Ye Shall Find Rest

Benson Quote: Turn Lives To God

2010-10-13T08:31:00.001-06:00

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He can deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, and pour out peace." — Ezra Taft Benson

Talk of the Day: Good, Better, Best

2010-10-11T11:49:00.000-06:00

Last week for FHE, I taught a lesson about making priorities in life. I have recently decided to give up on some things in my life that have been a huge part of my life for many years and I wanted to teach the kids the reason I have done so.

This morning in Institute, I was reminded of the excellent talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks from October 2007 called "Good, Better, Best". (Link)

Here are some of the things that I would like to point out from this talk.

We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.

I know a person that loves family history work. It is a huge part of their life. Family history work is, without a doubt, one of the best things we can do in this life. However, if family history work is cutting into your family time - time spent with your living family - is it really the best thing? We need to choose what things are better for us.

Right now in my life, school is a pretty important thing. I am trying to do at 38 what I should've done at 23. I made mistakes earlier in life and I am paying for them now. A few months ago, I was doing a homework assignment in which I was to interpret a song. I chose "Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin. Ironically, as I was typing this fantastic essay about how the son in the song wanted to spend time with dad, but dad was too busy, my son asked me to play Jedi with him. "I can't right now, I am doing homework." My son left the room deflated.

At that point I realized that playing with my son at that moment was more important than any homework I could possibly do. I saved my work and played Jedi with him. Then, later that night when everyone else went to bed, I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning finishing my essay.

I think I chose the better route.

Continuing with Elder Oaks:

As we consider various choices, we should remember that it is not enough that something is good. Other choices are better, and still others are best. Even though a particular choice is more costly, its far greater value may make it the best choice of all.

Consider how we use our time in the choices we make in viewing television, playing video games, surfing the Internet, or reading books or magazines. Of course it is good to view wholesome entertainment or to obtain interesting information. But not everything of that sort is worth the portion of our life we give to obtain it. Some things are better, and others are best. When the Lord told us to seek learning, He said, "Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom" (D&C 88:118).

There is NOTHING wrong with taking some "me time". However, it has been said that the earth is a school, not a playground. The Lord says it better: "Thou shalt not idle away thy time." (D&C 60:13) We should spend our time on things that are better or best, not just on good things.

In a talk given to the Church Educational System, Elder David A. Bednar said, "Initially the investment of time may seem relatively harmless, rationalized as a few minutes of needed relief from the demands of a hectic daily schedule, but...progressively, seemingly innocent entertainment can become a form of pernicious enslavement." (Link)

Continuing with Elder Oaks' talk. He then talks about how even church callings can take away time. He warned that Church leaders should "exercise their authority to weed out the excessive and ineffective busyness that is sometimes required of the members of their stakes or wards. Church programs should focus on what is best (most effective) in achieving their assigned purposes without unduly infringing on the time families need for their 'divinely appointed duties.'"

He continues:

But here is a caution for families. Suppose Church leaders reduce the time required by Church meetings and activities in order to increase the time available for families to be together. This will not achieve its intended purpose unless individual family members — especially parents — vigorously act to increase family togetherness and one-on-one time. Team sports and technology toys like video games and the Internet are already winning away the time of our children and youth. Surfing the Internet is not better than serving the Lord or strengthening the family. Some young men and women are skipping Church youth activities or cutting family time in order to participate in soccer leagues or to pursue various entertainments. Some young people are amusing themselves to death—spiritual death.

I'm sure you have all had this happen to you. You are barely surviving on an income and then you get a raise, which should help out. Instead, you are in the same boat because you say to yourself, "I have more money now" so you spend it on frivolous things.

The same can be said with time. We say, "If only I had more time I would do my family history, read my scriptures, play with my kids more and serve my fellow man" and then we get that "extra time" and we sit down to watch a Batman movie fest or play the Wii for three hours or catch up on our friends' lives on Facebook for hours because, hey, we earned that "extra time".

Like I said, none of these things are bad, but there are better things that we can be doing during our "extra time" that will bring us more joy.

One last quote from Elder Oaks: "Some uses of individual and family time are better, and others are best. We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families."

In one of the great revelations given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord stated, "And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will. Remember the great and last promise which I have made unto you; cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you. (D&C 88:67-69)

Later in the chapter it continues: "Organize yourselves...and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God; That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High. Therefore, cease from all your light speeches, from all laughter, from all your lustful desires, from all your pride and light-mindedness, and from all your wicked doings. Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another...Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come. Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen. (D&C 88:119-126)

I hope that you and I will strive to find the best things to do with the time we are given, instead of using them on "good" things.

