As I read the words of Christ regarding the name of His church it made me think of how we have referred to the church in these latter days and I realized how getting people to use a different name for the church is a subtle attack by the devil to undermine the church. It makes it so that people will be less prone to associate any good that the church does with Christ, the author of our faith. It is also a device way of discouraging us from thinking of Christ as often as we will if we are carefully using the proper name of the church of Jesus Christ.
It has also made me consider if it would be accurate to think of “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” as the proper name of the organization restored by Him through Joseph Smith while using “The Church of Jesus Christ” to refer to all those in any age who diligently sought to follow Him and participate in His work of salvation regardless of what age they lived in and whether they had been baptized with authority into membership in His church. (They would have to be intentionally and honestly trying to follow Him but this term would encompass those who did so at times and places where the was no restored church and would include people who were earnest even if they had not been exposed to either His ancient/original church or His latter day organization.
Leave a Reply