The Lord said unto Noah, my spirit shall not always strive with man….Yet his day shall be 120 years; and if men do not repent, I will send in the floods upon them.” That is a remarkable and telling statement. At one and the same moment it is a stern warning and a source of comfort. The Lord and His Spirit will strive with us, He does not give up on us that easily. May I illustrate?
Oliver Cowdery was a man highly favored of the Lord. He was granted a vision of the Lord to know that the Book of Mormon was true even before he met Joseph Smith. He wrote nearly the entire Book of Mormon as it fell from the lips of the Prophet. He received the lesser Priesthood under the hand of John the Baptist and the greater Priesthood from Peter, James and John. He saw in vision the glories these two Priesthoods would work down through time. He was the first man baptized for the remission of sins in this dispensation and was the second elder in the Church. He stood in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Kirtland Temple and with Joseph received the keys of the kingdom from Moses, Elias, and Elijah.
But then in 1838 Oliver became angry with the government of the Church and what he considered the unjust behavior of certain officers. He was called before the High Council to answer a number of charges against him. On the basis of principle and pride Oliver refused to appear and was excommunicated. At this critical moment other men angry with the Church approached Oliver and asked him candidly if he really had seen the plates and the angel. To their surprise he affirmed that the testimony written in the Book of Mormon was true. Oliver may have been angry, but he was not an apostate. Indeed, Phineas Young, Brigham’s brother and Oliver’s brother-in-law said of Oliver, “his heart is still with his old friends.”
For 10 1\2 years Oliver was outside the Church. He practiced law in Ohio as the Church moved on. He maintained favorable relations with friends in the Church, and strove diligently to maintain a reputation worthy of what he had witnessed.
As time progressed, Oliver’s heart softened. He spoke in his correspondence of being the oldest member of the Church, and of returning to the Church and going west. Finally on October 27, 1848 Oliver rode into a clearing near Kanesville, Iowa in the middle of a Church Conference. He was brought to the stand and invited to speak. With great emotion he took the pulpit and spoke to the largest audience he had ever addressed. He bore a powerful and compelling witness of what he knew of a certainty.
October 21, 1848, Oliver Cowdery Speaking at a Conference at Kanesville:
Friends and Brethren, My name is Cowdery, Oliver Cowdery, in the early history of this church I stood identified with her, and one in her councils, true it is that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance; not because I was better than the rest of mankind was I called; but, to fulfill the purposes of God, as he called me to a high and holy calling. I wrote with my own pen, the entire Book of Mormon (save a few page) as it fell from the lips of the Prophet Joseph Smith, as he translated it by the gift and power of God, by the means of the Urim and Thummin, or, as it is also called by that book, ‘holy interpreters.’ I beheld with my eyes, and handled with my hands, the gold plates from which it was transcribed. I also saw with my eyes and handled with my hands the ‘holy interpreters.’ That book is true. Sidney Rigdon did not write it; Mr. Spaulding did not write it; I wrote it myself as it feel from the lips of the Prophet. It contains the Everlasting Gospel, and came forth to the children of men in fulfillment of the revelations of John, where he says he saw an angel come with the Everlasting Gospel to preach to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. It contains principles of salvation; and if you, my hearers, will walk by the light and obey its precepts, you will be saved with an everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God on high,. Brother Hyde has just said that it is very important that we keep and walk in the true channel, in order to avoid the sand-bars. This is true. The channel is here. The holy Priesthood is here. I was present with Joseph when the higher or Melchisedek priesthood ws conferred by the holy angel from on high. This Priesthood, as was then declared, is also to remain upon the earth until the last remnant of time. This holy Priesthood, or authority, we then conferred upon many, and is just as good and valid as though God had done it in person. I laid my hands upon that man–yes, I laid my right hand upon his head–‘[pointing to brother Hyde] and I conferred upon him this Priesthood, and he holds that Priesthood now. He was also called through me, by the prayer of faith, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Early November 1848, Oliver Cowdery Speaking to the Kanesville High Council
Brethren, for a number of years I have been separated from you. I now desire to come back. I wish to come humbly and to be one in your midst. I seek no station. I only wish to be identified with you. I am out of the Church. I am not a member of the Church, but I wish to become a member of it. I wish to come in at the door. I know the door. I have not come here to seek precedence. I come humbly and throw myself upon the decisions of this body, knowing, as I do, that the decisions are right, and should be obeyed.
Source: Journal History, October 21, 1848
On November 12, 1848, Oliver was rebaptized by Orson Hyde in Mosquito Creek near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Not long after he was visited by Jacob Gates who inquired of him his witness of the Book of Mormon. Gates recorded the following.
"Jacob, I want you to remember what I say to you. I am a dying man, and what would it profit me to tell you a lie? I know," said he, "that this Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God. My eyes saw, my ears heard, and my understanding was touched, and I know that whereof I testified is true. It was no dream, no vain imagination of the mind—it was real".[
Sometime in 1849, Oliver became progressively ill to the point of coughing up blood. Though his plans were to go to Salt Lake, he was too ill, and traveled instead to Richmond, Missouri to be with his in-laws, the Whitmers. It was there on March 3, 1850. David Whitmer described Oliver’s last moments.
"Oliver died the happiest man I ever saw. After shaking hands with the family and kissing his wife and daughter, he said: `Now I lay me down for the last time: I am going to my Savior'; and he died immediately with a smile on his face."
I hope this story comforts you. It is a witness that God will indeed strive with men. He does not give up on us easily, but rather is patient and works with us, indeed, if we are willing, all the way to completion and perfection.
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