Final
Testimonies
Recently two
Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died, Elder L. Tom
Perry and President Boyd K. Packer. I have read and listened to their final
conference addresses from the April 2015 General Conference several times.
Their final testimonies were powerful witnesses of Jesus Christ and the
importance of the family. I will get to their comments later. I have wondered what
I would say to my family and friends if I knew I was about to leave this mortal
life and go home to my Heavenly Father. I went to the scriptures to read some of
the last words of the prophets as well as the final teachings of Jesus Christ
before he was taken and tried and crucified.
Nephi, the first
who wrote in the Book of Mormon had this to say to us:
But I, Nephi, have written what I have
written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually
for them by day, and mine eyes water
my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know
that he will hear my cry.
And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all
ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in
Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in
Christ ye will believe in these words, for
they are the words of
Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all
men that they should do good.
And if they are not the words of Christ, judge
ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and
great glory, that
they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face
before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write
these things, notwithstanding my weakness.
And I pray the Father in the name of Christ
that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at
that great and last day. (2 Nephi 33:3,
10-12)
Again from the
Book of Mormon, this time Moroni the last prophet:
I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.
Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye
shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and
love God with all your might, mind and strength,
then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye
are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
And again, if ye by the grace of God are
perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through
the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the
Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot. (Moroni 10:30,
32-33)
The Apostle Paul
writing to Timothy and testified to him:
I charge thee therefore
before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the
quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
Preach the
word; be instant in
season, out of season; reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
For I am
now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing. (2 Timothy 4:1,
6-8)
The Lord Jesus
Christ as he ate the Passover meal with his Disciples he taught them who he was
and prayed to the Father for them. This was his final testimony to them:
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine
own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I pray for them: I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me;
for they are thine.
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me.
And the glory which thou gavest me I have
given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (John 17:3, 9, 20-22)
One of the most powerful final testimonies
from the modern day Apostles was from Bruce R. McConkie given just two weeks
prior to his death in 1985. He spoke of the purifying power of Gethsemane. He
testified:
I feel,
and the Spirit seems to accord, that the most important doctrine I can declare,
and the most powerful testimony I can bear, is of the atoning sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
His
atonement is the most transcendent event that ever has or ever will occur from
Creation’s dawn through all the ages of a never-ending eternity.
It is the
supreme act of goodness and grace that only a god could perform. Through it,
all of the terms and conditions of the Father’s eternal plan of salvation
became operative.
And now,
as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood
of God—I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as
pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and
was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King.
This I know of myself independent of any other person.
I am one
of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands
and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
But I
shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son,
that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his
atoning blood and in no other way. (“The
Purifying Power of Gethsemane”, Bruce R. McConkie, General Conference,
April 1985)
Elder L. Tom Perry’s final testimony was given
on Saturday, April 4th, 2015. He died on May 30th, 2015. In
his final conference address, he spoke of the importance of families. He along
with other general authorities from the LDS Church attended a colloquium on
marriage and family at the Vatican in Rome. He commented that all of the major
religions were their speaking on the family and the importance of marriage and
children. Elder Perry testified:
My
brothers and sisters, the restored gospel centers on marriage and family. It is
also on marriage and family where we can unite most with other faiths. It is
around marriage and family where we will find our greatest commonality with the
rest of the world. It is around marriage and family that The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints has the greatest opportunity to be a light on the
hill.
Let me
close by bearing witness (and my nine decades on this earth fully qualify me to
say this) that the older I get, the more I realize that family is the center of
life and is the key to eternal happiness.
I give
thanks for my wife, for my children, for my grandchildren and my
great-grandchildren, and for all of the cousins and in-laws and extended family
who make my own life so rich and, yes, even eternal. Of this eternal truth I
bear my strongest and most sacred witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. (“Why
Marriage and Family Matter – Everywhere in the World”, L. Tom Perry,
General Conference, April 2015)
Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of
Twelve Apostles, also gave his final address to the church during the April 2015
General Conference. He died on July 3, 2015. He too spoke of the importance of
families and the sacred ordinance of temple marriages. His final words included:
Sister
Donna Smith Packer and I have been side by side in marriage for nearly 70
years. When it comes to my wife, the mother of our children, I am without
words. The feeling is so deep and the gratitude so
powerful that I am left almost without expression. The greatest reward we have
received in this life, and the life to come, is our children and our
grandchildren. Toward the end of our mortal days together, I am grateful for
each moment I am with her side by side and for the promise the Lord has given
that there will be no end.
I bear
witness that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God. He stands at
the head of the Church. Through His Atonement and the power of the priesthood,
families which are begun in mortality can be together through the eternities.
The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means
that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something
happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He
atoned, that settled that. There are so many of us who are thrashing around, as
it were, with feelings of guilt, not knowing quite how to escape. You escape by
accepting the Atonement of Christ, and all that was heartache can turn to
beauty and love and eternity. (“The
Plan of Happiness”, President Boyd K Packer, General Conference, April 2015)
I don’t know all that I would say if I knew it
would be the last testimony I was to give, but I do know that it would include
my witness that I know Jesus is The Christ, that we have a loving Heavenly
Father, that through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be cleansed from all
our sins and be able to return to live with God and Christ and our families for
eternity. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the
restored Church and that Christ is the Head of the Church, I know God has
called and speaks to prophets today as he did anciently. I know the Book of
Mormon is a second witness of Jesus Christ along with the Bible.
I would tell my children and grandchildren to
love God and keep his commandments, and that families are the most important
thing they have. Material possessions will not matter, spend time serving
others and you will have the type of wealth that will bring the Lord’s blessing
to us always.
What would you leave as your final testimony?
Your comments are welcome.
