From: Brian Mundy
2023 CRE Conference Follow-Up
I greet you in the blessed and all-powerful name of Jesus Christ. It’s hard to believe it’s already been two weeks since we were together in conference. I sure hope you were blessed and in turn your branches and regions were blessed also.
Several have asked about the minutes from Saturdays business session. That has now been posted on the CRE website for your review. If you notice something incorrect, please let me know.
I have also attached the testimony that brother Marlin Guin shared with us Saturday. I believe this counsel was inspired by the Holy Spirit. We spent much time at the conference practicing listening and discussing what it means to hearken. So please listen to the spirit as you read these words and then hearken.
Also, I would appreciate it if you took a few minutes and respond to the following survey. Your input will be welcomed and help with future conferences.
2023 Conference of Restoration Elders Evaluation
Please, if you have any testimonies or thoughts you would like to share with me on conference or if you would like to put something in the Tidings, please email me. It is my prayer that we all listen and respond so that we are able to not only walk circumspectly but diligently.
So, in closing I would like to share with you our theme for this next year. It is taken from Luke 1:17, “Make ready a people prepared for the Lord”. We cannot do this if we are walking as men. So, press forward the Kingdom awaits. God bless us all.
Your fellow servant
Brian Mundy
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Brethren,
Some of you have requested me to write my personal testimonies from this last conference. I wasn’t expecting to write them down for others to read but I have done my best using my brief notes and memory. I’m not sure I remember everyone who wanted to read them so please feel free to share with anyone that might be interested. They are simply my personal testimonies of what I feel the Lord shared with me during conference. I pray they will be of some spiritual blessing to those who read them.
God bless you all,
Marlin
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My Testimonies
Shared at the Conference of Restoration Elders (CRE)
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Marlin Guin
I want to share some testimonies from earlier this week and one from early this morning. They are meant only for your prayerful consideration, with an admonition for each person to ask the Lord about them.
As we gather in worship this morning, even before our quorum and business sessions, the Spirit reminds us that unity and righteousness cannot be legislated.
My first testimony came at our early-morning prayer service on Tuesday. I was allowed to know that the Lord is watching to see how tight our grip is on the things we think we know.
Another testimony came in our priesthood discussion about Zion. During that discussion, brother Bill Barrett reminded us of the Book of Mormon and God’s covenants to the Lamanites that are yet to be fulfilled in the last days. The Spirit flooded me with a remembrance of the words of the Lord which said there would be many in the last days who would believe the words written in the book and they would carry them forth unto the remnant of the seed of Lehi. I was overcome with conviction of this truth as I thought about how we, since the beginning of the Restoration, have mostly set aside this commandment to restore and gather the remnant of Jacob and all the House of Israel and to help them take their covenant place in this great work. I was given to know how the Lord is waiting for a people to take the book to them, a people who actually believe the words written in the book and not just a belief in the book.
Another testimony this week is how the Lord is pleased with the passion and desire of the brethren this week for Zion to come forth upon the earth. He allowed me to know how this passion and desire, as necessary as it is, has not produced the spiritual and temporal fruits needed for the cause of Zion, because our passion and desire has not yet been sufficiently founded on the rock of revelation.
My most recent testimony is that I was given to know how the Lord is calling His people to a place we’ve never been before. I found myself in prayer early on Saturday morning, the last day of conference, asking the Lord these questions:
1. How does a supporting, advisory organization like the CRE, which doesn’t represent all the branches that it tries to support and where some branches may even say it has no authority from the church: How can such an organization actually determine who has authority from God?
2. How can we put new wine in new bottles when all the existing organizations among us have been unable to take the people to this new place we have never been before?
3. How do we minister with the authority of God and not as the scribes and Pharisees?
My testimony is that God’s great gathering in the last days will be for all His people, those who hear the voice of Christ. It will not be a gathering of the many Restoration churches, organizations, and groups. His people will be gathered at the feet of Jesus, into one fold with one Shepherd. It’s the one and only place for us to find all truth.
We often define factions as those who intentionally separate and remove themselves from the fellowship of others. They may choose to separate for many reasons. Some may indulge in practices not acceptable to others but still continue forward with no consideration for the whole body. The end result is the same no matter what the reasons may be. For me, I have come to realize that factional separation has been caused not only by some of the decisions of Restoration churches, organizations and groups but also by some of the decisions coming from some of the branches themselves, as they choose to remove their fellowship with other branches. For me, this makes those branches function like factions because of that intentional separation. In the light of this understanding, I can easily see how even the CRE could, in its own way, also be called a faction because of some of the decisions we make.
I remember today some of the counsel given at Kirtland this past September, which said:
Be willing to remove all barriers and hindrances to the achievement of Zion. You must become one. This would include the groups and associations you have formed, and the responsibilities that you carry. Needful things will be restored. All else is inconsequential.
I give unto you two years to implement these stewardships. Then, if you are obedient, I will give you the things which are to follow… Do not tarry in these things…
As I continue to pray about this counsel, the Lord reminds me that prophecy has a timeline, a beginning and an end. For that reason, I feel prompted to ask all the brethren this question:
Would we be willing to, just one more time and perhaps even for the last time, seriously consider our response to these following questions that the Lord has placed on my heart.
Are we willing to plead with all the branches to come together and seek the revelation of God together, in order to establish an acceptable way for us all to unify our ministry and the missionary work to the world?
Are we willing to remove all the barriers and hindrances to the achievement of Zion, even if it means changing or even replacing the CRE with something revealed by God and sanctioned by
all the branches? Are we willing to invite all other Restoration churches, organizations and groups to do the same?
As prophecy is being fulfilled more fully and more quickly before us, I have come to know the Lord is now speaking in a certain way to get our attention and for His people to become one with Him and each other. However, if we delay our acceptable response for the next 1.5 years, the Lord will simply allow us to continue down the same road we now travel, holding on tightly to what we think we know, or He will speak to us in a much different way to get our attention.
For me, now serving as President of the Board at the Book of Mormon Foundation (BMF), I also ask myself: Would I be willing to ask the BMF board to do the same, if we at BMF are creating barriers and hindrances to the achievement of Zion?
Brothers and sisters, it always returns to the same question: What are we willing to do?
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