A sermon by Rulon C. Allred (April 3, 1977)

Rulon C. Allred

By Rulon C. Allred (1906-1977)

This is a posting of a sermon by Rulon C. Allred, given on April 3, 1977 at a sacrament meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I feel very humble in occupying this position today. I feel very unworthy of living in this day and age, when the fulness of the gospel is upon the earth with all of its wondrous opportunities that God has given me and you, which are at our fingertips. And we have done so poorly with what God has given us. There is so much to say that one hardly knows where he should start, or whether it should be left unsaid. But one thing I have learned, God always does more for us than we are worthy to receive. He gives us many blessings and hears our prayers and grants them many times when we have not done our part. But if we want eternal life and dwell in the presence of God our Eternal Father and share in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ because we are in His presence, we are going to have to pay as much for that privilege as Jesus did. 

When we come to analyze the blessings of Godhood, we might find that deep down in our hearts we don't want to pay that price. In the eyes of the world, every battle that God fought through His humble servants was lost, most particularly emphasized in the life of Christ. Though He was the Son of God, He did not take honor. When asked, "Good Master, what do you think of this or that," He answered, "Why callest thou me good? There is none that is good, save God." Yet He was the Son of God. He was without sin, yet He exemplified the need for the ordinances of the gospel by submitting to baptism, because He wanted to teach to the children of men the steps that were necessary which they should comply with in order to have eternal life. There is nothing that Christ requires of us that He did not do better than we can do. 

He could have avoided hanging on the cross. He could have had the riches of the world and the honors of men and the kingdoms of the earth, because the power was in Him, but He preferred to give His life as a witness that He was the Son of God, to break the bands of death for you and me and to make eternal life possible.

We have individuals who aspire to precedent, who want to be great in the eyes of the people. God help us and save us from such. Who is greatest among us? He who is the servant of all. The Priesthood was not given to exalt us in the sense that we think it was, but rather that we might exalt God. That we might better have opportunity to serve our Father in heaven. 

The parable of the ten virgins, who were all sleeping when Christ came, is at our doors. We don't mean to be asleep, we don't want to be asleep, but we are. The only thing in the world that can save this world from total destruction, material and spiritual, is the personal coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, His personal interference in its affairs, His personal appearance for its salvation. He cannot and will not come to save a people who are unworthy of His presence. "I would not have you ignorant," said Paul, "as to the coming of Christ. For they that are in their graves shall first be caught up to meet Him; then they who are upon the earth who are worthy to meet Him in the clouds:' This requires a transfiguration of those who are caught up to meet Christ when He comes. But before that day comes, tribulation such as this world has never known must come. And brothers and sisters, we are asleep. We do not know that they are already here. 

In the past 40 years, 32 million people have been cruelly murdered for political reasons. The principle reason was that they believed in God. They must be a godless people, to live. Six million Jews were ruthlessly murdered in Germany and in Holland and wherever they could be hunted out when that country took over for a time and carried on their extermination camps. Only a few years ago our sons were sent to fight for the freedom of the Vietnamese. Many lives were lost-more lives given than were lost in the Civil War. But our leaders betrayed Vietnam. They betrayed our sons in the field. They refused to fight a winning battle, and as in the case of Douglas MacArthur, when he had an opportunity to win a war, withdrew their support and withdrew him and turned our cause and justice over to the enemy, deliberately and willfully and wickedly. As a nation we have betrayed every country that we have seemingly proffered to assist, and the price that the United States as a nation is going to have to pay for that betrayal is more than we can realize. Already we have enacted throughout every state in the Union communistic principles that will deny us the right to believe in God. We cannot pray in our schools. We cannot salute the flag. We cannot believe in agency. We cannot own our own land and our own water. If you think that isn't true, you will see that it is true. 

The tribulations that are coming upon the United States of America surpass yours and my possible vision to realize. The fire of the Lord will go through this land in revolution and in trouble until it is purged. God gave us the Constitution of the United States. Our leaders whom we have called have betrayed us and are selling us down the river and giving us a communistic government just as fast as they can, a world government that is a godless government, that has taken agency from us and conscience from us insofar as they possibly can, as fast as they can. And we are asleep. 

