Current Lessons
Lesson No. Thirty

The Doctrine of Elias and Evidence of the Ongoing Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

A gospel definition of the “Doctrine of Elias” includes:  “Someone or something that prepares the way for someone or something which is greater and yet to come.” – Examples include:  John the Baptist was an Elias who prepared the way for Jesus Christ (see JST Matthew 17:9-14); the Declaration of Independence was an Elias that prepared the way for the Constitution of the United States; the Constitution of the United States was an Elias that prepared the way for the ongoing Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week beginning September 17, 2023 includes the anniversary of two important events that are evidence of, and Elias for, and preparatory to the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This includes an Equinox, an astronomical event, that “witnesses there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44). 

Constitution Day is September 17, and it should be remembered and celebrated – The signing of the Constitution of the United States took place 236 years ago in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787.  The Constitution of the United States was a miracle and a gift from the Lord. 

President Dallin H. Oaks has the credentials to speak about and defend the Constitution.  In a powerful sermon entitled Defending our Divinely Inspired Constitution President Oaks listed his credentials in doing so.  “In these remarks I do not speak for any political party or other group. I speak for the United States Constitution, which I have studied for more than 60 years. I speak from my experience as a law clerk to the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. I speak from my 15 years as a professor of law and my 3½ years as a justice on the Utah Supreme Court. Most important, I speak from 37 years as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, responsible to study the meaning of the divinely inspired United States Constitution to the work of His restored Church” (Conference Report, April 2021 emphasis added).  It is clear that one of President Oak’s assignments during the 37 years he has been an Apostle of Jesus Christ is “to study the meaning of the divinely inspired United States Constitution to the work of His restored Church.”  Considering all of the misinformation about the founding of the United States and its Constitution, this sermon teaches what the Lord would have us know and believe.

The plates of the Book of Mormon were given to Joseph Smith on September 22, 1827 – The Book of Mormon plates coming out of the earth signaled that the battle for the souls of men would be greatly intensified.  A vision was given to Heber C. Kimball and his wife Vilate on the night of September 22, 1827, the same evening the Book of Mormon plates were given to Joseph Smith.  This vision symbolizes the important role of the Book of Mormon in the battle for the souls of men, and it will put them on the covenant path to Jesus Christ and His Church.  A description of this vision can be found at Lessons on Missionary Service; Lesson 33.

Some may consider the Book of Mormon a fraud or at best a small and simple thing of no consequence.  But we believe “that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass….And the Lord God doth work by [small] means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls” (Alma 37:6-7).  

An equinox is evidence of a Supreme Creator – An equinox takes place in Spring and Fall of each year.  During an equinox, the sun shines directly on the equator, and the northern and southern hemispheres get the same amount of rays or light.  In the northern hemisphere September 22 is usually the Autumnal Equinox. The earth could not support life as we know it if its order, rotation, and placement in our solar system was not exactly what it is.  To me this is absolute evidence of a Supreme Creator. 

I testify that the Constitution of the United States is the work of the Lord, and that He said:  “I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose” (D&C 101:80).

I testify “that the Book of Mormon is the most correct [important] of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book” (Book of Mormon, Introduction).

I testify, in the words of Alma, that “all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth and things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44; see also “All Things Bear Witness of a Supreme Creator”, Lessons on the Plan of Salvation, Lesson 13)