followHIM - Doctrine & Covenants 71-75 Part 2 : Dr. Bradley R. Wilcox

Episode Date: June 27, 2021

Welcome to part two of this week's podcast. Well, let's go to section 73. And here we see something that again speaks to our day. Look at verse three. I say unto you, my servants, Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon, saith the Lord, it is expedient to translate again. So he had called them on this little mission to try to calm the storm that had arisen because of these letters written by Ezra Booth. And now he's saying, others can do that. There are others who can do that, and let's get you back to doing what you alone can do.

And he said, you need to translate again. These are the words I love. Verse 4, it is expedient to continue the work of translation until it be finished. 5, and let this be a pattern unto the elders until further knowledge, even as it is written. So he's saying this is a pattern. And I think it's a pattern for all return missionaries. We have so many young men and women who come back from their missions, and then they go through this big transition home. And I remember that. I remember coming home after serving as a mission president and waking up every day and thinking, nothing I am doing means anything. I can't tell you how many return missionaries have been in my class and said,

I feel like I have no purpose. Yeah, because suddenly they're saying, I was doing something important, and now what am I doing? I'm just going to school. I just have a job. I'm dating. It just doesn't seem that important. And whenever I hear that from a missionary, I always turn to this verse, and let this be the pattern. It is expedient to continue the work. So your mission doesn't mean you're not involved with the work anymore. It just means the work takes a different shape. It takes a different form. Going to school is part of the work. Working and earning money to pay the bills is part of the work. Serving in your calling in your ward is part of the work. Dating, nurturing your marriage, that's part of the work. And if we see the work as more than just

the limited work that we were privileged to do as a missionary, if we see the work in a bigger picture, then we don't face this transition that says, oh, I was a missionary and people needed me. Well, guess what? There's people who need you right now. They just might be your mom. It might be your wife. And she doesn't need you to come and give her a blessing or say a prayer or give a talk in church. She needs you to go out there and mow the lawn. She needs you to go out there and mow the lawn. She needs you to go out. That's what I was doing this morning. She needs you to go help get those trees trimmed and those plants planted. That's part of the work. If we expand our vision of the work, then we realize that just as Joseph was told, it's time for you to go back to a different part of the work. I called you on a mission, you did it, and now it's time for you

to go back and do what you were doing before. The Lord uses a great word in verse four, as much as it is practicable to preach in the regions roundabout. I, I, I really just, I really liked that word, Joseph and Sydney were out teaching. He says, okay, now we're done teaching. We're going to translate again. If you want to keep teaching great, do what's do what's practicable, right? Do how would you describe what the Lord is saying there? Do what fits. Do what works. Do what you can, but just realize that as a missionary, you're juggling one ball, and you're juggling it all day long. And now it's time for you to juggle lots of balls and keep a lot of balls in the air. And that's all part of the work. Yeah, I like that. I like the Lord saying, yeah, I know you like teaching. That's good. But we've got other things we have to do as well. Practicable. I'm going to have to look up the definition of that, you guys. Yeah, I had not noticed that word. There's a hyphen there. So I hadn't noticed it,

but practicable. That's great. And I want to add, same thing, Hank. I've got students, I feel so selfish. All I'm doing is working on myself, on my studies. And when I was on a mission, it was all about others. And I'm like, hey, this is your time to prepare for greater things. But I love what you've said, Brad. This is a pattern. You're not done. The mission goes on. And the pattern that you set there just keeps going. Yeah, think about study. On a mission, missionaries can have hours of study time. And then they come home, and that time is eaten up by other things.

And they say, oh, I missed that. I wish I could have it. And you can almost imagine the Lord saying to them, well, do as much study as you can. Yeah. What's practical? But you've also got to have a job and you've also got to have a social life. And these are also important things. I admire these early saints so much because they were juggling. I know Newell K. Whitney are running a store, but now I want you to do this too.

And it's going to become like the Lord's store. And leave your family and go on a mission for five years. And the things that I just marvel at them and the things these early saints were able to do make me think, ah, I complain too much. Looking up this word practicable, I think more likely today we're going to use the term possible or feasible. I love that the Lord is saying that, right? In as much as it is feasible to preach in the reasons roundabout, great. That's good. In as much as it is feasible to continue your gospel study, great. But if you can't devote two hours a day to it anymore, that's all right,

because there's other things that are also important. No, I love that, Brad. I love it. Yeah. Well, let's take a look at section 74, and here we see some of the fruits of the Joseph Smith translation. Because he's translating, and he's saying, gosh, if I look at 1 Corinthians 7, 14, as I look at that verse, I am able to be inspired to know what that's talking about. He is specifically speaking of verse 14 in 1 Corinthians 7. It says, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Elsewhere, your children unclean, but now are they holy.

