Can I give some mercy, the benefit of the doubt?

Samson and Delilah

Sally and I watched Jared Halveson sharing some insights about the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. He shared a lot of insights about Samson. I have often wondered about Samson, and many other imperfect people mentioned in the scriptures and the amazing things that they accomplished while fulfilling their missions on this Earth. I hope that I will fulfil the mission that I was sent to fulfil, even although I know that I will make mistakes, have shortfalls, bloopers, errors, flops, or whatever one wishes to call them. 

I shared the following thoughts with Jared and those who might take the time to read and consider what I wrote. I hope that anyone reading this will consider them and reflect on the mission that she or he was sent to fulfil - the one that she or he agreed to fulfil! 

Thanks for the thoughts about the Book of Judges. I had some thoughts that came to mind about Samson. When I was on mission more than 40 years ago my father made a good observation. He said that he is very grateful that the Lord has excused us from judging others - He will do the judging. I am very grateful for that thought. I am relieved to not have to judge. I love the sinner, even if I do not love the sin! I am confident that the Lord will do a far better job than I possibly can of punishing someone for things for which they have not repented. But I also know that He looks for every reason to excuse us for things for which we repent - and repentance can happen after mortality. I often say that I am not sure if I would have volunteered for the job of Pilate, Judas Iscariot, or Samson. I wonder if Samson might have been mentally impaired? The scriptures say that Jesus went to the Jews because no-one else would crucify their King. Only the Jews were sufficiently committed to their Law that they would defend what they considered to be right, to the point of crucifying their Messiah! Maybe Samson was impaired and the Lord would not have been ignorant of his being impaired, but used him as an instrument in His hands to destroy the Philistines. I am not saying that I am right, but I am giving some room for benefit of the doubt. I have also pondered that King Saul may well have had the Bipolar Disorder since he was evidently manic at times and depressed at times. The Lord uses imperfect people - like me - to do His work. He would probably not have been surprised by what Samson did, and maybe Samson was the right person for the job. I reckon that I would have been hesitant to volunteer for the job… Would the Philistines have guessed that the lion in the vineyard would have had anything to do with the Nazarite Samson since a Nazarite ought not to have been in a vineyard, as you point out? Maybe Samson was mentally the age of a child and so did not recognise Delilah's folly. I don't know, but I try to judge on the side of mercy. I hope that people will do so when studying events from my life. Just a thought from Les Powrie in the Fairest Cape (Cape Town, South Africa)

This is a little bit of what might be in the argument for defence. I always hope that there will be a good argument for defence when I am on trial. Not denying the wrong that I did, but being merciful in the judgement if I did not deliberately choose to follow Satan, but made some errors in my thinking. 

Thoughts shared with a friend who feels wronged by a dear loved one

You mention in your CV that you love to write. I am impressed with your writing skill – I have done a lot of editing, mainly of scientific writing as I prepared publications for myself and for my team and often must make numerous edits. Your skill is good – it is worth working on it.

Just as in the beauty of a sunrise or sunset, there are many delights to be seen when we stop and look. There is so much to please the eye and gladden the heart.

I read that you had depression – that made me think back to my year after finishing BSC (Hons) at Wits University. Wow! That was intense. The medication was dulling and made me less than me. I recently read my matric journal from 1971 and I was amazed to read that I had depression then – with suicidal thoughts – I had totally forgotten that!

Then I thought of the absolute turmoil and distress that my wife Sally felt after serving so many patients as a family doctor, and suddenly she burnt out and was eventually diagnosed to have bipolar disorder, and years later bilateral temporal lobe epilepsy was also diagnosed! This journey has been really painful for her – and for me, and for the whole family. Sally later acknowledged that as she thought about it, she could recognise symptoms of bipolar disorder from her matric year, and also of epileptic incidents over the years. But, even with that recognition, there are times that she is adamant that she does not have any disorder and the meds are not doing anything for her and she wants to stop them all because of the side-effects! As you can imagine, I do not have many boring times in my life!

