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Divinity, Eternity, and Family go Together!
The family is the most important place and there is no other setting that comes close in comparison. We are members of a Heavenly Family, and the faithful will be blessed for obedience. Whenever anything so basic as the eternal family is imperiled, we have a solemn obligation to speak out, lest there be critical damage to the family institution by those who seem to be deliberately destructive of it. Family systems are built on the foundation of love, attachment, loyalty, trust, which in turn fulfills safety and status needs. At every stage of life, our relationships and families present us with both joys and challenges. Learning to manage stress, to understand our own emotions and behaviors, and to communicate effectively can help strengthen our own emotional health, as well as our connections to the important people in our lives. If we are to be the Savior’s disciples, if we are to become like him, then we must serve one another, then we must assume responsibility to help with one another’s needs, and we must assist each other through the difficult pathways of life. When it comes to family, we must be willing to bear each other’s burdens, willing to mourn together, and be willing to comfort each other, as the family is the most important place. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
It is a disgrace to every man and woman that has sense enough to live not to take care of their own relatives, their own poor, and plan for them. The commandments and standards of morality set by the Lord himself are under attack on every hand. There are false teachers everywhere using speech and pornographic literature, magazines, radio, and the television, street talk—spreading heresies which break down moral standards. This is a serious matter. It is a grave responsibility, and not an easy one. We are living in perilous times as more and more individuals dishonor their family. Relationships can be difficult, but when it comes to family they can be heartbreaking if things go astray. Having an estranged family member, whether it be a sibling, child, parent, or someone in the extended family comes with stress and frustration. Many of the social restraints which in the past have helped to reinforce and to shore up the family are dissolving and disappearing. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gather of evil around us. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
God wants us to provide for our family, and especially those in our own house, and if we are disloyal to our family, we are worse than an infidel. What that means is we do not hurt our family on purpose, nor do we set them up, nor lead them astray. We are supposed to love and protect each other, and guide one another to do what is righteous. Family needs are not always physical. Often faith, forgiveness, encouragement, comfort, counsel, listening, teaching, moral support, examples of loving and caring, and a host of other experiences will see loved ones through a crisis—and their crisis needs may last a lifetime. However, time with a family member may pay the greatest dividends of all. God wants us to look past negative feelings and turn to him in our time of need. If a relationship is broken, it does not matter whose fault it is, what stage of grief you are in, or if you plan to reconnect with the family member. God wants us to be open and communicate our feelings and stress, love and gratitude with him—God will listen! #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
We have always understood that the foundations of the family, as an eternal unit, were laid even before this Earth was created. Society without basic family life is without foundation and will disintegrate into nothingness. God has a plan in motion for the future relationship for you and your estranged loves ones. Trusting in God will help us get through the difficult times, such as the holidays and birthdays. There is no righteous way to avoid the commandment: Honour thy father and thy mother and your days on this Earth shall be long (Ex. 20.12). No family that hopes to endure eternally can exclude grandmother and grandfather, brothers and sisters, or other relatives. Heaven forbid that any family member—regardless of age or special needs—should be considered a burden. Would it not be wonderful if family members would counsel together as they make plans to assist those in need? Because of personal experience, I am a true believer that families who will fast and pray together can cause miracles to happen. They can literally pray righteous things to take place. Oftentimes it may take longer than we feel is necessary before it happens, however. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
We of all people should not be taken in by the erroneous belief that because many people are losing their minds, and selling their souls that this is a sign of the times. What they mean is that the World is ending and we should just sit back and watch it fall apart. However, that is not true and the arguments that somehow the family unit is tied to a particular phase of development a mortal society is going through. We are free to resist those moves which downplay the significance of the family and which play up the significance of selfish individualism. We know the family to be eternal. We know that when things go wrong in every other institution in society it must be fix or it will cease to exist. Those who, whether in ignorance or malice, attack the family are setting in motion an awful and needless cycle of misery and despair, for they will search in vain and pain for substitutes, and the wisdom of the Worldly wise shall perish publicly for their folly concerning the family. The decline in many of our families is occurring at a time when the nations of the World are moving into some of the most difficult times know. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Do not let the lures of the moment draw you away from the family. We humbly pray to God that you forgive us for our sins, and that you have endless mercy and compassion. Gracious God, we ask that you, through your powers of love and righteousness, restore our relationships in our family. Soften out stubbornness and open our eyes and heart to true love. Father in Heaven, we ask you to right this wrong that Satan has brought into our lives, and that you bring our family back together again. Please remove this instrument that Satan has used to tear our family apart. God, you are all about family and we ask you to bring reconciliation so that we may be allowed to restore the family bond we had before Satan interfered. Hear our cries of sorrow. Heal our hearts and remove this burden that has swept down on us like a plague of vultures, and bring us back together as a family. Permissiveness will not pull us through such crises. Materialism will not sustain us. Our political institutions—parliaments, congresses, and assemblies—cannot rescue us if our basic institution, the family is not intact. Peace treaties cannot save us when there is hostility instead of love in the house. We want our family to show each other love and support. And God continue to forgive us of our sins. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Heavenly father, help us start rebuilding a relationship with our estranged family members. We pray for guidance to say the right things and courage to be a good example. Law enforcement cannot safeguard us if too many people are unwilling to discipline themselves or be disciplined. Rising generations who have been taught that authority and loving discipline are wrong will not keep the faith commandment, honor their fathers and mothers. We hope that parents are using the added time that has come from the time God has granted us to teach, love, and nurture their children. We also must never forget the need for family activity and recreation, for which time is also provided, is an important aspect of bonding. Let your love for each member of your family be unconditional. Where there are challenges, you fail only if you fail to keep trying. And we genuinely welcome and love every race, creed, and culture who care about the family. We must teach each other correct principles and help each other walk uprightly before the Lord—and there is no substitute for teaching our children by the eloquence of example. God, wrap your loving arms around our family and fix the broken relationships. Amen. Thank you. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Ryan Phillippe is Withstanding Extortion and Financial Assault
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Every morning when we wake up, we face a new day filled with the challenges of life. These challenges come in many forms: physical challenges, financial setbacks, difficulties with relationships, emotional trials, and even struggles with our faith. Many of these tests we face in life can be solved and overcomes. However, there are also some difficulties in life that we do not understand and they seem impossible to overcome and may be with us until we pass on to our next life. As we temporarily endure the challenges we cannot solve, it is important to remember that the spiritual strength we develop will help us successfully endure all the challenges we face in life. Ryan Phillippe is beautiful. He is strong. As a man, Ryan Phillippe has the physical bearing and the inner self-confidence of a born aristocrat. When people meet Ryan Phillippe, they sense a man who cannot be had for any price—a man unreservedly committed to the cause of liberating humanity, and a man who deeply loves himself, his children, and his friends and family. May God protect Ryan Phillippe and his family, strengthen their relationships, and give them personal confidence before the Lord. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
Forces in a developing social struggle are frequently buried beneath the visible surface and make themselves felt in many ways long before they burst out into the open. These generative forces make themselves felt through the power of an idea long before they burst out into the public eye. It is important that we give a high priority to the power of ideas in a social and financial struggle. It is our weakness to confuse truth with the numerical strength and allegations people use for publicity, attached to individuals and organizations starving for fame and fortune, as they germinate the forces that sow the seeds of social upheaval in our community. Pornography is more vile, evil and graphic than ever before. Recently, a fairly unknown prostitute, sex actress, and compulsive liar called Elsie Hewitt (age21), who has done sex advertisements in a sleazy pornographic magazine called Playboy, accused legendary actor Ryan Phillippe (age 43) of assaulting her on 4 July 2017, and she is now suing him for $1,000,000.00 USD. These allegations just recently made the celebrity gossip news and online fan magazines, and they are false. Elsie Hewitt is known for being manipulative and cunning. She will do anything for money and lying is Elsie’s reflexive ways of responding to questions. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
This is why we are increasingly concerned about the destruction that pornography is causing in the lives of Church members and their families. Satan is attacking us with unprecedented fury. One reason we are here on Earth is to learn to manage the passions and feelings of our mortal bodies. These God-given feelings help us want to marry and have children. The intimate marriage relationship between a loving couple that brings children into mortality is also meant to be a beautiful, loving experience that binds together two devoted hearts, unites both spirit and body, and brings a fulness of joy and happiness as we learn to put each other first. I was deeply disturbed when I got home and had accidentally seen startling and disturbing images and actions of Elise Hewitt on my computer after doing an internet search. I felt horrible about what I had seen and wished I could get it out of my mind. However, I was grateful that I could confide in a member of the church, she was able to sooth my innocent and aching heart and helped me know how to get relief through our Savior’s Atonement. We sat together and petitioned the help of our Heavenly Father. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