Now, if you look in 1 Corinthians at verse 13, Paul is teaching, And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and he is pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. Now, remember I told you that these sections have a lot to do with today? How many women out there are suddenly dealing with the fact that their husband has gone inactive? How many men out there are suddenly dealing with the fact that their wife has decided to leave the church? And Paul is saying, that's not necessarily a reason for divorce, because if you will stay with that unbelieving spouse who's struggling right now,

you might be part of the sanctification process as that spouse learns and grows and progresses. So just because somebody in the family has left the church, we don't say, okay, we're done with that person. Instead, we continue in love, and we continue to try to be part of the sanctification process. Look here where it says, your children unclean. Now, Joseph finds out in this section that that's talking about circumcision. And people are thinking, well, if I've obeyed the law of Moses, and if I'm circumcised, then everything's good. And he's saying, no, it's more than just the performance of the outward law. It's what's inside as well. And that sanctification is not just about becoming clean, but it's also about becoming holy.

Now, we know that he goes on in this section to say that children are sanctified by the Lord. And I love that, because in reality, if we stop and think about it, we know that little children don't sin. We know little children are going straight to the celestial kingdom. So then one of my students comes to me and says, so wouldn't it be better if I just died before I was eight? I mean, if God really loved me, why didn't he just take me before I was eight years old? And that could seem like a legitimate question until you understand sanctification. We have to be more than justified. To become like God and our Heavenly Mother, we need to be more than clean.

We need to be holy. The Book of Mormon teaches about how little children who die before the age of accountability are saved through the grace of Christ. They need no test in this life, and they need no test in the life hereafter. The grace of Christ is not just seen in his ability to save these little children, but it's also seen in another teaching of Joseph Smith. And that teaching was that little children would be resurrected as little children, and that they would have the chance to be raised by the parents who lost them. So this student's question, gosh, wouldn't it be better if we all died before we turned eight? No, because although we would be clean, we would not be ready to become like God.

We still need sanctification, and the grace of Jesus Christ also provides for that. Maybe these little children who will be resurrected as children during the millennium and raised by their parents, what an amazing teaching! These little children, maybe they didn't need the tests of life. Maybe they didn't need repentance, but they needed love. They needed nurturing. They needed experience. And all of those things, they will also be able to get because of the grace of Jesus Christ that's seen not just in their justification, but in their sanctification. Yeah, what I hear from your student is, I don't think God is just. I don't think He loves me as much as He loves others. And we know both of those things aren't true. God is just, and He loves all of His children. And so, we don't need to worry. And see, it's not a competition. It's an

individualized plan of salvation. And some of us will have the chance to be sanctified in this life. Some of us will continue that process in the next life. And these little children will also be able to continue their learning and sanctifying process. that is a blessing of the grace of Christ, and that's what this section is talking about. If I could add something, I love the scriptural phrase. Originally, I mean, first time I'm aware of it, Psalms 24, 3 and 4, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, justified, and a pure heart. And through the grace of Christ,

we go through this purifying process of sanctification. And I think that President Dallin H. Oaks, this is my favorite example that I just thought, oh, that's so visual. That's so easy to understand. He said, imagine a tree that bends deeply in the time of a storm and it soils the leaves. He said, if all we do is focus on cleaning the leaves, clean hands, then the weakness in the tree that allowed it to bend may remain. So what happens when another storm comes? The same thing. The tree must be strengthened.

And I've always loved that idea of cleansing, clean hands, pure heart of changing. I love what Brad has taught. Tell him, Brad. People say, are you saved by grace? And you say, have you been changed by grace? Because salvation isn't complete until it includes transformation. One of my students wrote me an email and said, why not have sex with my boyfriend? Why not? We can always repent later.

And I wrote her back and I said, I'm so glad you know you can repent. I'm so glad you know you can be cleansed. See those leaves, John, that have bent and gotten dirty. I'm so glad you realize that you can be clean. But becoming like God is more than cleanliness. Cleanliness is only one of God's many attributes. So yes, can we repent? Can we repent as many times as we need to? Yes, yes, yes. But as we look at the true goal of not just being clean, but becoming like our Heavenly Father, becoming more like the Savior. As we look at that true goal, then we understand that we need more than cleanliness.

We need to grow. We need, like that tree, we need to grow and be strengthened. We need to be transformed. And that's also a promise that's offered to us from the Lord. There's a part in verse 7, it says, The little children are holy, being sanctified through the atonement of Jesus Christ. That is available to everyone, being sanctified through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I can't tell you how many times in the scriptures we've seen, Wash your garments in the blood of the lamb, right? You can be clean as a little child.

