The Church Will Prosper

In Tuesday's live BYU devotional, Scott M. Ritter quoted a scripture that I've been thinking a lot about recently:

"As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints." (D&C 121:33)

I've been thinking about that with respect to Anne Osborn. See my blog of Sunday, June 29, 2008. Recording our thoughts in black and white helps to solidify them and to reveal previously unrecognized correlations. This is the epiphany that resulted:

The Church will continue to prosper.

Why? Because the Lord is providing a steady stream of souls of Anne's caliber who have amazing spiritual experiences and who then become powerful tools in His hands.

In Tuesday's devotional, Ritter also offered a number of interesting quotes about the effects of the Spirit. (He also commended and praised Darwin's Theory of Evolution, which was startling but with which I totally agree, but that's for another journal entry.)

It's as I generalized from one full-time mission and three stake missions: If a person sheds tears during the first discussion, that person will be baptized and will remain active. It's not necessary. We saw many who were not immediately so affected but who were still baptized and remained active, but from the handful of examples of those who were so affected, it appears to be sufficient.

Why? Because we are more convinced by our feelings than by our intellect. Bruce Springsteen was right when he said, "I continue to do this [make music and go on concert tours, etc., even though he has plenty of money for the rest of his life] into 'old age' [he's 58] because of the way it makes me feel and because of the way I can make others feel." (A quote from tonight's 60 Minutes.)

And that's what the Holy Ghost did to Anne Osborn. It provides the most intensely euphoric "high" possible. People know, intuitively, that they should have and should be having this "high" and they try to find it or find out how to get as close to it as possible.

So much of what people believe will lead them to it turns out to be a chimera. I'm not saying that Springsteen's music falls into this category. Music, if wholesome, leads to this high, though often only the way I-80 leads to Cheyenne. We can get on it and reach Cheyenne, or we may get on it and then get off at Park City or maybe even at Parley's Way. To reach the destination our numinous sense perceives and longs for, we have to go way beyond Springsteen. Anne found this way and fully pursued it.

And, as D&C 121:33 says, the Lord doesn't give us this high just to make us feel good. It's accompanied by tremendous insight and knowledge. The mysteries of the heavens are opened to us. The Holy Ghost places pure knowledge into our minds and this is always accompanied by this highest of all highs and greatest of all joys. Nothing else even approaches this for compelling conviction. It is knowledge in its purest sense.

Because of Anne, and so many, many others like her, the Church will prosper and continue to prosper.

We can be part of that if we choose. We can allow ourselves to become amenable to the greatest blessings, insight, and joy the Lord has for us and be a great benefit to the Lord, or we can take the first convenient exit off that freeway or even plunge into the tragic dead-end of a chimera pursuit and become irrelevant.

It's our choice.