Testimony

The power of testimony

What: A testimony is a spiritual witness given by the Holy Ghost

Foundation of a testimony (note the order)

·       Heavenly Father lives

·       Loves his children

·       Jesus Christ Lives

·       He is the Son of God and carried out the infinite atonement

·       Joseph Smith is the prophet who was called to restore the gospel

·       The church is the Savior’s true church on the earth

·       It is led by a living prophet

Why: Happiness in this life and in eternity depends largely on being “valiant in the testimony of Jesus”

How: Development of a Testimony

·       Begin: Quest for a testimony begins with a righteous, sincere desire (Alma 32:27)

·       Delivery: It comes through the quiet influence of the Holy Ghost. It is a gift of the Spirit. It comes as a quiet assurance without spectacular displays of God’s power.

·       Growth: No one receives a complete testimony all at once. Must show willingness to serve, to study, pray and learn. Me - God’s mercy will not allow us to be given a gift we cannot handle – it would set us back. Line upon line. To gain more testimony, serve more

·       Growth: Testimonies are developed when they are shared          

o   Fast and testimony meetings

o   Church classes

o   Conversations with family and friends

Alma’s testimony

Moroni’s testimony
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 kow that my garments are not spotted with your blood. 
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; 
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 12:38, 39, 41 March 28 2017. I found this finally!


Christ

Joseph Smith’s testimony

·       And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! “For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father”

Gordon B Hinckley’s testimony

Alma (this is not the Alma testimony I’m looking for) 7  16 And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me.

General Conference Oct 2004 M Russell Ballard

This experience impressed upon me how deeply grateful we must all be to know that after ages of darkness and apostasy, Joseph Smith beheld a remarkable vision of the Father and the Son in the Sacred Grove. Clearly, in our world today it is a rare and precious thing to have a testimony that God our Heavenly Father lives; that His Son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior and Redeemer; and that priesthood authority to administer the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored once again upon the earth. The profound blessing of having a testimony of these truths cannot be measured or ever taken for granted.

According to Alma the Younger, “it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves … the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me” (Alma 32:28)

To have a real and abiding testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be “spiritually … born of God,” to “[receive] his image in your countenances,” and to experience a “mighty change in your hearts” (Alma 5:14).

the Spirit cannot be restrained when pure testimony of Christ is borne.

Joseph Smith’s testimony:

 22 And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

 23 For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

 24 That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.

The testimony of Enos
This is a powerful one. It might have been the one I was looking for when I began this over a month ago. Enos 1:27 And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest; And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and I shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen.

How would it be if we look forward to standing before our God? Many of us are afraid to see his face, but not so with Enos. The reasons for this may be many - I suspect that when we actually do cross the veil, we'll all (or at least most of us) will very much look forward to being with God - even if that means it's judgment day for us. We know there will be Love. But we may not know that now. The sin is never loved, but the sinner is. And in Enos case? He doesn't have to wait to cross before understanding to some level what his God's love is for him.

Now this is not to say that we're all going to be placed in happy land regardless of what we do, but as in other places where I've written, we get placed where we're comfortable, with people that we're comfortable with. I think it's like this: if you're not comfortable hanging out with a prophet 24/7, the Lord wouldn't do that to you. We choose our level of glory - at least to some extent - based on what level of life we build. That's what I believe. I certainly make no claim to understanding it fully. 

Nephi's Testimony (2 Nephi 33)

10 And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good. 11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye- for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness...14 And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb of God, behold I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall condemn you at the last day.

In this chapter Nephi laments about his inability to write powerfully. He knows that he can speak powerfully and with the gift of the power of God, but in the written form he says he can't get it there. This means a number of things to me - first is a confirmation that there are different gifts - everybody gets a different mix of them. Secondly I suspect that to some extent he's being humble. This passage is about as powerful as anything I see in the scriptures anywhere. It's one of the testimonies that got me going down this road of hunting for great men in the scriptures' testimonies. It's one of the most meaningful paragraphs ever written.

I originally found this while on my mission - I had read the book of Mormon earlier than that, but at that time I was only reading it. I was doing perhaps as well as a teenager could be expected to do - I read it. But on a mission, now greater meaning pops out, and this passage has great spiritual power to it. Combine this with the other passages listed above, and we have pure testimony of God. There's always room for discussion, but I believe that these passages are to me the most powerful in the scriptures, and in all of literature.

Shakespeare wrote well, but his works didn't guide people to God like Nephi does. Or Moroni. Or Alma. Words written for entertainment will never be in the same league as words written to create greater children of God.

The thought occurs to me that Paul and others in the new testament may have been as great. Certainly Isaiah and Melchezideck were. And Adam? He may have been supreme above the rest of the list, but we don't know as much about him. Why (at least in my estimation) were their words not as powerful? I suspect that the primary reason is that the greatness of their words was lost in multiple translations by well meaning but uninspired people.