We have had a few things that we have tried to do, and most of us when asked to stand forth and uphold the same principles that men have given their time and talents to the preservation of the Constitution, the preservation of our rights and privileges as citizens, have taken this position: "Oh, I don't want to put my name there; I don't want to do this or I don't want to do that. I don't want to stick my neck out." Well, when the founding fathers signed the Constitution, they stuck their necks out! They gave their lives their liberty and their sacred honor so that we could have this. We are giving it away, and we say we don't want to stick our necks out to save those things. Because this is true, we are not numbered among the people of God. 

Unless you and I are really willing to do as much as Christ did, not just in words but in actuality, give our lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are not going to be in His presence in the celestial world, let alone become Gods. The price that we have to pay is more than we know, and when it comes to actually paying it, we may find that it is more than we want to give. 

I am reminded of one of the sons of President Joseph F. Smith who said, "I don't want to dwell in the presence of God. It has too many responsibilities. I will be satisfied with the telestial glory." When it comes to paying the price, many of us will find that we're going to be satisfied with that. And probably because we are willing to settle for that, we might make telestial glory. 

Brothers and sisters, the time is here for us to love the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength and really be willing to give up ourselves, our lives, our time, our talents, to Him. I find in dealing with my brothers and sisters, not to deprecate, because I am so full of so many weaknesses that it would be folly indeed to deprecate your weaknesses. I talked to a body of 100 men this morning for a little while, and I told them a little story, a short story, but it carries with it a message that I want to leave with you. It is a lesson that I have learned over and over and over again, and yet which I still have to learn once more. It is this lesson: When we think we amount to a great deal and we think our wisdom and understanding is great, God gives us the privilege to be on the spot. And then we realize we are almost helpless. Things are put into our hands which make us like little children capable of blunders. Lives can be lost and our own lives forfeited because of foolishness. Friday morning, a little mother who is not one of us, called and said, "I am going to have my baby, I've been in labor all night." I called on her and found that she was in a great deal of distress, but getting nowhere. I spent a good part of the night with her. I went out to deliver another baby in the meantime and went back to her again to help her. On the following day I told her husband that without God's intervention she'll have to go to the hospital and have a Cesarean, because she's not functioning properly, and I don't believe she is going to be able to have that baby without inspired assistance, and I haven't in my hands the necessary things to help her. Her husband said, "I don't want to go to the hospital." So she labored all through the day and into the night and all through the next day and into the night, and at 11:00 Saturday night she called me and said, "This just can't go on." I went over and examined her, and we were not getting anywhere. 

When one realizes from the political standpoint of view and from the professional point of view and from the point of view of our people how much life means, aside from the fact that the mother knows what her life means to her, it's a terrible responsibility to take and to say, well I'm not going to send you to the hospital, that's an easy way out." You can get out of it very easily and send them to the hospital, and you're out of it. What's going to happen at the hospital? Maybe she'll live and maybe she won't. Maybe it'll be better and maybe it isn't going to be better. 

I'll make a long story short. I was scared to death. I knew that I alone could do nothing. I have been taught this many times. But I got on my knees, and I didn't pray just for a little while, I prayed all night, and I asked God to please help me, to please intercede. And God in His own infinite and wonderful way answered my prayers. She gave birth to her little son at six minutes to three this morning. And I went home praising God and thanking God for hearing my prayers. 

Now brothers and sisters, God hears and answers our prayers most wonderfully and most miraculously when the time of need is the greatest. It is written in the scriptures, "After much tribulation cometh the blessings." Our times are not always going to be easy. The present peace that we seem to have is truly the peace of death, unless we use it to sanctify our lives and draw nearer to God. Let us serve the Lord and keep His commandments and do our part, do our part first. And then you will find that God will come and do His part. God has never redeemed a world by direct intervention except when men have been found to be instruments in His hands to bring it to pass. 

The time of sleep is upon the Church, and upon you and upon me. But we can wake up in time to save ourselves temporally and spiritually. May God help us to do it. Amen.

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