Welcome to closer to Christ through general conference
where two friends who love Jesus share our own
approach to studying the most recent general
conference talks. This is Abby and Amy. Let's
jump into it. Today we get to discuss, and now
I see, and this is by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, how we
miss him and how we did not know this would be
his last one, but we kind of felt like, yeah,
for sure, when Jesus and his disciples passed
near a beggar blind from birth. Thus led the
disciples to ask Jesus several complex religious
questions like, for example, Master who did sin,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind.
Jesus answered, neither hath this man sinned
nor his parents, but that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. He spit into the dirt
and stirred a small mixture of clay and then
applied this to the eyes of the man, instructing
him to wash in the pool of Siloam. All of this
the sightless man obediently did and he came
forth seeing, the scripture says. Jesus already
posed a threat at this time to the authority
of the Pharisees and these enemies of the Savior
confronted this newly cited man and said in anger,
we know Jesus is a sinner. I love this response,
maybe my favorite response. The man listens for
a moment and says, whether he be a sinner, I
know not, but one thing I do know, whereas I
was blind, now I see. I love that so much, Abby.
When I was listening to this, I just cried at
that part. I was like, man, that's a great, like
you said, that is a great response. You can have
all these arguments against him that you want,
but I know that I was blind. I know that I see
that. So say what you want to say. Yeah. And
then when he says that, the spirit just testify
so strongly of that truth that it, you know,
the other thing just falls away. You can't take
somebody's personal witness away. You can have
as many strong arguments as you want, but they're
not going to supersede a person. experience.
Born by the Holy Ghost is true. Exactly. The
limitations of the blind man would be the means
of a miracle for all to witness in another possible
lesson in the importance of washing and anointing
as this man was instructed to do to witness the
power of God. I myself had never made that connection
between temple and covenants in this particular
chapter of scripture before. Of course, it's
Elder Holland that points me to that as a possible
option. It has, however, struck me in the past
how the creator of heaven and earth could spit
into something as simple as a handful of dirt
and cause the blind to see. President Holland
said, how often God has sent his majestic messages
through a newly called very anxious Relief Society
president, which we got in our word today, an
unlearned boy in New York farm. or brand new
missionary, or maybe lying in a manger. So sweet,
wasn't it? Sometimes the instructions on how
to bring God's power into our lives is too easy,
and so we reject it as being impossible to bring
about the thing we're asking for. The children
of Israel, and just to name some examples of
the scriptures, have you ever seen this? dismiss
blessing from the Lord because His instructions
to you were just too simple. He talked about
like the serpent, right, the brass serpent, things
like that. So what if the answers to our prayers
come in plain or convoluted ways? Are we willing
to persevere to keep trying to live Christ's
gospel no matter how much spit and clay it takes?
Abby, this reminds me, when I was going through
cancer, some of the things that I felt directed
to do seemed odd, you know, and I just remember
I received a lot of blessings during that time
and one of them was, um, counseled me to look
through the scriptures at the time we were reading
the New Testament, look through the scriptures
and look for all of the different ways that Christ
healed people. And I was thinking I would find
the common thread, you know, like that there
would all be the same thing. The common thread
that I found is that they were not the same thing.
It was individual to each person. And also in
one of my blessings, it just reminded me not
to focus on the means or the method of healing,
but the source of healing. That's what it was.
And so that's how I always look at healing now
is like, it doesn't matter how it comes about.
If I feel like I should do a thing, it's to make
the power of God manifest. Excellent. Mortal
eyes have a hard time seeing things unfold in
a heavenly timetable. It's not always to be clear
to us what is being done or why. And from time
to time, we feel a little like the senior sister
who said, Lord, how about a blessing that isn't
in disguise? I love that! As long as someone
comes with a willing heart to be a disciple,
they can be given the power and authority needed
to perform any task they are asked to do. Because
of the Restoration, the same priesthood conferred
in our day can be traced back to the source,
our Savior, Jesus Christ. What about our deceased
family who have passed on without those blessings
and covenant in their mortal lives? The gift
of mercy bestowed on them comes from the authority
and the work that we are able to do vicariously
in the temple. I've been personally blessed on
this side of the veil, doing work for my ancestors.
It's helped me grow my relationship with Father
and Son, and I've worshipped there, made my own
covenants, and I've returned often to be reminded
about that power that I've linked myself with.
