One of my favorite Christmas hymns is, “I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day.” Based on the poem, “Christmas Bells,” by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the hymn confronts the pains of living in mortality and facing evil directly as well as the means by which we triumph over evil. The story behind the hymn only enhances its message and helps us to understand the powerful of Hope and Faith in our every day lives.
Category: Jesus Christ
The Constitution: No Friend of the Latter-day Saints
Recently, I was asked to give a talk in church about the ways that the Constitution aided in the Restoration. Though greatly expanded with additional quotes and pictures, this article is fundamentally the talk that I gave. By examining the breadth of early LDS history (form 1830 to roughly 1890), I provided evidence and argument that the Constitution of the United States did nothing to help the Restoration and that it was always on the side of those who brutalized, oppressed, and killed us. The reason the Restoration occurred, and has continued, was the power of Jesus Christ to protect the Saints from annihilation. No law of man gave us any aid. It was God alone who preserved and prospered us against all odds and it is He alone that continues to do so now.
What It Means To Be Like Jesus
We talk about being Christ-like all the time. Our hymns repeat the refrain and our children sing about how they are “trying to be like Jesus.” But what does that mean? What was Jesus like as a person? And how could we hope to emulate Him? The question may seem impossible to answer and we may feel despondent under the weight of it. We can know Jesus Christ and we can fulfill His commandment to become like Him. This lost LDS Classic explores what character is, what Christ’s character is, and how we can manifest His character in our thoughts, words, and deeds today. This is how we can possibly, happily, joyfully be like Christ!