A Quorum of Precious Ideas – The Witness and Testimony of Chauncey Cazier Riddle

There are gods who are perfect.

There are gods many and lords many. All are fully one with each other, being one God. Each individual god is perfect, being perfectly obedient to the person who presides over him or her in the patriarchal order.

Each is omniscient,

Each is omnipotent.

Each lives and acts only to bless others.

Jesus Christ is our God.

We have three gods who preside immediately over us on this earth. They are the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

The Son has been sent to bless us.

He is the creator of heaven and earth and all things that in them are.

The good news is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The true church today is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint.

Authority in the church and kingdom is the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God.

The Father has given all things into Christ’s hand.

The Father testifies: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.”

To him do we look for every good thing.

The Law of Christ governs all things.

His word is his law.

He has set the time and the seasons, the bounds and limitations, the order in his universe.

Everything in his universe obeys Christ out of love for him, except the devils and the children of men. But the devils do obey him when he commands them directly, and all the children of men will come to obey him willingly except the sons of perdition.

Faith in Christ is the key to every good thing.

Faith in Christ is made possible by the revelation of his word, which is his law.

Faith exists when men believe in Christ and obey his commandments.

Faith in Jesus Christ is that law upon which all blessings are predicated.

Without faith in Christ it is impossible to please God.

Through that faith in Christ one may lay hold of every good thing.

Every human being lives by faith in something or someone, but the only faith that saves   anyone from unrighteousness is faith in Jesus Christ.

Righteousness comes only through faith in Christ.

The greatest good that any person can lay hold of is righteousness.

Righteousness is blessing all others as much as is possible.

Becoming righteous, to be a just person made perfect, is what salvation is about.

Jesus Christ is the sole fountain of righteousness in this world. Only through faith in Christ can any person do the work of righteousness at any time. The wisdom of men, individually or collectively, never is sufficient unto righteousness.

Men are free to become gods.

The good news of the gospel is that through faith in Christ, any and every human becomes free to lay hold of righteousness.

If a person believes the good news, repents of his sins, covenants in baptism to be faithful, and receives the gift of the Holy Ghost, he or she has entered upon the path of salvation.

The other end of the path to salvation is to have become like Christ, having received, through faith, a new mind, a new heart, a new countenance, and a renewed body. The laws, the ordinances, and the priesthood are all given to men that they might grow in power and knowledge until they are as Christ. All who enter upon the path and endure to the end are accepted into the society of the gods, to work the works of righteousness with their new father, Jesus Christ, and with all other gods, forever.

This is the best of all possible worlds.

Our Savior is righteous, omniscient and omnipotent.

He has designed this world and the probationary experience of every soul with such love and care, that each person has the full opportunity to become free to be fully righteous.

If there were any way to make this world better, the Savior would have done so or will do so.

This world is as good as it can possibly be for the blessing of the souls of men.

We can assist the Savior in making this world a better place if we are faithful to him. But faithful or not, as we choose to be, the world at any given moment is as good as it could be.

Evil is designed into this world.

Knowing that adversity would make possible the kind of faith that brings   salvation, evil was programmed into this world by the Father and the Son for the blessing of mankind.

Satan was sent into the earth and was given great power to destroy, to lie, to blind and captivate men and nations.

Sin, ignorance, disease, tyranny and death are challenges to faith, to sharpen and to prove it, and to give men freedom to choose.

Only in free choice is there strength unto salvation.

Evil is necessary that men might be saved.

Evil is programmed into the true Church of Jesus Christ for the same reason: to prove the faith of the saints. Judas Iscariot had his mission.

Evil is not accidental in this world.

In the gospel, the end never justifies the means.

(Nephi killing Laban is a special case where Christ commanded Nephi, and Nephi was faithful in obeying. It would be easy for men to claim they are commanded by Christ to kill, but only those who are actually being obedient to Christ in their deeds will be counted as being just.)

Satan tempts men to try to accomplish good by evil means. That is what he was proposing to do in the council of heaven.

Our Savior said he would do the Father’s will, knowing it to be the only means for truly blessing mankind.

Our role is to do the Savior’s will. The only sufficient means to any righteous goal is faith in Jesus Christ.

Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin.

Through Christ will come every good thing, every hoped for condition or righteousness. But it must needs be done in his own way, in his own time, according to his words and by his servants.

Efficiency is not the prime good.

Satan would exalt efficiency, the greatest production at the lowest cost. His complaint about the Father’s plan in the council in heaven was that it did not save everyone.

Righteousness is not necessarily efficient. To bless involves everyone’s agency.

Efficacy is the gospel good. The atonement of our Savior was wasteful, suffering for sins for many who would never repent. But it was efficacious unto the blessing of every human soul.

Mere efficiency is a sorry substitute for doing what is right, be it in the church, in civil government, in business, in families, or whenever. But efficiency makes a good companion if righteousness is placed first.

People are more important than institutions.

Because men are free, organizations in this world cannot be perfected. They will   always hurt the people who relate to them. Even the true church of Christ will thus suffer and sometimes hurt people who relate to it because some in the Church of Christ are not yet perfected servants of Christ.

People can be perfected. Some individuals will serve the Savior with all of their hearts.

Perfected people will not be hurt by any organization or evil person, even though they suffer.

Institutions are ostensibly organized to help people. But they tend to acquire a life of their own and to become indifferent to people.

Servants of Christ who participate in institutions would do well to serve people, through faith in Christ, rather than just serving the institution.

Our desires determine our actions.

Our knowledge may affect how we do something.

Our reasoning may affect what we say as to why we do something.

It is our hearts, our desires, that are the final determinant of what we do.

To become pure in heart should be our primary objective in this world. Then we may serve and bless in the power of pure faith.

Only Jesus Christ can purify our hearts and he can do so only as we yield our hearts unto him in faith.

Our conscience is the voice of the Holy Spirit, the voice of Christ in us. Yielding to our conscience—the best we know—is our key to faith and to purity of heart.

We will do what we wish to do.

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