The allegations made against Ryan Phillipe are all lies. I saw Ryan Phillippe on 4 July 2017, at 7.09pm, and he seemed peaceful, and told me to drink some coffee. He was sobbing because he was afraid that his mother, and his children would be hurt by the vicious lies. We said a prayer. Then I saw him again the next day 5 July 2017, at about 8pm, and he was on his way home. It is more likely that a jealous friend and the gossip magazines conjured up this assault allegation to ruin Ryan Phillippe’s life and career. Elsie Hewitt is unknown and she is trying to use Ryan Phillippe’s name to launch her career. Ryan Phillippe is a pretty peaceful guy and he actually seems kind of shy. He tends to keep to himself and like to be quiet. He enjoys time to himself and does not socialize too much. Since his divorce from the beautiful Oscar winning actress Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Philippe has been heartbroken and likes the single life and he has not been in a relationship for a while. He says that the mother of his children is the second most beautiful and talented woman he knows, second to his mother, and that most women are not cut from the same cloth. It is hard for him to become interested other women, when they are not on the same level as your first love. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Elsie Hewitt is like a master salesperson, she used her charisma to get your attention, flattery to make you feel special, seduction to lift you off your feet, and persuasion to get you to give her what she wants. Elise Hewitt is a hard prostitute, she smokes marijuana, uses cocaine, crystal meth, pops ecstasy pills and loves champagne, she called an ecstasy tablet in a glass of champagne and energy drink. She is what some older men dream of, young, fake silicone breast, and other parts that she has tightened from time to time to give the clients they traction they like. The hallways and stairs of her apartment are busy any hour of the night with White and Black men coming and going. It is no more than one would expect in a building out of which a prostitute was working. However, what is astonishing is the full-house crowd that rushes in between, say six and seven-thirty in the morning, then rush away, and about nine, the house is empty. Many married men leave home in time to stop by Elise Hewitt’s house before they go to work, she calls them her clients. Many of her clients are in frustrating marriages and they have kids and their wives will not have the sex with them, so they get up early and go to the well-known prostitute, Elsie. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Elise has an inflated sense of herself. She craves approval, and is highly sensitive to criticism, and tries very hard to perform in bed. This is especially turn during the initial phases of a relationship with her clients, when she is seeking to impress them and win them over. Many man mistake Elise’s elaborate performance for true passion, but she is merely acting. However, after a while some men catch on. Inevitably, they can tell something is missing in her performance—the genuine human emotions. Her clients can tell by her style of love making that she does not really have an interest in her partner and that they are nothing more than an object to her. Elise lets her guard down and the caring, passion, tenderness, and vulnerability tends to seem as artificial as her breast. These are qualities that can only come from the heart. It is more than likely, if Elise Hewitt was assaulted, it by one of her clients she manipulated with her sexual prowess. She fools men into believing that she is interested in them, but only wants to extract money for them, and perhaps one of them was deeply offended when they found out about the army of men, and sometimes women, leaving her bed chambers. Perhaps she lost some of her traction and that is why she needs the money. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
Many children, youth, and adults are innocently exposed to pornography, but a growing number of both men and women are choosing to view it and are drawn back repeatedly until it becomes an addiction. These individuals may desire with all of their hearts to get out of this trap but often cannot overcome it on their own. Elsie Hewitt is deeply in need of prayer. She uses her body to make money and traps men for profit. We need to counsel with our children, families, and youth on an ongoing basis, listening with love and understanding. They need to know the dangers of pornography and how it overtakes lives, causing loss of the Spirit, distorted feelings, deceit, damages relationships, loss of self-control, and nearly total consumption of time, thought and energy. Young people and adults, if you are caught in Satan’s trap of pornography, remember how merciful our beloved Savior is. Do you realize how deeply the Lord loves and cherishes you, even now? Our Savior has the power to cleanse and heal you. He can remove the pain and sorrow you feel and make you clean again through the power of his atonement. We are so greatly concerned about how destructive pornography is, and we are deeply saddened at how Elise Hewitt is lying about Ryan Phillippe and extorting him for money. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
If you are free of serious sin yourself, do not suffer needlessly the consequences of another’s sins. You can feel compassion, but you should not take upon yourself a feeling of responsibility for those acts. Know that you are not alone. There is help. We pray that Elise Hewitt will seek addiction recovery and that the Lord will show her the error of her ways. When we face challenges with life, and are desperate for help, we pray and plead to the Lord. In my home, our focus has become talk, rejoice, peach, and testify of Christ by striving to pray daily and study the scriptures and have weekly family home evening. Frequently, I am up praying from midnight until four in the morning because it is that serious to me. These are the very practices that help take away stress, give direction in our lives, and adds protection to our home. Then, if pornography or others challenges like Elsie Hewitt strike our family, we can petition the Lord for help and expect great guidance from the Spirit, knowing that we have done what our Father has asked us to do. Remember, as we search out our ancestors and prepare our family names for the temple, we will be protected now and throughout our lives as we keep ourselves worthy of God. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
Call on the Lord Out of Pure Heart
With purity of heart, we reflect the Savior’s love and give others a glimpse of Heaven. There is only pure knowledge in God. Knowledge does not exist for its own sake (that is, for the purpose of contemplation) but always aims at the pragmatic reconstruction of being itself. Sometimes we feel discouraged because we are not more of something—more spiritual, respected, intelligent, healthy, rich, friendly, or capable. Naturally, there is nothing wrong with wanting to prove. God created us to grow and progress. However, remember, our deficits can help us to be humble and turn to Christ, who will make weak things become strong. Satan, on the other hand, uses our weaknesses to the point that we are discouraged from even trying. He has sent people wooing false gods and invoking false means of salvation, and at times has even seemed to make them ashamed of themselves. The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the people have not yet found their freedom in the promised land. Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the people. What we need to realize is that in life we do not need to be more of anything to start to become the person God intended us to become. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
God will accept you for who you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord. Love replaces control as the motive for knowledge of essences. Essence refers to some elusive, unattainable, inner content of a thing which is hidden from perception. It is the properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. It is strongly believed both that the essence resides in the real or extra-mental thing and that it is able to be known. You ever hear someone say that they like a person because of their essence? The energy of the mind is the essence of life. It is something that radiates from the soul, the very core of their being, it is part of their personality, the way they smile, and their style. Essence, is an immanent consciousness of our experience. It is a realm of being and value which is in basis and origin utterly different from the whole reaming empirical World. If we look at ourselves only through our mortal eyes, we may not see ourselves as good enough. However, our Heavenly Father sees us as who we truly are and who we can become. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
Although knowledge of essences is acquired by observing even a single real or imaginary object, God sees us as his sons and daughters, as beings of eternal light with everlasting potential and with a divine destiny. Ultimate being is presumed to contain rational power and an infinite spirit as well as an irrational driving force that appears in the life cycle of individuals. Just as the macrocosm is a replica of the microcosm, so are humans a microtheos, a miniature God, and is thereby the primary source of the access to God. Genesis 1.27 reports: So, God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Just think about that for a moment. That is very powerful. God’s greatest desire is for you to see a clear picture of his character. When you see God clearly, you will find his love irresistible. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being. He stands for wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. In our hearts, we know that is true, and God makes no mistakes. There is absolutely no sin nor evil thought in God at all. He is perfection and moral purity. God possesses perfect knowledge and is all-knowing, his knowledge is infinite. It is impossible to hide anything from God. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
Everything that God has promised will come to pass. His faithfulness guarantees this fact. God is the truth. This is extremely important for us to understand because it is on God’s faithfulness that our hope of eternal life rests. He will honor his promise that our sins will be forgiven, as long as we repent, and we will live forever with him. The metaphysis of salvation is therefore a kind of meta-anthropology. Understanding of God—the ground of being—is to be achieved not through theoretical contemplation, but through active commitment. All people share in the divine nature; they sense it in the drive of sympathy and love toward oneness with the Universe, which is the way to God. Human beings are thus a cocreator with God. The Savior’s sacrifice opened the door of salvation for all to return to God. His grace is sufficient for all who humble themselves before God. His grace is the enabling power that allows access into God’s kingdoms of salvation. Because of his grace, we will all be resurrected and saved in a kingdom of glory. It surpasses all understanding, and countless people will inherit this salvation. It is life eternal in the presence of our Father in Heaven. It is the greatest gift of God. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
In the celestial kingdom, we receive of God’s fullness, and of his glory. Indeed, all that the Father has shall be given unto us. Exaltation is our goal; discipleships is our journey. Through the phenomenological approach to ethics and to values in general—this is, the description of the ethical states of consciousness and of existence. As we exercise a little faith and begin our walk as peaceable followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, our hearts will change, and our whole being will be filled with light. Joy about good news, for instance, is an experience with a subjective as well as an objective pole. The object of that experience is seen as a good thing, which instantiates a value. It follows that there are such things as cognitive emotions and that they point to certain real objects. Some values are experiences as having characteristics that might best be described and evoked by the word eternal. God will help us become something greater than we ever thought possible, and we will discover that the gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed working in our lives. It is true. God is living to fill us with his love. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
We may understand another’s emotion, and even feel empathy or experience the contagion of his or her feeling, or we may feel as one with another individual, that is, feel totally identifies. In none of these instances do we feel sympathy. Authentic sympathy is not the experience of fusion; it recognizes, meets, and respects unequivocally the subjectivity of another human existence in a genuine encounter. To love is to experience spontaneously the movement from a lower to a higher value in the object loved, an experience that leads to sudden intimation of the object’s superior value. Love is the adumbration of human possibilities; it is thus the sine qua non (an essential condition; a thing that is absolutely necessary) for sympathy and the basis for the religious ideal of infinite compassion and unqualified acceptance. God’s love affects the way we live. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as you love yourself. God loves us even when we choose to reject his love. In those times, he allows us to walk away into the life of our own choices. Yet, he is still there, always ready to redeem us from the results of our decisions. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
