Church History And A Testimony

There has been much discussion about doubt and leaving of the church recently. I also was part of a discussion recently on Facebook. Sadly, it was filled with too many people that wanted to only banter rather than discuss. I had to take myself away from that discussion and future discussions because I found myself feeling of no worth. These people's negativity, though not convincing me otherwise of my knowledge, I had a sense of no worth, no respect for God, and no respect for the basics of the gospel growing within my heart. Though I am sure for a few of them, their motives were sincere and truly desiring answers, others were out there looking to bash on the church (members and non-members) in whatever venue they could. These are people who seem to be on a perpetual search to find what is wrong with the church.

Many seem to be disgruntled by a number of things but particularly the one I'd like to address is the "covered up" church's history. Many have lost or had their faith weakened due to things that they have learned over the internet, word of mouth, or through their own research in church history books. They have felt as though they were tricked, lied to, or deceived. They feel that this is so because the church leaders don't put certain details in the church manuals and have purposely avoided such topics to avoid a history that is not perfect.

I have two answers to this reasoning that I hope will be helpful to all members and individuals seeking answers from God if the restored church is truly here on earth:

1) If the church really didn't want you to know these things the leaders now and in the past would have erased it from its records. You can look it up freely (even before the internet was available), the church is not hiding anything. The church has always done things to address the issues in the past and present. One example is the Mountain Meadow Massacre. President Hinckley dedicated a monument there not too long ago to commemorate the lives lost. It was a hard topic to bring up and many mixed feelings about it was felt inside and out of the church, still are. But if the church wasn't wanting to deal with it, they could have erased it by ignoring it. Same with many other things that are of deep church history issues. They didn't do this because it is what it is. The church is still standing today not because of it's history but because of it's true claim to being the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

2) The church will always focus on the basics of salvation. We hear church history stories all the time in our lessons at church, general conference talks mention incredible stories of early Saints' sacrifices and diligence to overcome difficult times. They do occasionally focus on those Saints that fell away because of pride. All of this to gain an important lesson that helps us to come closer to our Savior. Everything they teach us (leaders and manuals) is to lead us closer to Christ, and they only have so much time to do it. The address of negative, taboo, or extremely odd church history experiences may not be as important to hear as such of an experience of faith. This is why I believe we don't hear too much over the pulpit or in the manuals of difficult subjects with church history. We do hear it occasionally to which I've almost always heard a reasonable response.

Clearly the church isn't perfect. Joseph Smith did have several wives, Brigham Young probably was a racist, and weird things happened in the mountains. So what? How does this help you gain a testimony of the divinity of Christ and His infinite Atonement? Are we shallow enough to neglect that Christ's atonement works with you and others? Shallow to neglect that God is doing His work with imperfect people? I would remind anyone that church history issues are not of the greater importance. The greater importance is your personal witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Book of Mormon is the word of God,  that you are on the path to make and keep covenants, and the many other basic principles of the gospel that are taught on a weekly basis.

One thing that made me sad from the last Facebook conversation is that they assumed I had never doubted. I was not a worthy vessel to share how to help overcome doubt. I did in fact tell them that I have doubted and they shouldn't assume (if you are reading this and think I am the perfect Peter Priesthood-y type, just stop it). I have doubted. I have doubted a terrible amount. My first time truly doubting was in high school. I had numerous older friends as a freshman, they were all very inclusive and allowed me to be part of their circle. After a little while, I got bombarded by several of them with anti-Mormon literature (namely church history issues). I could reply to a few of their questions and comments but ultimately I was beaten, and badly. I questioned myself why such claims were being stated and how I couldn't answer them correctly. Wasn't I a member of the true and living church? Wasn't it perfect? Was the church not perfect? Was it all a big lie? I recall talking to my dad about a few of the questions. One after one, I gave him the concerns and comments my friends gave me and one after another he would give me a reasonable answer in response to it. I continued asking my father since it was working until finally he said something along the lines of, "How can they know the gospel isn't true when they themselves haven't given an honest sincere question to know for themselves? These attacks don't matter. What matters is your testimony."

I knew his words rang true. You see, as a 9 year old boy I was challenged by the full-time missionaries to pray and know if the Book of Mormon was true, if Joseph Smith was a true prophet at which I did accept that challenge. That very night I went to my bed (I remember the setting well as we had just moved into our new house) and knelt down in prayer. The question was simple but my answer was profound. I knew then that the Book of Mormon was true because of a simple sincere prayer. My father taught me a great lesson. Rely on faith, not quarrels.

