The Duty of Testimony

Sections 14-16 of the Doctrine and Covenants were given to the Whitmer brothers and Section 17 to David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris.  All of them have to do with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.  In each case, the man or men being addressed had a specific, but unexpressed desire to know what was of most worth to them. I think most of us, if we are truly anxious to do the will of God and live in accordance with his will, have desired to know the same thing.  "Just tell me what to do and I will do it." Usually, in answer to that inquiry we get silence, or only the smallest hint of what we should be doing.

In actuality, we don't really want to have our entire lives dictated to us.  We cherish those moments when we have received promptings and direction. These experiences have brought us joy and the satisfaction of knowing that we are an instrument in the hands of God. To have every step dictated to us, however, would eliminate our need for growth, learning and developing our gifts to make the decisions of life. Galileo stated, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." Part of the use of sense, reason and intellect results in failure. Failure is part of our learning; no one who succeeds in any aspect of life has done so without some failure (usually a lot) along the way.  We abhor failure and wish to avoid it, so we think we would prefer to just have the Spirit tell us everything, especially when we are young.  As we grow to see the place of failure, we are less concerned with it and are more willing to move on despite it, I think. "I have not failed," said Thomas Edison, "I have found 10,000 ways that won't work."

In the case of the Whitmer brothers and the Three witnesses, the thing that is of most worth is to declare repentance that they might bring souls unto Christ.  They were also charged with the duty to testify of the Book of Mormon and the fact that they had seen the plates either as one of three or one of eight witnesses.  They were cautioned that because they had the same power, gift and faith as the prophet that they must endure to the end so the gates of Hell could not prevail against them. They were promised that they would receive the greatest gift of all, which is the gift of eternal life. "[M]y grace is sufficient for you and you shall be lifted up at the last day. And I, Jesus Christ, your Lord and your God, have spoken it unto you, that I might bring about my righteous purposes unto the children of men."

In actuality, none of them remained faithful, or endured to the end.  They all committed serious transgressions to the effect that to some degree, they could be seen to have blood on their hands as they gave fodder to the mobs that drove the saints from one place to another by physical abuse, bloodshed, rape and destruction of property. Most of these men returned and asked forgiveness of the members of the Church and of the First Presidency, but none were restored to their previous prominence.  What does that mean for them, eternally? It means that the perfect God who knows them perfectly and who has the capacity for eternal perspective will judge them accordingly and that they will, assuming that their repentance was true and sincere, receive the gift that was promised to them, that is eternal life - the greatest of the gifts of God.

We must never presume that prominence in the Church (or any other aspect of life, for that matter) will assure us of eternal life.  We must never presume that lack of prominence in this life will condemn us eternally, either.  We may assume, however, that while we may delay, time does not, as Benjamin Franklin observed.  When we fail to use our short time that is allotted to us, or we waste it due to indolence, fear of failure or exposure of our weaknesses, self indulgence, or for whatever reason, we lose what we have been promised, or it is delayed until we take the opportunity to repent and use the time we have left to make up the difference as much as possible.  If you were to ask anyone who has absented himself or herself from activity in the Church, and later returned, they will express regret for the time they have wasted. They have also been absent when others could have used their attention, maybe in positions of prominence or maybe not; it doesn't matter.

In other words, when these men, and , by extension, all of us who accept covenants of sacrifice and consecration, were told to thrust in their sickles with their might if they expect to receive the greatest blessings in heaven and on earth, that challenge was serious.  Anything less deserves less of a result. We cannot expect that we can sit on the sidelines and nurse our doubts, coddle our fears, and grovel in our weaknesses and receive the blessings that those who put aside their excuses and apply themselves with all their hearts will receive. It would be eternally unfair. What shall we do? Stop thinking about ourselves and go to work. When prompted, call someone or visit someone. Know the handbook regarding our calling and do more research, commit it to prayer, act on promptings regarding it and, after setting goals, make a plan to achieve the goals. Have a daily plan to read and ponder the scriptures, including the Ensign and General Conference talks with the idea of finding those things we could be doing better than we currently are. 

In my experience, the results are above our expectations if we are willing to just do it without excuse or fear.