Sometimes I've heard that same thing, Brad. Like, oh, I wish I just would have died before I was eight. You can have the exact same blessing of being sanctified through the atonement. It's readily available to you right in front of you right now. When we speak about little children dying before eight, we realize what a trial that is for parents. We realize the heartbreak that comes with that for parents. And that's why I love to testify of Joseph Smith's additional teaching, that they will have the chance to raise that child. That child is going to be able to go through all the experiences and have all the love and all the teaching that parents can give. Parents will be able to read stories with those kids

and kneel in prayer with those kids and help those kids learn how to tie their shoes and help those kids learn how to ride a bike. All those things they think they missed are part of the blessing that is talked about here as he says those little children will be sanctified and parents will be part of that sanctification process. That is beautiful. I don't know if you guys have seen, and I hope I get the story right, but the church movie where Joseph Smith is in translating the Book of Mormon. And as you know, he and Emma lost, was it five children that they

buried? Yeah, so many of their children. And that he comes, is he doing Moroni chapter eight? I can't remember, but he stops. And if I'm remembering the movie right, Oliver Cowdery's like, where are you going? Because he reads these verses and he runs out to Emma to tell her, oh man, it's, do you remember the movie I'm talking? Oh, it's so good. Yeah. It's part of the harmony site type. Yeah. It's harmony. That's where it is. He runs out to tell Emma what he just learned from the scriptures. And if you'll Well, right there, footnote 7b on section 74, it says Moroni 8.8. So, where he's learning about the same, some of the same things about children are sanctified through the atonement. I circled verse 7 and just put the point.

Here's the point of this whole section, the seventh verse. Yeah, and that's the point that Joseph brings us to in seven. This is what the Lord is teaching him. Look at verse seven, but little children are wholly being sanctified through the atonement of Jesus Christ. And this is what the scriptures mean. That's why he had to do that Joseph Smith translation. He had to learn through the Spirit what those scriptures meant, and he's sharing that with us here. Well, let's take a look at section 75. And a lot of people say, oh, this is the section that talks about calling 50 billion people on a mission.

And he just calls all these people on a mission. And yeah, we could summarize it that way, but there's so much more to it. And especially, remember I said, these sections have a lot to do with today. You're going to be amazed at how this relates. Look at verse 2. Go forth to proclaim my gospel. Look at verse 5. If ye are faithful, ye shall be laden with many sheaves, and crowned with honor and glory and immortality and eternal life. Beautiful, long-term, eternal perspective saying that what you're doing matters. Don't get discouraged. You may not see all those things now. You may not see tons of converts, and you may not see tons of honor and glory, but as you keep an eternal perspective,

you'll see these things. And then he calls, he says, I call my servant William E. McClellan, and I revoke the commission which I gave unto him to go to the eastern countries, and I give unto him a new commission. Boy, I'm not sure if I say that this is the first modified mission, but this is certainly one of the first modified missions. John, tell us a little bit about your modified mission, but this is certainly one of the first modified missions. John, tell us a little bit about your modified mission. Well, it was very interesting because I received my mission call being timeless from President Wilford Woodruff. No, it was his Hebrew, Jay Grant. No, he was just across the desk from me. And no, it was under the or over the signature of Spencer W. Kimball for a period of 24 months. And there was a very short period of time in the early 80s where they changed elders' mission calls from 24 months to 18 months. Now, my call said 24, but they made this change and they left it

up to missionaries who were out after longer than 18 months if they wanted to return home or finish and go a full 24. Some stayed, some didn't. I'm grateful to one who stayed, became my new companion in the Philippines. And then as the mission progressed, they changed that rule back later on, but not during my mission. My mission president said, could I persuade you to stay for one more? So I did. So my call said 24, but then they changed it to 18 and it ended up serving for 19. So I love the talk that Elder Bednar gave about, notice the wording of the mission call. It's, you are called to serve. That's its own phrase. And you are assigned to labor here, right? And here, William is given an assignment to labor in a different place. I'm glad you brought that up, Brad, because there's a lot that wonder, well, how come I got my call and said this, and then I went here, and how come? And you're still called to serve. And even service missions, you're called to serve. And the fact that you wanted to and that your heart wants to serve is the most wonderful part

of the whole thing. And look how many missionaries at the end of 2020, or at the beginning of 2020, they all came back to the United States. And then some of them were reassigned. Some of them were told, no, you're done. You're done. Your mission is modified. And some people go out on a mission, and they're called to serve, and then they have health problems, mental health problems, physical health problems, and they are told, okay, your mission's over now. And they feel like, oh, no, you know, now I'm an early return missionary, and that's a scarlet letter that I wear. No, you're a missionary who returned earlier than you planned. Your mission was modified. And we see an example right here in the scriptures that that's not something we have to be sad about.