How Great Thou Art

2010-10-07T12:55:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite hymns has always been "How Great Thou Art".

It is based on a poem called "O Store Gud" (O Great God) written by Carl Gustav Boberg, put to a Swedish folk song.

A British missionary, Stuart K. Hine, translated the song into English and added a couple of additional verses.

My most favorite version of this hymn is performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

(Fast Fact: In his life, Elvis Presley only won three Grammy Awards - all for Best Sacred Performance. Two of those wins were for a recording of this hymn.)

Since I can't find the version that I want from the Tab Choir on YouTube, here is a link for you to download the song.

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hands have made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Chorus:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:

When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Kimball Quote: The Adversary is Subtle

2010-10-05T08:04:00.000-06:00

The adversary is subtle; he is cunning, he knows that he cannot induce good men and women immediately to do major evils so he moves slyly, whispering half truths until he has his intended victims following him, and finally he clamps his chains upon them and fetters them tight, and then he laughs at their discomfiture and their misery.

- Spencer W. Kimball

When Does a Prophet Speak as a Prophet?

2010-10-04T10:44:00.000-06:00

The following comes from John A Widtsoe:

This is an old question. It was asked of the Prophet Joseph Smith and answered by him. He writes in his journal, "This morning . . . I visited with a brother and sister from Michigan, who thought that ‘a prophet is always a prophet'; but I told them that a prophet is a prophet only when he was acting as such" (Joseph Smith, "History of the Church", 5:265).

That statement makes a clear distinction between official and unofficial actions and utterances of officers of the Church. In this recorded statement the Prophet Joseph Smith recognizes his special right and duty, as the President and Prophet of the Church, under the inspiration of the Lord, to speak authoritatively and officially for the enlightenment and guidance of the Church. But he claims also the right, as other men, to labor and rest, to work and play, to visit and discuss, to present his opinions and hear the opinion of others, to counsel and bless as a member of the Church.

Whenever moved upon by the Spirit of the Lord, the man called to the Prophet's office assumes the prophetic mantle and speaks as a mouthpiece of the Lord. He may then interpret the word of God, apply it to the conditions of the day, governmental, social, or economic, warn against impending evil, point out the better way, bring to light new truth, or bless the righteous in their endeavors. Such inspired deliverances are binding upon all who believe that the latter-day work came and is directed by revelation. There is no appeal from them; no need for debate concerning their validity. They must either be accepted or be subjected to the dangers of private interpretation This has been made plain in modern revelation: "Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his (Joseph's) words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me;

'For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith' (D. & C. 21:4, 5). In this commandment there is no limitation upon the prophet, as to subject, time, or place.

Such official prophetic utterances to the Church are usually made in the great general conferences of the Church, or in signed statements circulated among the people. The phrase "Thus sayeth the Lord" may at times be used; but is not necessary. When the prophet speaks to the people in an official gathering or over his signature, he speaks as the Lord directs him. If a new doctrine or practice be involved in the revelation, it is presented to the people for acceptance, in recognition of the free agency of the Church itself, but once accepted, it is thereafter binding upon every member.

Though the prophet may step out of his official role in dealing with the daily affairs of life, he can never divest himself of the spirit and influence which belong to the sacred office which the Lord has placed upon him. . . .

. . . How may the rank and file of the Church recognize the prophetic voice, whether official or unofficial, when it speaks? The answer is simple enough. A person who is in harmony in his life, in thought and practice, with the gospel and its requirements, who loves truth so well that he is willing to surrender to it, will recognize a message from the Lord. My sheep know my voice, said the Savior in the Meridian of Time. In this day, the Lord has given the key for our guidance.

I know that some people would choose to overlook some things that may be said at General Conference with an "Oh, they are not talking about me," or "He's getting old and doesn't know what he's talking about." To those people, may I suggest you remember the scripture in Doctrine & Covenants 1:38, "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."

We raised our hands to sustain the Prophet, First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve as "prophets, seers and revelators." We must assume that the words they speak in General Conference are the words that the Lord has inspired them to speak.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said during his closing remarks of the April 2007 Conference, "We hope that you will use the May edition of the Church magazines as a text for your family home evenings, to review that which has been spoken in this conference. What has been said by each of the speakers represents his or her prayerful attempt to impart knowledge that will inspire and cause all who have heard it to stand a little taller and be a little better."

