Jesus Christ: The Cornerstone of America
October 24, 1999
Thomas Jefferson said: “Those who expect to be ignorant and to be free, expect something that never was and never will be.”
Everyone within this room has an innate desire to be free. But free from what? Free from pain, free from hunger, free from fatigue, free from fat, free from pimples, free from finding a date every weekend, free from homework, free from finding a job when school is finished. Free from political correctness, (the anti-thesis of the 1st amendment), free from government, free from sin, free from crime, free from a menacing lack of self-esteem. Free from big thighs, skinny legs, that guy in your math class who won’t leave you alone. Free from the past! Free from the present and even free from the future.
If we as humans have such a strong drive to be free from so many things, what is the solution? How do we become free? In John we read, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) The scriptures deepen our understanding with the following verse: “And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.” (DC 93:24)
During Christ’s ministry, the Jews were looking for a Redeemer, but they were looking for the wrong guy. Let’s examine their situation. They wanted a King to free them from the Romans. They did not have knowledge of things as they are. Christ was there to set men free from bondage, but not from bondage of a government, but from the bondage of sin. Knowledge of the past would reveal that a righteous Israel was always free from foreign governments. Therefore, acceptance of Christ’s gospel would surely have set them free in the near future. As it was, the Lord prophesied the destruction of Israel shortly after his ascent.
Those who do not know history are bound to repeat it. When Samuel was the prophet over Israel, the Israelites were ripe with iniquity. So were Samuel’s sons, and the people used the wickedness of his sons as an excuse to change the form of government from the reign of judges to the reign of a King. The Lord through Samuel warned Israel of the dangers of a monarchy. The children of Israel wanted to be like their neighbors. They were envious of their neighbors’ oppressive and corrupt form of government.
Since the days of Adam, the Lord’s people have been ruled by a theocracy. From Adam to Enoch, from Noah to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it appears the Lord ruled his people through a theocratic form of government. When the House of Israel demanded a King, they illustrated a severe lack of knowledge for the past and demonstrated an ignorance of God’s law. Their operating status was one of wickedness and sin. They had no knowledge or recognition of the past, and the future, as history teaches us, is always a consequence of the present.
As individuals we are given punishments and rewards based upon our actions. The consequence or reward is sometimes immediate and sometimes in the future. As a nation, there is no soul or spirit. George Mason said, “As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects providence punishes national sins by national calamities.”
The calamities of a wicked King David are well documented in the Old Testament. Toward the end of David’s life, King David felt it necessary to conduct a census. Ever since the days of Abraham, God had promised that the boundaries of Israel’s domain would one day extend from the Euphrates to Egypt. In David’s day this had been achieved. Nevertheless, the scriptures say Satan tempted David to make a military census, perhaps with the intent of launching into an imperialistic expansion. Even Joab, his chief captain objected. But David prevailed and the census was taken. The Lord counted this as a great evil and three days later, 70,000 Israelites lay dead from a pestilence.
The Israelites refusal to acquire knowledge of things past, present, and future caused tremendous pain and suffering.
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we not only believe in Jesus Christ, but we also believe Jesus Christ, especially when he said: “…men are that they might have joy.” (2 Nephi 2:25) Our belief structure entails a fervent testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father. He came to earth to atone for our sins and to bring us back into the presence of our Father. His goal is to enable us the ultimate joy – eternal life. He was born of an earthly mother during the meridian of time, was crucified on the cross at Calvary, and was resurrected on the third day. The Lord teaches us in John 17:3, “And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”
What does it mean to know God? Though the term is used with various shades of meaning, in the purest scriptural sense, to know is to have an intimate knowledge or covenant relationship with him. The word to know in the Hebrew is “yada.” The Old Testament references the phrase to know, as in, to know God or, and Adam knew his wife Eve, with the same Hebrew word, “yada.” Here we have a biblical type; fidelity is to love as righteousness is to a knowledge of God, and therefore freedom.
