The Priesthood—a Sacred Gift

I was asked to speak in our Milnerton ward sacrament meeting today, and to lead a discussion in the Elders Quorum about Pres. Russel M Nelson's October 2023 General Conference talk Think Celestial. Well, let me share my thoughts with anyone else who might be interested to read them and consider my boring observations 😉😉

In the process of preparing, I read a talk by Pres Dieter F Uchtdorf from October 2012 The Joy of the Priesthood and the two talks following it given by Henry B Eyring and Thomas S Monson. The talk Think Celestial also added valuable thoughts, as did going through an articles by Denelson Silva, Seek Diligently and You Will Find, included in the January 2024 Liahona. My thoughts also turned to many exciting experiences that I have had in Heavenly Father's wonderful Creation, and in priesthood service in His great work. Well, I hope that you enjoy my rambling thoughts...

Pres. Uchtdorf started off by recalling how he and some friends restored an antique airplane - a  1937 Piper Cub that had become run down. He shared how it was a great joy to fly it with his teenage son, and be reminded that the Piper Cub was not built for speed - cars on the autobahn in Germany would drive faster than they could fly when facing a headwind. He then related how he had flown in a sophisticated F-18 fighter jet and was reminded that being a jet fighter pilot is a young man’s game. In both the Piper Cub and the F-18, he felt the excitement, beauty, and joy of flight.

This turned my thoughts to many of my experiences working in beautiful forests, beautiful deserts, and many other landscapes created by the Lord. There are wonderful forests in the kloofs of Table Mountain. There is a small desert close to Cape Town - at the Tankwarivier about 200km from Cape Town, and there are delightful forests in the Cedarberg just 50 or so kilometres from this patch of desert.

I recall these Namib Desert dunes in February 1999 that normally are bare sand dunes,
but they looked green following recent rains. 

When close up, we could see how there was a lot of bare ground,
but at an angle the grass was hiding the bare ground making
the dunes or ground look green. This reminded me of what my mother frequently quoted 
'It takes the effort of every blade of grass to keep the meadow green'.

These are some of the wonderful Outeniqua Forests near to Knysna. 

So very different from the Namib Desert.

This also reminded me of some of our experiences visiting different sized wards and branches. When we were married in the Salt Lake Temple, we attended a ward sacrament and testimony meeting in Cottonwood Creek in the Salt Lake Valley. The chapel had more members in it than we have in a very well attended stake conference in Cape Town. There was probably a full Deacons Quorum of 12 deacons serving the sacrament to that large congregation, and probably only one in about 150 people got to share their testimonies compared to about 1 in 10 in our ward. The Elders Quorum was possibly large enough that there might have been two Elders Quorums in the ward. Home teachers probably visited a next-door neighbour, or someone well within walking distance. It would probably be very rare for an elder or high priest in that ward to get to administer or pass the sacrament in the chapel.

Compare that to our time in Nelspruit Branch some 5 years later where I was sometimes the only person, or one of two, blessing and passing the sacrament, and I would drive about 65 kilometres in our little Datsun 120Y to home teach a sister in Sabie, and then about 40 km to visit a brother in Barberton. 

I remember occasionally travelling about 22 kilometres from our home to Koeberg to home teach with Roux Lötter, or going about 100km to try and visit someone in Langebaan. It was a special occasion to see my two grandsons having their first experiences exercising the Aaronic priesthood as Josh blessed and Caleb passed the sacrament with their father Andrew. Then Caleb, then I, and then Andrew spoke in the sacrament meeting today.

Pres. Uchtdorf reminded us that the priesthood is the eternal power and authority of God. The men exercising that priesthood are mortal beings who are flawed and imperfect. The bishop, or Primary president acting with authority and keys conferred by the priesthood are here to serve as the Saviour served in Jerusalem, and not to be served. I loved hearing King Charles declare in his coronation as King of Great Britain that 'I am here to serve and not to be served'. The New Testament describes of Jesus of Nazareth served, and we are His agents and need to do as He would do if He were here, serving willingly and devotedly. 

