"If you believe in others and give them a positive reputation to uphold, you can help them to become better than they think they are"
--- John C. Maxwell (Author, speaker, & pastor; 1947 - Present)
Change is natural law. It is inherent to existence. The real trick is to point it in the direction opposite of entropy. Jesus Christ came to do just that. To reverse death itself. The gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change for the better. It can change the heart. It can heal the broken. It taps into our divine potential. To believe in somebody is to see them as Heavenly Father sees us.
**NOTE: If you wish to get in contact with missionaries of the Church to learn more, you can do so at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/requests/missionary-visit
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See others as they may become -- That’s what M.M. and G.M. taught me. The M. family stands out in my memory stronger than most. Elders Rangel and Urias were initially teaching them; as a matter of fact, Elder Rangel first contacted them prior to being companions with Elder Urias. Elder Rangel and Elder Rincón (Reen-cone) were passing by their house one day while they were gathering their drying laundry when it started to rain. They seized the opportunity to help collect the clothes, take shelter under their roof, and talk about the restoration of the church. (See "Apostasy and Restoration")
Elders Rangel and Rincón asked them if they’d heard about the apostasy. They said yes. They asked if they had heard anything about Joseph Smith. They had. They inquired about the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. They knew about that too. And yet they were not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
THE COMMUNITY OF CHRIST
How could this be, you may ask, that they already knew so much about our religion? Remember the apostasy? There was a falling away from the true church that Jesus Christ established during His ministry (See "Christ's Ministry" and "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism") but few realize that this division happened more than once; it’s no secret but just something that is overlooked. For example, there were many times in the Bible (particularly the Old Testament) when over the course of time, the people turn prideful and begin practicing corrupt acts deviating from what the prophets counseled. God ends each apostasy by calling a prophet to correct and lead the people anew (See "Prophets and Callings"). The period between these prophets and apostasy is called “dispensation”. The restoration of truth is the start of a new dispensation. Because the apostasy following Christ’s church lasted so long, it is referred to as the “Great Apostasy”. We are in the last dispensation which is why we may refer to ourselves as “Latter-day Saints” (See "The Return of the King -- Part 2"). This dispensation was ushered in through Joseph Smith (See "Joseph Smith: A Name Had For Good and Evil"). Being in the last dispensation of the fullness of times means that there will never again be a great apostasy of the church; the priesthood is here to stay and so are the prophets. We continue learning all the time, the restoration is ongoing, we do not know all things as of yet. But even though the kingdom of God on earth will never again be lost, there have been some who have come in and then decided to go another way.
Joseph Smith was murdered by an armed mob with painted faces in Carthage Jail in Illinois in 1844 at the age of 39. After that, there was some debate among the remaining church members on what to do and how to carry on. Most of the church members followed Brigham Young across the nation to settle what would eventually become the state of Utah. Some apostatized from the church forming branches and adulterating doctrine again. One of these divisions is “The Community of Christ”, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or RLDS church from 1872 until 2001 which believes Joseph Smith was a prophet, but of course, has had distinct leadership thereafter and disconnection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You could say that both churches are friendly cousins but distinct and separate organizations. Good individuals, I have no doubt, and friends, but apart from us in terms of a religious organization.
With this being said, there are differences between the Community of Christ Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I’ll only give a little insight here to give you the gist. There are approximately 250,000 members of the Community of Christ in 59 nations; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 2022 has over 16 million members (about 64 times as many members) in more than 160 countries. According to their website, "From its headquarters in Independence, Missouri, the [Community of Christ] offers a focus on evangelism, peace and justice ministries, spirituality and wholeness, youth ministries and outreach ministries." All good things. The Community of Christ claims prophetic succession through Joseph Smith’s oldest son, Joseph Smith III; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints claims prophetic succession through the Senior Apostle, who was Brigham Young. Besides differences in leadership, the Community of Christ also went through many practice and doctrinal changes since 1860 (when the church was reorganized) and exponentially more after the 1960s; namely the appointing of a new church president who was not a direct descendant of Joseph Smith. Such changes led to even more controversy and dissent in the formation of another (albeit sparse) church in 1994 called the "Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints".