We had a He's now 12, but he was 11 on January
3rd and got to enter the temple with our newly
recommended son and the experience. It's so fun,
like these experiences with our children kind
of remind us of our earlier experiences in the
temple and can't make them feel anything in particular,
but when you can get a rowdy 12 -year -old to
be in awe of their experience in the temple and
come out. a little bit sweeter and awestruck.
We asked him to explain his feelings about his
temple experience. And he's like, he was the
best day of my life. I don't even have words
for it. And I really felt that like, I couldn't
put words into his mouth, but I just watched
him. His whole demeanor kind of changed from
this experience. So, that's so sweet, Abby. I
love it too, because you know, you're talking
about or sharing when Elder Holland was talking
about the vicarious works in the temple, right?
And this thing I'm about to share, it's like,
when I think of Elder Holland or President Holland,
I think of him as being a master teacher, but
also a gentle teacher. I feel like he leads us
so gently through. So he says this, what you
just shared, and then I loved, I love this next
phrase, he says this, to my knowledge, this particular
evidence of God's truth, meaning vicarious works,
His universal love for the living and the dead
is not seen elsewhere in the world, except in
one church that demonstrates truth in this particular
regard, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
-day Saints. Just such a beautiful, simple truth,
and I love how he led us to that. Many of us
have used our time in the temple to bring things
into clearer focus or see things in a new way.
Challenges we're facing, answers to questions.
I know that I can testify that many times in
the temple, that time has allowed me to see something
that I was once blind to, or maybe I didn't have
the capacity to even look at it and it's like
it filled up the capacity and I was ready to
see that thing. And kind of the shedding off
the world as you enter there, you get the clarity,
the blinders come off. And we've said time and
time again, the power of the temple is that you
can take the power of the temple out of the temple
with you. But I would say, I've personally felt
like leaving the burdens of the world behind
and entering the temple. Things didn't resolve
themselves, and I'm knowing I'm coming back to
them when I come out of it, but I do get infused
with like a certain power that I don't feel elsewhere.
And probably it is because the things that have
been heavy on my mind, I use my agency, get in
the car, go to the temple with time I don't have,
get answers that I never deserved, you wanted
to give me anyway, and it just changes the perspective.
I was blind and now I see. Love that, Abby. Elder
Holland talked about the instrument of truth
that brought healing from the Lord coming through
the pages of the Book of Mormon, another testament
of Jesus Christ. The claims about this book have
been attacked and dismissed by some unbelievers,
angrily telling one who has seen the truthfulness
manifest in their own life that they can't believe
what this book teaches, often the same level
of angers as the Pharisees of Jesus' time. The
means by which this book came to be were impractical,
unbelievable, embarrassing, and even unholy.
We know that it was translated by the power and
gift of God. The impact of the Book of Mormon
in my life is no less miraculous than was the
application of spit and dirt placed on the blind
man's eyes." That is his direct quote. So good.
I add my testimony of this book to Elder Holland's
testimony. This, I just finished it again, you
know, at the end of the year, it actually ended
up being January 3rd. But this book has allowed
us to view the Savior's universal love and redeeming
grace. And it just brings a softness and the
spirit into our lives daily as we take some time
to read from it. And, you know, I think we all
remember. when he was doing his when he defended
the Book of Mormon. I mean, we all stood there
and just listened to the power of his testimony
and him saying like, essentially, when I get
to the other side, I want to be someone who proclaimed
with all of my heart, the truthfulness of the
Book of Mormon. I love that he has defended his
testimony of this book his entire life. And even
though he has since passed on after the incredible
years of service offered as a disciple of Jesus
Christ, his testimony and his teachings will
live on and continue to bless those who are metaphorically
blind that desire to see. And I did notice in
the lineup we do have coming up Matthew Holland,
so I'm like, it's so wonderful. We'll have these
words to feast on time and time again, but I
love, did you get to listen to the remarks for
his No, I started them, I can't do it again.
It's recorded and I just think all three of his
children are such a testament to the life that
he lived. And like, I do recognize they had to
share their dad most of their lives, but I think
they did so happily because they know that that
was what his life purpose was meant to be. And,
you know, he took some heat for some of the things
they said, but I think you described him perfectly.