That freshman year in high school wasn't the only time that I had encountered major doubts. For pe
rsonal reasons I will not describe the whole story but rather just the end. I found myself in the office of a minister. This minister was the leader of a very popular church in my hometown. I would later term this church similar to those on my mission in Seattle as "Mega Churches." It was almost the popular thing to do, go to this church's 20 minute sermon and feel the love of God. So why was I in the minister's office? Because I was questioning my membership in the Mormon Church. Now looking back, the minister was a very wise man, a good wise man. After a series of questions, which his tone seemed to be of questioning my motives, he finally asked, "are you willing to deny the Book of Mormon?" I paused for a while, looking down. Pondering. Then without a hesitation, smiling, I looked back up and said, "no, I cannot deny the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon." Oddly enough, he smiled back and led me to the door of his office.

Do you get what I'm trying to say, yet? Encounter all you will about the church's history or even flat out lies about the doctrine (and occasional church history event) and you can still know that it is true because of a spiritual witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ and His work. To this day, my spiritual witness has helped me get through the thick darkness, the "earthquakes of doubt." The church is not perfect. The people in the church is not perfect but my Savior is. My Heavenly Father sent His Son, to die and suffer the sins and pains of the world. The pains of the world include doubt. Yours and mine.

If you are truly struggling to know if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth, I advise you follow Elder Scott's directions, "If you seek His help, be sure your life is clean, your motives are worthy, and you’re willing to do what He asks—for He will answer your prayers. He is your loving Father; you are His beloved child. He loves you perfectly and wants to help you."

Three things, 1) seek His help, 2) motives are pure, and 3) praying with real intent, willing to act upon the answer you receive.  Those things have helped me and they will help your or anyone else's struggles in gospel matters. The Book of Mormon and modern day prophets will lead you closer to your Savior. 

Noah Webster (Webster Dictionary) and my Family History??

Yes, it is true. Noah Webster was in fact part of my family history. Am I related to him? Not as far as I can tell at this point but it is fairly clear my relatives, the Hjorth family (pronounced y-ort) from Denmark, after making their journey to Utah in the 1860's were not just ordinary members contributing to the Lord's kingdom. The Hjorth's are converts of the church from Denmark, I am related to them from my Hancock line which comes from my father's grandmother's side of the family. They were a simple and humble family that loved the gospel without a doubt. It amazes me that no matter what we do, we will do a great work for the Lord as long as we are faithful.

The lessons you will learn from the following passage are tremendous. I have learned that God is merciful to all people. God has a great love for those that have done much to contribute to the good of His children. Family History does in fact change lives. Visions are real. Faith exceeds all trials. And researching your family history will empower you to be better.

I read this story years ago at my Aunt Lynn's house and when I first read it, it helped shaped my testimony as a young boy and still does to this day. Please be respectful of this experience and know that this is God's work. If you are new to family history or the meaning of temple work for in Latter-day Saint temples, I encourage you to go here and to ask a Mormon friend which you may know.

I bare my witness that God is no respecter of persons, He loves all of His children the same. His gospel has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and temple work and family history are one of the Lord's many tender mercies that shows us that He is God.

Noah Webster 1758-1843

August Adrainus Hjorth

A WONDERFUL TESTIMONY OF THE WISHES OF THE DEAD GIVEN TO AUGUST ADRAINUS HJORTH SR., 1893. Dictated to Arthur S. Larsen Nov. 1932 at the home of his daughter, Mrs. S. Edward Hancock, 1776 South 9^th East St. Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Although so many years have passed since that time, it seems as though it was only yesterday that these experiences came to me,” said Brother Hjorth, who was reluctant to speak of them because of the lightness with which some people have been wont to treat this sacred subject. I assured him that to me it would likewise be sacred and would be guarded as such.

