And So Were the Churches Established

1. And So Were the Churches Established Mars Hill www.kevinhinckley.com

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3. Elder Talmage Elder Talmage and the lamp salesman “We entered my room, and I put a match to my well- trimmed lamp. My visitor was high in his praise. It was the best lamp of its kind, he said, and he had never seen a lamp in better trim. He turned the wick up and down, and pronounced the judgment perfect. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘with your permission I’ll light my lamp,’ taking it from his satchel. … Its light made bright the remotest corner of my room. Its brilliant blaze made the flame in my lamp weak and pale. Until that moment of convincing demonstration I had never known the dim obscurity in which I had lived and labored, studied and struggled. Elder Talmage bought the new lamp, and he later suggested what we can learn from the lamp seller as we teach the gospel: “The man who would sell a lamp did not disparage mine. He placed his greater light alongside my feebler flame, and I hasted to obtain it. The missionary servants of the Church of Jesus Christ today are sent forth, not to assail nor ridicule the beliefs of men, but to set before the world a superior light, by which the smoky dimness of the flickering flames of man-made creeds shall be apparent. The work of the Church is constructive, not destructive” The Parables of James E. Talmage, comp. Albert L. Zobell Jr. [1973], 1-6)

4. Question If we have been blessed with “more light”, why would we ever contend with those of other faiths?

5. Acts 15 And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other; and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. Contention The Spirit

7. Acts 17 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

8. Elder Holland When gospel principles get unpopular or unprofitable or difficult to live, will we stand by them “for the duration”? That is the question our experiences in Latter-day Saint life seem most determined to answer. What do we really believe, and how true to that are we really willing to live? As brothers and sisters, bright and blessed and eager and prosperous, do we yet know what faith—specifically faith in the Lord Jesus Christ—really is, what it requires in human behavior, and what it may yet demand of us before our souls are finally saved?

9. Doctrine and Covenants 6 Those who become angry with it, fight it, and are condemned by it Behold, I am God; give heed unto my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow; therefore give heed unto my words. Those who follow it, surrender and are blessed

10. Spencer W. Kimball "That day" is our day, when man-made institutions and human philosophies leave unsatisfied spiritual hungers and choking thirsts. It is no wonder men's spirits are faint. The present struggles and meanderings of the learned, trying to find God in a laboratory of their own making, take us back to the days of the ferment of the long-ago out of which came the unthinkable creed that was supposed to clarify religious thought but left it in darkest chaos. The records reveal that many mental giants struggled long with the same incomprehensibles and came forth with a confusion that has carried over to our day. This confusion causes brilliant men now to doubt and to try with their puny powers to unravel the mystery, always getting it more and more tangled.

11. Trip of President Lee to Greece in 1972 Since it was about closing time at the Acropolis, Elder Hinckley suggested that the party return to Mars Hill at 7:00 A.M. the next morning and have President Lee speak in commemoration of the famed address given there by the Apostle Paul to the learned citizens of Greece. In accordance with the plan, President Lee, Elder Hinckley, President Cannon, and their wives came early to Mars Hill where centuries ago Paul had preached his famous sermon on the "unknown God." Together they climbed the rocky hill. Elder Hinckley spoke first, and thoughtfully recorded all that was said on this glorious occasion on his cassette tape recorder so that this event could become a part of documented Church history. After President Lee had recounted the New Testament account of Paul's sermon on Mars Hill (Acts 17), he concluded his sermon with these words: As we come to positions of trust and responsibility centuries later, bearing the same message, teaching the same gospel, worshipping the same God, faced with the same opposition, we must not hesitate or slacken our zeal to project the work of the Lord. The work of the Lord never was presented with ease. It had to be brought forth out of blood and sweat and tears and sacrifice. So it may require that in our day, too, more than we know… (Brent L. Goates, Harold B. Lee: Prophet and Seer, 483-484.)