Six months later, he said, "All of the proceedings of this conference will appear in a subsequent issue of the Ensign and Liahona. We encourage you again to read the talks in your family home evenings and discuss them together as families. They are the products of much prayer and meditation and are well worthy of careful consideration."

Doubting their words - even a little - will only put you on a path that you don't want to go down.

Hope in Trials

2010-10-01T08:15:00.000-06:00

There are times in life when I feel like I am alone.

I mean, really alone.

I feel, at times, that nobody on this earth understands what I am going through. It is during times like these that I rely heavily on the Lord.

Elder James B. Martino of the Seventy said, "To some, our trials may not seem great, but to each of us who are passing through these experiences, the trials are real and require us to humble ourselves before God and learn from Him." (James B. Martino, "All Things Work Together for Good," Liahona, May 2010, 101–3)

However, it seems that even my prayers are not being heard at times. It's frustrating because I feel like I am trying to be the very best that I can, but instead of a feeling of joy and happiness, I feel like I have been abandoned.

As he was sitting in Liberty Jail - on false charges - the Prophet Joseph Smith cried out to the Lord saying, "O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? O Lord God Almighty...let thy pavilion be taken up; let thy hiding place no longer be covered; let thine ear be inclined; let thine heart be softened, and thy bowels moved with compassion toward us." (Doctrine & Covenants 121: 1,4)

Do you remember what the Lord said to him? "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment." (Doctrine & Covenants 121:7)

I don't expect my life to be without trial. After all, in Matthew 5:45 it reads, "for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." I just wish that there was someone that understood the pain and suffering that I have been going through and could help me out of this misery.

As you will recall from the Bible, Job was having a bad day or two. (To put it lightly.) So his friends - Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar - come to visit him and offer comfort.

The words of Eliphaz, found in the fourth chapter of Job, gives me comfort on those really bad days I have:

Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. - Job 4:3-5

These verses mean so much to me. With my personality, I have "strengthened the weak hands" and "the feeble knees." Yet, when it comes time for my hands and knees to be strengthened, I am "troubled."

So what can get me - and you - through our trials?

Hope.

And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?

And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.

And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.

If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity. - Moroni 7:40-44

Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve said:

Real hope keeps us 'anxiously engaged' in good causes even when these appear to be losing causes on the mortal scoreboard. Likewise, real hope is much more than wishful musing. It stiffens, not slackens, the spiritual spine. Hope is serene, not giddy, eager without being naive, and pleasantly steady without being smug. Hope is realistic anticipation which takes the form of a determination—not only to survive adversity but, moreover, to 'endure … well' to the end (D&C 121:8).

Real hope inspires quiet Christian service, not flashy public fanaticism. Finley Peter Dunne impishly observed, 'A fanatic is a man who does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts' (quoted in The Third—and Possibly the Best—637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, comp. Robert Byrne [1986], no. 549).

Indeed, when we are unduly impatient with an omniscient God’s timing, we really are suggesting that we know what is best. Strange, isn’t it—we who wear wristwatches seek to counsel Him who oversees cosmic clocks and calendars. (Neal A. Maxwell, "Hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ," Ensign, Nov 1998, 61)

With hope - and a little patience - this too will pass.

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. - 2 Nephi 31:20

Feed Just One

2010-09-30T08:54:00.001-06:00

I love the quote by Mother Teresa, "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."

It goes along with the lesson the Savior gave in Matthew 25:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

So many of us feel that it is so hard to make a difference in the world because there is so much to do. "If only I had unlimited funds," I tell myself, "I would give so much money to the poor." Or "If only I were a doctor, I would go to other countries and give them the medicine they need." So instead of trying to help out my neighbor who is in need, I sit back and wish that I could help everyone.

As of right now, there are 310,375,321 people in the United States. Imagine if even half of those people donated one can of food or a pint of blood or gave one dollar to a charity of their choice. Would it not make a difference to someone? It may not save the entire world, but the person it did help would be grateful.

As it says in one of my favorite hymns, "Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need? Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad? If not, I have failed indeed." The chorus continues, "Then wake up and do something more than dream of your mansion above. Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure. A blessing of duty and love." ("Have I Done Any Good?". Text & Music by Will L. Thompson, 1847-1909)

Let us all strive to do more to feed the one and in return, the hundred will be fed.