A year ago I listened to Brother Hjorth relate this subject at a family reunion, as encouragement to the young people as well as the old, to engage in temple work for their kindred dead. My wife, a kinslady, had spoken of this instance to me once or twice many years ago but now to hear from Brother Hjorth’s own lips these precious things filled me with great interest in the same; and then it was that I resolved to obtain a copy or take down in writing what could be disclosed to me. The following is from his own lips and in his own words:

It was early in the spring of 1893. After retiring to my bed one evening as usual and had fall asleep, I was given this dream. Suddenly it seemed I found myself in a large city, the sidewalks of which were thronged with people. I was trying to wedge my way through in an endeavor to proceed along the walk and while doing so I casually looked up and caught sight of a tall gentleman with a tall black hat, dressed in a black suit of clothes.

I thought him so different to any of the many people who were thronging the sidewalks. As we approached each other I saw him also wedging himself through the crowd. As we met face to face, I tried to step aside for him to pass, but he would step with me in the same direction so that I could not get by him. While I was trying in this way to avoid him, or rather move out of his way, he called me by my name and asked me if that was not my name to which I replied: “Yes that is my name.”

I now observed that he was not different to any of the other people whom I could see along the sidewalk. In continuing his conversation he said to me, “I have been watching over my people. They have done no temple work and there is no one I can depend on to do my temple work for me. I understand you have been doing much temple work so I have come to ask you if you will do my temple work for me.

I have done much for the American people giving them the proper definition of the English language. Now will you promise to do that work for me? My name is NOAH WEBSTER.” He discussed his anxiety over his people, not one being in a position to do this work then asked me the second time if I would promise to do his work for him to which I answered: “yes, I will.” Then awakened. I awakened my wife and told her of my dream and asked her what she thought about it. She said, “Surely, you much go and do it.”

Time passed on with spring activities until months had come and gone. I almost forgot about my sacred charge and promise. I had noticed a dead limb on one of my pear trees in my orchard, overhanging the young, ripening fruit underneath it and set out to remove it with a saw. When the limb was released enough I took hold of it to swing it away from falling on the small fruit below. This effort and weight of the limb partly turned me around suddenly with it as it fell to the ground.

As I thus turned, to my surprise Noah Webster stood by my side. He spoke before I could open my mouth, saying: “Mr. Hjorth, you have not done what you agreed to do for when I visited you before. Will you promise to do it now?” Shaking like a lead I answered, “Yes, I will do it now.” I was glad to make this promise and in all sincerity feeling condemned as I stood there before him.

He was dressed in the same costume and with the same countenance as I had seen or looked upon him in my dream. I wept and he wept with me as he begged of me several times. “Will you do it now?” to which I gladly promised in the words “I will.” Thanks to God that I could see him this time in reality. I asked him where his record was for I had not thought of that before, my interest being so absorbed by Mr. Webster’s presence, and his impressive visit with me. TO this he replied, “You have a brother in law on the Provo Bench. Go to him and he will give you my record.” I stretched out my hand to shake hands with him and he suddenly vanished.

Going into the house, I related to my wife Mr. Noah Webster’s visit to me while at my work in the orchard, after telling her that he had called on me again. She agreed with me that we would at once prepare to perform this sacred duty, keeping my promise to one from the realms of departed fellowmen.

This day was Friday and the following Sunday we set out for the Provo Bench, a distance of 37 miles, with our horse and buggy. Upon arriving at my brother-in-law’s place, he, Otis L. Terry, came up from his orchard. I related my purpose of this visit before I got out of the buggy. He thought it very strange that I should come such a distance for that purpose and when we came into the house, Sister Terry was still more excited over our visit and said that something strange must have happened. When I asked Brother Terry if he had such a record he said, “Sure I have.” He then brought to me a copy of the Webster Dictionary wherein were inscribed the names of Noah Webster’s family, which I copied.

About two weeks later we made ready to go to the Manti Temple to attend this temple work I had harnessed my team, placed wood, coal, bedding and other requirements in the wagon and had gone into the house to let my wife know I was ready to hitch up the team if she was ready to go. She said the bread was not quite baked but it would not be long. I lay down on a couch until the bread would be ready when I was suddenly rendered entirely helpless, except for my speech.

I called to my wife and on seeing me in such a condition she stated, “It is all off going to the temple now.” I told her to go to the door and see if anyone was coming and if so, tell them to go and get my brother-in-law, Mr. Amasa Tucker who lived nearby. She did so and saw a little girl and called to come to her and sent the girl with the message, Mt. Tucker was there within a few minutes. On seeing me he said, “You cannot go to the temple.” I told him to pick me up and stand me on my feet, which he did, but I couldn’t stand on my feet. I told him to stand me against the door frame, which he did.