My thoughts turned to our schools here, or anywhere in the world. If a 40-year old person who never had the opportunity to go to school were to decide to go to school, she or he would not be put into a matric or senior class, but in a Grade 1 class in order to learn the basic Three-Rs - Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. It would be hoped that they would take a lot less than 12 years to reach the matric level, but they would be helped along the way by being put into classes with pupils with a similar level of development. That is not through any intent of supremacy or superiority, but out of compassion with the hope that they would become suitably qualified to graduate with a matric so that they can be more valuable in helping to build the nation. 

It is such a blessing to reflect on a significant change in policy since I was a bishop less than ten years ago. There need to be two adults present in any child or youth class or activity. This means that there is a wonderful opportunity for a new or returning member who needs to build or reinforce their Gospel foundation to be one of the two adults in a Nursery, Primary or Youth class or activity. They can serve as Primary secretary or music leader and have the basic Gospel 3-Rs taught together with the children. The Lord knows each member and will guide the Primary president, or youth leader, or bishop, to know who He would have build that spiritual foundation. In a large ward, maybe they could serve as class president or secretary, or in our medium-sized ward as that second adult. 

In learning how to know who to call to serve, the Primary leader should go through Chapter 17 of the General Handbook, but should also go through chapters 1 to 4 for the foundation, and really all chapters to 38 to see where Primary fits in the whole Church. This will help significantly in building the new or returning members, and every member of the ward of branch.

Another wonderful insight that I have had over the years is how my serving in the Church has helped me to learn administrative, teaching and leading skills that were of great value to me in my employment, and many skills that I learned in my employment have been of great value in my service in the Church. I am impressed that the Lord knows every one of Hs children and will guide the Primary president or the bishop in knowing who to call to serve in every calling, and what calling is suitable for every member. I know a member who is baking bread for many people each Sunday morning and so rarely gets to attend sacrament meeting at 09:00. If we met at 17:00 this member would rarely miss a meeting. But if a leader were to ask the Lord, He might well inspire that leader to call this baker to teach, or be that second adult present, in a Seminary class on a Tuesday night. These are some of the blessing of the priesthood keys and responsibilities given to each bishop or organisation president. It is unfortunate that we often focus on what a person does not do or cannot do rather than looking at what the member could become.

Just as I learned about bits and bytes when I first started to use computers, a byte containing 8 bits, with a value of 256, and the Lord would have us magnify or multiply our callings or talents to two, then four, then 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, maybe even 1024 to form a kilobyte of talent. I suggest that the Lord is not lacking in any skill. He would not be deficient in any type or temperament that we describe in psychology, but that He has a wonderful balance of all types and temperaments. 

Heavenly Father wants His children to become creators of deserts and forests, wards, branches, families, countries, and the world. He knows what we can become and through the priesthood each of us can become everything that He wants us to become, learning as we go by serving as He would serve, whether in Primary, or exercising the priesthood, or in any way that we can in His Church. He would like us have great joy in flying our Piper Cub or F-16 jet, soaring above the clouds and enjoying the magnificence of His creation below us. I have a special testimony of this, and I share these thoughts in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Beware of this possible hazard!

I was involved in a service project in which I was installing a door. 

I cut open the packaging of the door lock as I prepared to install it, but instead of using scissors as I usually do, I used a craft knife, and it happened to be at an angle. 

Yep - you guessed it.

The result was a razor sharp edge on hard plastic. 

I soon noticed one, then two bleeding cuts -
I had at least 5 cuts. 

The last cut was bleeding profusely - a real problem and inconvenience!

I couldn't figure out what was cutting me - I could not see enough splinters or slivers in the wood to do it but presumed that it was the wood that was to blame. 

But later, as I pondered, I realised that it was almost certainly the razor sharp edges that I had inadvertently produced by my unusual action in opening the packaging. I did not have the packaging to test my theory, but I am pretty sure that is the explanation. 

I hope that no-one else handled the packaging and got cuts that were a problem for them!

