The Gospel According to Scott

Joseph's Prayer

2012-01-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, you know that I have an 18 year old son named Joe. He works two jobs and attends the community college. Due to choices he makes in his life, he lives on his own rather than living here at home. Although difficult for a parent, the things he is learning by being responsible for himself are invaluable. I hope that one day he makes good choices and is able to move home.

About a week ago today I had an incredible experience with him that I would like to share. This story shows how the Lord will help us teach our children if we are willing to listen. I thank God for experiences like this.

Over a several day period, Joe was having trouble with his car starting. It started sometimes, and other times it wouldn’t. At first it seemed to be a problem with the battery, since it would start if we jumped it, but as time went on it became evident that the starter motor was going bad. I encouraged Joe to take it and get it fixed before he got stranded somewhere, but ultimately that is what happened. Last Friday he had to leave it in a parking lot until I had the time to help him.

On Saturday morning we went out early to attempt to get it started. It had snowed several inches overnight to complicate issues a little. At this point we were not quite sure if the problem was with the battery or the starter so we bought a new battery before going. When we arrived at the car we tried multiple things to get it started. We tried jumping it first, then we tried the new battery but nothing seemed to work. It simply wouldn’t start.

After about 30 minutes I asked Joe to come in the car with me so we could say a prayer. We weren’t asking for the car to be miraculously repaired, we were simply asking for it to start one last time so we could take it to be repaired. I offered a simple but heartfelt prayer. Afterward, I felt 100% confident that it would start. I thought to myself what a wonderful experience this would be for Joe if it started. I was full of faith. After the prayer I tried it again and it simply wouldn’t start.

Joe got out of his car (where we had prayed) since it was cold and went and sat in mine. I was shocked that the car hadn’t started. I was certain it was going to and yet it didn’t. I silently offered another prayer and reasoned a bit with the Lord. “Heavenly Father, why isn’t it starting? What am I missing?” After asking these questions I sat quietly for a few moments and listened for an answer. The answer came in a very loving manner. “Scott, you already know that I will answer your prayers. Does Joe know that I will answer his?”

I stepped out of Joe’s car and went in mine where Joe was warming up. “Joe, I think you need to pray about this one.” He replied “I don’t want to pray, I don’t even know what to ask.” This response still shocks me; he grew up in a family that prayed nearly every day together. He had heard, and offered thousands of prayers in his lifetime. At this point, however, he didn’t know what to ask for. I asked him “what is it that we want?” He replied “we want the car to start.” “Then that is what you should ask for” I replied.

Joe offered a simple but to the point prayer “Heavenly Father, Please bless my dad and I that the car will start so we can go get it fixed, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.” I then said “Joe, now go start your car.” Joe went to his car, and in a couple of attempts it started.

I got out and unhooked the jumper cables, put the tools away, and closed the hoods of the cars. Joe sat silently in his car. I went and sat next to him. “Joe, you can’t deny this one” I said. “I know” he replied. I then explained to him how I had been prompted to ask him to pray. He sat silently. I said “We owe Heavenly Father a prayer of thanks for this one.” I offered it and went back to my car.

The next couple of minutes I sat in my car and wept. I was so grateful that Heavenly Father would love me so much as to give me such an amazing teaching opportunity for my drifting son. I was overwhelmed with love and appreciation for him. Over and over in my mind went the thoughts “my God is a good God, my God is a powerful God, my God is a great God.” Oh how I love Him.

This important lesson teaches me that Heavenly Father really is in charge. He loves us and will help us in all we do if we will simply turn to him… and listen.

I have a painting hanging in my living room of the Savior calming the sea. It is a painting by Walter Rane titled “Master the Tempest is Raging.” I bought it after a very powerful experience I had in the Salt Lake temple while viewing it there one day.

In the midst of the trouble I was having with my two sons, ad when Matt was in the middle of his treatment at Turnabout, I was in the Salt Lake Temple. In the entrance to the Men’s locker room hangs this wonderful painting. It depicts the small ship being tossed by the sea. Each of the disciples is in various forms of panic. One disciple is clenching tightly to a rope that is tied to the sail. He has his teeth gritted and is pulling with all his might. At the same time, the Savior is standing in the front of the boat very calmly with His hand outstretched.

As I stood in the temple that morning, the eyes of my understanding were opened and I suddenly saw myself in this painting. I was grasping on to the rope (my sons) as tightly as I could. I somehow felt that if I was strong enough, or good enough, or held on tight enough, I could save my two sons, just as this disciple thought he could save the boat. The Savior on the other hand didn’t need to use any physical strength at all; without holding tightly to anything, spoke the words “peace be still” and the elements obeyed. As I stood in the temple that morning, the Spirit whispered to me “Scott, let go of the rope and trust me.” I soon realized that my sons have a Savior… and it isn’t me!

I bought a copy of this painting and display it prominently in my home to remind me to let go and to trust the Savior.

I end this post with the scripture found in Mark 4:

37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Each of us encounter “great storms” in our lives. How many of us turn to the arm of the flesh to calm the storm? The words found here “Why are ye so fearful? How is it ye have no faith?” give me great comfort at times when I feel afraid. May we all learn to let go of the rope and trust the Lord!

Our Savior's Love

2012-01-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

On December 21, 2011 my dear mother passed away. She was truly the most Christ like person I ever knew. She was kind and loving and never said an unkind thing about anyone. She always saw the good in every person and in every situation. She will be missed by all. Thank you to all who expressed their condolences and sympathies. I truly felt the influence of your prayers.

I would like to write today on a really wonderful experience that happened the day of her passing. It shows how much our Savior and our Heavenly Father really loves us, and it shows how we can receive some of the greatest blessings of our lives if we give ourselves the time and space to listen to the whisperings of the Spirit.

The night before my mother’s passing, the entire family, siblings and spouses, met at her bedside. The kind people at hospice had told us that the time was very near. The hospice nurse explained to us everything that was happening in her body, and what we could expect during the next few hours until her death. She hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for several days and her face was very frail and thin. Her heart was racing at about 130 beats a minute and she was very warm. Her body was simply shutting down. She was not conscious.

As we gathered together, there was a strong unity between all of us. There were no hard feelings. We were able to whisper things to our mother and tell her good bye. We had a family prayer. Then most of us left. I never expected to see my mother alive again.

The following morning was Wednesday, the day I go to the temple, and I awoke at my normal 4:15 in order to read my scriptures and say my prayers before going to the temple. I thought in my heart that there wasn’t a better place for me to be at my mother’s passing than at the temple. My prayers that morning were particularly earnest and my emotions were near the surface. I had expected a call or text overnight telling me of her passing but had received neither.

As I finished my prayers, and passed through the kitchen to go take a shower, I glanced at a picture of the Savior that hangs in that room. Without much thought I paused on the picture for a moment and said under my breath “please hold her hand today.” As I turned to walk away I felt the sweet promptings of the Spirit say to me “no Scott, you should hold it yourself.” I was a little taken back by the prompting. As I hopped in the shower I continued to ask the Lord if going to be with my mother, or going to the temple where I could pray in peace for my mother was more important. I had the distinct feeling I needed to go to my mother’s side. I dressed quickly and arrived at her side about 5:45 am.

When I arrived at my mother’s home (assisted living), my sister Carolyn was standing at my mother’s door. When I asked her what was wrong, she said that a couple of nurses ad just run by and entered another room. We soon learned that our sweet friend Arva had just passed away.

Arva was another angel. She was only 81 years old and in relatively good health. She had been in a car accident and had a serious brain injury that left her nearly unable to speak. She had, however, a huge heart and treated us, and especially our mother, with great love and respect. In her very labored speech, she always asked about our mother and expressed her concern. Everyone was shocked that she had passed and we were all saddened. I honestly feel however that she passed to help my mother make this important transition.

When entering my mother’s room, I found her nearly in the same state as the previous night. Julie, Carolyn and Lance had spent the night. Lance left just prior to my arrival. I sat next to my sweet mother and held her hand. I kissed her and whispered in her ear how much I loved her and how it was okay to go. There was no response but I know she could hear me.

At about 7 am, Carolyn expressed that she didn’t think that mom would leave while she (Carolyn) was there. She knew how upset Carolyn would be. Carolyn decided to leave.

Within a few minutes my brother Steve arrived. He too had had an impression to come. Over the past few months he had been very sweet and tender with my mother and had really taken care of her.

Soon after Steve came Susan. She was very kind and wonderful. Now it was just the four of us. We each took time holding mom’s hand and talking to her. We talked about the passing of our dad and our various experiences with that occasion. I was living in Maryland when my dad passed and despite my best efforts, was not able to make it before he passed. I was always disappointed I wasn’t there.

About 7:35 my mother threw up. All that came out was the mucus in her throat. As Steve turned to wipe it up she seemed to roll on her back a little and relax. Her breathing changed; she was taking a breath only every 10 or 15 seconds. We all jumped to her side. Susan indicated that this was probably it. We pulled the bed away from the wall so we could stand on both sides and we each held her hand or arm and wept. She took only 10 to 15 of these deep breaths- exhaled a final time- and slipped into eternity.

I will never really be able to express the peace that was in that room. There was a deep love and bond between those of us that were there that morning. It was among the most spiritual events of my life. I was so happy I was there.

I am certain that I could have gone to the temple that morning and had a wonderful experience. Instead, I had a once in a lifetime sacred experience. I am so grateful for a Savior that cares enough about me to whisper a small prompting to choose between two good things. I love Him and honor His Holy Name.

My Road to Emmaus

2012-01-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I had an experience that has taught me a profound lesson, but in a manner I am not proud of. I wish I had the opportunity of living the whole thing over. I hope we can each learn from my mistake.

Early one morning in December, I was in South Jordan and stopped by a Maverik store for a drink. When I came out, I noticed a young man sitting on the picnic table, drinking a coffee. He had a backpack at his feet. It was cold outside and he was bundled up. He had the type of wool gloves that covered his hands but left the fingers bare. I got in my car and prepared to leave, but the Spirit prompted me to approach him. I put my car back in Park and went to talk to him.

Many months ago while reading a variety of books, I kept coming upon the theme of King Benjamin’s address; particularly the part in Chapter 4 where he states:

“16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.
17 Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—
18 But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.
19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?
20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.
21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.
22 And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done.
23 I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are rich as pertaining to the things of this world.”

I couldn’t get these verses out of my mind. I knew that I needed to be somebody different. At that point I began to give money to beggars in almost every instance. Not only would I give money, but I try to take the time to talk to each one and get to know them a little. I tried to learn of their real needs and what I could do to help them. My life has been greatly blessed by this decision and I feel I have developed at least one real friendship out of this, or at least I have made a real difference in the life of one of God’s children.

When I approached the young man at the Maverik store, I simply asked him “how can I help you?” He was skeptical of course and wanted to know if I was a cop. I responded that I was simply someone who wanted to help him. He told me a story of how he was kicked out of his house where his wife (or girlfriend) lived with his young son because he didn’t have a job. He had tried to reach them by telephone in the Maverik but was unable to. I asked him what I could do to help him. He responded “what I really need is to go to a motel where I can have a shower and get cleaned up.” He continued “I won’t trash it or anything.”

At this point many things ran through my mind: How much is this going to cost? Is this guy just lazy and deserves to be kicked out? Will he stay in the hotel longer than one night and keep charging it to my card? Will he steal things that I will be liable for? I shamefully responded “I can’t do that but I can give you five dollars.” I gave him a five and left. As I drove away I justified my actions in many ways: Does this guy know what he is asking? He really needs to just make up with his wife. Does he seriously think I could spend that much on him? Besides, a hotel would be in the middle of check-out, check-in won’t be for a few hours.

My actions have haunted me. Almost immediately the story of The Good Samaritan came to mind where the man helped the wounded, took him to an inn, and told the innkeeper he would pay anything owed on his next visit. Why was I so blind? Why couldn’t I have helped? My personal failure to act has haunted me more as I have pondered the following scriptures and stories:

Paul, when communicating with the Hebrew in chapter 13 wrote:

1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

Here we learn that angels “minister to us without disclosing their identity!” How chilling is that yet how wonderful?

Most importantly I was moved by the story of the Savior walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The story as found in Luke reads as follows:

16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

Here, the Savior Himself appeared to two disciples and remained unrevealed. What if my experience was indeed a test? What if it was indeed the Lord and I denied Him? How can I ever make this up to Him? Will I have another chance? My heart tells me YES, but my heart breaks that I made the choice I did.

May we remember the words of Paul as written to the Corinthians:

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

May I make better choices!

The Creation

2011-11-19T06:27:00.000-08:00

Many years ago I developed the habit of purchasing the recordings of General Conference and listening to them over and over again in my car. It reached the point that I no longer listened to anything other than conference (or Mo Tab) while driving. Most of the time, since I am thick skulled, it isn’t until the 5th or 6th time that I hear a talk that I begin to hear what the speaker is saying. An example of this was a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott in April of 2009. In this talk Elder Scott mentioned that he had attended the temple every week for 14 years. He mentioned that if he ever misses, he makes it up on another date. After listening to this talk many times, sometime in July of that year the Spirit whispered to me “Scott, you need to attend the temple every week.” I obeyed.

Attending the temple every week has been an amazing experience. I attend the Salt Lake Temple 6:00 am session every Wednesday. This act of obedience has changed my life forever. My experience has taught me that revelation occurs while in the temple. Everything that happens in the temple has multiple meanings, however, most importantly I have learned that the endowment has little to do with Adam and Eve, and is a story about us individually. This week I had an amazing experience regarding the creation as depicted in the endowment. I would like to share a part of what I learned.

An important piece of what I am about to share comes from a wonderful book titled “The Hidden Christ” by James Ferrell, (the author of the very powerful book “The Peacegiver”). I highly recommend that everyone read it. It is available at Deseret and Seagull Books.

While in the temple this week, and after reading the first chapter in Ferrell’s book, I concentrated on the Creation as being not only about the creation of the earth, but about me individually. The Spirit moved upon me in a most wonderful manner. I began to understand something that I have believed for quite some time, that the pre-existence that we learn about in Sunday School is the kindergarten version of what really happened. Our pre-existence was a series of steps… call them probations, that tested our obedience. The earth had 6 creative periods… perhaps we did as well! Each test allowed time for the elements to obey. When they obeyed, another commandment was given. It wasn’t until the 6th creative period that God finally came down himself and created me in His image.

What does it mean to be created in His image? Is it really what we have always been taught? In the world of popular entertainment, stars are created all the time. Let’s use The Back Street Boys as an example. Somewhere along the line, some producer created a concept (image) in his mind that there was room in the industry for a “boy band.” This producer put together a series of tests or auditions to find individuals who were capable of reaching the producer’s vision. Ultimately the right boys were found. The producer didn’t create the boys from nothing- meaning he brought together matter and organized it into boys- he put together a method for boys that already existed to be created in his image. I am beginning to believe this is what is meant by us being created in God’s image.

In the Book of Abraham there is the very familiar story of Abraham seeing the Council in Heaven where he saw many of the “noble and great ones.” However, just prior to this story, Abraham sees another vision we pay little attention to. It is a vision of the heavenly bodies, including Kolob which is a star nearest to God. Ferrell draws an amazing parallel between the vision of the heavenly bodies and the vision of the spirits. He shows how they unfold in nearly identical fashion. I now quote Ferrell.

“Let’s begin by considering the content and structure of Abraham’s vision of the heavenly bodies:

1.If two heavenly bodies exist, one whose reckoning of time is longer than another’s, there shall be another heavenly body whose reckoning is longer still.
2.There are many great ones- stars- that are near the throne of God.
3.These are the “governing ones.”
4.One among them- the “greatest”- is: “nearest unto the throne of God,” or as God says: “nearest onto me.” This great one is called “Kolob” because it is nearest unto God, and its reckoning is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time.
5.Kolob is “set… to govern” the earth and other plants of the same order.

Compare this to the vision of the spirits that follows it:

1.If two spirits exist, one being more intelligent than the other, there shall be another more intelligent than they.
2.There were many noble and great ones who dwelt in the midst of God.
3.These will be made “rulers.”
4.“And there stood one among them that was like unto God.”
5.This one was sent to make an earth to “prove them herewith,” and he rules “in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences (Abraham’s) eyes have seen from the beginning.”

The parallelism is quite stunning. The stars and the spirits each increase in greatness as they approach God. Given the striking parallel structures of these visions, the vision of the stars gives us a way to visualize the relationship of the spirits with God- that is, our relationship with God. Like Jesus, the star nearest to God is the “first creation” and closest to God. We are told in the explanation of Facsimile No. 2 in the book of Abraham that there is another- a third- standing next to Kolob that holds the “key of power” or right to govern over the other heavenly bodies. So we have three entities at the center that govern all things, perhaps in the similitude of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost.”

Ferrell continues: “These visions suggest that spirits relate to God in precisely the same way and according to the same laws as heavenly bodies relate to God. What immediately follows the parallelism is an account of the creation of a heavenly body being made fit for the presence of God. This implies that the story of a heavenly body being prepared for God is also the story of man being prepared for God. The first step in such a process is to “take up orbit” around those who have been called to govern on the Lord’s behalf. By obeying in this way, we signal our willingness to obey the Lord.

“We will go down,” the Lord said, “and we will make an earth whereon these (spirits) may dwell.” Why? “In order to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” “They who (do) shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever” – “glory in the same kingdom” with God himself.

“Let’s consider the creation in broad strokes to see how completely the earth was transformed by the creative process, and how that change mirrors the conversion that is offered to man.

In the beginning, before it had taken up orbit around the source of light, the earth was empty, desolate, and dark. This seems a pretty good description of man’s state so long as he insists living for himself, on his own terms, refusing to hearken to the light of Christ. But the spirit moved upon the darkness and the earth moved into proximity with the light. Under the influence of the light, a “firmament” or atmosphere of life sustaining air was formed above and around the earth. In this application to ourselves, we might consider this to be as representation of the nourishing influence of the Spirit in our lives. Under the influence of this light and within the protective canopy of this air or spirit, the earth began to come to life. Isn’t this what happens to us when we are nourished by the Spirit and bathed by the light? We, too, come to life as it were, and begin to bring forth good fruit.
Interestingly, it is a t this point in the process, after the Lord has sown his seeds and nourished his creation by his own light and spirit, that he then guides that creation into the orbit of those that he has set up to govern- the “lights in the firmament of heaven” the “greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.”

I have a firm testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. I believe with all my heart that it is God’s work on the earth. I believe that it’s leaders are inspired. I know President Monson personally and know him to be a man of God. I know he is the prophet called to lead the church at this time. I also believe that there are others called to provide light in our lives. We have all been touched by others that have great light, but no particular standing in the church. The light is the light of Christ.

“Isn’t this how we grow as well, As we stay in orbit, as it were, of the light of Christ, and the Spirit, and as we follow that light, do we no bring forth more abundantly? Do we not sustain and nourish all that is around us? Do we not ultimately receive the image of God in our countenances?”

“The parallelism implies that the being who was able to create an earth that was able to come into the presence of God is the same being who can bring us into the presence of God. That being is of course the Savior. The Saviors various names testify of his creative role. On the first day, the “light of the world” introduced light. On the second day. “he that breath unto the people” introduced air. On the third day, the “living water, and the “true vine” introduced water, soil, and vegetation. On the fourth day, the light which is in all things” caused the sun, moon, and stars to shine on the earth. On the fifth day, the “fisher of men” brought forth fishes and fowls. On the sixth day, “the Good Shepherd” and “the Lamb of God” prepared an earth to bring forth the animals and all creeping things. And the Son of Man formed man and woman “in the image of God.”

Just as it was the Savior who transformed the earth, so, too, it is the Savior who transforms man.

Order

2011-09-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

I want to begin today by telling you about a real treat that is coming next month. My dear friend Yvonne Bent, who is a fantastic gospel scholar, is holding an event that many of you may want to attend. The title of the event is “About Sacred Geometry” and will be held October 14 and 15th at the Springville Museum of Art. Yvonne’s description reads “See distinct spiritual connections with science and the universe. Decipher the treasures you’ve seen all your life, but haven’t known how to unravel their mysteries. Understand the secrets known by Da Vinci, Euclid, Abraham, and Joseph.” Please go to www.aboutsacredgeometry.com for details.

The following ideas may seem rather dull to many of you but they are something that have been on my mind quite a bit lately. While in the temple a few months ago a friend asked me if I knew anything about the order of prayer. I had to admit that I knew nothing, however, I promised to find out what I could. After several weeks of studying, pondering, and praying, I feel I am beginning to understand a little. It is not my intention to disclose much on that topic in this setting, but I would like to discuss a few of my thoughts as I pondered this topic. Many of my thoughts contemplated what is meant by the word “order.”

It is really quite remarkable how many definitions there are for the word order. The dictionary has more than twenty. Please bear with me as I share a few of them as how they were are used in our daily speech.
1.I arranged them in order.
2.a. I checked to see that the shipping department was in order.
b. The escalator is in good working order.
3. a. The revolution overcame the old order
b. The police finally restored order.
4. A prescribed form or customary procedure: the order of worship
5. An authoritative indication to be obeyed: The Sargent ordered his men, or the Sargent received his orders.
6. A sales order.
7. A request of a customer at a restaurant.
8. A grade of the Christian ministry: the order of the priesthood.
9. A group living under religious rule: The Order of Saint Benedict
10. An organization of people united by a common fraternal bond or social aim: The United Order
11. A group of people upon whom a government or sovereign has formally conferred honor for unusual service or merit: the Fraternal Order of the Police
12. Degree of quality or importance; rank: poetry of a high order.
13. To give an order or orders; request that something be done or supplied.

Idioms:
in order that
So that.

in order to
For the purpose of.

in short order
With no delay; quickly.

on order
Requested but not yet delivered.

To Order
According to the buyer's specifications.

This list isn’t even complete and I am tired just thinking about it!

What does the Lord mean when using the word order? Consider the following:

2 And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption. Alma 13:2

3 Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God.
4 But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood. D&C 107: 3-4

57 And are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son. D&C 76:57

4 And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. Exodus 40:4

2 And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; D&C 131:2

16 Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord. Alma 13:16

7 And the Gods ordered the expanse, so that it divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so, even as they ordered.

It seems to be clear from these examples that the Lord uses all of the many definitions throughout the scriptures.

It appears that the definition above that best describes the order of prayer is number 4: A prescribed form or customary procedure: the order of worship. I’m not going to pretend that I know, however, that this is the intended definition.

Similarly I ask myself the meaning of the word order when used in the proper name of the Melchizedek Priesthood as found in D&C 107:3 Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. Once again, I will not pretend to know the answer, I am simply asking questions that may be significant in our personal gospel study.

My prayers are with each of you as you study the scriptures. I pray that you will find great joy in them as I have. I often feel like running to the room where I study the scriptures in the morning as I anticipate what will be revealed to me that day. I hope you can feel likewise.

God Bless

Unexpected

2011-09-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am writing this post today from the heart of Kolkata (Calcutta), India. It’s about three in the afternoon and it is hot and rainy. Ann, my two sons Joe and Matt, and I are here working for an organization that educates the children of the slums. It has been a life changing experience for all of us.

The reason I am taking the time to write a post at this time is because I had an incredibly moving experience this morning... one that I didn’t expect. I feel a need to share my experience before it fades in my memory. I want to credit my good friend and travel partner Rand Snyderman for his insights on this topic.

Several days ago we had the opportunity of visiting one of the Seven Wonders of the World... the Taj Mahal. I have to admit it was very spectacular and wonderful. As you well know, it was built as a mausoleum for the third wife of famous king. The king himself is also buried in this monumental setting. Despite the majority of India practicing the Hindu faith, this monument is Muslim and considered a holy site. As I visited this fascinating place, I felt nothing.

In stark contrast, this morning I visited the home of Mother Teresa, Missionaries of Charity. This is the place that Mother Teresa lived during the last 2 or 3 decades of her life, and the place she is now buried. As I entered I immediately felt the Spirit. I knew it was a very different place from others I have been. It wasn’t the same as the temple, but it was indeed a sacred place. As I climbed the humble stairs that led to her meager sleeping quarters, with a small cot, and a small desk, in a 6’ X 8’ room, my heart was touched and I wept.

I walked through a very small museum with a timeline of her life. It quoted many of her famous sayings and shared her thoughts as she dedicated more and more of herself to the Savior by dedicating her life to the poor. I will quote from the text of the timeline.

“It was on the 10th of September in 1946, Mother Teresa was thirty six years old. She was on a train on her way to Darjeeling to make her yearly retreat, where she would spend eight days in silence, praying to God. On that train she experienced Jesus speaking to her. He was asking her to give up everything, even Loreto (the convent where she had been living and serving), and follow Him into the slums, to serve Him in the people who had nothing or no one and who were suffering so much - the poorest of the poor. Jesus was thirsting to love and be loved by them. It was a new vocation, a call within a call. Mother Teresa knew that it was God who was asking this of her and that it was to be his work. Still, she was afraid - she didn’t know how she could do what Jesus wanted but at the same time, she didn’t want to say no to him.”

“For more than six months Mother Teresa kept hearing Jesus speak to her. He told her “My little one - come, come, carry Me into the holes of the poor. Come, be my light, I cannot go alone- they don’t know Me- so they don’t want Me. Once she saw a vision: she saw many very poor people and children calling out to her: “Come, come, save us - bring us to Jesus.”

A small plaque rests on top of her grave that reads “Love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12

Mother Teresa suffered many hardships throughout her life. She suffered from many illnesses that were prevalent among the poor with whom she was serving. However, not until her death were her innermost thoughts shared through her personal journal. I quote once again fro the museum.

“There was something , however, that the sisters and the people never knew about Mother Teresa. They knew about the pain in her body but they never knew about the pain terrible pain she had in her soul. She loved God with her whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and she used to feel God’s great love for her. Then everything changed for her. As soon as she began to work among the poor, she didn’t feel that God was close to her anymore, even though she continued to love God as much as before. For many years she felt that God had abandoned her, that He didn’t want her, even that He didn’t love her at all. But He of course did. God was hiding His presence from her. He was letting her share how He felt when He was dying on the cross and how many of the poor people feel- lonely, unwanted and unloved. She understood the poor so well because she experienced the same rejection and loneliness as they did. Mother Teresa did not act on her feelings but kept on praying, loving, and serving God. Her smile smile kept anyone from guessing what she was feeling inside.”

For the past several days we have been working among these same poor. It has been life changing. However, we have done it from the relative comfort of a school. Although hot and poorly ventilated, it has been relatively clean. Each night we have gone home to a hot meal and hot shower. Never have we worked in the squalor of the slums. My heart has been touched by Mother Teresa.

At times when we feel abandoned by the Lord, or feel that he is not responding to our pleas, do we consider that He is teaching us an important lesson? Can we learn to love others as Mother Teresa did, and keep a smile throughout our trials?

On a personal note, I have recently been prompted by the Lord to do something that I consider very difficult. I have wondered how I could possibly do what he is asking me to do. After learning more about Mother Teresa today and feeling of her goodness and devotion, I feel encouraged that I too can do difficult things.

God's Mercy

2011-06-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Elder Gene R. Cook once wrote that one of the most misunderstood scriptures in the Book of Mormon was found in Moroni’s promise in Moroni 10:3

“Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.”

The misunderstanding seems to come from the word “it”; the fourth word from the end. What exactly is “it” that we are to ponder in our hearts?

The common belief by most of us is that when we read “these things, if it be wisdom in God that we should read them,” that we should ponder “them” in our hearts. But this isn’t what Moroni says… he says ponder “it.” The only “it” he could be referring to in this sentence is “how merciful the Lord has been unto the children of men.” This changes our focus quite dramatically.

We have been taught by many gospel scholars over the years of the ancient literary writing style known as chiasmus. A chiasm, as I understand it, is literary writing structure that places concepts in symmetrical order. For example, suppose that the first topic in a text is labeled by A, the second topic is labeled by B and the third topic is labeled by C. If the topics in the text appear in the order ABC…CBA so that the first concept that comes up is also the last, the second is the second to last.

A simple example of a chiasm in the New Testament is found in John 1:1-2
In the beginning was the Word, (A)
and the Word was with God, (B)
and the Word was God. (B')
The same was in the beginning with God. (A')

I find it interesting that the Book of Mormon starts and ends in a similar manner. In 1 Nephi 1:20 we read: ““But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen.”

Then in Moroni 10:3 we are asked to ponder “how merciful the Lord has been.”

It is of this mercy that I wish to write today.

I have often felt throughout my life that the Lord blesses me well beyond what I deserve. I hesitate to use the word deserve because I know that I don’t really deserve anything. I guess what I mean to say is that I have feel more blessed than what my imperfect mind and heart feel I should- knowing all of my sins and imperfections. For this I am deeply grateful to my Heavenly Father.

Although I have honestly strived throughout my life to do the things the Lord asks of me, I have lived a life filled with rebellion, envy, pride, lust, and sin. Despite this behavior, the Lord has shown His tender mercies toward me and given me every opportunity to repent and to succeed. I have been given opportunity after opportunity to serve in His Kingdom. My prayers have always been answered and I have always felt the power of the Holy Ghost in my life.

Roughly seven years ago, I was living the life of a mediocre Latter Day Saint. I went to church, I read my scriptures, I said my prayers most of the time, and I attended the temple every month or two. I had a testimony… I felt it was a strong testimony. I had experienced many wonderful things that really strengthened my faith. I had repented of many things. I was busy raising my family and I was busy in my career. I felt I was doing what was required of me for the most part. Then one day, out of the blue, I was called as a member of the Stake High Council. This was the beginning of a “mighty change” in my life.
I will never forget how I felt as I first began attending High Council meetings. I felt so out of place and so unworthy to be there. I was suddenly in the midst of the greatest group of men I had ever known. I made a vow to really strive to be better… to be more repentant: To be more Christ like.

This went on for about two years. I was striving to change and to be better. The Holy Spirit was guiding me and helping me to make some changes that I needed to but in hindsight now, I can see that I wasn’t close to comprehending how much the Lord was asking me to change. He wanted me to be vastly different; He wanted me to make major changes; not just these superficial ones that I was slowly making.

