In our pre-mortal existence, we learned of our Heavenly Father’s plan for us to gain a body, progress, and gain immortality and eternal life. We knew that on earth we would live outside God’s presence and would need to live by faith. The scriptures say that we ‘shouted for joy for this opportunity (Job 38:7). As we would certainly sin and as no unclean thing can inherit God’s kingdom we would need a Savior to atone for our sins. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son”, and His Son loved us so that He agreed to come to earth and be the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind (John 3:16). We needed to exercise faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, and choose to be baptized by one having authority, follow Jesus, and to keep his commandments. The journey of mortality is be difficult. We would have agency to obey or not, to repent or not. To help us, God gives every person the Light of Christ which points us to do right and to avoid sin. And He also gives us the Gift of the Holy Ghost. This gift helps us to choose the right, feel peace in righteous actions, and feel close to God while exercising faith in Him. God allows us to pray directly to Him; we can accept chosen prophets, and we can accept and live by his covenants.
The phrase “Hold to the Rod,” refers to the visions of Lehi and Nephi as recorded in 1 Nephi of the Book of Mormon. Perhaps I could briefly recount some parts of the vision. When I think of this vision, I often close my eyes. As I picture the images as vividly as I can, it helps me feel the message of the vision.
In the vision Lehi sees himself being led through a dark and dreary waste. After many hours he prays for relief. He sees the most beautiful tree; when he eats the tree’s fruit he feels exceedingly great joy. Nothing is as sweet as the fruit of that tree! He wants his entire family to partake of the fruit. Lehi notices a straight and narrow path that people can follow that leads directly to the tree.
There are people on the path moving toward the tree. However, there are major obstacles which stop people from partaking of the fruit. One is a great and spacious building, high in the air but with no foundation, with well-dressed people inside pointing fingers, scoffing at the people on the narrow path. This building represents the pride of the world. Some of the people on the narrow path pay attention to the proud, mocking people and become ashamed. They choose to leave the strait and narrow path and move to the great and spacious building. Some people even get all the way to the tree, partake of the love of God, then heed the scoffing and mocking, feel ashamed, fall away, and are lost.
Another major obstacle is that often the narrow path is clouded over by mists of darkness. I have often thought of the mists of darkness as a deep fog. I have been in a deep fog a few times. Basically I could not see anything except a very few feet in front of me. Driving a car or even walking in a deep fog can be extremely scary. However, sometimes I think that the mists on the path can be even darker than a fog. Have you ever been deep inside a cave? I have taken tours through several caves; inside it is completely dark. My eyes could never adjust and I could never see anything at all, even two inches in front of my eyes. I imagine that sometimes the mists of darkness are that dark. The mists represent the temptations of the devil. And when travelers are overcome by the mists and leave the strait and narrow path, they can get lost on broad roads or even fall in the river of filthy water, which represents the depths of hell.
Thankfully, God placed a great aid to help us stay on the path, persevere through the mists of darkness, overcome the taunts coming from the great and spacious building, and make it all the way to the tree of life. It is a rod of iron, which is always there, every step, every inch of the path. It is constant and can be totally depended on to get us to the tree. Every single one of us can reach the tree if we will just faithfully hold on to the rod, never letting go, as we move along the path to the tree.
Now, Nephi tells us what the rod of iron is: it is the word of God. If we will hold to the word of God, we will be safe and we will reach the tree.
Now through most of my life, when I have imagined holding on to the iron rod, I have seen myself walking something like this: holding a rod, letting go, and grabbing again as I walk. Recently, I have changed my view. In the world of today, the mists of darkness are just too dark and are just too powerful. In fact, the title of my talk is a little misleading. Nephi did not simply say ‘hold to the rod.’ He said “Hold fast unto it” or cling unto it. To me, “holding fast” means something like this: walking, grasping, and never letting go, and I move along the rod. If we hold fast to the rod, never letting go, even for an instant, no matter how dark the mists are, we will never stray. And no matter how vicious the taunts and belittling come from the great and spacious building, if we “heed them not” we will never stray.
On April 1, 1946, an 8+ earthquake off the cost of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska caused a great tsunami. The tsunami travelled almost 500 miles an hour, reaching Hawaii in less than five hours. Waves up to 50 feet in height hit the Big Island coast before 7 in the morning. 159 people were killed in Hawaii that day. President Spencer W. Kimball, in a General Conference talk, described that in Hilo, a husband and wife saw the tsunami just in time to grab their baby and run to high land. But two other daughters were too far away playing among a clump of trees. Those daughters saw the wave, held on to the trunks of those trees for dear life, and held their breaths until the wave passed by and their heads were again above water. Then they ran up the hill to safety. Brothers and sisters, when I imagine those girls clinging to the trees, that’s what I imagine Nephi meant by “hold fast” to the iron rod. Today, we need to cling with all of our might, hold fast, because the temptations of the devil, the mists of darkness are just too great. They are like a great tsunami.
Now the iron rod is the word of God. What is the word of God? Certainly it includes the words of his prophets, both ancient and living, especially the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith said: “that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book” (History of the Church 4:461).