The wounds have healed. But I hope that I remember this unfortunate and unwise thing that I did with best intent, but that had really serious and inconvenient consequences.

Maybe this little account of my woes will help someone else to diagnose an issue in their life, and hopefully not get cuts like I got and wonder how on earth they occurred. 🤔😢 Please learn from my mistakes - this one or any of my mistakes that you notice - and do not repeat them!

Is it important to participate in General Conference?

I was asked to give a talk on Heritage Day, and to address the question 'Why is it important to participate in General Conference?' Well, my thoughts turned to some stories from my heritage that relate to my own experience with participating in General Conference.

I appreciated some comments made by the previous speakers. 

• Conference is easy to access on audio, video, on the web or in print.
• Heavenly Father is available at any time - He is not busy at work, with friends, or doing anything that we need to hold back or fear interrupting Him as we approach Him in prayer.
• The Holy Ghost is far better at bringing us information that we need than is anything on the internet such as Google or AI.
• Write down things that inspire you in conference to jog your memory. 
• Conference will inspire, uplift, edify.
• We can be together as a congregation.

We sang our National Anthem as the intermediate hymn. 

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God Bless Africa)

Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo, (Raise high Her glory)

Yizwa imithandazo yethu, (Hear our Prayers)

Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo (God bless us, we her children)

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, (God protect our nation)

O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho, (End all wars and tribulations)

O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, (Protect us, protect our nation)

Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika. (Our nation South Africa - South Africa)

Uit die blou van onse hemel, (Ringing out from our blue heavens)

Uit die diepte van ons see, (From the depth of our seas)

Oor ons ewige gebergtes, (Over our everlasting mountains)

Waar die kranse antwoord gee, (Where the echoing crags resound)

Sounds the call to come together,

And united we shall stand,

Let us live and strive for freedom,

In South Africa our land.

God protect our nation - may we live together as one nation, the children of Adam and Eve, and not as many nations that contend against each other!

I was born in Africa and, except for about 8 weeks off the continent, about 8 months in neighbouring countries, I have spent my life in South Africa. I love my homeland. I so look forward to the time that everyone in our land loves our country enough that they never litter, destroy, or do anything that is part of any problem. I look forward to the time that South Africans do come together, standing united, living and striving for freedom in South Africa, our dear land.

Yesterday I led a walk where I shared details of the Battle of Blaauwberg, a Napoleonic battle right here, close to where we are today, a very significant part of our heritage in Cape Town, South Africa, Southern Africa, and even a lot of Africa as a whole. It was the precursor to colonisation in lot of a Africa. During the walk, we walked through a few patches that were very wet and muddy, and where restios that are straw-like plants are quite abundant in the Fynbos. I shared a story that I heard years ago. Someone asked if it would hurt to throw dust at a friend, or to throw water, or to throw straw? Clearly such actions might be fun, and would not hurt my friend, although it might annoy, irritate, or be uncomfortable. However, if the dust, water and straw were mixed together and then baked in a kiln to form a brick, and that brick were thrown at my friend, it could seriously hurt or injure my friend! That would not be a friendly thing to do!

With throwing bricks in mind, I reflected on an occasion when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I joined a group of men from the Krugersdorp Branch. We climbed onto a truck and drove towards a site with lots of bricks - yep, dust, water and straw baked in a kiln. I remember the jesting with the driver as he grated the gears of the truck. Well, after we arrived, those men started to throw bricks at each other! But - no-one was hurt. Each man would throw a brick to the next man who would catch the brick and throw it to the next man, and so on, forming a chain, and thus the truck became loaded with bricks. We then climbed on top of the bricks and drove back to the site where we had previously dug trenches and thrown concrete to form foundations, and those bricks were again thrown from man to man to form stacks of bricks, and then they were thrown from man to man to be handed to brick-layers who used mortar, trowels, levels, fish-lines, plumb-lines, window and door frames, and so forth, and they built the walls of the Krugersdorp chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were working in unity as we have been reading about in our study of the New Testament where we are challenged to work together in unity to build the Church of God - the Temple of the Spirit. In those days we played a significant part in building our chapels that nowadays are built by contractors with little participation by local members. I am grateful for that memory from my heritage. Prior to building the chapel, we had met in the Krugersdorp City Hall where we would have to clean up and remove beer bottles and other litter from the previous night before we could hold our priesthood, Sunday School, or sacrament meetings.

