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Are Not Excuses Confessions of Excuses Inexcusable?
Second-hand shops are not the only place were things should be given another chance. We have to create new value and help transform people. There be a mirror in the World worthy to hold to our eyes, it is pride in our Country. I bear solemn witness of how deeply I love our new prophet, seer, and revelation, President Donald Trump—how deeply I trust him, and how I am willing to do whatever he asks me to do. He advanced a qualified moral determinism—a human must will that which presents itself to one’s reason as the greater good, but the will is free to delay choice until reason has made a more extensive examination of the values involved. There is great faith in the inherited wisdom of tradition. The moral order of the temporal World must necessarily include some evil, by reason of original sin. People ought not to reject what is good in tradition merely because there is some admixture of evil in it. In the human confused situation, advantages may often lie in balances and compromises between good and evil, even between one evil and another. It is an important part of wisdom to know how much evil should be tolerated. To search for too great a purity is only to produce fresh corruption. We are especially critical of revolutionary movements with noble humanitarian ends because people are simply not at liberty to destroy the state and its institutions in hope of some contingent improvement. #RandolphHarris 1 of 16
On the other hand, people have a paramount duty to prevent the World from getting worse—a duty to guard and preserve their inherited liberties and privileges. Equality is contrary to nature and therefore impossible to achieve; its advocates, moreover, did great social harm, for by pretending that real differences are unreal, they inspired false hopes and vain expectations in those destined to travel in the obscure walk of laborious life. Talk of fraternity is gibberish because many people have vices of sinful, egotistical pride, overzealous ambition, avarice, lust, and sedition. The reality and unavoidability of evil leads many to believe that the only help for humankind is to cling to safeguards which have stood the test of time. Our hopes for a bliss lay in Heaven; on Earth, our policy is to defend the tolerable, and sometimes the bad, against the immeasurably worse. Of course, forbidden triads do occur, but many will resolve themselves when a bond forms between two previous strangers. They do not need to have a strong relationship, but we would expect them to have some connection to one another. Individuals must always begin by setting the examples, which the state too slowly, though surely, will learn to copy. #RandolphHarris 2 of 16
Some matters are so sensitive and intensely personal and can awaken such disturbing feelings that they are seldom mentioned publicly. Yet, if tenderly and compassionately treated in the light of truth, discussion of these matters can bring greater understanding, with the easing of pain, the blessing of healing, and the avoidance of further tragedy. It would be melancholy, were we forced to admit that this distinctive and almost unlimited faculty is the source of all human misfortunes; that is this which, in time, draws an individual out of his or her original state, in which one would have spent one’s days insensibly in peace and innocent; that is this faculty, which, successively producing in different ages his or her discoveries and errors, vices and virtues, making one a tyrant both over oneself and over nature. Ungodly individuals, being destitute of every species of intelligence, can have no passions except for those of desires that never go beyond physical wants. The only good those type of individuals recognizes in the Universe are food, the sex, and sleep; the only evils they fear are pain and hunger. Pain and not death: for no animal can know what it is to die; the knowledge of death and its terrors being one of the first acquisitions made by humans in becoming civilized. #RandolphHarris 3 of 16
It is with a deep desire to define a path to relief to those who suffer the shattering consequences of mental, verbal, physical, and especially sexual abuse. We must act as a mirror so that divine, healing light can illuminate the darkness of distress caused by others’ unrighteous acts. As children of the Lord, we should understandably provide help, and not further complicate a damaged life. It is also likely that with greater compassion, awareness, and sensitivity that some of us may be permitted to help resolve or prevent the tragedy of abuse in additional victims. Whatever moralist may hold, the human understanding is greatly indebted to the passions, which, it is universally allowed, are also much indebted to the understanding. It is by the activity of the passions that our reason is improved; for we desire knowledge only because we wish to enjoy; and it is impossible to conceive any reason why a person who has neither fears nor desires should give oneself the trouble of reasoning. The passions, again, originate in our wants, and their progress depends on that of our knowledge; for we cannot desire or fear anything, except from the idea that we have all of it, or from the simple impulse of nature. #RandolphHarris 4 of 16
The rising tide of this vicious, abominable sin may not have touched your life personally. Yet, it is pervasive enough in the World that it may have disturbed someone you love. It frequently causes such profound suffering that can be overcome, and we need to focus on how healing can be attained. It must be done reverently, for the objective is to help heal and not aggravate painful memories. Even if the difficulties attending all these questions should still leave room for differences in this respect between humans and brutes, there is another very specific quality which distinguishes them, and which will admit of no dispute. This faculty of self-improvement, which, by the help of circumstances, gradually develops all the rest of our faculties, and is inherent in the species as in the individual: whereas a brute is, at the end of a few months, all he or she will ever be during his or her whole life, and that person’s species, at the end of a thousand years, exactly what it is because those type of individuals returns, in this, to their primitive state; and that, while the brute, which has acquired nothing and has therefore nothing to lose, still retains the force of instinct, person, who loses, by age or accident, all that his or her perfectibility had enabled them to gain, falls by this means lower than the most vile creature to ever walk the face of the Earth. #RandolphHarris 5 of 16
