Browsing the archives for the 1943 category.

On My Final Testimony

1943

I now bear my humble testimony to all the nations of the earth who shall read this that the Book of Mormon is a divine revelation, for the voice of the Lord has declared it so. Having been commanded of the Lord, in His name, I humbly warn all mankind to repent of all their sins, to turn away from all their false doctrines, and to forsake the precepts of uninspired men. Yea, come forth with meek humble and contrite hearts, and be immersed in water for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands of the Apostles or Elders of this Church; and signs shall follow them, that believe, as they did the believers in times of old; and all people, nations and tongues, who will not do this, shall be dammed, and shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God, for this God giving message shall condemn them at the last day.

Repent, therefore, all ye ends of the earth, for the great day of the Lord is at hand; the sword of justice of the Eternal God will soon fall upon you except ye repent. Repent, O, ye kings and queens of the earth, for the day of the Lord’s controversy with the nations has come; and thrones shall be rent asunder, and there shall be no safety for you, unless you repent. Let the Lords and nobles and all those in high places repent for calamity shall come from all quarters like a whirlwind; fear and terror shall encompass you round about, and there shall be not a place of refuge for you in the day of the Lord’s fierce vengeance upon Babylon. Woe unto you ye rich men, who trade and traffic among the nations, and who have heaped up gold and silver as the dust, for except you repent, your riches shall be despoiled, your trade and traffic shall cease, and ye shall howl for the miseries that shall come upon you: repent therefore, and gather up your riches, and flee out from among the nations and carry your gold and silver with you unto the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion, and make use of your riches as the Lord shall direct to beautify the place of the Lord’s sanctuary, otherwise ye shall perish with your riches.

Let all the bishops, and clergy and priests of every denomination repent and cease to preach false doctrines, and let them be baptized and come into the Church of Christ, and seek no more to fight against the Lord’s work, but unless they do this, the Lord shall visit them in swift judgment and they shall perish quickly out of the earth; for they are the ones that have corrupted the earth with their false, vain, foolish and powerless doctrines; they are the ones who have blinded the eyes and hardened the hearts against the Lord’s great and last message; therefore except they repent, there is in reserve for them a heavier judgment and they shall gnaw their tongues for pain.

Repent all ye inhabitants of the earth, lest the Lord shall smite you with the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips consume you as stubble. Let all Israel repent, and turn unto the Lord, for the time of the fulfilling of the covenant made with your fathers, is at hand – the time when all things are to be restored that have been spoken by the mouth of all the Holy Prophets since the world began – the time when the kingdom is to be restored to Israel, and the Lord God of their fathers is to reign over them in power, glory, might, majesty and in great glory from henceforth and forever more.

Again, the present age, have angels restored the gospel: Again, have they committed the keys of the Apostleships? Again, have they opened some of the events of the past, present and future?

The Book of Mormon contains the everlasting gospel in all its fullness; and it has been revealed to the inhabitants of our earth by an angel; it was by an angel that the apostleship and priesthood were again restored; it was by an angel that men were called and ordained by the Holy Ministry, and empowered to preach, baptize and administer all the ordinances of the everlasting gospel, contained in the Book of Mormon; therefore, let all people rejoice for the gospel is once more restored to the earth; let the nations be glad that after to many years and generations of darkness, a Christian, Christ’s Church has again been organized upon our dark and benighted globe: let songs of praise and thanksgiving ascend up before God, among all nations, that glad tidings of great joy have once more been sent down from heaven – that inspired apostles and prophets have once more been sent to preach, baptize, and show unto man the way of salvation.

Never was there a work more clearly predicted than the great and marvelous work for the restitution of Israel; and never had mankind more prophetic evidences in confirmation of a revelation, than they have for the Book of Mormon.

None of the books of the Old or New Testament were prophesied of before they were revealed, whereas this great revelation of the lat days has been clearly predicted by many of the inspired writers. In this respect, the Book of Mormon is confirmed by testimony to this generation, such a no other prophets could bring forward to establish their books in the day that they were given.

In this situation the records of Moroni leave them, the fifth century of the Christian era, and much in the same situation, with some exceptions, the Europeans found them after a lapse of another thousand years.

O, who can contemplate the disgusting deformity. The dark features, the filthy habits, the idleness, the cruelty, the nakedness, the poverty, the misery, the sufferings, the ignorance of the descendants of this once favored branch of the royal blood of Abraham and Joseph, and not weep for very anguish, while his bosom yearns, and fountains, the depths of his inmost soul, are stirred and moved within him!

Reader, all these things have come upon them on account of the abuses, the consequent decline and final loss of the keys and powers of the science of Theology. But comfort your heart, their redemption is at the door. If we except murder, there is scarcely a more damning sign on the earth than the prostitution of female virtue or chastity at the shrine or pleasure or brutal lust, or that promiscuous and lawless intercourse which chills and corrodes the heart, perverts and destroys the pure affections, cankers and destroys, as it were, the well-springs, the fountains or issues of life.

A man who obeys the ordinances of God, and is without blemish or deformity, who has sound health and mature age, and enjoys liberty and access to the elements of life, is designed to be the head of a woman, a father, and a guide of the weaker sex and of those of tender age, to mansions of eternal life and salvation.

A woman under similar circumstances is designed to be the glory of some man in the Lord, to be led and governed by him as her head to honor, obey, love, serve, comfort and help him in all things, to be a happy wife, a faithful and affectionate mother, devoting her life to the joys, cares, and duties of her domestic sphere.

The overthrow of those ancient races is a type of that which now awaits the nations called Christian in other words the great whore of all the earth, for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Where is the nation called Christian that does not permit prostitution, fornication and adultery with all their defacing, demoralizing, degenerating and corroding effects, with all their tendencies to disease and crime, to heave and corrode society?