At the time of Sally’s first diagnosis my sister who is a psychologist with LDS Family Services suggested that we watch A Beautiful Mind and we watched it then, and I was impressed to watch it again when I first started to read some of the account of your journey. I have no idea of what might be the diagnosis for you, but you do mention medication and how tablets have destroyed your mind, and I think that you might have some issues like Sally and I, and others, have – and that so many people have in 2024.

My home teaching and ministering companion for many years was someone who is troubled by schizophrenia. He is always compliant with taking his medication and from about 20h00 is not particularly with things, but he presses on doing the best that he can under his difficult situation. He is faithful to his covenants even although his work that sustains him and his family does not enable him to attend Church regularly. If we met in the evening he would be there every week, but he is baking bread for many people on most Sunday mornings and many people at church forget about him – but I appreciate his great example of discipleship.

I have observed that many people that I know who evidently have great talents such as outstanding intellectual ability, given 'every man according to his several ability', seem to have an opposition in their lives such as ADHDD, bipolar, schizophrenia, dyslexia, or something that will help to refine them according to the Lord's love and wisdom.

I often reflect on the Saviour’s declaration in the synagogue when He first told of His mission: ‘This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.’ He had just declared ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.’ Luke 4:18-19, 21. He then set about preaching, helping people to see, dumb to speak, deaf to hear, lame to walk, and mentally ill to cope with their afflictions (I anticipate many of the devils that He cast out were what troubled several of these mentally ill people), even raising the dead.

In the years leading up to 2024 He has inspired many of the seed of Abraham, and quite likely others who desire to help their fellow-men, to see (with spectacles, braille, surgery, medication, and other interventions), deaf to hear (with hearing aids, sign language, surgery, medication and other interventions), dumb to speak (with sign language, technology, and many other wonderful means), lame to walk (with wheelchairs, surgery, crutches, and various other interventions), mentally ill to cope (with medication, ECTs, counselling, and various interventions), and raising the dead and in limited instances even reversing death (with CPR, heart-lung machines, defibrillators, and other amazing interventions)!

I have been struck by the frequency with which Elder Jeffrey R Holland has referred to the healing (even if not totally removing illnesses) of mentally ill and other disabled people, saying that they should seek a priesthood blessing, and then go to the qualified and competent medical experts and allow them to be instruments in the Lord’s hands in bringing about needed healing. Several other general Church leaders have spoken about coping with mental or physical illness and they all encourage us to take advantage of what the Lord has inspired His instruments to do to help us to cope with, even sometimes to overcome, our afflictions. But mostly it is not to change the circumstances, but to help us to be the very best that we can be in spite of our circumstances. If we can, we are encouraged to take ourselves out of the gutter, addictions, or other things where we have control, but where we do not have control, He helps us to have faith in His ability to bless us to be able to make our desert blossom as the rose, to open up the windows of heaven by bringing us rain or benefiting from water that might be available as we bring our tithes and offerings into His storehouse that there may be meat in His house. This requires us to focus on correct doctrine and change ourselves from the inside-out rather than wanting to change things from the outside-in. I have often reflected on how apostles and prophets have battled on with serious impairments. I love the insight in The Chosen when James asks Jesus why He has not healed him, and Jesus says in effect 'I can heal you if you want it, but you being a witness of me despite your obvious walking challenges is a strong testimony to many that it is not only because of miracles that you follow me'.

I also love His injunction that ‘I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.’ Doctrine & Covenants 64:10. I am so grateful that He guarantees that any punishment that is due will be given by Him – and boy! He can punish far better than I can ever hope to do! And He can forgive so much better than I can! But – He can also help any one of us to become the opposite of a sinner if we humble ourselves and desire to be in the Celestial glory with Him. And – if we are in the ultimate instance of Zion, even the Celestial glory, we will be with Him, and if that person whom I despise in her or his sinful or mortal state is there, then it means that the Lord has helped her or him to change and become Celestial, and then I would love to be with that repentant and changed soul for all of eternity! The thing that I need to focus on is getting myself to the Celestial glory, and then everything will be far more wonderful than I can imagine!

