Our Father in Heaven is fixated upon one primary, ultimate, supreme goal.  All of His great love and wisdom is concentrated upon doing all in His power, short of force, to return us, His children, to Him.  He says, "This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  (Moses 1:39).  In our quest to find Him, and learn to implicitly follow and obey Him, He has given us helps, which if properly utilized, cannot help but safely lead us home to His presence.

The first help He has given is prayer.  He is not a busy executive who is inaccessible to the common folk under Him.  He is our Father, yearning to hear from us, His children.  He wants us to talk directly to Him.  He is never "out" or too busy to listen.  When we call, we will never get a busy signal.  He is always available.  We may think that He is far away and even unknowable, but He is very near and already known of us.  President Ezra Taft Benson described it this way:  "Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us."  (Ensign, May 1991, pg. 66).

Our Father, who was formerly so familiar to us, has given a promise repeated over and over in the scriptures.  I doubt that any gospel concept is repeated so many times in holy writ.  I'm sure, therefore, that when the Lord says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," (Matt. 7:7) He means it.

The second help our Father has given to guide us back to Him is the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost is most often the medium through which our prayers are answered.  The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead, and is given to faithful members of the Church to be a constant companion.  Think of it! —A member of the Godhead constantly with us to personally guide us, to warn us, to instruct us, to comfort us, to testify to us, and to give us answers to our prayers, problems, and predicaments.  That thought is almost overpowering.  It tells us how important we are as individuals, and how much our Father loves us.

The third help our Father gave us was his sinless son, who, because of His flawless character and His all-encompassing love, was able to accomplish an infinite atonement which would enable the rest of Father's sinful children to return to Him.  Without that Atonement not one other of Father's children would ever again be able to be in that holy, pure Presence.  We would be eternally shut off from the Source of light.  Eternal darkness and anguish would be the reward for our unwise acts here on earth.

A realization of what our Savior has done for us is another overpowering thought.  Because of the opportunity Jesus Christ has given me to repent and be clean like Him, I can look forward with happy anticipation to the day when, through my faithfulness, I can once again stand in the Father's presence.

The fourth help Father has given us is prophets.  These are men to whom the Lord speaks personally, and through His spirit, and to whom He appears when circumstances warrant it.  These are men who were specially prepared and set apart, and who have surrendered their lives and their wills to the Lord.  These are men who are willing to go where the Lord wants them to go, say what He wants them to say, and to suffer whatever their fellow men see fit to persecute them with.  Their numbers are not limited to just Moses, Isaiah, Elijah, Joseph Smith and other well-known names.  Their ranks include literally thousands of men—mostly unnamed—sent to call mankind to repentance.  Note just a few verses from the book of Ether:

"…in the reign of Shule there came prophets among the people, who were sent from the Lord…" (Ether 7:23).

"And there came prophets in the land again (in the reign of Heth), crying repentance unto them…" (Ether 9:28).

"And there came also in the days of Com many prophets, and prophesied of the destruction of that great people except they should repent and turn unto the Lord…" (Ether 11:1).

"And it came to pass that in the days of Ethem there came many prophets, and prophesied again unto the people…" (Ether 11:12).

"And in the days of Coriantor there came also many prophets, and prophesied of many great and marvelous things, and cried repentance unto the people…" (Ether 11:20).

Throughout history the Lord has sent so many prophets to cry repentance to so many groups and tribes and civilizations that I doubt there will be many people who will be able to claim at the day of judgment that they weren't told.  Most prophets probably weren't like John, who was "the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness."  (Isa. 40:3).  Their voices were open, and well known.  Even John's lone voice from the wilderness was enough that "Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan" went out to him.  (Matt. 3:5).

Enoch's was a lone voice, too, but he "went forth in the land, among the people, standing upon the hills and the high places, and cried with a loud voice, testifying against their works; and all men were offended because of him.

"And they came forth to hear him, upon the high places, saying unto the tent-keepers:  Tarry ye here and keep the tents, while we go yonder to behold the seer, for he prophesieth, and there is a strange thing in the land; a wild man hath come among us."  (Moses 6:37, 38).

Today we sustain 15 men as prophets, seers, and revelators.  Their words are carried throughout the world by radio, TV, Internet, publications and an army of over 50,000 missionaries whose own voices are those of prophets crying repentance unto the people.

Which brings us to the fifth help which the Father has placed before us in His efforts to return us to Him—the scriptures.  The scriptures are the writings—the journals, if you will—of the prophets.  We have the writings of only a few of the prophets.  Many may not have written.  The writings of others may not have survived.  The writings of others are being held back, and are yet to come forth; such as the writings of Joseph, the son of Jacob; most of Mormon's writings and abridgements; many prophets like Zenos, Zenock, and Neum whose writings are on the Brass Plates; and the writings of John the Baptist, to name a few.

There are hints throughout the scriptures and Church history of other prophets whose stories we wish we knew and whose writings we wish we had.  For instance, who was Elias, and why was he so important that he was one of the four to appear to Joseph and Oliver in the Kirtland Temple to commit keys to the living prophet?  (D&C 110:12).  Who was "Aminadi who interpreted the writing which was upon the wall of the temple, which was written by the finger of God?"  (Alma 10:2).  What was the writing, and the story behind it?  Who was "the great prophet Onandaigus" under whom the white Lamanite warrior, Zelph, served?  (Documentary History of the Church 2:79).

We'll have to wait for many of these things, but so much has been given us that there is sufficient to return us to the Father if we'll study and heed that which we have.  There is also sufficient to leave us without excuse if we choose to ignore what we have.

Not only do I have 2476 pages of canonized scripture in my Standard Works (Bible 1590 pages, Book of Mormon 531, D&C 294, and P of G P 61), but I also have 24 inches of shelf space filled with over 40 years of general conference reports—the best, and most current scriptures that we have.

With all of these helps—prayer, the Holy Ghost, the Savior and His atonement, prophets, and the scriptures, (not to mention general conference, the priesthood, bishops, advisors, auxiliaries, classes, teachers, home teachers, visiting teachers, patriarchs, patriarchal blessings, commandments, covenants, ordinances, and temples)—how can I, or anyone, go wrong?  The only way we can go wrong and fail to return to the Father is by turning our backs upon the helps so generously and plentifully given.  "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."  (Isa. 9:12, 17, 21 and many other verses).  "For, behold, I will gather them as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if they will not harden their hearts; yea if they will come, they may, and partake of the waters of life freely."  (D&C 10:65, 66).

25 October 2009