Would I be privileged to be welcomed into the most special marriage feast of all history?

I was thinking as I prayed tonight. I pondered the parable in Matthew 25

Why would Jesus Christ use a marriage feast as an object lesson? What is special about a marriage feast, and an invitation to one?

Would I receive an invitation?

How would I know that I had received an invitation? So many Jews, even the leaders of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, rejected the very Messiah when He came in their midst – would I recognise an invitation to the most significant marriage feast in all of history?

Who would deliver such an invitation? Who would be on the list if invited guests? Would I be among those who would be invited?

If there were to be an invitation given, how would one come, other than through a living prophet? After all, Amos said ‘Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.’ Amos 3:7 Does this apply here? Would the Lord arrive unannounced, or would he have a prophet deliver invitations to the feast?

If I were to be one of the fortunate ten virgins who would receive an invitation to this feast, would I have sufficient oil in my lamp when the cry comes ‘The bridegroom cometh’ and I tried to trim my lamp at the crucial moment when it is most needed?

I bear my testimony that the Lord does indeed have a living prophet. The invitation will not go randomly to all the world, just as an invitation to the wedding feast would not go to all in the town, but to special friends of the bridegroom, and not all of those special friends will have sufficient oil in their lamps to enable them to be prepared and welcomed in to the figurative ‘hall’ where the feast will be held. I hope and pray that I may at least receive an invitation, and hopefully have sufficient oil in my lamp. I know that the Lord lives now – still as He said to His disciples ‘Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.’ Luke 24:39

I know that He still lives, that he still has that body of flesh and bones that his disciples saw and felt. He will come again. All we need to do is to be ready to be welcomed into the marriage feast. I reckon that a Temple Recommend will be a basic requirement, and then living worthy of that, enduring in faith to the end. And then, being alert and attentive to the still small voice as it whispers in the right place at the right time to become aware of the cry that 'the bridegroom cometh'.

I hope that I will be welcomed in and hear those glorious words 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.' Matt 25:21,23. I hope that all of my loved ones will be among those wise virgins who are welcomed in to the marriage feast.

A question for our youth, and others.

I am sometimes phoned and am told that someone has put me as a referral on his or her CV, hoping for employment because I was their mentor, colleague, or bishop. 

Sometimes I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending them for employment, sometimes I have grave misgivings about doing so! 

Now, the preamble to the question: 

A prospective employer phones me. She asks about a young candidate, Jimmy or Jenny, who has applied for employment and wants to work for what they describe as their dream company.

The prospective employer has to decide between this young person and someone who is honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, who does good to all people, seeks after that which is virtuous, lovely, of God report and praiseworthy (does that sound familiar?) and is really dependable, innovative, proactive, polite, punctual, loyal. 

First question:

Would I have no hesitation in recommending you if you were this young candidate? 

Second question: 
If you were the prospective employer who phoned me, and I described yourself to yourself. Would you want me to lie about you?  Would you employ you? Would you regret employing you rather than the other candidate because I recommended you? 

You are now preparing for a bishop, teacher, friend or colleague to be your referral. Prospective employers do phone for referrals. Live the 13th Article of Faith and develop other good virtues in yourself. Be that! Then I, and other referees, would be delighted to recommend you!

I would love to have no hesitation in recommending you if I had the impression that you genuinely strive to live these virtues. I would guess that you are not as yet prefect in them, but I would believe that you would continue to strive to live them.

Does this scenario describe you?

Imagine you are at home on a Sunday afternoon - a typical Sunday. The time is about 3 pm. Which of the following would you most likely be doing?

• Sleeping
• Reading a novel
• Reading a magazine like a TV guide
• Reading the newspaper
• Watching sport or something like that on TV
• Listening to loud music
• TV is on for the children to watch whatever is being broadcast
• Vacuuming the house
• Washing the dishes
• Preparing a meal
• Reading the Ensign, New Era, Friend or Liahona
• Reading the material for priesthood, Relief Society, Sunday School or other participation in Church
• Doing family history or FamilySearch Indexing
• Reading the scriptures
• Watching Mormon Messages, Bible Videos or something from LDS.org
• Pondering and praying what you are studying

What is your normal kind of activity on a Sunday?