You will probably remember the scriptures or General Conference speakers that I have quoted above. If not, feel free to ask me and I shall send links to the scriptures or talks. But the essence of what I am saying is that the Lord would delight in our seeking to be forgiving (not staying in a dangerous situation), and seeking to work together to be Zion people. Everyone has flaws, faults, failings, weaknesses, imperfections (I am woefully aware of such in myself). If I want to find a fault it will be so easy. But so does everyone have good points. My hope is to identify those and to help others to blossom in those good points. This kind of reminds me of something from my Institute study about someone entering a gardening competition and did a great job about removing all of the weeds but spent all of the time on that and did not plant beautiful and desirable plants. I have walked for many, many hours in the Namib Desert and I am always amazed at the absolutely wonderful beetles, lizards, spiders, birds, mammals, even some plants to be seen if one stops and looks. But most people climb in their cars and rush through the drab and dreary Karoo to get to the other side and often sit down to a delightful mutton meal that got its special flavour from the very Karoo that they did not stop to appreciate. Is that much different to the children of Israel following Moses and murmuring day after day despite the absolute miracle of having manna every day? Or as we are reading this week, Lehi’s family that had their food made sweet so that they did not need to kindle a fire to cook?

It has been agonising for Sally to no longer be able to serve patients, saving lives and improving health, from about age 45 years. Now she needs to serve herself, save her own life and improve her own health. Failure to do this leads to more rapid damage to her brain. The Lord had blessed her for more than 20 years as she magnified her calling, sanctifying her by the spirit unto the renewing of her body, but then, it appears, He withdrew that sustaining and Sally had to depart from her Jerusalem and go out into a wilderness in a difficult path to her promised land. There are times that she murmurs and yearns for the flesh pots of her past, but tries to keep her focus on drawing close to Heavenly Father as she trudges forward towards her promised land. I have often wondered if her challenges are there more for my refining than for hers – so it is not her burden to be borne alone, but we can bear it equally yoked, together, and both press forward towards the same Celestial promised land. I pray that I will be worthy to be there with her.

As I read and edited what I have written above, my thoughts turned to an experience when Sally, our first toddler and I were held-up on Signal Hill. A man threatened our daughter with a knife if we did not hand over our valuables. I was angry with this man who had definitely done wrong! I was mulling over in my mind how I could help the police to trap him in the act and make him suffer seriously with the harsh punishment that he fully deserved! I realised that I was not at peace. The scriptures say things like ‘But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you’. We had reported the matter to the police. We had prayed to Father in Heaven. We had done what we could do. I came to the realisation that it was appropriate for me to forgive and pray for this man’s redemption rather than planning for his destruction. I cannot express to you the relief and peace that came to my soul as I handed over the justice that needed to be dealt out to Heavenly Father and to the police.

It is interesting how I see so much related to what I have written to you coming up as I work through the Come, Follow Me study for this week, for example, the paragraph in this link https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/come-follow-me-for-home-and-church-book-of-mormon-2024/05?id=p3&lang=eng#p3. I smiled as I thought of how there is always manna, or food that the Lord has made sweet, for us to collect each day, sufficient for that day, but I fear that we often just complain of being hungry because we did not gather our share of the manna or sweet food for the day. I hope that the Spirit has been communicating with you – as He has done with me – as you study with the millions of saints around the world during this week of our mortal journey. I was struck after sitting in a ward in Trieste, Italy, how remarkable that what I had studied that week, and my ward was studying in English in Cape Town was the same that was being discussed in Italian in this ward that week. The same in a ward in Berlin, Germany. We are blessed to be a body of saints – Zion – as we meet together around the globe in every nation, kindred, tongue and people.

It was interesting listening to the January 2024 Friend magazine this morning and feeling that some of the articles in it are in line with what I am sharing with you. I always marvel at how the Spirit lines up things to strengthen and enhance what I am learning. It reminds me that the Lord is in charge – He is at the helm. The article was Forgiving Like Nephi (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/friend/2024/01/04-forgiving-like-nephi?lang=eng)

