Subdue the Hearts

I was impressed by the story of Celia Ayala de Cruz as told in the 4^th volume of Saints. It recounts, “On the evening of August 9, 1995, fifty-nine-year-old Celia Ayala de Cruz decided to walk to her Relief Society activity…. Celia lived in Ponce, a city on the southern coast of Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean Sea…. As she set out for her meeting, Celia carried a handbag containing a five-dollar bill and a gift-wrapped copy of the Book of Mormon. Ever since President Ezra Taft Benson had challenged the Saints to renew their focus on the Book of Mormon, she and other Church members had looked for opportunities to share the book with others. The Church’s Family-to-Family Book of Mormon Program had encouraged Saints to write their testimonies on the inside of the book before giving it away…. Since joining the Church sixteen years earlier, Celia herself had read the Book of Mormon multiple times. Now, a coworker was having a difficult time in her marriage, and Celia believed the book could help her. She had placed a copy in a gift box, wrapped it up in nice paper, and tied a ribbon around it. In the box, she had also included a postcard with her address and her written testimony of the Book of Mormon. She was bringing the book to church that evening to show her Relief Society sisters how they could share the Book of Mormon with others.” She had faithfully sought to follow President Benson’s invitation in preparing to share the Book of Mormon with others.

As she made the short trip on foot, though, she was attacked by a young man. He had a knife and pushed her to the ground. The story continues, “At first, Celia thought he was going to kill her. But then he snatched her bag and rummaged through it until he found the five-dollar bill and gift-wrapped Book of Mormon. A calm feeling rested over her. She knew the young man was not going to hurt her. ‘Lord,’ she silently prayed, ‘if that’s the way you have chosen for that boy to convert to the gospel, he’s not going to kill me.’ Clutching his knife, the young man took the money and Book of Mormon and ran off into the night.” He clearly thought that the wrapped Book of Mormon was something of monetary value, but he soon found out that it was of far more value spiritually. Soon after Cecila was robbed, she received a letter in the mail from this man who robbed her. Her initial reaction to the experience proved to be prophetic, for indeed the Lord had used the Book of Mormon to help change the life of this assailant. He wrote to her, “The message you wrote in that book brought tears to my eyes. Since Wednesday night, I have not been able to stop reading it. The dream of that man of God has shaken me, and I thank God that I found you.” He changed his life and later wrote to her again that he knew the Book of Mormon was true and that he had joined the Church and received the priesthood. Because she followed the prophet and focused on the Book of Mormon in her own life, Celia helped change the life of this troubled young man as he discovered the word of God.

This story reminds me of these words of Mormon: “And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5). The word found in the Book of Mormon was more powerful to Celia’s robber than the knife he had carried to steal money. The experience also highlights that one of our main responsibilities in sharing the gospel is to invite people to read the Book of Mormon for themselves. Interestingly, this young man was particularly touched by the vision of Lehi, and this passage of scripture along with Nephi’s interpretation emphasizes the crucial part the word of God must play in the lives of those who seek to follow the Savior. Nephi summarized that the rod of iron in the dream “was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction” (1 Nephi 15:24). People in the dream didn’t make it to the tree of life—to conversion to the Lord—without holding on to the rod of iron. And so too we must read the scriptures and hear the voice of the Lord in them to have lasting conversion. The Lord described the purpose of His word in modern revelation: “For behold, verily I say unto you, this is the most expedient in me, that my word should go forth unto the children of men, for the purpose of subduing the hearts of the children of men for your good” (Doctrine and Covenants 96:5). If we want to subdue the hearts of the people to turn from wickedness and become converted to the Lord, then we need to give them the word of God. And if they do not harden their hearts, the Spirit of the Lord through the words the Savior has given us will subdue those hearts like they did for this young man.