We should focus on the simplicity that is in Christ and allow his grace to life and carry us during our journey from where we are now to our glorious destiny in our Heavenly Father’s presence. We have direct, immediate, and primary access to the minds of other people. Careful description of our consciousness of other bodies discloses that we experience directly the other’s pain in his or her tears and embarrassment in his or her blushing, even though there is in addition an inaccessible area (Intimsphare) in every person’s soul. Phenomenological analysis of the structure of experience also discloses that we are confronted by a neutral sea of being and that the process of judging data to be either subjective or objective is a constitutive act of our ego. May we choose to serve righteous cause as valiant emissaries of our Lord Jesus Christ, and remain pure in heart, and love the Lord and serve him, even amid our own trials. We must love one another and see in one another the beauty of the soul. Remember, the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. No matter how young or how old we are, each of us s precious in God’s sight. He loves us. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
The phenomenology of religion seeks to understand the ultimate nature of the divine, to study its manifestations in the World of human concerns, and to explore religion through an analysis of the act of faith. Proof of the existence of God must make allowances for direct intuitive manifestations (Aufweis). We are in search of an infinity, traditionally called God. Humans are God-seekers (Gottsucher). This search lead human beings to an ineffable numinous experience of an ultimate Personality, appropriately described as ens a se, being in itself, which has qualities that can be described metaphorically in the usual religious doctrines, rituals, and legends. God meets us half way in response to faith. Divine attributes are absoluteness, infinite goodness, infinite power, holiness, spirituality, and personality. Crucial to the religious experience is a feeling that human beings are nothing at all (Nichtigkeit). This so-called creature feeling (Geschopflichkeit) is the experience of direct contact with the source of one’s being; it is the feeling of infinite dependence (Gewirktheitserlebnis). We have no choice; we are coerced into responding religiously because the salvation of our souls is no matter to gamble with. #RandolphHarrus 8 of 9
We have a divine nature, and each have a glorious work to do. If we do so authentically we face God (Gott); it not, we face an idol (Gotze). Religious rituals, such as prayer, contrition, reverence, and strongly held spiritual beliefs well up from within our deepest nature. That a response to these states can be experiences—a response which does not come from the World of everyday experience—is presumably a fact of both historical and personal awareness. We may discover our individual and eternal worthy by acting in accordance with our divine purpose in mortality. As we follow the example of Jesus Christ and love God, and serve one another with kindness and compassion, we may stand in purity, blameless before God at the last day. We choose to serve the Lord in his righteous cause that we may become one with the Father and with the Son. We embark in the service of God with heart, might, mind, and strength. We receive the Holy Ghost and seek his promptings to guide our efforts. Righteousness emanates out to the World when we understand what God wants us to do and then we do it. The family is the very heart of the work of salvation. The divine plan of happiness enables family relations to be perpetuated beyond the grave. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
MEADOWS| HOMESITE 48
New HomesCresleigh Meadows at Plumas RanchMeadows| Homesite 48
4 Bedrooms – 3.5 Bathrooms – 2,781 sq. ft. – $597,852
Homesite 48 is a Residence Three, the largest single story home offered in Cresleigh Meadows. At 2,781 square feet you’ll be hard pressed to find a contemporary floorplan that offers this much space. There are four bedrooms, three and one half bathrooms, including a multi-generational living option with separate bedroom suite with kitchenette, and a three car garage. The Dining Room and Kitchen are well situated to make entertaining a breeze.
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What Shall We Do About It?
A succession of small successfully kept promises leads to integrity. As we keep our promises, we feel the Spirit in our lives. Experience is not just an aggregate of heterogeneous items of mental content, but a structured whole whose two poles are pure consciousness, as a constitutive, meaning-conferring activity, and the World, conceived as the transcendent correlate of these intentional acts of consciousness. Between many of us and the World there is ever an unmasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. Why did God make some of us outcast and strangers in our own house? Many people feel different from others in heart and life and longing; shut out from the vast World by a veil. However, over the years, as we mature, all this fine contempt begins to fade for the Worlds we long for, and all its dazzling opportunities becomes more appealing. We want to use our best powers and latent genius. These powers of body and mind have in the past been strangely wasted, dispersed, or forgotten. The powers flashed here and there like falling stars, and died sometimes before the World had rightly gauged their brightness. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
Intellectual work is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and its own highest reward. Aspirations of human beings runs so deep as to be virtually definitive of what it is to be a human being: the aspiration to find one’s own individual being in a rational necessity of some sort. The innate love of harmony and beauty that set the souls of people forward with strength and courage is pure consciousness. To teach and help raise a sin-resistant generation might strike a deep spiritual cord within you. We have a master concept of human existence in the Holy Bible, which teaches us about the total human reality. Life must be treated as a spontaneous activity of consciousness and not as something that is passively suffered or undergone. Emotion is in fact not a physiological phenomenon, but a certain total mode of relating oneself to the World; its peculiar strategy is that of a magical transformation of given situations that bypass the necessity for dealing with them by rational, step-by-step methods. Thus, sadness makes the World appear sad so that it offers no opening to our efforts to change it, and in this way it justifies our passivity by making purposeful effort seems pointless. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
This self-imposed passivity is called a degradation of consciousness, a concept which is a clear forerunner of the bad faith that figures so largely with people who have lost confidence in humanity. How can emotion (or any other mental function) be interpreted as a spontaneous and purposive activity without attributing an intolerably sophisticated kind of self-consciousness to those who have the emotion? We have to set up an intermediate kind of self-awareness between explicit or reflective consciousness of self (as when I am writing and think to myself, I am writing) and events of which we are completely unconscious (for example, the circulation of the blood). This intermediary is exemplified by the awareness that I have of what I am doing—my intention—while I am doing. This is what is known as a non-positional consciousness and the strategies of action, such as those which are taken to be characteristic of the emotions, can be attributed to it without any of the incongruities that would result is explicit or verbal self-awareness were required. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
We honor people who strive to live pure and obedient lives. The strength of many people throughout the World is resilient, steadfast, and immovable in a variety of challenging circumstances and environments. These people with pure consciousness understand their divine identity, feel the Heavenly Father’s love for them, and seek to obey his will. The human consciousness is free because it is forced to think of itself as—and this is—other than the World and unincorporable into any casual sequences it may discern within the World. The feeling of anguish is our experience of this freedom. There who are susceptible to negativity. People who do not have the proper influences in their lives and their minds are being wounded, and are in need of some reinforcement and support. There is kind of a reality-negating function which is happening in some families and in the community where people in positions of authority are knowingly setting bad examples by telling others to fight certain individuals and making them feel that it is okay to do drugs and drink liquor, and it is not. Many attempt to conceal with freedom from themselves by a variety of devices, the most typical of which is belief in some form of psychological determinism. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
All of these efforts are doomed to failure because human beings can try to conceal their freedom only to the extent that they recognize it. The attempt succeeds only in producing a paradoxical internal duality of consciousness in which consciousness thinks of itself as a thing at the same time that it gives recognition to its freedom. This state, which has to be carefully distinguished both from lying to others and from the Freudian conception of a manipulation of consciousness by subconscious forces called bad faith. Its antithesis is an acceptance of one’s own freedom and a recognition that human beings are the absolute origin of, and are solely responsible for, their own acts. When you are planning to mug someone or rob a business, how do you get past all the thoughts telling you that what you are about to do is very, very wrong? How is it that criminals who carry out immoral acts day after day manage to convince themselves that they are actually rational people? To be a career criminal, you either have to be a master of self-deception, or genuinely just do not care. The majority of criminals either make excuses for, or attempt to justify, their actions. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
There is little evidence that criminals make justifications prior to committing the crimes, so it is possible—and somewhat likely—that they are conjured up afterwards as a way to mitigate the guilt. Criminals use a technique called neutralization theory. By using the neutralization theory, criminals are able to ignore values that would otherwise prohibit them from carrying our certain acts by: denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, and appealing to higher loyalties. This impossible combination of being-for-itself and being-in-itself, and in this impossibility is the ultimate reason for the hopeless character of these human enterprises (which is an attempt to make oneself God). And there is no way you can teach these people why what they are doing is wrong because they know and do not care and they will repeat the behavior until they have achieved their objective or are punished by the law. Their life-attitudes are self-contradictory because they are making an effort to achieve the status of a thing while remaining a consciousness that contemplates itself as a thing. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