That's not something we have to be embarrassed about. John doesn't have to hang his head and say, I never served a 24-month mission. We just have to be grateful that he served, grateful for the good that did, and grateful for the repercussions of that in John's life throughout his entire life. And Brad, we could do this better as a culture of saying, you're as much as a return missionary as any other return missionary. Good for you for going. Good for you for going. Yeah.

Good for you for choosing to serve. And if your mission was modified because of things that were out of your hands, then so was William McClellan's mission. His mission was modified too. Yeah. I can't tell you how it breaks my heart that someone who feels very at home in the church for 18 or 19 or 20 years, all of a sudden feels like an outsider because something happened. And even if they have to come home off their mission because they made some serious errors, right? All of a sudden now, this person feels like they don't belong, that somehow they're a second-class citizen in the home, the church they were raised in, right?

This is your home. This is your church. This is – you belong with us, right? There's no scarlet letters in this church. And instead of going up to a young man or a young woman who comes home earlier than planned and saying, what happened? Why did you come home? Are you going back out? Those shouldn't be our first responses. Our first responses should be, it is so good to see you again, and we are so grateful for your service. Thank you. Welcome home. Welcome home. Tell us about some of the things you've learned on your mission. That needs to be our knee-jerk response.

And you're right, Hank. As a culture, we can learn to do that better because the Lord has been modifying missions for a long time. And I love to use the Book of Mormon in this case in Alma chapter 8 where Alma goes to Ammonihah. And when I teach it, I always add after the words Ammonihah, I always add wee, wee, wee, because it's such a scary place. Ammonihah is the knee horrors and it's a scary place. And Alma goes there and when he's leaving Alma 8.14, while he was journeying thither, being weighed down with sorrow, waiting through much tribulation and anguish of soul, Now notice, he got spit on, he got kicked out, he didn't feel like a successful missionary. Verse 15, blessed art thou Alma, therefore lift up thy head and rejoice for thou has

great cause to rejoice, semicolon. Now he could have stopped there and he could have said, why? They hated me. I've had zero baptisms in Ammonihah, right? And the angel goes on and says, thou has been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time that thou, which thou receivest thy first message from him. And that's what you modified missionaries did. You were willing to serve and you went.

And if something got modified and you came home differently or earlier or whatever, but you did what you were asked to do. And then my very favorite part of this, my very favorite part of this, this is Alma the Younger who was knocked flat by an angel in Mosiah 27, right? And the four sons of Mosiah were there, but Alma was the only one that was unconscious and they had to carry him back to mom and dad. And the angels, I just love that when Mormon edited this, he left this in here, this last line.

He said, you've been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time thou receivest thy first message from him. And then behold, I am he that delivered it unto you. That was me. Do you remember me? I scared you so bad. I scared you. You were shaken, but you've done so well. Now go back in. You're going to meet your new companion. I got a surprise arranged for you. Go back into town. I mean, it's such an awesome story, but I love to emphasize that part. It wasn't what you think it was.

You have great cause to rejoice because you did what you were asked to do. And I want every modified missionary to hear that. Well, and listen to what it says right here in the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 7 of 75, and I give unto him a new commission. Go ye, at the bottom of the verse, to the south countries. So he's saying, I'm giving you a new commission. Isn't that what happens to us throughout our whole lives? I was serving as a Weeblos leader, and then I got called as a mission president. My next calling was to serve as an advisor in the priest quorum. Then I served as—I mean, we'd go from calling to calling to calling throughout our entire lives. And so he says, I give unto him a new commission.

And the Lord is continually giving us new commissions, new places to serve. That's the very verse I read to a young man in my ward when he was called to South Africa, right in the middle of COVID, and then reassigned, as you said, John, reassigned to serve in North Dakota. And he was like, what's with that? And I said, listen to what it says in verse 7, I give unto him a new commission. I said, you've just been given another assignment. And if things open up and you have a chance to serve in South Africa, great. And if you don't, great, because you're doing what you've been asked to do.

And where you serve is not nearly as important as how you serve. And you think this is your only mission? You don't think you can get back to South Africa on another mission down the road? I think we'd have to keep that eternal perspective. That's what he's teaching us in verse 5. Keep that eternal perspective. Well, then we see other mission calls come. So this is the verse I read to that young man. I give unto him a new commission. And that new commission can take many different forms. If there's a young man who doesn't choose to serve a mission, does that mean that he can't be used by God the rest of his life? If there's a young woman who doesn't choose to serve a mission, does that mean that she can't serve other missions? Sometimes we limit a mission to just the time we spend with a name tag on our

