O Lord, thou hast opened my eyes to see
thy words,
commandments, delight me.
I was there in that council in heaven and
loved my
elder brother, Thy Chosen.
We shouted for joy; angelic choirs sang.
to earth
we came, trailing clouds of glory.
First Abraham, Issac and Jacob came. Their
lineages proclaimed, a Messiah from them
promised.
Adam and Eve, Noah and Moses had paved the way
for us to
receive bodies and learn good from evil.
Satan and one third of heaven’s host, cast down,
to tempt and
try us; our agency, to choose.
Isaiah foretold His birth; born of Mary; laid in a
manger
and shepherds
came to worship Him, Immanuel.
Wise men sought Him, brought gifts most needed,
to flee
into Egypt until Herrod’s jealousy was no longer.
Learned men listened in awe of Him when He was a
child
teaching and
about His Father’s business.
His earthly ministry, we have records;
I study
and pray to learn His Way.
He laid the foundation, sure and firm; the Rock of
our
Salvation,
the headstone at the corner.
His work: to bring to pass the immortality and
eternal
life of
all men; He sacrificed for our sins, was led
like a lamb
to slaughter, crucified on Golgotha
and from
His tomb arose the third day.
After He organized the righteous who’d died before,
into a
mighty band of missionaries that would
take His
gospel to all the dead.
Then amazing grace was shed; to other sheep
He went,
who had been led to the furthermost
parts of
His Vineyard and Isles of the sea.
There He taught the Plan of Happiness and how
his words would
go forth, another testament,
establishing
His commandments and showing the
covenant path
to follow.
The Book of Mormon is that testament, brought
forth by
the power of God, the words of prophets
in
America, who kept faithful records as should we.
I testify that Joseph Smith, named after his father,
and
Joseph of
old born to save Israel from famine, was
that boy
who God chose to restore His organized church.
Once again, as witnesses acclaim, the ancient true
church
from the
meridian of time has been established, never
to be
destroyed, to greet Him when He returns to reign.
I praise the Lord and rejoice in the gift of the
Living Christ,
at the
head of His Church today, where modern prophets
speak His
words, for the same it is, as if by He.
The glorious work of saving all who have ever lived
upon
earth, is
now found worldwide, performed vicariously in
more than two
hundred temples called Houses of the Lord.
Isaiah’s trees in the wilderness of cyberspace, grow
daily,
one ancestor
at a time, as we accompany them;
they receive
all the ordinances of salvation from baptism
to sealings
of family for eternity.
Of course, they have their agency and still must
choose,
even though
they’re beyond that veil, the psalmist
calls the
valley of the shadow of death.
We have a great work to do and send missionaries
around the
world to find and gather His lost sheep.
In turn, those whose hearts are healed, hearken to
The Lord and write in their books of remembrance,
Then Malachi’s promise is fulfilled, their father’s
hopes
are turned
to them, so earth’s purpose will not be wasted.
We are the jewels in His crown, Our King of Kings,
who
comes soon,
a second time to rule and reign on earth,
The Prince
of Peace, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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