A later experience of throwing bricks in unity.
From left to right: brothers Tim, Ron, Les, three or four others, then brother-in-law Glenn Bray.

After meeting in the Krugersdorp chapel for about 13 years, the Roodepoort ward was formed and we met in my old Primary school hall and classrooms while building the Roodepoort chapel, and then I met in that chapel until I moved to Cape Town at age 27 years in 1981.

Over the years, I have met with others to hold church meetings in homes, schools, Scout halls, malls, etc. It is interesting how homes, or other places can be repurposed to form very suitable places for worship - and how places of worship can be repurposed to be used for other purposes, including for bars or brothels. Saints can unite in humility and make their circumstances very different to the norm. We should make our homes sacred places - so that, next to the Temple, the home can be the most sacred place on Earth, and a little taste of heaven on earth. I love the saying that no other success in life can compensate for failure in the home.

Doing some landscaping in front of the Krugersdorp chapel

Progress with the construction: the chapel, kitchen, Primary room, and hall.

I remember two stories or parables from my Insitute studies. One was to do with an expert on identifying counterfeit bank notes. He said that the only way to truly recognise counterfeit bank notes is to focus on being absolutely familiar with true bank notes. When one is truly familiar with the true notes, then counterfeit notes look odd and so raise concern. I could relate to that as I have been trained to focus on the diversity of plant species in our indigenous vegetation and so I am often able to recognise an invasive species because of how it stands out in the vegetation. 

The other story was about a contest in a neighbourhood where people were invited to present their front gardens for judges to select an outstanding garden. One person spent a great deal of time pulling weeds rather than focusing on planting the plants that would produce beautiful flowers. The garden did not win the prize - it was free of weeds, and had a lot of bare ground, but it did not have much to show in terms of beautiful flowers. I could relate, as one with some gardening experiences, and as a scientist and ecologist, that if one focuses on planting those plants that will produce beautiful flowers, they take the space that limits space for the weeds. Then the garden will have beautiful flowers for the competition rather than a weed-free garden.

In General Conference we often hear stories shared by prophets, seers, revelators, and other general leaders of the Church. These stories liken the known to the unknown. I love to share some meaningful stories that demonstrate my experience that has confirmed to me that it is important to participate, sitting 'at the feet of the prophet'. You may well not remember information that I share with you, but you will almost always remember stories like bricks being thrown at friends, and working in unity!

My first personal experience with General Conference that stands out in my memory is going with my family to join some friends in the mission home in Houghton, Johannesburg. We sat around a short-wave radio and listened on Voice of America and listened to General Conference as it was happening in Salt Lake City. Over the years, we have watched conference with video tapes sent to the units, then DVDs, BYU TV, and now we can watch on our cell-phones or at home using the internet, and even on TV or radio broadcasts for some sessions. I truly do appreciate how we can sit together with family and church members living in all parts of the world and as one large congregation we can watch the prophets and apostles and other leaders speaking as they speak - with only moments of delay as the signal is broadcast over the technological infrastructure. Is this not one of many evidences of the fulfilment of prophecy and of the covenant made with Abraham that 'in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed'? (Gen 12:3) I am confident that many of these technological innovations have been developed by the seed of Abraham for the very purpose that at the second coming of our Saviour all people everywhere on the globe will be able to witness that great event in ways that Abraham and other prophets would have had difficulty describing to the people of their times and with the vocabularies and best descriptions that they could give! But we are experiencing what they tried to describe!