God Did Not Put Us Here to Fail

2010-09-29T10:46:00.000-06:00

Jon M. Huntsman, Sr. gave an excellent talk to the students at BYU back on November 10, 2009. It is entitled "God Did Not Put Us Here To Fail".

May I begin with this simple sentence: God did not put us here to fail. I would say to you, have faith in yourself—believe in what you are doing, and, most important, be a person of integrity. It is totally up to you, and no one else, how your life evolves. Many would like to think that our parents, our professors, or even our bishops are responsible for our future. What we become, who we are, and the footprint we will leave in life is based entirely on our own determination, hard work, education, and sacrifice. Our Heavenly Father expects the best from each of us. We must believe in ourselves. Don’t give in when the going gets rough. You are laying the foundation of a great work, and that great work is your life. Never cut corners, demean other people, or waste time “hanging out.” Decide who you are and what your goals entail—then go for the roses. Life has little regard for those who waste time.

Again, we must each remember that God did not put us on this earth to fail. We are His children. We are here to succeed. The obstacles placed before us will be many, and in certain cases we may falter or even fail. I love the scripture that states, “He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more” (D&C 58:42).

You can read the entire talk here. Trust me, it'll help you through those hard times.

Judge Not

2008-04-27T07:34:00.002-06:00

(NOTE: The following is a talk I gave in my church on April 27, 2008)

The Savior taught, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven" (Luke 6:37). In modern revelation the Lord has declared, "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men" (D&C 64:10).

Why do we judge others? I think one of the reasons is because it’s easier to criticize than to be constructive. As clergyman J.M. Gibson noted, “Only God can form and paint a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces.”

We also judge people to justify our own faults. As President N. Eldon Tanner has noted, “Sometimes as I move among people I am almost convinced that it is human nature to magnify the weaknesses in others in order to minimize our own.” (Improvement Era, June 1967, p. 29.)

The prophet Mormon taught, “Seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged” (Moroni 7:18).

In the October 1982 General Conference, Elder David B. Haight taught:

Besides loving God, we are commanded to do what to many is a more difficult commandment--to love all, even enemies, and to go beyond the barriers of race or class or family relationships. . . . Are we not commanded to cultivate genuine fellowship and even a kinship with every human being on earth? Whom would you bar from your circle? We might deny ourselves a nearness to our Savior because of our prejudices of neighborhood or possessions or race--attitudes that Christ would surely condemn. Love has no boundary, no limitation of good will.

One of my favorite authors is C.S. Lewis. I’m going to quote from a couple of his books today. The first comes from his book Mere Christianity:

Do not waste time bothering whether you "love" your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.

I have the opportunity to DJ quite a few church dances every year. As I am at the dances, I watch the kids to see how they treat each other. As a whole, I am happy to report, the kids treat each other with respect and honor. A few weeks ago I was at a dance in a local stake and I had announced that it was a girl’s choice dance. I saw a Young Woman ask one of the Young Men to dance and he told her no, and then went off and danced with the next girl that asked him. I was in shock that a holder of the Priesthood would treat anyone, especially a Young Woman, like that. Needless to say, the girl that was rejected looked hurt, meanwhile the Young Man was dancing with the other girl, not even realizing the pain he had caused.

Don’t think I don’t see the irony here that I am judging this Young Man for his actions, but I will be honest. I just about jumped off the stage to give that kid a piece of my mind.

On a lighter note, I was DJing a dance in this stake awhile ago. Once again, I stood on the stage observing the youth and I noticed a Young Man, one that you all know, dancing with every girl that asked him. And believe me, there were a lot of girls asking this Young Man to dance. I don’t know if I saw him dance with the same girl twice. I was so thrilled to see one of our Young Men treat each Young Woman with the respect they deserve, no matter if they were “popular”.

President N. Eldon Tanner said, “It seems common practice for people to talk about their friends and neighbors and to criticize their seeming weaknesses. In fact, it is so general that one would think that gossiping about and judging others was the thing to do. How often have we heard of young men who were criticized, judged, and ridiculed because of their peculiarities and yet who eventually became leaders in their different fields of endeavor.”