What is the spirit like in your home? Is it the kind of spirit described by the statement 'Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.'? Would an angel want to linger in your home if he or she stopped by?

Now imagine that there is a knock at the door. You are not expecting anyone. Who could it be?

Who would you most dearly like to have standing at your door? Who would you feel the most blessed or honoured to have visit with you on this Sunday afternoon?

• Your grade 7 teacher
• Your last school principal
• The mayor of your city
• The president of your national parliament
• A childhood friend
• The one relative of yours that you most dearly love - mother, father, husband or wife (who may have left the house without keys and so is locked out), child, grandparent, or whoever is most dear to you
• Your home teachers or visiting teachers
• Your bishop
• Your Stake president
• Your Area president
• An Apostle of the Lord
• The president of the Church
• An angel from Heaven
• The Lord Jesus Christ, or God, the Eternal Father

Peeping through the peep hole of your front door, and seeing that it is the Lord Jesus Christ, do you throw open the door and welcome Him with open arms and invite Him into your lounge?

I was thinking this morning about the scriptures and one that I often ponder and wonder how well I live it is Doctrine and Covenants 20:68-69 about the duty of members after they are baptised. Does my home have the kind of spirit that a home does where there is a 'godly walk and conversation, ...works and faith agreeable to the holy scriptures—walking in holiness before the Lord.'? Am I doing my duty? How well am I doing in it?

The Sabbath is the Lord's day, not mine. Am I honouring it and living it as he would have me live it?

In thinking about how I would receive Him if He knocked at the door, remembering what He said as John recorded in Revelation 3:20 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.' Are we eager to have Him enter our homes on a Sunday afternoon, or at any time?

My thoughts also turned to Doctrine and Covenants 84: 35-38 where we read:

 35 And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord;
 36 For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me;
 37 And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;
 38 And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.

If it is a visiting teacher, home teacher, bishop or any other servant - do we receive him or her with open arms and treat him or her with equal honour and respect as we would the Lord Himself? Are we ready to receive the Father as we receive His servants?

I hope and pray that when representatives of the Lord visit, that our members could have the spirit in their homes so that the home feels like a Temple when we enter. I hope that someone who enters my home, even if it could be just one person, might just feel that it is a holy place. I hope that I am ready to open the door to the Saviour when he knocks, and welcome Him in to sup with me, and I with Him.

Lorem ipsum, Deep philosophy, losing toes, and some of my insights

I find it interesting that I'll often have a thought during the week and am able to see an application of the thought in counselling one or more people during the week. This week I have been thinking about something that I shared last week that I don't think that I have shared with you. I see I have shared the analogy of the 168 hectare farm, although I am not sure that I explained that the 168 ha represents 168 hours in the week that each and every person has? Well, this week I shared with some people the Lorem ipsum dummy text that I first recall seeing on the graphic design layout of the cover of our vegetation map book. So I only learned of Lorem ipsum at about 50 years of age. This is some Latin text that is used as filler text in graphic design. Wikipedia explains it as follows.

In publishing and graphic design, lorem ipsum is a filler text commonly used to demonstrate the graphic elements of a document or visual presentation. Replacing meaningful content that could be distracting with placeholder text may allow viewers to focus on graphic aspects such as font, typography, and page layout.

The lorem ipsum text is typically a scrambled section of De finibus bonorum et malorum, a 1st-century BC Latin text by Cicero, with words altered, added, and removed such that it is nonsensical, improper Latin. 

I happened to have been speaking to someone who is working with me on the indexing project, he being a retired gent who it turns out taught second languages in grammar schools in southern England. I asked if he had taught Latin to which he replied that he had. Then somehow Lorem ipsum came into the conversation with him asking if I knew what it was, and that he had looked it up and it was interesting. On Saturday morning I had read parts of Moroni 7:5-23 and then decided to look at Lorem ipsum. I did a Google search and was amazed at the parallel between this and Moroni 7.