We believe this same Jesus Christ is instrumental in making man free. Let’s take the United States of America as a case study of how knowledge of Jesus Christ and his teachings can make us free. Freedom means the opportunity to make choices. It is often referred to as free agency, but this is misleading as the definition of agency is the power to act righteously. Every choice comes with a price, either a consequence or a reward. Even tolerance is now viewed as acceptance. The apparent neutral decisions (non-judgmental) that so many people are fond of making in order not to offend the easily offended come with a dear price. John the Beloved defined these people in Revelations as luke warm. The Lord will spue such fence-sitters out. (Revelations 3:15-16)
We believe that the right to be free and to have an equal opportunity to succeed or fail, be bond or free, comes from God and no other. It is only through the principles of Jesus Christ that true freedom can be attained. During a heated debate on the floor of congress in 1776 between John Dickinson and Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Dickinson, who supported a continued alliance with Great Britain, was exchanging points of view regarding the British custom of excessive taxing without representation and the quartering of soldiers etc. Mr. Dickinson in a subtle comment of acquiescence said to Mr. Franklin, “Nobody condones such actions, (those of the British), but I am willing to give up a little freedom for the security of associating with the greatest nation on earth.”
To which Mr. Franklin quickly retorted, “Careful Mr. Dickinson, he who will give up a little freedom for a little security deserves neither the freedom nor the security.”
We live in the greatest nation to ever exist in the history of mankind. We adhere to a constitution that was divinely inspired and we live day to day with unprecedented freedom, wealth, knowledge, and luxury. The founding fathers set up this nation with a stalwart belief in God and set her principles upon the bible. Yet with each passing day, we find our rights and freedoms eroding under the oppressing dogma of relativism.
Imagine you are in Williamsburg, VA in the early 1800s. You find the people are quite friendly and very talkative, especially regarding politics and religion. In fact, you are quite taken back at the openness of religious discussion.
All the schoolbooks contain the bible as part of their curriculum. Christian principles and an adherence to a Christian lifestyle are virtually taken for granted. You notice that the only sex-education taught is complete abstinence until marriage. You never hear the use of condoms promoted as the solution to teenage hormonal patterns. Then you chuckle, oh yeah; latex isn’t scheduled for invention for quite some time.
You find it fascinating that religion plays such a predominate role in society. A little research should be quite enlightening. You come across an interesting letter written by the Danbury Baptist church of Connecticut to President Thomas Jefferson, who grew up in Williamsburg. In fact his initials are carved in the local church loft, as a restless TJ was fidgeting during a sermon. The Baptists had heard a rumor that the Congregationalist would be made the national religion, and they were quite worried and upset.
Right! A national religion in American. No Way! You even knew that couldn’t fly. That’s exactly why many people immigrated here in the first place, to avoid religious persecution from a state-run church. President Jefferson’s reply was printed in the local paper. It’s the first time you’ve ever read the entire text, and then you realize his intent was not to separate the church and state for the benefit of the state, but rather for the benefit of the church, to protect it from the state. The letter is only three paragraphs. I quote only the second.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties. (Thomas Jefferson, January 1, 1802)
The Founding Fathers saw education and religion going hand in hand. That is why they wrote, in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787: “Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
It’s as though you are having an out of body experience. It seems Congress since the 1960’s has never read the writings of our founding fathers! You live in a country where the people truly rule. It’s called a republic and there is no other country in the world quite like it. In fact the constitution of this great nation called the United States was founded upon Christian principles discovered in the bible. For example:
We have three branches of government – Isaiah 32:22.
Separation of church and state: 1st and 2nd Samuel
Tax exemption for churches: Ezra 7:24
The most popular book quoted by the founding fathers is Deuteronomy. In fact 94% of all the quotes from the founding fathers are based upon the bible. While doing a little political inquiring you come across a brilliant historian of the day. During the conversation you learn a little more about the father of our nation, George Washington. He relates the following story:
In 1755, Great Britain and France were at odds regarding the Americas. GB sent 2300 hand picked troops under the command of General Edward Braddick to engage the French and remove them from the territory. Colonel George Washington and General Braddick combined their forces and marched to Ft. Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh) to expel the French. As they traveled through the Pennsylvania country, they went down into a ravine when the French and the Indians ambushed them.
The British troops, being veterans of European warfare, knew exactly what to do. The queued up their lines at the bottom of the ravine where they were ambushed and expected the enemy to do the same. No such luck, the French stayed behind their trees, and the Indians remained in their trees and commenced a horrific slaughter of the British and American troops. This continued for the space of two hours. There were 714 casualties on the British/American side and 30 for the French/Indian side. There were 86 British and American officers. 85 were shot and removed from action that day. George Washington was the only officer not shot. After the skirmish, he wrote a letter to his sister referencing providence as his saving source, explaining that he had three horses shot out from underneath him. His jacket had four bullet holes and his hair contained bullet fragments. In his letter he praised providence for his safety.