In the fall of 2005 I was suddenly hit with a trial that changed every part of my life. It isn’t important to mention what the trial was, but it affected me so deeply that I didn’t know how to go on with my life. I was alone with no one to turn to but the Lord. Once again in hindsight, I feel that the Lord grabbed my attention in the only way I would listen, and proceeded to make me the person He wanted me to be. I needed to change, and the change was more drastic than I had ever imagined. Once again, His tender mercy plucked me from a life of mediocrity in the church, to one of total immersion and commitment.

Here I sit, nearly six years later, contemplating the blessings that have become mine due to a loving Heavenly Father that chose to select me for chastisement. I have learned what it means in Doctrine and Covenants 121:45 to have my “confidence was strong in the presence of God.” I know what it means to “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” I have learned why the Holy Ghost is known as the Comforter.

In the past 6 years I have had many trials. I’ve learned that when we begin to get a handle on withstanding one type of temptation, Satan is right behind with another. The closer we grow to the Lord, the more personal becomes the temptation. I have learned that Satan will do all in his power to destroy marriages and families. I’ve learned that there are countless ways for our hearts to be broken. I’ve learned that President Benson was right when he stated that the Lord will have a humble people… they can either choose to be humble, or can be compelled.

Although there have been many trials, there have been many blessings. I wouldn’t trade anything I have been through (although I wouldn’t want to relive any of it). I know that our trials are evidence of God's mercy. I have gained an unshakable testimony of the Savior. I have become immovable in my conviction of the restoration. I have learned that the Lord’s house is the source of great instruction. I have begun to see glimpses of Eternity and our part in it. I have learned that the Lord will reveal the “mysteries” of heaven to those who ask. I have come to know that D&C 93:1is indeed true:

“Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am”.

I know God lives and loves me.

Wheat and Tares

2011-05-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

I was really struck by a simple phrase that I read this morning. I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. The sentence is this: “When the wheat is fully ripe, the Lord will return.”(The Second Comforter, Denver Snuffer). I’m not quite sure why this phrase had such impact on me, but it has. I hope to be able to share my thoughts on this topic.

In Matthew 13 we read the parable of the wheat and the tares. It reads as follows:
“24¶Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”

I have obviously read this parable many times in my life. I feel like I have even understood what it says, but I guess I never really understood my role as being the wheat.

I have always known that we live in the last days, and that Christ will soon come. Somehow, however, I have confused the events that would actually lead to the second coming. When we read about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, it came because of the wickedness of these two cities. The Book of Mormon is full of stories where the wicked were destroyed. I have always believed that Christ would come when the world was so wicked that He would destroy it. I think that perhaps I have misunderstood this until now.

The parable tells us wait until the harvest, gather the tares and burn them, then gather the wheat. Obviously the wheat must be ripe before it is gathered. So what do we need to do, as the wheat, in order to become ripe?

We often hear the term “the Stakes of Zion” and that Zion is “ the pure in heart”. Section 97 of the Doctrine and Covenants says the following:
18And, now, behold, if Zion do these things she shall prosper, and spread herself and become very glorious, very great, and very terrible.
19And the nations of the earth shall honor her, and shall say: Surely Zion is the city of our God, and surely Zion cannot fall, neither be moved out of her place, for God is there, and the hand of the Lord is there;
20And he hath sworn by the power of his might to be her salvation and her high tower.
21Therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion—THE PURE IN HEART; therefore, let Zion rejoice, while all the wicked shall mourn.
22For behold, and lo, vengeance cometh speedily upon the ungodly as the whirlwind; and who shall escape it?
23The Lord’s scourge shall pass over by night and by day, and the report thereof shall vex all people; yea, it shall not be stayed until the Lord come;
24For the indignation of the Lord is kindled against their abominations and all their wicked works.
25Nevertheless, Zion shall escape if she observe to do all things whatsoever I have commanded her.
26But if she observe not to do whatsoever I have commanded her, I will visit her according to all her works, with sore affliction, with pestilence, with plague, with sword, with vengeance, with devouring fire.

If Zion is indeed defined as “the pure in heart” then it seems quite clear what we must do to establish Zion in our own lives: We must become pure in heart! A statement undoubtedly easier said than done. In John Pontius’s book “The Triumph of Zion”, one of the most influential books I have read, he states that Zion is an “individual matter” and can be achieved long before the actual city of Zion is established. Related to this, President Spencer W. Kimball said “When Satan is bound in a single home – when Satan is bound in a single life – the Millennium has already begun in that home, in that life.” Zion must be established before the Second Coming.

The pure in heart (D&C 97:21). Zion also means a place where the pure in heart live. The city built by Enoch and his people that was eventually taken to heaven because of righteousness was named Zion (D&C 38:4; Moses 7:18–21, 69). In the latter-days a city named Zion will be built near Jackson County, Missouri (United States of America), to which the tribes of Israel will gather (D&C 103:11–22; 133:18). The Saints are counseled to build up Zion wherever they are living in the world. A few scriptures on the topic:

• The city of David was called Zion, 1 Kgs. 8:1
• Out of Zion shall go forth the law, Isa. 2:2–3 (Micah 4:2; 2 Ne. 12:2–3).
• The Redeemer shall come to Zion, Isa. 59:20
• I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you
to Zion, Jer. 3:14
• In mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, Joel 2:32 (Obad. 1:17).
• Blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion, 1 Ne. 13:37
• The daughters of Zion are haughty, 2 Ne. 13:16 (Isa. 3:16).
• Wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!, 2 Ne. 28:19–25
• Seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion, D&C 6:6 (D&C 11:6).
• Him have I inspired to move the cause of Zion in mighty power for good,
D&C 21:7
• The New Jerusalem shall be called Zion, D&C 45:66–67
• Independence, Missouri, is the place for the city of Zion, D&C 57:1–3
• A scourge remaineth upon the children of Zion until they repent, D&C 84:58
• The Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and
one mind, Moses 7:18–19
• Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent,
A of F 1:10

Denver Snuffer also makes the following comments: “The Millennium will happen as people prepare themselves for it.It would do little good to have the Lord return if there were not people prepared for His presence awaiting Him. If that were to occur before people are prepared, the whole earth would be wasted at His coming.”

In my own life, as I have earnestly tried to change my life, and to allow the Spirit to bring about “the mighty change” spoken of in the scriptures, I have been drawn to people with similar interests. From my perspective I see Zion being established in the hearts of people everywhere. I see an increase in spirituality and in people striving to do what is right. At the same time I see the ways of the world going in the opposite direction. I am offended by things I see on television and on the internet.

A dear friend told me he had lunch with a former Bishop and recently released Stake President. The Stake President told him that out of 22 missionaries that went out in recent months, 8 are home prematurely because they lied about their worthiness. This same president said that affairs and immorality were increasing in his stake. I am sure they are in mine and others as well, but righteousness and goodness are as well. It appears the Wheat and the Tares are growing together, even in the church. God’s promises are sure, Zion will prevail. It is our duty to choose which side we will take. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15) May we all strive to establish Zion in our own lives!

The Second Comforter

2011-05-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Roughly 14 years ago, while living in Maryland, I had the wonderful experience of being an ordinance worker in the Washington D.C. Temple. For roughly two years I spent Thursdays from 2 pm till closing (10pm) in the temple. This was an experience I will always treasure. It was here that I really began to love the House of the Lord. Spending many hours in the temple at a time increases the rate of personal revelation. I felt great power there and was given strength to choose the right. It is on the topic of personal revelation that I would like to write tonight.

As I fulfilled various responsibilities in the temple, great moments of inspiration would come over me. I would ponder things I see and hear and the “eyes of my understanding” would be open to wonderful things. On afternoon while pondering some of the temple clothing, a light went on in my mind and I suddenly understood the ( one of the)meaning(s) of this particular piece of clothing. It was so clear to me that I felt a desire and excitement to share it with others. When given an opportunity to talk to another brother that I really respected, I told him of my revelation. He responded in a way that through me for a loop. He said “that’s hogwash, it doesn’t mean that at all. It only means exactly what it says it means.” I was really taken back. How could anyone question something I received from personal revelation? I really struggled with this question for a couple of weeks. Then while once again in the temple, and asking the Lord why such an important thing could be so minimized by someone I truly respected, the voice of the Lord into my mind and said “I told this to you, don’t you think I could tell him also?” I was taught an important lesson that minute. The Lord tells us certain things that are simply for us. It is not our job to discuss it to anyone else.

For nearly two years now I have been holding something like this very close to my vest. The Lord told me it was not my place to discuss it with others. Recently, however, this has changed. I have been prompted to write on a topic that is very sacred and very dear to my heart.

I have mentioned in multiple blog posts over the past couple of years that I read a book that changed my life forever. It is called “The Second Comforter: Conversing with the Lord through the Veil” by Denver Snuffer. This wonderful book is the story of Denver Snuffer, his conversion to the church as a young man, and ultimately his declaration that he has received the Second Comforter, or in other words he has had a personal audience with Jesus Christ. I know this sounds perhaps a bit fantastic to some, but I know that it is true. Let me explain my experience of coming to this knowledge.

In January of 2009 I was packing for a business trip to Florida and was looking for something to read while I was gone. I noticed a book on a cabinet in our entryway that I had never seen before. It was “the Second Comforter.” It had about 100 colored tabs attached to the pages by the previous reader. I called out to Ann to ask her where the book had come from. When she told me Yvonne Bent had given it to me I literally rolled my eyes and said to myself “Oh Brother.” I made a quick judgment in my mind. I asked myself “who does she think she is reading a book like this (Yvonne and I have since laughed about this), and who does this Denver Snuffer think he is to write on a topic like this?” I was of the opinion that only “The Brethren” were capable of writing about the gospel and especially on a topic like this. Despite these thoughts, I took the book anyway thinking I would get a good laugh out of it.

Several years ago the church magazine the Ensign had a section titled “I have a question.” Members of the church were allowed or encouraged to write in and ask questions about the gospel and usually a General Authority would write the response. I remember reading a particular question about 15 years ago that formed my opinion on this topic. The question was written by a bishop and went something like this; “In my first interview with a recently returned missionary I asked him about his goals for the future. He told me he had a goal of having his calling and election made sure by the time he was 30. How should I respond to this young man?” The person responding to the question went on to give an answer that made me believe that “Calling and Election made sure” simply doesn’t happen; or if it does, very rarely: Maybe the Prophet and maybe the Apostles. For the next 13 years or so I believed this.

As I began to read “The Second Comforter” I became enthralled. I couldn’t put it down. I read the entire flight. I also read every spare minute on my busy trip. I finished it on the return flight. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Actually I could believe it… but how could it be? Christ does appear to just regular people today. How could I get this blessing in my own life?

I read “The Second Comforter” four times that year. I read as many other books on the topic that I could find as well. Come to find out there are multiple books on the topic. Another great one is “Following the Light of Christ into His Presence” by John Pontius. The greatest books on the topic however (besides the scriptures) are the Messiah series by Elder Bruce R. McConkie. Without a doubt I learned more from these books than I can express in words. He makes it very clear that seeking a personal audience with the Savior is something we can all strive for.

So what does it mean to me and how has it affected my life?

The past two years have been a whirlwind and my life has been turned upside down… in a remarkably good way. I have learned so much by the whisperings of the Spirit. I feel like every part of my world has changed. I have been prompted not only to forgive others, but to pray for my enemies. Although not really having any enemies I have had amazing experiences by praying for those I don’t particularly care for. I posted a blog on one of these experiences a couple of years ago.

I have had many experiences that have taught me about humility. I’ve learned what kind of husband and father the Lord wants me to be. I’ve learned these from very difficult experiences. I’ve learned much about charity and kindness. I’ve learned that material things mean nothing. I’ve learned about the Law of Consecration and I’ve learned volumes about the House of the Lord.

Very importantly I have learned that I am nobody. In the beginning this was very difficult for me to accept. For most of my life I felt I had an important mission to accomplish. My pride made me believe that this mission would put me in the spotlight. I have learned over time that this simply just is not meant to be. I justified my actions in many ways by doing the right thing, but making sure that others knew I did the right thing. I have learned how convoluted this thinking is. I am learning that the Lord wants me to draw no attention to myself. This should have been a no-brainer but is something I had to be taught through experience.

I now know that I do indeed have a mission: This mission is to build faith in Christ in others. I have learned to do this without any thought for recognition. I simply want others to feel the love of the Savior that I feel. One way of filling this mission is by sharing this blog, and by sharing this important topic with others.
I’ve not yet received the Second Comforter in my life but I know I will one day. Conversing with the Lord through the veil is the thought that guides nearly every decision in my life. It should have been obvious all along that conversing with the Lord through the veil is the very purpose of the temple. When I read the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, I recognize that the only message is to lead us to Christ. Lehi saw Him, Nephi saw Him, Jacob saw Him, Enos, Alma, the sons of Mosiah, The Brother of Jared, Mormon, Moroni and others all saw Him. They all testify of Him. I am striving to add my name to this amazing list.

I want to end this post by quoting the prophet Joseph Smith "The other Comforter spoken of is a subject of great interest, and perhaps understood by few of this generation. After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the saints. . . .

"Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even he will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the ancient saints arrived at when they had such glorious visions—Isaiah, Ezekiel, John upon the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the three heavens, and all the saints who held communion with the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn." (TPJS 149-151)

Since first reading Denver Snuffer’s book “The Second Comforter” I have given away roughly 30 copies. Everyone who has read it has been moved by its message; some of them profoundly. One dear friend put it this way “I am now on a path that I didn’t know existed. I have stepped through a door by which there is no turning back.” Another friend said “It has become the handbook of my life.” I encourage all who are reading this, and are ready to truly follow the Savior, read this wonderful book. I know it is available on Amazon but it is also available at Benchmark books in Salt Lake City. Or, if you feel inspired, call me and I will get you a copy myself.... this is one way I can lead others to Christ.

God Wants a Powerful People

2011-03-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

I realize how long it has been since my last post and I apologize. I don’t really have an explanation other than my heart just hasn’t been it for some reason. I hope to be able to get back to at least weekly posts.
This blog started out merely as sort of an online book review. I was reading many books and then highlighting the things that I had learned from each. Perhaps it evolved into something different than that and that is what made it difficult for me to maintain. Perhaps going back to the original format will bring me back to more frequent posts.

A couple of weeks ago I was lying in bed and was running through my head the books that I have read so far this year. I came to the conclusion that it has been 11 so far. I guess that makes me a true book geek. The books I have read so far this year include:
“Jesus the Christ” and “The Articles of Faith” by James E. Talmage, “Ten Parables” by Denver Snuffer, “Divine Signatures” by Gerald Lund, “The Continuous Atonement” by Brad Wilcox, “House of Learning” by Richard and Kathleen Walker, “God Want a Powerful People” by Sherri Dew,” The People Code” by Dr. Taylor Hartman, “The Narcotics Anonymous Handbook” (I will explain later), “The Anatomy of Peace” by The Arbinger Institute, and “To the Rescue, The Biography of Thomas S. Monson” by Heidi Swinton. Of course none of these include my regular scripture study where I am working on both the Old and New Testaments right now.
My reason in pointing this out I guess is to show that I have plenty of material to choose from. My only excuse for not writing is perhaps laziness. I have hope that I can do much better.

I have found the Old Testament to be simply wonderful. Late last year I felt a need to read the book of Isaiah. After really enjoying it I decided simply to keep going so I read Jeremiah, Lamentations, etc. until I was through Malachi. In about January of this year I was ready to begin in Genesis and simply keep going. I am currently in Ruth.

I have only read the Old Testament one time previously and that was shortly after returning from my mission in Belgium. I quite honestly don’t remember anything from that reading. This time has been very different. I have read with red pencil in hand and have thoroughly enjoyed the things I have read. The stories are amazing, and the amount of revelation that is pertinent to my life currently has been enlightening. I regret having taken so long between readings.

One of the books on my list above that I thoroughly enjoyed was the one by Sherri Dew “God Want a Powerful People.” I bought this book pretty much by dumb luck. I was in Seagull book purchasing “The “Continuous Atonement.” At the checkout counter the cashier informed me of a special they were having that let me buy Sister Dew’s book for $6.00 with the purchase of any other book. I thought to myself “maybe Ann will like this book.” I brought it home.

The book seems to be a little gem filled with many wonderful stories and insights. I already knew that Sister Dew was a wonderful woman but I guess I underestimated her power. Although there are many parts of this book I could write about, I will write about one section that stands out in my mind. It comes from a chapter called “How God Shares His Power.”

This chapter starts out by talking about the adversary and his power. It quickly reminds us that agency is critical to the Fathers plan and that we need to be able to choose for ourselves. She then goes on to explain how Heavenly Father trusts us to come forth in this time of great sin on the earth; but he hasn’t left us without help. He has given us portions of His Power. She then makes a list of where this power is found.

1. There is Power in the Word of God. Sister Dew goes on to talk about how the scriptures, words of living prophets, and personal revelation give us power. President Boyd K. Packer taught that “true doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will change behavior faster than the study of behavior will improve behavior.” President Henry B. Eyring said “Words of doctrine have great power. They can open the minds of people to see things not visible to the natural eye. And they can open the heart to feelings of the love of God and a love for truth.”
I have experienced these truths in my own life. I have learned over the past few years, as I have tried to study the gospel more diligently, that studying the gospel has improved my behavior. However, more importantly, my eyes have been opened to many wonderful parts of the gospel that come only by personal revelation.

2. There is power in the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have learned from my own experience that tremendous power comes with the gift of the Holy Ghost. I believe that the Holy Ghost speaks in a unique way to each of us and that learning how the Holy Ghost speaks to us is one of the most important things we can learn in our lives. I have learned that when promptings come, and we respond to them, we are blessed with more. As we receive a prompting, and don’t respond, they soon become less frequent.

3. There is power in the priesthood. Sister Dew explains “There is power in ordinances. Those who are endowed with power in the House of the Lord need never face the adversary alone. Couples worthy to be sealed at the altar in the holy house are gifted with power. The power of the priesthood heals, protects, and inoculates every righteous man and woman against the power of darkness.”

4. There is power in the House of the Lord. This statement is the solitary reason I am writing this post today. As I read this book… and read this statement… the spirit bore witness to me that this is true. Two years ago this April conference, Elder Richard G. Scott gave a talk where he mentioned that he has attended the temple every week for 14 years. Since it is my habit to listen to conference over and over again as I drive in my car, I have learned that it often takes until the 4th or 5th listening that I finally understand what the message for me is. As I was listening to this talk for the 5th or so time, suddenly I became aware that attending the temple weekly is what I needed to do. Since that time I have done just that. I can testify that there is power in the temple.

5. There is power in purity. “It is possible that there is no key to accessing the power of God that is more important, more crucial than purity” writes Sister Dew. Again this is something I have a personal testimony of. From Elder Bednar’s conference address, Clean Hands and a Pure Heart, I learned that it is very possible to have clean hands and not a pure heart. As I have pondered and applied this to my own life I have come to know of its truthfulness. I have learned for myself what is meant by the scripture “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God;” D&C 121:45.

6. There is power in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Most of my life my experience taught me that the Atonement was for me and for the forgiveness of my sins. It wasn’t until a person tragedy, and the subsequent reading of “The Peacegiver” that I learned that the Atonement is for others as well and that I can forgive others because of the Atonement. The Atonement is the greatest power indeed.

There are many more great lessons to be taught by this wonderful little book of Sister Dew’s. I encourage all to read it and ponder its great teachings.

Touch Me Not

2010-12-23T21:41:00.000-08:00

It is Christmastime, and the world is celebrating the birth of our Savior. I love this time if the year because I feel that it is indeed the ”Happiest time of the year.” I know I am an old softy but I really can relate to the words from Michael McLain’s Forgotten Carols “I Cry on the Day that they take the tree down.” I want this season to last all year long.

My thoughts today, however, are turned to another holiday; Easter. I set a goal this year to read the entire Messiah Series by Elder McConkie. I read them a little out of order but am down to my final volume, Volume 4 of “The Mortal Messiah”. I have so touched by this volume. I feel it has forever changed my life by helping me to finally really “Know” the Savior.

This volume focuses on the final year of the Saviors ministry. During this time He was very bold and a perfect example of service in the kingdom. This volume takes us up through the crucifixion and resurrection. It is of the resurrection that I would like to make comment today.

We are all familiar with the scene at the Garden Tomb where Mary mistakes the Savior for the gardener.

13 “And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

14And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and
knew not that it was Jesus.

15Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

16Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 20).

I have often tried to imagine this scene in my mind and have always felt that it was a bit harsh for Mary not to be able to actually hold the Savior; to feel the nail prints in His hands and feet: To truly testify that He was resurrected because she saw and felt Him. Then in The Mortal Messiah I read the following:

“We cannot believe that the caution which withheld from Jesus the embrace of Mary was anything more than the building of a proper wall of reserve between intimates who are now on two sides of the veil. If a resurrected brother appeared to a mortal brother, or if a resurrected husband appeared to a mortal wife, would they be free to embrace each other on the same terms of intimacy as had prevailed when both were mortals? But perhaps there was more in Jesus' statement than Mary related or than John recorded, for in a very short time we shall see a group of faithful women hold Jesus by his feet as they worship him. The seeming refusal of Jesus to permit Mary to touch him, followed almost immediately by the appearance in which the other women were permitted to hold his feet, has always been the source of some interpretative concern. The King James Version quotes Jesus as saying "Touch me not." The Joseph Smith Translation reads "Hold me not." Various translations from the Greek render the passage as "Do not cling to me" or "Do not hold me." Some give the meaning as "Do not cling to me any longer," or "Do not hold me any longer." Some speak of ceasing to hold him or cling to him, leaving the inference that Mary was already holding him. There is valid reason for supposing that the thought conveyed to Mary by the Risen Lord was to this effect: "You cannot hold me here, for I am going to ascend to my Father." Volume 4 page 264.

As I understand this, Elder McConkie is telling us that it is possible that Jesus did indeed embrace Mary. Then He basically said “I can’t stay, don’t hold me here.” This seems to me a much more likely scenario of what happened. In fact when I read it… I wept as I thought of the love that was shared between these two and as Mary realized that it really was Him. This insight makes me feel closer to Him.

Hope

2010-11-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

Hope
A few months ago I wrote a couple of posts on the topic of faith. If you haven’t read them, please go back and do so. The reason I make that request is that my experience is teaching me that much of becoming like the Savior is learning three important principles: Faith, Hope and Charity.

As I reflect on my own life I believe that I have a fair amount of faith. Now perhaps I need to remember Peter and the other apostles being chastised a little after they couldn’t cast out an evil spirit and Jesus responded “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” I realize that my faith may be weak in comparison to what is required but I feel I understand faith a little.

As I begin to ponder hope however, I feel a little less confident. I recently read a terrific little book called “Obtaining Your Calling and Election” by Kevan Kingsley Clawson. I stumbled onto this book while reading a book review of “Following the Light of Christ into His Presence”; a highly recommended book. While reading the review I noticed a “if you liked this book you may also be interested in” section. In it I found Obtaining your Calling and Election. This book was difficult to find. I ordered it from Benchmark Books but it even took them a couple of months to get it. It was worth the wait and is quite a little gem.

Obtaining Your Calling and Election is very different from other books I have read on the topic. It is much more about what I would describe as the temporal side of the topic rather than the spiritual side: Perhaps more nuts and bolts. None the less I found it very informative. I was most impressed by the chapter he wrote in Hope.
The author quotes Webster’d Dictionary. HOPE: desire accompanied by expectation of fulfillment.

He then quotes Bruce R. McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine (page 365) “As used in the revelations, hope is the desire of faithful people to gain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God hereafter. It is not a flimsy, ethereal desire, one without assurance that the desired consummation will be received, but a desire coupled with expectation of receiving the coveted reward.”

I particularly liked this example that Clawson gave. “If your new car suddenly stopped working and you knew absolutely nothing about engines, you would have little or no hope of fixing the car. You would be found standing on the side of the road, with the hood up, wishing there was something you could do. In reality, you would probably be forced to wait for the tow truck. On the other hand, if the same car broke down and the driver was an experienced mechanic, he would have real hope that he could fix the car with full expectation of actually doing it. The mechanics knowledge provided him with a different level of trust in his ability to understand and correct the problem. He would not have to stand idly by wishing for some miracle to occur; he would actively ensure the desired result came to pass. He could not guarantee the result (hope is not a guarantee), but, because of his knowledge, he could hope for and expect a positive result.

The same holds true for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the desire Christians have of obtaining the Kingdom of God. A person who has never read the scriptures, who only goes to church on Christmas and Easter, and whoe does not pray except, perhaps, during tome of extreme hardship, cannot develop or obtain any real hope of obtaining the Kingdom of God because he has done little or nothing to prepare himself for the goal. He would be wishing upon a star.

On the other hand, consider the example of a righteous man who has not only read all of the scriptures, but has made a lifelong study of these “textbooks;” who not only attends church every Sunday but has faithfully fulfilled a myriad of callings and responsibilities; and who not only has developed faith but has gradually increased his knowledge of God by participating in and witnessing many miracles, gifts of the Spirit, and answers to prayer. Unlike the previous example, this man has true hope of obtaining the Kingdom of God. This man can expect to receive a fulfillment of his desires. His knowledge and works have made it possible for him to enter the Kingdom.”

I will close with a scripture from the book of Ether. “And I also remember that thou hast said that thou hast prepared a house for man, yea, even among the mansions of thy Father, in which man might have a more excellent hope; wherefore man must hope, or he cannot receive an inheritance in the place which thou hast prepared.”
Ether 12:32 May we all develop the hope required to achieve that which we desire most, Eternal Life in the presence of our Heavenly Father.

1 Nephi 11

2010-10-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

1 Nephi 11

This chapter has far many more questions for me than it does answers. The questions I will ask in this blog are questions I have asked myself for several years. They are frequently foremost in my mind as I attend the temple. I have not yet received the answer.

Vs. 2
In what form did the Spirit manifest itself? Was this the Spirit of the Lord, meaning the spirit body of Jesus Christ, the great Jehovah? Or was it simply the promptings of the Holy Spirit, meaning the Holy Ghost whispering to him as it has many times to me, whispering promptings into my ear. It appears it was more than a feeling.

Vs. 3
I have this same desire. How do I develop the faith to receive such a blessing?

Vs. 4
What is this tree? Is it really a tree or does it represent something else? Is it the same tree found in the Garden of Eden? In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were only forbidden to eat from one tree, so did they eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life? Is this fruit what kept them immortal or perhaps better named not mortal? Is that why they were told that they would “surly die” if they partook of the forbidden fruit? If this tree does represent something, what is it? It seems to be more than simply “the love of God.” It may be the love of God in a general sense but I am looking for something more specific.

Vs. 5
Does the Spirit know that I believe all the words of my Father?

Vs. 6
Does the Spirit shout “Hosanna to the Lord” at my proclamation of faith?

Vs. 7
Why is Nephi told all the things ahead of time that he is soon to see? Then he is told “and him shall ye witness; and after ye have witnessed him ye shall bear record that it is the Son of God.” Is he being called as a prophet at this point? Is the Spirit prophesying something that will soon come to pass, or is it a command “you will bear record?”

Vs. 8-9
“and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow.” Is the tree the Savior? It is white above all and precious above all. Is it the righteous branch growing out of the stem of Jesse: Jesus Christ?

Vs. 10-11
Nephi desires to know the interpretation. This is my desire as well. In verse 11 my question is clarified; It is indeed the Spirit of the Lord. I believe this to be the same that Moses saw, the great Jehovah.

Vs. 12-14
This vision of the Pre-mortal Messiah appears to come to a close and another vision is open: This one being hosted by an angel.

Vs. 15
Nephi sees Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Vs. 16-17
Nephi is asked if he knows the condescension of God. He replies “I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.”

I searched several online dictionaries and found condescend [ˌkɒndɪˈsɛnd]
vb (intr)
1. to act graciously towards another or others regarded as being on a lower level;
2. to do something that one regards as below one's dignity
[from Church Latin condēscendere to stoop, condescend, from Latin dēscendere to DESCEND]

I particularly like the Latin root that means to stoop or descend. It means he humbled himself down to our level.

Vs. 18-24
He sees the birth and the ministry of the Savior. He is taught that the definition of the Tree is the love of God, but what exactly does this mean? Is it truly the love that God has for us as His children, or is it the love of God in a general sense “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” John 3:16? I ask again, is the tree the Savior? If so, why were Adam and Eve blocked by an angel from partaking of it?

Vs. 25
This verse is another one that can be an entire sermon. I need to credit Brother John Pontius, author of “Following the Light of Christ into His Presence” for first enlightening my mind with the ideas expressed here.

Nephi is taught that the Rod of Iron is the word of God. His vision seems to imply that everyone that hold tight to the rod (the word of God), and doesn’t stray when difficulties come, will make it to the tree and partake of Eternal Life. In the church we have come to know that the word of God spoken of is the Scriptures. If we follow this line of thinking, we would then conclude that everyone who hold fast to the Bible or the Book of Mormon will make it to the tree. We know from history that this simply isn’t the case.

History is full of stories of people who believed the Bible but acted in barbarous ways. The Crusades are simply one example of this. Additionally there are many apostates of the LDS faith that profess to believe the Book of Mormon, but are far from the truth. We can conclude then that the Word of God isn’t only the Standard Works. It must be more.

My belief is that the Word of God spoken of here is the word of God spoken to each one of us directly in the form of personal revelation. It is our testimony; our testimony of the Standard works and the living Prophet; our testimony of the Son of God and the restoration of the gospel. When we hold fast to the Iron Rod that is our personal witness… I believe that we will indeed make it to the Tree of Life.

Vs. 26-34
Nephi is then shown what the condescension of God is. He sees a detailed vision of the life of the Savior. He sees his many miracles. He sees his love toward the people. He sees his trial and judgment, and ultimately his crucifixion. He then sees the persecution of the Church by the wicked of the world.

Vs. 35-36
Nephi then sees the people of the world, “the multitudes of the earth” in a large and spacious building. He specifically calls out that the building houses the wisdom of the world. The wisdom of the world fights with the people of the church. He describes the building as the pride of the world. The pride of the world causes building to fall… and great is the fall thereof. “FOR, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 4:1

1 Nephi 11:1

2010-09-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

1 Nephi 11:1

I feel a little bit overwhelmed today. I have been very busy at work, for which I am very grateful. At the same time I feel a burning desire to read all that I can. In addition to my study of the Book of Mormon, I am reading “The Mortal Messiah- Book One” (There are 4 volumes). I am also reading Hugh Nibley’s “Approaching Zion”, an amazing work.

