Congratulations, graduates! It is an honor and a blessing to celebrate with you tonight. The world desperately needs you. That may not be immediately obvious, as measured by your current job offers. But with your best efforts and in heaven’s due time, you will find a place in which you can fulfill President Henry B. Eyring’s prophecy of becoming a “natural leader.”
You will receive heaven’s help, not only because of your divine heritage but also because the Savior needs you to bring your spiritual brothers and sisters home to Him and His Father. To play that eternally significant role, you must have an unshakable testimony of His restored Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Your BYU-Idaho experiences have likely strengthened that testimony. But the world will challenge your conviction of the most vital truths. Some antagonists will tempt you to doubt the wisdom of the Church and its leaders. Foremost among the targets will be Joseph Smith, the great Prophet of the Restoration.
Today, as never before, we see the fulfillment of Moroni’s prophecy that Joseph’s name would be had for both good and evil among all people.[1] To represent the Savior and His Church effectively in this time, we must be unhesitating in our testimony that Joseph was indeed God’s chosen prophet of this, the last dispensation.
Gaining such a sure testimony requires us to open our hearts to receive the ministration of the Spirit, just as Joseph did. In the most recent general conference, President Henry B. Eyring said this of the Prophet:
[Joseph] began and continued his ministry with the decision that his own wisdom was not sufficient to know what course he should pursue. He chose to be humble before God.
Next, Joseph chose to ask of God. He prayed in faith that God would answer. The answer came when he was a young boy. Those messages came when he needed to know how God would have His Church established. The Holy Ghost comforted and guided him throughout his life.
He obeyed inspiration when it was difficult. For instance, he received direction to send the Twelve to England when he needed them most. He sent them.
He accepted correction and comfort from the Spirit when he was imprisoned and the Saints were terribly oppressed. And he obeyed when he went down the road to Carthage even as he knew he faced mortal danger.[2]
We know that Joseph stumbled at times, both in his personal life and in his sacred assignments. We know that he received divine censure and that the work sometimes stalled because of his mistakes. Yet we know these things because he published the stories to the entire world.[3]
From the beginning, the adversary attempted to discredit Joseph for small foibles and actions and through rumors and trivial personal details. But it is for the big things that we should measure, admire, and trust Joseph. I am grateful for this testimony of my paternal grandfather, a scientist. He said:
I am a convinced member of this great Church which the Prophet Joseph Smith had the privilege of restoring in 1830 because of the grand ideas that he brought into the world: (1) that we lived before we came here; (2) that we progress eternally; (3) that if we live as the Savior lived, we preach a greater sermon than anything we can say.
Joseph Smith replaced the narrowness of the sectarian ideas of his day with the idea of a broad education and set an example of reaching out as far as he could into all kinds of questions. He gathered around him [people] who were outstanding. Prominent among them were the Smiths, the Pratts, the Youngs, the Richardses. I think of these great [people] who were with the Prophet daily, particularly men like Orson Pratt with his acute scientific mind, and I think that in a certain sense I have walked down the streets of Nauvoo because people who think as I do did just that. They were impressed, and they came away feeling that it was really the Lord’s work. There was something to his message; it was really true; the Lord had spoken to Joseph as He did to Paul long ago. For these reasons, I feel that the Gospel is more important than anything else a [person] can have.
May the Lord bless us to appreciate the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the wonderful message that he brought to us with the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. May we live and understand it in a big way and not worry about the small things that we do not understand very well, because they will become clearer as we go on. May we have the faith, as I have, that this Gospel has only begun to grow. The things we believe are only a part of the things that are yet to be revealed, and if we do our part, our position is sure. We will indeed be exalted in the celestial kingdom and have the blessings which the Lord has promised for the faithful.[4]
May you and I be blessed in taking a “big” view of the Prophet Joseph’s work. I testify that he was chosen by Heavenly Father and instructed by the Savior and other resurrected beings. The Holy Ghost, who inspired Joseph as a translator and prophet, can confirm these truths to each of us, personally. May we qualify for that blessing and thus confidently bear testimony of the Prophet and the Church he restored.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
[1] See Joseph Smith—History 1:33.
[2] Eyring, Henry B., “His Spirit to Be with You,” Ensign, May 2018.
[3] See Joseph Smith—History 1:28; Doctrine and Covenants 3:5-15.
[4] Eyring, Henry J., Mormon Scientist, The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring (2007), 136-137.