Absolute Proof that the Church is True (But it's Not Proof for You)
An at-home DNA test, on the other hand, conclusively proved that the
ancient seafarer was not the father of any of our more docile cats.
Proof of God, LDS Church, the Book of Mormon or of anything religious at
all really doesn’t work like that. It’s a far more personal matter. Sure you
have something broad and sweeping like Nahom, which, you know, feels pretty
good. You’ve also got stories of angels showing up at Joseph Smith’s request and the absolutely unbreakable BOM witnesses. But other people’s stories really
aren’t the stuff on which you build the rest of your life. Direct contact with
one of the Godhead, on the other hand, can shape your forever.
Below is a smattering (yes, smattering) of 100% proofs that the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is exactly what it says it is.
But it is not proof for anyone but the people reporting it.
Testimonies are easy to find online, but finding specific experiences behind testimonies printed online is kind of hard. In my brief
search I found the specific whys are kind of tucked away. There are some though. They
aren’t necessarily the starts of testimonies
– just powerful, undeniable experiences that constitute 100% personal-proof
that the LDS church is true.
The list below starts out with simple spiritual testimonies, but moves
through overwhelming sensations, visions, the gift of tongues and angelic visitations.
That’s right! I said angelic visitations (plural)!
First, a beautifully written summary of what a testimony can be. It’s an
excerpt from a website where returned missionaries to Peru were invited to share
some mission experiences:
Jessica (Spirit-General)
“I have
a hard time sharing these, because they are so personal, so subtle. I can’t
explain them. Words don’t work. But there were many spiritual experiences.
Small moments that felt like being run over by a train that no one else even
noticed because we were just reading our scriptures. Moments of silence and
then suddenly an investigator was crying because they’d never been so touched.
Moments that made me realize I had a testimony about something I’d never
stopped to consider. Moments of insight into another person’s life that may
have been visionary or wishful thinking, and I have chosen to believe the
first. Stepping off the plane in Cuzco and feeling something different than
I’ve ever felt before. They don’t make for great stories because there’s not
really a beginning or an end or a plot. They just *were*. And they were real,
and profound. You’ll understand what I mean when you’re looking back, trying to
find good talk fodder or maybe filling out a questionnaire like this for
yourself.” (http://lifey.org/peru-lima-central-mission/)
Her testimony there obviously is significant for her. All those little
experiences combine to form a mountain. But it is not proof for you or me. It
doesn’t need to be.
This list is made up mostly of laymen, but there are two LDS leadership-position
people on here. This is one of them:
“I was raised in a wonderful but less-active family. I
wasn’t accustomed to hearing testimonies borne of the truthfulness of the
gospel within my home. So even though I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, in a
predominantly Latter-day Saint environment, I didn’t grow up in a typical
Latter-day Saint family. We didn’t hold family home evening or gather for
family prayer. Many of the Church practices that my friends were used to were a
little foreign to me.
“By virtue of this
home environment, I was probably one of the least likely to stand and bear my
testimony in front of a large seminary gathering. I was also a rather shy
15-year-old, so I was quite surprised when I found myself standing at a
microphone in front of 300 seminary students. But I was comfortable because of
what I felt deep inside. Even today, I still remember the overwhelming
prompting by the Spirit to stand and bear my testimony in that seminary
meeting.
“I don’t remember the exact words I spoke, but I will never
forget the burning in my heart, the sure witness I received that the Church is
true. I remember well the feeling of the Spirit of the Holy Ghost that descended upon me as I bore witness to the
truthfulness of this Church.
“Before
that day I believed the Church was true. I
liked the Church. I thought it was good, and I participated in it. But at that
defining moment in my life, I knew the
Church was true. I couldn’t deny it, and no one could take that testimony away
from me.” (https://www.lds.org/liahona/2008/02/gaining-a-testimony?lang=eng)
This proof is strong for Elder Sybrowsky. Strong enough to
him that he now finds his testimony indestructible, according to that last
sentence. But it is not proof for you or me. That experience is for him, but it
does drop some clues.
This next one is from the other
Seventy. I love it. I love it because I have an experience that follows the
exact same blueprint. The story is he’d been saving up money for some sort of a
scouting event. The day he needed it, it was gone. He couldn’t find it anywhere.
