Mormon Musings

Read in the nineteenth chapter of II Kings how Sennacherib the Assyrian king sought to overthrow Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:28-37, 19:1-37). Hezekiah, the king who represented Israel pleaded with the Lord for deliverance while Sennacherib mocked him, saying, "Don't think that your prayers to your God can help you. Every place that I have been and taken already, they have been praying. You are helpless," and the next morning a large part of the Assyrian army was found dead upon the ground, and Jerusalem had been preserved by the Lord. He is our strength, brethren, your Father and mine, the Father of all; if we will only be worthy He will preserve us as He did Helaman's sons (Alma 58:39), and as He preserved Daniel from the lions (Daniel 6:20-27), and the three Hebrew children from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:20-30), and six hundred thousand of the descendants of Abraham when he brought them out from Egypt under the leadership of Moses and drowned Pharaoh's army in the R

Being a member of the Church and holding the Priesthood will not get us anywhere unless we are worthy. The Lord has said that every blessing that we desire is predicated upon obedience to His commandments (D&C 130:20-21). We may deceive our neighbors, and we may deceive ourselves with the idea that we are going through all right, but unless we keep the commandments of our Heavenly Father, unless we bear worthily this holy Priesthood that is so precious, we will not find our place in the celestial kingdom... George Albert Smith, General Conference, April 1943

I have testified and do still testify of the truth of the Book of Mormon—that it is an inspired record, the history of a branch of the house of Israel that lived in America; that it does contain the fullness of the Gospel as revealed to them by a crucified and risen Redeemer; and that wherever it goes and its light is permitted to shine, the Spirit of the Lord will bear testimony of its truth to every honest heart in all the world. Wherever that book is candidly perused, the Spirit will bear record of its truth... Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses 5:195

It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another... Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse, Journal of Discourses 6:4

If men do not comprehend the character of God they do not comprehend themselves. Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse, Journal of Discourses 6:2

Know this, that every soul is free To choose his life and what he’ll be; For this eternal truth is given: That God will force no man to heaven. He’ll call, persuade, direct aright, And bless with wisdom, love, and light, In nameless ways be good and kind, But never force the human mind. Freedom and reason make us men; Take these away, what are we then? Mere animals, and just as well The beasts may think of heaven or hell. May we no more our powers abuse, But ways of truth and goodness choose; Our God is pleased when we improve His grace and seek his perfect love. LDS Hymn #240 Text:  Anon., ca. 1805, Boston. Included in the first LDS hymnbook, 1835. Music:  Roger L. Miller, b. 1937. © 1985 IRI Helaman 14:30–31 2 Nephi 10:23–24

Man, holding a relationship with things that have been, with things that are, and with things that are to come, being an eternal being, having existed before, existing now, and destined to exist while endless ages shall endure,—when he understands his relationship to God, how he is associated with his progenitors, the position in which he stands to the Church and kingdom of God on the earth, the blessing he is able to seal on his posterity, worlds without end, and the great things he is destined to enjoy, if faithful,—there is as much difference between his views and the world of mankind in general as there is between midnight darkness and the light of the sun in its meridian glory. John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 5:146