You have to do more than open the book.

 You have to do more than open the book.

When we were in Lander one of the sisters in our ward said that the Book of Mormon had such a powerful spirit that all you had to do was to open the Book of Mormon and leave it on the table and the spirit would permeate the room.

People have strange ideas. Ones like this are not true and can lead us into many false ideas. The spirit that we receive comes from prayerfully reading and pondering the message. The prophet Joseph Smith said that the book contains the fullness of the gospel. It is to lead us to a testimony of the divinity of Christ and to prepare us to meet our Father in Heaven.

We need to read and internalize the writing. Opening the book does not let us digest the contents without reading or listening to the words and thoughts.

We are blessed to be able to have the scriptures available to us on a small handheld device that we can read or have the chapters read to us.

I am fortunate to have hearing aids that pair with my iPhone. I have been able to listen to all of the October general conference without disturbing my wife while she watches TV. I can hear and she doesn’t even know that I am listening.

I have the ability to listen to the Book of Mormon while I am getting dressed.

Many things come up all around us and each of our experiences are different. The answers to our challenges can be found by reading the Book of Mormon. The spirit of the Lord will inspire us. It may take some time. In my experience it has not come immediately but will come with effort on our part when we are ready and absolutely need it.

Don’t just leave the book open. Read or listen to its contents.

Love,

Grandpa

Independence, industry and thrift

Independence, industry and thrift.

These words were spoken at a general conference before I was born. It was an invitation to the members of the church. It was to help us to understand the principles we should take into our life to guide us through the challenges we will be faced with.

Independence
We are to independent in our actions. We should not have to rely on the government for our maintenance. The more we are not beholden to outside influences the freer we will be to make decisions for ourselves. The church is to be independent and so are we.

Industry
Adam was told that he was to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. We are to earn our living and provide for ourselves and our family by working and using our minds. We are not to rely on the dole. The original statement said that the evils of the dole should be abolished. The term we use now is welfare. There is a concern about those who are receiving state welfare who will refuse employment when it is available. When we are on the dole we are no longer independent.

Thrift
This does not mean that we are miserly. It means that we make our expenditures wisely. We are to avoid debt as we would the plague as the original statement from the leaders of the church pointed out. Many people use credit cards and do not pay the debt at the end of the month, but only a small amount leaving a balance due. Thus they become slaves and are in bondage until the debt is resolved. If you take out a loan do not expect the government to pay it back.  It is your responsibility.

The council from the leaders of the church is that we try to have a year’s supply of money and food on hand. Obviously we cannot start out our life with that, but we are to work towards that goal. We can start with paying our tithes and try to save ten percent of the earnings. We cannot buy a house without going into debt. We should start out modestly. We need to have a plan to be free and clear of the debt and work towards that goal.

 

Love,

Grandpa

 

 

The first amendment and the scripture

 The first amendment and the scripture.

Matthew 12:36 “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

The constitution of the United States gives people the right to vocally express their opinions. It is called freedom of speech. We refer to it as first amendment rights.

Over the course of the last years there have been many people who have abused this privilege and vocally and digitally expressed their views without regard to how the opinions expressed affect others and whether they are true or not.

They think that their opinions are what everyone else should think and have no regard to how their speech affects others. They don’t realize that one day, they will be held accountable to the Lord for those words.

The King James Version as quoted above stated, gives the translation as idle word. The Luther translation is unnütsliche Wörter or un-usefull or unnecessary words.

We should guard our tongues. It is also important not to pay attention to those who abuse the right to express their opinions. We should look to the true source of knowledge.

This applies to social media posts. The golden rule applies to this. Do or say unto others as you would have them do or say unto you.

In this case we should change the phrase “Think celestial” to Speak celestial.

Grandpa says mind what you say and write. 

 

Love,

Grandpa

Doing thngs the Lord's way

 A scripture comes to mind. "Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence. He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand. Even so. Amen."

I have found that most people in the church fail to read the handbook and understand the order of the priesthood. They just make up the way they do things or follow what they have seen what other people have done.

Unfortunately when things do not go the way they are used to or procedures change they may get offended and may find themselves disagreeing with the leaders of the church.

One of the things that some people do not realize is that this is the Lord's church and we do not do anything without His approval.

When I was new in my term as stake president I was training the bishops on the proper way to sustain an individual in sacrament meeting. I suggested that one could say, 'The Lord has called so and so to serve as a teacher in the primary association, all who could sustain so and so please manifest it by raising the right hand. Any opposed by the same sign.' One bishop said, 'I could never say that.' He was a good man, but did not
understand the priesthood or his responsibilities to act in his office under the direction of the spirit. He used his own intellect to administer the affairs of the ward.

This seems to be all too common in the wards that I have seen while I was in Wyoming.It is apparently easier to rely on the arm of the flesh.

You have been brought up in our family and know how the kingdom of God works.
We need to be understanding and patient with those who are not as understanding of how the Lord's church works. If they stumble, we just let them do it until we are responsible for their actions. We do not steady the ark.