I feel impressed to share a thought that I have had regarding the stupor of thought mentioned in the 9^th section of Doctrine and Covenants. When my mind is buzzing over something, arguing for my argument, debating, justifying – not being at peace – then I try to change to maybe the opposite of my argument, or to the defence rather than the prosecution, or whatever and see how I feel then. For example, I have challenged people to speak convincingly that the sun is not shining and assess their feelings. I then let them argue that the sun is shining and assess how they feel – from being actively looking for justification of the argument, suddenly it changes to a simple statement like ‘I can see it. It may have stopped shining in the last 8 minutes, but I can see it now.’ As I read your writing, it looks as though there may be this stupor of thought. Why not ask the Lord what you should be thinking and maybe change your approach and see if you find peace. If not, try another approach. There is a good reason that the Lord called the Holy Ghost the Comforter. I love the feeling of clarity, simplicity, completeness, wholeness, integrity when it simply feels right. No because, because, because, but simply right. I often refer to Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof where he is thinking about his daughter not wanting an arranged marriage. It is ‘On the other hand…’ and ‘On the other hand…’ and in one instance he simply says ‘No – there is no other hand’. If one is always considering arguments, I reckon that we have not come to see things as the Lord sees them.

Moroni challenged us to remember how merciful the Lord has been to the children of men since the days of Adam, even until the time that we read his challenge. Many of us think more of the punishing Jehovah who instructed Joshua to destroy Jericho, and similar tales of harsh justice. I remember after listening to the entire Old Testament while driving to and from work how one needs to be familiar with that entire account in order to remember those details of mercy. He was harsh in order to help His children to repent. When there was even the slightest spark of repentance visible He would blow on it to help it to become a flame and then a roaring flame so that He could manifest His mercy through His blessings such as manna in the wilderness, opening the windows of heaven and pouring out a blessing, and healing from the poison of serpents. He is indeed a merciful God. Jesus Christ has already atoned for the sins of anyone who has wronged you or me. It is now up to us to help others to repent and receive that atoning grace and mercy, blowing on any hint of a spark of repentance to make it a Celestial recovery – and then we will have great joy over a soul that we have helped to save.

I hope that this really long response is not painful to you. I love you. I love everyone who has wronged you – not for the wrong that they have done, but for the divine potential that they have if they repent and meet the duty of a member which is to have a Godly walk and conversation, walking in holiness before Him. Four pages in a Word document! Haaaaaauw! Sorry it has become such a long response, but it is kind of short compared with what you sent to me 😉

Blessings on you as you prayerfully and frequently read your patriarchal blessing and look for how the Lord would like you to respond to those that you feel have wronged you. I promise you great joy as you love them, pray for them, do good to them. I love you, pray for you and I hope that I have done good to you. Blessings on you as you navigate your delightful journey in your wilderness. I promise you that you will find wonderful delights in what looks like a desert or an arid area. There will be those flowers, beetles, lizards, and all sorts of delights when you ‘stop and smell the roses’.

Peace in Christ - the opposite of contention

View a preview of the talk on YouTube

Mowbray 16 Jan 2022

As I prepared this talk I reflected on a talk that I gave at this pulpit about 1983 when this was the Cape Town First Branch. It would have been an Easter talk. I shall try to improve on some mistaken context that I think that I may have presented then.

After what we now refer to as Easter, Peter went fishing and four disciples said that they would join him. They had just had some really unexpected things happen in their lives and I guess that they required a lot of time to digest these things.

• Was Peter wondering what lay ahead? 
• He was the senior apostle - and he had been called while fishing.

• His Lord had been killed without becoming the Delivering Messiah that many expected Him to be. 
• He had been resurrected and appeared to Mary, then to Peter and others of His disciples on at least two occasions.
• The disciples were now left without the frequent mentoring contact that they had been having for three years. 

• Peter might have been reflecting on his denying the Lord three times.
• Peter might have reflected on his impetuous behaviour cutting off someone’s ear and what the Lord did and said about those who live by the sword dying by the sword. 
• Might he have remembered his experience doing the impossible - walking on water?

 

There was doubtless a great jumble of thoughts, reflections, wondering, ponderings, treasuring up or keeping things in his heart just as Mary did so often, and as we would benefit from doing. When we do this, we will feel our hearts burn within us as did the disciples who had been taught by the resurrected Lord on the road to Emmaus. 

In the spirit of pondering and keeping things in our hearts, I would like to share some of my pondering of the scriptures in the hope that my thoughts might touch the heart of someone who needs to be touched. I shall use the subject of contention as the theme of my thoughts.