I then directed him to get the team and hitch them to the buggy. The bread being ready, I asked my wife to get into the spring seat and take the lines, for she was a good driver. Then I told Brother Tucker to help me into the seat by my wife for I was determined to go to the temple. We were on our way, our course being one block south, a short distance west, then south toward Mt. Pleasant. As this turn was made to this road directly south toward the temple practically all of the affliction which held me so fast disappeared and I was permitted to continue my journey with perfect ease and comfort. 

In due time we reached the temple where I went directly to the President’s office where I found President and his counselors, Mabin and Thompson (I do not remember which was the President at the time, Wells or McAllister). They listened to my interesting story and said decidedly, “You must go ahead and do the work.”

It was not a regular baptismal day but the font was filled and we gladly went about doing the baptismal work for the Webster Family. When I had been baptized for the last name on my list, Brother Farnsworth, who was directing the baptizing said, “Brother Hjorth, go right on with these other names,” which I did. They numbered about forty and belonged to a man who had been brought in that day to be blessed for his health, he not having walked for thirty years.

Just as I had been confirmed for the last name on this list and was in the act of turning from my chair to go down from the font, I caught sight of a group of people emerging from the dressing room with angelic countenances. They formed a line and filed along the wainscoting in the air. They moved along westward of the south corner of the room, then north and disappeared through a door in the northeast corner of the room.

Whether they represented the Webster group or that of the afflicted man I do not know. However, they signified great satisfaction over the work which had been done. My attention had been entirely on this group of visitors that when I gave myself to leaving the font platform, I found the brethren below becoming impatient for me to hasten down as they wanted to finish mopping the water from the floor. After I had dressed, I hastened to the office and related what I had seen in the font room, to which the Presidency said, “Brother Hjorth, don’t worry, such are frequent transpirings.”

I do not remember this brother’s name but after he had been home from the temple a month, he, knowing where I lived and remembering my name, wrote to me informing me that he was walking all about and doing various kinds of work…milking cows, cutting weeds, etc.

I have often lain awake at night pondering over this sacred work done and how it came about, my trial and triumph in its performance and of how I had wanted to ask of Mr. Webster by what means he so suddenly and yet so naturally presented himself to me when he had held me to interestingly to his mission and had vanished before I could venture the question.

However, the result is a marvelous piece of work accomplished in keeping with the teachings of our great church, and at the behest of one who had passed through the experience of mortality and death, and followed by the approval of many others from the unknown world at the conclusion of our work at the baptismal font. 

Coptic Church in Amman

An account while I was in Jordan in October 2012

                The other night a group of me and a few other BYU students decided to go to a Coptic church. There was a rumor that they were having a service on Thursday night. Fridays are the day for Sabbath day worship so I thought this was a bit odd but I decided to go either way.

I had ever been to a Coptic church before but I have heard much and studied very little about them. As one of my bosses is Coptic, I hear things periodically but she is not a strong Coptic in the sense of actual practice. I also had read much about them in the news regarding Egypt. Often times it is about the Coptic’s events dealing with Muslims in Egypt; most of the time they are not good events. The Coptic religion originates and is mostly found in Egypt.  Regarding the Arab Spring, Christians and Muslims united together to overthrow the Mubarak Regime. There was peace and alliance but just a few weeks prior to the beginning of the Arab Spring there were bombings in Coptic churches to probably incite revolts and a battle for a sense of control. Now, almost 2 years after the fall of Mubarak, Christians and Muslims are back at it with each other. The Coptic Church has many similarities with other churches. It has its own pope, the Coptic language is used during services and they can claim origin to the early apostles of the New Testament.

As we arrived to the Coptic church building I noticed that it was near the brand new, almost multiplex style, mosque. The mosque was beautiful, across the street from it was a large but simple church. The church building stood about 40-50 feet tall with a Christmas light lit up cross on the top of its highest point. We walked around the street trying to find a gate to get into the church grounds. I thought it was odd the church had walls around it but then I realized the mosque across the street had walls and that most of my own church buildings in the in the States had walls. It took a few Muslims who were crossing the street from the mosque to tell us where the gate was to get in. Turned out there was a little slot you can put your hand in to pull the lever to open the door but we didn’t realize this until after we had to call over for a person to open the door for us. This individual that opened the door was fully robed in priest clothes and had salt and pepper colored beard. The beard probably was a foot long and a half foot cap topped his head. He didn’t seem to want to say much to us at this time because he pointed us in the direction where we should go and then went back to sit on his chair. On our way out, we saw him sitting next to a younger male member and seemed to be speaking Coptic to him, almost like bestowing a blessing upon the young man.