I love reading and I want to read all of my spare time, however, of course I have many other responsibilities. I have received a burning testimony of the new Duty to God program. I feel a compelling need to implement it in the life of my two sons. It comes as an answer to many sincere prayers on what I can do to prepare my sons for Priesthood service. Implementing this program takes a lot of time and dedication in the evenings. It has changes how we have family scripture study… a topic for another day.

Now we come to the topic of my blog. I also feel a strong need to write in this blog. The ironic thing is that not that many people read it. Something inside me however is driving me to write about my reading of the Book of Mormon. I have been delaying this day because of the overwhelming topic of Nephi’s interpretation of Lehi’s Dream. This is an important topic that I have spent many hours pondering about. I hope I can do it justice.

Vs 1
“FOR it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.”

There is nearly an entire sermon taught in this verse alone. Nephi had a desire to know the things his father had seen; and he had faith that the Lord was able to make them known unto him. My immediate thoughts go to Alma’s parable of the seed.

27 “But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.”

Take note of the words “desire to believe.” This is an indication of Nephi’s faith.

Nephi sat pondering. I have learned throughout my life that I need to make time for pondering. I have found that rising early in the morning is the only time that works for me. I awaken every morning between 4:30 and 5:00 am. I spend at least an hour reading, pondering, and journaling on impressions that come to me. Without a doubt this has become the most precious time of my life. This is the time that I really begin to understand the nature of our Heavenly Father.

Additionally I attend the temple every Wednesday morning for the 6:00 am session. I can’t begin to describe the things that I have learned over the last year doing this. The temple is indeed the Lord’s university.

Nephi was “caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, to an exceedingly high mountain.” This has been a topic of many hours of pondering. Where was Nephi when this was happening? Was he in his tent? Was he somewhere in the wilderness praying? If so, why was he carried away to somewhere else? Why didn’t the Lord simply appear to him where he was?

We know from the experience of others, that the Lord appears in “Holy Places”. These have often been mountain tops. It seems that the Lord uses mountain tops when temples aren’t available. If a temple had been available, would this have happened in the temple? Then we come to how this applies to me.

If the Lord, or one of his messengers, were to appear to me, where would this take place? The temple is certainly a likely place… but it isn’t really private there. Is my home a worthy enough place? I try to make it as clean as possible but the fact that we live in the “world” makes it very difficult to keep influences of the world out. Do I need to go to a mountain? If so, which one? Will the Lord carry me away to a mountain as He did Nephi? These and many other things have been the topic of much pondering and prayer.

1 Nephi 10

2010-09-10T21:42:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the dry spell. I have been out of town with work (I am writing this from Las Vegas). I will try to catch up.

1 Nephi 10

Vs 1
Nephi completes his rehearsing of his father’s story and begins on his own.

Vs. 2-3
I have been reading the book of Jeremiah from the Old Testament while reading this part of the Book of Mormon as well. Both Nephi and Jeremiah lived at the same time and were writing about many of the same events. It has been very interesting to see the fulfillment of Lehi’s prophecies in the book of Jeremiah.

Vs. 11-12
I am constantly trying to do as we are taught by likening the scriptures unto my own life and situation. The Book of Mormon continually talks about “Israel” and the “Gentiles.” Since we as Latter-Day-Saints are really both Israel and Gentiles, I am continually trying to figure out how the scriptures apply to me. These verses are a perfect example of my confusion. Any thoughts from anyone???

Vs 13
This verse seems to make it clear that I am a Gentile and Israel is the Jews. This is not always the case in other scriptures however. Was Joseph Smith a Gentile of was he a natural branch of Israel???

Vs. 17
Nephi was desirous that he might “see, hear, and know” all the things his father saw, heard and knew. This scripture says this is a gift given to “all those who diligently seek him”. This is something I desire.

Vs. 18
The way is prepared for all!

Vs. 19
This is one of my favorite scriptures. “He that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them”

Vs 20-21
We are judged for what we do. If we do wickedly we will be found unworthy!

1 Nephi 9

2010-09-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

This of course is a very short chapter.

Vs 1
“And all these things did my father see and hear…”
I am continually amazed at the number of visions, dreams, and voices that Lehi saw and heard. Nephi seems to be aware of all or most of them. This is an example to me of sharing special experiences with our children.

Vs 2-4
I am reminded by these verses of the talk Elder Henry B. Eyring gave in General Conference in the October 2007 Conference titled “O Remember, Remember.”

“I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.”

In this talk he encourages us to keep a journal of how we have felt the hand of the Lord in our lives. This talk really touched me and I have done a pretty good job of this ever since.

Vs 5-6
Of course we know in hind sight that the Lord was covering for the fact that Martin Harris would lose the 116 pages of the Book of Lehi and the only record we would have would be Nephi’s version of it.

We then learn in “The Words of Mormon” that Mormon’s abridgement was written from the “Large Plates of Nephi”, and that he added this “small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this King Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi.” I quote Words of Mormon verses 6 and 7.

“6 But behold, I shall take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record, for they are choice unto me; and I know they will be choice unto my brethren.
7 And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.

1 Nephi 8

2010-09-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

1 Nephi 8

I am really amazed at the number of visions and dreams that Lehi has. It appears that he doesn’t even write about all of them; or at least Nephi doesn’t write about all of his father’s dreams.

Vs 1
Why did Lehi gather seeds? Was he afraid that the promised land would have what he needed? (It was called the promised land after all, choice above all other lands). Or was this a commandment of the Lord… much like our commandment to have a year’s supply?

Vs. 5
Was the man he saw in the dream the Savior or an angel?

Vs. 6
If it was the Savior and he said “follow me”, was this literal or was this more like Jesus calling the apostles?

Vs. 10
I have a lot of thoughts and questions about this verse. Is this tree the same tree we learn about in the Garden of Eden; The Tree of Life? If its fruit was “desirable to make one happy”, why wouldn’t Laman and Lemuel partake of it? Why didn’t they want to be happy? I have siblings and relatives that won’t partake either. Why won’t they do something so simple if it makes them happy? We learn later on that the fruit of the tree represents the love of God. In light of this, and if it is the same tree found in the Garden of Eden, why was an angel set to guard it from Adam and Eve after the partake of the fruit of the other tree?

Vs 12
Feeling of the love and joy that comes from partaking of the fruit (the love of God), Lehi immediately thinks of his family.

Vs. 14
Our families need our guidance!

Vs 19
The Rod of Iron. We are taught that the Rod of Iron represents the word of God. We are taught to believe that this is the standard works. I have many thoughts on this topic but will share them in a few days when I write about Nephi’s interpretation of the dream.

Vs 20-33
The same holds true for the rest of Lehi’s dream: I will reserve my comments until we are reading Nephi’s interpretation in a few days.

Vs 23
Numberless concourses of people find their way to the path but fall away due to the mist of darkness; they were not yet holding to the rod of iron.

Vs. 24
Some are able to make it through the mist of darkness because they hold fast to the iron rod.

Vs. 25
How could someone be ashamed after they partook of the fruit? We have already learned the fruit is what makes one happy.

Vs. 30
“they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.” Did they fall down to worship as if worshiping the Savior or did they fall down out of exhaustion from the journey?

Vs 34
I find this verse a curious one. Why did Nephi see fit to include it?

Vs 37
I can understand exhorting then “with all the feeling of a tender parent.” How many times have we done this with our own children? How many time has my Heavenly Father done this with me?

1 Nephi 6 and 7

2010-08-30T08:14:00.001-07:00

1 Nephi 6

Vs 4
“For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.”

I am impressed that Nephi is always a missionary. His mission is always to bring others to Christ. This attribute is one of the primary reasons I admire Nephi and want to be like him; he is always trying to do the right thing.

1 Nephi 7

Vs 1
The Lord speaks to Lehi again. Is this face to face, in a dream, vision, or the still small voice? Once again the revelation comes to the presiding authority- Lehi. Although Nephi had received many revelations, this one didn’t come to him.

This verse is a great example of when we are obedient to one commandment… we will receive more.

Vs 2
Lehi once again sends his sons to fulfill a mission. How is this similar to the creation of the world where the Father commanded the Son(s) to go and fulfill a task?

Vs 4
Can you imagine this conversation between Lehi’s sons and the family of Ishmael? What could you say to persuade an entire family to leave all they have and follow a “dreamer?”

Vs 5-6
I’ve never understood why Laman and Lemuel just didn’t stay behind. If they didn’t want to go, why did they; especially when they now had a larger group to fuel their rebellion?

Vs. 12
“Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.”

This is a very powerful verse that we would be wise to follow.

Vs 13
If we are faithful, we too will obtain a land of promise! I know this is true, blessings come to those who are faithful. I have experienced this in my own life. Although I continue to make many mistakes, I am truly trying to be faithful. I feel once again like the “tree by the river” as spoken of in Jeremiah 17:7-8.
“7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

Vs. 17-18
I always have found it interesting that Nephi prays for the strength to burst the bands, however, the Lord sees fit to simply loosen them. Would giving Nephi the strength have boosted his pride and encouraged him to rely on his own strength? Loosing the bands made Nephi remember it was the Lord’s doing.

How can I apply this to my own life? How often do I ask the Lord for something that is righteous… but will make me “look good” rather than making people turn to Christ?

Vs. 19
Was the daughter that settled down those who were angry with Nephi the one he ultimately married? The fact that her mother also was part of the peace making points to the faithfulness of the mother. She was in support of going into the wilderness to be with Lehi.

Vs 21
I have always been impressed that Nephi “did frankly forgive them and all they had done.” He was willing to forget it and move on. This is a great example of forgiveness.

Vs 22
Once again they offer sacrifice as thanks to the Lord. How do we offer sacrifice in thanks? The Lord asks us to sacrifice our will to His!

1 Nephi 5

2010-08-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

1 Nephi 5

Vs 1-3
I wonder how long this trip took Nephi and his brothers. We know that the family was three days in the wilderness before commanded to return. It apparently took longer than Sariah had anticipated because she really began to complain to Lehi. I can imagine the tension between them prior to the boys returning.

Vs. 4-7
Lehi defends his position and tries to comfort his wife. He testifies of his calling and exercises great faith.

Vs. 8
When the sons arrive, Sariah gains a witness that her husband is following the Lord.

Vs. 9
To rejoice, they offer sacrifices to the Lord. What would be an equivalent today? Perhaps attending the temple or making a bigger commitment to obeying the commandments.

Vs. 10
Lehi delves in to studying the record. It is obviously the first time he has seen it. I ask the same question that I did a few days ago… how did Lehi know about the record? We know that Laban and Lehi were related… but how? Why wouldn’t it have been easier for Lehi to get the plates than for the sons?

Lehi was obviously already well acquainted with the scriptures. He probably had his own copy he had been studying over his lifetime. It was typical for the scriptures in that day to be written on scrolls. Did they need the brass plates simply because they were brass that would endure?

Vs 12
The brass plates were a current record… meaning they contained the history all the way up to the current king. They contained writings of Jeremiah who was still alive! Was Laban the record keeper?? He did seem to be some kind of official.

Vs 14
There is a fantastic book called The Hidden Christ by James Ferrell that goes into detail about Lehi being a descendant of Joseph is key to the fulfilling of Joseph’s dream of the sun, and moon, and stars bowing to him (see Genesis 37). I encourage all to read it. It is one of my favorite books of all time.

Through Patriarchal blessings we learn that most of us are descendants of Joseph as well. This may be by blood or adoption.

Vs 18
Again, a key element to Joseph of Egypt being an ancestor of Lehi. Joseph was promised that the gospel would be spread to the world by his seed (see Joseph in the Bible Dictionary to learn more about this).

1 Nephi 4

2010-08-26T13:59:00.001-07:00

Vs. 1
It is humbling to me to ponder that everything belongs to our Heavenly Father and we really have and are nothing. The earth is made up of matter. All of this matter belongs to our Heavenly Father. Our homes, our cars, and most importantly our bodies are all made from His matter. When we die, the matter of our bodies simply becomes part of the earth again. It is simply by His goodness that He allows us to borrow anything. Pondering this concept makes me realize that He, and only He, is in charge of all things. This makes 1 Ne 4:1 relevant.

Vs. 3
Nephi tells his brothers “an angel hath spoken unto you; wherefore can ye doubt?” This phrase makes me think of Jacob, the brother of Nephi, when he was speaking with Sherem found in Jacob 7:5 which reads:

“And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken.”

For Jacob, seeing an angel helped him have faith that couldn’t be shaken! Such miracles only seem to strengthen the faith of the righteous; the wicked are not phased by it.

Vs. 6
How often do we need to step into the darkness relying on nothing but faith?

Vs. 10
Many times in my life I have felt a prompting to do something or perhaps not to do something and I have second guessed myself; particularly when I was younger and less experienced in following the promptings of the spirit. I have often asked myself “is this really the spirit or just my own feelings?” Did Nephi feel this way or was he experienced enough to know it was of the Lord? It appears that he knew it was a prompting of the Lord but that he didn’t want to do it at first. It was against everything he had ever been taught.

Vs. 11-12
In both these verses Nephi says “the Spirit said unto me.” Only experience can teach us to hear the still small voice of the Spirit!

Vs. 13
We learn from the experience of the Mulekites what the result would have been if they hadn’t taken the plates.

Vs. 14
Nephi writes “when I had heard these words”. Again, was it the still small voice or more literal? He goes on to write “I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness.”

Vs. 18
“I obeyed the voice of the Spirit.”
I have learned from my own experience that if I obey the voice of the Spirit, the voice comes more often and more clearly. If I disobey, the next time is slower in coming.

Vs. 30-38
I have many thoughts and questions about Zoram. It seems apparent that Zoram didn’t actually know Laban very well because Nephi was able to hide his identity. Zoram knew the armor or the clothing of Laban more than he knew the Man.

It appears that Zoram was more of a slave than a servant. There was no discussion of Zoram leaving his family behind. Nephi also promised Zoram that he would be a “free man” if he would go into the wilderness with Nephi.

I am also amazed at what binding attributes are associated with an oath in that day. Nephi writes “when Zoram made an oath with us, our fears did cease concerning him.” This seems unheard of in our day.

Another Thought
I have often pondered on how important it was that Nephi was the one successful in getting the plates from Laban. Later in the story, as the Nephites and Lamanites part ways, Nephi’s group takes the plates with them. I am convinced that if Laman had been successful in getting the Plates from Laban, that when they parted ways that there would have been a fight over the plates and Laman would have ended up with them. Think of the consequences!

1 Nephi 3

2010-08-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

1 Nephi 3

I had a wonderful morning in the Salt Lake Temple this morning. A wonderful spirit was present and it was the perfect way to start a new day. I encourage all to attend as much as possible.

Because I was in the temple this morning, I am late in getting today’s thoughts posted. I welcome your comments.

Vs.1
Nephi returns from speaking with the Lord! Was this simply a prayer or was it a vision? Perhaps he simply heard His voice. Is this experience separate from the previous experience?

Vs 2
Lehi has another dream. He is commanded to have his sons return to Jerusalem. Why wasn’t Lehi commanded to go himself? Was his life in danger because of his previous preaching or was this some kind of lesson for his sons?

Vs. 3
I have heard several times in my life that Lehi and Laban were cousins. Is this something revealed by Joseph Smith or are we simply assuming this because Laban has the record of Lehi’s forefathers?

Vs. 5
This verse implies that Lehi has already spoken to Laman and Lemuel prior to speaking to Nephi. Lehi tells Nephi that they have already complained that it is too hard.

Vs. 7
This is one of the most beloved and quoted scriptures in the entire Book of Mormon. What a manifestation of Nephi’s faith! I have a cross reference of this scripture with Moroni 7:33 which reads; “33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me. I hope to be able to develop this type of faith!

Vs. 8
I have experienced this type of joy that comes from my children exercising faith!

Vs. 10
I wonder what the population of Jerusalem was at this time? The current “old city” is about 1 square mile, however, the Bible maps found in our scriptures show the city at the time of Christ much smaller. This was even 600 years prior to Christ’s coming. Was it smaller or larger?

On a side note, some of the walls of the city that would have existed during this time have been excavated in Jerusalem. They are really remarkable to see.

Vs. 11
Why did they cast lots? Why didn’t they all go?

Vs. 14-16
They all became exceedingly sorrowful when their first attempt failed. Laman and Lemuel wanted to give up but Nephi was committed to keeping the commandments… and he considered getting the plates one of them.

Interestingly they go to plan B of their own. They didn’t seem to turn to the Lord to ask Him how to get the plates.

Vs. 19-20
Nephi seemed to really understand the importance of getting the plates. He outlines the consequences of not getting them. Did he receive this by revelation or was it told to him by his father as they were planning the trip?

Vs. 21
Nephi uses his testimony to try to persuade his brothers to keep the commandments.

Vs. 29
As Laman and Lemuel are beating their younger brothers, perhaps for having such “stupid” ideas as giving up all their gold and silver, an angel appears. Why did this not simply floor Laman and Lemuel?

Vs. 31
When the angel leaves, Laman and Lemuel go right back to murmuring. This is difficult for me to comprehend.

I wonder how many days this entire experience took? For most of my life I imagined it all happening in one night but I am now beginning to think that it was over a period of several days. It doesn’t say how long they were in the “cavity of a rock”.

1 Nephi 2

2010-08-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

1 Nephi 2

vs 1
Lehi sees Christ in a dream… or at least hears his voice.

Vs 2
Lehi receives a commandment from the Lord intended for his family only. This is an example of the personal revelation we should be receiving for our own families.

Vs 3
Lehi obeys the prompting. I have had personal experiences where I have obeyed promptings… but I have also had experiences where I have ignored promptings. Think of the consequences of Lehi ignoring this prompting because it was hard or inconvenient.

Vs 4
Lehi shows his willingness to give up the world and to not put his trust in the arm of the flesh. He leaves it all behind to follow the Lord. He only took his family and his provisions… perhaps his “year’s supply.”

Vs 7
Lehi continues to be obedient to the commandments and obeys the law of sacrifice. Think of the difficulty of performing the law of sacrifice in the wilderness without the “comforts of home”. It would be a bloody mess. How willing are we to obey when we are out of convenience? Perhaps when we are on vacation or away on business?

Vs 13
Laman and Lemuel didn’t believe that Jerusalem could be destroyed. I would like to interject a quote from Elder McConkie about Jerusalem here.(The Millennial Messiah; pg 462)

“Jerusalem is the Holy City, the city of David, the city of the Great King. It is the city where Melchizedek, the king of Salem and the prince of peace, reigned in righteousness and with his people served the Lord in spirit and in truth. Jerusalem, captured by David from the Jebusites, became the capital city in Israel and later the capital of the kingdom of Judah.

In her environs the Son of God was born; in her streets the Holy Messiah ministered; and in her temple the witness was borne of his divine Sonship. Outside her walls, in a garden called Gethsemane, suffering in agony beyond compare, he took upon himself the sins of all men on conditions of repentance. Outside her walls at a place called Golgotha, he was nailed to a cross and crucified for the sins of the world. Outside her walls in a quiet garden, he burst the bands of death, arose from the Arimathean's tomb, and brought life and immortality to light.

Jerusalem, in the days of her sorrow, was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar, conquered by Rome, put to the torch by Titus. And now for nearly two millenniums she has been trodden down of the Gentiles, and the end of her sorrow is not yet. In the days ahead some of the faithful will gather again within her walls and shall build the promised temple, a temple whose functions and uses will be patterned after the house of the Lord in Salt Lake City. Thereafter two prophets—valiant, mighty witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ—will teach and testify and prophesy in her streets for three and a half years, at which time they will be slain, resurrected, and caught up to heaven. In the midst of the great war of Armageddon then in progress, Jerusalem will fall, the Lord will come, and the remnant of Judah that remains will accept the Nazarene as their King.

Jerusalem has ascended to the heights and descended to the depths. The Lord Omnipotent, who was and is from everlasting to everlasting, made the dust of her streets holy because the soles of his feet found footing there. The blood of prophets cries from that same dust for vengeance against godless wretches to whom innocent blood was of no more worth than sour wine. Jerusalem has been and yet again will be destroyed for her iniquities. When Nebuchadnezzar pillaged and burned and slew and carried the Jews into Babylon, it was because they had rejected Jeremiah and Lehi and the prophets. It was because they walked in an evil course. When Titus tore her asunder, slew most of her citizens, and made slaves of the rest, it was a just retribution because she had crucified her King. And when she falls again, amid the horror and brimstone and blood and fire of Armageddon, it will be because she has again slain the prophets and chosen to worship Baal and Bel and Merodach and all the idols of the heathen rather than the Lord Jehovah.”

Vs 15
This is not the only place that Nephi points out that his father dwelt in a tent. Dwelling in a tent seems to be a symbol of his sacrifice. In what way am I willing to “dwell in a tent?”

Vs 16
Nephi has “a great desire” to know the mysteries of God. There is a belief among the LDS to leave the mysteries alone. However, Nephi goes on to say that it is because of this great desire of the mysteries that he “did cry unto the Lord: and behold he did visit me.” I can only conclude that seeking these mysteries must be done personally and privately… and not in classes and quorums.

Vs 17
Nephi shares these things with his trusted friend and brother Sam. Sam trusts and believes him.

Vs 19
The Lord speaks to Nephi: Is this separate from verse 16 or part of the same revelation? Was it really the voice of the Lord or was it “the still small voice of the Spirit”? The Lord compliments Nephi for his diligence.

Vs 20
“In as much as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper.” What a promise of the Lord! It reminds me of a scripture I read only a couple of days ago in Jeremiah (a contemporary of Lehi and Nephi).

Jeremiah 7:7-8 “7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

Vs 21-24
The promises of the Lord seem sure. If I obey I will be blessed. If I rebel I will be cursed. I choose obedience!

1 Nephi 1

2010-08-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

1 Nephi 1:1
Nephi says that he has had “a great knowledge of the goodness and mysteries of God”. I ask myself, What are the mysteries spoken of? Brother John Pontius, the author of two of the most powerful books I have ever read, writes on this topic. (Please follow Brother Pontius at www.followthelight.org )

“There are greater and lesser mysteries. The lesser mysteries are those things which
many mortals understand, which missionaries deliver, and which the scriptures teach withplainness. Most of humanity is exposed to these mysteries throughout their lives, but do not receive what is freely given. The greater mysteries are those truths which are not commonly known, or even spoken of, yet are true. They are held in reverent silence because once obtained, it is generally not allowed for someone so blessed to speak openly of these things.

And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to knowthe mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall notimpart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men,according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. (Alma 12.)

These things remain mysteries only because those who have obtained them through
diligence and righteous obedience, are commanded to give nothing more than the portion which God has ordained. These things are the “Mysteries of God” of which the scriptures speak, and of which the lives and blessings of the faithful bear witness.

They are grand mysteries for now because one must pass a rigorous process of preparation before the greater light of the gospel is even visible to the mortal eye. The fact that they are mysteries in the beginning is the divine order of growth. But, they must not forever remain a mystery. The door must open and the light of revealed glory must be fully received in this life. We have at times heard that we should leave the mysteries alone. Yet, such a statement is not scriptural. The scriptures specifically instruct us to seek the mysteries, and promise that these are the very truths which bring eternal life. In fact, eternal life comes in no other way. This isn’t a way to immortal glory, it is the way.

Consider these scriptures:
7 Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich. (D&C 6:7)
11 And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, convince them of the error of their ways. (D&C 6:11)
5 For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.
6 Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.
7 And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.
8 Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations.
9 And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught.
10 For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man. (D&C 76:5-10)
61 If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal. (D&C 42:61)
10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. (Luke 8:10)
(The Triumph of Zion, John M. Pontius, Unpublished manuscript page 104.)

Within the body of Gospel truth there are two distinct levels of understanding, or
portions of the truth. There is the lesser portion and the greater portion. Let us come to understand the terms, the lesser and greater portion, then we will discuss what it has to do with the fullness of the Gospel.”

Nephi 1:2

How were children educated in Lehi’s day? Nephi knew two languages, was this common or were most illiterate? This perhaps makes an important statement about the type of parents that Lehi and Sariah were.

1 Nephi 1:5

What prompted Lehi to pray in behalf of his people? How do I develop this type of love for others that will cause me to pray for others… strangers? Who are my people? Are they my family, my neighbors, all of America, all of the world? Was it this love of others that caused the “pillar of fire” to appear?

1 Nephi 1:7-8

Where was Lehi when he had his vision? He was in his home on his bed. Is my home a place where a visitation like this could occur?

1 Nephi 1:11

“and the first came and stood before my father.” Was Lehi actually standing face to face with the Savior? What was the book?

1 Nephi 1:14

In Moroni’s promise at the end of the Book of Mormon we read (Moroni 10:3)

“Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts”.

Moroni asks us to ponder how merciful the Lord has been. 1 Nephi 1:14 begins to give us an indication of this mercy. See also verse 20 0f this same chapter.

1 Nephi 1:15

Lehi praises God. Do I praise God enough? How do I praise?

1 Nephi 1:18

After Lehi saw these things he began to go among his people. Is this the point that Lehi is actually called as a prophet?

A new type of Blog.

2010-08-22T20:26:00.001-07:00

It has become obvious to all of you that I haven’t been writing in my blog for a long time. I am really sorry. I have continued to read over the past couple of months but I have been reading things that are very difficult to blog about. I have been primarily continuing to read from Elder McConkie’s “Messiah” series and have absolutely been overwhelmed by the greatness of these volumes. I encourage everyone to read them prayerfully and great things will be revealed to you.

In the mean time I felt a strong prompting yesterday to blog in a different way. I am going to start reading the Book of Mormon again tomorrow. I started a month or so ago but feel I need to start over again with you. This is what I am proposing.

Every day I will read from the Book of Mormon. I am hoping that some of you will follow along. Every day I will write the promptings and feeling that come to me. I am hoping you will do the same and that we can edify one another. I promise that I will read every day and never miss. However, there may be days that I am unable to write but I promise to make an effort to write every day.

My dear friend and mentor Denver Snuffer has done something similar. I encourage you to follow his blog as well. He is much further along spiritually than I. I certainly don’t want to compare myself to him or take anything away from him but I feel I have something to offer none the less.

If you feel this would be helpful for you, please follow along. Please post your comments. As we do this, perhaps we can grow together and really help one another become faithful followers of Christ.

With love and appreciation,

Scott

Faith and Belief

2010-06-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

Once again I have been really taken by a wonderful book by author John Pontius titled “The Triumph of Zion.” This book is definitely in the top five of the best and most influential books I have ever read. It has caused me to think of things I have never thought of before and it has helped me understand the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants better. It seems to make the entire Plan of Salvation make more sense and has helped me understand what is meant when we hear that the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel.

The topic I would like to write about today is found toward the end of the book and is a small section titled “Faith and Belief.” He explains the difference between faith and belief and then goes on to explain how our beliefs have a tendency to squash of faith. I hope to be able to explain.

“Faith is a result of exposure to the Spirit of the Lord and is a gift of God. Faith does not naturally reside in man. When we obey some principle of truth, a commandment of God, or any whispering of the Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord touches our souls with a tiny increase of faith regarding that principle.

One can only have faith in things that are true (Alma 32:21). We can’t have faith in a falsehood. Only to the extent that a principle contains truth can we exercise faith in it. For this reason, faith is always centered in Christ, because all truth flows from Christ.

Unlike faith, which is always pure, our belief structure includes both elements of truth and impurities of human assumption, tradition, false conclusions, and out-and-out lies. Most of what we believe comes from the experience of our lifetime, all of which occur in the natural world, and most of which are in some way tainted. Such false beliefs are hostile to our progress unless overridden by revealed truth.”

I will give a personal example of how belief squashes faith. For most of my adult life I believed that it was not possible or perhaps unlikely that faithful members of the church were able to have a personal visit by the Savior while in this life. I believed this blessing was only reserved for Apostles and Prophets… and I wasn’t even sure about all of them. This was my belief! However, over the past 18 mos. or so, my belief has totally changed. I was introduced to Denver Snuffer’s “The Second Comforter” and had a very powerful witness born to me that this great blessing is indeed available to all who seek it. Since that time I have read several books on the topic including very clear teachings from Elder Bruce R. McConkie in “The Promised Messiah” and “The Millennial Messiah” that have taught me the truth of this matter. The Book of Mormon teaches this topic abundantly. I now have overwhelming faith in the matter that Christ will appear to each of us if we are faithful and as we “seek His face.”

Brother Pontius goes on to write “Our every act is driven by a belief. Whether that belief is based upon truth, or upon misconception, determines whether the act is righteous or evil. Often, faith can be profound, while our belief about how that faith applies to us can limit, or even eliminate, our enjoyment of the fruits of our faith. Such faith-opposing believing is called “unbelief” in the scriptures. It is not necessarily an absence of faith and can coexist with faith quite companionably. But it is nevertheless an effective and often long-lived damnation of our faith.

An example might be: We may have faith that Heavenly Father loves us and has the power to heal an illness or disease we may have. But we simultaneously believe (or assume because of what others have taught us) that Heavenly Father wants us to learn some lesson through our suffering, or that we must seek a medical solution first, only turning to Him as a last resort. Or, we may conclude that since we haven’t personally seen this magnitude of healing with our own eyes, He may just not be doing healings of this degree nowadays, and thus, we doubt the will of God to heal us—not His power, but His intention to do so. We have great faith He can, we just don’t believe He will, and thus uninspired belief (unbelief) smothers our faith.

Another example may be: We read the scriptures and have complete faith that the brother of Jared (or any other righteous figure) truly experienced the profound blessings, visions, revelations and angelic visitations they record. And, even though the same prophet records that God is no respecter of persons and liberally grants the same blessings to all who righteously seek them, we believe that the scriptures are largely for our education and not a prototype of our personal spiritual potential. We may conclude that such things do not happen in this day, or if they do, that would happen to someone more highly placed or more obedient. We thereby doubt, not God’s power, which is a by-product of our faith, but His will to grant us a place within His promises. Such doubt by definition is unbelief.

We extinguish the fire of faith with the cold rains of unbelief. The Lord told Moroni 4:

7 ‘And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are.’