My parents read to us very often in Family Home Evening form 3 Nephi 11:29-30

29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of ^acontention is not of me, but is of the ^bdevil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things ^ashould be done away.

I guess that they felt that we needed frequent reminders. Just maybe they sensed some contention in our home on occasions. The first Family Home Evening manual was produced for use in 1967 and we immediately started to use it as we had already been having Family Hour, family scripture reading and family prayer for several years as directed by the prophets of our day.

The thought comes to mind that peace in the Lord’s view is not simply the absence of contention or war but the opposite of it. So, let me share some thoughts about some stories from the scriptures and how the Lord might want me to respond in the face of contention and you can then ponder how you can react to contention that is really not infrequent in the world today.

There is contention about religion – even among members of the same religion. There is contention about sport – Stormers and Sharks, and so forth. What about politics, medicine, art, leisure, whatever cause can find disagreement is likely to become contentious in 2022. Someone will have much to say about some argument that will bring him or her some advantage or glory or likes or followers or subscribers…

Arguments that are not wrong, but not necessarily right

I have spent a fair amount of time in the desert, forest, savanna, grassland and other landscapes of our beautiful land. Although I rarely have seen snakes, I am not ignorant of the threat of their venom to me should one strike. Now – imagine that you have just been bitten by a fiery flying serpent and I say to you that Moses has erected a fiery serpent of brass and that he promised on behalf of the Lord that anyone who gazes upon the serpent will be healed. Sounds too good to be true, right. I then mention that since there are hundreds of thousands of people in the camps of Israel and that there is only one brazen serpent and it happens to be about 11 km away, you think ‘Wait a bit. That will cause my heart to pump and to cause the venom to move throughout my body and that will kill me.’

The person is not wrong who says that activity will cause the venom to move throughout your body. Would you have the faith to believe me when I say that the act of faith in going to gaze upon the brazen serpent will be healing and you will not perish as those do who do not show that faith to follow the prophet.

My wife Sally was often called out of a sacrament meeting to go and attend to a patient who called for assistance. Anyone criticizing her for missing Church would not be wrong as we are commanded in the Ten Commandments

8 Remember the ^asabbath day, to keep it ^bholy.

9 ^aSix days shalt thou ^blabour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy ^astranger that is within thy gates:

and reminded in Doctrine and Covenants 59:12

12 But remember that on this, the ^aLord’s day, thou shalt offer thine ^boblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, ^cconfessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.

Many of our brothers and sisters in medical, security, police, or other essential services are required to work on the Sabbath. This is not easy, but maybe they can take strength in remembering that the Sabbath is 24 hours and that they are not likely to be working all 24 hours and can hallow the remainder of the day. If they always have to miss the Sabbath they could set aside one day in seven to hallow as do the Latter-day Saints in Israel worship in sacrament meetings on Saturday and in Muslim nations they worship on Fridays.

I spent a lot of time on the banks and walking in the river bed of the Kuiseb River in the Namib. It is quite wide and the level of the river bed is somewhat below the level of the surrounding plains and dunes. This is small compared to the Red Sea. Imagine that you are standing cautiously listening to a man telling you that water can be very dangerous and taking hundreds of thousands of people down into the bed of the Red Sea is not advisable. After all, it is not going to be a paved freeway, and there will be difficulty climbing down to reach the bottom, rough terrain along the bottom, and difficulty climbing up out of the bed of the Red Sea. This man was not wrong, and his concerns are shown to be absolutely right when the sea through which you crossed on dry ground drowns the Egyptian armies that chased you down into the bottom of the sea, but were not saved by the power of the Lord who told His prophet to take you through that sea. You were blessed for following the prophet, despite the logic that said to not do so. Follow the prophet; he knows the way.

Imagine that you are the person who was dragged mercilessly through the streets of Jerusalem to be thrown at the feet of Jesus of Nazareth that you have doubtless heard to be a notable preacher of holy words. You were taken in the very act of adultery and are taken to Him and you hear your capturers saying to Him that the law of Moses says that you should be stoned – what does He say? How would you be feeling? Angry, betrayed, defensive, ashamed? Perhaps you think of the other person who was committing adultery with you that was not dragged mercilessly through the streets with you? These people were not wrong about the need to obey the command to not commit adultery.

