No Unhallowed Hand

Joseph Smith once declared that "no unhallowed hand can stop [God's] work from progressing". While that hasn't stopped some people from trying, it is instructive to note that opposing efforts often contribute more to the progress of God's work than they ever detract from it.

A classic example can be found in the people of Amulon. Amulon and his followers had lived lavish, idolatrous lives as priests supported by the burdensome taxes imposed by King Noah. When their country was invaded, they abandoned their families to preserve their own lives and then later kidnapped some women from a rival nation to be their new wives. Given the opportunity to oversee a righteous people, Amulon  and his followers oppressed the righteous severely and forbid prayer and religious worship. It is easy to think that nothing good could have come from Amulon.

Yet, we read that the righteous oppressed by Amulon actually grew in faith until they were eventually delivered from Amulon's rule altogether (Mosiah 24:12-16). Meanwhile, Amulon and his followers taught the language of the Nephites in every land of the Lamanites, paving the way for Ammon and his brothers to have missionary successes only a few years later (Mosiah 24:4).

When Joseph Smith knelt to pray, he was "siezed upon by some power which entirely overcame [him], and had such an astonishing influence over [him] as to bind [his] tongue so that [he] could not speak." Yet, this attack only led Joseph to exert all his energy to calling upon God and led to not only his deliverance, but his calling as a prophet and the beginning of the restoration of Christ's church and gospel (Joseph Smith-History 1:15-20).

Subsequent offenses from apostates, politicians and mobs had similar results, leading Brigham Young to declare, "Every time you kick [the Church] you kick it upstairs; you never kick it downstairs. The Lord Almighty so orders it" (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A Widtsoe, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1941, p. 351).

The greatest opposition was reserved for the Savior himself. Though he "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38), he was hated by the leaders that claimed to be seeking him and betrayed by one of his own disciples. The people sought to kill him on several occasions and by several means, even setting traps to facilitate his demise, and finally delivered him to the Romans to be crucified. Though the governor could find no fault with him, Christ was nailed to a cross and left to die.

If any act could be perceived to hinder the work of God, killing His chosen son would seem to be it. Yet, even this advanced, rather than hindered, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Isaiah prophesied of Christ:

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised with our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:3-5).

Through the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, we can be forgiven of our sins, redeemed from death and empowered to act in faith beyond our own ability. As the Lord taught Joseph Smith in the Liberty Jail, no matter the obstacle or the odds, "if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" (D&C 122:7).

Perhaps some of that experience was reflected in Joseph Smith's letter to Mr. John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat, written three years after his inhumane treatment in Liberty. Declared the prophet:

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

Faith Amid Persecutions

One of my favorite words in the scriptures is "nevertheless". Nephi grieved his sin and weakness before proclaiming, "Nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support" (2 Nephi 4:19-20). We can feel Nephi's faith and courage build as he then outlined the many instances when God delivered him from peril or gave him instruction when he did not know what to do.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Elder Brother plead with our Heavenly Father to remove the bitter cup of pain and suffering that was His Atonement for us all. "Nevertheless," he humbly submitted, "not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42).

Joseph Smith makes a similar pivot in a letter to the Saints in 1842. Himself in hiding and following decades of persecution, the Prophet prompts his testimony with a modern "nevertheless":

"Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth... a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy" (D&C 128:19). After citing many of the most wonderful events of the restoration, he concludes, "Shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad."

These and many other accounts inspire and uplift my soul when I'm weighed down with the corruption, sin and deception of the world in which we live. As more people abandon virtue, conscience and principle for doctrines of convenience, we may feel oppressed by the rising tide of manipulative voices trying to shame us into conformity. Indeed, those who are willing to speak up for truth and high morals are often persecuted on social media, in conversations and in the press.

Elder Gordon B. Hinckley stated in 1965, "We hear much in America these days of consensus. It simply means agreement, a meeting of the minds. The doctrine is abroad that whatever bears the brand of consensus is right and good. There never was a more serious fallacy. Fifty thousand Frenchmen can be wrong, as can 50 million Americans or 500 million Chinese... Consensus in matters of public and private morality is largely fruitless and often detrimental unless its roots are anchored in eternal, God-given truth" (Caesar, Circus or Christ, BYU Speeches. October 26, 1965).

Nevertheless, the Lord is mindful of us and hastening His work on the earth. The Lord revealed The Family: A Proclamation to the World in 1995 to prepare us and direct the Church through unprecedented confusion about love and gender that have arisen in recent years. The number of temples on the earth is growing quickly as faithful Saints increasingly need places to escape the claustrophobic crush of evil practices and philosophies. Prophets have been inspired to develop the Come Follow Me program to strengthen individuals and families against the increasingly targeted attacks of our adversary. Those prophets have been inspired again to say those things that the Lord would have us know at a General Conference broadcast around the world. Family history and temple work can be done with a few taps on a smartphone. The Church is reaching a larger and larger number of the world's poor and afflicted with its welfare program and partnerships.

As the Prophet Joseph Smith once said, "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done" (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 4:540).

"What power shall stay the heavens?" the Prophet asked on another occasion. "As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints" (D&C 121:33).

Some days, when it seems we can see raging persecutions and mobs forming in even places of authority, it is valuable to remember our "nevertheless" that pivots our perspective toward faith in the eternal. The world may attempt to shame us into conformity, nevertheless the truth has been revealed to prophets in our day, and to each of our hearts, from God himself. They may threaten our prosperity, nevertheless the Lord has promised He will provide for those who ask Him. Ultimately, the world may take our lives, as opponents of Christ have done to the faithful in every dispensation, nevertheless we know the Lord will protect us and our days will not be numbered less because of oppression. The jaws of hell itself may gape open its mouth to swallow us, nevertheless it is little more than a man's puny arm attempting to redirect a massive river and cannot prevail if we remain true to the faith.