He was an 8 year old boy tearing through the house in a panic. He ran into his
mother, then:
“After listening
to her son’s anguished explanation, Evan’s mother asked, “Have you prayed about
it?” The thought had not crossed his mind. But he turned and went to his
bedroom and knelt in prayer. He had no sooner called upon his Heavenly Father
and begun to explain his difficulties when a picture came into his mind showing
him the exact location of the envelope.
““I could see it.
It was at the bottom of the kitchen wastebasket.” He got up and ran to the
kitchen, pulled the wastebasket from under the sink, and dumped its contents on
the kitchen floor. There, at the very bottom, just as he had been shown, was
the envelope.
“It was such a
relief. But more, it was the beginning of testimony. “I learned firsthand from
that experience that God lives. He is our Father, and He answers prayers. He
loves us. He even listens to a little boy, and He can show us wonderful
things.”” (https://www.lds.org/church/news/-elder-schmutz-lifetime-of-spiritual-experiences-testifies-god-lives-and-loves-us?lang=eng)
That is proof for him. Absolute proof. But it is not for
you. You can get your own if you haven’t already. Notice his happened in the
middle of a prayer.
Now we move into the laymen. This is a guy who was raised
non-LDS in Utah. He was taught to hate the Church. He meets an LDS girl and
converts for her. Eventually she tells him he is not the one, and he’s stuck alone in
a church that he was raised to hate. Then this:
Eric Lassen (sensation/vision)
“I began to pray, I had prayed about it two
previous times, but received no answer. But when my heart was right and I had
real intent to want to know I prayed I told God that I except (sic) Jesus as my
savior and he died on the cross and was resurrected. I began to feel a burning
in my chest, it spread through out my whole body, it was the most exciting
thing I ever felt. I began crying and laughing as if the lord was holding me.
The burning felt like he put his hand in my chest and was holding my heart, I
was paralyzed I couldn’t move, my back was arched, while this was happening I
asked the lord if the Church was true. Just as soon as I asked him, my whole
body began shaking like I was having a seizure, My body shook three times. And
soon after I saw a vision of some sort of a hurting man with blood all over him
and a crown of thorns, it was very dark and sad I began crying again, then I
saw a man standing at the edge of a ship looking across the sea. After this whole
experience was over I went to bed, knowing my life was changed forever, I began
reading the book of Mormon, and studying the scriptures, and the church. I
think about my body shaking and remember what the scriptures say; the witnesses
of God will be in Two’s or Three’s. My body shook three times. I know that this
church is true, the lord told me so by giving me the Holy Ghost.”
That is strong proof for Eric. It’s got an overwhelming experience with the
Holy Ghost and, in his mind, heaven sent visions. But it is not proof for you.
You can get your own proof if you haven’t already. Notice this experience, too,
happened during a prayer.
This next one is a little different. It shows, as well as some of those
above, that you never know when you’re about to have an encounter with the
divine. It’s weird – but actually kind of fits the Korihor pattern. Steve, the
experiencer, is not a malcontent like Korihor – but God seems to temporarily
use the same move here.
Steve (Can’t talk)
“I’d like to share an experience I had today
(13.5.00) As a scout leader I spend a lot of time setting up tents and stuff.
Today I was in the grounds of our chapel trying out a new family tent we had
bought (our garden was not big enough). After a while some youths came by and
started to call my wife vile names and make anti church comments. My first
reaction was to shout equally vile comment back at them, but the Lord saw fit
to take away my power of speech at that moment. Long enough for me to think
what sort of example of the church I would be setting if I sank to their level.
By the time I had thought of anything suitable to reply, they had gone their
way, and the reputation of the church was saved from my careless instincts. I
wish to thank the Lord for his forbearance with me in a moment of weakness and
his constant love for his children. I know this is the true church. Joseph
Smith was a true prophet. The Book of Mormon is truly the most important
testimony of Christ available to man. I thank God for His sacrifice in sending
His Son to atone for our sins. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.” (https://mormonsite.wordpress.com/archive2/)
I told you it was different. It leaves a lot of questions. It
is not proof for you. It is definitely proof for him. He listed it on a page of
LDS testimonies the very day it happened. God stopped his tongue. This next one
is the opposite:
David (Gift of Tongues)
“I had
3 years of high school Spanish. I left the LTM as a 1.5 in Spanish. I didn’t
understand anything anybody said for the first 3 months in the field. However,
after about 6 weeks we were having a chat with a long-term investigator
catholic priest. I couldn’t follow the discussion at all. All of a sudden, I
just started lecturing this guy. I spoke for several minutes until the spirit
wore off. My companion thought I was sand bagging him about my Spanish ability.