How might your thoughts and feelings change as He quietly bends down and starts to draw in the sand? What is going on? What is going to happen to me? What is this all about? Then your opponents pressure Him to respond and He simply says that he who is without sin should cast the first stone. He then bends down and continues to write in the sand. What thoughts are going through your head now? Time passes and slowly one, then another, then another and more of your opponents withdraw in embarrassment or shame. What now?

Then Jesus speaks to you – He asks if none of those thine accusers has condemned you? You reply ‘No man, Lord’. What are you thinking now? Then He says those glorious words ‘Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.’ What resolve will you have compared to what you were intent on doing when you were first thrown at His feet?

Imagine that you are in the crowd when someone you know who has had an issue of blood for 12 years comes and touches the hem of Jesus’ garment. You are horrified because, according to the law, she is unclean and should not be anywhere in public! What thoughts go through your mind as you see this person healed immediately and then being told that her faith had made her whole, and then told ‘Go in peace’.

Brothers and sisters, I have a personal witness from the Lord, and I see myself standing in a place very much like this Mowbray chapel with the windows behind the Lord standing bearing His testimony saying in verses 30 to 32 of D&C 1 that ‘Brothers and sisters, this is

‘the only true and living ^dchurch upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well ^epleased, ^fspeaking unto the church collectively and not individually—

31 For I the Lord cannot look upon ^asin with the least degree of allowance;

32 Nevertheless, he that ^arepents and does the ^bcommandments of the Lord shall be ^cforgiven;’

The same Lord said in the sermon on the mount that

21 ¶ Not every one that ^asaith unto me, ^bLord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that ^cdoeth the ^dwill of my Father which is in ^eheaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not ^aprophesied in thy name? and in thy ^bname have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 ^aAnd then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: ^bdepart from me, ye that work ^ciniquity.

This is also the same person who said after talking about the wonderful state of little children, in Mark 9:34-42  and Luke 9:49-50 that His disciples should not forbid them and went on to say that

there is no man which shall do a ^amiracle in my ^bname, that can lightly speak evil of me.

40 For he that is not against us is ^aon our part.

41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not ^alose his ^breward.

I have come to realise that when the Lord said to Joseph Smith in the grove of trees that he

‘must join none of them, for they were all ^awrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those ^bprofessors were all ^ccorrupt; that: “they ^ddraw near to me with their lips, but their ^ehearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the ^fcommandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the ^gpower thereof.”’

I have come to realise that the Lord was speaking of these churches collectively and not individually as some individuals among Christians, Jews, Muslims and others sincerely strive to draw close to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, although some use a different name for Him, and that they are doing great work in holding back the beguiling of Satan. I follow President Russell M Nelson in holding hands with many of other faiths as they serve God in the best way that they can. Our charge is to provide Temple ordinances for the many who have died without having had the knowledge of the gospel that we have, and without judging how they might or might not have had opportunities. If we fail to provide ordinances then we will be charged with burying the talent that we have.

I am grateful for the insight that I received in 1987 that, whatever condemnation may or may not have been leveled at people who had been denied the priesthood, that the condemnation would now be leveled at me if I did not let go of my prejudices. I had similar change of heart in South Africa as we had our changes in 1994 and realised that if I held on to prejudices that I would be held guilty before the Lord and not those to whom I might feel should be guilty of whatever – the charge to me is to forgive seventy times seven and love my enemies.

