One of the great blessings that we have today with the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is the fact that we have a prophet at the head of the church. It is the prophet that the Lord has designated as His “mouthpiece” or “spokesman”. Prophets are entitled to receive inspiration and revelations from the Lord. We are taught that when the Lord speaks he will speak through his prophets. In the D&C 1:38 the Lord told the prophet Joseph Smith, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken…my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”
The Lord has also given us a promise, if we are obedient to his commandments. In the D&C 82:10 the Lord said, “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” It is important to be obedient to God’s commandments, if we want to receive the Lord’s blessings.
I want to share with you a story about one of your ancestors who is able to teach us about the principles of “obedience” and the “blessing” of a prophet by his example. This story is about your great, great, great, great grandfather. His name was John Thomas Richard Hicks. John T. R., as he was called, was born April 29, 1825 in Falmouth, England. His father was a sailor; however, John T.R. was only 3 years old when his father did not come back after a sailing voyage to South America. It was believed that all of the men that were on that ship had drowned at sea. His mother was Johanna Richards Hicks. Johanna raised John T. R. and his two sisters. John T. R. married Harriet Yoe on July 7, 1850. It was a couple of years later that he and Harriet were taught by the Mormon missionaries and were baptized. John T. R. and Harriet immigrated to the United States and were part of the Hunt handcart company that was rescued on the plains of Wyoming in 1856. John T. R. became skilled in making and repairing shoes. John T. R. did not just make shoes, but he took pride in his skill as a craftsman. He would measure the person’s foot and then fit the shoe to the individual’s foot. President Brigham Young and other general authorities were some of his faithful customers. John T. R. did well enough at his vocation that he was soon able to buy a building lot and to build a two room house at 340 West North Temple in Salt Lake City. John T. R. and his wife Harriet were faithful members of the church.
At a meeting one day in the Bowery (a thatched roof open-sided assembly place that stood where at the site where the current Salt Lake Tabernacle now stands) President Brigham Young was speaking on the principle of tithing. As he was chastising the saints for their lack of obedience to this commandment he said that he did not know of a man in the Church that paid an entirely honest tithe. At the conclusion of his sermon, a Brother Woods arose and said that he knew of one man who paid an honest tithe. President Young asked who it was and Brother Woods said it was John T. R. Hicks, of the 16th Ward. President Yong asked if John T. R. was present and if so, to stand up. John T. R. arose and President Young gave him a blessing then and there. He promised John T. R. that neither he nor his family nor their posterity should feel the want of food.
President Young’s blessing is especially powerful when coupled with the Lord’s promise, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken…my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” The Lord’s promises will be fulfilled if we are faithful to the Lord’s commandments.
No comments:
Post a Comment