I still have no idea what I said. After 3 months I was very fluent, another
true miracle.” (http://lifey.org/peru-lima-north-mission/ )
He spoke before he couldn’t speak. It clearly means the world to
David. But it is not proof for you. You can get your own proof, though. It
might even be the gift of tongues. When you’re looking you never know what it
will be.
This next one stems from a faith crisis. By all accounts a
serious one. It changes things just a bit from the rest of thee testimonies. It
shows that the testimonies of those we love and trust can almost be counted as our own. I transcribed it from a podcast. So
sorry about the punctuation:
Dan
Conway (Angels/Visions/Dreams)
“There
were two main people who like, kind of helped me through questions and then in
different times they would share experiences and other people who became aware
of my struggle… one shared, you know, a kind of vision he had and these are
people I know and trust that were good, honest people that would have no need
to lie. There was no benefit of them lying. And I knew I was going through all
these doubts and they would share these experiences and one shared an
experience where he saw an angel in the temple and it was just like these really
incredible experiences and I just felt… the only way to describe it is I’m
having all these doubts and these people shared…helped me answer these
questions and that’s helped me rationalize and helped me feel a bit better…”(https://leadinglds.org/how-i-lead-as-bishop-after-a-faith-crisis-an-interview-with-dan-conway/)
Sometimes other people’s testimonies actually can be proof
for you – but not from a list like this. Not from strangers - from family. Or
from really close friends. It’s got to be from someone you know wouldn’t make
it up to sway you. It worked for Dan, as you can see up there. He went on to
have a prophetic dream when he was called as a Bishop. It’s backed up by
someone else’s prophetic dream. His friends’ testimonies and his dream - they
absolutely are proof… for Dan. But not for you. You need to get your own proof
if you haven’t already.
You can. The beautiful thing is – any sincere and seeking
person can. And it can be big!
This next one is from the depths of another faith crisis.
It’s not a newly-sparked faith crisis like Dan’s. This one is on the full swing
anti-circuit. The account was given at a conference of people who came back to
church after being convinced it was not what it claimed to be. This was
Maxine’s reason for coming back. It’s the second appearance of full-blown
heavenly angels on this list, and it is beautiful:
Maxine Hanks (Angels)
“…I remember I used to attend the Christmas Concert, the Tabernacle
Choir Christmas concert every December, with the inner-faith roundtable. This
is before I came back to the Church. Then I had shifted into that spiritual
paradigm where I am trying to perceive things spiritually instead of
temporally. There were times when I was sitting in the audience and I
experienced a visionary experience when the tabernacle choir’s singing, that I
experienced realms of angels sitting around them and singing with them. I’ll
never forget one year, I think it was the Audra McDonald year. I was so
completely undone by the experience, overwhelmed with what I had seen with my
spiritual eyes, that I couldn’t stop crying, I was just sobbing, sloppily all
over myself. I went downstairs to get my coat after it was all over. There was
an usher standing there and sobbing too. We both looked at each other and we
didn’t have to say anything, we had seen the same thing and both knew we had
seen the same thing and I will never forget that experience. I think Joseph
showed us, if we open our spiritual eyes, there are things to be learned and
seen, that we haven’t even begun to appreciate.” (https://www.fairmormon.org/conference/august-2013/the-loss-and-rekindling-of-faith)
Maxine Hanks, without a doubt, knows the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints is exactly what it claims to be. She has 100%
proof. There is no other word for it. All the people in the list above have
100% proof. For them. It’s not proof for you or me.
If you’ve already had experiences like those listed above
I’d love to hear about it. If you haven’t – you can.
You can have your own ‘proof.’ It is open to all.
Sometimes it’ll hit you out of the blue – but in my
experience, usually you have to look for it.
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