Testimony

Hello! Testimony is one of the suggested songs to go along with the Come Follow Me  Book of Mormon lesson this week. Loren C. Dunn (1930-2001) wrote the words to this hymn. He was a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 1968 until his death. He served in the first council of the seventy and then in the early 1980’s as director of the church’s adult curriculum department. The list of his Church service is long. Toward the end of his life he was called as the first president of the Boston Massachusetts temple.  The writer of the music, Michael Finlinson Moody (b. 194), said about the hymn: “Elder Loren C. Dunn once attended a leadership meeting and jotted lines of poetry in response to the powerful testimonies he heard there. These thoughts evolved into a hymn with a number of verses.”

Here is more about Michael from his website:

• Michael Finlinson Moody has dedicated his life to creating and sharing inspirational music.  After receiving his doctorate in church music from the University of Southern California, Michael served as the chairman of the General Church Music Committee of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He later served as the chairman of the Hymnbook Executive Committee, where he oversaw the creating of the Church’s 1985 hymnbook and its translation into dozens of languages.

The arrangement I did for this song is a lyric video with two-part piano variations on the choral version found in the hymnal. The video that goes along with this scripture section was the perfect backdrop for this hymn; “Alma Preaches the Word of God” Book of Mormon Video from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

This lesson studies Mosiah Chapters 29 – Alma 4. Part of what happens in this section of scripture is Alma steps away from the Judgement seat so he can devote all of his time to preaching the word of God to the people; for he began to see wickedness and inequality among them and understood that the word of God had the power to stir their hearts to repentance.

Alma 4

• 6 And it came to pass in the eighth year of the reign of the judges, that the people of the church began to wax proud, because of their exceeding riches…
• 12 Yea, he saw great inequality among the people, some lifting themselves up with their pride, despising others, turning their backs upon the needy and the naked and those who were hungry, and those who were athirst, and those who were sick and afflicted.
• 15 And now it came to pass that Alma, having seen the afflictions of the humble followers of God, and the persecutions which were heaped upon them by the remainder of his people, and seeing all their inequality, began to be very sorrowful; nevertheless the Spirit of the Lord did not fail him.
• 16 And he selected a wise man who was among the elders of the church, and gave him power according to the voice of the people, that he might have power to enact laws according to the laws which had been given, and to put them in force according to the wickedness and the crimes of the people.
• 18 Now Alma did not grant unto him the office of being high priest over the church, but he retained the office of high priest unto himself; but he delivered the judgment-seat unto Nephihah.
• 19 And this he did that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them.
• 20 and confined himself wholly to the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to the testimony of the word, according to the spirit of revelation and prophecy.

If you enjoy this content, you might consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and liking or commenting on this video. Thanks! 🙂

Media sources: ChurchofJesusChrist.org (Film: “Alma Preaches the Word of God”)

*Please let me know if you would like the sheet music done for any of the arrangements I don’t have sheet music for yet and I am happy to do them! You can find the songs I already have sheet music for here: http://marileekaymusic.com/sheet-music/

This video is published on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MarileeKayMusic/ and short reels of the video are posted throughout the week on Instagram @MarileeKayMusic