Fifteen years after this incident, in 1770, General George Washington returned to the ravine in the Pennsylvania woods and was met by an old Indian chief. They sat around an open fire and the aging Chief explained: He said, sir you don’t know me, but I was in charge of the Indians when we attacked you 15 years ago. I fired my gun 17 times at you. All of our braves were commanded to shoot the officers. No one could hit you so I told my braves to stop shooting and today I wanted to meet the man whom God would not let die.”
Benjamin Franklin said: “Whoever will introduce into public affairs the principles of Christianity will change the face of the world.”
Patrick Henry later was quoted as saying: “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians. Not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
John Jay, the Nation’s First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said: “Providence has given to our people the choices of their rulers and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
Imagine the candidate who uses this rhetoric in his or her campaign in the United States of America in the 1990’s! Yet, to use anything contrary until the 1940’s would be a losing cause. Consider what must be going through your mind as you ponder the different world in which you now exist.
After reading Mr. Jay’s comments, you start wondering what kind of decisions the Supreme Court must be making regarding Christianity? You find a decision made in 1811. People v. Ruggles. The ruling reads: ”Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government.”
So what does this mean? It seems a man became very angry and wrote down his anger on paper, then distributed it to the public. He repeatedly used the Lord’s name in vain and viciously attacked Jesus Christ and Christianity. He was arrested and sentenced. He made several appeals, all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that he attacked Jesus Christ and Christianity and therefore he attacked the foundation of the United States.
An attack on Christ was in 1811 considered an attack on the United States. He was sentenced to three months in prison and $500.00. The Justices followed up their statements with 87 legal precedents. Then commented that they could cite many more, but 87 should suffice.
Wow! In 1999, a man takes a picture of the Mother Mary, cuts out some pornographic pictures and pastes them around her. Then he glues elephant dung around the periphery and displays this in a prominent museum at the expense of the citizenry of the United States of America. The elite, empowered, or Pharisees, depending on your point of view, considered this an exercise of the 1st amendment.
Runkel v. Winemiller of 1796. “By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon the same and equal footage.”
The Supreme Court explained that the founding fathers wanted Christian principles and a life centered on Jesus Christ. We just don’t want to be forced into it by a state-run mandate or by a specific state-run religion.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we believe the Glory of God is intelligence or in other words, a righteous application of knowledge. This country was founded upon righteous Christian principles, but over the course of time, wickedness has crept into our political system and corrupted the very document we feel the Lord inspired, the Constitution of the United States.
We are free because the right to be free and choose our own destiny comes from our maker and no one or no where else. The reason our constitution carries such adamant verbiage regarding God and religious beliefs is because the populace was educated in Christian teachings. Textbooks until the mid-20th century carried the scriptures found in the bible as part of the history and social science courses. It is beyond the comprehension of any educated Christian to stand by and allow the thinking of such corrupt minds that having the 10 commandments posted in our schools violates the constitution of the United States. I defy anyone to show me where that is found.
By now, you wonder, how did we as a nation ever get to the point that the very word Christ is against the law? Separation of church and state was never meant the way it’s being used today. In fact, it appears as though a new religion has taken over our government. One that sets up the institutions of man as god, and places our Father in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ to outlaw status.
In 1853, a church came to congress to request a separation of church and state. Congress said okay and researched the issue for one full year and came back with the following statement:
“At the time of the adoption of the constitution and the amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, not by any one sect. In this there can be no substitute for Christianity. That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants. The great and vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
In other words, there is no way the US Congress will allow a separation of church and state. Another challenge was issued late in the 1890’s. Jefferson’s letter of January 1, 1802 was pulled out and reviewed. Again, denied.
BUT in a 1947 case called Everson v. Board of Education, the first known incident of a reversal is found. Only eight words of Jefferson’s letter were used, completely out of context. Those words: “a wall of separation between church and state.” No legal or historical precedents cited. Not a single one. It would not take long for this decision to have a dramatic impact upon the freedom of our nation. Dr. William James the Father of Modern Psychology once said: “There is nothing so absurd, but if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.” And so those opposed to Christ and His teachings did. The term “a wall of separation between church and state” is now believed by many to be part of the 1st Amendment.
In 1962 and 1963 the Supreme Courts removed religious instruction, bible reading, and prayer from school. Brand new legal doctrine with zero, zippo, nada, legal or historical precedents cited.
In September 1980, the ten commandments are removed from schools, with the following statement: “If the ten commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the school children to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey the commandments. This is not a permissible objective!