Remember the saying 'Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never harm me'? I thought of how many people felt hurt or wounded by the words of others. King Noah and his priests accused Abinadi of being a false prophet because his words were not beautiful to them, and they burned him to death. Samuel the Lamanite had stones and arrows aimed at him as he prophesied and gave the call to repentance before the coming of Jesus Christ. Many temple-worthy, tithe paying members of the Hebrew faith cried 'Crucify him' because they listened to their leaders who accused Jesus of Nazareth of being a blasphemer without listening to Jesus of Nazareth and letting the Spirit confirm to them that He was indeed their Messiah! They were, in effect, throwing bricks at Him because they perceived that His words were not up to their expectations - they felt offended, although He would not have wanted to offend, but to draw them to Him in love and mercy.

I enjoyed listening to the September 2023 Church magazines and hearing ideas to help us to prepare for General Conference, like writing notes as we listen, doodles, use apps, write down our questions before conference and ponder those questions as we listen to the talks and we will hear how the Lord has inspired them to answer our questions.

There is a lot of brick-throwing going on around us these days. I believe that it is occurring everywhere in the world and that it is not endemic to South Africa. I remember commenting to a friend Bill Quirke in about 1977 that it must have been terrible for him because he had grown up in Ireland where there was terrible violent Catholic-Protestant conflict that was in the news. He said something like 'You know, Les, I lived in Dublin and Cork and never saw any of it'. I could relate to that because I was studying at University of the Witwatersrand, right next to Hillbrow where there was a lot of conflict that was publicised on the news oversees, but I never saw any of it. The bad news - the sensational news - sells newspapers, so that is what is published. It is so much more evident in 2023 with social media where almost anyone is able to publicise anything and they share what comes their way, often without checking facts, sharing fake news, or sharing the sensational news, but not always the joyous news. I try to share the joyful news! There is so much to share!

We see and hear of many things these days that certainly match the descriptions of signs of the last days. This past week we have seen extreme wave action, even mini tsunamis, right here in the Cape and our South African coastline. There were floods in Libya where a dam wall collapsed and destroyed large parts of a city and thousands of lives were lost. Through social media and Artificial Intelligence, we have so many things brought to our attention that are clear evidence of the fulfilment of prophecies regarding physical calamities, wars and rumours of wars. Now is a great time to reflect on these things and to listen carefully what the Spirit whispers to us as we listen to General Conference to see what we need to do to be among the 'ten virgins' who would be invited to the marriage feast, and then to be among the five wise virgins who had sufficient oil in their lamps to be ushered in to the feast rather than to be shut out.

It is very important that we live by faith and not by fear. Now is a great time to increase our faith by inspecting our foundations as we reflect on our personal Articles of Faith as we assess our first to thirteenth and consider each one of them. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. What do I believe? Do not think about what you do not believe, but what you do believe. Go article by article until number 13 - We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy (including General Conference), we seek after these things. What do I believe in becoming?

Sometimes we will feel that the words of friends, or the words of leaders in General Conference, are bricks that are being thrown at us and we feel injured, or we dodge them, or we just avoid being there in the first place, whereas we could catch them and use them to build a Temple of the Spirit, or the Body of Christ. 

We will be given a whole set of talents or gifts during this conference. We have the choice of not bothering to watch, listen or read, or to be eager to get as much from the conference as we can. We can prioritise time out of the 48 hours to be present, or to not be present. We can be offended by the words that we hear because they are not sweet and pleasant, or we can take note of things that our conscience urges us to change. We can catch the bricks or feel hurt or be wounded by them. We can build a temple of the spirit with them or just find faults with the bricks. We can choose to watch the world cup sport matches or to rather choose to watch conference. We can multiply the talents or gifts or we can bury them. 

We need to nourish and exercise ourselves spiritually with intent and care, just as we ought to nourish and exercise ourselves physically. I recall a story from years ago of a group gathering together to fast and pray for rain. One young boy arrived with an umbrella - and he was able to use it as the rain came down as they left the meeting. May we go prepared for the results of what we are praying for, hoping for, maybe even fasting for. 

