I know and testify that every individual human being who has ever lived upon this earth and all who ever will populate the earth were and are spirit offspring of our Heavenly Father. As Paul testified, “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” (Acts 17:29) ‘Man’s device’ is modern idolatry, meaning that rather then carve His image out of stone, etc.(physical idols), we now carve or create images or idol of him out of words, words that represent our own philosophies and imaginations.
To understand such a testimony of our relationship to the Father, we have to rely on the scriptures, the testimony of the prophets, those who have walked and talked with God and on the spirit of the Holy Ghost, who will testify to each of us of the truthfulness of all things. A testimony of the Father could never be based on history or the philosophies of men, for their knowledge is tainted with man’s subjective view of things, as well as his own limited ability to set aside his various prejudices. We have to get our first taste of the truth from those who have subjected themselves to a purity of life, those who have put off the natural man, such that they are recognized by and called by God to be his servants and Holy Prophets. We can identify these prophets both by recognizing their works (fruits) and by the things that have been revealed to them that have come to pass.
Heavenly Father is an immortal, glorified man who rules over his universe. His great power comes from the honor accorded to Him by every substance in heaven and earth, animate and inanimate. He is honored because his subjects recognize him as the purveyor of all truth, the being who is most just and honorable. They trust and revere him to judge all things fairly and equitably. Obedience is the demonstration of that great power, as all things obey his command. The scriptures abound with that evidence, “For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?” ( Jacob 4:9) Christ, too, has power like unto the Father because He, too, has the same attributes, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3)
In the first chapter of Genesis, we read that God created the world and man; “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27) They were first created ‘spiritually’ and in heaven. In the second chapter of Genesis, that fact is clarified, “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. (Genesis 2:4-5) The Book of Moses describes it even more plainly: “And on the seventh day I, God, ended my work, and all things which I had made; and I rested on the seventh day from all my work…For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth…And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word. And I, the Lord God, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there I put the man whom I had formed.” (Moses 3:2-8)
While we, his spirit children, were still living in his presence, we were presented with the Father’s plan, a plan that would provide us, his spirit children, an opportunity to come to the earth that he had created (organized) in order for us to experience mortality, an essential step in our eternal progression. The earth would provide challenges, which would force us to make choices between good and evil. In this setting, there would be opposition in all things. By choices we grow, and we experience both good and evil; we grow by the things that we suffer as well, as the joy we feel for those correct choices we make. The Father’s plan is referred to as the Plan of Salvation. “And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time.”(Moses 6:62) When we heard the plan, we knew that there would be chal- lenges and some of us may not be able to return to the Father’s presence. Nevertheless, the majority of us did approve of the plan and felt great joy for the opportunity. “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” ( Job 38:7)
Not all of us accepted the plan. In Revelation we read how Satan rebelled and had convinced a third part of the host of heaven to follow him. His plan would have forced all those who followed him to live perfect lives, so that they would be assured of salvation. There would be no need for a Savior. This, of course, would take away from them their agency or choice and also the blessings of experiencing and learning from their choices, be they good or bad. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” (Revelation 12:7–11) Isaiah of the Old Testament also spoke of that event, “ How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12–15) Satan himself became the opposition to good and provides the sorrow and sadness that is the result of wrong decisions.
Through the process of repentance, we learn that wickedness never was happiness and that true happiness is based on making appropriate decisions. “Wherefore the law (Old Testament, Law of Moses) was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”(Galatians 3:24) So also is the Gospel of Jesus Christ our schoolmaster to bring us back to the Father. William Wordsworth described in his inspired 1804 Ode, “Intimations of Immortality,” what he felt about where we came from. The following are excepts from that poem:
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is Nature’s priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
The following is a Latter Day Saint song written by Eliza R. Snow in 1845 titled, ‘O My Father:’
O my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place, When shall I regain thy presence And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood Was I nurtured near thy side?
For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something Whispered, “You’re a stranger here,” And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere.
I had learned to call thee Father, Thru thy Spirit from on high, But, until the key of knowledge Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav’ns are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare! Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a mother there.
When I leave this frail existence, When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I’ve completed All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation Let me come and dwell with you.
Children are born on this earth through the natural process of a male and a female reproductive cell joining together, a process called conception. The cells divide and multiply and a fetus grows within the mothers womb. At some point, the spirit from God enters into that fetal process and the child then becomes a living intelligent soul. Whether that happens at conception or at some time after is the ongoing and controversial social discussion. At or around nine months, the child is born and their earthly sojourn begins, learning, maturing and striving to fulfill their destiny.
Many will be blessed to ‘behold the light, and whence it flows, and will ‘sees it in their joy,’ as Wordsworth has said. Those are the fortunate ones. Many will struggle in the dark and may never be enlightened during their earthly sojourn.
God bless us to be touched by the spirit and strive to be a light to others, That we may let our light so shine before men, primarily by our good works.