Now, let's get back to the topic of the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. At the 2007 Community of Christ World Conference, the church's president Stephen M. Veazey stated that "while the Church affirms the Book of Mormon as scripture and makes it available for study and use in various languages, we do not attempt to mandate the degree of belief or use”.
M.M and G.M could attest to the fact that while the Community of Christ also has the Book of Mormon, it was not a major focus nor interest. This still blows my mind how one of the key elements of the Restoration and sources of doctrinal clarity, physical evidence of a living prophet in our day and incredibly powerful testament of Christ could so casually be put aside and taught as "optional", especially by a religious organization that claims prophetic succession from the prophet who miraculously translated the original ancient record as its location was revealed by an angel. How then are they different from any other Christian denomination is beyond me.
Elder Rangel and Elder Rincón were surprised to discover M.M and G.M were members of the Community of Christ church. I don’t know the details as to how they proceeded from that point but they started coming to church with all of us on Sundays. Like most visitors among strangers, they chose mainly to keep to themselves and spoke relatively little at first. I thought they looked angry when I first saw them because of the stern expressions on their faces and rigid posture but I was wrong. Man, was I wrong! I judged unjustly. None of us should ever be quick to judge a book by its cover.
SEE OTHERS AS THEY MAY BECOME
In President Thomas S. Monson’s General Conference address entitled “See Others as they may Become” in 2012, he makes mention of a correctional officer for troubled youth named Warren Duffy who was notorious for his success in helping youth turn their lives around. In an interview, one critic asked Duffy:
“Don’t you know that leopards can’t change their spots?” to which he replied, “You should know I don’t work with leopards. I work with men. And men change every day”.
Therein lies the truth. I testify that anybody can change. If not from bad to good, then definitely from good to better. Repentance is for all of us. May I refer you back to the post, "More than good". Every person on earth, as a child of God, has literal divine potential. God's purpose is to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life, which is to live as He does and be like He is (See "Eternal Life: As God Is"). We might not see it now, but even the tallest Redwood tree started as a seed.
When Elder Rangel left the area, and I was reassigned to train Elder Chavarria, we continued M.M and G.M’s lessons (See "Trainee to Trainer"). They seemed quiet at first but still very kind. I’m sure that our half-gringo half-greenie duo was not the most entertaining pair but we progressed and quickly became good friends with them. We used the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ as much as we could in the lessons. We taught principles from it and explained the role of faith and prayer to know if the book was true. It was interesting considering that they also "had" the Book of Mormon in their church but they never read it. As they started reading the Book of Mormon and praying with real intent (See "Turn the Other Cheek"), they felt a tugging at their heart and a wave of peace come into their lives. It was then that they knew that the Holy Ghost was testifying that it was true (See "A Still, Small Voice"). We set a baptismal date for M.M. I got to baptize her (See "Baptism by Immersion" and "Who Baptizes?") and Elder Chavarria confirmed her a member of the Church (Ver "La Confirmación") on Friday, April 3, 2015, the day before General Conference.
Now G.M, her daughter, on the other hand, was different. G.M was about sixteen years old. She seemed less than happy to see us on most occasions and she didn’t enjoy talking very much, at least not to us. It was probably typical of a teenage girl like her. When she spoke, it was only about five words at a time. She always looked so sad for some reason. She said that she didn’t want to be baptized despite confessing to us that she knew it was true. We spent many visits trying to get to the core of her concern but her mother ultimately told us that she was afraid of the water. No matter the techniques we used, nothing worked. We showed her the baptismal font (See "Our Baptismal Font") and explained how the water only reaches the waist and how the actual baptizing only lasts like a minute and a split second actually immersed in the water. She confessed multiple times that she knew the church was true but we were at a roadblock. That is until a miracle happened...
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