The Great Plan

All children of Heavenly Father were introduced to the plan before we came to earth and all who have or will come to earth accepted the plan and fought for it.

“Sometimes our needed growth is accomplished better by suffering and adversity than by comfort and security.”

Four assurances from the atonement:

1. Through His suffering we can be cleansed from our sins.
2. Through his Atonement, Christ took upon Himself all other mortal infirmities.
3. The Savior revokes the finality of death.
4. Our progress need not conclude with the end of mortality.
   • This does not mean that we should procrastinate the day of our repentance.

Our perspective on past events is popularly called 2020 vision this year but our vision of the future is far less certain.

Christ is the final judge of each person. Because of his omniscience all will declare after His judgement that His judgements are just.

All of this is part of a divine plan whose purpose is to enable the children of God to be exalted and become like Him. Referred to in the scriptures as the “great plan of happiness,” “the plan of redemption,” and the “plan of salvation,” that plan—revealed in the Restoration—began with a Council in Heaven. As spirits, we desired to achieve the eternal life enjoyed by our heavenly parents. At that point we had progressed as far as we could without a mortal experience in a physical body. To provide that experience, God the Father planned to create this earth. In the planned mortal life, we would be soiled by sin as we faced the opposition necessary for our spiritual growth. We would also become subject to physical death. To reclaim us from death and sin, our Heavenly Father’s plan would provide a Savior. His Resurrection would redeem all from death, and His atoning sacrifice would pay the price necessary for all to be cleansed from sin on the conditions prescribed to promote our growth. This Atonement of Jesus Christ is central to the Father’s plan.

In the Council in Heaven, all the spirit children of God were introduced to the Father’s plan, including its mortal consequences and trials, its heavenly helps, and its glorious destiny. We saw the end from the beginning. All of the myriads of mortals who have been born on this earth chose the Father’s plan and fought for it in the heavenly contest that followed. Many also made covenants with the Father concerning what they would do in mortality. In ways that have not been revealed, our actions in the spirit world have influenced our circumstances in mortality.

This is the plan laid out completely and succinctly.

The divine plan for us to become what we are destined to become requires us to make choices to reject the evil opposition that tempts mortals to act contrary to God’s commandments and His plan. It also requires that we be subject to other mortal opposition, such as from the sins of others or from some defects of birth. Sometimes our needed growth is achieved better by suffering and adversity than by comfort and tranquility. And none of this mortal opposition could achieve its eternal purpose if divine intervention relieved us from all the adverse consequences of mortality.

In fact, we could not achieve the eternal purposes of we were even fully relieved from adversity only after repentance. We need to have faith even when mortality is hard despite our righteousness.

God’s plan gives us four great assurances to assist our journey through mortality. All are given to us through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the centerpiece of the plan.

1. Through His suffering for the sins of which we repent, we can be cleansed of those sins.
2. He took upon Him all other mortal infirmities. This allows us to receive divine help and strength to bear the inevitable burdens of mortality.
3. The Savior, through His infinite Atonement, revokes the finality of death and gives us the joyful assurance that all of us will be resurrected.
4. Modern revelation teaches us that our progress need not conclude with the end of mortality.

The restored gospel of Jesus Christ gives us a unique perspective on the subjects of chastity, marriage, and the bearing of children. It teaches that marriage according to God’s plan is necessary for accomplishing the purpose of God’s plan, to provide the divinely appointed setting for mortal birth, and to prepare family members for eternal life. “Marriage is ordained of God unto man,” the Lord said, “… that the earth might answer the end of its creation.” In this, His plan, of course, runs counter to some strong worldly forces in law and custom.

The power to create mortal life is the most exalted power God has given His children. Its use was mandated in the first commandment to Adam and Eve, but another important commandment was given to forbid its misuse. Outside the bonds of marriage, all uses of the procreative power are to one degree or another a sinful degrading and perversion of the most divine attribute of men and women. The emphasis the restored gospel places on this law of chastity is because of the purpose of our procreative powers in the accomplishment of God’s plan.

The biggest challenges are to be true when the eternal plan is at its with social convention.

In this year of 2020, we have what is popularly called 20/20 vision for the events of the past.

As we look to the future, however, our vision is far less sure.

We will be judged according to our actions, the desires of our hearts, and the kind of person we have become. This judgment will cause all of the children of God to proceed to a kingdom of glory for which their obedience has qualified them and where they will be comfortable. The judge of all this is our Savior, Jesus Christ. His omniscience gives Him a perfect knowledge of all of our acts and desires, both those unrepented or unchanged and those repented or righteous. Therefore, after His judgment we will all confess “that his judgments are just.”

For some this week be a relief, for others a disappointment.

In conclusion, I share the conviction that has come to me from many letters and by reviewing many requests to return to the Church after name removal or apostasy. Many of our members do not fully understand this plan of salvation, which answers most questions about the doctrine and inspired policies of the restored Church. We who know God’s plan and who have covenanted to participate have a clear responsibility to teach these truths and do all that we can to further them for others and in our own circumstances in mortality. I testify of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, who makes it all possible, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

It is not often that people fall away or rebel while truly understanding the plan they are rejecting.