How do I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true?
Personal Response by Todd
“I know the Church is true…” I’ve heard the phrase many times growing up in the Church. Thousands of members of the Church say those words each day and millions each year. When I was in high school I started to doubt. I didn’t remember ever having spiritual experiences like so many talked about. It was hard to believe that my family and friends were really experiencing what they claimed. I grew up in South East Texas where the Church was a minority. I remember wanting so desperately to fit in, to be just one of the guys. However, one day as I was with a group of friends, I felt a powerful impression to befriend another kid at school who no one talked with. It kept pushing and pushing me. Of course I fought back. I’ve since come to recognize that impression to be the Spirit “which inviteth to do good…, and to persuade to believe in Christ…wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God” (Moroni 7:16).
Sermon On The Mount
That was the first time I felt something different. Simple I know, but it was the grand beginning of a witness. I will never forget the feeling of something beyond me encouraging me to ignore the attitudes of worldliness and seek for the world of a better. I knew at the very least that God was out there. Over the years I started to see God’s hand in my life. The principles of the gospel began to make more sense and I became addicted to learning and absorbing the doctrines taught over the pulpit and in the scriptures. My life seemed perfect. I found that I was much happier. Life’s burdens seemed lighter as I was trying to live like Jesus Christ. Eventually I decided to serve a full time mission, but it was while teaching the gospel in Mississippi and Louisiana that my perspective began to change. I had heard objections to the Church many times throughout my life, but I usually just dismissed them as farce. I had half-heartedly read some literature in the past but never found any substance to it.
One day as I was personally studying the scriptures, I came to a passage that made me really begin to doubt for the first time since I was a fourteen year old boy. The passage was in the Doctrine and Covenants and my interpretation of the verse challenged my reason. I had not read this in another organizations pamphlet…this was right there in the scriptures! It seemed totally perplexing to me. I read the passage again and again with no success of resolving my concern. After searching the Bible, the Book of Mormon and other references, I still was left confused and afraid. In this moment of total desperation, I dropped to my knees in humble prayer confronting my Father in Heaven, “I refuse to move from this spot until I have an answer!” I pleaded. Never had I prayed more fervently than at that precise moment. At first nothing came. I soon fell silent, waiting and pondering. I felt I should read the verse just one more time…as I did it was as if the Spirit of the Lord read it aloud to me and I immediately was overcome with a spiritual witness more powerful than sight. In an instant, my fear and anger melted away. Light, glory and truth seemed to burst out of me. I can’t remember a time when life seemed more clear. The answer came! My testimony for the first time was more than reason. Even my previous experiences of feeling the spirit seemed pale in comparison. I knew that what I was doing as a missionary was right. I knew the Church was true.
I know many out there are struggling, searching and feeling only darkness. I can only say, “Don’t give up.” Continue to look upward and trust in the Savior. I know God answers prayers. He wants all of His children to feel His love. He does live!
Tags: "Mormon" Church, Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, Mormon missionaries, Testimony
This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Jesus Christ, Mormon missionaries, Prayer, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.