James Madison – the primary author of the Constitution said: “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
George Washington: “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.”
You remember the quote by George Mason, “As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects providence punishes national sins by national calamities.” So what are the causes and effects of our government’s change of direction since 1962. Here is a list of statistics for a 10-year period from 1962 to 1972. The common denominator in all these statistics – Christ and His principles are removed from the formative years in our youth.
➢ Unwed births for girls ages 10-14 up 533%
➢ Sexually transmitted diseases up 226%
➢ Divorce rates up 117%. Prior to 1962, there was a steady decline in the divorce rate for a period of 15 years.
➢ Unmarried couples living together up 353%
➢ Violent crime up 544%
➢ SAT scores in school down dramatically. Prior to 1962, there was never more than a two-year drop without an increase.
➢ SAT scores increase in 1982.
➢ Increase in private Christian schools from 1000 in 1974 to 30,000 in 1984.
➢ Students scored on average 100 points higher in private school than in the public sector. The average private student is identical with pre-1962 scores.
John Adams: ”We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
In other words, our government only works for a people who have internal controls. Christianity deals with the problem before it happens, it deals with the heart. Man made institutions have only the arm of man to control a nation. History has proven this impossible. For the past two hundred years, the United States of America has been the world leader. Today, we continue that tradition, but our categories have changed. We now lead the World in:
➢ Divorce – Western world
➢ Violent crime
➢ Teen pregnancies
➢ Abortions
➢ Illegal drug use
➢ Illiteracy – Industrial nations
The prophet Jeremiah truly saw our day: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord… (Jeremiah 31:32-33)
Jeremiah’s prophecy, according to Dr. Adam Clarke was fulfilled over 200 years ago, when every man and child knew about Jesus Christ. If God’s principles don’t reside in the hearts of the people and the people don’t reside in politics, how can the government be guided by righteous principles?
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we believe that the bible is the word of God. It is a testament that Jesus is the Christ, the only Begotten of the Father. The bible is the record of Christ’s dealings with the Jews. Since the time of Adam, God has communicated with man through a chosen vessel known as a prophet. Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” In 600 BC a small group of Israelites from the Tribe of Joseph, left Jerusalem and traveled to the New World. Their leader was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah and his name was Lehi. In the gospel of John chapter 10 verses 14 – 16:
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
The Book of Mormon is the fulfillment of that prophecy. It is the second witness to Jesus Christ. The book’s very purpose is to convince the Jew and the Gentile that JESUS IS THE CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD…It is the record of God’s dealing with His people on this, the American continent. As a general reference point, the Book of Mormon encompasses the history of the remnant of Joseph (the same who was sold into Egypt) between the years 600 BC and 421 AD.
In the year 71 AD, a prophet of God records the circumstances of the people. The Law of Moses was fulfilled on this continent, exactly as it had been fulfilled in the Old World. After the resurrection of the Savior, he visited the inhabitants of the Americas and brought them the identical gospel he preached in Jerusalem and round about. He set up His church with apostles and prophets as we read in Ephesians 2 and 4. Since Alexander Graham Bell wasn’t born yet, the old and new worlds were not communicating on a regular basis and therefore the need for two organizations. The bible is filled with the symbolism of bringing Judah and Joseph together into one. In 2 Corinthians 13:1 we learn through the mouth of two or three witnesses shall all things be proven. Not only are the prophecies fulfilled with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, but also the second witness to Jesus Christ is in harmony with ancient thought and knowledge. And so we read:
4 Nephi 1:12,16,17 “And they did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses; but they did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord and their God, continuing in fasting and prayer, and in meeting together oft both to pray and to hear the word of the Lord. And it came to pass that there was no contention among all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus. And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God. There were no robbers, nor murderers, …but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.”
Imagine living in such circumstances. In contrast, we find in the year 41 BC the government of the people not operating according to the commandments of God. Listen to the prophet Helaman’s description.
Helaman 7:4-5 “And seeing the people in a state of such awful wickedness, and those Gadianton robbers (Politicians) filling the judgment seats-having usurped the power and authority of the land; laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men;
Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills…”
How incredibly similar this verse sounds to the decade of the 1990’s.
I quote again from James Madison – the primary author of the Constitution said: “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
The scriptures give each honest student great hope for freedom. Freedom from the confines of mortality if one’s life is pursued in a manner so outlined and accepted by our final Judge, even Jesus Christ. Yet how can we become free while experiencing our mortal probation here on earth? The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only sure and absolute solution on the face of the earth.
