To Ollie

It didn’t happen the way it usually does, with all the sweaty palms and the pounding heart. I didn’t feel scared or nervous, but I knew I needed to get up and just say it. For weeks I had thought of what I would say, how I could explain myself. For weeks I had stewed over the topic, and now the time had come to say what was in my heart: it was time to tell it like it is.

I stood up and addressed the congregation, and proceeded to bare my testimony. It went something like this:

I know that God is real. He lives, and is aware of us, and loves us with an infinite love. He loved us enough to send His son, to live for us and to die for us, so that we might find happiness in this life, and someday return to love with Him. Jesus Christ gave us the gospel, a way of living and an organized means whereby we might learn what He would have us do and become. That gospel is found today, in this church [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints].

But more importantly than what I know is how I know. I know this is true because God Himself has told me, in a way that was almost audible to my ears, that it is true. He has confirmed it to me again and again in a way that nothing could make me deny. No person could say anything to take that away from me. Historians and scientists may prove it wrong, and I will still know that it is true. Because they don’t know it the way that I do. They don’t understand it the way I understand it. I know it is true, and I will never deny it, come what may.

I wasn’t intending to be dramatic, attract attention to myself or put on a show. I needed to say those things, because they have been exploding out of me for weeks. I needed to tell people, not just the what, but the why.

The truth will stand, boldly, independent and without flaw, whether millions believe it or no one at all. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, does or thinks. The gospel truth cannot be altered by man, though he may endeavor to make it appear untrue.

 When God speaks truth to a person, and not in a subtle way, I believe it becomes that person’s duty to share this with others. I know that not everyone receives revelation in the same way. Jesus said that some are given the gift of knowing, and others, the gift of believing on the words of others. I know. It is that simple. I know! I have always wished I could touch others in a way that would help them catch the vision too, but even if I could, it would only be temporary. Each person must seek it out for him or herself, and then cling to it with everything they have. Storms will come. Fires will rage. Science and history will attack. In the end, those left standing will be few, but they are the ones who will stand with Christ and the persecution He endured.

I’m not putting myself on a pedestal. I still have a long way to go. I may know it, but I don’t always live it. I understand that I have been highly favored in many ways, and I try not to take that for granted. Still, God does not demand immediate perfection; He demands progress.

Ollie: Search your heart. What has God told you, when you have been humbly seeking, doing His will and obeying His commandments? Would God contradict himself? Can God lie? No. Surely, man can confuse us, and Satan is much more cunning than many give him credit for. But in the end, you know it too. The facts may seem to reject what you have known in your heart, but follow your heart. Stand against the so-called logical, and so-called evidence and over all, the subtlety and craftiness of Satan. Remember the witness that you received: It’s true. I know it. And so do you. Somewhere inside, you know, and I know you know, even if you don’t.