I hope that we will choose to participate in this wonderful opportunity to learn from our general church leaders. I hope that we will choose to not hide it, avoid it, or neglect to participate. Rather, I trust that we will choose to share what we learn and what the Spirit prompts us to share so that we will be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth with our efforts and determined labour, subdue it and have dominion over it. The treasure will be there - what will we do with it? I hope that we will be familiar with the 'true bank notes' so that we can recognise the counterfeit fake news, false things, wolves in sheep's clothing, or falsehoods that are clearly abundant about us in 2023. May our gardens be beautiful with abundant flowers. May we go to conference with questions and then take an 'umbrella' - or maybe a jug to fill up with the living water - to enjoy our journey home with the answers to our questions.

I share this with my personal testimony of Jesus Christ and the leaders that He has called today, and therefore in His name.

Our beautiful and delightful covenant path

I was invited to share some thoughts in our stake conference today, but I was sick and did not get to speak. I sent these thoughts that were used in the review meeting that followed the conference, and I thought that I could share them on my blog. I also shared them with some missionaries who may not specifically be discussing patriarchal blessings with people who are learning about the Gospel, but this might help them in their own covenant path, or helping someone who is a new or returning member as that is a bigger part of missionary service in this time that it was when I was on mission in 1973-4.

While preparing these thoughts, I have reflected on the wonderful rain that we've had and the wonderful flowers that that we were able to enjoy in the last weeks. The Lord delights to bless us. 

I reflected on Adam and Eve who were blessed to be in the Garden of Eden, and then they were given an instruction, while in the Garden of Eden to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, and to have dominion over it, and then they were sent out into the world to till the earth and to be productive. 

Then Abraham was given a covenant and that covenant included property, posterity, and priesthood. That covenant was repeated to Isaac and Jacob. Jacob blessed his children, each individually. Ephraim and Manasseh were also blessed. These are examples of patriarchal blessings. 

I am sure that before we left our heavenly home, our Father in Heaven, and our Mother in Heaven gave us a farewell greeting and blessing - and I am sure they did, and that they had wonderful wishes for us. Then there was a veil of forgetfulness - but let us not be forgetful. 

We need to seek the Lord's word to us individually and to better see His blessings and His Word to us in the scriptures, His word to all of His children collectively. In order to receive a patriarchal blessing, one needs to be worthy to enter the temple, and the spirit has taught me that it is important 10 or 20 years later to really get the Lord's word to us through our patriarchal blessing, we still need to be worthy to enter the temple. And if we're worthy to enter the temple, we will get more out of studying the scriptures as well. 

We each need to make our covenant. We each need to be first generation covenant makers. Not just the seed of Abraham but personally make and keep covenants. We need to be a strength and a support to others on the covenant path. 

We need to be temple worthy. We need to be temple active. 

About 55 to 60 years ago, my first personal experience with General Conference was sitting in the mission home in Johannesburg, listening on shortwave radio, Voice of America, and hearing General Conference. Video didn't work for the stake conference today, but about 20 minutes into it, during President Herbert's talk, we started to hear the audio, and it was a blessing to be able to hear the conference. The video is lekker but the audio really was what made the difference and we were able to hear. I was impressed that what the speakers said reflects very much the thoughts that I had in my preparation to share this testimony with you. 

I hope and pray that we will all seek to make and keep covenants, and be ready to be actively in the temple when it is here, and to be actively involved in temple and family history work in preparation for when it is here. 

I share this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

May the Lord bless you on your covenant path, and helping others in whatever part they are on their covenant paths.

Love and blessings from Les and Sally Powrie

Collectively And Not Individually

I gave a reply to someone who was questioning why 'a disciple can only receive a fulness of the glory of the Father in the Celestial Kingdom.' I gave this rather long reply. I hope that it gives each person reading this good cause to reflect on her or his efforts.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-art-book/church-history?lang=eng

The Spirit has spoken to me over the years to teach me, when I was on mission wondering what right I had to upset the applecart of really wonderful people who were earnestly striving to serve God, Jesus, Heavenly Father, or whatever they called Him. They were doing great work and by declaring to them that there was more than they had, I could do nothing less than upset their happy walk along their path of discipleship.

