Whenever I speak of the prophets of Jesus Christ I get comments such as “I follow Christ, not men!” or some derivative of it. In this Oct. 1964 classic, Bruce R. McConkie masterfully breaks down the need to Come Unto Christ but that we cannot discard or ignore the prophets. In fact, following the prophet is vital to following Christ! So from the Conference Archives, I give you this masterpiece from Elder McConkie:
“Come Unto Christ” by Bruce R. McConkie
We invite all men everywhere to come unto Christ, to accept him as the Son of God, to obey the laws he has revealed, thereby gaining peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.
We Believe in Christ; His Divine Sonship
We believe in Christ. We testify of his divine Sonship. President McKay, in the inspiring message which opened the conference, testified that “Christ the Son of Righteousness came with healing in his wings (Mal. 4:2) in the Meridian of Time,” that “he is the true Light of men’s lives” (D&C 93:2) and that as “the Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6) he “shall reign as King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16)
We believe as the Book of Mormon says, “. . . that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17)
We believe again in the language of the Book of Mormon, “. . . that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:18)
We believe as John the Baptist said: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36)
We believe in the language of Paul, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9)
Sure Foundation of Christian Faith
Belief in Christ is basic and fundamental to the Christian faith. He is the one sure foundation. By him all things are, and upon him all things rest. As Paul said: “. . . other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11)
But we deplore and are saddened by the lack of unity among professing Christians, lack of unity as to his divine sonship, his atonement and mission and the gospel plan which bears his name. One group of sincere and devout persons believes one thing and another group something else.
We look forward with hope, however, to an eventual day when honest men among all nations shall know who Christ is, what his laws are, and what they must do to be saved in his kingdom.
To aid these sincere seekers after spiritual certainty, may we testify to the world of those things which have been revealed to us concerning this greatest of all men—Jesus, our Lord and Master. May we begin by taking this statement of Paul about confessing Christ, believing in his resurrection, and consequently gaining salvation.
The Testimony of Paul
Here is a man who says he has a message for “all that be in Rome.” He announces: I am “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle.” I bring you “the gospel of God,” which gospel is that “Jesus Christ our Lord” was both “the seed of David according to the flesh,” and also “the Son of God” (see Rom. 1:1-7)
This man Paul, who speaks for God, then says: “. . . my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Rom. 10:1) He then reveals his fears that they may not gain salvation, for he says: “. . . they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10:2) that is, they had a system of religion and sought in their way to worship God, but their course was not based on a knowledge of the truth.
And so, to chart the course which they and all men must follow to gain salvation, Paul gave this glorious statement: “. . . if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9)
He Is the Son of God
Now, if we are to believe in Christ, we must know who he is and what it means to believe in him. True worship presupposes that men know whom they worship and know how to worship.
Is he, as the Mohammedans say, one of the prophets, but not the Son of God?
Is he, as some professors of religion assert, a great moral teacher, but not the Savior and Redeemer?
Is he, as some of old claimed, the carpenter’s son (Matt. 13:55) but not the promised Messiah?
Is he, as some creeds recite, an incomprehensible, incorporeal, uncreated spirit which fills immensity, but not the literal offspring of that God in whose image man is created?
Or is he, as we testify, the Son of God, the Firstborn in pre-existence, the Only Begotten in the flesh, the Creator and promised Messiah, the Redeemer and Savior who has manifested himself in our day, and who will soon return in glory to reign on earth a thousand years?
How shall we know who or what Christ actually is?
Paul answers this to the Romans by first saying: “. . . whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13) and by then asking four questions which grow out of this plea for men to approach their God:
First: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” (Rom. 10:14) Believe in God, that holy Being in whose image man is created.
Second: “. . . how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14) The knowledge of God must be revealed, the gospel taught.
Third: “. . . how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14) Preachers, Apostles, prophets, teachers, representatives of the Lord must do the teaching.
Fourth: “. . . how shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Rom. 10:15) Only those can preach and teach who are actually called of God and sent forth by him.
