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Gospel Doctrine, Lesson 31: And So Were the Churches Established in the Faith, Acts 15-18, I & II Thessalonians

While living with the Heywood family in Salt Lake City during the late 1800s, John Morgan dreamed one night that he was traveling down a road in Georgia. He recognized the road because he had used it often as a soldier in the United States Civil War. He came to a fork in the road and saw Brigham Young standing there. Although the right fork led to the next town, President Young told him to take the left fork.
John Hamilton Morgan

Mr. Morgan, who was not a member of the Church at the time, told Sister Heywood about his dream and asked what she thought of it. She told him she believed he would join the Church and serve a mission in the southern states, and that one day he would find himself on the road he had seen in his dream. When that happened, he should remember Brigham Youngs counsel and take the left fork.

Many years later, after John Morgan had been baptized and called as a missionary to the southern states, he came to the fork in the road that he had seen in his dream. He remembered the counsel to take the left fork, so he did. An hour later, he found himself at the edge of Heywood Valleya beautiful place with the same name as the family with whom he had been staying when he had the dream years earlier. As he traveled throughout the valley preaching, he found that the people were well prepared to hear the gospel. After hearing him teach, several families mentioned that a stranger had come through the valley ten days before, asking permission to mark their Bibles. The stranger had told them that another messenger would come and explain the marked passages to them. John Morgan had explained these marked passages as he taught the gospel. During the following weeks, Elder Morgan taught and baptized all but three of the twenty-three families in the valley. (Bryant S. Hinckley, The Faith of Our Pioneer Fathers [1956], 242-44.) Elder James E. Talmage taught that we should boldly teach the truth without criticizing or attacking other peoples beliefs: When he was a student, Elder Talmage was once approached by a man offering to sell him an excellent oil lamp. Elder Talmage already had a lamp he felt was satisfactory, but he allowed the lamp seller to come up to his room to demonstrate. We entered my room, and I put a match to my well-trimmed lamp. My visitor was high in his praise, It was the best lamp of its kind, he said, and he had never seen a lamp in better trim. He turned the wick up and down, and pronounced the judgment perfect. Now, he said, with your permission Ill light my lamp, taking it from his satchel...Its light made bright the remotest corner of my room. Its brilliant blaze made the flame in my lamp weak and pale. Until that moment of convincing demonstration I had never known the dim obscurity in which I had lived and labored, studied and struggled. Elder Talmage bought the new lamp, and he later suggested what we can learn from the lamp seller as we teach the gospel: The man who would sell a lamp did not disparage mine. He placed his greater light alongside my feebler flame, and I hasted to obtain it. The missionary servants of the Church of Jesus Christ today are sent forth, not to assail nor ridicule the beliefs of men, but to set before the world a superior light, by which the smoky dimness of the flickering flames of man-made creeds shall be apparent. The work of the Church is constructive, not destructive (in Albert L. Zobell Jr., Story Gems [1953], 45-48).

Story: Seventeen Points of the True Church


by Floyd Weston A remarkable story about finding the true church.

I had an experience as a young man that I shall never for-get. At college one day, some friends and I heard that Albert Einstein, the great scientist, was speaking to a faculty group. We attended the lecture and enjoyed his remarks very much. However, I didn't comprehend everything he said, but I did understand his concluding remark. He said, "Gentlemen, the deeper that I delve into the sci-ences of this universe, the more clearly I believe that one God or force or influence has organized all of it for our discovery." We walked quietly back to the dormitory and commenced discussing religion. There were five of us. Four of us belonged to different religions, and one was a professed atheist. One of the group was a brilliant fellow named Jim. He had a photo-graphic mind. lie could take a hook, read the words on a pane, close the book, and recite verbatim what he had read. When we started to discuss religion as a result of having heard Dr. Einsteins remarks, Jim when to the drawer of the dormitory and he took out a Bible. Then he went into the hallway where he found a large chalkboard and maneuvered it into our room. Next, he took the Bible and went through it page by page. He was convinced that our Heavenly Father was and Is a just God. He was convinced that in some of the 800 or so different beliefs and sects listed in the almanac that one rep-resented the truth and the whole truth. He took a page of the Bible at a time and went to work on this chalkboard. It took hint almost eight weeks; he had both sides of the chalkboard filled. Then he asked a secretary to come in, write down the Information, summarize it, and type it on a five-by-seven card. He gave each of us a card and presented a plan to us. He said, "I have taken from the Bible all the evidences I could locate that would help a person identify the true Church. I'm convinced that Jesus Christ was sent here to organize his Church, and I believe that it is somewhere on the earth today." So every Wednesday night and every Sunday, we went out looking for this Church. We visited the various churches, but none of them had what we were searching for. Some of the points that Jim had written down on our cards were that the true church would accept the scriptures, it would not have a paid ministry; it would have the proper authority from God; and it would claim to be the true church. Not long after receiving the card, I decided to check out of school and train to become a paratrooper. While I was train-ing, I had a wonderful experience I will share with you. I kept my five-byseven card in my footlocker. On Sundays, I would occasionally attend one of the Protestant churches. As I would ride the bus to the outskirts of town to attend the church meetings, I noticed a group of fellows on board that I recognized as being in my class of paratrooper trainees. They would get off and go into a little brownstone church. They were a tremendous group. I never saw any of them with a cig-arette in his mouth. I never heard a foul or obscene word or suggestive story from any of them. As I looked over their records, I noticed that they were all from the West. They were always laughing, having a tremendous time, and everyone liked them. They had one young fellow, a little short farm boy from Utah, who seemed to be their leader. I was talking with him one day just as he was preparing to jump from their plane. There had been a rather serious accident that morning with one of the trainees and I asked this farm