This verse contains one of the most incredible pronouncements of promise this dispensation has ever been given.” In fact, I personally believe (Scott Webb speaking) that this is part of what is meant when we hear that the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel. Pontius goes on to write “It is saying when—notice that it doesn’t say if, it implies when—we rend the veil of unbelief and develop faith like the brother of Jared’s, God will unfold unto us all of His revelations, which means that we will know all things, which would enable us to part the veil in many places and lay hold upon all promised blessings. This promise isn’t being made just to the Quorum of the Twelve. This is a promise that is held out to every person who chooses to seek and obtain it. We have access to the same gifts in this day, in this priesthood, in this Church, as the brother of Jared used to rend the heavens in his day, which lit up sixteen stones and his eternity.”

I encourage all who are reading this blog to look at your own life… find the places where belief is overpowering your faith, then go to the Lord in earnest prayer and ask for His help in overcoming your unbelief. I have experienced this in my own life and testify of its efficacy. May we all seek His face.

Voices

2010-05-14T17:36:00.001-07:00

I first want to apologize for the length of time since I last posted on this blog. I have had quite a few people really quite upset about it and I am sorry. My excuse is two-fold: I have been very busy at work (for which I am very grateful), and I set a goal to read the Messiah Series by Elder Mcconkie this year and this has been a bit overwhelming. His subject matter is very deep and difficult to blog about.

A couple of weeks ago a couple of books were recommended to me by a reader of this blog. Karen is a great friend and someone I highly admire. Both books are by John Pontius. The first one is “Following the Light of Christ into His Presence” and the other is “The Triumph of Zion”. I have read the first one, “Following the Light of Christ into His Presence” and have really learned from it. It is this book that is the inspiration of this post.

In the second chapter of this book is a section called “Voices”. In the June 2006 Ensign, President James, E. Faust wrote the following: “But we hear other voices. Paul said, ‘There are… so many kinds of voices in the world…’ (1 Corinth. 14:10) that compete with the voice of the Spirit. Such is the situation in the world.”

Brother Pontius writes “There are three main sources of voices in a healthy mind. The first is the voice of your own mind. You hear yourself think. You talk with yourself, discuss things with yourself, argue with yourself, berate, praise and jabber with yourself all day long. This voice is distinguishable because it is unsure, or in other words, it questions things, and is seldom decisive. It almost always asks questions. “What was that? Who said that? Why did you say that? What does it mean? Do you suppose? What would happen if? I wonder? Even when it is emphatic, it leaves open the possibility of change. “I’m definitely going to bed now- Okay?” “I’m going to town- if the car will start.” You will notice this voice usually takes the personal case; “I think I should fast today.” The Holy Ghost would have said “Fast today.”

The second voice comes from Satan’s realm. It is unlikely that we receive much attention from the king of that kingdom personally. Rather, we deal with his minions, his messengers, and his tempters. These beings have been in the business of tempting mankind as long as the earth has existed, perhaps longer. They are undoubtedly very skilled and highly motivated. Each have probably thousands of people like ourselves. They have spent thousands of years of intimate contact with mortals. They have much more experience with tempting mortals than we have in resisting it.

When we hear a voice from this source, it will be cleverly disguised and enticing. It will appeal to the natural, carnal, sensual, and devilish side of us. There is rea; intelligence in the message, the malice aforethought. They plan and plot against us, and their messages are carefully chosen.”
In the same article, President Faust says “The adversary tries to smother the voice of the Holy Spirit with a multitude of loud, persistent, persuasive, and appealing voices: murmuring voices, conjuring up perceived injustices; whining voices, abhorring challenge and work; seductive voices, offering sensual enticements; soothing voices, lulling into carnal security; intellectual voices, professing sophistication and superiority: proud voices, relying on the arm of the flesh; flattering voices, puffing us up with pride; cynical voices, destroying hope; entertaining voices, promoting pleasure seeking; commercial voices, tempting us to ‘spend money for that which hath no worth’ and our ‘labor for that which cannot satisfy…’ (2ne. 9:51), and delirious voices, spawning the desire for a ‘high’… which is death-defying experiences for nothing more than a thrill.”

Pontius continues “ A prompting from this source will nearly always be stated as an absolute. “Don’t let him get away with that. I’m too tired to pray. You deserve better. Pay him back. No one will notice. It should be yours anyway—just take it. She is your wife—not your mother. Football only happens once a year, the church can get along without you for one Sunday. She wants you—it is only natural. He loves you more than your husband, how can you not love him back?”

These promptings will always lead us away from the truth. They prompt us to disobey, not to pray, to abandon church and family responsibilities, to commit sin and walk in forbidden paths. They do not limit themselves to voices alone. They draw from the trash stored in our minds to dredge up old memories which will either lure us away from purity and virtue, or keep our minds harrowed up with memories of our sins—even after we have repented of them.

The evil ones cannot read our minds or hear our silent prayers. It seems they hear what the Holy Spirit says to us, for they respond immediately. When the Holy Spirit prompts “say your prayers,” you immediately hear, “Don’t say your prayers, you are too tired.”

“Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest the thoughts and intents of thy heart.” (D&C 6:16)

The Third source of information in our minds is the voice of the Lord through the Holy Spirit. It begins with the conscience, the light of Christ, and is a free gift. It its most rudimentary stages it is quiet urging to choose the right, to abandon wrong choices, and to seek greater truth. This voice grows in content and quality as one heeds its direction until it becomes a significant guide, and the measure of truth. Following baptism and the bestowal of the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit assumes greater power and authority, and though remaining a still small voice it becomes a comfort, guide, and source of great strength as we learn to obey it.

This voice always entices us to do good, to believe, serve, pray and repent. It nearly always prompts contrary to where you were headed. If you were lying under the car on Sunday morning, it would tell you to go to church. If you were already on your way to church, it would prompt nothing, but would give a feeling of comfort and satisfaction.

The voice of conscience is easy to recognize, because it is the only one of the three which prompts to do good. These promptings come as absolute statements. The Holy Spirit would say, “Fast today.” Your mind would have said, “I wonder if I should fast today,” or “Perhaps I should fast.” Any time you have a prompting to do good, it has come from God.

Perhaps the term promptings needs clarification. A prompting is information that originates outside of one’s mind. The Holy Spirit prompts us to do good, the devil prompts to do evil. Our minds consider and analyze the promptings, and make decisions concerning them. These promptings all appear, and sound, exactly like our own thoughts, the only way to differentiate between them is the way we have already discussed. Good comes from God. Evil comes from the adversary. Questions and analysis come from within. It really is just that simple.

In Moroni 7 we read “12 Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.
13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.”

This section of this book was very revealing to me and clarified much in my mind. Ann and I have discussed these voices on numerous occasions but it was never very clear. I feel I have a much greater understanding now.

I know personally that I can think back on times in my life that I have heard and listened to each of these voices. I wish I could say that I have always followed the promptings of the Holy Spirit but I haven’t. I feel however that as I really try to obey the still small voice, and often write the prompting down, that I am becoming more adept at following the Holy Spirit.

Alma and Our Day

2010-03-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

It has been quite some time since I have posted anything new on my blog. In fact, my last blog was just after Fast Sunday and we have already had another one. Oh how time flies.

My mind has been swimming with thoughts and ideas on what to blog about and I likely have two or three that I will post in a pretty short time frame so please check back often.

I am continuing to read in the Book of Mormon and am currently reading in the first few chapters of Alma. My thoughts have really been drawn to what is happening in these chapters. Alma sees that wickedness has crept in to the lives of the people so he has stepped down as chief judge and is devoting all his time to being the high priest. He is traveling from city to city preaching the gospel and calling the people to repentance.

Alma was successful in the city of Zarahemla. In Alma 6 we read: “1 AND now it came to pass that after Alma had made an end of speaking unto the people of the church, which was established in the city of Zarahemla, he ordained priests and elders, by laying on his hands according to the order of God, to preside and watch over the church.
2 And it came to pass that whosoever did not belong to the church who repented of their sins were baptized unto repentance, and were received into the church.
3 And it also came to pass that whosoever did belong to the church that did not repent of their wickedness and humble themselves before God—I mean those who were lifted up in the pride of their hearts—the same were rejected, and their names were blotted out, that their names were not numbered among those of the righteous.
4 And thus they began to establish the order of the church in thecity of Zarahemla.”

Alma moves on to the cities of Gideon and then to Melek. In both cities he found success and baptized many. He called and ordained others to preside when he departed. He then moves to the city of Ammonihah where he found a much greater challenge.

In the city of Ammonihah he found the people to be particularly stubborn and he was rejected. In Alma 9 we read: “13 Now when the people had said this, and withstood all his words, and reviled him, and spit upon him, and caused that he should be cast out of their city, he departed thence and took his journey towards the city which was called Aaron.” Alma was discouraged by this rejection and it weighed upon him heavily. The next verse in Alma reads: “14 And it came to pass that while he was journeying thither, being weighed down with sorrow, wading through much tribulation and anguish of soul, because of the wickedness of the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, it came to pass while Alma was thus weighed down with sorrow, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto him, saying:
15 Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him. Behold, I am he that delivered it unto you.
16 And behold, I am sent to command thee that thou return to the city of Ammonihah, and preach again unto the people of the city; yea, preach unto them. Yea, say unto them, except they repent the Lord God will destroy them.
17 For behold, they do study at this time that they may destroy the liberty of thy people, (for thus saith the Lord) which is contrary to the statutes, and judgments, and commandments which he has given unto his people.
18 Now it came to pass that after Alma had received his message from the angel of the Lord he returned speedily to the land of Ammonihah. And he entered the city by another way, yea, by the way which is on the south of the city of Ammonihah.”

The most poignant of these verses to me verse 17 “For behold, they do study at this time that they may destroy the liberty of thy people, (for thus saith the Lord) which is contrary to the statutes, and judgments, and commandments which he has given unto his people.”

For the first time since I started this blog I am making a political statement that may offend some readers… but I feel it is appropriate for our time. Last week when the Healthcare Bill was passed which appears to be contrary to the desires of the majority of citizens, I felt that this very moment in Book of Mormon history was being repeated. Indeed there are those in Washington that “do study at this time that they may destroy the liberty of thy people.”

I have become very afraid for our nation. Although the failing of our government has been prophesied for many years, it is difficult to watch it happen. In Alma 10, Alma quotes Mosiah by saying: “19 Yea, well did Mosiah say, who was our last king, when he was about to deliver up the kingdom, having no one to confer it upon, causing that this people should be governed by their own voices—yea, well did he say that if the time should come that the voice of this people should choose iniquity, that is, if the time should come that this people should fall into transgression, they would be ripe for destruction.”

Although this is a frightening thought, I do feel optimistic for the future. I know that the Lord loves and blesses the righteous (and those of us who are striving to be). In a subsequent verse in Alma 10 he states: “ 22 Yea, and I say unto you that if it were not for the prayers of the righteous, who are now in the land, that ye would even now be visited with utter destruction; yet it would not be by flood, as were the people in the days of Noah, but it would be by famine, and by pestilence, and the sword.
23 But it is by the prayers of the righteous that ye are spared; now therefore, if ye will cast out the righteous from among you then will not the Lord stay his hand; but in his fierce anger he will come out against you; then ye shall be smitten by famine, and by pestilence, and by the sword; and the time is soon at hand except ye repent.” Now is the time for us to step up!

The Brethren have been very clear in the last couple of conferences that the times that we live in now are those that have been prophesied of for many years. We are in the last days and the Savior will return soon. I get great comfort once again from the words of Alma found in Chapter 13. “25 And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to God that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice.
26 And it shall be made known unto just and holy men, by the mouth of angels, at the time of his coming, that the words of our fathers may be fulfilled, according to that which they have spoken concerning him, which was according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them.
27 And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance;
28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;
29 Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest.
30 And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of hell, that ye may not suffer the second death.”

Verse 26 above makes it clear that “just and holy men” will be key in guiding us in the last days. How appropriate that General Conference is in a few days. May we all listen intently.

Our Earthly Mission

2010-03-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

As with most Latter-day-Saints, this past Sunday was Fast Sunday, the day set aside each month where faithful members of the church abstain from eating for 24 hours. The purpose of this fast is two-fold; it is a time to put off the natural man and rely more upon the spirit, and it is a time to donate money to those in need by contributing to the church, the money saved by skipping meals. Those who fast meaningfully and with purpose are blessed with greater spirituality and their faith is strengthened.

We are encouraged to fast with a purpose. This generally means that we keep an issue or a person forefront in our hearts and minds while fasting and ask Heavenly Father for increased help in behalf of this need. It is common to fast in behalf of someone who is sick or to fast while seeking help with a particular need or problem. Fasting without a purpose is really just going hungry.

This past Sunday I had several things I was fasting for. I always ask Heavenly Father for help in becoming more humble and being more receptive to his spirit. I always fast in behalf of my children, that they too can be more receptive of the things of the spirit. This time, however, I fasted for several others as well. I fasted in behalf of a child in my Ward that is struggling with controlling epilepsy. His parents are beside themselves with worry as they strive to help their little boy. I fasted in behalf of my niece whose husband recently passed away leaving her to care for her four children without him. I fasted in behalf of the young son of a niece who seems to have an unexplained illness. And finally I fasted in behalf of a dear friend who is really suffering from the result of sin in his life. All these are real needs that have been in my thoughts and prayers continuously.

The reason I mention these things is because they are all examples of how this life is really hard and full of difficult challenges. It is amazing that all these difficult circumstances, along with many more, are going on in the tiny circle of people that I know and love. No one is exempt from the difficulties of this life. More importantly, none of have really any control of what happens to us here. God only is in control.

I am certain that most of you have already heard of or seen the letter from Sister Lisa Laylock that was recently published in Meridian Magazine. Sister Laylock and her husband President Larry Laylock are currently presiding over the Santiago Chile East Mission. About two weeks prior to the recent Chilean earthquake, Sister Laylock had a dream warning her of the earthquake. President and Sister Laylock spent the next two weeks preparing their missionaries for the earthquake. She wrote “We learned an important lesson: our preparation helped us to avoid panic and fear, but the Lord, in His wisdom, allowed us to experience enough discomfort to know that He has all power. He is in charge. We are nothing without Him. We are dependent upon Him for every breath we take. Only He can save us from death and destruction. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our perfect example. If we follow Him, we will be saved through obedience to the laws and ordinances of His Gospel.”

I too have learned from personal experience that I am not in control. I have previously written a blog that dealt with a serious accident with my oldest daughter. No matter how much we want to protect our children and those we love, we don’t really have the power to do so. All we are and all we have rests in God’s hands.

As we try to be in control, we should be reminded of the scripture found in Doctrine and Covenants 121: 33 “How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty…” I have often thought of how the Lord must see us as “puny armed” as we try to be in control.

One question I have often asked myself throughout my life is “why do I make life harder than it already is?” Life is already full of difficult challenges, so why do we make it worse? We have already established that there are many awful things that we are subjected to in this life that we have no control over, however, many difficulties in this life are brought on by carelessness, disobedience and rebellion.

A wise and dear friend has shared an analogy of life that he feels came to him by revelation: I believe he is right. He once told me that this life experience is very similar to preparing for, serving, and coming home from a full-time mission. We anticipate it and prepare for it for many years. We know the rules before we go and generally know what will be expected of us while there. We go for a specific purpose. We have people that have gone before us to help us while there. When we depart for it our family and friends are there to see us off. While serving we are confronted by many challenges that we didn’t anticipate and that may be very difficult. Some dedicate themselves and are faithful and hard working. Others try to do as little as possible and slide through with as little effort as possible. Some become ill but recover. Others become ill and need to come home. Some are in accidents and may be injured. Some may be killed. Some give up and go home early. Some make poor choices and are constantly in trouble. Others rebel and are sent home early. Some barely make it through; others are faithful through the end. Under most scenarios, when we return home there is a celebration. Family and friends are there to greet us. We are able to rest briefly knowing we have served well.

The most difficult missionaries seem to be those that are rebellious; those that are constantly and knowingly breaking the rules. They want to get away with as much as possible without getting sent home. They make foolish and often dangerous choices. They simply don’t want to leave the world behind.

Most of us who have served missions know missionaries that were described by one of these examples (I am sure there are fewer rebellious ones now since the “bar” has been raised). I had one as a companion. It was very difficult.

Similarly in life we have many eternal brothers and sisters that have many difficulties because of foolish choices. Some cut their lives short by participating in extreme and dangerous activities. Others are openly rebellious (all of us are rebellious to some extent) and are involved in disobeying the law of chastity or some other immoral or perverted activity. Sometimes we are injured in accidents that are no fault of our own: Other times our accidents are consequences of our actions. Sometimes we become ill by no fault of our own, other times we bring illnesses upon us by not taking care of ourselves. This may include smoking, drinking, unhealthy eating, or other unhealthy actions.

Thankfully we have a Heavenly Father that loves us and has prepared a way for us to return to Him… no matter what kind of missionary we have been. I have learned through the crucible of my own life that “wickedness never was happiness,” and that true joy and happiness only comes by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

I have learned through my own experience and can therefore testify with authority that the atonement of Jesus Christ is real. We can be forgiven of our wickedness and our sins. Even those we were openly rebellious about, if we will turn from our rebellion and turn to Christ. We must forsake our rebellious nature and ask our Savior to change our hearts. By so doing, we will one day be greeted with the words “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

Blessed are the Pure in Heart

2010-03-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

My head has been whirling for the past several days about a topic I could blog about. I am currently reading “The Book of Mormon” as well as “The Promised Messiah” and a great book titled “Bonds That Make us Free”. I have had some really amazing insights from all three books and I will write about each of them but the topic I would like to discuss today comes from my reading of the Book of Mormon.

As I have mentioned before, I am reading the Book of Mormon this time with journal in hand. This is in response to Elder Scotts talk in conference that explained how to better receive inspiration. He said “I believe that you can leave the most precious, personal direction of the Spirit unheard because you do not respond to, record, and apply the first promptings that come to you.” I am trying to do this. I must admit that I pay much closer attention to what I am reading and I really try to understand what each verse is saying. As I go back and read the notes I have written, a flood of emotion comes over me as I realize the amazing insights found in the Book of Mormon.

This morning as I was reading in Jacob 3, I was impressed by verses 1-3 that talk about the pure in heart. I quote “1 BUT behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction.
2 O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.
3 But, wo, wo, unto you that are not pure in heart, that are filthy this day before God; for except ye repent the land is cursed for your sakes;

The topic of being pure in heart has been on my mind quite a bit lately. It started a couple of years ago when Elder Bednar gave a conference address that was titled “Clean Hands and a Pure Heart”. I will address that talk in a minute, but more recently I was in the Mesa Arizona Temple, where above one of the doors leading into the endowment room was the inscription “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. This inscription went straight to my heart. Being pure in heart is a difficult process but something I really want in my own life.

In October of 2007, Elder Bednar gave the talk I referenced above. I listened to it over and over again, really listening to what its message was. I encourage all to read it but I will do my best to summarize it.

Elder Bednar starts out by reminiscing about learning the stories of the Book of Mormon as a child from his mother. One of his favorites was the story of Christ appearing to the Nephites at the temple in Bountiful. Elder Bednar says “As the Savior’s time with the people was drawing to a close, He succinctly summarized the fundamental principles of His gospel.

Said He, “Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day” (3 Nephi 27:20).

The gate of baptism leads to the strait and narrow path and to the destination of putting off the natural man and becoming a saint through the Atonement of Christ the Lord (see Mosiah 3:19). The purpose of our mortal journey is not merely to see the sights on earth or to expend our allotment of time on self-centered pursuits; rather, we are to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4), to become sanctified by yielding our hearts unto God (see Helaman 3:35), and to obtain “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

We are commanded and instructed to so live that our fallen nature is changed through the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost. President Marion G. Romney taught that the baptism of fire by the Holy Ghost “converts [us] from carnality to spirituality. It cleanses, heals, and purifies the soul. . . . Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, and water baptism are all preliminary and prerequisite to it, but [the baptism of fire] is the consummation. To receive [this baptism of fire] is to have one’s garments washed in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ” (Learning for the Eternities, comp. George J. Romney [1977], 133; see also 3 Nephi 27:19–20).
Hence, as we are born again and strive to always have His Spirit to be with us, the Holy Ghost sanctifies and refines our souls as if by fire (see 2 Nephi 31:13–14, 17). Ultimately, we are to stand spotless before God.

The gospel of Jesus Christ encompasses much more than avoiding, overcoming, and being cleansed from sin and the bad influences in our lives; it also essentially entails doing good, being good, and becoming better. Repenting of our sins and seeking forgiveness are spiritually necessary, and we must always do so. But remission of sin is not the only or even the ultimate purpose of the gospel. To have our hearts changed by the Holy Spirit such that “we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2), as did King Benjamin’s people, is the covenant responsibility we have accepted. This mighty change is not simply the result of working harder or developing greater individual discipline. Rather, it is the consequence of a fundamental change in our desires, our motives, and our natures made possible through the Atonement of Christ the Lord. Our spiritual purpose is to overcome both sin and the desire to sin, both the taint and the tyranny of sin.
Prophets throughout the ages have emphasized the dual requirements of (1) avoiding and overcoming bad and (2) doing good and becoming better. Consider the penetrating questions posed by the Psalmist:

“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
“He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully” (Psalm 24:3–4).

Brothers and sisters, it is possible for us to have clean hands but not have a pure heart. Please notice that both clean hands and a pure heart are required to ascend into the hill of the Lord and to stand in His holy place.”

There are some amazing doctrines taught in these few paragraphs. We should ponder and pray about all of them. However, I spent hours and hours pondering the words “Brothers and sisters, it is possible for us to have clean hands but not have a pure heart.” I went through my life over and over again asking myself what this means to me. I concluded that we can indeed have clean hands… and not a pure heart. We can refrain from various forms of sin but in our hearts or in our minds still “wish” we could participate. This is a form of clean hands but not a pure heart. I have really made an effort to invite the Holy Spirit into my life to purify my heart. This is a life-long process.

Elder Bednar continues “Some who hear or read this message may think the spiritual progress I am describing is not attainable in their lives. We may believe these truths apply to others but not to us.

We will not attain a state of perfection in this life, but we can and should press forward with faith in Christ along the strait and narrow path and make steady progress toward our eternal destiny. The Lord’s pattern for spiritual development is “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little” (2 Nephi 28:30). Small, steady, incremental spiritual improvements are the steps the Lord would have us take. Preparing to walk guiltless before God is one of the primary purposes of mortality and the pursuit of a lifetime; it does not result from sporadic spurts of intense spiritual activity.

I witness that the Savior will strengthen and assist us to make sustained, paced progress. The example in the Book of Mormon of “many, exceedingly great many” (Alma 13:12) in the ancient Church who were pure and spotless before God is a source of encouragement and comfort to me. I suspect those members of the ancient Church were ordinary men and women just like you and me. These individuals could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence, and they “were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God” (v. 12). And these principles and this process of spiritual progress apply to each of us equally and always.

Elder Bednar concludes with this thought and his testimony “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ. . . .

“And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot” (Moroni 10:32–33;

I add my testimony that these principles are true. I have had confirmation of them through the Holy Spirit. It is a constant battle to put off the natural man; We all fail and all make mistakes, but as we continually strive to do what is right, the Lord will make up the difference!

An Answer to Prayer

2010-02-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

Over the past 10 days or so I have been really struggling with an important personal decision in my life. It was a decision I wasn’t sure I had the ability to make due to its difficulty. I haven’t known how to handle a certain situation and I have made it a matter of earnest personal prayer. I want to write how the Lord has answered my prayer… but in a way far different than the way I expected.

For the past few weeks I have been reading “The Promised Messiah” by Elder Bruce R. McConkie. I have discovered that it is a true treasure that we have in our midst and one that I have under appreciated. I encourage all to take the time to read it.

As I have read this book, along with my reading of The Book of Mormon, I have begun to have a greater understanding of, or perhaps a greater desire for the “ministering of angels.” I have learned that we as faithful Latter-day-Saints are entitled to this divine gift, so selfish me wanted this blessing in my life. So as I went to the Lord for help on the important decision spoken of, I wanted it to come in a way that included a divine manifestation.

I have spent long hours on numerous occasions in prayer on this matter. I have wept many tears and really plead. A few nights ago I awoke at 1:00 am and poured my heart out to the Lord for over two hours. I knew He was listening… I had some distinct impressions… but no clear answer, and no divine manifestation.

Several nights later I drove up Millcreek Canyon and hiked up Rattlesnake Gulch in the dark! I found a spot to pray and spent another couple of hours pouring my heart out to the Lord. Still no answer. I hiked back to my car and read from the Book of Mormon. I prayed as I read. Still no answer. When I started my car to drive home, my car audio system began to play our latest General Conference. Right at the time I needed it, Elder Richard G. Scott spoke these words: “What can you do to enhance your capacity to be led to correct decisions in your life? What are the principles upon which spiritual communication depends? What are the potential barriers to such communication that you need to avoid?

President John Taylor wrote: “Joseph Smith, upwards of forty years ago, said to me: ‘Brother Taylor, you have received the Holy Ghost. Now follow the influence of that Spirit, and it will lead you into all truth, until by and by, it will become in you a principle of revelation.’ Then he told me never to arise in the morning without bowing before the Lord, and dedicating myself to him during that day.”

Father in Heaven knew that you would face challenges and be required to make some decisions that would be beyond your own ability to decide correctly. In His plan of happiness, He included a provision for you to receive help with such challenges and decisions during your mortal life. That assistance will come to you through the Holy Ghost as spiritual guidance. It is a power, beyond your own capability, that a loving Heavenly Father wants you to use consistently for your peace and happiness.

I am convinced that there is no simple formula or technique that would immediately allow you to master the ability to be guided by the voice of the Spirit. Our Father expects you to learn how to obtain that divine help by exercising faith in Him and His Holy Son, Jesus Christ. Were you to receive inspired guidance just for the asking, you would become weak and ever more dependent on Them. They know that essential personal growth will come as you struggle to learn how to be led by the Spirit.

What may appear initially to be a daunting task will be much easier to manage over time as you consistently strive to recognize and follow feelings prompted by the Spirit. Your confidence in the direction you receive from the Holy Ghost will also become stronger. I witness that as you gain experience and success in being guided by the Spirit, your confidence in the impressions you feel can become more certain than your dependence on what you see or hear.

Spirituality yields two fruits. The first is inspiration to know what to do. The second is power, or the capacity to do it. These two capacities come together. That’s why Nephi could say, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.” He knew the spiritual laws upon which inspiration and power are based. Yes, God answers prayer and gives us spiritual direction when we live obediently and exercise the required faith in Him.”

This message was directed perfectly to me. I am certain that had an angel appeared to me, he would have given me the exact same counsel. The whole thing was as if the Lord was speaking directly to me but I was particularly touched by the words “I witness that as you gain experience and success in being guided by the Spirit, your confidence in the impressions you feel can become more certain than your dependence on what you see or hear.” I learned I don’t need an angel to appear to receive the counsel I need!

Elder Scott said that spirituality yields two fruits: The first is inspiration to know what to do. The second is the power or capacity to do it. Very clearly the answer came to me of what to do. In fact I knew exactly what to do! The second part however was the more difficult part… the part that required faith: I had to do what the Lord wanted me to do and it required me to go against what I believed to be the truth. I felt like Nephi when told to kill Laban. “And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.
And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands. Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property.
And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands;”

Doing what I needed to do was going to require me to swallow my pride. Like Nephi I said (with a little grumbling) I will go and do the thing which the Lord has commanded. I know it is the right thing and I know I will be blessed for it.

This experience has taught me once again that the Lord loves us and He answers our prayers. He does allow us to have difficulties in our lives to help us grow. I am grateful for my knowledge of His love for me. I am grateful for inspired leaders like Elder Scott that can follow the promptings of the spirit to help those in need. I know he wrote that talk for me and others with similar struggles.

The Rest of the Lord

2010-02-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

Early yesterday morning, while sitting in the Salt Lake Temple, I was thinking about Joe Massey. The thought came that I should write a blog about him and his need for our faith and prayers. Shortly after arriving at my office, I received word that Joe had passed away. My heart was broken. After pondering the situation for 24 hours or so, I have decided to continue with my prompting and write about Joe.

Joe Massey was a giant of a man. Not only was his one of the strongest men I have ever known physically, but was also one of the strongest I have ever known in terms of character, faith, and love. Joe has left a lasting impression on all who knew him.

I was always impressed at how Joe expressed love to all he knew. Joe hugged everybody; it was just his way and everyone expected it. At family gatherings he went around the room giving each person a hug. I always appreciated that about him.

Joe was a devoted husband and father. It was evident that he loved his kids and that they in turn loved him too. They had fun as a family and always seemed happy. I know this love will continue.

Early this morning as I was reading in “The Promised Messiah”, I came across a section titled “Enter into the Rest of the Lord”. I would like to quote form that section since it seems so appropriate. Elder McConkie writes “One of the sweet and gracious doctrines of the gospel, a doctrine that brings comfort and serenity to the saints, is that those who are true and faithful in all things enter into the rest of the Lord their God.

Mortality is the state in which men are tried and tested; in which they are subject to temptation, disease, sorrow, and death; in which there is violent opposition to every true principle; in which the generality of mankind is wafted hither and yon by every wind of doctrine; in which Satan has great hold upon the hearts of most of mankind. It is not a state of peace and rest; in it there is work and turmoil and dissension. It is a probationary estate where choices must be made; where all men, the saints included, are being tried and tested, to see if they will choose liberty and eternal life through the atonement of Christ the Lord, or whether they will walk in subjection to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God and became the devil to rise no more.

Peace and rest, in the full and true sense, come only through the gospel and are reserved for those who place themselves in harmony with those Holy Beings who are the embodiment of these godly attributes.

What does it mean to enter into the rest of the Lord? To this question there is a three-pronged answer: one aspect deals with the rest of the Lord here and now in mortality; the next is concerned with a more perfected rest that comes to those who, departing this sphere, find themselves in the paradise of God; and the final one applies to the saved saints who have risen in immortal glory ever to be with their Lord.

Mormon had some counsel for the saints, for those who believe the gospel and are seeking to live its laws. He addressed them in this way: "I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven." (Moro. 7:3.) To enter into the rest of the Lord in this life is to gain a sure knowledge of the truth and divinity of the Lord's work on earth. It is to have the testimony of Jesus and to know by personal revelation that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth. It is to have such fixity of purpose that the calls, Lo, here is Christ, and Lo, there, seem like idle chatter. Those who have entered into the rest of the Lord here and now are not driven about by every wind of doctrine. They are not trying to find the truth. The Holy Spirit of God has already manifest to their souls where the truth is. They have charted a course leading to that eternal rest which is eternal life. They have received that peace which passeth all understanding and is known and felt only by the power of the Holy Ghost.

