The Process of Conversion - 3 John 1

1:1-8 - This is another short (14 verse) book from John to church members, but what’s different about this one is that it isn’t about “love one another” commandments but instead directed to specific individuals. This letter is addressed to “the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.” From listening to the podcast “The History of Rome,” I learned that Gaius was a very common Roman name, so my guess is that this Gaius was a Roman citizen, but also became a Christian believer. This almost certainly means that Gaius was not natively Jewish, therefore a gentile convert. This also means that John is another one who accepted the gentiles into Christ’s church. Apparently, some Christian church leaders had visited the saints in Gaius’ city and when they came back to report the status, they praised Gaius because he “doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers.” The IM comments that Gaius was “a faithful member of the Church whom John praised for showing unselfish devotion to the cause of Christ by providing accommodations for God’s traveling servants.” 1:9-11 - Another piece of news that returned with the travelers was about a man named Diotrephes, “who loveth to have the preeminence among them, (who) recieveth us not.” It seems that this Diotrephes liked the little set up he had created within the church community which allowed him a place of prominence, influence, and therefore probably wealth. Because this man was handling his affairs in a way that was contrary to God’s law, he was most likely rebuked by faithful church leaders, maybe even the ones who had traveled and stayed with Gaius. When he disputed with the righteous leadership, he was “prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.” The IM says, “Diotrephes was apparently either a leader in a local branch of the host of a house-church. John noted that because Diotrephes loved to have ‘preeminence’ among the Saints, he rejected the authority of John and other Church leaders.” It’s easy to see how Christianity was lost to the truth and the priesthood when so many people saw the pull of Christ and succumbed to the opportunity created to use their position for personal gain. When the truth and love are at odds with lies and selfishness, it’s easy to see which one wins out in our mortal and fallen world. I think that’s why only in a world where Jesus Christ personally reigns as King can we truly have a chance at peace and harmony. The IM quotes Joseph Smith as commenting, “It is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” This is such an interesting concept because I’m constantly shocked by how many people will claim “unrighteous dominion” over the very smallest of spheres. For instance, my complex has 103 units in a very small area, and I’ve seen HOA presidents go mad with power. It’s honestly the most entertaining/depressing thing I’ve ever seen. Promotions to “assistant manager” of a small department turns people into jealous, paranoid, abusive monsters and it makes me think, “really, you’re going to become a monster to make yourself king of this anthill?” And clearly that’s what happened in this case with Diotrephes. It’s also made me consider what exactly the process of being prepared for conversion is. What I mean is, we talk about people being in a process of accepting the gospel, how they are prepared by numerous events and thoughts and experiences and they seemingly reject the gospel, but Jesus is still walking them along the path of salvation that was created specifically for them. We think, “why does the process have to be so intense, why can’t Jesus just prepare them now?” If we consider it in the same context of the apostasy of the early church, it is the same thing. In order for the world to be prepared for the arrival of the Messiah, humans had to experience at least 4,000 years of considerable effort by prophets and other people of God. And in order for the world to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ enough for it to permanently remain on earth, it took almost 2,000 years of billions of people living, manipulating, and spreading the good word of God. That’s 6,000 plus years of generations of humans coming and going on the face of the earth, empires rising and falling, great buildings and architecture, all of this had to happen and all of this time had to pass in order for a handful of people to hear the gospel, live it, and then take it to all the rest of the mankind that is or ever has been on both sides of the veil. I’ve often thought, “why did it take so long for the restoration to happen after the apostasy?” I honestly don’t understand why Jesus didn’t just prepare the world a long time ago. If we think about it, imagine all the suffering that has happened in the name of religion, all the pain that could have been alleviated by the joy and hope and eternal perspective of the full gospel of Jesus Christ. All those people, all that agony, all that hopelessness and despair could have been relieved if Jesus has just made the people be ready and keep the gospel here on the earth. For the life of me, I don’t understand why the world had to experience all that horror in order to be “ready” to receive the gospel, but that was the path. And we have to accept the fact that if there was any other way to hasten the process, then Jesus would have done it because to have that option and then allow people to suffer further is cruelty, and Jesus is not cruel. By that logic, we have to accept that the agonizingly slow process of preparing the people of the world to receive the gospel was done in the fastest manner possible and that there was absolutely nothing else that could have been done to speed up that process. Likewise, Jesus has to walk the conversion process with each individual at their own pace, according to their own plan. If we believe that all of God’s children (except the sons of perdition), will accept the gospel at some point, which I do, then we also have to believe that all those who reject the gospel or who leave the church or who just don’t have the opportunity in this life, are on the fastest path possible to prepare them to accept the gospel. Remembering that it has taken all the human population who has ever lived over 6,000 years to be prepared for a handful of people to have the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, it totally makes sense that some people’s path to conversion runs longer than this life. 1:12-14 – John also comments on Demetrius who “hath a good report of all men.” I don’t know if this is saying that Demetrius is a member of the community John’s writing to or if he’s one of the traveling church leaders who brought the report back to John, but either way Demetrius is a good guy. Just like in John’s 2nd book, he says that writing isn’t his favorite “but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face.” And finishes by wishing “peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name,” which I’m not sure what that means.