Martyrs for Truth – Sunday, April 06, 1980
Had we been present when Christ faced Pilate, we could have predicted with certainty the outcome. On the one hand stood Jesus. He was a Hebrew, a second class citizen. He commanded no armies; He had cultivated no friendships with prominent individuals; His only material possession at the time was a homespun cloak.
Facing this carpenter from Galilee was Pilate, Pilate the governor, the commander of armies, the possessor of wealth; Pilate the law-giver in whose hand rested the power to inflict death as the final argument to any debate.
Indeed, death would soon silence this young prophet named Jesus. And in the years to follow martyrdom the same fate would also become the reward for many others who believed in his name.
It seems, in fact, that death has always been used to silence the truth by those who are ignorant or afraid. Before Christ, the sublime Socrates was silenced by the Athenian court for instructing the youth of Greece to think for themselves. After, came Bruno, the mathematician, burned at the stake for his views concerning the solar system; Thomas Moore, beheaded for refusing to break his word; Abraham Lincoln, shot because he believed in the rights of all men; and Gandhi, brought down in violence for preaching the doctrine of non-violence.
Nor have such reactions been restricted in time or place or purpose. Truth seekers of all generations and in all lands—including this one—have been stilled because of their principles. In 1844, in this country near Carthage, Illinois, an American religious leader named Joseph Smith was shot to death because of his convictions. It was he, who 150 years ago today organized a religious community which would seek refuge among the Rocky Mountains where it would lay the foundations for this historic Mormon Tabernacle on Temple Square.
Yes, truth is forever on the cross. Its champions have languished in prisons, been silenced by the assassin’s bullet, been led to the scaffold and to the stake.
But for all of this, death has not conquered these martyrs—nor have their cause, their courage, their sacrifice passed into nothingness.
For somewhere on the outskirts of Jerusalem, there is a tomb; a tomb different from all the other graves and sepulchers the world over, a tomb bearing mute testimony to the final invincibility of truth—a tomb which is empty yet testifies that the lives of all will be eternal.
“The Spoken Word” heard over KSL and CBS from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 6, 1980 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Eastern Time Copyright 1980 Bonneville Productions
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April 06, 1980
Broadcast Number 2,642