After a long time of pondering this and pleading for a reason to remain on my mission, I was impressed to 'Read D&C 1'. I read it, then reread it, then reread it, and I was struck by the declaration that 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 I, the Lord, am well pleased'. With further reading and pondering the Spirit spoke to me that this is 'speaking unto the church collectively and not individually—For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;' and then further insight 'Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven; And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts.'

Then, in recent months, the Spirit spoke again and confirmed that the declaration to Joseph Smith in the grove that Joseph 'must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”' It was made clear to me that this applies to them collectively and not individually, for some are truly devoted disciples of the God of Abraham, whatever they call Him - God, Father God, Jesus, Jehovah, Allah, or whatever. If they are devoted to serving the God of Abraham, then they are worshipping and serving the same God that we serve, and they will be blessed for all of the good that they do. Indeed, many of them are far better examples of true disciples of Jesus Christ that I might be, or you might be. How often do we hear reference to Mother Theresa, CS Lewis, and others who may possibly be far more effective serving God outside the restored Church than they might be able to do inside the Church. That puts the onus on us to make it possible for these wonderful disciples to receive the ordinances of the Temple by proxy.

I know that God will not deny any blessings to anyone who qualifies for them. But, He has made it very clear that the fullness can only be achieved in the Celestial Kingdom where God, the Father, reigns in righteousness. You and I may be held accountable if we have neglected to help them to receive their Temple blessings! We have no place holding ourselves above anyone - 'For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.'

I know that God will truly bless everyone for every good that she or he does, and not hold back anything, but He also cannot reward anyone for things that she or he neglects to do when they had the light!

God delights to bless us. Let us be fully worthy of His blessings, my brother.

Have I shared with you how the Spirit spoke to me saying that we need to be worthy to hold a Temple Recommend in order to receive a patriarchal blessing? Yep, I knew that. Then I was impressed that, in order to fully benefit from that patriarchal blessing (God speaking to me personally) ten or twenty years later, I need to be worthy of a Temple Recommend! Then the Spirit added that in order to really benefit from the scriptures (God speaking to all of His children) I really need to be worthy of a Temple Recommend! That is a really good reason to always have a current Temple Recommend. I know that those who neglect that simple symbol of their devotion to discipleship will almost certainly be numbered among those foolish virgins who were left outside the marriage feast because they lacked sufficient oil in their lamps.

This is a long reply to your comment, but I think it might be somewhat shorter than your Facebook post 😉

Please prioritise being in the Temple as often as you possibly can be, and doing Temple and Family History work, or FamilySearch Indexing, when you cannot personally and regularly be inside the House of the Lord. Keep all of your covenants, attend your sacrament and priesthood meetings, show the Lord that you mean business and He might just relieve you of some of your suffering that you might sometimes feel is a reason for not being as fully committed and present as you can be. 

I share this loving counsel and encouragement in the name of our Messiah, Jesus Christ, amen.

I might add that I have learned that the 'individually and not collectively' (and 'collectively and not individually') applies in any group setting. We often look at a group such as nation, tribe, gender, class of people, city, town, religious affiliation, atheism, career, art, sport, language, or any generalisation and treat everyone in that collective as fitting the mold that we envisage for that collective. But I know many individuals in almost every collective that do not match the criteria of the whole (such as religious extremists that give an impression that should not be applied to the whole) or achievers (such as those who take themselves out of the 'gutter' and become very successful contributors to society). Let us put away our prejudices and not focus on -ites, but rather look for the good in individuals and collectives, and appreciate the good that there is in any individual or group. 