chess, and we've got to realize that there are lots of commissions that we are given, and our prophet right now is a wonderful example of that. President Nelson didn't have the chance to serve as a young man, a full-time mission, but think of all of the missions he has served throughout his life. Can you imagine God saying to him, I give unto you a new commission? I'm going to give you a different commission. And after that, I'll give you a different commission. And I love it in the book Glimpses that Sherry Dew wrote, where she talks about how he was assigned to go back and talk to the leaders of government when they were saying that they weren't going to give tax credit to the Latter-day Saints for mission donations,

because they said it's a required part of their culture. So it's not a donation, it's not a voluntary donation. And it was President Nelson that went back and said, I'm an apostle, and I didn't serve a full-time mission. And they said, well, that shows you right there that it is a voluntary donation, and that it's not part of a requirement of their culture. And so the very fact that he didn't serve ended up being a blessing. We have to remember that missions are important, and God wants us to serve missions. But those missions can also take many forms, and those missions can continue throughout our lives. And we see that right here in verse 7. I give unto him a new commission.

Well, then we go on and we see him calling others, Luke Johnson, Orson Hyde, Samuel H. Smith, Lyman Johnson, Orson Pratt. And then we read many, many more names. But I thought it'd be interesting to learn a little bit about some of these men who served as apostles later in their lives, because this can give us a great deal of hope. And for every parent out there who says, well, my kid served a mission, but now he's struggling in the church. My daughter served a mission, and now she's saying she wants to leave the church.

We see here some others who served missions, who struggled, but we also see hope because so many of them came back. Now, William McClellan was in the Quorum of the Twelve, but he didn't come back. But listen to this. This was in an article I read by Larry Porter, who wrote an article in the BYU Studies Journal in 1970, and he said that even though William McClellan never came back to the church, he muddled around in several splinter groups for many years, but he never did return to full activity in the church. But when asked about the Book of Mormon, he said, you might just as well fight against the Rocky Mountains as the Book of Mormon.

He was better off for having gone. Even though later he left, he was better off for having gone in the first place. And that testimony, there was a core of his testimony that he simply could not deny because of these early experiences that he had. Let's take a look at Luke Johnson. This is the son of Elsa Johnson and John Johnson, who we talked about earlier. Well, I love Luke Johnson because not only was he a zealous and passionate missionary, but he was humorous. He used humor. Some missionaries go on their mission and they think, oh, now I have to be stoic and I have to be sober and serious all the time. And we forget that

we can use humor. Listen to this. This comes from an article by Daryl Loosley called Luke S. and Lyman E. Johnson, Apostles. Passing by the home of Ezekiel on his way home from a council meeting late at night, he sighted a ladder leaning against the side of Ezekiel's house. It happened to be close to the window of Ezekiel's upstairs bedroom. Luke immediately seized upon the thought that this would be an opportune time to have Ezekiel's wish for a voice, a voice from the unknown, fulfilled. Climbing up the ladder, he proceeded with a low-pitched voice, Ezekiel, Ezekiel, Ezekiel, repent, repent, repent. It is said that Ezekiel did his best to do as the voice had commanded, so was never informed of the true source. That's great.

Well, I just love this guy. Now, he went on to become an apostle, and then he got caught up in the financial speculation of the Kirtland era, and he fought against the prophet. But later, in 1846, he returned. He said, I have stopped by the wayside and stood aloof from the work of the Lord, but my heart is with this people. I want to be associated with the saints. And he was rebaptized in 1846 by Orson Hyde, and he was with the first group

of pioneers who went into the Salt Lake Valley. Now, that was a quote that I got from the church news in November 1960. So that's where his words came from. But I just love that. I have stopped by the wayside and stood aloof from the work of the Lord. We've got a lot of people in the church today who are doing that. And people get nervous and say, oh, this is the first time we've had so many people leave the church. No. These were apostles who were leaving the church.

But we don't give up hope because William McClellan kept his testimony. Luke Johnson came back into the church, and he was able to preside as a bishop in Utah when he was here. Now, in the Quorum of the Twelve, in this section, we read about Orson Hyde. We read about Samuel Smith. We read about Lyman Johnson and Orson Pratt. Now, Samuel Smith was never called to the apostleship, but he was faithful throughout his whole life. Well, yay for those young people who can stay faithful their whole lives.

