Last evening at institute I asked the Young Single Adults if they had found any of the “great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures” that are promised in the Word of Wisdom.  (D&C 89:19).  They looked at me blankly.

I then looked directly at a young man who grew up in the Church, distanced himself from it for a time in his youth, and who has now decided to make a comeback.  I said to him, “Do you realize that you know more about true religion than the pope?”  He looked shocked.

The statement is true.  The pope and the cardinals and every Protestant minister and every Muslim mullah are in doubt about who God is.  They don’t know for sure whether He is an exalted man, or a power, or a force, or a spirit, or an influence that permeates the universe, or a cloud, or if He really, truly exists.  They don’t know if the Father and the Son are one being, or two, or not a being at all.  Many believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected, but in the next breath will tell you that God is a spirit, and not confined to a body.  There is great confusion as to who or what God is.

Yet every LDS Primary child can tell you that the Father and the Son are two, separate, glorified men with bodies just like ours.  We know this because Joseph Smith saw them and conversed with them.  This is a hidden treasure of knowledge.  This is knowledge that is available to every person, but only the faithful and believing can find it out.

The pope knows nothing about repentance and how to achieve forgiveness of sins.  He understands nothing about the proper mode of baptism and about the authorized authority to perform it.  He thinks he has apostolic authority, but understands nothing about God’s Priesthood.

Protestant ministers think that they have authority because a school of divinity has conferred it upon them, but what they really were given was a license to practice priestcraft.

No one but Latter-day Saints has any idea what the gift of the Holy Ghost is.  That’s lost knowledge.  They don’t know that they can have a member of the Godhead with them on a constant basis.

Who but Latter-day Saints understands that marriage and families are intended to be forever?  Clear-thinking people hope for that, but haven’t a clue how to make it happen.

Latter-day Saints have known since 1831 that there are “worlds without number” in the universe (Moses 1:33), and that they are peopled with beings who look just like us.  Scientists have wondered for centuries if there could possibly be other planets like ours.  It has only been in the past 10-20 years that technology and telescopes have been able to begin to discover these other worlds.

Last week I read that scientists have now identified over 4,600 planets.  They are now actively wondering if there could be life on any of them.  Every Latter-day Saint can readily answer that question, and can even tell you what that life looks like.

Since 1830 Latter-day Saints who read their Books of Mormon have been able to tell you about two great, ancient civilizations that inhabited the American continent.  These were civilizations that were more advanced than their contemporaries in Mesopotamia or Rome.  We know that because the Lord said so.  It wasn’t until the 1890s that archeologists began to become aware of them.  They still don’t know as much about them as any student of the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon itself is a hidden treasure of knowledge, but it’s a closed book to the unbelieving.  Little do its detractors realize that there will yet be other books of scripture and religious histories forthcoming.  These will contain other treasures of hidden knowledge that those who scoff will never be able to gain.

A knowledge of the hereafter, of death, of the Spirit World, of resurrection, of the degrees of glory, of the Celestial Kingdom, of the destiny of the earth, of our own potentials, and of our eternal relationship with God are all “great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures” that are available to every living soul.

I am so grateful to possess them.  I am excited about life.  I am excited to learn new things.  I am excited to share my knowledge.  I am unbelievably blessed.

Why have I been so fortunate?

I am grateful beyond words for a Savior who laid down His life for me and opened these things to my view.  I love Him.  I want to serve Him, and hope to be with Him.  I thank Him for my understanding of these hidden treasures of knowledge that are hidden no more.