Texting a person to issue a calling or release is never appropriate. There is a missed opportunity to show love and concern to the person being released. It shows total disregard for a child of our Father in Heaven.

These are my thoughts on the matter. Not to be taken as doctrine. That comes from the priesthood.

Love,
 

Grandpa

Thy speech bewrayeth thee

 Thy speech bewrayeth thee

This quote from the Bible is applicable today.

We don’t use the language of the King James translation today, but how we talk and express ourselves in writing does label us and our abilities.

Bewrayeth means betray or reveal. What we write or say will reveal our learning and upbringing.

I was recently reading my missionary journal and ran across some phrase that I would never use today. The words in the phrase do not make sense except in the slang of the day. If my ancestors of three generations back were to read that, they would not know what I meant. In about one hundred years when my descendants read that phrase they probably would not know what it meant.

As I read posts and see lol, it may mean something to you but it really doesn’t make sense. It is a lazy way to say I am laughing out loud. Or that make me laugh. It then reveals to the reader or listener that you are not very articulate and are greatly influenced by the ways of the world.

How would you feel about communicating to the Lord with language like that?

We belong to Christ’s church. We need to be a light to the world. They should look up to the members of the church for that which is uplifting “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

A number of years ago we had some people comment on the language which Elder Neal Maxwell used in his writings and conference talks. They said that he used words that they didn’t understand. We had no problem, In fact, we really loved the way he expressed himself. It was uplifting and inspired us to increase our ability to express ourselves.

Slang is really revealing what we think of ourselves and those that we communicate with.

Think celestial when you speak and write. We don’t have to use Thee, thou, or thine except when we pray. This is the language of prayer and shows our respect to God. 

Love,

Grandpa

Listening to the Spirit

 D&c 84:46 listening to the spirit

We had a lesson in Sunday school this week. During the discussion a number of the participants shared incidents in their lives. That got me to thinking about times in my life when I had promptings from the Holy Ghost. There have been a number which I feel are not to be shared publicly. Today I would like to share one. It illustrates a two way interaction of the spiritual prompting.

My wife and I were just home from our mission to the Europe East area in Frankfurt in 2000. We were staying in an apartment in Canyon Road Towers just up the street from the conference center. We had people living in our home in Lander while we were on our mission and they had not yet moved so we could not go home.

That July there had been a change in the area presidency and Elder Ronald Rasband was assigned to the Europe Central area presidency. We had come home before we had met him.

We were still living in the apartment at the time of October general conference. We did not have tickets to attend, but wanted to go. We were standing in the line to gain entrance to the meeting for those who didn’t have tickets. As we were standing on the sidewalk across the street from the conference center Elder Rasband came along shaking the people’s hands. As he approached I had the impression as if a voice. “He has tickets,ask him.” I thought, I think that would be presumptuous. I am not going to ask him. He went down the line and then when he came back, he stopped in front of us and asked us if we would like tickets. I do not think he knew who we were, but he listened to the spirit and gave us the tickets. This was the Sunday morning session when President Hinckley dedicated the conference center.

I didn’t act on the prompting of the spirit, but Elder Rasband did.

Some times we may realize that we are getting messages from a loving Father, but we fail to act as in my case. Not often will things turn out as they did in this case.

The best advice that grandpa can offer is to learn to listen and when the impression comes act without hesitation.

Love,
Grandpa

The path is not a destination

 

The path is not a destination

Recently the church has talked about the covenant path. I did not remember this phrase when I was growing up. Although the gospel has not changed, the emphasis on certain aspects has changed. For instance they do not speak about having a year’s supply of food or money like they used to. That is important as well.

What is the covenant path and how do we get onto it? This is the path that will eventually lead us back to our Father in Heaven. It is described as a narrow way.

We must start on the path to make covenants with our Father in Heaven. Usually this starts when we are given a name and a blessing in the Church. For those who did not have parents who were members we start on the path when we were introduced to the restored gospel. For those who had parents who were sealed in the temple they were sealed into the new and everlasting covenant and were heirs to receive the blessings of Abraham. This is referred to as being born in the covenant. This now is our start on the path.

Once on the path, we make our first covenant when we are baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This covenant is, that we will mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that are in need of comforting and stand as a witness of God at all times and in all places even until death. We take upon us the name of Christ and become His disciples.

The ordinance of the sacrament is to remind us of those covenants that we made when we were baptized. When we partake of the sacrament unworthily we are stopped in our progression along the covenant path. The scriptures give this condition as damnation. Just as a river has its flow interrupted, our progress along the covenant path is impeded or damned until we remove the obstacles by repentance.

For the men, the next covenant is the oath and covenant of the priesthood as described in the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants.

We next go to the temple where we make more covenants and get a symbolic representation of our destination, which is being admitted into the presence of God.

The temple is not the end. We have to keep those covenants that we make in the temple for the rest of our lives walking along holding onto the rod of iron. 

 

My dear grandchildren, please stay on the path. If you need help, I will hold your hand. 

 

Love,

Grandpa