But let's don't give up on the ones who are struggling, because Orson Hyde struggled. He had signed an affidavit in 1838 vilifying the prophet, but he came back and was actually able to be an apostle still, and he went on to dedicate Jerusalem. Lyman Johnson called to the Quorum of the Twelve. He lost money in a financial venture. And in the Journal of Discourses, 19, page 42, it says, I was full of joy and gladness. He's talking about when he was a member of the church. And he says, I was full of joy and gladness. My dreams were pleasant. I was happy by day and by night, full of peace, joy, and thanksgiving. But now it is darkness. I have never since seen a happy moment. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, experience is the school of fools, but some will learn in no other. And if you're a parent who's struggling because you've seen your children make choices that have broken your heart, and you can see them

living out exactly what Lyman Johnson learned, I was happy in the church, and now I'm in darkness, and you can see it. Well, one day, maybe they will see it too, just like Lyman Johnson did, and just as he was able to recognize it. Now, Orson Pratt is another one who's mentioned here. He was an apostle. He denounced plural marriage. He spoke out against plural marriage. See, we have a lot of people uptight today and struggling with their testimonies because of gay marriage. And they think they're the first people who have wrestled with an issue? They think they're the first people who have felt frustrated about something? No, Orson Pratt felt frustrated, and yet Brigham Young stood by him. Brigham Young believed in him. Brigham Young didn't give up on him. In fact, listen to what he said. This was in Brigham Young's office journal, and it was written on October 1st,

1860. If Brother Orson were chopped up into inch pieces, each inch would cry out, the church is true. So he's recognizing that Orson was struggling with an issue that he didn't fully understand. But Brigham Young believed in him. And eventually, that support helped Orson find his way back into the church and back into the apostleship. So when you read this section 75, don't get lost in the list of names. Don't get lost in the list of names and the mission calls that are being given out. Instead, focus on the hope that's here. Because some of these men did serve missions. Some of them struggled after their missions, and some of them came back. And if you're hurting right now, I think of some of my own return missionaries who have wandered away from the church.

I find great peace in knowing these stories of Orson, of Orson Hyde, of Orson Pratt, of Luke and Lyman Johnson. I find great hope in these stories because I knew those missionaries. When every inch of their body would cry out, this church is true. And now they're struggling a little bit. There are a few of them that are off the path, but I don't give up on them. I believe in them because I know that ultimately in this life or the next, the love of family and the grace of Jesus Christ will reach into their hearts, and they will find it very difficult to turn their backs on the possibility of living eternally with family, and the reality of Christ's atonement,

and the transformation that can mean for them. Some parents say, well, if I leave my covenants, then I have the promise that he'll be saved. I think sometimes we push that a little too far. If we live our covenants, it doesn't take away someone else's free agency. But if we live our covenants, then we are giving that child who has wandered every motivation he could possibly need to one day turn, just as some of these apostles, and to come back into the fold and back into the light of the grace of Christ again.

Brad, there's a great moment in John chapter 11 where everybody thinks Lazarus has been gone too long. It's been four days, right? If it had been one day, maybe. If it had been two days, oh, it could be possible. Three days even, it could be. But four days, it's been too long. He's too far gone, right? And the Lord says, roll away the stone.

No, don't do it. Don't do it. You don't want to see this. You don't want to smell this, right? I've always taken just absolute, I don't know, hope as you called it in the fact that the Lord just calls out his name, Lazarus, and he that was dead came forth. Right. And I know the same thing can happen. I've seen the same thing happen in the lives of those I love where you think, no way, it's never going to happen. They're never coming back to the Lord, right? And then He calls their name, and they come back. Our Heavenly Father is a successful parent. Christ is a successful Savior. We have to trust that they will ultimately be successful in giving everyone every possible opportunity to make the right choice.

There will be some who turn their backs and rebel, but everyone will be given that opportunity of hearing the Lord call his or her name. I am reminded of one of my favorite verses that we covered a few podcasts ago in section 46, verse 15, where it says, it's the section about spiritual gifts, but it has this little phrase in there that the Lord will be suiting his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men. And the Lord knows exactly the kind of a world he sent us to. And I've been sent to a different world. My kids have been sent to a different world. And our Lord, who is perfectly just and merciful, knows that.

And it gives me such hope, suiting his mercies according to our conditions. Can I read a quote from Elder M. Russell Ballard? This is from a 1987 Ensign, October. He says, I feel that judgment for sin is not always as cut and dried as some of us seem to think. I feel that the Lord also recognizes differences in intent and circumstances. When he does judge us, I feel he will take all things into consideration, our genetic and chemical makeup, our mental state, our intellectual capacity, the teachings we have received, the traditions of our fathers, our health, and so forth. I'm going to share to share one more J Reuben Clark, 1955. I feel

that the savior will give that punishment, which is the very least that our transgressions will justify. I believe he will bring into his justice, all of the infinite love, blessing, mercy, kindness, and understanding that he has. On the other hand, he will give us the maximum that is possible to give as far as rewards for our good conduct, having in mind our offense. Just the mercy of the Lord. We can have confidence that he is mighty to save. He is not puny to save. That's what he does.

