The Why

As a missionary I get asked many questions.  Ranging from why incest is wrong (that one was interesting) to why we need to ask God for verification of truth (Like, "Do you pray to truth?").  So many concepts I know and have grown up with are completely foreign to people I interact with day to day.  But, some of the most common, and most important are "What are you expecting from me?  Why do you deep coming over?  What is you prerogative here?"  So, it brings up the question:  Why am I going door to door asking people if they have heard of The Book of Mormon and if they believe in God?  Why am I giving up a year and a half of my life to go teach people about my beliefs?

Well, my purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."  But that doesn't initially mean much to anyone that I am teaching.  Why should they listen to me.  It boils down to this.  God loves His children so much that He has given them so many tools to get back to Him.  Since the beginning of time he has provided prophets on the earth to teach the people and guide them down the right path.  These prophets include Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses and many more.   They all led the people to do the right thing and they all led with the priesthood power (or Authority) of God.  When the people followed them, they were happy and prosperous.  But, everyone has agency, so they falter.  They rejected the prophets and many of them were killed.  Christ Himself, the son of God, came to the Earth and ministered and set up His church as a leader and a prophet. The very mouthpiece of God. He restored the power of God to the Earth and called apostles. But as we all know, even He was rejected and killed.  His apostles were rejected and killed.  The people were wicked.   There was no one left with the power to speak in the name of God.  To guide the people and hold the priesthood.  Almost all was lost.  The pure gospel of Jesus Christ was corrupted with the unauthorized changes of men.  The people dwelt in spiritual darkness for centuries, all the way up to the 1800s when the priesthood power was once again restored to the earth by God to the prophet Joseph Smith.

This changes everything.  If Joseph Smith truly was a prophet, then the pure gospel of Jesus Christ and His power have been restored.  We once again have a prophet on the earth who receives revelation from our Heavenly Father to lead His children.  My job as a missionary is to go and proclaim this truth to the world.  God loves His children so much that He sends His missionaries to every door to personally tell each person that He has called another prophet.  As a young man I met yesterday said to me "Go!  Spread the good news!"  It is good news. The greatest news.  We have a Heavenly Father that loves us and wants us to be happy!  He has called a prophet today, because He loves us just as much as He loved the children of Israel and every other people He provided with a prophet.  We, as His children, just have to listen and follow the  prophet.

I would invite each of you to really ponder in your hearts, to search and to pray, to know if Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God.  I promise you that as you read the Book of Mormon, pray sincerely and humble yourselves, you will gain a witness of this truth.  I know this because I have gained this witness.   I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet.  I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father.  I know that Christ lives.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I know that we have a living prophet on the earth today that leads and guides us and holds the priesthood power of God and I would urge each of you to find this out for yourself.

I love all of you, God loves each of you.  You must find out for yourselves if He has called a prophet today.   We may know this for ourselves if we read the Book of Mormon and pray.

"Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.  And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

Moroni 10: 3-5 (Book of Mormon, pg 529)

This is a promise.