As to the rest of the Lord enjoyed by faithful saints when they depart this life, Alma says: "The spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow." (Alma 40:12.)
As to that rest which is enjoyed by those who dwell in immortal glory, Amulek says: "God did call on men, in the name of his Son, (this being the plan of redemption which was laid) saying: If ye will repent, and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son; Therefore, whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest." (Alma 12:33-35.)

O that all men might come unto Christ and gain that rest and peace, both now and forever, that comes from him and him only!”

As I understand it, Elder McConkie speaks of three types of “Rest of the Lord”: They are this life, the spirit world, and that rest which is enjoyed by those who dwell in immortal glory. Joe is now in paradise, where he will rest from troubles and cares. We however must not forget that the first “rest” that is spoken of occurs in this life!

The Book of Mormon teaches us how the rest of the Lord comes to us in this life. "I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven." (Moro. 7:3.)

It is my prayer at this time, that all of us that are deeply saddened by the death of this wonderful man Joe Massey, that we will turn to that God that made us, and have faith in his Son, and to gain that sure knowledge of our Father’s divine plan.

Joe…we will miss you. We will watch after your little flock.

"O Wretched Man That I Am"

2010-02-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I started reading the Book of Mormon again. I decided this time to keep a journal as I read and to write down thoughts and impressions that come to me as I am reading. I am amazed at the things I have written down and am now better able to remember because I took the time to write them down. My reading of the Book of Mormon will forever be changed since reading “The Second Comforter” by Denver Snuffer. I now see much more clearly the number of times that the Lord personally appears and speaks to those who were writers of the Book of Mormon. I want to follow the example of these great leaders.

Today I was deeply touched by 2 Nephi Chapter 4. This is the chapter where Nephi writes about his fathers final words to his family before he dies. Then Nephi goes on to give one of the greatest sermons of all time… one that I feel resonates with me and my life. I will quote Nephi, but insert my thoughts as appropriate.

Nephi writes “16 Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.
17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.
18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.”

I know that I shouldn’t “delight” in other people’s sorrows but I have to admit that this group of scriptures gives me great comfort. I like to know that Nephi, one of the greatest prophets of all time, who saw God and angels, continued to struggle with temptation! I honestly strive to keep the commandments but I too continue to be saddened by my weakness in keeping the commandments.

Nephi continues “19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.
20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.
21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.
22 He hath confounded mine enemies, unto the causing of them to quake before me. “

I too know that God has been my support and has led me through mine afflictions. Even beyond my ability to comprehend, God has been there for me to support me in times of great sorrow. I have felt of His love… to the consuming of my flesh. In a time when I was so sad that I didn’t think I could go on, the Lord was there to lift me and to comfort me. He has even confounded my enemies… my enemy Satan… a story I will tell on a future post.

Nephi continues “23 Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the night-time.
24 And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me.
25 And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.
26 O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?”

This may be my favorite part! Nephi has had visions… perhaps dreams because he says “in the night-time”. He has had the visitation of angels! And most importantly he has seen the Savior! (See 1 Nephi 11:1-11 to see the details of this vision. Pay particular attention to verse 11). He was carried away unto an “exceedingly high mountain” where he saw and heard things he could not write! Does this have something to do with the Temple Endowments of today?

Nephi continues “27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?

I want to tell of a very sacred personal experience here. This is a story that I have never told in public before. In about 1998 Ann and I took a tour with BYU Travel Study to the Holy Land. For those of you who haven’t done this yet I highly recommend it: It is a life changing experience! While in the city of Jerusalem we had the opportunity of going to the Garden Tomb a couple of times. This experience alone is wonderful enough, but we were there at Easter… an even more sacred time for this specific spot. I am not sure that I have ever felt the Spirit stronger than I did on Easter morning in this sacred place. On most days visitors are allowed into the tomb… but on Easter the tomb is closed with a sign on the door stating “He is not here, for He is risen”.

I found a spot alone in the beautiful gardens that surround the tomb and poured my thanks out to God for my many blessings. But I also had a nagging burden on my mind. Some months before I had done something that I considered a sin. I don’t want to imply I had done anything grievous, but I had done something I was ashamed of. I felt my repentance would not be complete until I talked to my bishop about it. The problem was that my bishop was one of my best friends… I was too embarrassed to go to him. (How many has this kept from truly repenting?) As I sat there, and pled with the Lord to forgive me… an almost audible voice came to me and said “I bled from every pore, was humiliated and spit upon, whipped and beaten, nailed to a cross until I died for you… and you are embarrassed!” I felt I was cut to the core by this voice: I was so ashamed. Needless to say I went to my bishop and received forgiveness.

Nephi continues “28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.
29 Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.
30 Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
31 O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin?
32 May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may walk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road!
33 O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy.
34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.
35 Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen”

I bear my personal and solemn witness to you that God lives and that His Son Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world. I have a personal witness that true repentance, and continual striving to keep the commandments is the only place we find true joy and happiness.

Man-Up Bro!

2010-02-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

I don’t know if I have mentioned before that I am the Young Men’s President in my ward. This gives me a great opportunity to spend a lot of time with boys that range in age from 12 to 18. It is really a great blessing for me.

Last summer I spent a week with the 16-18 year olds hiking the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. It was an amazing experience and we had a lot of fun. There were parts of the week that were quite challenging. At one particularly difficult point, where a couple of the boys were complaining, one of the older boys; a star of the high school football team, said “Man-up Bro”, meaning stop being a baby and just do it!

Although this is something we laughed about at the time, it is something that I have thought about many times since then. I have often asked myself how this applies to my life; or in other words, how do I need to “Man-up?”

Last week I was out of town on business. I had a crew of 7 with me, and the production company I was working for had a crew of 3. Of this staff of 10 people, 6 of us are endowed Latter-day-Saints. Of these 6, only 2 are currently active. The other 4, all returned missionaries, were drinking and partying with the non-members we were with.

Now I don’t mean to “cast stones” at anyone. I certainly have my own temptations and am far from doing all I should be doing, but I ask myself how does one fall so far from doing the right thing? When does one “Man-up and do the right thing?

A couple of weeks ago a few of my staff and I were sitting around the conference table in my office. The name of a mutual acquaintance came up. Now, I know that this person is a Latter-day-Saint. Someone in the group said “that guy gives me the creeps”, I chimed in “something about him is slimy.” This type of commenting went around the room until one employee said “when I judged him, I said the same thing.” He said this to be funny, and we all laughed, but it also cut me to the core. I realized that I indeed was judging this man. I then thought of the commandment to avoid “evil speaking of the Lord’s anointed.” We often interpret this phrase to mean sustaining church leaders. However, are not all endowed Latter-day-Saints anointed? When will I “Man-up” and stop participating in these types of conversations?

Our world today is filled with filth. There are so many ways for us to be immoral that they are too many to number. Unfortunately too many, even Latter-day-Saints, fall short of expectations. In our most recent General Conference, Elder Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke on this subject.

Elder Cook told a story of when he was a boy he often visited his grandfather’s ranch. The ranch house got it’s water from a nearby spring. The spring was important to his grandfather and he always kept it clean and took extra care to protect it. When his grandfather was in his nineties, and no longer lived on the farm, Elder Cook took him back for a visit. Much to his grandfather’s disappointment, the fence surrounding the spring had fallen in to disrepair and cows had ruined the spring. The grandfather was very upset at this finding. Elder Cook said “To him, it was a violation of a trust he had observed all his working life. He felt somehow he had not protected that life-sustaining spring which had meant so much to him.”

Elder Cook went on to say “As servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is our sacred responsibility to teach His standard of morality, which is the same for all of His children. When our thoughts or our actions are impure, we violate His standard. The Lord has said, “I . . . cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.” Some attempt to rationalize away their conduct.

In a poem by John Holmes titled “Talk,” an old, deaf New England shipbuilder teaches a young man about rationalization. In describing one of the lessons he learned, the youth explains, “I wouldn’t have known that however you build it, the ship must sail; you can’t explain to the ocean.”

It has been suggested that what happens in a certain city stays in a certain city. I like the sign posted in Sevier County, Utah, which states, “What happens in Sevier County . . . you can share with your friends!!!” When we realize that we are accountable to God, we see how foolish rationalizations can be. Those who rationalize remind us of little children who cover their eyes, convinced that if they can’t see us, we can’t see them. I would suggest that if we think about giving an accounting of our actions to the Savior, our rationalizations will be seen in their true light.

We are aware that there are those who have already engaged in conduct inconsistent with this sacred standard of morality. Please understand that through the Savior’s Atonement, all can repent and return, like the spring of water, to a clean and pure state. It is difficult to repent; it requires a broken heart and a contrite spirit. But when the steps to repentance are righteously followed, the words spoken by the prophet Alma to his son Corianton, who had been involved in moral transgressions, are applicable: “And now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance.” The Savior has said, “Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.”

It is time for each of us to “Man-up” and to take responsibility for our actions. For most of us this means to recognize that we have made mistakes that we need to repent of. We need to recognize that we need the Savior and His atonement. Then we need to take a step toward change. From my own experience I have learned that if we begin this way, the Lord will step in and help us along the way. I know that He loves us and will do all he can to help us succeed. May we all be willing to accept help from Him!

Our Perfect Older Brother

2010-01-28T20:42:00.000-08:00

I am in Scottsdale, Arizona this week for work. I have been putting in a lot of hours so I haven’t had much time to write a blog post. I was able to get away early yesterday morning and attended a 5:30 am temple session at the Mesa Temple. Each time I attend an early morning session at any temple I am awed by the number of people that are dedicated to making temple attendance work in their busy lives. It is wonderful to associate with like minded people. I have a few hours to myself tonight so would like to share some thoughts about what I have been reading.

Tonight’s post is definitely just my opinion or simply some thoughts I have been having. I fully expect others to disagree with me on this one or to have a differing point of view. I welcome your comments and perhaps we can learn together.

I made a goal at the beginning of the year to read the entire “Messiah” series by Elder Bruce R. McConkie. I started with “The Promised Messiah” and am about half way through this volume that tops out at 635 pages. I have learned many wonderful things from this book but I would like to address one topic in particular.

In Chapter 10 of Elder McConkie’s book, he writes “Our Lord, who is the Firstborn spirit child of the Eternal Elohim, is himself also the Eternal One.” The part of this sentence that struck me was that Christ is not only the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, but also the firstborn spirit child of the Father. Now this is nothing new, but I guess it is the first time I have seen it written by someone with authority. I know it is a widely believed concept in the church. It is likely scriptural as well but I don’t know the verse.

Where my thoughts went as I pondered this topic was in the following direction: What makes Jesus more special than us? Now I don’t mean this in any disrespectful way. I have a testimony of his divinity and of His mission and calling. I mean this in the most respectful way possible. What made Christ perfect and obedient when we come from the same “source” as Him? Why is He strong and we are weak? Why is He perfect and we are full of sin? What is it about Him being the oldest? I have a theory! Let’s take a look.

We know from modern revelation that Michael, who helped create the earth, became Adam, out first father. I have heard many times in the church as well, that we too were there during the creation of the earth. Many times in the scriptures we know we can place ourselves in the stories and know they apply to us as well. I believe that we too, along with Adam were a significant part of the creation.

In Abr. 3 we read the following: 22 “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;”

Who do these “noble and great ones” include? Is this limited to just a few “Prophets and Apostles”, or were we, as endowed faithful followers among them as well?

Before I write the following I wish to clarify here that I by no means wish to bring Christ down to our level and make us equals in any way. I do however hope to lift us to a higher level: closer to His.

In Ether 12 we read “27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

This is one of the most misquoted scriptures in the church. Most people read it and believe that God shows us our “weaknesses”. This is not what it says… He shows us our weakness! The verse then goes on to say I give men “weakness” to make them humble. Does he give us weakness because in reality we are strong? If he doesn’t make us weak would we not be able to learn to rely on Him? Have we taken a giant step down in this life in order to make our mortal probation more meaningful and to become more like God knowing good from evil?” Are we more ready to receive “crowns of glory” than we give ourselves credit for?

In the Pre-existence were we part of the noble and great ones, who helped create the earth, and were valiant followers of the Fathers plan? Is this why we were so willing to support the great Jehovah being our redeemer and rejecting Lucifer’s plan?

Is Jesus, our older spirit brother, greater than we are because He was willing to step forward in the beginning, and to be our Redeemer? Is this one of the things that makes Him greater than us? Did this willingness raise Him to perfection in the premortal world?

Christ is not only perfect spiritually speaking. We know that he is the only perfect mortal being as well. Is the fact that He is the only mortal being to have our Heavenly Father as the father of his body and spirit what makes him perfect? If he had had an earthly father and an earthly mother, would he have sinned as we do, and thus be unable to be the Savior?

My theory is that we are much closer to the Savior than we give ourselves credit for. We were great beings in the premortal world. We were leaders there and helped create the earth. Where we fall short in being like the Savior is the fact that He stepped forward and was willing to take on the sins of all the world. His mortal body that has God’s “DNA” made it possible for him to live a perfect life as well. His strength to withstand evil and temptation was a combination of His perfect spirit and his perfect body: His Mother made him mortal so he could understand our “weakness” but his Father made him divine.

I don’t want to diminish the importance or the perfection of the Savior in any way. I am simply hoping that we can look at ourselves as children of God. I want us to see ourselves in true light… as potential Kings and Queens. I believe that if we know who we are, we will strive harder to live up to our full potential. We must all be better at repenting of our sins and keeping the commandments.

As I mentioned earlier, these views written in this post are simply thoughts I have had. I don’t mean to imply they are true or doctrine in any way. I encourage contrasting points of view that can help teach me the truth. I can tell you that I have a firm testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. I know that he lives and that he died for our sins. And that only through him can we return to live with the Father. He is our Perfect Example.

Our Perfect Example

2010-01-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the opportunity of attending the Timpanogos Temple with Ann, a couple of friends, and Denver Snuffer. It was a really wonderful morning and I have never quite felt the spirit that way in the temple before. We attended a session and then had some time to just sit and talk in the Celestial room. What I liked about that morning was being in a place where the spirit of the Lord was abundantly present, with like minded people that I know are really trying to follow the Savior and His teachings.

Simply by coincidence, that day was the one year anniversary of my beginning the book by Denver Snuffer called “The Second Comforter: Conversing with the Lord through the Veil.” My reading of this book changed the course of my life forever, and was instrumental in making 2009 one of the greatest years of spiritual growth in my life.

I learned many important lessons last year, but the two greatest I would have to say are that the Book of Mormon truly contains the fullness of the gospel: I have come to believe that the Bible was written and preserved in order to prepare people for the Book of Mormon. And that regular temple attendance is a method for learning about the Savior and the great plan of our Heavenly Father that can’t be matched.

Above all, last year taught me that I need to be a better person. I learned that I need to be less selfish. I learned that I need to be kinder. I learned that I need to be more faithful in keeping the commandments. I learned that I need to follow the Savior more fully.

While contemplating the things I need to do to be a better person, I listened once again to President Henry B. Eyring’s talk from last general conference. He titled his talk “Our Perfect Example.” His talk of course was about following the Savior. I would like to share some of my thoughts about this talk.

Elder Eyring starts out his talk by reminding us that we all will one day meet the Savior. Whether in this life, or in the world to come I don’t know but I look forward to this day with great hope and anticipation. He then quotes from Moroni in the Book of Mormon.
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”
Elder Eyring then goes on and tells us that a Primary Song teaches us what we must do to prepare ourselves for this great occasion:

I’m trying to be like Jesus; I’m following in his ways.
I’m trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say.
At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice,
But I try to listen as the still small voice whispers,
“Love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
For these are the things Jesus taught.”

It seems simple, doesn’t it?… love one another as Jesus did. Show kindness in all we do. Heed the still small voice as it guides us. This is how we prepare to see the Savior.

President Eyring goes on to write: “Love is the motivating principle by which the Lord leads us along the way towards becoming like Him, our perfect example. Our way of life, hour by hour, must be filled with the love of God and love for others. There is no surprise in that, since the Lord proclaimed those as the first and great commandments. It is love of God that will lead us to keep His commandments. And love of others is at the heart of our capacity to obey Him.
Just as Jesus used a child in His mortal ministry as an example for the people of the pure love they must and could have to be like Him, He has offered us the family as an example of an ideal setting in which we can learn how to love as He loves.
That is because the greatest joys and the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships. The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. And the sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love. The ideal God holds for us is to form families in the way most likely to lead to happiness and away from sorrow. A man and a woman are to make sacred covenants that they will put the welfare and happiness of the other at the center of their lives. Children are to be born into a family where the parents hold the needs of children equal to their own in importance. And children are to love parents and each other.”

It is interesting to note that he says that our greatest joys and our greatest sorrows come in our family relationships; Joy from selflessness… and sorrow from selfishness.

I for one have learned that I have been far too selfish in my family relationships. I have been far too selfish in my relationship with my wife Ann. I have seen the joy that comes from forgetting about my own needs and putting Ann’s first. I certainly haven’t perfected it yet, but I am working on it.

He goes on to counsel husbands and wives “Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.” Imagine the good that can come from following this counsel!

He then goes on to counsel the parents of wandering children (aren’t we all wandering children in one way or another?) “The story of the prodigal son gives us all hope. The prodigal remembered home, as will your children. They will feel your love drawing them back to you. Elder Orson F. Whitney, in a general conference of 1929, gave a remarkable promise, which I know is true, to the faithful parents who honor the temple sealing to their children: “Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold.”

Then he goes on to say: “Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.” You can pray for your children, love them, and reach out to them with confidence that Jesus reaches for them with you. When you keep trying, you are doing what Jesus does.”

Sometimes it seems overwhelming that we need to try harder to be more like the Savior. Perhaps we don’t see the progress that we are making. Elder Eyring points out a couple of ways: “It will help to remember how you have felt, at times, like a little child, even in the midst of cares and trials. You have felt the peace of a pure little child at times when you have tried to be like Jesus. You have felt it in your family when you asked the pardon of your spouse or forgave a child for some mistake or disobedience. These moments will come more often as you try to do the things you know Jesus would do. Because of His Atonement for you, your childlike obedience will bring a feeling of love of the Savior for you and your love for Him. That is one of the gifts that is promised to His faithful disciples. And this gift can come not only to you alone but also to the loving members of your family. The promise was given in 3 Nephi: “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”

I know that as we strive to keep the commandments and to follow the Savior, our perfect example, that our efforts will be blessed by the power of the Atonement and that we will make progress in our quest to return to Him.

Julie's Conversion

2010-01-21T13:59:00.000-08:00

The past couple of weeks I have felt very inspired by events happening in my life, but I am having a hard time finding the right thing to write about. Therefore I haven't done a post for awhile: Sorry about that. In the mean time, I am posting another story from my journal. It was origianlly written in my journal in 2006 but was an event from years ago. I hope you all enjoy it!

August 20, 2006

In about January of 1981, I was in the final months of my full-time mission in the Belgium, Antwerp Mission. I was serving in the city of Brussels. This was my second time in the Brussels branch. I spent the first four months of my mission in Brussels, and I spent the last eight there as well. As a result, I had a great relationship with the members of the branch. I had the blessing the last eight months of being a Zone Leader in the mission. This allowed me to have great companions. My companion at the time was Elder Loren Betteridge. Interestingly enough, I had three companions in a row come to me, and then be called as Assistant to the President. They were Randy Thurgood, Steven Kapp Perry, and Loren Betteridge.

I remember distinctly being on a “team teaching” split with Brother DeVille of the Brussels branch when he made the comment that he was tired of the missionaries pushing investigators to be baptized in only a few weeks of investigation of the church. He felt it was more appropriate to investigate the church for years before joining, like he had. He felt this was the way to prevent inactivity.

As a companionship we were determined to prove him wrong. We prayed earnestly to find a person or family who would investigate the church for only three weeks, be baptized, and become an active leader in the branch. We wanted to show the members that it could be done.

After sincere prayer, we felt a strong urge to go back to an area known as Meisse-Oppem. In this area there was a large subdivision of new homes; primarily of young families. We were very hesitant to go to this area because we had just recently exhausted it through tracting efforts. Experience showed that returning again brought a lot of slammed doors and irate people. However, the promptings of the spirit were obvious. We went back.

One morning while tracting in this area, we knocked on a door of a young mother (about 30). She invited us in. She thought we were Jehovah’s Witnesses. Interestingly enough, she was a black woman. It was rather rare at the time to find a Dutch speaking black person in Belgium. Anyway, she began to take the missionary discussions.

Almost immediately the lessons we were teaching her began to make a lot of sense to her in her life. She began accepting the principles of the gospel right away. She accepted the Word of Wisdom and stopped smoking. She read the Scripture assignments we gave her. She was a “golden Investigator”. Her name was Julie Van Wauwe. She had two daughters Leslie (9) and Pascal (4). She was divorced.

Julie, and her daughter Leslie were baptized February 5, 1981. It was almost exactly 3 weeks after we found them. Julie bore her testimony the following Sunday in Fast and Testimony Meeting.

These baptisms were a great blessing in our lives. Elder Betteridge and I were able to achieve the mission “Standard of Excellence” that week which was an award for tracking progress. It was a great accomplishment. We were thrilled about the experience however, it didn’t seem at the time that a single mother was going to be the “leader” we were looking for. She was young, poor, and not working. To young missionaries, she seemed like someone who would take a lot of effort from the other members to keep active. Little did we know what the Lord had in store for her.

Sister VanWauwe and her children and I remained close until it was time for me to return home. I remember leaving one of my missionary name tags with her when I left. We agreed to stay in touch.

We wrote a few times over the next year or so. I even remember calling her once to talk by telephone. In the Spring of 1982 she wrote me a letter telling me she had “met someone”; a man in the branch who was baptized a few months after she was. She told me his name was Erik and that he was the first counselor in the branch presidency. She said they were probably going to be married. That was the last time I heard from her.

In spite of thinking of them many times over the following years, I didn’t go to a lot of effort to find them. I didn’t have an address and didn’t know Erik’s last name. I figured they would be too hard to find. At mission reunions I would ask others about her. Most didn’t remember her. As I spoke with other missionaries who had been back, they didn’t recall seeing her. This is where I let it sit for 25 years.

Ann and I had always intended to go to Europe together, we just couldn’t find the time. In the Spring of 2006 the opportunity arose but we need to leave within a couple of weeks to make it work. We bought tickets and began to make an itinerary. I was determined to find people who had been important to me in Belgium. This included finding Julie.

While speaking by phone with one of my former missionary companions, James Quist, I learned of a member in Antwerp by the name of George Tuffin. He was apparently writing a history of the church in Belgium and seemed to know everyone. James Quist gave me the phone number and I made the call. I had several other specific members I was looking for and was able to find contact information for them. Then I described Julie and what I knew of her. He replied “I know exactly who you are looking for, they attend the Antwerpen Ward”. He then said “You are going to be happy about this one!” He gave me her phone number.

I made the phone call with great excitement but with butterflies as well. Julie answered the phone. After verifying that it was her, I said “this is Elder Webb”. There was a moment of hesitation followed by disbelief. She began to cry a little and stated “Where have you been Elder Webb? My life has been so blessed since you knocked on my door 25 years ago.”

We talked about 10 minutes. She asked about my family and I asked about hers. I told her that Ann and I were coming in about 2 weeks. She told me she had indeed married Erik Develter. She explained what a good man and husband he had been over the years. I asked about Leslie and Pascal and asked if there were others. She answered “ I am not going to tell you, you will need to come see.” I agreed. Over the next few days, via email, we determined a time that we would come to her home.

Ann and I made Belgium the last several days of our 16 day trip. When we went to Erik and Julie’s house on the day we were to arrive, she was waiting outside. She literally ran to the car and nearly pulled Ann out. I got out of the car and we all embraced. She looked terrific, much the same but even happier.

We were invited into her house. She was so excited for us to meet her “other children”. We were surprised to learn that she had four additional children with Erik. A total of 6 children! This is unheard of in Europe. The four younger children were all boys. The middle two were twins and approaching their 19th birthday. Erik was home as well and was very pleasant. He is a very fine man with an amazing testimony.

After exchanging many thoughts, and bring each other up on the status of our families, I learned about each of her children. Leslie is married with a family of her own. Unfortunately she is no longer active in the church. Pascal, now about 29 was also inactive. Bart, the oldest boy was a very nice looking man. He too in recent years has fallen into inactivity. The twins, Daniel and Emmanuel, are very active and were in the process of filling out mission applications. The youngest is Benjamin, a really great 15 year old boy.

It was Saturday, the day before Mothers day. We had lunch at her house which of course included Friets. After lunch we began to talk about the many events that had occurred in her life over the past 25 years. These included the events that ultimately brought her to Belgium.

She explained to us that she had been born in The Congo in the mid to late 1950’s. Her mother was a native of the Congo but her father was a French Baron. They were not married to one another. He had a coffee plantation in the Congo where Julie’s mother was a servant. In the early 1960’s, when Julie was 9, a political revolution broke out in the Congo. All Caucasians were either killed or forced to leave. Julie’s father was forced to leave the country. Prior to doing so however, her father had Julie kidnapped for her own safety. She was considered white by natives.

Without knowing why, Julie was snatched from her mothers arms and taken to an orphanage in Belgium. She was very alone in a very foreign place. She was in this orphanage 2 years before she was adopted by a Belgian family.

For reasons that are very apparent, Julie had many challenges in the following few years. She was emotionally scarred in many ways. She married when she was 18 and soon had her two girls. Her husband was very abusive; physically and verbally. It finally got to the point that she left him, put her children into foster care, and checked herself in to a mental hospital for treatment. She was there for a year.

As the story continued, Ann and I learned that when Elder Betteridge and I knocked on her door, she had only recently been released from the hospital and taken custody of her children. This explained why she was home in the middle of the day when we knocked on her door.

This story simply amazed us. As I thought back on the time that I was in her home as a young missionary, the problems she had recently encountered were never apparent to me. She stated, “I never had you over to my house for a meal, I simply couldn’t afford it”.

We spent the next two days together. On Saturday she took us sight seeing in Antwerp and showed us many sights. More than anything there seemed to be a deep feeling of love and appreciation for the gospel that had brought us together. We had so much to talk about. Ann and Julie hit it off right away and spent a lot of time talking. I spent much of the time getting to know Erik better. I learned that he too had been searching for the truth when the missionaries found him. He owned a bar at the time but quickly sold it and changed careers. He currently is an independent contractor for the Church. His job is to photograph old records for the genealogical department of the church. His geographical areas include Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg. Amazingly he said that he photographs up to 4000 images per day and still has 10 years of work ahead of him.

The following day was Sunday; Mothers Day. We went to church with them, or in other words met them there. I never served in the Antwerp branch so I didn’t know a lot of people, however I knew a few. Since the closing of the Brussels branch, members divided up among several neighboring Wards. The Antwerp Ward has its own wonderful building in a nice neighborhood.

Sacrament meeting was very nice. Being Mother’s Day, the topic of the talks were Mother’s of course. It was nice to have Benjamin, Julie and Erik’s youngest son, be the youth speaker. Emmanuel, one of the twins, translated for Ann and others that needed English translation. The meeting ended of course with a potted flower being distributed to each woman in the Ward.

The most exciting part of the entire trip was seeing the way Julie and Erik and their family interacted among the other members of the Ward. They were definitely a catalyst in the Ward and drew others to them by their excitement and their testimonies. Their boys were the center of attention and were very influential in the lives of the other youth.

It was immediately apparent that the prayers of two missionaries, 25 years ago, were answered. Elder Betteridge and I didn’t realize how our prayers were answered far beyond our dreams. This experience has come to testify to me the truthfulness of the scripture “My ways are not your ways”. I have also seen how the gospel blesses the lives of so many.

After church we went back to their home for dinner and more catching up. I had photocopied everything I could find from my journal and from letters I had received from them. I passed these on to them. These items filled in many gaps in their personal history. I also gave them photos from their baptism which to my amazement was the first time they had seen them. Again, she was too poor to afford a camera. This was another thing that I as a young missionary simply hadn’t paid any attention to.

Julie began to fill us in on the details of her life. We learned that through an incredible series of events, she was able to locate her biological mother in Africa. Somehow she met a man from the Congo who agreed to go to her village and find her. Apparently there is still no mail service or telephone service in this part of the Congo. Julie had a picture of herself when she was 9 and had some faint memories of her mother. She remembered that her mother had a deformed eye.

A couple of months later the man informed her that he had found her. She described how she and Erik went there to meet her mother. She was treated like royalty and was able to meet a brother. She has been back a second time. She told us she once drove to her Father’s estate in France but he was out of the country. She didn’t feel good about going back. She has however developed a strong tie with Africa and feels a need to contribute.

Saying goodbye to Julie and her family was difficult. We had built a lasting bond. However, I still felt the need for her to love the gospel, and not the missionary that brought it to her. As we departed, she gave us a wrapped gift and asked us not to open it until we were back at our hotel. We agreed. When we got to the hotel I opened the gift. It was an elephant tusk with a carving of a woman’s face in it. She got it in Africa. I was speechless. I felt guilty for taking something that must have been so personal to her. When she gave it to us she said “this is something that will make you never forget me. She is right. I will never forget her.

Here we are at the end of August. A week from tomorrow, Emmanuel, one of her twins will be flying to Salt Lake to stay with us. We will take him to the MTC before he serves in Italy. Daniel, the other twin will go to the MTC in London a week later while preparing to go to France. What a blessing this is in our lives.

I have recently called Loren Betteridge in Tacoma Washington. He is a doctor there. I filled him in on the details and he too feels the blessings of this story. He has since contacted Julie and her family. It is such a great blessing for all of us.

Update
Since this was written in 2006, Daniel and Emmanuel have both served successful missions. Emmanuel recently was married to a young woman he met as a missionary in Italy. Sadly Julie and Erik have divorced but both continue to be active in their wards in Belgium.

Receiving Personal Revelation

2010-01-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

Over the past few days I have had Elder Richard G. Scott’s talk from last conference (October 2009) referred to me several times. I guess I finally get the hint and realize it is something I should write about. I will do my best to express my feelings and impressions about this important subject.