Brothers and sisters, we loved having our children as babes in our arms. But - we did not want them to remain babes in our arms forever - we had a greater vision for them. We have been studying this week about our first parents Adam and Eve partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the learning that accompanied that experience. I put it to you that each of us has, figuratively speaking, partaken of that fruit because we have knowledge of good and evil – and is that not why we are here in this sacrament meeting today? I know that our Heavenly parents did not wish for them, or us, to forever remain as babes in Their arms, kicking, screaming, needing our nappies changed, disturbing their sleep, needing to be fed, not knowing how to crawl, let alone walk or run. They desired us to grow and that requires us to have knowledge of good and evil, dying and being able to develop and demonstrate our faith in Him. I have a wonderful memory of Elder Boyd K Packer saying while dedicating the Carletonville chapel and other chapels, speaking to the civic authorities that were present, that before them were Latter-day Saints who would be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

I hope that the Lord will one day say that I demonstrated not only a wish to be with Him, but a determination to align myself with His will. This requires me to not only have an absence of contention in my heart, but the opposite of contention. I have a wonderful memory of Elder Boyd K Packer saying while dedicating the Carletonville chapel and other chapels when I was about 9 years old, speaking to the civic authorities that were present, that before them were Latter-day Saints who would be part of the solution and not part of the problem. I need to be, I really do try to be, part of the solution and not part of the problem. I hope that I am succeeding, at least in part.

I pray that each of us will strive to go our way and sin no more, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Come Follow Me (Articles of Faith, Official Declarations) WE BELIEVE (6 Dec - 12 Dec)

I shared the following on YouTube after viewing Steve and Chelsea Scott sharing from Canada 'We Believe' in their post Come Follow Me (Articles of Faith, Official Declarations) WE BELIEVE (Dec 6 - Dec 12)

I really appreciate the effort that you put into sharing your testimony and insights with so many people. I learn a lot from you. I feel that it is important to share that I have learned lots of things from the Spirit that no man had taught me - and it is especially comforting when some of those things are then declared by someone in General Conference, sometimes decades later!

One of my most powerful learning experiences was when I was wondering why I was upsetting the apple carts of really good people when I taught them as a missionary that there were important things that they had not yet received. I received an answer through my own personal revelation through D&C 1:30 that it was absolutely appropriate for me to be teaching those good people because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth with which He is well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually, for He cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. This experience spanned a few days that went from real anguish to real peace. Now, nearly 50 years later the Spirit has taught me that there are many really faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, Jehovah, God, Allah, who earnestly strive to share the words of, and to do the works of, the God of Abraham and that, as Jesus said in both Mark 9 and Luke 9, those that are not against Him are for Him, and that they will not lose their reward for giving you or me a cup of water in the name of the God of Abraham. I really appreciate this expanding testimony that continues to grow as the decades pass - the more that I ponder and prayerfully seek personal revelation.

I appreciate your comment that reminded me that the priesthood was not always held by every worthy male in God's ancient covenant people. I have grown up in South Africa among many faithful African people who have been so blessed by the declaration of 1978.

I love the insight that I received that the person who stood on the banks of the Red Sea saying that Moses was deluded and that water is really dangerous and millions of people could not go across the waters! Well, he was not wrong, was he? But the Lord does wonderful things despite what might be 'right' or 'wrong' in our experience. Following the prophet when he says to obey the law and be vaccinated is a leap of faith for some and I grieve that some 'stone the prophet' when he says to follow various guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID.

I really appreciate how gracious and merciful the Lord has been to the children of men from the creation of Adam down to this day and age. I love how we always study all of the Old Testament and New Testament as well as modern scripture so that we can be familiar with how merciful He has been, blowing on the faintest of embers of repentance to create a roaring flame that leads to forgiveness. He is indeed merciful.

I have also seen really wonderful growing experiences as I have sat with members and others sharing the 13 Articles of Faith and asking them to sincerely and honestly declare their own personal 1st, 2nd on to 13th article of their faith. I remember one less active sister who started then to pay tithing and continues to do so, preparing for her next steps on the covenant path, including preparing to go to the Temple.

One of the most important things that I have come to realise, among several that I have shared in my blog http://personaltouchworks.blogspot.co.za/, is that God is merciful to the individual that seeks to be His disciple, worshiping how, where or what they may, helping to prepare the way for His Kingdom to come and His Will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our responsibility is to share the restored gospel - the true and living church - and to help those on both sides of the veil to receive the ordinances that will enable them to be welcomed by a loving embrace as they go back into the presence of God, the Eternal Father.

Some thoughts on Moroni 10:3

One of many thoughts that have been on my mind recently, I hope that you enjoy my musings about how merciful the Lord is - has always been...