However, their effort to convince themselves that they are God must fail, or while human beings (in most cases) are absolutely responsible for their choices, their existence is not the result of conscious choice. It is simply a fact, and it is uneliminable contingency makes it impossible for human beings to be ontologically self-sufficient in the way that God must be. These criminals often justify their wrong doings to others, including attempted murder or murder, by blaming corrupt politicians, police, and society. They also convince themselves that the ends justify the means by saying their victims deserved it or were asking for it, and they keep telling themselves that they are doing good and being successful, and repeat it so many times that they actually believe it. They treat them crimes as a skill and it helps them mitigate feelings of guilt. In their minds, it legitimizes the behavior. Criminals may view themselves as skilled entrepreneurs rather than someone who made a living by committing immoral acts. Alma 8.11 reports: We do not believe in such foolish traditions. We have enlisted in the cause of Christ to withstand the powers of Lucifer. We need to strengthen our spiritual strategies. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. We must teach people to become sin-resistant by teaching ourselves and others to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and to pray and to walk uprightly before the Lord. The Spirit will inspire us in the most effective ways we can spiritually inoculate our children. Being sin-resistant means being continually repentant, vigilant, and valiant. To help people become sin-resistant, we have to lovingly infuse them with the respect of the law and to honor God and want to be honest and understand that it is important to be on a high moral level, even when no one is paying attention to their behavior because God sees everything and will judge us for our actions. Keeping commitments prepares people to make and keep sacred covenants. When we talk about covenant keeping, we are talking about the heart and soul of our purpose in mortality. There is unusual power in making and keeping covenants with our Heavenly Father. It is even important to keep simple promises with our friends and family because it will empower us to keep holy covenants. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
The consummate reward of integrity is the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Out of the well of integrity springs an empowered sin-resistant generation. The youth are great imitators, so we have to give them something great to imitate. True moral freedom is now projected into a future that will not be realized until the dialectic of human antagonism has run its course, and of this future we are indeed helping to teach and raise a sin-resistant generation unto the Lord promise by promise and covenant by covenant. We need to take a conscientious effort to devote our energy and time to the things that truly matter, while we uplift others and build the kingdom of God. Hearing the word of God with earnest intent leads us to believe in God and to trust his promises. The more we trust God, the more our hearts are filled with love for him and for each other. Because we love God, we want to serve him; we want to bless the lives of others and help the poor and needy. The more we walk in this path of discipleship, the more we desire to learn the word of God fillings us with ever-increasing faith, hope and charity. It is beautifully simple, and it works beautifully. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
Star Struck: Be Perfect Like Your Father in Heaven
Stronger thinkers are apt to be great breath-holders, but holding one’s breath against belief is not doubting. As children, many of us are taught that the voice of conscience is the voice of God and, hence completely reliable. It is akin to reason which enables us to distinguish right from wrong. On the romantic comedy Three’s Company, the tall, thin, smart, pretty, and successful nurse called treated a man called Brett Wade in an episode called Star Struck. Brett Wade is tall, handsome, blonde and a charming actor on a soap opera called County Hospital, and ironically, he injured himself and had to go to the hospital and that is how he met Terri. Brett’s manager sees that Terri is a nice girl and thinks she is just what Brett needs as a facelift for his sleazy reputation. Brett is against dating Terri because she is not his type, but his manager tells him that if he does not, then the studio will cancel his contract because they do not want to represent someone with a reputation for being a troubled man. So, Brett takes Terri out on a date and of course she is star struck, then he asks her to marry him, and she agrees. Terri’s roommate Janet is all excited for the wedding, but Jack is suspicious because he knows that Brett has a bad reputation. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
Every prohibition must conceal a desire. The next night, Brett shows up at Jack’s restaurant called Jack’s Bistro with Shirley, a beautiful blonde, who like furs, expensive jewelry and likes to drink. While eavesdropping, Jack hears Brett telling Shirley that he is going to marry Terri and as soon as his contract is renewed, he is going to rush to Mexico and annul his married to Terri. Jack phone’s Terri and has her come down to the restaurant to see Shirley and Brett, which would expose the plot that Brett is cheating on Terri, but Shirley wanted some hard alcohol and has Brett rush to go get her some from a liquor store. When Terri arrives, Brett is gone, but Shirley is still there. Eventually she gets up and leaves, then Brett comes back and Jack outs him in front of Terri, and he denies everything. As Brett is clowning Shirley behind her back to Terri, Shirley walks back in to the restaurant as she realizes she left her purse on the coat rack. She hears Brett talking trash about her, and then breaks up with him. She is about to give him the diamond ring he gave her back, then asks herself, “What am I, stupid?!” and walks out of the restaurant. Terri then realizes Brett was just using him, and also break up with him. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
Brett experiences a terrible sense of guilt which is self-evident because he loses both of his girlfriends and his job. Mormon 8.40 reports: Why do you build up your secret abomination to gains and cause that a woman should mourn? Conscience is the inner perception of objections to definite wish impulses that exist in us; but the emphasis is put upon the fact that this rejection does not have to depend on anything else, that it is sure of itself. This becomes even plainer in the cause of a guilty conscience, where we become aware of the inner condemnation of such acts which realized some of our definite wish impulses. When one has been conditioned to respond in certain standard ways which are widely and strongly approved, one tends to find that one can break with such approved behavioral norms only after a genuine struggle and a stiff volitional conflict. In any case, whether we speak of the voice of conscience or the voice of our group or of learned blockage and interference patters, we often find that there are inhibitions to overcome before we can break with the mores of our peers. Jesus Challenges us to strove for excellence in all that we do—to develop our talents and abilities—and above all to live in accordance with his teachings. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
The pursuit of excellence should be major work of our lives. Many people, however, give little attention to it. Perhaps they feel that it is not possible for anyone to reach perfection in this life, and so they let the immediate pressures dominate their actions like Brett Wade did. While it is true that we cannot attain perfection in a total sense in this life, it is also true that we can attain perfection in many specific areas of activity. Furthermore, if we fail to do what we can and should do in this life, we may deprive ourselves forever of the opportunity to do those things later on and thus lose great eternal blessings. Although God gave us free will and does not infringe upon our freedom of choice, he nevertheless continues to lend us moral support. He gives us, through conscience, a means for distinguishing right from wrong. If we follow the guidance of conscience, we shall do our duty and act rightly. If we act contrary to its deliverances, we shall surely act wrongly. Heaven is not reached at a single bound, we build the ladder by which we rise, from the lowly Earth to the vaulted skies, and we mount to its summit round by round. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
Success is pretty much a matter of attitude, knowledge, and skill. Inherent ability is important, but that alone is not enough. Extraordinary people think optimistically. They dream the impossible dreams; they reach for the unreachable stars; and their achievements at times are unbelievable. This indomitable spirit also characterizes many people who have physical limitations because of war injuries, unfortunate accidents, or for other reasons have to face life against what seems to be impossible odds. There are people who strive diligently to do their best in all they do and then try to make their best better. Aaliyah Haughton participated in many outstanding presentations over the years and millions of the people who have listened to her sin know that the unreachable star of perfection has been reached in her perhaps as well as it can be here in mortality. God blessed her for her dedicated, committed service. With respect to spiritual matters, we can be perfect in this life in being honest in our dealings with others; having personal and family prayers; abstaining from the use of alcohol, tobaccos, and drugs; holding family home evenings; and in reading the scriptures daily. We can if we really want to. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
Our conscience is prescriptions reminding us of the moral views which have been taken by other members of our peer group. No one is perfect, but everyone should be striving for perfection. If we should stumble or fall as we travel life’s journey, it is important to remember many problems that we confront as so complex that we frankly have very little idea, and certainly no confirmed judgment or deliverance of conscience, as to which alternative is most worthy of being chosen. Many people are spending more money, enjoying more freedom, and driving more cars than ever before, but are also unhappy. Some of them have never know the satisfaction of doing their best at work, the joy of excelling in the class, the wonderful feeling of completing a job, any job, and looking back on it and know that they have done their best. In many such cases, where getting adequate knowledge in time available before a decision must be reached is impossible, we know in advance that we would be only too happy to do what is right if we could identify, with some reasonable degree of probability, the right alternative. A situation of this wort must frequently arise for people who cannot pass the decision on to someone. I dare you to look up at the stars, not down at the mud, and set your sights on them that, up to now, you thought were unattainable. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
There is plenty of room at the top, but no room for anyone to sit down. Who knows? You may be surprised at what you can achieve with sincere effort. Every valid moral principle must hold universally so that you will act on the maxim or principle of your action to be a universal law, binding on the will of every rational being. The Church is engaged in the greatest work in all the World—saving the souls of our Father’s children. That is really profound when someone is trying to teach you the love of God and show you how to life right so you can go to Heaven. The World is so full of others trying to hurt and take advantage of anyone they can by any means necessary. Exodus 10.17 reports: Pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague (sin) away. The wages of sin are death. That means the more we sin, the closer we get to forfaiting our eternal life with God. It is important that as children of God, each one of us knows his or her duties and be dedicated and committed in carrying them out in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord. It is important that we marshal our resources and get them working together in a correlated way so that, as a family and community, we can reach our full potential in helping the Lord bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of human beings. Our goal is perfection for all of God’s children who listen, accept, and live the gospel. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
Assuming that a being cannot suffer means that one need not give that creature any consideration when it comes to how that being is treated. And that is wrong, and can lead to a great deal of suffering being inflicted. 2 Thessalonians 6 reports: God is just, he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. Do not keep silent. Remind God of his promises again and again. Then eventually you will see what God said come true in your life. Nephi 1.13 reports: And it came to pass that there was no contention among all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus. Keep moving forward, being your best, honoring God, being determined and persistent, and God will bless you. Ezra 8.22 reports: The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him. The eye of the spirit cannot be dimmed, neither can it be limited in its ability to see. Our eyes are the vision of our indwelling Lord; they are the windows of our inner spirit and are always open to the vision of truth. We are free from all illusions of weariness. Our whole being responds to the thought of life. We are alive with the great vitality of the spirit. We are alive with the spirit. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
