In response to a blog by Jeremy also known as Go-Go Goff titled “AN UNVACCINATED LATTER-DAY SAINTS’ RESPONSE TO THE FIRST PRESIDENCY URGING VACCINATIONS”, this blog will add testimony to the article’s point on temporal vs eternal, prayer, obedience, and consecration and sacrifice while expounding on the topics of following the prophet, prophetic counsel, personal revelation, apostasy, and the importance of agency in the plan of happiness. The purpose of this blog is neither to argue or to start contention but to shed some understanding on why certain members of the church have chosen to take a stand against the wearing of masks and vaccines, why they are not on the road to apostasy and how they are working to preserve everyone’s right to choose. Ultimately, this blog, I hope, will inspire members to support and love one another through these perilous times that seem to have divided families and long-time friends that have nothing but the best intentions. All these differences of opinions should not drive us to contend with one another but to love each other now more than ever and exercise our agency to work together despite our different beliefs and respectfully and lovingly accept one another as Christ does.
Temporal vs Eternal
It is clear that everywhere we look for peace and comfort there is nothing but fear-mongering propaganda whether it is to get or not get a vaccine. There are many strategies thrust upon us not just on a daily basis but on a minute-by-minute basis. I feel like I can’t get on the internet without hearing or reading about why I should not or should get the shot. Each person or person having good reasons for their arguments and each creating a sense of fear in some way or fashion. I do not feel that we should respond to such situations out of fear but rather use our common sense and our conscience— light of christ— and personal revelation when making such decisions. Knowing that my decisions and the way I decide to live my life transcends beyond this life helps me align my will to His and live accordingly, so that I may one day live with him again no matter what He wills me to do. I am at His beck and call, not the other way around, even if it means putting my own needs aside or my life on the line— whatever He wills— to help bring about His work.
Praying with real intent
Just as Jeff says, “ real intent is praying with the intent to obey”( par. 4). It is important to recall that Joseph Smith prayed to God whether he should give the lost pages to Martin Harris with the intent to disobey even after God told him not several times, but persisted in asking until the Lord let Joseph have his way. It was not until after the disappearance of the translated pages that Joseph realized his folly and admitted that he had been wrong in asking the Lord for permission after being told no several times. The Lord rebukes him afterward and tells him that he shouldn’t have “…feared man more than God”(D&C 3:7). What can we learn from this? That at the end of the day he lets us choose so that we can learn for ourselves what we need to do. It also teaches us to lean not on our own understanding but in His.
Yes, if we pray with the intent to obey then we will be assured or not. The key is to recognize how the Lord answers our prayers. We cannot expect to always hear a clear “no” or a clear “yes”. We can know when we are choosing the right when He speaks “peace to our minds”(D&C 6:23) and when He causes a “…burning feeling within you and feel that it is right” (D&C 9:8) about the choice we have taken. But when it is not right he will cause us to “have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong”(D&C 9:9). So, when we go to Him in prayer with the intention to obey we must also remember that no answer is not an answer. And if we are not getting an answer to our prayers then we must keep doing so until the Lord answers them in his own time.
Obedience
The very word obedience implies that we choose for ourselves to follow an authoritative figure. This means that when we do choose to obey it is because of our love of God and a commitment to his work. What we choose to do is ultimately our choice. The ways of the Lord are different than those of the world. Forced obedience yields no blessings ( Scott, Richard. To Help a Loved One in Need. 1988). Why? Because he cannot bless us when we are unwilling to do something that we do not want to do. “ In order to claim certain blessings, obedience is certainly obligatory, but compliance is never mandatory—that is, forced.
Nothing is mandatory in this church. Free agency is a cardinal principle of obedience”(James E. Faust. The Abundant Life. 1985). Without free agency, obedience is nothing but force. And heavenly father does not want to force us. He wants us to come to him with contrite hearts to do what the spirit inspires us to do. He wants each individual to come to Him and seek guidance and not be peer pressured into doing something that we are unwilling to do. Patience is required from each member. Letting people come into their own knowledge of this new statement made by the presidency is vital. Obedience to get a vaccine or wear a mask is more than just going along with the prophet of this church or agreeing with others' preferences and views; it is a personal milestone. One which we cannot judge nor argue about because it is an individual and personal testimony.
Consecration and Sacrifice
Obedience must come from our desire to follow heavenly father wholeheartedly. I choose to follow the commandments and guidance that God and his mouthpiece have and continue to teach and which I have gained a testimony of my own. When we chose to make covenants with the lord, we chose to consecrate and sacrifice to help with the work that He has planned and to help bring about the salvation of men. I do not wish to hurt someone’s testimony of God, His principles, nor his teachings because it is not my place nor is it the time to do so. These perilous times call for members all over the world to join together as one in love of the Lord and each other. These are the times when we really are needed to consecrate and sacrifice everything we have for the service of the Lord, especially to help one another to obtain and keep a strong testimony of the gospel so that we may stand stronger than ever against the evil around us; there is so much of it and the world does not need a church divided but a church full of love, compassion, and charity—true charity.
Following the prophet
Yes, following the prophet does require that we put our faith in him. It requires us to submit our worries, fears, and reservations to the Lord. We do this when we seek personal guidance over the inspiration the president has received so that we may know it for ourselves as well. It is not a coincidence that Elder David Bednar has advised us to seek our own personal revelation about the statement made by the presidency. I am not disagreeing with the statement nor am I saying that the statement that the presidency has issued on the matter is wrong, but what I am saying is that as members we need to seek guidance from the holy ghost on this issue so that the Lord can witness unto each person the truth. It is not enough to just follow the prophet without making the effort to have personal revelation and guidance.