President Ezra Taft Benson said, “There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path” (General Conference, October 1986). We can see by the words of President Benson that the Book of Mormon overcomes the mists of darkness. The Book of Mormon and the words of our prophets are the word of God. How strong are the mists of darkness in your life? Do you want the power to resist temptation and overcome deception? Then read the Book of Mormon. Study the Book of Mormon. One of my church leaders has counseled me that I should study the gospel, including Book of Mormon an hour each day. Can you imagine the strong grasp of the iron rod we will have if we do that!
Those of you who daily spend significant amounts of time prayerfully studying the Book of Mormon can bear personal testimony of the spiritual strength it brings and increase of testimony that comes. If you are feeling spiritually distant from Heavenly Father, overwhelmed with temptations, or discouraged, or even if you are not, I recommend that you follow President Benson’s counsel and seriously study the Book of Mormon as a lifetime pursuit. It overcomes the mists of darkness.
One time my wife Donnette and I were trying to deal with a challenge in our family. It seemed overwhelming and we did not know what to do. We decided to follow some counsel we had received. We found a time when we were not in a hurry. We found a place that was quiet. We knelt and both of us shared a prayer. We then picked a chapter of the Book of Mormon and took turns reading out loud. We did not hurry. As we read, we would stop whenever we felt promptings and wrote them down. My list was very long. So was my wife’s. For the most part the thoughts did not directly relate to the words we were reading. But they did come from the Spirit as we were prepared to receive them. We then shared our impressions with each other. We both felt at peace. We knew our promptings came from God, we knew what to do, and we went forward with faith.
There are so many blessings that come from reading the Book of Mormon. One time in my life I was encompassed with fears of what other people thought of me. In a way, you could say I was heeding the voices coming from the great and spacious building. One day I read the following in the Book of Mormon: “Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness. Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah, she that bare you; for I called him alone, and blessed him” (2 Nephi 8:1-2). I thought to myself, ‘That’s me; I’m trying to follow righteousness. I am part of the Abrahamic covenant. Now what is it going to tell me to do?’
Then I read some more: “Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart I have written my law, fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool” (2 Nephi 8:7-8). I thought: ‘What am I afraid of? If a moth or a worm can eat them up; what is there to fear from them?’ Then it reads: “But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation” (2 Nephi 8:8). I thought, ‘I know what to do. I will trust in the Lord. I will fear no more.’
From the title page of the Book of Mormon we can read that one of the purposes of the Book of Mormon is “to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord.” The House of Israel – we are part of that. One of the major themes of the Book of Mormon is covenants: making and keeping covenants. That’s what the people at King Benjamin’s time did. You may recall that the people gathered together to hear King Benjamin’s address. As they listened to him it says, “And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days” (Mosiah 5:2,5).
There are many other examples in the Book of Mormon of people making covenants with the Lord. Some of them are at the Waters of Mormon the people with Alma the Elder covenanted to “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places ” (Mosiah 18:9). The people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi covenanted that they would never again take up arms against anyone ever again (Alma 24:18). The people with Captain Moroni covenanted that they would not forsake the Lord, that they would maintain their rights and religion with which the Lord may bless them (Alma 46: 20-21). And when facing possible death and death of their protectors, and the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi hesitated and considered taking up arms, Helaman persuaded not to break their covenants. Instead their sons, the stripling warriors, covenanted that they would fight to protect their liberty and their lands (Alma 53:15-16).
In the Church we are a covenant-making people. We are part of the Abrahamic covenant. We make covenants when we are baptized, when brethren receive the Priesthood, and when we go to the temple. And every week we have the opportunity to renew our covenants when we take the Sacrament. That is why Sacrament meeting is such a special meeting. The world preaches “eat, drink, and be merry,” but we seek to be faithful to our covenants. There is strength and protection in covenants. God makes the covenants. We do not change them; we make them with him. We seek to keep them. God established covenants to bless and protect us, not bind us. God keeps his covenants. He says in D&C 82:10, “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say, but when you do not what I say; ye have no promise.” When we keep our covenants he follows through and blesses us. It’s amazing really that his covenants are really invitations to receive blessings.
When we keep our covenants we are blessed with the strength to overcome temptation. And when we remember our covenants it is easier for us to follow God and not get caught up in the pride of the great and spacious building. Keeping covenants is like holding fast to the rod of iron on the strait and narrow path.
We can remember our covenants every day. For example, today, Tuesday, we can think about the covenants we made last time we partook of the sacrament. Today, am I still willing to take Christ’s name upon me? That’s holding on to the rod. Today, am I remembering him? That’s holding onto the rod. Today, am I keeping his commandments? That is too. I believe that as we keep and remember our covenants we receive great power in our lives.
When one of our sons was very young, beginning before he turned one year old, he became very fascinated with the sacrament. At church, he would raise himself up and look around for anything that had to do with the Sacrament. He watched the deacons as they walked with the Sacrament trays throughout the chapel. He would watch carefully as the trays were passed to the rows before and behind him. As the tray came down our row, his eyes followed it throughout. Then he would partake of the Sacrament and watch at the tray moved on. This happened week after week.