Emotions are important sources of moral decision-making. Conscience is squarely within the rational faculty, specially part of our practical reason since it is connected to the will as well as the other emotions. The conscience cannot be lost to any person no matter how morally corrupt they become, but it can be mistaken since the very general principles may be misapplied through ignorance or faulty reasoning. The misapplication explains, to a certain extent, how conscience, oriented to good, can be involved in the performance of evil actions. However, human beings have a general drive to do good. Conscience is an implementation of a human being’s desire for good. Because we naturally have a desire for the good, we also desire the means to that goal. God will take the scars of your life and turn them into stars, and give you beauty for ashes, and will pay you back double for anything you lost. Make up your mind to endure to the end and live a good life, knowing your health will be restored, and you will get new opportunities and new perspectives. Even though it is painful for a time, it is not the end. An eternal life of love and happiness is in front of you. Believe that. May we be successful in this, our greatest responsibility, is my humble prayer, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
Envision What a Happy Ending Might Look Like
Dreams are the bright creatures of poem and legend, who sport on Earth in the night season, and melt away in the first bream of the Sun, which lights grim care and stern reality on their daily pilgrimage through the World. Human beings can achieve goodness and fulfill their nature when they act according to reason. A person who lives his or her life according to reason is a good and happy person. How necessary and important it is that we all continually strive to improve ourselves and prepare for the day when a call might come to serve in a new or more responsible position! The whole purpose of our existence in mortality is to build the kingdom of God and to prove ourselves worthy to go back to into God’s presence. To act and live according to reason is what is objectively good for every human being. However, this does not suppose that every human being knowingly desires a life lived according to reason. Wishing what is ultimately good is to desire union with God, and only those who exercise their specifying potentiality—reason—can do so. Part of what it is to suffer is to prevent someone from being what he or she ought to be, that is, to prevent him or her from flourishing. On the other hand, to cause someone to suffer is to prevent him or her from fulfilling his or her desires. Therefore, suffering is bad because it undermines or destroys what the sufferer cares about, his or her own flourishing, his or her desires, or both. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Fate is just even to rival storytellers, and balance matters. In this brief time, away from our Heavenly home and parents is a time when we are given agency for the purpose of being tried and tested in every way. There will be some days when we are stressed and sad, and we will face some hard tests. It is important to learn from them and grow from them. These experiences will teach us to be stronger. God cares and loves you very, very much. The experience of pain and heartaches, sorrows, and tribulations give us all experience; we can also make them work for our own good. Difficulties are just God’s errands. If we are sent upon them, it is an evidence of his confidence in us. Therefore, let us be glad, be happy, for it is a way of being wise. God loves you and he is ever willing to help you at all times. Just call on God through fervent prayers. God never fails; he is there, he is listening, and he cares very deeply about you. With daily prayer, scripture study, and our feet firmly planted on the road to the celestial kingdom, we have a perfect brightness of hope. God loves with a great love the people whose heart is bursting with a passion for the extraordinary. When you face situations that seem impossible, we should pray. When we ask, God releases favor. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
I remember how I seemed to float, then, down the melancholy glory of that track upon the sea, away into the World of dreams. There is a secret way of the soul which all may know, it is the way of peace and love. This secret way leads into places of joy and into the house of God. It is the way of the spirit and all may enter who will. Plant your feet firmly on the path to the celestial kingdom. Lift up your heart and let your soul rejoice, and never give up. When you ask God, angels go to work and strongholds are broken. When you ask, God beings to turn things around in your favor, and you will see the greatness of God. As love enters, fear vanishes. God will fill us with love that no fear can enter our thoughts and perfect intelligence guards and governs our every act. Our soul will rejoice at the realization of life, and we cannot be depressed because God has claimed us as his own. The light of God has come and the day of salvation is near. We need those who bring gladness into our lives. We need those who give encouragement and reflect optimism. Sincere yet simple words of praise can lift souls and bring gladness. Encouragement can be quick and simple, but it is a voice of gladness that is needed by everyone. Some things in life are precious like freedom and liberty and are very important. Many have had their lives changed permanently fighting for our freedom, but their voices of gladness overshadow the prevailing interruption and sacrifices they have made for all of us. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
You have no right to dispose of your future destiny whilst there is the least probable chance you may be reclaimed. God never made a promise that was too good to be true. Hope springs eternal for those who have the vision to trust in and to live by God’s inspired principles. Thank God for noble souls who can and do weather life’s storms with sincere voices of gladness which overshadow the present and make the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ real and strengthening. Have a faith that God can see. Put actions behind what you believe. Demonstrate your faith. You may not see how your dream could ever work out, but as you take steps in faith, you will see God open new doors. You will have the strength to do what you could not do. You will see God’s favor in unusual ways. The voices of gladness from the scriptures remind us that we do not have to walk through life alone. We do not have to run around like savages jumping on each other’s bones. Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. 2 Nephi 25.23 reports: For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. Therefore, know that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
Let us remember that acts of kindness with pure motives and righteous purposes can be and are encouraged to be done in quietness, gentle voices, and in privacy. We can program ourselves to build, encourage, and give strength. Moroni 7.47 reports: Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endures forever; and who is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him or her. God’s spirit and power will comfort us as we extend ourselves in help and love to those who need us. However, God’s commandment that as we love him, we must respect ourselves, suggests we must not accept disrespect from others. It is not charity to bow down in despair and helplessness. That kind of suffering should be ended, and that is very difficult to do alone. If we help individuals to relieve pain, or loneliness, or injustice in our own communities, God promises that a compassion would enter our hearts, and through the Holy Ghost sanctification could take place within our souls, and we will become more like our Savior. I pray in all humility that our faith in God may move us to such action and that we may thus know, by the Holy Spirit, the meaning of charity, so that we can exercise it in our lives. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
What secret of happiness is greater than to follow your illusions? Experience is a great teacher, except when it is not. What we make of experience—and whether it serves us or harms us—depends on the knowledge we build out of it. And make no mistake: we are all master knowledge builders, able to turn the most random events into meaningful knowledge about the World and how to operate it. Much of this knowledge is called experiential knowledge, and it lies outside our awareness, where it is difficult to see or assess. Father in Heaven, thank you for bring to completion the good work you began in us. You promised to complete our incompletions. So, thank you Lord that the fulfillment of our dreams is on the way, even the secret petitions of our hearts. You spoke the Worlds into existence, and you have us in the palm of your hands. I believe that you will make sure we complete what you put us here to do. As we move forward in faith, the foundation of greatness is being laid, which will allow us to go beyond our barriers and become everything God created us to be, and everything he intended for us to have will come to fruition. In Jesus name, Amen. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Corruption is the Enemy of Development
No program should set out to create failure or humiliate participants. The divide-and-conquer method might have been contrived in the religious and political realms, sharpened on the battlefield, and perfected in the dating game, but this technique can also be used to the individual’s advantage it is meant to harm. The divide-and-conquer may seem fruitless in modern times because the problems it creates become much more complicated as the input grows. There will always be resistance. Though power may tend to corrupt, there will always be those who believe in righteousness. Also, self-control and self-mastery leads to self-governance, and the realization that we do not necessarily need membership in a group we cannot trust. We do not need a chain of obedience or a corrupt hierarchical system. We only need leaders: preferably self-leadership that leads by healthy example. When we are isolated, we are better able to focus on our areas needing development. Our flexibility and resilience depends on the meaning we make out of a disappointing experience, and the strength of the relationships that shape, even transform, that experiences. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
One reason many leaders never make it to the top is because they never fail, leaving them at a loss when they do. It is not failure alone, but the ability to put failure to good use that creates endurance and success. When a person is able to make good things out of bad experiences, this allows one to transcend or recast painful experiences—or at least endure them with good humor. Good leaders develop good attitudes and lead to speak to people’s hearts, and not only will that individual, but also their audience will emerge from their caves of doom and gloom, like one awakened from sleep, to the World in which we live again. A collective force of free individuals living with the mindset that cosmic laws based on health, wellness, and survival are the keys to well-being. The goal is to not only ease one’s own pain, but to heal wounded feelings and mitigate the disappointment of others. This will allow us to find a common ground and cultivate a society of compassion and fraternity, as we withstand adversity, and persevere and develop relational sensibilities. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
It is important to actually get to know people and expose individuals to ideas that challenge their current ways of seeing. This will develop the ability to read people and situations with greater acuity; and help them reframe how they see difficult experiences. Sometimes a walk through a dark forest (do not try this) is exactly what we need to lead us to the light and refresh and recharge. Our feelings are a joint venture—a product of our interactions and the way we frame them, given our repertories. When we question our current way of seeing things, it also frees us to work together to map and alter the pattern. Maybe, even if it is risky, taking a new path is what we need because it will allow us to see something else, something that will illuminate our vision. The Anatomy Framework will turn our attention away from labeling people and toward what they are doing, how they feel, and how they interact. This will make it easier to make new sense of old situations in which we will caught. When we tether new actions to new ways of seeing, we will integrate new behaviors more quickly, and these behaviors will feel more natural to us and less artificial to others. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