Elder Waldo P. Call said, “Sometimes you may want proof of this doctrine or that saying of the prophet. Keep the commandments! Pray, walk-in righteousness, and through the Holy Spirit you can know by that sweet, calm feeling that it is true”(Follow the Prophets. Oct.1999). If we are doing this, then the Lord will surely witness unto you the truth. Because Moroni 10:5 tells us that “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”
Prophetic Counsel
Prophetic counsel is the teaching of gospel principles such as the importance of family, studying the Book of Mormon, and living our lives. They “speak the words of God with plainness and boldness”(Robert D. Hales. April 1995). Prophetic counsel is “the prophet’s voice, while spoken kindly, will often be a voice asking us to change, to repent, and to return to the Lord. When correction is needed, let’s not delay”(Neil. L. Andersen. April 2018).
The counsel of a prophet will not always reflect our own ideas. On the contrary, it will challenge our own faith in him and the lord. It will definitely be the making of us if we will allow it. Of this very principle, we were alerted the very year that president Nelson was called to be our prophet. On the Saturday morning session of April 2018, Neil L. Andersen stated, “ these are moments of learning, of humility, when we go to our knees in prayer. We walk forward in faith, trusting in God, knowing that with time we will receive more spiritual clarity from our Heavenly Father.”
One prophet described the incomparable gift of the Savior as “the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father. The surrender of our will to God’s will is, in fact, not surrender at all but the beginning of a glorious victory.” We cannot let the counsel of a prophet lead us away from the truths that have been testified to us by the spirit. Instead, we should ponder them in our hearts and minds; seek to learn the veracity of the prophet’s counsel and let their words strengthen us so that we may be able to lift and strengthen others”.
We must remember that not all statements made by the prophet are prophetic counsel. Sometimes it is a formal request to all members, and sometimes it is just a public notice to let everyone else in the world know where the leaders of the church stand. Of course, they will never ask or tell the members what to do for they know that it is not their place. And they will tell you, as they have, to go learn these things for yourself. They will in fact enforce that we remain calm, peaceful, and law-abiding citizens so that we do not bring trouble to ourselves and to the church of Jesus Christ which is why they have chosen to make that statement about masks and vaccines.
Apostasy and Agency
Yes, disobedience leads to apostasy. Disobedience to the commandments, the counsel of the prophet, and the disregarding of the whisperings of the Holy Ghost is a sure way of knowing that you are going down the road of apostasy like so many saints in Missouri did because they were negligent and did not do as the Lord commanded. And it is a sure sign of apostasy when people are talking against the prophet of the Lord. If you are instead always asking for guidance in what you do, and you are hard-nosed about listening not only with your ears but with your heart and are being guided by the spirit to not take the vaccine then you are not on the road to apostasy. You are simply different in the sense that you have a different path than others. BUT you must have the witness of the Holy Ghost otherwise you are being deceived, and it must be followed by a deep sense of gratitude and reverence of it and of the prophet, and not testify against the mouthpiece of God.
It all comes down to agency and the things which God has called us as individuals to do. Not everyone has the same road plan. We know this because we all have different situations, perspectives, and because we were all given different talents. We are to use our agency not to just go and do whatever we like but to go and do what the Lord will have us do so that we may be in His service and in the service of our fellow beings. There are those who will use their agency to take care of the safety of others and there are those who will use their agency to make sure that people have a choice to do what they will with their bodies. None of these two people are WRONG. They are both standing for what is RIGHT. Agency is having the power to choose for oneself. God wants us to use it. He wants us to come to him and know how He wants us to help Him better serve the people around us. Agency is the most important part of the plan of salvation, for without it we would not have the ability to choose to serve God or how much.
Using our agency to influence others to come to God with the help of the Holy Ghost is definitely a must, but using our agency to influence others to do as we do and think as we think is not. We must guide people and let them come to that knowledge for themselves. In that spirit, it is the same with the vaccines. People must come to that knowledge on their own. They must come to know where the Lord wants them to stand and what they are to do with their bodies. He will let them know which path to go not us because it must be our choice just as everything else in this life should be. Those who do not are not fighting against the ones that do or against the vaccine itself, but the forcing administration of them to everyone in the world. Knowing that the Lord would never force anyone to do anything and has given us our own agency to choose for ourselves should help people know that the Lord does not ever want governments to influence people’s decisions or force them to do anything they do not want to do.
Conclusion: LOVE
The love we have for one another and God should lead our every action. We are in the latter days and we must act like the sons and daughters of God that we are. We must not bicker or even try to understand each other. We need to just love one another no matter where we stand because at the end of the day it is not each other we are fighting. We are fighting a war against Satan who has time in his favor. He has been battling for our souls with God since the inception of this world. He has the upper hand. Let us not give in to the little contentions here and there. Let’s instead plead unto God for more love, humility, and strength to overcome the evil around us. Let’s be united saints that stand in strong stakes and wards to call on the power of God to help us with all the monstrosities around us. At the end of the day, we are better together when we are one in purpose with God to bring the world His truth. That should be the focus of all of the saints’ lives. Sorry if I sound preachy it is not my intention. :)
Check out the latest blog by Gogo Goff: Are You the Exception or Just Disobeying? 6 Ways to Know if You Are the Exception
References
“ His Daily Guiding Light” by M. Joseph Brough, April 2017
“The Abundant Life” by James E. Faust, 1985
Robert D. Hales.Hear the Prophet’s Voice and Obey