Moroni talks about good and evil, our choosing and judging good and evil, and the way to know is plain, and that we can know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night, enabling us to judge between good and evil. The following is an English translation of the Latin. The bold is the English translation of the text that is typically used and jumbled as filler text.

[32] But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing of a pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure? 

[33] On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammeled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

This is deep philosophy. So you can see that my blog this week is the philosophy of men mingled with scripture.

Today I met with a young man who said that he wants to go to FSY in December, but who has dropped out of school in Grade 9, and misses all too many Church meetings and activities.

I asked him who he would be in twenty years time? He eventually said that he would like to be involved with mechanical or electrical engineering.

I then asked him what he would do if he bought a ticket to fly from Cape Town to Johannesburg, if the pilot flying the plane carried on flying south instead of turning toward Johannesburg? He was not sure that he could confront the pilot, but I said that he had bought a ticket to Johannesburg, and the plane was supposed to be headed for Johannesburg, but was going in the wrong direction. he then agreed that he ought to confront the pilot and query why he was not headed for the destination. I then pointed out that he is wanting to fly to 'Johannesburg' but the pilot of his plane (himself) is headed for the 'South Pole'.

I asked him what situations make it easiest to make right decisions? He concluded that church and home would be best, maybe school. I discussed which company is most supportive and which least supportive? I hope that he will think about what I have shared and that it will help him to make wise choices. I then had him with me as I shared the plan of salvation and the restoration with someone who is caring for one of our youth who is making unwise choices, skipping school and keeping unsavoury company. He was able to recognize the parallels between his situation and that of the other youth and the need for changing some of his choices.


I then shared with him how I used to catch sand diving lizards Meroles anchietae (that I knew then as Aporosaura anchietae) in the Namib Desert, and we would weigh them and release them again.

We would walk carefully along the back of the dune so that we could see just along the slip face where the lizards would be out looking for food, mates, or opportunity to challenge the dominant male. When we saw a lizard above the sand we would throw our hat so that it would think a bird was flying over and dive into the soft sand of the slip face for cover.

We noted where it entered, went down the slip face, plunged in our hand, and usually came out with a lizard. Those that were cautious and responded to the vibration of us moving on the dunes would not be caught because we would not know they were there. It was those who were out that we could catch.

We needed to be able to identify lizards that we recaptured so we had to mark them in some way that was permanent so that we would be able to recognize them when recaptured. To do this the researcher would cut off fingers or toes. This sounds cruel, but some lizards lose toes in their fighting for a dominant position, so it is not just man being cruel. Each lizard is born with 20 digits and we could identify 20 lizards by removing one digit, or 400 if we cut off two digits. So that is what we did. Thus we were able to determine that dominant males lose weight as they defend their territory and breed with their females and thus are not able to eat as much as their competitors. So a competitor would oust the dominant male and for a while his DNA would be introduced into the population, but he would then be defeated by a challenging male who would become the new dominant male.

I asked this young man if he would ever miss a Church meeting if he knew that not being under the protection of being in the right place at the right time (in Church) would result in him being caught by one of Satan's hosts resulting in him losing a finger or toe every time he was not at Church? I had previously asked if he would ever miss a meeting if there were R1000 waiting for him each time he attended? he felt that in either case he could probably manage to be at every meeting. Somehow losing a finger seemed to be stronger motivation than gaining R1000. I reminded him that Heavenly Father sometimes blesses us for our faithfulness, and sometimes he prevents the loss of privileges, blessings or protection. This is like the positive reward of thousands of rands, or like preventing the negative consequence of losing toes.

I stressed to my young friend that I want to send him to FSY in December with '20 fingers and toes' or 'R20000' for each time that he attends meetings! I reminded him that Heavenly Father does not want to only give us R20000, but 'all that the Father has shall be given him', which far surpasses R20000! I hope that he uses these mental images as motivation to choose good and not evil.