Elder Scott’s talk is titled “To Acquire Spiritual Guidance” and covers the topic of receiving personal revelation. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been in the habit over the past 4 or 5 years of limiting my listening selections while driving, to Conference talks and to Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I feel that this one decision has been important in my life and has helped me immeasurably as I have strived to let “virtue garnish my thought unceasingly.” I have the blessing of listening to most of the talks around 20 times between conferences. I have learned that it isn’t until the 5th or 6th time that I really begin to hear what is being taught.

Despite this habit, and having already listed to this talk probably 7 times, I had a very humbling experience while talking to my friend Donna Nielsen last week. Over Christmas Donna gave me a copy of her book “The Beloved Bridegroom.” She also gave me a couple of CD’s that have some of her lectures on them. Sister Nielsen has become an expert on ancient Jewish life and on ancient symbols found in the scriptures. She is a speaker at Education Week and has a vast knowledge of the scriptures.

I called Donna to ask for her insight on the symbol of the fig leaf in the Garden of Eden. I know this may seem strange but it has been something on my mind for months. I really wanted to understand what Adam and Eve were trying to “cover” when they used fig leaves to cover their “nakedness”.

After discussing this topic a bit, we began to talk about our experiences of how and where personal inspiration comes. I described how I was on a flight from Boise to Salt Lake last year, and suddenly had an answer come clearly to my mind on a topic that I had been pondering for weeks. In an unlikely place… at an unlikely time…the answer came clearly and powerfully. I then asked Donna about her experience. She began by introducing to me a term she called “divine conversations”: she said “Elder Scott explains it perfectly in his last conference talk, doesn’t he?”

I was a little dumbfounded. I had heard this talk many times but had no idea what she was talking about. I hadn’t had that impression at all in this talk. After finishing this call I went immediately to the church website and re-read this talk. It was like I was reading it for the first time. This method of “divine conversation” that she talked about seemed to jump off the page at me! I was amazed. I read it over and over.

Yesterday my stake, the Holladay North Stake, held its annual High Priest Quorum meeting. All the High Priests and their wives were invited, as well as the single sisters who have home teachers that are high priests. The topic of Elder Scott’s talk was addressed at the beginning and then each person was asked to make notes of impressions they received during each of the talks. It was a great experience and I made many notes. When I came home I followed his council and pondered and rewrote my impressions.

In a testimony meeting that followed, Peggy Matheson, a friend and a sister I home teach, bore testimony to how this talk had been meaningful in her life in recent weeks. She felt she had received guidance on how to proceed with her business when following this method. To top it off, she went to the temple last week and Elder Scott was in her session! She took that as a confirmation.

For anyone really seeking how to receive answers to important questions, and how to feel confident they are following the promptings of the spirit, I encourage you to read this talk again. I want to quote part of it here but please take the time to read all of it.

Elder Scott said “Now I share an experience that taught me a way to gain spiritual guidance. One Sunday I attended the priesthood meeting of a Spanish branch in Mexico City. I vividly recall how a humble Mexican priesthood leader struggled to communicate the truths of the gospel in his lesson material. I noted the intense desire he had to share those principles he strongly valued with his quorum members. He recognized that they were of great worth to the brethren present. In his manner, there was an evidence of a pure love of the Savior and love of those he taught.
His sincerity, purity of intent, and love permitted a spiritual strength to envelop the room. I was deeply touched. Then I began to receive personal impressions as an extension of the principles taught by that humble instructor. They were personal and related to my assignments in the area. They came in answer to my prolonged, prayerful efforts to learn.

As each impression came, I carefully wrote it down. In the process, I was given precious truths that I greatly needed in order to be a more effective servant of the Lord. The details of the communication are sacred and, like a patriarchal blessing, were for my individual benefit. I was given specific directions, instructions, and conditioned promises that have beneficially altered the course of my life.
Subsequently, I visited the Sunday School class in our ward, where a very well-educated teacher presented his lesson. That experience was in striking contrast to the one enjoyed in the priesthood meeting. It seemed to me that the instructor had purposely chosen obscure references and unusual examples to illustrate the principles of the lesson. I had the distinct impression that this instructor was using the teaching opportunity to impress the class with his vast store of knowledge. At any rate, he certainly did not seem as intent on communicating principles as had the humble priesthood leader.

In that environment, strong impressions began to flow to me again. I wrote them down. The message included specific counsel on how to become more effective as an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I received such an outpouring of impressions that were so personal that I felt it was not appropriate to record them in the midst of a Sunday School class. I sought a more private location, where I continued to write the feelings that flooded into my mind and heart as faithfully as possible. After each powerful impression was recorded, I pondered the feelings I had received to determine if I had accurately expressed them in writing. As a result, I made a few minor changes to what had been written. Then I studied their meaning and application in my own life.

Subsequently I prayed, reviewing with the Lord what I thought I had been taught by the Spirit. When a feeling of peace came, I thanked Him for the guidance given. I was then impressed to ask, “Was there yet more to be given?” I received further impressions, and the process of writing down the impressions, pondering, and praying for confirmation was repeated. Again I was prompted to ask, “Is there more I should know?” And there was. When that last, most sacred experience was concluded, I had received some of the most precious, specific, personal direction one could hope to obtain in this life. Had I not responded to the first impressions and recorded them, I would not have received the last, most precious guidance.

What I have described is not an isolated experience. It embodies several true principles regarding communication from the Lord to His children here on earth. I believe that you can leave the most precious, personal direction of the Spirit unheard because you do not respond to, record, and apply the first promptings that come to you.

Impressions of the Spirit can come in response to urgent prayer or unsolicited when needed. Sometimes the Lord reveals truth to you when you are not actively seeking it, such as when you are in danger and do not know it. However, the Lord will not force you to learn. You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you. As you make this a practice in your life, you will be more perceptive to the feelings that come with spiritual guidance. Then, when that guidance comes, sometimes when you least expect it, you will recognize it more easily.”

I get the following ideas from this talk:
• When spiritual impressions come, write them down.
• After writing them down, seek a place where you can ponder what you have written to determine if you have written it down accurately. Make changes as necessary.
• Thank the Lord for what you have received.
• Then ask if there is anything more… and listen for the answer.

As I think back on the last couple of years, and recognize the spiritual growth that I have made, I ask myself what have been the determining factors? Certainly one of these factors has been the amount of writing down of spiritual impressions that I have done. This blog is one of the places I have written as well as a personal journal that I have kept faithfully over the past two years. Now I don’t mean to imply that I have done a great job in these writings because I haven’t. But I certainly have written more over the last two years than any time previously. I have much to learn from this pattern that Elder Scott outlines and I need to start following it. I look forward to the promptings that will come as I do.

A Life Experience

2010-01-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

For a little over two years now I have been keeping a journal that records how I have felt the Hand of the Lord in my life. I haven't written anywhere near daily... but have done so regularly. For Christmas this year I gave a copy of this journal to each of my children. Following is a true story written in that journal. It happened years earlier but I hadn't yet recorded it. It is quite long... but one that has had a profound influence on my life. I hope you enjoy it.

On Christmas of 1998, I received the biography of President Gordon B. Hinkley. It was a new book at the time and was popular in LDS circles. Since I had some time during the Christmas break, and we had just finished another successful business season, I devoted some time to reading it.

As I read the pages of this book, with its many remarkable stories, I began to be impressed how many programs in the church, as we currently know them, were the result of the efforts of this one remarkable man. Each time I would finish a reading session, I would put the book down and think to myself “one man really can make a difference!”

As I began pondering on my own life, I began to wonder what I should do to contribute more to the Kingdom of God. Many thoughts ran through my mind. Dominating my mind was the feeling that I should devote some time to teaching in the Church Education System.

As a college student at Utah /State University, I had taken all the necessary training courses to be a CES teacher but had never followed through with the student teaching portion. It was something I always had in the back of my mind. Perhaps the time was right.

Not knowing how to proceed, I decided to call my friend Jon Stevenson, the CES director in the Washington DC area. I asked how one goes about being a CES teacher. He explained that most teachers are hired after training at one of the Utah Institutes. The training I had years before was no longer valid. He asked “Why don’t you think of being a volunteer in your area?

Our area already had Seminary teachers so my only option was teaching an Institute class. I asked Jon how I should proceed. He informed me that he had a colleague in his same position in the Baltimore area, Brother Earl DeChamps: He suggested I give him a call. I asked if it were strange to call and essentially volunteer? He said “if someone in my area did that, I would fall off my chair.”

Ironically I had a related thought just a couple of weeks prior to this. In Sacrament meeting, a young returned missionary in my ward, Jared Muccaroni, had been called as the Young Single Adult representative for our ward. I thought to myself at that time “what a joke, what young single adults do we have?”

I called Bro. DeChamps on the phone and introduced myself. I explained to him what I wanted to do. He was happy to meet with me a few days later. In our meeting he explained to me that one of the biggest jobs of teaching Institute was recruiting. I then asked him what his expectations were. He replied “If you start out the semester with two students, and end the semester with four, I will consider you very successful”.

I followed all the necessary steps and got a call officially from the Ward. Soon afterward I began to make the class known among all the YSA in the ward.
This included both active and in-active members. I wrote individual letters and made phone calls and visits. Most of the contacts I made seemed to be excited.

I don’t remember how many showed up the first week, but I do remember that before long, we had 12 to 18 attending regularly. This gave me a great deal of satisfaction. More than anything, I was excited for the kids. Many hadn’t been to church in years. Others were looking for an excuse to come back. Anyway, the group became very strong, very quickly. Soon they were spending a lot of time together outside of Institute. It was a wonderful experience for all involved.

I continued recruiting throughout the Stake and made visits to neighboring Wards. Also the kids invited their member and non-member friends. Our class continued to grow. I remember one time having 29 kids in attendance!

Needless to say, Bro. DeChamps was impressed. At some point in the year he explained to me that he would soon be retiring and he felt it would be appropriate for me to take over his position. This seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. He explained that he had forwarded our success to his superiors and that they were interested in talking further. He then explained however that I need to go to Salt Lake for training if I really wanted a shot at it.

After discussing the possibilities with Ann and my children, we made arrangements to let someone live in our house, while we moved temporarily to Utah. The CES people in Utah were very accommodating. I learned that I was going to be able to take both training courses simultaneously. Normally they were taken two semesters in a row. In addition, I was given the opportunity to do my student teach at a local High School at the same time. This seemed to work out perfectly for us.

I really began to feel that everything was lining up perfectly for this position. To top it all off, the house we rented in Holladay was directly across the street from one of the 5 World Zone Leaders in the CES program. He was impressed by my willingness and by the many sacrifices I and my family were willing to make. In January of 1999, my family and I rented a U-Haul trailer and moved to Utah for the duration of six months.

While in Utah, we had many wonderful experiences. We had a fabulous ward and had many friends in it. My children were able to attend a private school based on LDS values. We were able to live near grandparents and others that we hadn’t had the privilege of previously. We really enjoyed ourselves. However, it was our hope that I would still be able to go back to Maryland to take over the CES Director position in my area.

I wish to relate a couple of very personal experiences I had during this time.

Prior to moving, I was in the habit of listening to talk radio while in my car and while working outside. I enjoyed the many topics that were discussed by the various hosts. One of these discussions was on the topic of lawn mower accidents. I remember the guest on the radio, who was a podiatrist, telling of the many series injuries he had personally treated due to young children operating lawn mowers. He stated that he would “never let anyone under the age of 13 operate a mower”.

I took this to heart and I mowed my own lawn. Since most of our furnishings in our rented home were borrowed, we had an old beat-up lawn mower. Week after week my daughter Krista, then about 11, would beg to mow the lawn. After prolonged begging, I consented. I allowed her to mow under strict supervision.

Before long, Krista became quite good at mowing and I began to give her more freedom to mow on her own. One day I remember getting her started in the back yard of the home we were renting, and I went around the front to pull weeds. I remember cutting through the house to the front yard. As I approached the front door I head a blood curdling scream. I dashed for the back yard.

It appeared that due to the age of the mower, the vibration of the engine caused the muffler to fall off. Not knowing what it was, Krista picked it up, instantly burning her hand and fingers. I remember rushing her into the house to run her hand under cold water. She was screaming hysterically. I could see that the heat had literally melted part of her skin on her fingers and that it was blistered and swollen. I recall that the skin was even broken in one area.

As I began running cold water over her hand, the Spirit told me very strongly to give her a blessing. I seemed to reply in my mind, “I will, but first I need to give her first aid”. A second time much more forcefully the Spirit said “Scott, I am teaching Krista a lesson here… not you; now , give her a blessing”. This time I obeyed! I proceeded to give her a blessing by first anointing her with oil, and then sealing the anointing with a blessing. The spirit commanded me to tell her to be made whole. At the close of the blessing, I testify that Krista was made whole. The skin was restored and she was pain free. The following day there was very little sign of the injury.

Since no one was around to witness this miracle, it was unknown to other members of our family. In Family Home Evening the following Monday, Krista and I told of the events of that day. I distinctly remember my older daughter Melissa saying afterwards “Cool stuff like that never happens to me”. Little did I know how those words would be remembered.

Early in the spring or summer of that year, Melissa and Krista were invited by their best friends from school, to accompany their family to Lake Powell where they owned a house boat. The girls’ names were Sage and Shanna Gardner. Sage was Melissa’s age and Shanna was Krista’s age.

For some reason I felt very uneasy about letting Melissa go on this trip but I kept assuring myself that it was all in my mind. However, I continued to have very disturbing feelings about letting her go. I went to the Lord about it and felt assured that I should let her go.

As the day arrived for her to leave, I took her to the place where we agreed to meet them. As I loaded her gear into the back of the Gardner’s truck, I had a sick feeling that I would lever see Melissa alive again. I continued to pray in my heart however and felt assured I should let her go. I just hugged her and told her to be careful. Sterling Gardner assured me she would be well taken care of. I let her go.

That evening, we had been invited to a party at some friends. Around 9 pm that evening I got a call on my cell phone (I don’t even remember who had called me), informing me that Melissa had been involved in a serious Jet Ski accident and needed to go to a hospital with a plastic surgeon. We had the choice of Life Flighting her to Salt Lake City, or having her driven by the Gardners to Saint George. I asked the Gardner’s which choice they would make under the circumstances? We agreed on having them drive her to Saint George.

We were told that she had had an accident with a ski rope and that she had a cut on her cheek and a pretty serious rope burn. Ann and I left immediately for Saint George. We were very worried and drove as quickly as possible. As we drove, I prayed and pondered a lot. As I did, I convinced myself that the injuries were not very serious. This was still in the early days of cellular service and phones only worked in more populated areas. I had to stop regularly to phone the hospital to see if she had arrived. As we came into Cedar City we learned that she had arrived but they couldn’t begin treating her until we gave our consent.

When we arrived at the Hospital, I can’t describe the great trepidation I felt to enter. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I entered the emergency room. The injury was much worse than I had ever expected. She had a very deep rope burn completely around her face; across the back of her neck, and onto her chest. The rope had also cut deep into her left cheek.

It was all I could do to hold her hand and tell her she was going to be fine and that it wasn’t that bad. I wanted to be upbeat around her and make her feel safe. After a couple of minutes however, I excused myself to the restroom where I wept uncontrollably for at least ten minutes.

The story was told to me that she and Sage hopped on the Jet Skis shortly after arriving at the lake. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was low on the horizon. As a result, the sun reflected off the lake, and Melissa couldn’t see what was in front of her. Each on separate watercrafts, Melissa and Sage headed directly into the sun. Melissa didn’t see a boat, towing a water skier, directly in front of her. She went directly between the boat and the skier and hit the rope. The skier saw her and tried to lift the rope to allow her to slip underneath: She took a direct hit in her open mouth. The force pulled the rope out of the skier’s hands and the rope proceeded to wrap itself completely around her head. With the boat and the Jet Ski still moving, the force broke the handle off the rope but then pulled off in a whipping action that caused the frayed end to whip across her chest and cut deep burns into her face.

The plastic surgeon told us that the rope burns were third degree burns. The burns were very deep and went from the corners of her mouth, across her cheeks, directly under both ear lobes, and behind her neck. The back of her neck was raw flesh. The swelling was terrible: Her head seemed to be twice the size of normal. She looked awful.

The surgeon proceeded to sew up the cut into her cheek. It was a cut that went essentially an inch into her cheek; thus making her mouth an inch wider. The surgeon told us he didn’t have a treatment for the burns. He proceeded to tell us that there was no way of knowing how these burns would heal. We simply needed to give it time. He said it could very well heal with little scarring, or could heal with the large thick skin that is more often associated with third degree burns. We were instructed to take her to the Primary Children’s burn clinic when we got back to Salt Lake.

She was released from the Hospital that morning early. We went to my brother Jim’s Saint George house for what was the rest of the night. When we got there, I proceeded to give Melissa a Priesthood blessing. Then I went to be alone to pray. The next several hours were filled with countless pleadings and countless tears: Over and over again I asked myself why I had let her go? More importantly I wanted to know why the Lord had assured me it was okay to let her go.

Sometime over the next few hours or days, as my prayers were sent out on behalf of my beautiful little daughter, the Spirit of the Lord came over me in a very calming assurance. “Scott, I too know the pain of allowing one of my children to go into certain harm… and sending them anyway. This lesson is for you.” In a very real sense, I had a small understanding of how hard it was for Heavenly Father to send his Son to die when he knew what would happen to him.

The blessing I gave Melissa that night assured me that she would be healed without scars. To this day, Melissa has very faint lines of where this accident took place. If someone didn’t know about the accident, they would never notice the scars. Their faint remainder are a reminder to me of the scars my Savior still bears as a witness of the love of God for me.

As a result of this accident, I have become a different parent. I have learned to trust God much more. I have come to the realization that I am not in charge and that I have no control over serious events happening in my life, or the life of those I love. All I have, and all safety and protection lies in the hands of the Lord. I have learned that I need to trust him to protect me and my children. If he doesn’t, there is a reason for it—that I am certain of.

As the school year drew to an end that year, and as I continued teaching seminary, things seemed to be going extremely well. My students liked me and it appeared that those in influential places did as well. I was evaluated and interviewed by all the necessary people. When it was all said and done—I wasn’t hired by the church. I was very hurt.

Looking back on this seminary teaching experience, I know that the Lord’s hand was in the decision. I am certain it wasn’t the right thing for me. However, it was very difficult for me. Brother Iba, the CES Zone Leader that lived across the street from me was very apologetic. He gave me a big hug of thanks when we returned to Maryland.

I didn’t know how much this rejection affected me at the time, but again in hind-sight I see that I turned a little bitter for the next couple of years. I found myself suffering spiritually due to a feeling of “what’s the use”? I found myself more susceptible to temptation as a result and made some poor decisions. It seemed I was doing all the right things for all the right reasons. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t hired.

With several years between then and now, I have a real perspective of the many lessons I learned from this experience. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without these experiences. I can honestly say now that I am grateful for the Lord having a better understanding of the “big picture”. I have a greater understanding of the gospel and of the Atonement.

Putting Off the Natural Man

2010-01-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

Perhaps one of the most basic teachings of the gospel, or perhaps the Plan of Salvation’s most basic principle is the need for the children of God to “put off the natural man.” In Mosiah 3 we read “19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”

The scriptures are full of metaphors of how each of us should do this thing. One of the most common phrases is that we must be “born again.” We teach that baptism is symbolic of dieing and burying the old self and coming out of the water a new person… one who has taken on the name of Christ. (In our culture when a woman marries a man, she takes upon herself his name. She is no longer known by her old name… just by that of her husband).

Since Adam and Eve partook of the fruit in the Garden of Eden and fell, it has been the duty of man to repent and to return to our Heavenly Father. In Old Testament times, the covenant people were commanded to live the law of sacrifice which involved the sacrificing of animals. In our day, we are still commanded to live the law of sacrifice but in a different way.

Christ stated in 3 Nephi 12:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill;” We also read in 3 Ne. 9: 20
“And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost,”

Today we are expected to sacrifice all things. We must be willing to lay all of our worldliness upon the altar. Joseph Smith taught “Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; … it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth’s sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not, nor will not seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life” (Lectures on Faith 6).

In my recent reading of James Ferrell’s “The Hidden Christ”, I have been awed by the Old Testament and how literally every story in it points to Christ and the Atonement. Those of you familiar with his book “The Peacegiver” know how the story of Abigail points to the Savior. Consider how Moses struck a rock with his staff and water flowed forth. How many scriptures refer to Jesus as the “Rock of our salvation” and as the source of “living water”?

I learned another important lesson from Ferrell in chapter 12 of “The Hidden Christ”. I quote “Some people think the God of the Old Testament seems harsh, citing examples of punishments under the law, (death to transgressors by stoning, for example), and the commandment for the Israelites to kill every person that lived in the promised land when they were finally crossed into the land to occupy it. However, if you think of the body of Israel not as a collection of individual, but as a representation of a single person—one who is to be a follower of Christ—all of these harsh contradictions make divine sense, and Old Testament books like Joshua and Judges suddenly become illuminating guides to repentance and sanctification. We truly do need to wipe out all the temptations around us and stop dabbling in sin.”

He continues “Because Egypt, as it were was still in the Israelites, they were not allowed to cross into the Promised Land for forty years. As a body they had to become sanctified. One might wonder why all the people had to wait for the purification of the whole before they were allowed to enter into the promised land. Why couldn’t some have entered sooner on their own—when they, themselves, were ready”?

An even more difficult question might be why Moses was commanded the following: “But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee:” (Deut. 20:16,17). And “And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.” (Deut. 7:2, 3).

If we look at the Children of Israel as representation of an individual, how much of the world are we expected to give up? “All that is ungodly within each of us truly must be put to death or we will not be able to enter into the presence of the Lord. Furthermore, in order to become holy, we really do need to overcome all the temptations around us and stop dabbling in sin. If we are content to surround ourselves with unholiness, we, too, will become unholy and will therefore remain separated form the Lord, which, in the language of the scriptures, is death—spiritual death”.

Experiences in my own life have shown that the Lord expects a lot of me. I must put off the things of the world. I must not put my trust in the arm of the flesh. I must put off vulgarity and uncleanliness. I have learned for myself that the scripture we read in D&C 121: 45 is true
“Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.”

The Year's End

2009-12-31T13:32:00.000-08:00

My post today is a little more like a journal entry than my typical post. I guess it is the Christmas season, or another year winding up, but my heart has been pretty full and I feel so blessed. I hope to be able to share some thoughts intelligently.

Over the past 10 days or so, I have been greatly influenced by three books. They are “Beloved Enos” by Denver Snuffer, “The Hidden Christ” by James Ferrell, and “The Beloved Bridegroom” by Donna Nielsen.

Donna Nielsen is a wonderful woman that lives here locally in Salt Lake City. She has built a name for herself as an expert in ancient Jewish culture. She has been a speaker at Education Week and also has a couple of talks on CD. On one of these CD’s she told a story that I could really relate to.

When I was a child and went to the doctor’s office, one of my favorite things to do was to look at Highlights magazine. My favorite part of Highlights was a drawing that at first glace was simply some kind of landscape drawing. Upon greater inspection, however, it became apparent that there were “hidden items” in the picture. These were items like a comb, or a teacup, or a pencil. It was fun to find all of them. Donna Nielsen’s point is that the gospel similarly has many hidden symbols that are not apparent until close inspection.

During the course of 2009, I have been blessed in so many ways… certainly in more ways than I deserve. I have learned so much about the gospel. It seems I have learned more about the Savior in the last year than I have through my entire life. I have learned more about sacred symbols than at any other time. I have learned these from personal revelation or from reading the books of great men and women like those listed above. Many times it has been a combination of the two.

Denver Snuffer, an author most of you have never heard of, has taught me that it truly is possible to have a personal witness of the Savior Jesus Christ in this life. He taught me that the books of first and second Nephi do indeed contain the fullness of the gospel. I attend the Temple differently and much more frequently since reading his first book “The Second Comforter”. His book “Beloved Enos” takes the single chapter of the book of Enos and teaches a profound lesson about symbols and personal revelation.

I’ve learned from James Ferrell’s “The Hidden Christ” that Christ can be found throughout the entire Old Testament. I have always heard this to be true but I guess I am too dense to see the parallels myself. When someone else shows them to me, they seem so obvious.

From Donna Nielsen I have learned that Christ’s parables make much more sense if you understand the context in which they are written. To understand the parable of The Wedding Feast, and of the Ten Virgins it is important to know about Jewish culture of the day. Nielsen writes “An knowledge of the Biblical marriage imagery can greatly enrich our understanding of how God relates to us through covenants. Biblical covenant marriage imagery encompasses principles as diverse as Sabbath observance, the Atonement, temple worship, and missionary work. It literally begins with Adam and ends with Zion.”

I went to the LDS Conference Center during the Christmas Season and saw “Savior of the World”. It was really great. Much of the first act of the play has to do with Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, and Mary and Joseph and the significance of their betrothal and marriage. Reading Donna Nielsen’s book has shed an unbelievable amount of light on everything that happened in those two stories and why they are significant.

In addition to great books, I have had many great experiences just brought about by life. Not all of them have been pleasant but they have taught me that Heavenly Father is in charge…and that he loves us. I have learned so much about being a parent this year by following the pattern of our Heavenly Father and His parenting methods to me. I have learned much by the example of faithful saints with whom I have served.

Yesterday I attended the funeral of Steve McAllister, a man I greatly admired. After his funeral, and all the things that were said, I admire him even more. Steve was the Stake Clerk in the Holladay North Stake. I don’t know exactly how many years he served but he was the clerk while I was on the high council; under the leadership of two Stake Presidents.

A really great poem by Rudyard Kipling titled "The Sons of Martha" was read. It was one of Steve's favorites. It deals with the story of Mary and Martha in the New Testament and goes on to explain how some are destined to be "behind the scenes". It was very moving. That was Steve... happy to be a clerk. I have so much to learn.

The Sons of Martha
Rudyard Kipling 1907

The sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited
that good part;
But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the
careful soul and the troubled heart.
And because she lost her temper once, and because she
was rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without
end, reprieve, or rest.
It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and
cushion the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that
the switches lock.
It is their care that the wheels run truly; it is their care
to embark and entrain,
Tally, transport, and deliver duly the Sons of Mary by
land and main.

They say to mountains, "Be ye removed." They say to
the lesser floods, "Be dry."
Under their rods are the rocks reproved-they are not
afraid of that which is high.
Then do the hill-tops shake to the summit-then is the
bed of the deep laid bare,
That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly
sleeping and unaware.
They finger death at their gloves' end where they piece
and repiece the living wires.
He rears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry
behind their fires.
Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into
his terrible stall,
And hale him forth a haltered steer, and goad and turn
him till evenfall.
To these from birth is Belief forbidden; from these till
death is Relief afar.
They are concerned with matters hidden - under the
earthline their altars are-
The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to
restore to the mouth,
And gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them again
at a city's drouth.

They do not preach that their God will rouse them a
little before the nuts work loose.
They do not teach that His Pity allows them to drop
their job when they dam'-well choose.
As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dark
and the desert they stand,
Wary and watchful all their days that their brethren's
day may be long in the land.

Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path
more fair or flat -
Lo, it is black already with blood some Son of Martha
spilled for that!
Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness
to any creed,
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their
common need.

And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed - they
know the Angels are on their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for
them are the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the Feet - they hear the Word - they see
how truly the Promise runs.
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and - the
Lord He lays it on Martha's Sons!

Both Stake Presidents spoke at the funeral yesterday—President Steven J. Scott, and President David C. Marriott. Both men have been great influences in my life. President Scott was the stake president that called me to the high council. He is the greatest mentor I have had in my life. At a time of a serious trial in my life—he was my closest friend. I hope that I can be as faithful as he has been throughout my life. His wife Carol is equally wonderful. Both talks by both men were wonderful and I was blessed.

As the year draws to a close, I want all who are reading this blog to know that I know that our Heavenly Father lives and that He loves us. I know that His dear Son Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world. I know that we can be forgiven of our own sins and that we can forgive others through the example of the Savior.

May we all be better in the year to come!

Joseph, Son of Jacob

2009-12-28T13:17:00.000-08:00

It has probably become obvious to most of you that I read a lot. I really enjoy reading. I wake up around 5am every morning and try to read for an hour and a half before going on my morning run or swim. On great days like today I wake up at 4:30… well rested and can get two hours of reading in! I always give top priority to scripture study. I feel like I read intently and that I think about and ponder the things I am reading. I really try to understand what I am reading. Then something happens like happened this past weekend. I read someone else’s commentary on a particular topic or scripture, and it is something that I never would have thought of on my own. I can see someone else’s inspiration…. and wonder about my own.

For Christmas I received James L. Ferrell’s new book “The Hidden Christ; Beneath the Surface of the Old Testament”. It is a great book by a man who has had a big influence in my life with another of his books “The Peacegiver.”

Chapter 7 in “The Hidden Christ” is on the topic of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by his brothers. Coincidentally this is exactly where I am reading in “The Book of Jasher.” In Jasher the story goes into much more detail than the Old Testament. I have been really enthralled by the story and have had a hard time putting it down. However, after reading Brother Ferrell’s comments on this story… I see that I have missed the point entirely!

Ferrell write’s “The story of Joseph in Egypt is one of the most stunning in all of scripture. There is far more to Joseph and his story than meets the eye, however. For example, do you know that the story of his saving Israel from the drought is exactly parallel to the story of how Israel is being saved through the Book of Mormon in the latter days? And do you know the extent and depth to which Joseph’s story is parallel to the Savior’s? And how his brothers’ stories are parallel to ours? And how the story of the reunion of Joseph with his brothers is also a story of our reunion with the Lord? And how that story will stir your soul when you see it? Joseph is as relevant today as ever. After all, he dreamed about us.”

Farrell goes on to explain how Joseph saved Israel in two ways: he saved them temporally by providing them food, and he saved them spiritually by providing them deliverance. These two types of “saving” came to Joseph by the means of two dreams. They are a s follows: “And he said unto his brothers, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.” (Gen. 37: 6,7). In the next verse Joseph related his second dream. “And Joseph dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me”. Jacob rebuked his son: “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow ourselves to thee to the earth?”

Ferrell writes “What are we to make of these two dreams? On one level, the interpretations seem obvious: Both imply that the family would bow before Joseph. But why two dreams? And if two dreams, why two different dreams? What meaning might there be in their similarities and differences?”

