TAKING THE GOSPEL TO ALL THE WORLD, Chapter 8 from The Life of Howard W. Hunter

"We are in the work of saving souls, of inviting people to come unto Christ."

Sister Janice Cunningham was conducting and gave us the scripture from  Moroni 10:31. After all the wars and upheaval in his world had taken place and Moroni, son of Mormon, was the last of the Nephites to survive, he bids farewell to all, especially those of us who would one day read his words. We can see that, although his body is about to give out, his spirit is strong in the gospel and he looks forward to the resurrection.

"And now I bid unto all, farewell.  I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen.

Sister Cunningham expressed her hope that we all can echo these last sentiments of a great warrior of our Heavenly Father.

Our (newest!) teacher is Sister Alexis Ricks and we were pleased to have her present today's lesson.  She expressed her belief that Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us and what we need. She said she is grateful for the opportunity to teach because that gives her the opportunity to learn more and add to her own store of knowledge.

The first topic Sister Ricks brought up for discussion was the Abrahamic Covenant. She asked us for our understanding of what this is and what promises it contains. 

In our discussion we learned that the major blessing of this covenant with Abraham was the promise of eternal increase through obedience to the law of the Holy Priesthood, or as explained in Doc. & Cov. 132:28, eternal marriage. Abraham was promised that his seed would be as innumerable as the stars in the sky or the sands along the seashore. The covenant promises also involve protection, receiving the ordinance of the priesthood and inheritance of the promised land. In addition to the literal seed of Abraham, all those who accept the gospel and all those who hold the priesthood are considered by the Lord to be the seed of Abraham. 

This is where the Abrahamic Covenant joins with the message of our lesson today: Our commandment is to spread the gospel.  From an article in the January 1998 Ensign, by Elder S. Michael Wilcox, we are told that "the Lord has a message for all of us who have received the gospel and are therefore Abraham's seed. The message could be said to be: I promise you the blessings of the priesthood that lead to exaltation with eternal increase, but in exchange you must take my gospel to every family in every nation in all the world so that they, too, can receive the same blessings of the priesthood." 

In the Introduction to this chapter, President, then Elder, Howard W. Hunter said in 1979, "I fully believe that in the near future we will see some of the greatest advancements in spreading the gospel to all nations that have ever taken place in this dispensation or any previous dispensation." As we look at the increase in missionary efforts throughout the world today, we can see that President Hunter was absolutely correct in his belief.

Sister Ricks also played a portion of a talk from President Hunter where he spoke of the promise of the covenant to us and what our obligations are.  He spoke of a reminder from 2 Nephi 29:7, "Know ye not that there are more nations than one?" We are not alone in this great big world and our responsibility is to share the gospel of love, unity and brotherhood of the highest order with every other person in the world.

At this point the class was divided up into smaller groups for an activity with each group being given a portion of the chapter to report on.   

1. The restored gospel is for all people, based on the conviction that all are children of the same God.
2. The Church has a mission to teach the gospel to all nations.
3. Those who have experienced the blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ are under obligation to bear testimony of Him.
4. With the Lord's help, we can overcome all obstacles to sharing the gospel.

Thoughts expressed when we reconvened as a complete class are: 

We are one in the gospel. We can feel the Spirit of unity when we are in the temple. Everyone in the temple is clothed in white, there are no differences to separate us. We all know we are brothers and sisters with the same goals in mind and we are all participating in the same activities and holy ordinances.

Sister Groves spoke of her family's experience in the war when they had to leave their home to escape the Russians. Even after the war, her mother felt fearful in public when she would hear Russian being spoken. The only place that fear did not overtake her was in the temple. 

It was mentioned that even though our Santa Rosa mission is listed as a Spanish-speaking mission, the glorious message of the gospel is taught to everyone who wants to hear it, no matter what language they may speak.

We are so blessed in missionary efforts with the technology of today. A story was told of missionaries in Kazakhstan who had taught and baptized a family who later had to leave the area. Since they are newly baptized members, they still have many questions and the area where they live has no missionaries at this time. But they are able to Skype with the missionaries in Kazakhstan to get answers to things they need to know.

Ultimately world peace depends on all to believe in Christ and accept the gospel.

Sister Ellise Clark told of her experiences with people of other denominations mocking or criticizing members of our church. She pointed out that we should not return criticisms or make fun of others because of their belief system. We should just be true to who we are and what we believe and never look down on others.

As President George Albert Smith is quoted in the manual:

"We have come not to take away from you the truth and virtue you possess. We have come not to find fault with you nor to criticize you . . . Keep all the good that you have, and let us bring to you more good, in order that you may be happier and in order that you may be prepared to enter into the presence of our Heavenly Father."

Many people, even Christians, in the world do not know exactly what our church believes. It is our responsibility to spread the gospel by planting seeds of knowledge and truth.

In actuality, we do not convert anyone. They will convert themselves through the Spirit of God when they have been taught true principles and develop their own testimony.

Friendship can work miracles. It doesn't have to start with a religious discussion.  Be friendly and treat others with kindness to begin with. If we are living the gospel as we should be, the Spirit will guide us with inspiration as we grow closer to our friends and we will know what the next step will be with each of those with whom we come in contact. When the time is right, we can share our testimony of Jesus Christ, His gospel and the blessings of the Atonement in the spirit of love and friendship.

President Hunter has said, "We seek to enlarge the circle of love and understanding among all the people of the earth. Thus we strive to establish peace and happiness, not only within Christianity but among all mankind . . ."

We don't need a black badge to be a missionary and spread the good news of the gospel. Be an example. People do watch us, so live the gospel in its fullness every day. Don't lower your standards to 'fit in' with the crowd. Stand up for what you believe and don't be afraid to speak up about it when needed.

If we want to receive the blessings of Abraham, we need to share the gospel with others.

May we ever do so,

Your bloggess,

Karen