He's the Savior. And what's our part in all of this? Look at verse 24. The duty of the church to assist and support the families of those and also to support the families of those who are called. I look at and I think of the support that we need to be able to give each other. And, you know, we talked about not giving up on those who are struggling. Well, we also need to support those who are in the middle of the work. And when Elder Eyring did the preliminary interview with my wife and me as I was being considered to be called as a mission president. He said, do you have any debt? Now, in my mind, I kind of always thought that mission presidents had to be

self-sustaining. They had to be wealthy. I always kind of thought that maybe I would never be called because I'm a teacher. I have a teacher's salary. And instead, he didn't ask me how much I earned. He didn't ask me how much money I had. He just said, do you have any debt? And I said, well, we have the house and we have one car that's not paid for. And he said, can you rent the house and cover the mortgage? And I said, yes, we can.

And he said, can you sell the car? And I said, yes. And my wife said, no. She said, all we've ever had are used cars, and they always break down. And this is finally a dependable car. She says, I don't want to sell it. And I'm looking at my wife going, an apostle just asked you to sell the car. We're selling the car. But it's an interesting story because we put the car up for sale, and a man in our ward came over and said, I'd like to buy the car. But he says, I'll just take over the payments for the car while you're

gone. And he says, instead of transferring the car into my name, he says, you just keep it in your name, and then I will just cover the payments on the car. And once the car's paid off, then when you get home, then you'll have a car. That was a man in my ward. There was another lady in my ward who would send candy all the way to Chile. I was just thinking, good grief, the postage alone could have paid for 19 missionaries. But she'd send candy to me because she said, I think every mission president should have a candy dish. And I want you to put candy in the candy dish so that when the missionaries are discouraged, they can get a little piece of candy out of the candy dish. And she kept my little candy dish full for my

entire three-year mission. I felt so much support from friends who gave me money. I mean, once you're on your mission as a mission president, you don't need a ton of money because you're living in a church-owned home, you're driving a church-owned car, you have a church credit card to put gas in the church-owned car. I mean, you don't need a lot of money. But we needed money to get out on our mission. I had to put clothes, I had to buy clothes for all my family because we were all going on missions. But I had a dear friend who came over and gave me a check for $500. And this little grandma said to me, I was praying this morning and Heavenly Father said, go give Brad some money. my call had not even been announced. My call had not even been announced.

She wasn't giving me money because she heard I'd been called as a mission president. She was giving me money because the Heavenly Father said, Go give Brad some money. And she didn't realize that she was fulfilling this very scripture where we're commanded to support the missionaries. And we're commanded, it is the duty of the church to support missionaries and their families. And I have seen that in very real ways. And I've seen it in the lives of my missionaries.

I got a call from a man who said, what do your missionaries need? And I said, well, I have some missionaries who have a lot of needs. They need shirts. They need clothes. Some of them have gained weight. Some of them have lost weight. I have a missionary who needs size 15 shoes, and you can't buy those in Chile. But I said, honestly, you can't send them to us because it has such a hard time getting through the customs.

I said, it's just not worth it. So you have a great heart, and I appreciate your willingness. He says, no, you don't understand. I'm coming to Chile. I fly a plane. I'm a pilot, and I'm going to be flying into Chile. He says, and I just do this with my high priest. He says, I just tell them I'm going to such and such a place. And then we call the mission presence, say, what do you need? And all the high priests just pitch in money, and we go out and buy whatever's needed. And they got the shoes, and they got the shirts, and they got the ties, and the pants, and the belts, and the blouses, and the skirts. And this pilot shows up at the mission office with boxes of stuff. And he didn't just do that for me. He and his high priest friends did that everywhere he flew. These are the kind of people that fill this church. These are the kind of people who take that verse very seriously. It is the duty of the church to assist in supporting the missionaries and

their families. How many restaurant owners give free food to the missionaries over and over and over? Even restaurant owners who aren't members of the church would feed the missionaries. We just see example after example after example. Whether it's a candy dish or you're bringing supplies on a plane, right? You don't have to be Mr. Millionaire to support, right? You can send the candy in the candy dish. I love that. I don't know. Let me say this and then you guys decide if it adds to the discussion or not. My mission president was a very wealthy man and nobody knew this was happening. I wasn't supposed to know,

but a companion told me that my mission president, from the missionaries coming to the Philippines and being assigned from our mission area and going to other places in the Philippines. He would send them to dentists, to orthodontists, to plastic surgeons if they had things that needed to be done. He would make sure they were outfitted with everything nobody knew. And one day my companion told me what he was spending every month to do that. And I thought that was the coolest thing because he would tell anybody. And I want to make that clear in case some of you know who he is. But I saw somebody who was fully consecrated that way and was so thrilled to support those missionaries and their families

in that way. And then they would come home. And my mission president started a perpetual education fund before the church did. In fact, I know he had conversations with President Hinckley about it. And it was such a wonderful example to see him doing that so quietly and having that same Zion spirit that we have just been talking about. As much as we admire men like your mission president who are wealthy and using their wealth to do so much good, we have to remember that all of us can do something. You know, John, I remember you sending me a check when I got my mission call to go to Chile. And you are not wealthy like your mission president. But I remember you sending me a check. And Hank, I remember you sending me some notes from a group of youth that you were speaking to. And you said,