In other words, if we “call upon the name of the Lord,” if we confess the Lord Jesus with the mouth, if we believe in our hearts “that God hath raised him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9) it is because we first believe and accept the testimony of the Apostle or prophet who is sent of God to give us the knowledge of salvation. It is not the Lord’s program to appear personally to every man and tell him what to believe and how to act to be saved. In this, our second estate, we are to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7)
But it is the Lord’s program to send legal administrators endowed with power from on high, to send prophets and Apostles to teach his truths and perform the ordinances of salvation.
Paul was one of these. Since he was sent to the Romans, that nation was required to accept him as an Apostle in order to accept Christ as the Savior. If they believed in Paul’s divine commission, they could then believe his testimony about Christ and the saving truths of his gospel. If they believed in Christ and accepted him as the Son of God, they of necessity had to believe that Paul was an Apostle, for he was the preacher sent to them to reveal the truth about Christ and the gospel.
Christ and His Prophets
Thus, Christ and his prophets go together. They cannot be separated. It is utterly and completely impossible to believe in Christ without also believing in and accepting the divine commission of the prophets sent to reveal him and to carry his saving truths to the world.
No one today would say: “I will believe in Christ, but will not believe in Peter, James, and John and their testimony of him.” In the very nature of things belief in Christ is more than accepting him as a single person standing alone, as one person independent of any other. Belief in Christ presupposes and includes within it the acceptance of the prophets who reveal him to the world.
Jesus said: “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me” (John 13:20) Also: “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me” (Luke 10:16.)
To believe in Christ we must not only accept the prophets who reveal him but we must also believe the scriptural accounts recorded by those prophets. Jesus said to a Book of Mormon prophet: “. . . he that will not believe my words will not believe me—that I am” (Ether 4:12) meaning that he will not believe that I exist and am the Son of God.
Nephi, another Book of Mormon prophet invited all men to “believe in Christ . . . And if ye shall believe in Christ,” he said, “ye will believe in these words [that is, in the Book of Mormon account], for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me” (2 Ne. 33:10)
The Spirit of Prophecy
But even the very scriptures themselves can only be interpreted with surety when the spirit of prophecy is present, as Peter said: “. . . no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:20-21)
Prophets gave the scripture, and prophets must interpret it. Holy men of old received revelation from the Holy Ghost, which they recorded as scripture; now men must have the same Holy Spirit to reveal what is meant by the scripture—otherwise there will be a host of private interpretations and consequently many different and disagreeing churches, which is precisely the condition in the religious world today.
By the Holy Ghost
And finally, to believe in Christ in the full and perfect and saving sense, we must heed the testimony and accept the teachings of the Lord’s prophets so that we too may enjoy the promptings of the Holy Spirit and feel the spirit of revelation in our own souls. The Comforter is given to the Saints to bear record of the Father and the Son. “. . . no man,” Paul says, “can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 12:3)
The world needs prophets today as much as it ever did—prophets who are the Lord’s agents, who stand as legal administrators with power like Peter’s to bind on earth and have their acts sealed eternally in the heavens; prophets who speak for God, who reveal his mind and his will to the people; prophets who reveal and interpret the truth about Christ our Lord and his gospel.
And thanks be to God, for through his grace and goodness, prophets have again been called to reveal anew, with power and conviction, the truths about Christ and salvation. As foretold and promised by the prophets of old, the great era of restoration has commenced. Christ has again revealed himself from heaven; priesthood and keys have again been conferred upon living Apostles; revelations, visions, miracles, and all the gifts and graces enjoyed by the faithful of old are again offered to those who will come unto Christ, confess his holy name before men, and believe in their hearts that God has raised him from the dead and made him both Lord and King.
And so, as legal administrators authorized so to speak, we invite all men everywhere to come unto Christ and be perfected in him, to deny themselves of all ungodliness (Moro. 10:32) to accept him as the Son of God, and to gain for themselves peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come (D&C 59:23) In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, October 1964, pp. 36-38
If you liked this conference talk on “Come Unto Christ” from the archives, you might enjoy these other articles from the archives too!