boy how he felt about it. "Oh, I don't mind," he said. "I know the answers to the three questions." I thought, What's he talking about? I said, "What ques-tions?" And he said, "Unless you can answer three questions before you leave the earth, in great measure you have wasted your life." About that time, the red light came on, and the little buzzer started sounding. I had to get ready to send him on his jump. All the time, I was wondering what on earth he was talking about. The next evening I found out where he lived. As I walked into the barracks, he saw me coming and passed the word around. He was shining his boots. I walked up and said, "Hey, listen." And he said, "What is it, Sarge?" I said, "Tell me, what are these three questions?" "Oh, don't you know? Well, number one, where did you come from before you came to earth?" I thought, How silly can you be! "Number two, why are you here? And number three, where are you going after you leave here?" I said, "Anyone can answer. Wait a minute. I don't know. I don't know!" Subsequently, I had other conversations with this young man and his companions. I had my five-by-seven card, and I asked them all the questions. As I progressed down through all the classifications of the true church, my heart beat hard-er. The church described by these men agreed with every sin-gle point on the card. I came to know for a surety that they were teaching me the truth and I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A while later, I went through California on a furlough. The Church was having a conference at a stake center. As I walked in, I saw an Air Force captain. I looked again. It was Jim. He said, What are you doing here? I said, Well, this is my church too!" The thing I want to tell you is that all four of us who were left (one was killed in the war) armed with our five-by-seven cards found the same church. There might be some who would call this coincidental, but I know it wasn't. While I was investigating the church, the young trainees pointed out from the scriptures that there would be another record that would be joined with the Bible. They showed me this other record. I learned that gaining an understanding of the gospel was not a problem, only a process. The trainees said, "Don't take our word for it," when they handed me the new record, The Book of Mormon. They showed me a verse of scripture I will never forget: "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" (Moron] 10:4). This impressed me. I didn't have to take anybody's word for it. I asked, and I received an answer. I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. I testify to you that the gospel is here upon the earth. I was looking for a church that had apostles, teachers, deacons and prophets. I found it. There's only one Church on the earth that has a Quorum of Twelve Apostles and that follows the Bible. I bear you my testimony that it is the truth and will bring you joy and that you will be able to bring this joy to other men. If you accept this truth, your entire family and posterity will rise up and call you blessed. I bear my testimony to you in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

1. Christ organized the Church. Ephesians 4:11-14 2. The officers must be called by God. Hebrews 5:4, Exodus 28:1, Exodus 40:13-15 THE TRUE CHURCH MUST... 3. ...bear the name of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:23 4. ...have the same organization as Christs Church. Ephesians 4:11-14 5. ...have the same organization as Christs Church. Ephesians 4:11-14 6. ...claim divine authority. Hebrews 5:4-10 7. ...have no paid ministry. Isaiah 45:13 and 1 Peter 52 8. ...baptize by immersion. Matthew 3:13-16 9. ...bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. Acts 8:14-17 10. ...practice divine healing. Mark 3:14-15 11. ...teach that God and Jesus Christ are separate and distinct individuals. John 17:11, 20:17 12. ...teach that God and Jesus Christ have bodies of flesh and bone. Luke 24:36-39, Acts 1:9-11 13. ...claim revelation from God. Amos 3:7 14. ...be a missionary church. Matthew 28:19-20 15. ...be a restored church. Acts 3:19-20 16. ...practice baptism for the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:16, 39 17. By their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:20 Why are these things important? Hebrews 13:8

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