This morning after returning from my paper route I decided I was not tired to go back to bed, so I would do my scripture study. After reading from the Book of Mormon, I decided to read the RS/Priesthood Lesson for next Sunday as we are encouraged to read it ahead of time. It is Chapter 15- Advancing the Work of the Lord~ From the book Teaching of the Prophet George Albert Smith.
The 1st thing that stood out to me was when Pres. Smith first became a member of the quorum of the 12 apostles in 1903 there was only 300,000 members of the Church. In 1950, One year before he died the church had surpassed 1 million member. As of April 2012 there is almost 14,500,000 members.
The next thing that stood out to me was Pres. Smith supported Avation as a way for him to get to his different locations more quickly and see more members of the church, were before they had to travel, by car, train, and boat. Today Our current Prophet Thomas S Monson, travels by a privet jet that was donated.
Also he welcomed and supported the change in technology that allowed the church the use of radio and television to take the word of the Lord to a much broader audience.
He said "We out to regard these [inventions] as a blessing from the lord, they will greatly enlarge our abilities They can indeed become blessing if we utilize them in righteousness for the dissemination of truth and the furtherance of the work of the Lord among men. The great challenge facing the world today lies in the use we make of many of these inventions. We can use them to destroy, as we have sometimes done in the past, or we can utilize them in enlighten and blessing mankind, as our Heavenly Father would have us do."
In a 1946 general conference President Smith prophesied about the use of such technologies: "It will not be long until from this pulpit and other places that will be provided, the servants of the Lord will be able to deliver messages to isolated groups who are so far away they cannot be reached. In that way and other ways the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord, the only power of God unto salvation in preparations for the celestial Kingdom, will be heard in all parts of the world, and many of you who are here will live to see that day!"
When I read this I thought, how my grandparents have lived to see this happen! I don't have TV channels in my home, but I do have the internet and every conference and other events it is amazing how I can go to the church website and watch the event live right in my home. And yet others across the world can also watch it in their own home as well. How amazing!
Also I found some distant family members that had been looking for my side of the family by sharing an article from the Children's Friend (a church magazine) on Facebook, one of my friends on Facebook saw the article and knew it was from her family too...they had been looking for my side of the family and they shared a lot of valuable family history for that side of the family that my family did not have. Technology helped us reconnect a lot sooner then probably would have happened before!
Pres Smith goes on to talk about how each of us as members need to participate in the work of the Lord. We can not just leave it to the missionaries, or the quorum of the 12 to do all the work. We each need to do our part in being closer to the Lord and helping him move his work along.
This hit home to me as in our local ward and stake we are part of a brand new mission in Salt Lake City, UT. And it seems a lot of our talks and lessons are on how we can reach out to our neighbors who are less active or not members with out offending them. It seems that a lot of complaints here are that Utah neighbors are too pushy, but that if we treated them like if they are our friends and pray for the Lords help we can by example further the work of the Lord.
Remember that Opposition will not stop the progress of the Church, because it is the work of God not man.
If we pray for the Lords help he will adjusts the conditions so that his work can spread.
There is a lot of meat to this lesson and if you want to read it you can go here to read it.
I am so grateful for this lesson, I think it has allowed me to think and ponder how much the world has changed in my life time that makes it easier in some ways to share the gospel, but also that as I prayerfully ponder for ways to help share the gospel, that the Lord will help me.
Our world is changing but as we choose to use the good, we can further the ways of the Lord and help all of us come unto Christ.
Until next time,
Annette