While both dreams imply that Joseph’s family would bow to him but only the second one includes his mother and father, and the sun, moon, and stars. Ferrell goes on to explain why the first dream implies that his family would bow to him temporally and the second dream implies they would bow spiritually.

Everyone knows the story of how Joseph saved his family temporally so I will not go into detail on this one. We know that when his family came to Egypt looking for food, they bowed before him. This was a fulfillment of this prophecy.

Farrell continues “Jacob recognized that Joseph’s role in providing food to the house of Israel and saving them from death was a direct fulfillment of the prophecy communicated in Joseph’s dreams. But Jacob also recognized, as Joseph’s dual dreams suggested, that there would yet be a future deliverance at Joseph’s hand—this one a spiritual deliverance: ‘Thy brethren shall bow down unto thee, from generation to generation,’ he declared, ‘unto the fruit of thy loins forever; For thou shalt be a light unto my people, to deliver them in the days of their captivity, from bondage; and to bring salvation unto them, when they are altogether bowed down under sin.

The parallel nature of Joseph’s dreams suggest that this future spiritual deliverance would parallel the pattern of deliverance established in Egypt. This pattern was as follows:

1. Joseph was broken off to a place apart from the rest of the House of Israel.
2. Joseph resided in a distant land, unknown to his family.
3. The experiences of Joseph in the distant land prepared for the salvation of Israel.
4. Israel began to be saved when they learned of Joseph who was separated.
5. The house of Israel bowed before Joseph.”

Israel’s spiritual deliverance unfolds in precisely the same way.

Just before his death, Joseph prophesied “And it shall come to pass that Israel shall be scattered again; and a branch of the fruit of the loins of Joseph shall be broken off, and shall be carried away into a far country.” (JST Gen. 50)

Ferrell continues “This prophecy is fulfilled in the story of Lehi, a descendant of Joseph, who was led away from the land of Israel to a land apart”.

In order to keep this post as short as possible, I will not go on to explain how this prophecy is fulfilled by Lehi’s move to the promised land. It seems quite obvious to those familiar with the Book of Mormon. I recommend Ferrell’s book to those want more. I would however like to outline another point of Farrell’s and that is how Joseph as a temporal and spiritual deliverer, was a type and shadow of the Saviors temporal and spiritual deliverance.

Ferrell write “Consider the majesty of Joseph’s deliverance: He saved Israel from physical death, and will save Israel from spiritual death. In overcoming the two deaths, the beloved son of Israel is in the similitude of the Beloved Son of the Father.

The following are true both of Joseph and the Lord:

• He is the beloved son.
• He reveals that he will rule over Israel.
• The children of Israel reject him out of jealousy and hate. Notwithstanding their mistreatment of him, he seeks out his brethren on behalf of his father
• But the children of Israel conspire to kill him.
• He is betrayed by the hand of Judah—or in Greek, Judas.
• He is sold for the price of a slave of his age.
• This very attempt to destroy him sets in motion events that will eventually save the house of Israel from death.
• He resists temptation perfectly.
• He begins his public mission of preparing salvation for Israel at the age of thirty.
• He provides bread for Israel, saving them from death.
• He offers that bread without a price.
• In the offering of that bread, he offers the opportunity to repent.

The extent of the parallelism is remarkable. When we understand that Joseph is a similitude of the Savior, the relationship with his brothers suddenly takes on a very personal significance. For, in an important way, Joseph’s brothers are in similitude of us. Through our sins, we, in effect, have thrown the Savior into the pit. We are the cause of his suffering—suffering that has a type in Joseph. “

As I read this chapter this morning, I couldn’t help but weep. I wept for the suffering that the Savior bore for me. I wept that I hadn’t seen this parallel by reading the story on my own. I also wept as I thought of the prophet Joseph Smith. As a young man, and as unlearned as he was, Joseph Smith nor any other man, could ever have fabricated a story that is so intertwined with the Old and New Testaments. Prophecy was fulfilled by Lehi bringing his small family out of Jerusalem into the promised land. My personal witness was strengthened today.

The Rich Young Man

2009-12-21T14:53:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I read something that so profoundly touches me that I feel forever changed by it. Yesterday I had one of those experiences. I hope to be able to express my feelings adequately.

This is undoubtedly one of the most personal posts I have made on this blog. It expresses one of my greatest weaknesses. It is a weakness that I have always had but not really understood until yesterday. I hope you can be patient with me.

Brother Denver Snuffer is an author that I greatly admire. This year alone I have read his “The Second Comforter” 5 times and have given at least a half-dozen copies to others. I have read “Nephi’s Isaiah” twice, “Eighteen Verses” once, “Beloved Enos” once, and now “Come, Let US Adore Him” once. I have learned a tremendous amount from each one of them and have had several of these profound experiences from them. Yesterday’s came form his newest book “Come, Let Us Adore Him”.

Chapter 10 of this book is titled “The Rich Young Man”. Of course it tells the story found in the New Testament of the rich young man that came to the Savior asking what he must do to inherit eternal life.

In Matthew 19 we read “16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. “

Brother Snuffer writes “In answer to the young man’s question about what he must do, Christ replied simply, ‘keep the commandments.’ All of us may have hope for eternal life by keeping the commandments. But the young man knew there had to be more. He knew that people who believed in Christ, and people who were critics of Christ, all tried in their own way to keep the commandments. To the credit of the young man he wanted more. He wanted the kind of spiritual certitude that comes from something more than mere outward obedience. He wanted his heart to be right before God. So he pressed the point with Christ and asked : ‘Which?’ His question implies that if there was a commandment that could answer the awful need, the nagging uncertainty inside him, and if Christ would tell him what it was, he would readily conform to that key commandment. This was a sincere young man who genuinely wanted to find the missing key to true worship.”

Christ goes on to rehearse the Ten Commandments where the young man replies “And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these I have observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” (Mark 10: 20-21)

Over the years I have learned a lot from this story in regards to not being greedy and not being unduly caught up in the material things of the world. Quite frankly I felt like I had learned all there was to learn form this story and was doing pretty well in this area…. until yesterday.

For many years as an adult I lived a pretty average life as a Latter-Day Saint. I tried to obey the commandments. I attended the Temple regularly, and filled several key positions in the church. I felt I was mostly on the right track. Of course I had weaknesses but I felt they were pretty common and that I was doing as well as anyone else.

In 2004, however, I felt the Lord “snatched” me out of my average life and said “I expect more out of you Scott” and proceeded to put me in some opportunities to really change. Then, a year or so later he said “you are not moving quite fast enough” and proceeded to tear my world apart. The next three years were an emotional and spiritual roller coaster.

With the help of a loving Heavenly Father I was able to learn from and move on from this particular trial. Since that time I have really tried to be better in every part of my life. I try harder to keep the commandments. I attend the temple more frequently. I read and pray much more meaningfully. As a result, I have been blessed beyond my understanding.

Due to the profound trials and blessings I have had, I began to think that Heavenly Father must have something very important for me to do; therefore he is giving me all these experiences. At the same time my friends were being called to presiding positions in the church and I began to want the blessings they were receiving from serving in these positions. In my mind it was all honorable and for “serving the Lord better.” I found myself wanting more. I wanted a more sure knowledge of things. I want the ministering of angels. I want greater understanding of the mysteries. All of this changed yesterday when I read Brother Snuffer’s commentary on The Rich Young Man.

As I read Brother Snuffer’s book, the eyes of my understanding were opened and I clearly saw myself in this story. I have felt that all of my intentions have been honorable, but suddenly I saw myself asking the Lord “Which?” He gave me a clear answer that cut me to the very core that didn’t say “sell all you have”, but asked “are you willing to go unnoticed?”

The last couple of days have been very humbling. I have spent quite some time pondering how noble my intentions have been. I have asked myself over and over again if I have been serving with an eye single to God’s glory or if that has just been in my mind? Am I guilty of seeking the spotlight while thinking I am doing it for God? I have prayed earnestly and have learned I must repent and humble myself again. I want my heart to be right with God. I must seek His will.

Adam, Where art Thou?

2009-12-16T14:11:00.000-08:00

Some weeks ago I was talking to my good friend Jason Hewlett (If you don’t know who Jason is, Google him and you will be blessed) and asked him if he had read any good books lately. He told me that one of his favorites was “Clay in the Masters Hands” by R. Wayne Shute. Trusting his opinion I went looking for it at all my usual book sources but was unable to find it. I ultimately bought it online from Latter Day Light Books.

“Clay in the Master’s Hands” is a compilation of stories by well known LDS authors on the topic of understanding trials. I was moved by several of the stories but am writing today about the one by Brother Wayne Shute himself. It is found in the final chapter of the book that bears the same name as the title.

Brother Shute starts out his chapter by reminding us that this life is a testing ground. He then goes on to explain by a couple of compelling examples that “there are no shortcuts to greatness.” If we are to be found worthy to become joint heirs with the Savior, and to receive all that the Father has, we have some serious proving of ourselves to do. Shute writes “If we accept the fact that we are being tested when tribulation comes our way, even tribulation beyond our control, we might prepare ourselves for the test. And, from time to time, Heavenly Father may ask us for an ongoing report as to how we are meeting the challenges of mortal adversity. He might very well say to us as he said to Adam in the Garden of Eden, Adam, where art thou?” or in other words, “where art thou in terms of maintaining your faith in me as you face the difficulties of mortality?”

On this topic, Martin Buber, a German Hasidic philosopher/scholar wrote “God called out “Adam, where art thou?” He knew where Adam was, but He asked the question to see if Adam knew where he was. So it is with us as we face tribulation. He knows we are suffering and He knows how well we are handling it. The question, however, is intended to help us see where we are dealing with the challenges of life, and to remind us of our relationship with Him and that there is a purpose in meeting the challenges we may be facing.”

In asking the question, God doesn’t expect to learn something He does not know. By asking this question, God intends to produce in us a look inward, to see where we are in our relationship with Him, to see how we are doing in the brief time allotted us in mortality. What He intends to do by asking this question is to produce in Adam, and all of us, an effect which helps us see where we are in facing the responsibilities which He places upon us.

The Gospel of Judas Iscariot

2009-12-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

Several Weeks ago I picked up an interesting book at Benchmark Books called “The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot”: I was intrigued by the title. The author is Bart D. Ehrman; a New York Times best selling author and a professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina. I learned some great things by this book and would like to share a few of them.

The Gospel of Judas Iscariot is an ancient scroll that was found in the 1970’s by archeologist. But due to a variety of circumstances… mostly involving money, it was not published. Because of mishandling over the next 30 years it was almost destroyed. In about 2005 National Geographic acquired it and produced a documentary that aired in April of 2006.

The Gospel of Judas was not written by Judas himself. However, according to Ehrman it is the oldest known original New Testament text. The copy found was written in about 400 A.D. This appears to be about 200 years older than any other New Testament text. Therefore it has tremendous value.

It appears to have been written by a group of people known as Gnostic. The Gnostics were a religious group that seems to have Christian roots but mingled with “the teachings of men”. Much of what I read shows that in 400 A.D., the Great Apostasy was well under way. It appears that a group of these people highly favored Judas Iscariot.

The back of the book has this excerpt “Throughout the Christian tradition Judas has been portrayed as the rotten apple in the apostolic barrel. Nowhere in the Christian tradition has he been treated kindly. Until now. The Gospel of Judas insists that Judas was the only one of the disciples who understood hi Lord… Only Judas had a glimpse of the truth. And to him alone did Jesus reveal all that needs to be known.”

This idea intrigued me at first. Several years ago I read a series of books by Andrew Skinner that were titled “Gethsemane”, “Golgotha”, and “The Garden Tomb” (I highly recommend this series). Skinner proposed an idea in one of these books that has remained with me. Now he wasn’t proposing this idea as fact, but simply a different way of looking at Judas. He essentially said that he couldn’t comprehend that one of Jesus’ most faithful followers would turn against him. He instead proposed the idea that Judas truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah. His problem was that Jesus just wasn’t acting fast enough in saving the Jews. He therefore decided to turn Jesus over to the enemy believing full well that angels would come down to protect him, and force His glory to be proven. He was stunned at the outcome and therefore “went and wept bitterly”.

I am not saying that I believe this idea but it has caused me to do some serious thinking. It doesn’t seem to make Judas any less guilty; he was still following Satan by “forcing” others to be saved. He was also not being humble in saying “thy will be done” but rather “my will be done”. How many of us are guilty of this?
The greatest things I learned from “The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot” was Bible history that is known among scholars; but unfamiliar to me. Ehrman writes “It comes as a surprise to many people to learn that our earliest source for knowing about the life of Jesus is not one of the Gospels of the New Testament but the writings of the Apostle Paul. Even though the Gospels are placed first in the New Testament, that does not mean they were first to be written—the New Testament is arranged not according to when the books were written but according to genre, with the Gospels first, then the book of Acts, then the letters (of Paul and others), and then the book of Revelation. Although they are placed in the middle of the New Testament, Paul’s letters were the first of the New Testament books to be written. In fact they are the earliest Christian writings that we have, of any kind whatsoever. The Gospels of the New Testament were written thirty-five to sixty-five years after the life of Jesus.

Although some of the above material was not new to me, the following was ”Mark was probably the first Gospel to be written, later to be expanded by Matthew and Luke.” Speaking of the Gospel f Mark Ehrman writes “He is not simply stating historical facts but is telling a story. His understanding of Jesus has affected how he tells the story. Beneath the surface of the narrative is a theological agenda, which affects everything he says about Jesus; Especially his relationship with others.

When you read Marks Gospel carefully, it is clear that he wants to portray Jesus as the messiah of the Jews, the Son of God, who was destined to die for the sins of others. What is striking is that almost no one in the entire narrative understands Jesus’ identity, not even the disciples. The people form his hometown can’t understand how he can say and do such wonderful things—is this not the carpenter’s son? The leaders of the people think he is inspired and empowered by the devil, and Jesus constantly laments ‘Do you not yet understand?’”

Matthew appears to have used Mark’s text as a basis for his. Matthew was written 10 to 15 years after Mark wrote his. Matthew seemed to want to emphasize the things he feels Mark left out. Ehrman points out three major additions:

1) Matthew is much longer than Mark, mostly because he adds large sections of Jesus’ teachings that are absent in Mark. For example in Matthew is the only place we get the Sermon on the Mount.

2) Matthew is often thought of as the most “Jewish” of the Gospels. He places the largest emphasis on the Jewish Law. He wrote “Do not think that I came to destroy the law and the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill”. He emphasizes the “fulfillments” of prophecies of the Jewish Scriptures.

3) He can also be seen as the most “anti-Jewish” as well. It is here that that Jesus most vigorously opposes the Jewish leaders of his day calling them hypocrites.

Like the book of Matthew, Luke was written ten or fifteen years after Mark. It appears that Luke used the book of Mark as one of his sources. Luke describes the three temptations of Jesus in detail. And Luke portrays the crucifixion as a Satanic act to lash back at the Son of God for his goodness and example.

One of the more striking differences that is offered by Luke is the way that Jesus faces his death. Mark’s narration is powerful but lean. Mark’s account tells how one of his followers betrays him, another denies him, and none stand by him in his hour of need. He is silent on his way to the crucifixion, while being nailed to the cross and while on the cross. In Mark it is where Jesus who has been betrayed, denied, condemned, rejected, mocked, and abandoned, even by the Father… that leaves Jesus to say “my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Luke provides a very different account of the events. In Luke Jesus is not at all silent on his way to the crucifixion. On the way he tells a group of women “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me but weep for yourselves and for your children.”

While being nailed to the cross Jesus cries “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He tells one of the thieves “Truly I tell you, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” And in his final moment he says “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” It is in Luke that Jesus is fully in charge of his own death.

I must admit that I had never really paid attention to the differences between the four Gospels. I had even read them in “horizontal harmony” and still hadn’t noticed the differences. I for one am guilty of lumping them all together. It wasn’t until I read “The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot” that I was taught that each of the authors wrote with specific purposes in mind and for specific audiences.

I have much more to learn!

Servant-Friend-Son

2009-11-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

Imagine if you will a large beautiful estate. Imagine a large mansion on many acres with beautifully manicured gardens. Imagine a perfect interior with maids and butlers taking care of every detail. Imagine now that the owner is a loving, generous man with a loving, down to earth family. The owner and his family care deeply for their friends and family, and also for the well being of all those who work for them. They are a great family.

Despite the goodness of this man, there is a hierarchy of caring for others. What I mean by this is that it is human nature to care first of all about family, then friends, and then others (servants). You can imagine that in this wealthy man’s world… servants are not treated the same way friends are, and friends are not treated the same way the children are.

To illustrate this better, imagine a party at the estate. Guests would arrive and be treated with hospitality. Family would be honored and hold high esteem. The servants would serve, plain and simple.

Now what does this have to do with anything? How does this apply to us and our relationship with Heavenly Father? Let’s take a look at the scriptures to see how we can progress from being a servant, to a friend, to a son or daughter.

In Doctrine and Covenants 1:17 we read “ 17 Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments.” Here the Lord calls the prophet his “servant”.

Later we hear the Lord refer to Joseph as His friend. In D&C 93:45 we read “45 Verily, I say unto my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., or in other words, I will call you friends, for you are my friends, and ye shall have an inheritance with me.

Later, as Joseph proved that he would abide in the Covenant , the Lord called him his son. In D&C 121: 7-8 we read “ 7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.”

In “The Three Pillars of Zion” by Larry Barkdull we read the following: “This pattern—servant- friend- son—might help us understand our progression in the Covenant. A servant receives and fulfills the commandments of the Lord. A servant might know his Lord, but not intimately.

A friend, on the other hand, because of his relationship with the Lord, is in a position to ask what he can do for the other person. Friends do not command each other; rather, one friend might request something of the other, knowing that his friend would help. Friends share intimate conversations, they know a great deal about each other, and they have much in common. It is worth noting that friends and servant do not enjoy eternal relationships, as does family. The status of servant or friend can be temporary, but always these relationships are defined by set boundaries. Therefore, if we are to progress from servant to friend or family, something significant in the relationship must change. That brings us to the ultimate stage of the Covenant: children of God.

A child—a son or daughter—is part of the most intimate relationship: family. A child comes to know everything about his Parent, ‘Your name is my name and your work is my work. I am yours forever by covenant; we are linked together by blood; we are bound together by eternal love.’ While one of the greatest manifestations of love is offering your life for a friend (John 15:13), the ultimate sacrifices are made within family, which is the highest level of friendship. There the greatest loyalties are forged. We enter the Covenant to serve the Lord, become his intimate friend, and become his child to whom he bequeaths all that he has. In Mosiah 27:25 we read “Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters”. Zion people walk and talk with their Father and Brother and enjoy their familial relationship.”

I hope one day to be worth to be called a son of God!

The Peacegiver

2009-11-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

I approach today’s post as reverently as possible. I know that may sound strange but I am writing about two books that have had significant influence in my life. I am quite certain that most of you are familiar with one of them…. and have never heard of the other.

I’m not going to write about the scriptures- meaning the 4 Standard Works. Please know that without a doubt, the 4 Standard Works; The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price continue to be held in the highest esteem in my life. I have however been forever changed by two contemporary books that I would like to talk about.

The two books I am referring to are “The Peacegiver” by James L. Farrell and “The Second Comforter: Conversing with the Lord Through the Veil” by Denver C. Snuffer. “The Peacegiver” is a widely known book in the LDS community- published by Deseret Book and sold many places. “The Second Comforter” on the other hand is by a very small publisher and is available at only one bookstore that I know of; Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City. Today I will only write about The Peacegiver.

I quote from the jacket flap of “The Peacegiver” “What does the atonement mean, practically speaking? How is Christ the answer to a strained relationship with a spouse, child, parent, or sibling? What if I am being mistreated—how can the atonement help me cope with that? How can I discover the desire to repent when I don’t feel the need to repent? And how can I invite others to do the same? These are the challenging, difficult questions of daily life, questions to which the gospel must provide answers if it is to have living, cleansing redeeming power.

The Peacegiver is a book about the answers to these questions. Unlike other books about the atonement, The Peacegiver is written as an extended parable. It tells the story of a man struggling, with the help of a loved one, to come unto Christ.”

“My peace I give unto you,” the Savior declared. The Peacegiver explores in a deeply personal way what we must do to receive the peace he stands willing to give.

I first read The Peacegiver in the Fall of 2005. I was in a place personally that I really needed the blessings of the atonement. It was during this reading that I learned… and understood for the first time that not only was the atonement powerfully capable of taking away my own sins, but was also able to take away the sins of others: perhaps those who had hurt and offended me. I really learned for the first time how to forgive.

In the months that followed my first reading I was taught many great lessons by the Spirit about the atonement. I learned while reading in 1 Corinthians 6 that we have been bought with a price! “19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

What is the price that has been paid for us? What is our worth? The obvious answer is that we were bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. God gave the life of His own Son in exchange for ours!

In order to understand this concept better, while pondering, I was blessed with the following illustration. When we buy a house, we take out a mortgage. We are bound by this mortgage and have a legal obligation to pay for it. Of course we pay the party that “owns” the mortgage. However, during any given time during the time we owe the mortgage, the owner of it may sell it to another without our consent or approval. We are then under no obligation to continue to pay the original holder of the loan…. They don’t own it any more: It has been bought with a price.

The atonement is very similar. We may have someone who has really hurt or offended us: They really “owe” us. But Christ has already bought that debt. It is no longer owned by the individual that hurt us. Since Christ is now the owner of it, do we continue to harbor our hurt feelings toward Him? How could we when he has done the same for us?

It is my hope that we can all remember “we are not our own… we have been bought with a price”. I pray we can all forgive one another and strive to live more like Him.

Leadership

2009-11-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

This blog is a little different than any other I have written; it is simply a personal observation and not really based on my reading. Please let me know what you think.

Leadership

What a unique day. I woke up early again this morning and tried to read in C.S Lewis’ book “The Weight of Glory”. I just haven’t been able to get into it. He has so many inspirational books… but for me, this is not one of them! I gave up on it and put it back on the shelf. I looked for something else and was drawn to “Leadership and Self Deception” by the Arbinger Institute. I have read this book before and really learned from it. I just felt this morning the need to re-read it.

For those not familiar with it let me give a synopsis. The book is like a short novel or narration, about a new employee, Tom, and his interactions with his boss and others, talking about the company’s foundation for success, the recognition and elimination of self-betrayal and self-deception.

The premise of the book is that we mess these things up, not from a lack of skill or “technique” but because we are deceiving ourselves about what’s going on, always in the same way. That may sound overly simplistic: could all these different problems really be due to a common cause?

After my reading time I got ready to go for my morning run. It has become my habit to listen to the radio while I run in the morning. I normally listen to a talk radio program called the Bob Lonsberry Show. He is a rather quirky individual that is humorous but insightful. He often talks about moral lessons that he has learned from his own life experience. Today he had an interesting one that deals with… as you guessed it… Leadership!

Bob told a story about when he was 24 years old; he entered the army and went to basic training. Of course he was several years older than the other recruits. He was a returned missionary and he was married. He decided that to make basic training easier he was going to hang “just in the middle of the pack”. He wasn’t going to do anything to get noticed… either good or bad. He did just that.

Upon graduation, as everyone was shaking hands, and congratulating one another, he was approached by his drill Sergeant. What the Sergeant said stung him. The Sergeant said “You did a good job, but it is too bad that you decided to hang back and not step up as a leader.” This comment has changed the rest of his life.

This comment caused me to reflect on another person in my life that in a small lesson on leadership has had a big impact on my life. I hope that mentioning his name will not embarrass him in any way for he is someone that many of you may know. He is a high priest in my ward by the name of Bill Quist.

Bill is a guy that you will find in any ward. He sits in the back corner of Sunday School or Priesthood meeting and always seems to make off-the-wall comments. They often make you laugh, and sometimes make you wonder what it has to do with the lesson, but he is a faithful and dependable brother in the gospel. Several years ago Bill was called to lead the music in Priesthood Meeting opening exercises. I am certain that no other person has ever taken this responsibility more seriously. He insisted that people watched him as he led. He would often speed up or slow down… or sometimes even stop in the middle of a song simply to test if people were watching. If not… you were reprimanded. This caused all kinds of moaning and groaning in the audience.

On one particular Sunday as this process was going on… and people were not watching or following him… he stopped and said “years ago I decided that when I was called to be the leader of something, that by-golly I was going to lead.” This lesson has stuck with me for all these years and I have looked up to Bill Quist as someone to follow ever since. This is the type of leader I want to be.

Leadership of course needs to be done in humility. In Matthew 18 we read
“1 AT the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Of course Jesus Christ is our ultimate leader. He is our perfect example. He is all powerful… yet humble and willing to submit to the Father. We would be wise to follow Him.

The Screwtape Letters

2009-11-23T17:39:00.000-08:00

It is a humbling experience to read C.S. Lewis’ book ‘The Screwtape Letters’. For those who are not familiar with this book, I will give a brief overview. The Screwtape Letters is a novel published in 1942. The story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, a junior tempter named Wormwood, so as to advise him on methods of securing the damnation of a British man, known only as "the Patient".

Screwtape holds an administrative post in the bureaucracy ("Lowerarchy") of Hell, and acts more as a mentor than a supervisor to Wormwood, the inexperienced tempter; almost every letter ends with the signature, "Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape". In the body of the thirty-one letters which make up the book, Screwtape gives Wormwood detailed advice on various methods of undermining faith and promoting sin in his Patient, interspersed with observations on human nature and Christian doctrine.

The Screwtape Letters was dedicated by C.S. Lewis to his friend J. R. R. Tolkien.

Each one of the letters discusses a topic that I struggle with personally. I am not sure whether it makes me feel better or not that the weaknesses that I struggle with are typical of most of us. (Maybe I just wanted to feel special or unique… a pride thing). I will discuss a couple of them here and perhaps a couple more in a future post.

In one of the letters from Screwtape, Wormwood learns how to distract a “Christian” from an important thought that the “Enemy” (God or the Spirit) put into his head. Screwtape writes “I struck instantly at the part of the man that which I had best under my control and suggested that it was just about time that he had some lunch. The Enemy made the counter-suggestion that this was more important than lunch. I replied “Quite”. In fact much too important to be tackled at the end of a morning! And I added ‘Much better to come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind’. He was already half way to the door. Once he was in the street the battle was won”.

President Monson touched on this in the Last General Conference when he said “We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the “thick of thin things.” In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes”.

Screwtape writes several letters that show how to distract someone who is working on his own spirituality, to forget about those he should be serving. He writes “let his reflection be ‘My feelings are now growing more devout, or more charitable’ so fix his attention inward that he no longer looks beyond himself to see our Enemy or his own neighbors.”

Screwtape advises “Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient’s soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbors whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary.”

This teaches me that as we strive to be more obedient to the commandments and to grow personally closer to the Savior, that we must do this through service and humility, and not merely by reading, pondering, and praying.

The Great Sin

2009-11-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

“There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I do not think that I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault that makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.

The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit.” (C.S. Lewis ‘Mere Christianity’).

Latter-day Saints are aware of the sin of pride. The Book of Mormon is filled with stories of how pride destroys. It caused the ultimate destruction of the Nephite nation. Pride has been preached from the pulpit in conference after conference and was preached in detail by President Ezra Taft Benson in the 1980’s.

C.S. Lewis writes “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking, there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: The pleasure of being above the rest.”

My thoughts are drawn back to a Gospel Doctrine lesson that Ann (my wife) gave while teaching the New Testament some years ago. The lesson dealt with the story of Mary and Martha. As you will recall, these two women were having the Savior over to their home for dinner. After Jesus arrived, Martha busied herself preparing the meal for their guests. Mary on the other hand sat at the feet of Jesus and listened as he taught the others in the house.

In Luke 10 we read “38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Volumes have been written about this event and Ann and I have discussed it in detail. It appears to us that both Mary and Martha were doing a good thing. Neither was doing something more “right” than the other. We concluded that there was no real problem until Martha started to express that what she was doing was more important than what Mary was doing. I think it did become a pride thing.

I was so impressed by the comments of President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve, when talking about Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, “He never sought the limelight. He personified the statement of the Master, who said, ‘He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.’ Now Joseph will experience another promise of the Lord: ‘He that shall humble himself shall be exalted’

The natural man is selfish. He wants the attention to be on himself. He wants to look good in the eyes of others. He wants to be recognized for his accomplishments. The humble follower of Christ does the opposite. He does all things to glorify the Father. He looks for opportunities to serve others. He doesn’t receive strength in the ‘arm of the flesh’ but in the power of God.

When Nephi was looking prophetically to our day, he wrote the following (2 Ne. 28:14 “They wear stiff necks and high heads, yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray, save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Jesus Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men.”

This verse is pretty frightening: It says ‘all have gone astray… except for a few’.

In Denver Snuffer’s ‘The Second Comforter’ he summarizes “The proud will fail. Their failure will come as a natural consequence of their unfitness to be in God’s presence. Their pride will keep them from doing what is required to be in His presence. Had Naaman not returned to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River, he would have died a leper. Many of us die lepers because we find such things as dipping in rivers childish. Too often we join Naaman in asking ‘Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers in Damascus, better than all of the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and become clean?’ And join him too in reacting: ‘So he turned and went away in a rage.’ Be humble enough to do as the prophets ask you and submit to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. You will be healed if you do.”

We are all familiar with the verses found in D&C 121 “ 34 Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
35 Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson—
36 That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.
37 That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.”

Recent experiences in my own life have taught me that I am guilty of pride. I have been far too selfish as well. But as I have made the effort to recommit myself to obeying the commandments and earnestly repenting every day, I am learning that in a very kind manner, the Lord makes me aware of my faults and gives me the motivation and strength to overcome them. I realize this will take a lifetime but I am working on it.

God's Time

2009-11-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

Today’s post is a short one and likely the last one from C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity” for awhile. His last few chapters are slightly confusing as he is trying to explain the Christian belief of the Trinity. He has one very interesting thought however that I would like to share. It deals with the question of how God can handle listening to prayers of millions of people at a time. He writes,

“Almost certainly God is not in Time. His life does not consist of moments following one another. If a million people are praying to Him at ten-thirty tonight, He need not listen to all in that one little snippet which we call ten-thirty. Ten-thirty – and every other moment from the beginning of the world—is always in the present for Him. If you like to put it that way, He has all eternity in which to listen to the split second of prayer put up by a pilot as his plane crashes in flames.

