Current Lessons
Lesson No. Fifty-Two

Carlsbad Caverns - A Witness of a Supreme Creator

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico – This masterpiece of the Lord’s creations is not on everyone’s bucket list but it should be. I have been to Carlsbad Caverns three times during my life:

- When I was about 10 years old my parents attended a convention in the area which included a visit to the Caverns. They were so impressed that they wanted to share this experience with me. They called my grandfather and asked him to put me on an airplane to Roswell New Mexico, the closest commercial airport. They picked me up at the airport and they took me to the Caverns. Seventy years later I can vividly remember how I felt when I first saw the Caverns.

- Shortly after our marriage in March 1968 Susan I drove to Laredo Air Force Base in Texas for a year long honeymoon while I attended pilot training. We made a detour to visit the Caverns. I experienced the same feelings I had 14 years before.

- For 57 years I have had a vivid memory of Carlsbad Caverns, and I have wanted to return. I recently made my third trip to Carlsbad Caverns, and I was overwhelmed by its beauty. It was better than I had remembered. It is recognized as the most beautiful cavern in the world. It is an amazing underground world, “an incomparable realm of gigantic subterranean chambers, fantastic cave formations, and extraordinary features” (National Park Service Brochure).

Carlsbad Caverns are a part of the Lord’s creation of the earth – The scriptures and the temple teach that the creation of the earth involved six creative periods. (See Genesis 1; Moses 2; Abraham 4) During these periods the Lord prepared the earth so it could sustain human and other animal and plant life. For example, the vast oil and gas deposits of west Texas and southeast New Mexico’s Permian Basin we have today came from a great inland sea that the Lord purposely filled with prehistoric life forms that resulted in these deposits that make modern human life possible.

Carlsbad Caverns is another result of this vast prehistoric inland sea – Geologists believe these caverns began 265 million years ago with the creation of a 400 mile long, horseshoe-shaped reef. This reef, composed of sponges and algae which later became limestone, stretched along the edge of this inland sea. Over millions of years the underground plates of the earth continuously moved creating faults and caverns. Over millions of years these caverns were exposed to air, water, hydrogen sulfide gas, sulfuric acid, and bacteria resulting in the formation of Carlsbad Caverns.

Carlsbad Caverns is another evidence of a great Creator – Many people doubt and even deny there is a God. The dialog between Alma and the anti-Christ, Korihor is instructive: “And now Korihor said unto Alma: If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words.

“But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:43-44).

Seeing with the eye of faith and not with the eye of doubt brings joy and rejoicing – Alma used the face of the earth and the heaven as evidence of a Supreme Creator. If Alma and Korihor had known of Carlsbad Caverns Alma may well have said: “yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and Carlsbad Caverns under the earth, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Ibid, italics added). Seeing with the eye of faith like Alma, and not with the eye of doubt like Korihor, brings joy and rejoicing.

Seeing God moving in his majesty and power in Carlsbad Caverns brings joy and rejoicing – “The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God. Unto what shall I liken these kingdoms, that ye may understand? Behold, all these are kingdoms, and any man who hath seen any or the least of these hath seen God moving in his majesty and power” (D&C 88:45-47).

Testimony – There is nothing memorable about getting to Carlsbad Caverns, only miles of New Mexico desert. The view from the top of Carlsbad Caverns National Park is not in the same universe as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, or any of the five national parks in Utah, but when you go underground the experience is every bit as impressive and stimulating.

Similarly, many of us have mortal tabernacles are not beautiful or handsome; tall or slender. One of the lessons from a visit to Carlsbad Caverns comes from what the Lord said when He charged the prophet Samuel to find and anoint a new king in Israel: “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

There are many among us whose spirit is beautiful in the most remarkable ways even though they are housed in unimpressive mortal bodies. But a celestial resurrection is the great equalizer of both the physical body and the immortal spirit. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ those who enjoy a celestial resurrection will receive a glorified, perfected, celestialized physical body. Also, because of His atoning sacrifice those who receive a celestial resurrection will have celestialized spirits, and they will inherit all that the Father has. Then they will be like our Heavenly Parents in every perfection.

Released on May 17th. 2025.