I think he was a powerful... powerful at testifying
of truth, not backing down from it. But if given
the opportunity, if it hurts somebody's feeling
something that he said, I got the opportunity
to give a talk about Elder Holland today in sacrament
meetings. So I kind of deep dived in the last
year of his life and some things that he said
and, you know, find some stories. People want
to be offended by something he says, but he took
these people that, you know, people are having
this, you know. Anger about him saying things
to if he had he has had one -on -one opportunities
to speak with him and they felt nothing but love
from him Sometimes it's not the thing you want
to hear if you're making a choice That's contrary
to the word of God and you hear somebody invite
you back and call you to repentance You know
in the way that he does it. It's it's so soft
It pierces you a little bit differently then
to be yelled at you, but somebody yelled at you
kind of like but they know they don't really
love me. The way that he does it is with so much
love, it tends to prick a little bit differently
and so makes you uncomfortable because you're
like, yeah, I really do need to do that thing.
I should take that invitation and I don't know,
he doesn't need me to sit and defend him. I think
his record stands for itself. I think his testimony
stands for itself. Everything that I read about
Him, I just want to add my testimony to the things
that He said. I want to be as powerful in the
way that it's articulated, but a big message,
like we were talking about, the big message that
He had when He was in that four weeks between
life and death, when He came back, He felt like
He had a charge to speak to the church and say
a couple of things. If you think you pray enough,
pray more. Pray always. And He's like, I'm somebody
that thinks that I always pray. He's like, and
I'm even being told, pray more. test, if you
think, you know, testify more. What else? Did
I miss something? I was just thinking those two
things, testify of Christ more and pray more.
And you know, like that was his whole life, like
for the last 65 years, he's been testifying of
Christ, but if he's hearing that message, you
think you testify, testify more. I'll add my
testimony to that, that the more that you do
that, it's probably going to become more dangerous
to do so, but there will be more power bestowed
on those that take that challenge, even amidst
the dangers of doing it. Live for the church.
He was asked, would you be willing to die for
the church? Would you give your life for it?
He's like, I give my life every day. Dying would
be an easy part, but I'm doing that. Such a good
point. We're asked to do such a small portion
of that, but we get innumerable blessings, you
know, in the portion that we're able to provide
there. So, did you finish any last thoughts that
you had? definitely shared them. I just loved
him and I'm so grateful for his life and for
his testimony and for the fact that he gets to
leave behind so much. Just in conference talks
alone, you can go back and he built a case for
Jesus Christ. He built a case for the truthfulness
of the Book of Mormon and I just love it. I didn't
get to articulate this well in my talk, so here's
my second chance at doing it. What I loved about
President Holland, what I will always love about
him, is that he could take a single scripture
reference. and a phrase in a scripture reference,
like, now I see, or as a child, or we can go
back and back and back. And I'm like, all of
them were, they were bangers. They were so good.
I will go to them again and again. And he helped
me who kind of feels like, I don't feel scared
about the scriptures. I love the Book of Mormon.
It speaks to my heart, like the other books I
have to like, like pump myself up for. And I
really get something out of them when I get into
them. But he more than any other speaker in my
lifetime, helped me to see, like, there's such
a depth to the scriptures, depending on what
you need and what you're ready for. I know that
the answers are in there, but he helped me see,
like, so many times I'd be like, oh, I've heard
that story before and I've never saw it that
way. It makes me excited to, you know, continue
to devote more time and know that the person
I am 20 years from now will be, in part, thanks
to how he impressed me to look for that next
layer, for that next ... a little bit. So just
with gratitude, we acknowledge his passing and
we're just so grateful for the life that he had.
And to close this, we'll end with his final words
at the pulpit. He said, I have been at the edge
of death and back. I have walked with kings and
prophets with presidents and apostles. Best of
all, I have had times been overwhelmed by the
Spirit of God. I trust that my witness should
be given at least some consideration here. I
came to my whole -souled conviction that the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints
is a true restoration of the New Testament Church
and more because I could not deny the evidence
of that restoration. Since those first experiences,
I suppose that I have had a thousand, ten thousand.
And I noted this great orator rather than speaking
his final words of the pulpit. He's saying, amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch
like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found,
was blind, but now I see. And he ended this in
the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen, Abby. Thank
you so much for being with us this week. We'll
catch you next time.