That is difficult, I know. Let me try to give something, not the same, but a bit like it. Suppose I am writing a novel. I write ‘Mary laid down her work; next moment came a knock at the door!’ For Mary who has to live in the imaginary time of my story there is no interval between putting down the work and hearing the knock. But I, who am Mary’s maker, do not live in that imaginary time at all. Between writing that first half of that sentence and the second, I might sit down for three hours and think steadily about Mary. I could think about Mary as if she were the only character in the book and for as long as I pleased, and the hours I spent in doing so would not appear in Mary’s time (the time inside the story) at all.”

This is quite a concept and makes sense to me. Any thoughts???

Here am I, send me

2009-11-16T09:13:00.000-08:00

It is tradition in the Young Men’s program in our ward to have a “combined quorum” meeting once a month. This is where the Deacons, Teachers, and Priests all meet together for a priesthood lesson. We hold it on the 3rd Sunday of each month. Traditionally the instructor is a member of the Bishopric or a member of the YM’s Presidency. For yesterday’s lesson I asked a member of our Stake Presidency to teach; President Craig Wilson, the 2nd Counselor.

President Wilson taught a lesson that was thoughtful and inspiring. This morning I haven’t been able to get it off my mind so I would like to write about it. I hope that you will be inspired as was I.

The actual lesson title was “Respect for Womanhood”. Interestingly if you Google this topic, only LDS references are available: Is this not taught anywhere else? President Wilson came to the topic a bit differently so I hope I can do it justice. He related the following story.

“A couple of weeks ago, while driving to an appointment, I was listening to NPR. It just happened to be the day of the memorial service for the men and women of the armed forces who lost their lives at Fort Hood earlier in the month. A general from the Special Forces spoke where he with great emotion, told of a saying they have in the Special Forces… A saying that comes from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”

This verse has obvious application to the Special Forces. When a job or a mission is hard, or dangerous, or scary… who will go? The men and women of the armed forces stand and say ‘Here am I, send me’; meaning I am ready… and willing! We also know that these are the words of the pre-mortal Savior when asked by the Father “who will go and be the Savior of the world”. But what do these words have to do with holders of the Priesthood… young and old?

It is obvious that we live in the last days of this earth. Sin, greed, calamity, and destruction are very pervasive throughout the world. Who will carry the sword of truth and virtue in the world today? It must be the Priesthood of God. In order to do so we must be as the Special Forces; trained, prepared, brave, and willing. But how do we do this?

It is my experience that the greatest place to receive the strength we need to be the defenders of all that is “virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy” is in the Temple. For young and old, the Temple is the place to receive the special training the Lord offers to those who really want to follow him.

The reason the Temple is the training ground spoken of is for several reasons: First of all, we all know that only those worthy of a recommend are allowed into the Temple. Just as the Special Forces has a ‘weeding out’ process, so does the Temple. As people go to the Temple worthily, they are in essence going to the Lord’s ‘advanced training’. Only those in tune with the Spirit will receive the special instructions they need to advance.

Second, Temple attendance requires continued faithful service and obedience. Please know that as I share the following I do so to prove the point; not to draw attention to myself.

Those of you who know me well know that the only thing I listen to in my car is Conference and “Mo Tab”. I do this because I believe that I am a little denser than most people and it takes things longer to get into my thick skull that it does yours. My experience is that it takes till about the 5th time that I hear a conference talk to realize what is being said.

About 6 months ago, as I was listening to Elder Richard G. Scott’s talk... for about the 5th time, that I heard him say that he attended the temple every week… and had done so for 14 years… and never missed! As I thought about my own life, I realized this is something I needed to do. As a result, I have been to the Temple every week since that time. If I need to miss for any reason, I make it up by going twice the following week. This effort has changed my life!

The first benefit I get from attending the temple weekly is that it is a constant reminder to ‘choose the right’. When I am tempted to make a bad choice during the week, which is pretty much constantly, I think to myself “I am going to the temple in a couple of days… or I have just come out of the temple”, and the temptation wanes.

The second benefit is receiving special instruction form the Lord. This is a topic far too sacred do discuss in this setting, but I have learned by experience that revelation happens on the Temple like nowhere else. The Lord does indeed have mysteries he is willing to share with those who are willing to listen and to learn. As we attend the Temple, and diligently strive to keep the commandments, and to repent of all of our sins, we become prepared to say ‘Here am I, send me’.

Forgiveness Part Two

2009-11-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

This post is much more personal in nature and I pray that you bear with me as I express some rather private feelings and ideas. I have had a couple of experiences this week that have once again shown me how far from perfect I am. I continue to be just a man trying to do what is right while getting it wrong along the way. How grateful I am for the Atonement!

We are all imperfect. Each of us has at times in our lives done things that disappoint or offend those whom we love. This week I had an experience where I was reminded of a time that someone who looked up to me, witnessed me being less than I should have been. Although this happened nearly ten years ago, the hurt goes on. It goes on to both parties; to the person I offended as well as to me.

While driving today, and listening to our most recent General Conference on CD, I was wondering why the hurt of sins long repented of continue to cause us grief. Then came the talk by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on this very subject. He said “Sometimes we wonder why we remember our sins long after we have forsaken them. Why does the sadness for our mistakes at times continue following our repentance?

You will remember a tender story told by President James E. Faust. “As a small boy on the farm . . . , I remember my grandmother . . . cooking our delicious meals on a hot woodstove. When the wood box next to the stove became empty, Grandmother would silently pick up the box, go out to refill it from the pile of cedar wood outside, and bring the heavily laden box back into the house.”
President Faust’s voice then filled with emotion as he continued: “I was so insensitive . . . I sat there and let my beloved grandmother refill the kitchen wood box. I feel ashamed of myself and have regretted my [sin of] omission for all of my life. I hope someday to ask for her forgiveness.”

More than 65 years had passed. If President Faust still remembered and regretted not helping his grandmother after all those years, should we be surprised with some of the things we still remember and regret?

The scriptures do not say that we will forget our forsaken sins in mortality. Rather, they declare that the Lord will forget.”

This story came to me at an opportune time. I thank the Lord for think of me at an hour of need.

This brings me to a related subject that has been on my mind for several weeks now. I am a witness that when we ask the Lord what He wants us to work on, He lets us know! Not in an angry accusing way, but in a loving kind way. This is one of the answers the Lord gave me. It came while reading Denver Snuffer’s book ‘The Second Comforter’. It deals with judging others. Snuffer writes “Criticism of fellow Saints has almost become a cottage industry. There is a widely held attitude the Saints should be better than they are, and the attitude has led to open criticism of the Saints by the Saints… This is wrong. The Saints are just as they should be. They are human, frail weak and vulnerable. They need your example and your encouragement. They do not need your criticism and judgment piled on in the latter-days. These times are tough. No one has it easy. Saints struggle. That is as it should be. You are here to help them, not to condemn them. Imitate Him. Do something to avoid condemning His Saints. He doesn’t condemn them, so why should you? The Saints deserve your mercy.”

This paragraph caused me to do some serious pondering in my own life. I repented and stopped judging a couple of people that I thought “should have been better”. We all know the importance of avoiding “evil speaking of the Lord’s anointed”. It is widely spread in the LDS culture to believe this is referring to Church leaders. Perhaps it is, but anyone who has been through the Temple has been “anointed”. My belief is that it applies equally to them.

I conclude as I began; all of us are imperfect and I know most are really trying to do what is right. I know I am trying but I often feel like Nephi in 2nd Nephi “17 O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.
18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.
19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted."

I pray we can all be more forgiving.

Forgiveness

2009-11-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

Forgiveness

I begin this post once again with thoughts from C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity”. He states in his Forgiveness chapter with the idea that likely the most unpopular of Christian virtues is “Thou shalt Love thy neighbor as thyself.” He validates this by saying “Because in Christian morals, ‘thy neighbor’ includes ‘thy enemy,’ so we come up against the terrible duty of forgiving our enemies.”

Everyone seems to think that forgiveness is a wonderful virtue… until they have to forgive someone. Then it becomes very difficult. Lewis asks “I wonder how you’d feel about forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?”

Many of us are very bold in telling ourselves and others that we would gladly give our lives for our faith… but are we willing to for-give? We continue to read in Mere Christianity “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.’ There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly clear that if we do not forgive we shall not be forgiven. There are no two ways about it. What are we to do?”

All of us have had to forgive others throughout our lives. I have had some pretty amazing experiences with this in my own life that I will share. One in particular is too sacred and I will keep it to myself. However, C.S. Lewis, in his amazing fashion puts a new spin on this idea when he writes “I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man’s actions, but not hate the bad man: or, as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner. For a long time I used to think this was a silly, straw splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been ding this all my life—namely myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There has never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things.”

A couple of years ago, when were studying the teachings of President Spencer W. Kimball in Priesthood meeting and Relief Society, we had a lesson about forgiveness (As author of ‘The Miracle of Forgiveness’ he is considered an expert on the subject). The discussion was lively; many ideas were expressed. Someone asked “are we supposed to forget about others sins?” Another asked “how can we forget our own sins?” The most thought provoking question was “do we need to be “buddy buddy” with someone who has hurt us? The question was based around a financial deal that had gone bad. The discussion in the high priests quorum ultimately concluded with the consensus that “you need to forgive but you don’t necessarily need to “hang out” with them.” This answer caused me to do some serious thinking and I have come to the conclusion that they were wrong.

Undoubtedly there are some reading this blog that have experienced serious hurt from someone they deeply trusted. Perhaps an adult was abused as a child by a love one. Perhaps a Father had an internet addiction that caused serious hurt. Or perhaps a spouse had an inappropriate relationship outside of marriage. In each of these instances, forgiveness is not only the act of forgiveness itself… but learning to once again love and adore the sinner. Now that is forgiveness!!!

Some months ago I had an experience that has changed my life. I was reading in Denver Snuffer’s ‘The Second Comforter’ (a book I will one day discuss in detail) and read how the standards of the Lord are so high, that he not only asks us to forgive our enemies, but to pray for them! I was touched deeply by this thought: I had to take some action.

I had a business associate who had deeply offended me and cost me thousands of dollars in losses over many years. He had flat out lied to my face and made life difficult for me for a time. After reading this quote, I knew I needed to not only forgive him… but to pray for him. I knelt down, and in the most awkward manner possible, began to pray for him. It was very difficult but something I knew I must do. For the next week or so, I prayed for this individual morning and night. I prayed for his success and for his family. I was sincere but it was difficult. A few days later I forgot about it.

About a week later, to my huge surprise, this man came into my office and asked to meet with my brother and I. As we sat to talk, his eyes filled with tears and he proceeded to apologize for the way he treated us. He was sincere and truly broken hearted and contrite. I sat in amazement!

Of course my brother and I forgave him and we parted friends. After he left I sat pondering in my heart… thanking the Lord. I went to my brother who knew nothing of my prayers, and said “let me tell you the rest of the story.” We marveled together of the Lord’s goodness.

Yes, forgiveness is a Christian virtue; perhaps the most difficult. But learning to forgive… and I mean really forgiving is one of the most God-like characteristics we can develop. My we never give up on this one!

The Law of Sacrifice and the Sacrament

2009-11-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

As the Young Men’s President of my Ward, I have the opportunity of being connected to the administration of the Sacrament every week. Recent reading, Temple attendance, and pondering have given me some interesting insights to the relationships between the Law of Sacrifice as explained in the Old Testament, and the Sacrament instituted at the Last Supper of the Savior, and ultimately to the Sacrament we take each week as Latter Day Saints.

This is a rather difficult subject, and one that will continue to play out in my mind throughout my life but I would like to express my feelings today. I pray I can do the topic justice. Please know these ideas are mine and by no means do they represent doctrine of the LDS faith.

We read in Moses in the Pearl of Great Price that after Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden for disobedience, (Moses 4:27) “Unto Adam, and also unto his wife, did I, the Lord God, make coats of skins, and clothed them.” In the very next chapter we read (Moses 5:5-8)” And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.
And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.
And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth .
Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.”

I don’t think that it was a coincidence that the “coats of skins” and the sacrifice of animals came at the same time. It seems to reason that the Lord taught Adam the Law of Sacrifice while He was making the coat of skins for him. Where else would he have taken the skins from? We know that Adam had recent named all of the animals: Were these coverings made from animals that Adam was familiar and fond of?

Any time there have been covenant people of the Lord on the earth, the Lord has required the Law of Sacrifice from them. Nowhere are the ordinances of the law better outlined than in the book of Leviticus. Brigham Young, and many others for that matter, taught that all things in the Old Testament point to Christ. Many of the symbols found in the Law of Sacrifice in Moses’ day are obvious; the lamb was to be the first born, without blemish, no bones were to be broken etc. The relationship of these to Christ is without question. How do they compare however, to the Sacrament today?

In the Old Testament, as I understand it, the sacrifice was laid upon the alter. There were specific steps to follow for each part of the animal, the meat and the blood. There is no question that flesh was cut of “torn” apart and the blood was sprinkled around the alter. Interestingly the meat was not to be consumed by the fire, but along with the hide of the animal, was to be used for the use of the priests and their families (coats of skins?).

In Leviticus 4 we read “ 3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.
4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and kill the bullock before the LORD.
5 And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:

And in verse 20 we read “And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.

The Sacrament in our own Wards today takes place at the front of the chapel where all can see. How is it similar to an alter that might have been found in an ancient Temple or a Latter Day Temple? (This is a point for all to ponder). Ancient sacrifices were performed behind a veil. Is the tablecloth covering the sacrament a type of veil? (Another point to ponder). The Priests tear the bread (Christ’s body) into pieces, and water (the blood) is poured into cups.

After the “offerings” are prepared, the Priests kneel (as at an alter) and offer the following prayers: (Moroni 4) “O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

And (Moroni 5) “O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee, in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.”

Through modern revelation we learn that through this ordinance we are able to renew the covenants we made at baptism. Through proper preparation and sincere repentance, this offering is able to give us forgiveness for our sins.

In Ancient Israel a lamb without blemish was able to be offered as a sacrifice to allow for forgiveness from sins. In our day, as we offer a sacrifice of a broken heart, and a contrite spirit, and are willing to give up the things of the world and repent, a Lamb, without blemish is able to wash away our sins, and we are able to receive forgiveness so that we too may be found “spotless at the last day”.

The Book of Jasher

2009-11-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

Some months ago I was introduced to a really great little bookstore in Salt Lake City by the name of Benchmark Books. I had never heard of it before but since hearing about it I have come to know that many people are aware of it. It is located on the second floor of the building directly north of McDonalds on 33rd South and Main Street. It is an awesome little store that deals with LDS books that are rare, out of print, or simply not available elsewhere. I have become a real fan of it.

Since Benchmark Books is just a couple of blocks from my office, I go there from time to time at lunch just to browse. On occasion I ask the person behind the counter if they have any recommendations. I have been greatly blessed by some of the recommendations I have received.

One book that was recommended to me is The Book of Jasher. It is one of the “lost” books of the Old Testament. It is referred to in the book of Joshua as well as in 2nd Samuel. I had never heard of it before but have since found that it is contains very valuable insight.

An article was written about it in Meridian Magazine in 2002 by John P. Pratt. He states the following: “The book is a history of the world from the creation until the period of the Judges in Israel. It contains much more information than is found in Genesis for that same period, which makes very interesting reading and clears up many confusing issues in the Bible. It is written mostly as a secular history, but it does contain many references to what God was doing. It is similar to the Books of Joshua through Chronicles in the Bible which describe many historical events such as battles and wars, but which also point out the hand of God in the affairs of men.

Perhaps the closest approach to an official acknowledgment of the Book of Jasher among the latter-day saints was when the Prophet Joseph Smith quoted from it as a source which had "not been disproved as a bad author." The saints became more enamored with the book than did the rest of the Judeo-Christian world, and certain members of the Church secured the copyright and republished the work in 1887 in Salt Lake City.” The copy I have is one of these publications.

Anyone who has read the Book of Jasher will agree that it certainly contains much truth (many stories from the Bible), and it certainly appears to contain some later interpolations of men, so reading by the Spirit seems like an excellent way to discern which is which.

Pratt continues: “There seems to be no doubt in anyone's mind that the book contains many authentic Hebrew traditions. It is definitely not a forgery in the sense of being a modern fiction, as was the 1751 book of the same name. Ginzberg in his landmark collection Legends of the Jews quotes from it freely and it is listed in Jewish encyclopedias as an authentic source. But all of these sources agree that the Book of Jasher most likely was written in Spain about the twelfth century AD. It is thought to have been composed by an author compiling many old Jewish traditions (called Midrash) dating back to around the time of Christ and fabricating a few of his own. So how is it known that Jasher is quoting Midrash rather than Midrash quoting the real Book of Jasher also quoted in the Old Testament? It is deduced principally from the chapter describing where the descendants of Noah settled, because European names from many centuries after Christ are included (Jasher 10). In other words, the principles of higher criticism apparently require that if a few verses are found in the work which can definitely be dated to the eleventh century in Spain, then the entire work must have been authored at that time.

If the work claimed to have been produced by one author, as did the fraudulent Pseudo-Jasher, then that argument might be valid. This book, on the other hand, is implied to be a set of annals which have been handed down through a long series of authors. Nowhere is there any implication that it was all one big revelation given to a prophet in the manner that Genesis was given to Moses (Moses 1:40). Because the spirit of the book is that of a continual series of people adding to the work, much like the prophets of the Book of Mormon handing the plates down to the next author, I would not be surprised if interpolations were made in good faith to update the story somewhat of what had happened to the nations since the reign of the Judges. Thus, the method of modern scholars of discrediting the entire book because of a few interpolations and insisting on a late date for its origin is not compelling.

The translator of the 1840 edition agrees because he maintained that this book is indeed the book mentioned in the Old Testament. He concludes, "the book is, with the exception of some doubtful parts, a venerable monument of antiquity; and that, notwithstanding some few additions may have been made to it in comparatively modern times, it still retains sufficient to prove it a copy of the book referred to in Joshua 10 and 2 Samuel 1." In other words, a few later interpolations do not disqualify the entire book. Now let's look at the two places it is apparently quoted in the Old Testament.

Joshua 10:13. It is easy to find the place where the book of Joshua apparently quotes this Book of Jasher:

And when they were smiting, the day was declining toward evening, and Joshua said in the sight of all the people, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon, until the nation shall have revenged itself upon its enemies.
And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Joshua, and the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens, and it stood still six and thirty moments, and the moon also stood still and hastened not to go down a whole day. (Jasher 88:63-64)

The translator notes that the word he rendered "moments" just means "times", a usage with which he is not familiar. To me this quote, although exactly what the doctor ordered, is not compelling because if someone were going to fake a Book of Jasher, this is exactly the kind of verses that would be fabricated as proof. Let us now consider the other reference, which is much more convincing.

Samuel 1:18. As seen in the above quotation of this reference, the Bible states that David taught the children of Judah the use of archery, as stated in the Book of Jasher. Here, at first blush, it looks like the Book of Jasher is disqualified, because its history stops at the reign of the Judges, long before the reign of David. Thus, if this book were merely feigning to be the lost scripture, it would appear that the author was unaware of this second scripture reference, which apparently disqualifies it. Indeed, one reviewer rejected the book citing this weakness as the principal reason.

But on closer inspection, the promised reference is not only present after all, the mystery of why the Biblical author included the source is also explained. The reason is that it is David himself who was quoting the Book of Jasher, rather than the Book of Jasher merely recording David's actions. Jasher contains the injunction that the children of Judah should learn the art of the bow and David considered the Book of Jasher of such high authority that if it commanded to teach the art of the bow, he was determined to do it. That puts an entirely different light on the subject. Here is the actual quote, from the last words of Jacob to his son Judah:

Only teach thy sons the bow and all weapons of war, in order that they may fight the battles of their brother who will rule over his enemies. (Jasher 56:9)

This passage goes a long way as evidence that this Book of Jasher is indeed the Book of Jasher. The quote, once found, solves the mystery of why a reference was needed (to give David's source), and yet it was so obscure that some reviewers have overlooked it entirely, which strongly argues that it was not fabricated solely to fulfill the requirement of having been quoted.”

I would like to conclude with a final quote from John Pratt “Before concluding, I must share a thought from William W. Phelps, who stated,

... some will turn to the words of eternal life, for life and salvation, whether they are found in the old bible, book of Mormon, lost book of Jasher, or the book of Enoch, mentioned by Jude. Though men are afraid of the books of God, or afraid that God will suffer any more to be in the world, I expect that when the dead, small and great, stand before him, that the books will be opened; even the books of Jehovah, and men will be judged according to what is written in the books.

After all the research effort made to produce this article, my conclusion is exactly the same as the conclusion of Mordecai M. Noah's introduction to the first English translation in 1840:

Without giving it to the world as a work of Divine inspiration, or assuming the responsibility to say that it is not an inspired book, I have no hesitation in pronouncing it a work of great antiquity and interest, and a work that is entitled, even regarding it as a literary curiosity, to a great circulation among those who take pleasure in studying the Scriptures.”

Mere Christianity

2009-11-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

Dear readers,
This blog is simply a forum for me to express and to share my feelings about things I am reading in the scriptures and other great books. I hope they are a benefit to you and will perhaps cause you to read the books I refer to. I apologize for the length of this one—it was difficult to edit.

I have recently been reading C.S. Lewis’s Book Mere Christianity and have been intrigued by some of the concepts that he introduces. C.S. Lewis was an Irish-born British novelist, academic, literary critic, lay theologian and Christian apologetic. He was born in 1898 and died in 1963 at the age of 64. I am willing to bet that he is quoted in General Conference more than any other non Latter-Day-Saint.

In this book he begins by introducing the thesis that humans are born with built in morals. He illustrates this idea by referring to two people quarreling when one says “How’d you like it if anyone did the same to you?” – “That’s my seat, I was there first” – “Give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine” People say things like this every day; children and adults; educated as well as uneducated.

Lewis continues “Now what interests me about all these remarks is that the man who makes them is not merely saying that the other man’s behavior does not happen to please him. He is appealing to some standard of behavior which he expects the other man to know about.” Rarely does the offender admit that he has violated the unspoken standard. Nearly always he tries to make out that what he has been doing is still within keeping of the standard. He pretends there is some special reason that he took the seat, or didn’t give up a piece of his orange. There is always some extenuating circumstance. “It looks, in fact, very much as if both parties had in mind some kind of Law or Rule of fair play or decent behavior… about which they really agreed.” He continues “ quarrelling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he some sort of agreement as to what right and wrong are.”

As Latter-Day-Saints we commonly refer to this “built in” morality as the light of Christ or the Spirit of Christ. In Moroni 7:16 we read “For behold. The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. Continuing on in Moroni 7:18-19 we read: And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged. Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.

So what are the moral standards that everyone knows or is born with? C. S. Lewis claims there are seven of them; Four that everyone should adhere to, and another three that are for Christians specifically. They are: Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Fortitude, Chastity, Forgiveness, Humility. Since the three Christian virtues he discusses are well known among LDS, here I will deal only with the first four.

Prudence is defined as “discretion in practical affairs; Wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment or common sense; Careful in regard to one's own interests; provident; Careful about one's conduct; circumspect. C.S. Lewis reminds us that Christ stated that we are to become as a little child. In 3 Ne. 9:22 we read “Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved. “ Lewis continues, “Christ never meant that we were to remain children in intelligence: on the contrary, He told us not only to be ‘as harmless as doves’ but also ‘as wise as serpents.’ He wants a child’s heart, but a grown-up’s head”.

Temperance is the trait of avoiding excesses, or moderation and self-restraint, as in behavior or expression. It might be defined as the act of giving up something individually for the benefit of the greater whole. Lewis says “ But the whole point is that he is abstaining, for a good reason, from something he does not condemn… One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting everyone else to give it up.” I have been guilty of this in my own life and find this something that we should look at in our own lives; to keep us from judging others.

Lewis writes “Justice means much more than the sort of thing that goes on in law courts. It is the name for everything we should now call ‘fairness’; it includes honesty, give and take, truthfulness, keeping promises, and all that side of life”. As Latter-Day-Saints, we recognize that Justice and Mercy are two of the attributes of God and the beauty of the Atonement.

Strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity with courage is what is meant by Fortitude. Lewis writes “Fortitude includes both kinds of courage—the kind that faces danger as well as the kind that ‘sticks it’ under pain. ‘Guts’ is perhaps the nearest modern English. You will notice, of course, that you cannot practice any of the other virtues very long without bringing this one into play.”

I will end this blog post with a final quote from Mere Christianity that draws a great conclusion that I certainly agree with. “We might think that the ‘virtues’ were necessary only for this present life—that in the other world we could stop being just because there is nothing to quarrel about and stop being brave because there is no danger. Now it is quite true that there will probably be no occasion for being the sort of people that we can become only as a result of doing such acts here. The point is not that God will refuse you admission to His eternal world if you have not got certain qualities of character: the point is that if people have not got at least the beginning of those qualities inside them, then no possible external conditions could make a ‘Heaven’ for them—that is, could make them happy with the deep, strong, unshakable kind of happiness God intends for us.”

The Lost Coin

2009-10-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

In Chapter 15 of Luke, the Saviour intoduces three parables that deal with those who have become "lost". They are the parable of The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Prodigal Son. Each story targets a distinct group of people that have "wandered" in one way or another. This post will express my thoughts on each of them.

The Story of the Lost Sheep tells of a shepherd that has 100 sheep. When he notices that one of the sheep has wandered off, he leaves the "ninety and nine" and goes off searching for the one. When he finds the one, he rejoices and carries the lost lamb back to the fold.

Author Larry Barkdull, in his book Rescuing Wayward Children tells the following: "President David O. McKay suggests that the lost sheep is like many who stray innocently with no rebellious intent. Rebelliousness is not always the issue, he said. In the parable, the sheep was seeking its livelyhood legitimately, albeit ignorant of the consequences, and wandered into unknown and dangerous territory seeking better grass. Suddenly, it is lost. The sheep is no different from some children in the Church who wander unwittingly; seeking success in education, career, or other pursuits, they one day look up and find themselves far from the Church and disconnected from gospel principles. Their wandering has misled them in defining truth and what constitutes true success, and they are now too lost to find their way back without a good shepherd to guide them."

It is easy for me to picture a sheep, with its head down, paying little attention what is going on around it, following clump of grass after clump of grass. Suddenly it puts its head up and realizes it does't recognize any of its surroundings. We are all guilty of this in our own lives at some level. I know that on occasion I look up and find myself off the path that I know is right. At times like these, when we are suddenly lost, if we listen carefully, we will hear the voice of the Shepherd calling out to us as He comes to our rescue.

In what is likely the most familiar of the three parables, that of the Prodigal Son, a young man becomes rebellious and leaves the way of his father and goes out into the world afer his own pursuits. After living a wild and riotous life, he finds himself broken and alone... and far from home. He realizes he has lost everything and offers to come back and be a servant in his fathers house. But his father rejoices at his return, kills the fatted calf, and celebrates the return of his lost son.

How true is this story in each of our lives as well? It is our nature to want to do things on our own. Even our small children say "I do it" when we try to help them do something. It is our pride that makes us think we can do it on our own. Even our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell into the trap of thinking they could do it on their own or some other way. It is by paying attention to the Spirit that we see the error of our ways and return to our Father in Heaven.

The story that seems to be the least familiar, at least with me, is that of the Lost Coin. This story also seems to have significant parallels in my own life. Particularly as it relates to watching over things we have charge of like children, siblings, parents, home teaching families, etc.

The woman in the parable loses a coin in her own home (how does this relate to our own children?). In order to find it she lights a candle (adds more light), and cleans her home (cleans the inner vessel.... repents). She seeks the coin diligently until she finds it.

We too are guilty of losing things of value in our lives simply by the clutter of our lives. This clutter comes in many shapes and sizes. For some it is sports, for others it is simply making a living. Much of it comes from the never ending barage of "electronic noise" in out lives. This includes television, computers, ipods, cell phones, facebook, email, and the list goes on and on. If we are constantly stimulated by these distractions, when will we ever have time to hear the still small voice?

In Alma we are taught "God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also." This is a little hard to hear. We typically want the problems in our lives to be "someone elses" fault. It can't possibly be me! How many times have we heard ourselves say, after listening to a talk or sermon that talks about one problem or another, my wife/husband/sister/etc. really needs to hear this?

The Lord has taught us this principle in many ways in the scriptures. In Matthew 5 we read "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the alter, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the alter, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift". And, "First cast out the beam out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye". Again I quote form Larry Barkdull "To successfully seek out that which we have neglected and carelessly lost, we need to shine an honest light on our own house and begin sweeping."

Welcome

2009-10-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well here I am in a place I never thought I would be (no, not jail), writing a blog. To my friends and family it is probably an even bigger surprise than it is to me. I just feel a need to express my feelings about certain topics, primarily those involving church and family, with those I care about. I hope that through this forum someone, somewhere, may benefit.

In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Alma gave a very powerful discourse to the people of Zarahemla. In Alma 5:14 he askes "And now behold, I ask you, my bretheren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye recieved his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" This "mighty change" he speaks of has been the topic of multiple books and conference addresses throughout the history of the church. It will be the way I begin my blog.

Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Seventy, in our most recent General Conference (October 2009), presented a terrific sermon on this topic. He, being a heart surgeon, gave interesting insight to this topic. He explained how a heart transplant patient must continue to follow a prescribed lifestyle to keep his body from rejecting his "new heart". He concluded his remarks with the following:
"To endure to the end, we need to be eager to please God and worship Him with fervor and passion. This means that we maintain faith in Jesus Christ by praying, studying the scriptures, partaking of the sacrament each week, and having the Holy Ghost as our constant companion. We need to actively help and serve others and share the gospel with them. We need to be perfectly upright and honest in all things, never compromising our covenants with God or our commitments to men, regardless of circumstances. In our homes we need to talk of, rejoice in, and preach of Christ so that our children—and we ourselves—will desire to apply the Atonement in our lives. We must identify temptations that easily beset us and put them out of reach—way out of reach. Finally, we need to frequently biopsy our mightily changed hearts and reverse any signs of early rejection."

My goal, along with many in the church, is to experience, then "maintain" this change of heart throughout my life. Life experiences, and true devotion are beginning to make this change in my own heart. I hope to be able to discuss these changes in myself in this blog. I hope others will share their expereinces so that we can all grow together.