Church Talks
RESTORATION MEDLEY
[Talk given by John E. Enslen at Wetumpka Ward Sacrament meeting on May 31, 2009, in connection with his first piano solo as special music in a sacrament meeting.]
A recent survey conducted by the Church indicates that few people outside the Church have an elementary understanding of our basic beliefs. The world at large remains unaware of our claim that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has its origin in a revelatory restoration of Christ’s original church to the earth by none other than Jesus Christ himself.
Of necessity, the restoration came in stages like, for instance, the six creative periods in the formation of the earth. Stage one was perfectly consistent with the Biblical declaration of the Lord’s modus operandi for all ages: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) In stage one, God the Father and His son Jesus Christ personally called their prophet, and did so in a manner that revealed the true nature of the Godhead.
Stage two: Because faith, at least in part, is the “evidence … of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1),” the Lord presented the world with indestructible tangible evidence that a true prophet had been called. The Book of Mormon serves a dual purpose. It restores pure doctrines of Christ and His gospel, while at the same time, its means of discovery, translation, and publication, as well as its contents, testify to God’s selection of Joseph Smith to usher in the restoration movement that would mark the last dispensation of time.
The Book of Mormon, notwithstanding its being the most powerful evidence in existence that the Bible is true, causes a division in the world. On the one hand, there are those who have sincerely and prayerfully read it and received a testimony of its truthfulness, and on the other hand there are those who have never sincerely and prayerfully read it and possess no testimony of its truthfulness. Having now been translated into almost every written language, the Book of Mormon is the only book in the world wherein it seems to be perfectly acceptable for an otherwise intelligent person to have the strongest convictions against it without ever having actually read it.
Stage three of the restoration: God’s delegation of His authority in the form of the Aaronic and Melchezidek Priesthood, thus conferring once again upon chosen men, including 12 apostles, the divinely approved right to officially administer the kingdom of God on earth, including the right to selectively pass that authority to other worthy men and to perform the ordinances of salvation and exaltation which are recognized, accepted, and binding in heaven, as well as in the earth. (See Matthew 16:19; Matthew 18:18) It is the possession of this sacred authority, and the gift of the opportunity for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost which this authority can confer by ordinance, that separates The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from all other churches of the world. It is through this priesthood authority that the Lord’s house is established and maintained as a “house of order, … and not confusion.” (D & C 132:8; see also 2 Chronicles 29:35)
Stage four: The formal organization of Christ’s followers into a structured religious society so that they could act in unison as a single body of Christ for the accomplishment of God’s purposes, including preparing the earth for His triumphant return in great glory. The first verse of Section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants reads: “The rise of the Church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh, it being regularly organized and established agreeable to the laws of our country, by the will and commandments of God, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April—”
Stage five: The building of a temple to the Most High God for the receipt of Elijah, the messenger of the covenant, and for the administration of temple ordinances for our deceased fathers. The Lord declared through the Old Testament prophet Malachi: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers….” (Malachi 4:5-6) The doctrines associated with the temple reveal the perfect fairness and justice of God in providing an opportunity for every man and woman who ever lived to hear and accept His unpolluted teachings and ordinances, an opportunity that these people did not have during their mortal probation.
Stage six: To prevent the utter destruction of the newly authorized Church of Christ by evil and conspiring men, as had previously occurred with the Church of Jesus Christ of former-day saints following the Savior’s death and resurrection, the Lord inspired a great exodus from the United States. As prophesied by Isaiah, the Lord directed a gathering to Zion, a removal to the “wilderness,” a “solitary place” which would, with great effort, “blossom as the rose.” (Isaiah 35:1) From there, the law of God would go forth. (See Isaiah 2:3)
Stage seven: You and I are all living in stage seven. With the foundational part of the restoration complete and the Church secure, the Church is well into the process of “com[ing] forth out of the wilderness of darkness, and shin[ing] forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.” (D & C 109:73) The personal battle that each of us as members face is the challenge to be more Christ-like in an ever-increasing anti-Christ world. We are to give serious heed to His commandment to seek perfection in our lives (Matthew 5:48), notwithstanding we will not fully achieve it in mortality. The Lord has already accomplished his great atoning sacrifice for each of us, and it is now our sacred privilege to help Him fulfill his self-imposed commitment as set forth in Doctrine and Covenants 100:16: “For I will raise up unto myself a pure people, that will serve me in righteousness.”
I have composed a medley taken from seven hymns which chronologically represent these seven stages of the restoration of which I have spoken. I call this medley “The Restoration Medley.” I am not one of those people who thinks he can play well but can’t. Rather, I am one of those people who can’t play well and knows it, but I am not going to let that fact stand in the way of playing, at age 62, my first special-music solo in church.
I cannot read music. I, as some say “play by ear.” I prefer the term “play by revelation.” It is a gift. But when I hit a bad note, it does not mean that I received “bad” revelation. There is no such thing. It simply means that I received no revelation at all. I strongly suspect I will hit some bad notes and have some stops and restarts, but please bear with me, and we will try to get through this with the least amount of permanent psychological damage for all of us.
As I play this medley, I hope you ponder the richness of the restoration. Perhaps you will be able to connect each melody you hear with one of the seven stages of the restoration.
[The hymns, or rather portions thereof, that I played in the medley were: We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet; Iron Rod; Come All Ye Sons of God; How Firm A Foundation; I Love To See The Temple; Come Come Ye Saints; and I’m Trying To Be Like Jesus. I see these as sequentially representative of Joseph, the prophet of the restoration; the Book of Mormon; the priesthood; the organization of the Church; the establishment of temple work; the migration west; and our continuing efforts for perfection.]