President Tanner then told of the story of Sister Emma McKay, the wife of President David O. McKay. She had just begun teaching school. As the principal introduced her to the class, he pointed to a certain boy and said he was a troublemaker. She could tell the boy was embarrassed, so she wrote a note and slipped it to him as she walked past his desk. It said, “Earl, I think the principal was mistaken about your being a bad boy. I trust you, and know that you are going to help me make this room the best in the school.” Earl not only became a top student in the class, he also became one of the town’s most important people.

President Tanner continued: “The reason, therefore, that we cannot judge is obvious. We cannot see what is in the heart. We do not know motives, although we impute motives to every action we see. They may be pure while we think they are improper. It is not possible to judge another fairly unless you know his desires, his faith, and his goals. Because of a different environment, unequal opportunity, and many other things, people are not in the same position. One may start at the top and the other at the bottom, and they may meet as they are going in opposite directions. At best, man can judge only what he sees; he cannot judge the heart or the intention, or begin to judge the potential of his neighbor. When we try to judge people, which we should not do, we have a great tendency to look for and take pride in finding weaknesses and faults, such as vanity, dishonesty, immorality, and intrigue. As a result, we see only the worst side of those being judged.”

I know that some of you are sitting there thinking, “Brother Taylor, you’re preaching to the choir. This doesn’t apply to me. I don’t judge anyone because of their popularity or the amount of money they have in the bank or even their religion.”

What about people in our own ward? Do you ever judge them? Do you ever watch them perform their callings and think, “I could do that calling better.”

During a BYU devotional in September 1988, President Henry B. Eyring said the following:

Whenever stake presidencies and bishops call new leaders…it’s a time of testing for the members. You may have experienced such a test yourself. Some of you are disappointed that you were not called. A few will be glad you were not called. Some of you may be sad that you were overlooked again. And some of you are wondering about a person who was called whose weaknesses you know. Perhaps someone was called - someone you now must follow - whom you do not admire, or perhaps don't even like.

You and I sometimes feel that we are wise and we know a good deal. We have increasing experience. So why should a Sunday School teacher who seems to us weak and simple and less experienced be called by inspiration to teach us?

One reason is that it requires humility on our part. It requires a humble heart to believe that you can be taught by someone who apparently knows a good deal less than you do, and perhaps seems less likely to get revelation.

It can be difficult to have a leader that we don’t respect on a personal level, but as the Lord says in D&C 1:38, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not passaway, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."

This judging of others in the Church is discussed in The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. This book contains letters written from one devil, Screwtape, to his younger devil nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood has been having a bit of a problem with his patient – the man that he was assigned to tempt – and he asked his uncle to give him a bit of advice at how he could stop the man from going to church. Here is the reply from Screwtape:

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread through all time and space and rooted in eternity. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes even our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is…just that selection of his neighbors whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbors. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like "the body of Christ" and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that next pew really contains. Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous.

Going back to President Tanner, he said, “We hear a man say to his family and to others, ‘I don’t see why the bishop does this or that. You would think he would know better.’ Here he is judging the bishop without the facts, which, if known to him, would be full justification for the action taken. The man’s judgment was not only unrighteous, but it had probably prejudiced his children and caused them to lose respect for the bishop and had weakened their faith."

We need to remember, brothers & sisters, that the people who are called to serve us are called by the Lord. I know this because I have been there in Bishopric meeting when we all talked about someone who would be perfect for a specific calling and then, after praying to get reassurance from the Lord, we each received the feeling that another person - of which none of us had even discussed - should be the person called to this calling.

Let me close with this quote from President Howard W. Hunter. This was given at the press conference when it was announced that he would be the Prophet after the death of President Benson. He said, “I would invite all members of the Church to live with ever more attention to the life and example of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially the love and hope and compassion He displayed. I pray that we might treat each other with more kindness, more courtesy, more humility and patience and forgiveness.”

A Call to Action For Bloggers

2008-01-22T07:56:00.001-07:00

Elder M. Russell Ballard told the graduating students of BYU-Hawaii to "use the Internet — including blogs and other forms of 'new media' — to contribute to a national conversation about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

"We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches," he said.

"While some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the Church are established one conversation at a time."

Elder Ballard said there were too many conversations going on about the Church for Church representatives to respond to each individually, and that Church leaders "can’t answer every question, satisfy every inquiry and respond to every inaccuracy that exists."

He said students should consider sharing their views on blogs, responding to online news reports and using the "new media" in other ways.

But he cautioned against arguing with others about their beliefs. “There is no need to become defensive or belligerent,” he said.

(Source)