As we walked closer to the main door, you could look inside and see lights and even candles lit inside. We were pretty nervous at first, we weren’t sure if we should knock or just open the door. Out of our group I decided to just open the door and walk in. As soon as I opened the door you could feel like you stepped back about 1000 years. The church, though had modern paintings, it was filled with cascade windows and arches. The doors were of the finest large wood carvings I have ever seen. The pews of the church were more modern, you could see scriptures written in Arabic from the New Testament written on the back side. Each pew had its own scripture.  There was about a group of 20 people listening to a man sit in the front dressed in business casual. It seemed all of the others there were dressed in business casual attire, including the women. The women were not veiled and even spoke more openly than I’ve seen Muslim women in social settings. The person giving the sermon we later found out was a visitor from Egypt, we could tell he was from Egypt because of his Egyptian Arabic dialect. It was kind of refreshing to hear it because that was the dialect I was taught in school. I sat down behind the others listening in and I found myself not paying too much attention to the sermon being given but more rather to the art work. It seemed that there were pictures of many of the notable prophets in the bible everywhere they could find a place to paint. Each prophet seemed to look about the same, white beards, old looking (some young), and carrying a scroll (probably scripture). A few had certain key symbols with them, for example, Moses was carrying a staff and two tablets. In the front, there was a pew and a wood wall that didn’t reach the top (the vaulted ceilings were about 40-50 feet high). On this wood wall was a spot for each of the twelve apostles and in the center top was a large wooden statue of Jesus Christ. There also was a miniature statue of Jesus Christ in the center of the priest’s area and then on the left side of the wood wall. Overall, the church was very beautiful with amazing artwork all around.

We were obviously late to the sermon but we weren’t the only ones. Two young Arabs came walking in down one of the aisles between the pews. They walked up where the priest’s area begins and took their sandals off where the step begins. They stepped up and began to cross themselves which I thought was the normal but then they knelt and began to pray similar to how a Muslims prays in the mosque. I was really confused because I thought for a moment that these were Muslims coming to pray in the church, almost to make a point against the Christians but this was not the case at all. After kneeling and putting their heads to ground for a few seconds, they got back up and crossed themselves again. Then they went and kissed both of the smaller statues of Jesus Christ and then each chose a picture of an apostle and kissed that. I think one kissed Paul and the other kissed Thomas. They then went near the entrance and each lit a candle and placed it in the appropriate spot of sand located at just below eye level in a circular tub.

Another member who was observing the sermon then handed us envelopes with the church’s name on the envelope. We of course took them but then after it was handed to us, we noticed that this was for the sake of paying offerings. One of the military guys with us paid five dinar but the rest of us did not.

The sermon was done (finally), it seemed to have lasted a total of two hours, an hour before and after we arrived. After the sermon, each of the members there were so anxious to speak to us! They wanted to ask us where we were from, why we’re in Jordan, and most importantly, to have us over for coffee and tea for next week’s sermon. The fellowship they were lending us reminded me of the type of fellowship we as Latter-day Saints had done. It was quite interesting to see how much they similar to us in this aspect. Coptics are primarily from Egypt so most of the people there were from Egypt but a small hand few were from Armenia. Most Armenians will say they go to the Armenian Church and never anything else so it makes me wonder if these Armenians were going for another reason.

This was my first experience with a Christian church in the Middle East. It was interesting to see another Christian church in a different culture where Christianity isn’t the most practiced religion. The Christians seemed to mix a lot of their practices with the Muslims. The act of prayer that the two young Arab men did at the beginning seemed too similar to what a Muslim would do when he first enters a mosque and begins to pray. Christianity was fairly established in the Holy Land when Islam came around and I wonder if maybe Islam took similar practices from Christianity. The idea of respect for the sacred area seems to be universal between the two religions. It also seemed that being a Christian, no matter what sect you were, was just as good as any other sect.