We can be negative and look for the ugly in life and the faults and failings of those around us, or we can develop optimistic attitudes and see the beautiful in life and the good, the strong, the decent, and the virtuous in people, which brings joy and happiness. It is a matter of attitude. Many of us have an even greater interest in the creation of beautiful people—the type of radiant beauty that comes from righteous living and acceptance of God. I have observed many people who have a beauty and spiritual glow. The Lord has told us that we can be beautiful. 1 Corinthians 3.16 reports: Know you that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. Love yourself. It is more important to stay optimistic because beauty comes from the inside out. Peace is the beauty of life. Beauty is Sunshine. The togetherness of a family. Beauty is the advancement of humanity, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth. The doorway of your heart is the place where loves resides for you are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6.16). A solid foundation is the most important part of a building or of a person. We are to be the light to others, to control our anger, and reconcile bad feelings with others. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. As we live with the principles of God in our hearts, we are building a rock-solid foundation upon which our lives can safely be constructed. The Lord, the great Master Architect, have given us perfect plans and specifications to guide us in the building of our lives. These are the sacred scriptures. They contain the words of the Lord and should frequently be read and considered. By seeking the Lord through prayer and through his holy scriptures, we learn to look for the beautiful and to develop great attitudes. We achieve guidance in the building of our foundations and our lives. Beauty is when you can appreciate yourself. When you love yourself and others, that is when you are the most beautiful. As we live righteous and unselfish rights, the Spirit of the Lord enters our souls and then radiates from us. We become beautiful, even as a holy temple is beautiful because we are happy with ourselves. Happiness is the greatest beauty secret. 2Nephi 4.16 reports: Behold, my soul delights in the things of the Lord, and my heart ponders continually upon the things which I have seen and heard. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Greed gives births to many ills—Crime and Corruption. The cancerous spread of corruption has been a matter of great concern to all people. Power is primarily being sought for amassing wealth, perks, and privileges. People’s welfare has become a thing of secondary importance on the agenda. Political ethics, values, ideology, policy issues, have been forgotten. Shockingly, the struggles for power has created divisions in government, businesses, and families. There is an iron rule in economics, it is Stein’s Law. If something cannot go on forever, it will stop. While divide-and-conquer seems like a great idea, the longer it goes on and the more people that get involved, the obvious it becomes, and it makes the corruption harder to hide. One may kill mosquitoes in a room by spraying insecticides, but many more will come inside from the breeding ground, the hole needs to be plugged. The breeding ground of corruption deserves to be cultured and the cause has to be located and removed. You cannot go on investigating corruption month after month, and year in and year out. There has got to be a point where the Government is able to say: “We have enough information.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
A Faint Echo of the Invitation from the Savior
Love is how we stay alive. Many of us are alive today because we felt a faint echo from God saying, “Come follow me.” The only power that exists is inside ourselves. The soul must already exist before the birth of the body because we seem to know things that were not available to us. However, it is immortality we crave. Imagine the psychological impact of being immortal. If we could be engineered by a combination of cybernetic enhancements, genetic engineering, and other scientific modification so that as humans, we would not die from aging, and it would be very hard to kill us. That would take a lot of stress off of people and we would be able to live longer to acquire money and have the freedom to really enjoy life without current limitations. Immortality has been one of humankind’s major concerns, and it has been traditionally confined to religious traditions. Many cultures believe in immortality, but many of them think that the body eventually dies and the immaterial soul (that is an incorporeal existence) has an astral body that will go on living in another realm, where we do not need money. Some believe after this life, we will enjoy all of the blessings of eternal and we have been given glimpses of what our family in Heaven will be like. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Nevertheless, many people love life on Earth, they love the families and friends that they have now and the places they live, they love their bodies and never want to leave Earth. However, Earth is a learning experience for us, a place for us to grow and show love to others, and it is believed that after we do depart Earth, we will be reunited with our families and friends and live in places where we love. The Son of God is our Redeemer and will deliver us from death. Heaven is the home of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death; it is the place or state of existence of the blessed after the mortal life. Isaiah 65.17 reports: Behold, I will create new Heavens and a new Earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. (That means we will have no memory of pain and suffering, but we will see our loved ones.) God has promised that in Heaven nothing—even the memory of this World’s sin and pain—will cast a shadow over the joy he has in store for us there. In this current World, even the memory of what someone did to us years ago can still cause us pain, but that will not be true in Heaven because our focus will not be on the past, but on Christ and what he means to us. God has come to fulfill the promises of the Prophets. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Life can be challenging at times, and today I was at home watching a TV show from the 1960s, called Bewitched. And it aired for eight years, all the way into the 1970s. Bewitched was about a beautiful witch called Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) and she falls in love with a mortal guy called Darrin. It is a romantic comedy and it is pretty funny. The show was created to take the muggings in New York City off the minds of people and make them feel safe. However, after watching a few reruns of the show, I noticed that the husband Darrin was played by two different guys. The first Darrin was Dick York, but Mr. York has a secret that he did not tell the show’s producers when he was cast. He had severely injured his back doing a movie a few years before. The injury caused constant and excruciating pain. After a few years on the TV show Bewitched, everyone started to notice that Mr. York was suffering because it became routine to have scenes and plots contrived and written in which Darrin (Dick York) was sitting down, lying down, or reclining (usually sitting at his office desk at work, or in bed, or on the couch at home) as much as possible. However, because the nature of the show required physical comedy, situations would arise that would even put strain on someone in good physical condition. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
On one occasion, Darrin (Dick York) was hanging fifteen feet in the air and the technicians were shining a light in his eyes during the setup for the shot. All the flickering made him feel weird and he started feeling weak and dizzy. Mr. York asked to be lowered from the platform he was on. When he reached the ground, his body felt weak and unstable. And the shaky actor collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. And Mr. York decided to quit the show. Then another young man named Dick Sargant was hired to replace Dick York as Darrin. Although the two guys look similar, Darrin number two was not as friendly and the ratings for the show fell significantly. And while Dick York was at home suffering and having financial problems he found out that job offers had been coming in for him, but his listing with the union was somehow messed up and no one notified him. And so, examples like Dick York are why people seek immortality in the physical World. They sometimes get injured and those injuries are so bad that it limits what they can do and they even have to quit their jobs. Revelation 21.4 reports: God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death nor mourning nor crying nor pain. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Heaven will be a powerful spiritual experience. Heaven is a real place and will be filled with real people, which is why the Bible sometimes compares Heaven to a mansion with many rooms and sometimes to an enormous city teeming with people. Heaven is an eternal city. A river, clear as crystal, will flow from the throne of God down the middle of the city. On each side of the river there will be a tree of life, yielding twelve kinds of fruit every month. The streets will be pure gold, like transparent glass. The walls of the city will be adorned with every kind of jewel, emerald, onyx, amethyst, topaz, and diamonds. There will be no need for a Sun and a Moon, and no need for a temple nor church. The presence of the Lord will be it light. The Lord’s promise of eternal life is real. What happened in our past does not matter, as long as we repent and have faith and become obedient to the Lord. We are to nurture our faith, with a hungering for the word of God in the scriptures, and the obedience to the truth we have received. Feasting on the word of God, heartfelt prayer, and obedience to the Lord’s commandments must be applied evenly and continually for your testimony to grow and prosper. And we will have experience in our current lives that will profoundly touch us with gratitude, awe, and confidence in the future. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Humans have always benefited from obedience to true principle. We can be assured of reaching worthy objectives in life by understanding and consistently following correct principles rooted in revealed truth. The Divine Laws are the great cosmic principles that govern the functioning of the Universe; they are at the base of all Creation. They also govern the functions of conscience, and motivate human experimentations. When we know and apply these laws, we become receptive to our Creator and to our spiritual, divine dimension. We then evolve consciously and all the mysteries of the Universe can be revealed to us. We must gain learning, but we must apply it wisely. Otherwise, we have politics without principle, industry without mortality, knowledge without wisdom, science without humanity. One of the divine laws is power of obedience to law. We must obey human laws and the laws of God, as we have freedom to act and mastery of our actions. When we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. We also have the power to love and be kind to others. Worship strengthens our power to God. We must carefully and prayerfully protect the spiritual power line that links us to the Savior, and we will become more like him. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all people. Seek after things that are virtuous, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Another thing we need is the love and companionship of our family and friends. This too must be earned by compliance with or obedience to certain rules of behavior. We should be kind and considerate and choose friends who love the Lord. We must be worthy of them by leading good, clean livings, and obeying the commandments of God. It is important to be thoughtful and find occupations that make us happy. It should make us happy just to know that we have the freedom to choose what we want to do to earn a living. When it comes to selecting a career, choose something that one will enjoy doing, and then do the very best one can to be honest, honorable, and upright in one’s dealings and in the services one gives. As long as we seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, know that all these other things we will be blessed with. Work diligently. Be at the right place at the right time. Maintain a degree of humbleness. Also, develop an inner driver and a competitive desire to excel rather than just get along. And foster common sense. Through obedience to these business guidelines, we will have success and happiness. We must ponder Divine Laws and reach into the very essence of what we are and what we may become. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Two Bodies and One Soul