So I shared Moroni 7, Lorem ipsum and losing toes with my Priesthood Executive Committee and two people this afternoon. Somehow this seemed to be appropriate in each setting. I am interested to see what will come to me this week that I will end up sharing with someone next Sunday?

Desire To Do Right

There was great excitement in the village one day. A handsome, rich young trader was coming to ask a father if he could marry his daughter.

The daughter was generally thought of as having a face like a stone that would break a looking glass, and she looked like she had missed too many meals. 

The father had said that he would be happy to be given a cow that gave sour milk because he would be happy to get his daughter off his hands.

The daughter did not want to come to the ceremony in which the husband to be would ask for her hand because she was sure that the villagers would laugh at her.

At the ceremony the women of the village talked among themselves boasting of how many cows their husbands had paid for them, and that this young girl was not worth more than two cows, and that the young man would drive a hard bargain and if asked for two cows would offer one, if asked for one would settle for the horns and tail. The father was advised by his counsellor to ask for three cows, and when proposing this the villagers laughed.

The young man, who you will likely guess is Johnny Lingo, silences the villagers and boldly states that three cows is a high price, but not enough for Mahana. He would offer eight cows. Everyone was stunned! The whispers immediately spread through the village that Johnny Lingo had offered eight cows for Mahana.

The following morning Mahana is sure that Johnny Lingo would not come with the eight cows. She was being mocked and feeling worthless. Johnny Lingo does come with the cows and graciously leads his bride to be from her father’s house, treating her like a woman who was worth eight cows.

Some months later, after Johnny Lingo and Mahana have been away at the honeymoon place, Mahana’s father is very displeased when he visits their home because he accuses Johnny Lingo of cheating him because Mahana is worth ten cows! And indeed, she has blossomed and is a delightful sight!

What made the difference?

Young men, the Father of the daughter that you will ask to marry you simply asks for three cows for his daughter. Those cows are love, honour and cherish, and to be given for as long as you both shall live. Do you bargain for less than that? A fashionable offering that I see today is not even one cow – in the ‘guise’ of ‘love’ all too many young men offer lust and seem to think that they are being generous, and all too many young women do not believe that they are worth more than that and leave the Father’s home with the lustful young man rather than waiting for one who will offer the three cows.

Do you come and offer eight cows to the Father? Do you offer to be honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and to seek after that which is virtuous, lovely, of good report and praiseworthy? Do you also throw in belief and hope to make it ten cows that you feel your bride to be is worth? If you are offering such then you would be insisting on taking your wife to the honeymoon place called the Temple of the most High, there to show the great love, honour and cherishing that will make your bride blossom as a Daughter of her Heavenly Father.

In my home we were constantly reminded that we were Princes and Princesses in Israel. Now, in case you think that is outlandish, think of the Lord’s Prayer that you have almost certainly quoted ‘Our Father who art in heaven...thy kingdom come...For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.’ Matt 6:9-13, 3 Ne 13:9-13. Think of Rom 8:16-17 in which we are declared to be joint-heirs with Christ.

May I remind you all that royalty may mistakenly think that they are there to be served, but Jesus Christ taught a much higher principle when he said in Mark 10:44 that he who would be chiefest shall be the servant of all. I was really impressed in the coronation of King Charles on 6 May 2023 that he said 'In his name and after his example I come not to be served but to serve.'

In Alma 32:27 we read the challenge to awake and arouse our faculties, even to an experiment upon Almas’ words. And I invite you to 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'. Give way to experiment upon the words that you are a son or a daughter of God, and that as such your heritage is worth all of the ‘cows’ of the thirteenth Article of Faith and you will find a growing desire to live worthy of being an ‘eight cow’ wife or husband. You will come to know in your heart that the worth of your soul, and that of your wife or husband, is great in the sight of God D&C 18:10.

You will become assured that you have the agency given you to choose liberty and eternal life or to choose captivity and death 2 Ne 2:27 or to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life 2 Ne 10:23.

Joseph Fielding Smith taught that if we love the Father and Jesus Christ then we will keep their commandments and if we want salvation in its fullest then we need to have a marriage in the Temple for time and for all eternity.