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On My Aim in Life and My Attitude and My Ambition

1943

Review of my aim in life and my attitude and my ambition.

Since I got united with the true plan of salvation which is Mormonism, I got spiritual minded and I got a great desire to know something. I was not satisfied with faith alone, I wanted to know as well as believe scriptures. They say it impossible to please God without faith, and it takes a living faith to bring about the work that God requires as a good Church member.

As soon as I got acquainted with the gospel, I got at once acquainted with the two great powers, the Power of God and the power of Satan. Good and evil were made known to me at once. Good and evil are placed before all, in one way or another, so we can choose which one of the two, we use our free agency.

I feel in love with God from my early manhood, I truly love Him above all things and I have great respect for Him. He has extended His grace and mercy to me, He has given me great faith and knowledge of the true Gospel in which I rejoice exceedingly.

My aim in life has been to raise a family and be independent, to have prosperity, to accumulate means so I could raise a more respectable family and get the children educated and send them on Missions and help them in all things, to earn any kind of trade they may prefer.

I always loved agriculture, and liked to see things grow, and get things around me that would increase and multiply. I never was satisfied just from hand to mouth. My ambition always was to prosper and to get out of poverty which looked me like slavery. I think we should help one another to get out of that slavery that will put an end to our joy and happiness and satisfaction.

I greatly believe in being faithful to our Holy covenants which we have made in the house of the Lord. To honor the Holy marriage system, we should be full of love for humanity especially to our own family. We should be all means be united as one. I do not believe in separation. That is not the order of God except for adultery. Hate is from the evil one and love is from God and is the man thing to happiness. We must not have any hard feelings for any one, we must love all and forgive all in order to be good saints.

When we run against opposition and disappointments, then let us go to God in prayer and ask for help when the evil one lays snares at our feet. We must understand that everything serves then for good that love the Lord.

I will say like Job, what I had feared all my life, I had to go through. Poverty is my enemy and I will always try to better my conditions in life and would very much like it if I could help others. It is more blessed to give than to take.

All these disappointments and trials and oppositions come, to us, helping to let us see what we are about, what we will do if we will learn our duties and love God under all circumstances.

A Review

I feel that I should again remind all my children and all my grandchildren and great grandchildren, and to all the posterity in coming ages, as long as there is any generation of time, which promises I have received of a Patriarch that my name shall be held in honor of them all for my faithfulness.

I have received strong testimonies through the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the gift of healing, by the gift of prophecy, by the gift of discernment. I have received an answer to my prayers and many different times I have received the Spirit of revelation for my own guidance. I have seen a few miracles, and above all I have received a visit from God.

Let me tell how that came to pass. I was herding sheep on the Canadian prairie and I was given a chance to work myself into the sheep business with Mr. Harvey from Lethbridge. It was a chance which I had been looking for. I was very much pleased to have that chance. Before I would sign a contract I went to seek the Lord in very humble prayer asking Him if that was the right thing for me. I was all alone on the prairie herding sheep. I kneeled down in all humility and asked God to make known to me if that was His will that I should go into the sheep business. I spoke to God as I would speak to my earthly father. In my prayer I asked God to speak to me and I would obey.

Just as soon as I raised up from my prayer I heard a voice, the most wonderful voice I thought I as so familiar with that voice. It penetrated my whole soul. It went through all my body and penetrated me all over, so wonderful was it that it surpasses all understanding in mortality.

I now asked who was talking to me, and I was answered at once. The power of the Holy Ghost was poured out upon me in the most wonderful force testifying to me like this, “It is the voice of God you have heard and you have been in the presence of God, you have heard, and heard Him speaking to you.”

These are the words of God, “Marinus, my son, I don’t want you to go into the sheep business now, I want you to go on a Mission.”

That was the word of the Lord to me directly. .This is not a dream, but in reality true. It happened in the fall of 1907 on a very nice clear day.

In the spring of 1908 I went on my Mission.

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On My 80th Birthday

1943

This is the year I fully celebrated my 80th birthday. Both the ward and stake treated me with the greatest courtesy and gave me the best congratulations on my eightieth birthday in Lethbridge Ward House.

This summer I again took the job for Mr. George Murray Whitlay.

This summer it is so dry that the people turn the stock into the dry burnt up grain fields and use it for feed in the summer.

O! what a comfort it is in this dreary world, to be loved and cared for by all powerful, warm hearted and lovely friends.

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On Celestial Families

1943

O, candidates for celestial glory! Would your joy be full in the countless years of eternity without forming the connections, the relationships, the kindred ties which concentrate in the domestic circle, and branch forth, and bud and blossom, and bear the fruits of eternal increase?

If such be your aspirations, remember that this present probation is the world of preparation for joys eternal. This is the place where family organization is first formed for eternity, and where the kindred sympathies, relationships and affections take root, spring forth, shoot upward, bud, blossom and bear fruit to ripen and mature in eternal ages.

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On Progress

1943

A new era has dawned upon our planet, and is advancing with accelerated force, with giant strides.

The railroads and the steamboats, with their progressive improvements in speed, safety and convenience, are extending and multiplying the means of travel, of trade, of association and intercommunications between countries whose inhabitants have been comparatively unknown to or estranged from each other.

But, as if even these means were too slow for the Godlike aspirations, the mighty throes of human thought and its struggles for light and expansion, man seizes the lightning, tames and subdues it, and makes it the bearer of his thoughts and dispatches. While these things are in progress by one portion of mankind, another learns to seize and control a sunbeam, in a manner subservient to the progress of the fine arts, and by which means a man performs in a minute the work which a short time since would have employed the most active years of a lifetime.

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