If I say there is caviar in the mountains, you just bring the crackers. True love is two bodies and one soul. As we exercise our faith in the Savior, he will lift us up and carry us through all of our trials and, ultimately, save us in the celestial kingdom. It is undeniable that love plays an enormous and unavoidable role in our several cultures; we find it discussed in song, film, and novels—humorously or seriously; it is a constant theme of maturing life and a vibrant them for youth. Some people even believe that love is a genetic urge that dictates our behavior and others think of love as an intensely spiritual affair that in its highest permits us to touch divinity. Goodness is what all desire. Now it is clear that a thing is desirable only in so far as it is perfect, for all desire their own perfection. The goodness of a thing is tied fundamentally to its fulfillment of its nature. A thing is perfect insofar as it is fully developed and its specifying potentialities have been actualized. To love something is in part to desire for the goodness of the thing loved. The ultimate proper object of love is God, who is the highest good absolutely. God’s goodness is also revealed in every human person, given that every human being is made in the image of God. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
God loves human beings by helping them to maximize their capacity for reason, which is to love the good and act in accordance with it. However, the ultimate good is God, so the nature of human beings is fulfilled by loving and obeying God. The necessary condition for union with God is the state of freely willing only what accords with God’s will. If this is the case, God cannot ensure that all his human beings will be saved in the end and we do not want to be in their path when their feet are put to the coals. As part of our Heavenly Father’s plan, he allowed sorrow to be woven into our mortal experience. While it seems that painful trials fall unevenly on us, we can be assured that to one degree or another, we all suffer and struggle. It is our prayer that the Holy Spirit will guide us to a greater understanding why this must be so. Everyone is acquainted with some measure of loneliness, despair, grief, pain, or sorrow. Without an eye of faith and understanding of eternal truth, we often find that the misery and suffering experienced in mortality can obscure or eclipse the eternal joy of knowing that the great plan of our Farther in Heaven really is the eternal plan of happiness. There is no other way to receive a fullness of joy. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
God invites us to respond with faith to our own unique afflictions in order that we may reap blessings and gain knowledge that can be learned in no other way. We have to lean to endure to the end and to tolerate the hard work and many physical and emotional challenges. Sometimes our minds will scream at us to stop and quit, but we have to endure to the end. Nothing will beat the satisfaction from knowing that you did not give up. The Lord has the power to intervene to relieve the suffering, heal the sick, and raise the dead. Genuine beings, actual or possible, are distinguished from imaginary entities by their possessions of essential being (esse essentiae). This essential being is not a rudimentary mode of existence. It is best described as an intrinsic possibility or intelligibility which pertains to definable essences as reflections of the divine ideas. It is to be contrasted with the intrinsic impossibility and incoherence of res secundum opinionem. Actual beings are distinguished from merely possible beings by their possession of existential beings (esse existentiae). This existential being is not a principle or act within actually existing things. The difference between essential and existential being is to be found not in things themselves but in the relation of essences to God. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Essential being consists in being thought by God, while existential being consists in actually depending on God as a creative Cause. Apart from the fact that each actual being, as a product of divine creativity, is individually related to God, individual things, in which specific essences are multiplied, required no explanation of their individuality. Individuation involves no addition, whether of matter or act of existence, to the intelligible essence. In analyzing the individual as such it is sufficient to say that it is internally undivided and is not identical in existence—that is, in its relation to the Creator—with any other individual. The transition from essential to existential being, or the act of divine freedom. Individual beings come into existence not from intrinsic necessity but because God freely wills to create. Divine will equally requires divine intellect. The human soul is immortal not by nature, but by divine grace. There is a tendency on the part of some to ignore, criticize, or rebel because they cannot accept the human delivery system. Some will not accept Jesus Christs as the Savior because they are waiting for a Prince of Peace to come who is not quite as human as Jesus of Nazareth. People speak of a caste society in America, which we do not have, but did you know Jesus was the son of a carpenter? And some people assumed no good could come of him. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Lack of trust in the Savior is evidence of weakness of people who are unwilling to accept the human qualities of those who care called and raised up to give direction and counsel. We, too, should not be deceived by doubter who would use the same tactics by planting thorns to destroy the harvest. How can we avoid failure of faith? By not allowing our spiritual foundation to be withered away by winds and storms of unbelievers. 2 Nephi 2.6-9 reports: Wherefore, redemption comes in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. Behold, he offered himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered. Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the Earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who laid down his life according to the flesh, and takes its again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise. Wherefore, he is the first product of God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of humans; and they that believe in him shall be saved. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
While some are struggle with an “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” attitude, they may be missing the truth, the way, and the ultimate harvest. Jesus was not accepted as the Only Begotten Son of God because thousands preferred to recognize him as “Just the child of Mary.” If our spiritual foundation is strong, we will welcome continuing revelation, change, and direction. We will develop the ability to accept releases, callings, and new challenges with enthusiasm. We will be too busy to be offended. We will be too big to be hurt. We will accept people for wat they are and what they can do and become. Change will not only drive our roots deeper, but it will also cause them to grown into new and fertile soil. That way we will be more receptive of knowledge and God. Our horizons will expand. Our Father in Heaven knows what we need. Change can be difficult. Change can be fearful. However, change in the right direction is a growing process. Each new assignment, each new experience in the gospel framework, if fulfilled to the best of one’s ability, adds new strengths. Sometimes when we are asked to be obedient, we do not know why, except the Lord has commanded. By keeping the damned from harming the innocent, God prevents (restrains) them from doing further evil, and thus prevents their further deterioration of being. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
To act and life according to reason is what is objectively good for every human being. By being in a place with like-minded people in which they can never wish and attain what is objectively good for them, the damned could never be happy in the sense that they cannot live according to the objective good, to the will of God. The evil which the damned endure in Hell constitutes suffering for them because it goes contrary to (or undermines) human flourishing. In Hell, they can never be what they ought to be, they can never increase their being, and the qualities which constitute their flourishing are absent. So, let us not forfeit the harvest. If we forfeit the harvest, we lose the satisfaction of accomplishing difficult tasks and serving better. Most of all, we forfeit the gift of eternal growth and progress. May we accept this human condition and do or best to live godly. We must continue to make marvelous contributions toward enlightenment and stay faithful in our efforts. To continue in righteousness takes personal courage and strength of commitment. God is omnipotent and the human mind is given a consciousness. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
She Went with Her Date to Get Some Coffee
We are all different. Each of us has been given talents as well as challenges. Some of us may have physical or mental limitations; others may be lonely or come from homes that do not teach gospel principles. Every physical and psychological problem is well worth the effort of investigation for its own sake, but for other reasons as well. Dr. Sigmund Freud would have thought Goldie Locks with a nymphomaniac because she liked to sleep in a different bed every night, but Dr. Freud thought all problems were related to the sex and childhood disorders. Much like the information on labels of paintings can affect, half unconsciously, our estimate of them, the same is possible when we label people without truly understanding or talking to them. Like the labels on paintings, the outward appearances of some people is often misleading. Some disabilities are more obvious than others. Many are immediately apparent, especially if someone relies on a wheel chair or cane. However, others—known as invisible disabilities are not. People who live with invisible injuries that are not mental, often times cannot take a pill and functional normally and they face particular challenges in the workplace and in their communities. Some people have debilitating fatigue and pain. #RandolphHarris 1 of 13
Desire disorders, like most intimacy problems, must be defined in relation to a person’s age, gender, partner, expectations, and sexual history. It is not at all unusual for a person to briefly lose sexual desire. Typically, erotic feelings return when anger towards a partner fades, or fatigue, illness, and similar temporary problems end. Some people do not merely lack sexual desire; they are repelled by sex and seek to avoid it. A person who suffers from sexual aversion feels fear, or disgust about engaging in the sex. Often, the afflicted person still has some erotic feelings. For example, he or she may still masturbate or have sexual fantasies. Nevertheless, the prospect of having the sex with another person causes panic or revulsion. Sexual desire disorders are common. Possible physical causes include afflictions, fatigue, hormonal difficulties, and side effects of medicines. Desire disorders are also associated with psychological factors such as depression, fearing loss of control over sexual urges, strict religious beliefs, fear of pregnancy, marital conflict, fear of closeness, and simple loss of attraction to one’s partner. It is also not uncommon to find that people with desire disorders were sexually mistreated as children. #RandolphHarris 2 of 13
Because Heavenly Father loves each of us, he has provided us with a source of comfort and strength—the scriptures. While growing up, I was blessed to come from a home where scriptures were an important part of our lives. I have gone to many Church activities and heard friends and family bear testimony of the power of the scripture. It gave me a desire to gain personal testimony of the power and truthfulness of the scriptures, and I am still in the process of building my faith and learning to see the blessings in my life. I know some of you say that there are bad people in the church, and there are, but imagine how bad they would be if they did not go to church. Then I have seen good people stop going to church and become the biggest sinners in the World, committing sins even against their own family for profit, while smiling in their face and acting like they do not know why an individual is going through Hell, but quick to tell that person he or she is bearing a generational curse. Some people have physical disabilities that you cannot see and they do not want to admit that, and it can be frustrating. They look normal, but there are things they should be able to do, and cannot. So, harassing them and making life hard on them can be more destructive than you even care to realize. #RandolphHarris 3 of 13