I always hope and pray that each of my children will remember what we have taught them, that they are Princes and Princesses in Israel, and that they will live the spirit of the thirteenth Article of Faith in full, being eight or ten cow children of God. I hope that they will be the salt of the earth, letting their lights shine before all men that as their good works are seen, then the Father in Heaven will be glorified by those who witness their good works. I hope that they will sow and nurture the seed of faith, letting it sprout, then nourishing it well to the point that they partake of the fruit ‘which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst’. That they will press forward earnestly, diligently, holding fast to the iron rod.

I have the same prayer for each person who reads this.

Harvest, the devourer, dangers, and blessings in disguise

I shared an analogy with the youth today. I ended up teaching them with no warning and no preparation, and shared an analogy that has been developing in my mind. The theme is Marriage and Family and I chose to teach about learning and teaching in the home. 

It is as though we each have a farm, and each of us has the same size farm, with the same potential. It has 168 hectares of good soil, and we are allowed to do with it as we see fit. Each hectare represents an hour in the week. The harvest that we will eventually reap will depend on the amount, kind and quality of seed that we sow, or do not sow. If we sow maize and tend it well, then we have the potential of harvesting an abundant maize harvest. If we do not plant all 168 hectares then we will not reap the maximal harvest. It is also feasible that we can sow the entire area and do all that we possibly can to ensure the harvest, but then at the last moment before a very promising and exciting harvest we can lose everything due to lightning striking and causing all to be burned up, or there could be locusts or hail that destroy the crop, and we might harvest little or nothing. That is not a measure of failure on our part, but the harvest will not be what we hoped. 

The harvest is a result of our effort, but far more significantly and important is the sunlight, fresh air, rainwater and soil nutrients and quality that are provided free by a loving and provident Father. All that we reap is a free gift to us, and nothing is fully guaranteed or deserved. True, we will not have any promise if we do not sow, but even with our most faithful effort we still are dependent on the providence from above. Our input costs remain the same if we plant for the maximum harvest whether we have no harvest or the most capacious harvest. So everything is entirely due to the goodness of God. He invites us to give back 10% of our harvest, thereby showing our gratitude for the harvest. In return, He promises us in Malachi 3:11 that ‘I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.’ We can then hope for the maximum harvest in accordance with our greatest efforts. We cannot hope for more, and can hope that there will not be less. But if we do not bring our tithes into the storehouse, so that there will be meat in His house, then we cannot hope for any such blessing of protection from the devourer or the variableness of nature. We cannot complain if the devourer destroys the fruits of our ground. 

But, by the same token, even if we seem to have mishaps, we cannot always know what protection we may have enjoyed. We may have been spared far greater mishap that would have happened, and the small mishap that we do experience may be simply to try our faith. My son Richard pointed out that sometimes the mishaps might be because Heavenly Father knows our potential and is preparing us for a greater harvest. He cited the example of a field that needs to be burned in order to have a better harvest the following year. After thinking about this, I thought more and realised that it might be for us to learn a lesson, or for someone else to learn a lesson from the way that we handle our loss. We need to be trusting enough to accept the loss and not ask 'why?' but 'how?'. How do we move forward, rather than why did we experience the loss?

I am fully confident that very often we are spared a lot of problems and have blessings in disguise. I say this because of thoughts that have come to me as I have pondered the promise given in my patriarchal blessing that many physical dangers and difficulties shall continue to pass by me, giving unto me blessings in disguise. One such blessing was that I was not bitten by a puff adder that was right next to me. I wonder how many times I have been spared from dangers, but on this one occasion it happened while I was pondering on the promises given in Mark 16:18, Luke 10:19 and Doctrine and Covenants 84:72 and whether I as a young LDS missionary was worthy enough to be given this blessing should I be bitten by a snake on this occasion when I was alone for a very brief time in Kloof Gorge. I wonder how many times I have been blissfully unaware of such protection, and even complained that I do not see the blessings in my life, but that was because they were ‘blessings in disguise’.