Those who are familiar with the church and our missionary program are aware that we send our missionaries all over the world, two by two, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that in order for our nation to be free, her inhabitants must follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. We also believe, that in order for individuals to be free, they too must follow the gospel teachings.
Then why do we send our missionaries to so-called Christian nations and people? This is a fair question. Imagine with me what it was like during the ministry of Jesus Christ. If you and I were there, how do you think we would have reacted to the Savior’s teachings? Would we have been disciples, or would we have sided with the politically correct crowd, AKA the Pharisees and the Sadducees?
When Jesus Christ lived, his very birth was fulfillment of prophecy. Did the Jews know about the prophecies? Oh yes. But they chose to ignore them because if Jesus were indeed the Christ, they would have to change their way of life. Their hearts were hardened and although they knew the law, they did not know their God. Christ set up an organization of apostles and prophets and fulfilled the Law of Moses. He did away with animal sacrifices and replaced the tediousness of the exterior law and replaced it with an internal one. Let me illustrate:
Old Testament New Testament
Do not kill. Love your enemy.
Do not commit adultery. Do not even lust. He who lusts after a woman hath committed adultery in his heart.
Jesus teaches us to prevent the crime before it even happens. The government of man tries to strong-arm the populace into submission of the rules and ends up doing more harm than good. In a Theocracy, a government run by Deity, core principles are taught and the people govern themselves. In other words the law is placed within, in their heart. This is how our nation started.
Can you imagine what it would be like if Peter, James, and John were alive today and guiding the church under the watchful hand of Jesus Christ? Well, this is our testimony to you. We testify that Jesus Christ directs His work through a modern-day prophet and twelve apostles exactly like he has in the past. When we share our testimonies with other Christian friends, we do not wish to take away, we only wish to add more. More scriptures, more revelations, more opportunity, more knowledge, more happiness, more joy, and finally more freedom.
The following story contains a core belief within our faith concerning a great apostasy. Shortly after the death of the apostles, there was an apostasy of the church. Not from the church, but the entire church fell away from the teachings of Jesus and His apostles. As Isaiah says, “the earth is also defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” (Isaiah 24:5) Basic teachings and ordinances were changed through the influence of the prevalent governments. Even our holidays witness the pagan’s influence upon the church.
This story takes place in Southern Germany, very near where I served my mission. It is recorded in the journal of Scott Anderson.
We had an unexpected moment in the mission field. We were on a companion trade off when we knocked on a door and a lady said something to us we had never heard, “Come In!” Now remember, I was a German missionary. This never happened to us; not even the members would say that to us. At this point this dear lady invited us in.
My companion said, “Do you know who we are?”
“You want to talk about religion, don’t you?” she said.
“Yes, we do.” Explained my companion.
“Oh, come in. I’ve been watching you walk around the neighborhood. I’m so excited to have you here. Please come into my study.”
We went in and seated ourselves and she sat down behind her desk. She looked at us with a smile, then pointed to three Ph.D.’s hanging over her head. One in Theology, the study of religion, one in Philosophy, the study of ideas, and one in European History specializing in Christianity.
She then kind of rubbed her hands together and said, “Do you see this row of books here?’ We looked at the well-arranged row of books. She then said, “I wrote them all. I’m the Theology professor at the University of Munich. I’ve been doing this for 41 years. I love to talk about religion. What would you like to discuss?” My inspired companion said we’d like to talk about the Book of Mormon. She said, “I don’t know anything about the Book of Mormon.” He said, “I know.” Twenty minutes later we walked out of the room. We handed her a Book of Mormon and our companion trade off was over. I didn’t see this lady again for another eight and half weeks.
I saw her next in a small room filled with people. She was standing in front dressed in white. This Theology professor at the University of Munich was well known throughout Southern Germany. She stood up in front of the small congregation of people and said, “Before I’m baptized I’d like to tell you my feelings. In Amos chapter 8:11, it says there will be a famine of the word of God. I’ve been in that famine for 76 years. Why do you think I have three Ph.D.’s? I’ve been hungering for truth and have been unable to find it. Then eight and one-half weeks ago, two boys walked into my home. I want you to know these boys are very nice and wonderful young men, but they didn’t convert me. They couldn’t; they don’t know enough.”
And then she smiled and said, “but since the day they walked in my door I have read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, all of Talmage’s great writings, Evidence and Reconciliations by John A. Widtsoe and 22 other volumes of church doctrine.” She then said something, which I think, is a challenge for every one of us here. She said, “I don’t think you members know what you have.”