When you have physical limitations, it also limits the types of jobs you can do and for how long. Many people pray for help. Moroni 7.33: Christ reported if you will have faith in me, you shall have the power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me. What a wonderful promise. If we are to put our faith in the Lord, he will help us. Just take one day at a time and do your best. Some of us may face challenges every day, but daily scripture study will remind us to have faith in our Heavenly Father and focus on him, magnify God in our lives and not our problems and life will improve. What we tend to focus on, we magnify. I do not want to focus on my problems every day and only magnify them and make them worse. I want to focus on God and see the promises in the scriptures fulfilled in my life. No matter where you live or what kind of family you come from, Heavenly Father loves you and will be there to help and strengthen you whenever you need him. There is a power in goodness that is often learned in families. There is a void when it is lacking. We have to develop greater reverence for the sanctity of life, and realize all people are not the same. #RandolphHarris 4 of 13
We need to stand tall and be firmly fixed in perpetuating Christlike virtues. Who does not have need of assurance in times of uncertainty and testing? Who is so self-confident that there is never a want for stabilizing influence in life? A fundamental purpose of Earth’s life purpose is growth and attainment. The level of importance people place on the sex is unbelievable! How are you supposed to get to know a person if all you are thinking about is what is in between their legs or in the place where the Sun does not shine? The reality of sex is that some people have it, some people do not, and life does not revolve around avoiding it or chasing it. There is no such thing as a normal sex life, even though many people consider sex a normal part of life. And it probably does not deserve the amount of attention it gets. Most of the push for people to have the sex is pressure that we get from the outside World. However, the sex can be damaging to our culture and self-esteem. Have you noticed since the 1990s, the style of dancing has changed, people used to dance face to face, but not their face is looking at the back of someone’s head when they dance. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13
Not only that, but as homosexuals became more accepted in the community, more and more people became obsessed with butts and anal penetration. There are songs glorifying butt. Whereas, in the past, people used to talk about other features of a person like their intelligence, their pillow soft lips, their dreamy eyes, cute nose. You know, parts we can visibly see. Also, it is important to have someone who can carry a conversation and actually wants to see you. And, the butt problem is not all to blame on homosexuals because many men are just looking for more traction and that is what most obsession is about. However, companionship is the most important part of a relationship, you want to be with one person, someone you really like and can build a house with. Companionship is that state of being friends, but it goes deeper than even a friendship. It is a closeness or familiarity, a true fellowship among two people, who for whatever reasons, have truly connected. Strong couples are able to be good companions, sharing their day to day lives, personal histories, and interest together. They give verbal and physical affection like hugs, compliments, provide emotional support, and are able to help each other through tough times. It is also important to have someone to validate you. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13
Also, people who are not in relationships need to have their requirements for companionship met in other ways. It is important for them to have strong bonds with their friends and family, people who know them well, and are able to understand them. We all need to know that we have an important place in someone’s life. And, some people have different needs for amount of control in a relationship, or have specific requests to feel balanced and comfortable in. Gratefully, for people who do not have support systems, and even those who do, in his perfect love, God has provided a way for us to resolve challenges while growing in strength and capacity. The sustaining power of faith in times of uncertainty and testing is a God given way that we may find peace, joy, and purpose in life. Faith is like high energy particles that cannot be seen. When we generate more of these particles, through trust in God no matter how challenging the circumstance, that energy travels in waves. It is part of the electromagnetic spectrum called radiant energy. And when we increase of faith in God, we are picking up on more of his radiant energy, which should counteract much of the negative energy that we have been receiving. #RandolphHarris 7 of 13
Radiant energy is the energy of electromagnetic waves. It is a form of energy that can travel through space. For example, we receive the heat from the Sun, which is located 92.96 miles from Earth. As you may know, when there is a solar flare, which is basically the Sun emitting more energy, the Earth tends to get hotter, and it can disrupt communication devices on Earth. So, think of an increase of your faith in God like a solar flare, you are attracting more radiant energy from God, and those electromagnetic waves are blocking out things that may be bad for you and drawing more things to you that may be good. It will take time, but you will start noticing that people are nicer to you, they are more protective of you, they want to talk to you, and eventually they will have new and exciting opportunities from God to offer you. When you change your energy, the type of energy you attract will also change. You notice that many suburban housewives are always happy and smiling when they go out and public and how people seem to worship them? Well, that is because of the energy they are putting out. And in the suburbs people talk and word gets around, so you want to be painted in the best light and have people like you. It does not mean being fake, it just means putting out good radiant energy of electromagnetic waves. #RandolphHarris 8 of 13
I met a few couples, and they do not say much, but they are always nice and smile and say hi when I see them and that makes me feel good. That is the type of community I grew up in. A place where you treat everyone with respect, and you do not have to get deeply involved with people, but respect them, out of the love of God, so you can attract that same energy back to you. These people are well balanced and consistent, and they care about their reputations and would never do anything to hurt anyone on purpose. Therefore, trust in God and in his willingness to provide help when needed, no matter how challenging the circumstance. Obey his commandments and live to demonstrate that he can trust you. Be sensitive to the quiet prompting of the Spirit. Act courageously on that prompting. Be patient and understanding when God lets you struggle to grow and answers will come one wave at a time over an extended period. Motivating faith is centered in trust in the Lord and in his willingness to answer your needs. For the Lord does bless and prosper those who put their trust in him. The consistent, willing exercise of faith increases your confidence and ability to employ the power of faith. God loves everyone, we are all his children. 2 Nephi 2.29 reports: And choose not eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which gives the spirit of the Devil power to captivate, to bring down to Hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom. #RandolphHarris 9 of 13
The most important thing to God is to save our souls for everlasting life. The consistent, willing exercise of faith increases your confidence and ability to employ the power of faith. Electrical energy, a flow of charged particles along a conductor or the flow of ins across a membrane is much like God sending energy through your body and brain to fortify your soul. Faith is energy which is hoped for and not seen; therefore, do not dispute faith because you cannot see it. You may not know how you are going to make it, you may not know where your next blessing is coming from, but do not say it is impossible that you can press on because after the trial of faith, the blessings that come your way will be so amazing that you will receive that confirming evidence of Spirit. And those feelings will fortify your faith. As you repeat that pattern, your faith will become stronger. The Lord knows your needs. When you ask honestly and with real intent, he will prompt you to do that which will increase your ability to act in faith. With consistent practice, faith will become a vibrant, powerful, uplifting, inspiring force in your life. As you walk to the boundary of your understanding, exercising faith, you will be led to find solutions you would not obtain otherwise. I testify that I know that is true. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13
Another thing is we may not always get what we want, but God will respond with what in his eternal plan is best for you. Faith is not just about instant gratification, it is an energy that will act as a conduit to get us through life, help continue to practice divine laws, and help us to go out and earn the things we want. You cannot just walk in Walmart and come out with a cart of goods and services without paying for them. You have to do something to earn that money so you can go and buy what you want. Our faith in God gives us understanding and strength. Some vital decisions many have experiences, come through sustaining through the grueling, anguish, and struggle that precedes a confirming answer. And, those experiences are edifying. It is comforting to know that God will never try you more than you can manage with his help. God uses your faith to mold your character. And there are people out there living the high life, who wished they could have held back and been isolated because some of the afflictions that are suffering with. This is not where you will always be in life. Strong moral character results from consistent correct choices in the trials and testing of life. You can use your faith to guide you. What you think and do will determine what you are and what you will become. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13
We have to have courage to make the right decisions. This is done through contemplation and prayer, and exercising faith to willingly make choices consistent with the teachings of God. Such choices are made with trust in the electronic energy of God. Worthy character will strengthen your capacity to obediently respond to the direction of the Spirit. Righteous character is what you are becoming. It is more important that what you own, where you live. Right character enables you in times of trial and testing to make difficult, extremely important decisions correctly even when they seem overpowering. Neither Satan nor any other power can weaken or destroy your growing character. Only you can do that through disobedience. So, behaving is important. The more character is fortified, the more enabled you are to exercise the power of faith that will help you successfully grow so you can complete your purpose on Earth. A mother recently expressed to me that her daughter was killed on the way home from work, but because of her daughters love and support, the mother was able to continue living. That is so important because that woman gave up her career and free time make her daughter a success. Sometimes we are not living for ourselves, but we are here to support others. The power of the Lord will bless us. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13
And I also lost someone who means the World to me, but much like that woman’s daughter, I feel in my heart and soul that our loved ones are still alive on this planet. And I truly believe that and we will see them again. That is my testimony of faith. And you may have had people pretend to be your loved one, but you could tell by their actions it was not them. We know our loved ones so well and that if they were here, and could come to us that they would. The Father in Heaven loves you no matter what your circumstance, no matter what winds of trial, turmoil, or tribulation whip you like a hurricane. God and his guidance through the Holy Spirit will sustain you in an increasingly more challenging World. However, I want you to believe that your loved one is not lost, like I know mine is not, and we will someday see them again. Keep your sustained power of faith. Help others understand how faith in God and his teachings can bless their lives. I know there has been something that you have believed in your life with a strong conviction and it has come to be, use that same faith and know whatever it is you are missing, if you have the faith, one day you will find it and know it is right. #RandolphHarris 13 of 13
Randolph Harris II International Institute 