Then one Sunday, we brought candy to church. He ate the candy during the meeting. When the Sacrament came he lost total interest in it. All he paid attention to was that candy. Can something like candy happen to us?
What can we do to prepare for the covenants of the Sacrament this Sunday and in so doing add protection and strength to our lives? I’ll just give you some thoughts. We can retire early on Saturday night so that we are physically renewed for the Sabbath Day. The next morning we can rise in good time so that we do not need to hurry. We can do things consistent with the spirit of the Sabbath and don’t do things that take away from that spirit. We can arrive early to our Sacrament meeting, 10 or more minutes early if possible. We can choose to not conduct church business or otherwise talk and we don’t talk with electronic devices either. Instead, we listen to the prelude music and prepare ourselves to be fed spiritually. We sing the Sacrament hymn and we listen carefully to the Sacrament prayers. During the Sacrament we might repeat the words of the prayer in our minds and commit to living them. We gratefully remember the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, what our Savior has done for us and commit to follow him. We renew our covenants to take his name upon us, always remember him, and keep his commandments. We can seek the Lord’s forgiveness for sins we have committed. We worship quietly.
We are blessed in Laie to have a temple in our midst. A temple is a place where we make sacred covenants. Each one of us is invited to be worthy of and hold a current temple recommend at all times, either a regular recommend or a limited-use recommend. In order to do so we need to be keeping some very important commandments. We make covenants in the temple. Sometimes when I enter the temple I feel rushed, consumed by the cares of the world. But every time I go (every time), before my time is completed, the cares of the world pass away and I feel calmed by the Spirit.
Just this month the Laie Hawaii temple announced changes so that unendowed youth and young adults can come to the temple some mornings without appointment and do baptisms for the dead. There are increased opportunities for endowed members who are full-time students to serve as temple ordinance workers. What wonderful opportunities! For those of you who are able to serve as temple ordinance workers, it may be one of your most cherished experiences while you are here at BYU–Hawaii.
Many years ago, I set the personal goal to always possess a current temple recommend, to never let it expire. Some years I have renewed it a month early just to make sure I don’t get too close to the end of the month and I can’t get to my interview. About ten years ago I was serving as bishop of one of the married wards on campus. And I noticed one day around the first of August that my recommend would expire at the end of the month. I made a mental note to renew it soon, but then I forgot about it. A few weeks later one of the ward members came up to me in church and asked if he could come in to renew his recommend. That’s when the shock hit me, ‘It’s September 1. My own recommend expired yesterday!
Now in case you didn’t know, a bishop who serves in a YSA or married stake normally keeps his membership records in his home ward. Therefore, I was not my own bishop and needed both a bishop and a stake interview. I called up my bishop as soon as I could and later that day received my interview. However, the earliest I could meet with the stake was the following Wednesday. I would be without a recommend for three days! And it was my own fault.
The next day, September 2, was Monday, Labor Day, and a school holiday. At that time the temple was open Monday mornings. That morning I got a call from a counselor in the temple presidency. He said there was a patron at the temple at that moment visiting from the mainland whose name was ‘Tew’ and as ‘Tew’ is an uncommon name he wondered if I might be related. I asked details about this Brother Tew and eventually said I was not closely related. Then the counselor said that Brother Tew and his sweetheart were getting sealed in the temple that morning and did not have enough family with them, so could I come to the temple and be one of the witnesses. Imagine how I felt as I told him I would not be able to come that day. I did not tell him the reason. But today I’m telling you I don’t ever want to be in that situation again.
Please be worthy of a temple recommend. Then always have a current temple recommend, either regular or limited use. Always be worthy. Never let it expire.
Sometimes I wonder if because we live in a fast-paced, noisy, entertainment-driven world, it is easy to forget about the sacred things like our covenants. But when we make and then keep our sacred covenants we receive protection.
I am thankful for those who anciently prepared the Book of Mormon for us today. As President Benson said, it was written for our day. We need it. I am also thankful for covenants which are made to bless us. To take Christ’s name upon us, to ALWAYS remember him, to keep his commandments! To receive the blessing of always having the Lord’s spirit be with us! The blessings help us to stay on the path to the tree. What do you think; are the blessings worth it? They are much more than worth it!
There may some here who are not members of the Church and have not yet made covenants with the Lord. During your stay at BYU–Hawaii, I invite you to learn more about covenants and the blessings they bring. I invite you to read the Book of Mormon and then pray about it.
My own self, I am weak. I need all the strength I can get. I am not ashamed to grasp tightly to the iron rod if it will help me to get through the mists of darkness and to ignore the tauntings coming from the great and spacious building. Sometimes I may need to hold on to the rod with both hands. I may walk a little slow, but if I get to the tree it will all be worth it.
I thank God that even before the world was he made a plan for our eternal happiness and prepared ways to help us return to him. May we hold fast to what God has given us! In the name of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.