Then in her quiet, powerful way, she said, “After those years of studying philosophy, I picked up the Doctrine and Covenants and read a few little verses that answered some of the greatest questions of Aristotle and Socrates! When I read those verses, I wept for four hours.”
Then she repeated: “I don’t think you members know what you have. Don’t you understand the world is in a famine? Don’t you know we are starving for what you have? I am like a starving person being led to a feast. And over these eight and one-half weeks I have been able to feast in a way I have never known possible.”
Her powerful message and her challenging questions ended with her favorite scripture, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32). She said, “These missionaries don’t just carry membership in the church in their hands, they carry within their hands the power to make the atonement of Jesus Christ full force in my life. Today I’m going into the water and I’m going to make a covenant with Christ for the first time with proper authority. I’ve wanted to do this all my life.”
None of us will ever forget the day that she was baptized. After she was baptized, but before she received the Holy Ghost, she stood and said, “Now I would like to talk about the Holy Ghost for awhile.” She then gave us a wonderful talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Later in Elder Anderson’s journal…
Two young missionaries, both relatively new, (one had been out about five months, the other three weeks) accidentally knocked on the door of the seminary in Reagansburg. 125 wonderful men were studying to become priests inside. The Elders didn’t realize it was a seminary because it looked like any other door. They were invited in. The man who greeted them apologized in somewhat of a panic saying, “I am sorry we just don’t have time right now.”
The two missionaries were relieved, but then he said, “Would you come back next Tuesday and spend two hours addressing all 125 of us and answer questions about your church?” They agreed that they would, and ran down the road in a panic, screaming. They made a phone call to the mission president and cried for help. The mission president called us and said, “do you think that dear lady that you have just brought into the church would like to come help these two missionaries with this assignment?”
I called her to explain what was to happen, and she said, “more than I would like to eat, more than I would like to sleep, more than…” I said, “Fine, you don’t have to explain.”
We drove her to the seminary and as we went in, she grabbed the two missionaries that had originally been invited, put her arms around them and said, “you are wonderful young men. Would each of you spend about two minutes bearing your testimonies and then sit down and be quiet, please?”
They were grateful for their assignments. They bore their testimonies and then seated themselves. Then she got up and said, “For the next 30 minutes I would like to talk to you about historical apostasy.” She knew every date and fact. She had a Ph.D. in this. She talked about everything that had been taken away from the great teachings the Savior had given, mostly organizational, in the first part of her talk. Then the next 45 minutes was doctrinal.
She gave every point of doctrinal change, when it happened and what had changed. By the time she was done, she looked at them and said, “In 1820 a boy walked into a grove of trees. He had been in a famine just like I have been. He knelt to pray, because he was hungry just like I have been. He saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I know this is hard for you to believe that they could be two separate beings, but I know they are.”
She shared scriptures that showed that they were separate beings and then said, “I would like to talk about the historical restoration of truth. She then, point by point, date by date, from the Doctrine and Covenants put back the organizational structure of Christ’s church. The last 20 minutes of her talk were absolutely brilliant. She doctrinally put the truth back in place, point by point, principle by principle.
When she finished this profound talk, she said, “I have been in a famine as talked about in Amos. You know that because last year I was here teaching you.” For the first time, we realized that she was their Theology professor. She continued by saying, “Last year when I was teaching you, I told you that I was still in a famine. I have been led to a feast. I invite you to come.”
She finished her testimony and sat down. What happened next was hard for me to understand. These 125 sincere, wonderful men stood and for the next 7 minutes, gave a standing ovation. By the time four minutes had gone by I was crying. I remember standing and looking into their eyes and seeing the tears in their eyes too. I wondered why they were applauding after the message she had given. I asked many of them later.
They said, “to hear someone so unashamed of the truth, to hear someone teaching with such power, to hear someone who finally has conviction.”
John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” 
The freedom spoken of here, is not the same freedom the Jews were searching for when the Savior was among them. But rather, this is the freedom that is only attainable through knowing Jesus Christ and His teachings.
I leave you with my testimony and this admonition. To our Christian friends, we invite you to discover a second witness of Jesus Christ. If you love the bible now, it will only get better and deeper upon reading what the Lord had to say to His saints on this continent.
As Ezekial testifies, the two shall be one in thine hand. (Ezekial 37:15-19) The testimonies of Jesus Christ have the power to set us all free.
