heard repeatedly in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The song was commissioned by the Church, the writer asked to write something about Old Testament prophets that children would enjoy.

I recall with a smile on my face our many times singing this with our children when they were little, marching around our living room furniture, ‘Follow the prophet, he knows the way …’, and still find the lyrics curiously amusing that the people of Noah’s day didn’t listen to him because they were, ‘busy sinning’.

The question is, though: is the mantra true? What does it mean?

Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

In the Space of Not Many Years

In the last General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder David A Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave a prophetic warning. He reminded us that the Book of Mormon was given specifically for the days in which we live, and that its prophets had seen our day. They therefore knew what would be of most value to us.

It was in this context in which Elder Bednar quoted from the book of Helaman, discussing the tremendous wickedness that came upon the Nephites, ‘… in the space of not many years.’ (Helaman 6:32) Interestingly, this phrase is repeated in the book of Helaman another two times (see Helaman 7:6, 11:26).

This pattern is repeated in 3 Nephi, when the Nephites had ‘continual peace’ across their nation in their 28th year (3 Nephi 6:9), only for their entire government to collapse within only two years. (See 3 Nephi 7:1-2). This happened shortly before the apocalyptic destructions that occurred among them prior to the resurrected Christ visiting them.

Continue reading →
Brigham Young


by Leave a comment

When History Troubles Faith

This is a topic that has been on my mind for some time, but I’ve really struggled to find the right words. The purpose of this website is to build faith in Jesus Christ, but as soon as we start to talk about mortals – any mortals, no matter how ‘righteous’ they are or we think they should be, we are going to encounter problems. How can we then discuss anything potentially controversial without damaging the faith in Christ we wish to build?

Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

The Gospel of Repentance

There are so many things I love about the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of these is how so many principles overlap, complement and enhance each other; and how things that we might have heard many times before can suddenly take on new meanings, or sometimes just become so much more important than they once were.

I was struck a few months ago by something someone said. I don’t remember where I came across it – it might have been a blog post, or a Youtube video, or a General Conference talk or something else entirely – so I apologise of the lack of attribution. I don’t even remember the actual quote, but I remember the reference and the impact.

Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

Of Sabbaths, Sacraments, and The Rest of the Lord

Many years ago in another part of the world, I was serving in a calling that required me to be in contact with many church leaders around the Stake. On a particular Sunday evening, I needed to make contact with several individuals and picked up the phone (this was before the days of mobile phones, text messaging and the internet). I specifically recall ringing one house, where the Bishop I spoke to was very polite on the phone. In the background, however, I heard a member of his household say, ‘What’s he doing ringing you now? Doesn’t he know the World Cup final is on?’

Continue reading →


by 1 Comment

What’s in a Name?

This continues the series discussing the LDS ordinance of the sacrament. To see the previous posts in the series, see here

As we continue our pondering of the Sacrament prayer wording, it’s important to pause and consider in some detail the Name of Christ. In the prayers, the Priest asks, ‘God the Eternal Father … in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ…’ to bless and sanctify the sacramental emblems. It’s easy to overlook this, because in the LDS Church we close every prayer, every testimony, every talk/sermon, every lesson, ‘in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen’. It’s become a custom, one could almost say a habit.

That’s unfortunate, because there is great power in the Lord’s Name, and we miss out on that when we’re not deliberate and reverent. Indeed, we may well be breaking the third of the great commandments given at Sinai, ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain…’ (Exodus 20:7). It’s this commandment I’d like to focus on in this post.

Continue reading →