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| President and Sister Slaughter! |
I am impressed by the words of Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "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."
Over 2,000 years ago, a babe was born in Bethlehem. From the manger bed to the garden tomb, our Lord live a perfect life. There has been no greater life lived by any man, nor will there ever be.
He went forth in the service of His Father and of His people. He healed crippled bodies as well as broken hearts. He walked on water and brought the dead to life. However great these miracles were, though, there is one miracle that stands above the rest: His atonement.
Elder McConkie once taught, "[Christ's] 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."
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "Beginning in the spiritual anguish of the Garden of Gethsemane, moving to the Crucifixion on a cross at Calvary, and concluding on a beautiful Sunday morning inside a donated tomb, a sinless, pure, and holy man, the very Son of God Himself, did what no other... person had ever done nor ever could do."
Without the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God, we would be lost, for "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all" (Mosiah 14:6).
"Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again...
"And he hath brought to pass the redemption of the world, whereby he that is found guiltless before him at the judgment day hath it given unto him to dwell in the presence of God in his kingdom, to sing ceaseless praises with the choirs above...in a state of happiness which hath no end" (Mormon 7:5, 7)
Oh how great the plan of our God!
I add my own witness to the powerful final testimony of Elder Bruce R. McConkie:
"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."
May we all come to a better understanding of the sacrifice that has saved us all!
Love,
Sister Waite