PS. I have had a lot of insight from the Spirit over the past 50 years about the descriptions 'individually' and 'collectively' relative to looking at the only true and living church, and 'join none of them, for they were all wrong'.  I have come to realise that some people who are true disciples of Jesus Christ might well have a mission to serve outside the true and living church, and I'm the one who will be judged if I condemn them, or fail to help them to receive the essential ordinances after they complete their mission in mortality. I have pondered about someone in the middle of China or India 500 years ago who finds a Bible and becomes a truly exemplary disciple of Jesus Christ but never gets to meet anyone who can baptise her or him. I have thought about how someone needed to betray Jesus Christ; someone needed to be Pilate; or the soldier scourging Jesus; or hammering in nails to nail Him to the cross; or Martin Luther; or John Calvin; or Christopher Columbus; or Mother Theresa; or CS Lewis; or anyone who missed the boat travelling to Zion because their mission kept them busy elsewhere in time or space. I know that our truly loving, gracious and merciful Heavenly Father will not say 'Too bad. You missed out and cannot enter into the kingdom of God because you were not born of the water and of the spirit.' He would not want anyone to not return to His Kingdom, or be 'glad to be rid of that one'. It is entirely our choice to accept - or to not accept - or to not reject - or to reject - His invitation. He will honour our choice, even if it grieves Him if we do not double the talents that He gave to us according to our several ability. It is me, individually, and not any collective, that will be judged by He who looks on the heart and not on the outward appearance.

Questions that have answers if you want an answer...

As I listened to this discussion about the first 4 chaptersof 1 Corinthians, my mind turned to my friend Karen who was really upset by what she read in the CES Letter written by someone who had been a teacher in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but who had become troubled by some questions. I was challenged to 'read and prove otherwise' or Karen would not believe. But she seems to have blocked my number so that I cannot respond, unless she has changed her phone number and not given me the new number and I am thus unable to answer her questions. But, unfortunately, many people with such questions actually do not seem to want answers, but I wonder if they are possibly just delighted to have finally found an excuse to not continue as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I pointed out to her that it would have taken hours to read the CES Letter, and I wondered if she spent anywhere near as much time reading the scriptures themselves. The things that she is querying and challenging that 'the church does recognise these issues but does not make it available in the teachings of the church' are freely available in the volumes of Saints, in Gospel Library, and on the churchofjesuschrist.org website...

I hope that anyone reading this message will spend the 2:44:55 hours listening to this discussion by Jared Halverson, but, far more importantly, spending far more time than 3 hours reading the scriptures themselves and asking God to speak to her or him! He will speak to you through the scriptures if you ask Him. We speak to God in prayer, and He speaks to us through what He has already revealed to prophets and apostles in the scriptures. He has spoken to insignificant and imperfect Les Powrie, so Les Powrie knows that He will speak to you. Follow the recipe that I follow and the loaf of bread that you get will be as delightful, delicious, and nutritious as the one that I bake. The proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof 😋👴😉😊

Lame, blind, halt, maimed, leprous, withered, deaf, afflicted in 2023

A note in my scripture study of 25 Jan 2021: 

'Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner?' 3 Nephi 17:7

Disabled people are able to do amazing things due to interventions that are available, making them less of a handicap.

I suspect that we consider a lot of things to mean quite different things now to what they would have meant 2000 years ago. 

There are many people that we might classify as 'lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner'. I would not be surprised if a number things which man has developed - interventions such as spectacles, hearing aids, wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, leg braces, laser treatment, surgery, transplants, prosthetic limbs, medication and any number of corrective practices - enable us to consider those afflicted people to be relatively capable now. 

Those that have developed these interventions have been instruments in the Creator's hands enabling many to be healed, to varying degrees, of their afflictions. Do we give the credit to the Master or to the instrument? Do we praise the chisel or the artist for the sculpture?

A consequence of our interventions quite probably has resulted in an increased frequency of these conditions in the population. In previous millennia many of those conditions that are genetically inherited might have been less likely to have been passed on to future generations because individuals with these conditions would not have survived to an age of having children. Some conditions would have caused mates to not have been selected. So, have we enabled those conditions to proliferate? We enable inherited our non-inherited conditions to have less impact, and afflicted people can have greater ability to function. In a way this increases our personal responsibility to do and be more than we might have been capable of doing hundreds of years ago.