Brother Wilcox just got called as a mission president. And you had those youth write notes to me, and you sent them to me from the teenagers. I mean, we're not just talking about what others do because I have seen both of you do this in my life. John and I love to ask our guests a question. What's the restoration? What's Joseph Smith? What does all this mean to you personally? I want to share a quote that I keep in the back of my calendar. I have a little list. I have a little pile of quotes and papers here that I use, and I often will look at them during the sacrament. And this is one from Elder Chris Staufferson. He said, The Savior has not had among mortals a more faithful witness, a more obedient disciple, a more loyal advocate than Joseph Smith.

He said, I close with his great witness of the Savior, making it my own, joining it with yours. This is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him, that he lives, for we saw him. Now that's from Doctrine and Covenants, section 76, but now listen to Elder Christofferson's words. This is the most significant aspect of our entire existence. It is real. He is real. As I look around myself in this world of today, I see so many people who are caught up in the thick of thin things, things that simply don't matter, things that won't last, even good causes that simply will not last because they're not eternal. And that's why I love Joseph Smith, because everything I have come to know and treasure about my Savior is because of Joseph Smith. It's not in spite of him.

It's because of him. My son served a mission in Japan. After having lived in Chile, after learning Spanish, he gets called to Japan. And he said, Dad, he said, we teach people who have no Christian background. They don't believe in Christmas. They don't believe in Easter. They don't celebrate those holidays. They don't know the Bible.

I said, how do you ever get them to join the church? And he said, because they gain a testimony of Joseph Smith. And once they know he's a prophet, then they believe whatever being it was who happened to come and talk to Joseph Smith. There are people on this earth who believe in Christ because of Joseph Smith. And yet we hear so many in the church say, well, I believe in Jesus, but I don't believe in Joseph Smith. I don't believe in Joseph Smith. No, I'm like those Japanese members that my son taught. If it weren't for Joseph Smith, I don't know how I could cut through the confusion of what is today's Christianity. With over 33,000 different denominations. All teaching completely different things about the Savior.

I don't know how I could ever cut through all that. And reach Christ. But because of Joseph Smith, I can. Because of Joseph Smith, I not only know there is a God, I know God. I not only know there is a Christ, I know Christ. And that's because of the truth this prophet restored. Because of the picture and window he gave us. So many Christians are looking through a little window framed by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There's the little window.

And they try so desperately to see Christ and to follow him. Well, I have realized that it is one thing to follow him, and it is another thing to be led by Him. Because of the bigger window that Joseph Smith gave us, the scriptures of the Restoration, the Temple, because of this larger window, I can see Christ clearly, and I can be led by Him as I stay close to His living prophets.

I stand with Elder Christofferson, and I say, the Savior has not had among mortals a more faithful witness, a more obedient disciple, a more loyal advocate than Joseph Smith. And because I know that, then I hope one day the Savior will say, Brad, you've been a faithful witness. You've been an obedient disciple. You've been a loyal advocate. Let me introduce you to Joseph. And I can't wait to meet the man who said, I am a lover of the cause of Christ, because I too am a lover of the cause of Christ. And I say that in his name. Amen.

Dr. Brad Wilcox, our incredible man, and also just an incredible friend. Thank you. Thank you for being with us. We love you. Love you too. You keep up the great work. You guys are doing an awesome job. So proud of you. We have a lot of people besides Dr. Wilcox to thank. We have our listeners to thank. Thank you so much for spending your time with us. Thank you for your support. We want to thank our executive producers, some incredibly generous and supportive people, Steve and Shannon Sorenson, just like the type we talked about today. Hank, let me just say, I knew Steve before his passing. I know Shannon. I know their family. I love them so much.

And I am not surprised at all that they are making this podcast possible. I love them. I love their family. As do we. As do we. To all the Sorenson children and grandchildren we of course extend our love to you we want to also thank our production crew we have a crew that's growing uh david perry lisa spice jamie nielsen kyle nelson will stotton and maria hilton thank everyone. Hank, I have to interrupt you one more time.

Jamie Nelson, I taught her in sixth grade. I was her sixth grade teacher. Jamie runs all of our social media. So Jamie, I hope you better be able to do some sixth grade math and English because there's going to be a test. Thank you so much to all of you. We hope you will join us on our next episode of Follow Him.