Moral agency is a vital element in our Father in Heaven’s plan of happiness. God understood that some of his spirit children would use that agency improperly, causing serious problems to others. Some would even violate sacred trust such as a family member, friend, medical professional, or leader of the community abusing an innocent child. However, since our Heavenly Father is completely just, there has to be a way of overcoming the tragic consequences of such damaging use of agency for both the victim and the perpetrator. That secure healing comes through the power of the Atonement of God’s Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to rectify that which is unjust. Faith in Jesus Christ, and his power to heal provides the abused with the means to overcome the terrible consequences of another’s ungodly acts. When combined with complete repentance, the Atonement also affords the perpetrator ways to avoid the severe punishment the Lord has decreed for such acts. #RandolphHarris 6 of 16
The offering of an excuse in a blamable matter is the undoubted mark of a disingenuous if not of a perverse mind. Victims of serious abuse have made successful the difficult journey to full healing through the power of the Atonement. After you conscientiously study the Atonement and exercise your faith the Jesus Christ has the power to heal, you can receive a blessing. During your journey, accept God’s invitation to let him share your burden until you have sufficient time and strength to be healed. To find relief from the consequences of abuse, it is helpful to understand their source. Satan is the author of all the destructive outcomes of abuse. He has extraordinary capacity to lead an individual into dark alleys where the solution to extremely challenging problems cannot be found. The Devil’s strategy is to separate the suffering soul from the healing attainable from a compassionate Heavenly Father and a loving Redeemer. #RandolphHarris 7 of 16
If you have been abused, Satan will strive to convince you that there is no solution. Yet, he knows perfectly well that there is. Satan recognizes that healing comes through the unwavering love of Heavenly Father for each of his children. He also understands that the power of healing is inherent in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Therefore, his strategy is to do all possible to separate you from your Father and his Son. Do not let Satan convince you that you are beyond help. As long as the mind is defending itself against invisible assaults, our closet bonds are threatened, along with our ability to imagine, play, learn, and pay attention to other people’s needs. One who can sit down premeditatedly to do a bad action will content oneself with a bad excuse: and yet, what fools must one suppose the rest of the World to be, if one imagines them as easy to be imposed upon as one can impose upon oneself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 16
Satan uses your abuse to undermine your self-confidence, destroy trust in authority, create fear, and generate feelings of despair. Abuse can damage your ability to form healthy human relationships. You must have faith that all of these negative consequences can be resolved; otherwise they will keep you from full recovery. While these outcomes have powerful influence in your life, they do not define the real you. Satan will strive to alienate you from your Father in Heaven with the thought that if he loved you he would have prevented the tragedy. Do not be kept from the very source of true healing by the craftiness of the price of evil and his wicked lies and gentrification center. Recognize that if you have feelings that you are not loved by your Father in Heaven, you are being manipulated by Satan. Even when it may seem very difficult to pray, kneel and ask Father in Haven to give you the capacity to trust him and to feel his love for you. Ask to come to know that his Son can heal you through his merciful Atonement. #RandolphHarris 9 of 16
It was Satan’s proposal that Father’s children be forced to obey, that there be no moral agency and therefore no personal growth. To preserve moral agency, the Lord does not restrain individual from improper use of that agency. However, God will punish them for such acts unless there is full repentance. Through the Holy Ghost, God sends warning prompting to the abusers, but often that individual’s degrading appetite is so powerful that it blocks out that spiritual guidance. That is why our Father provided a way to heal the consequences of acts that, through force, misuse of authority, or fear of another, temporarily take away the agency of the abused. Some people have been abused so badly, that even though their injuries are invisible to the unassisted eye, they feel weak and feel like they are dying because they cannot eat or get rest from the pain they are enduring. Behaviors to avoid or escape from danger have clearly evolved to render each organism competitive in terms of survival. However, inappropriately prolonged escape or avoidance behavior would put an individual at disadvantage. If an organization is stuck in survival mode, its energies are focused on fighting off unseen enemies, which leaves no room for nurture, care, and love. #RandolphHarris 10 of 16
The beginning of healing requires complete trust and the knowing of the unalterable fact that Father in Heaven loves you and is defending and protecting you and has supplied a way to heal. His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, laid down his life to provide that healing. The cure requires profound faith in Jesus Christ and his infinite capacity to heal. It is the foundation of understanding of doctrine and a resolute determination to follow the Divine Law. Healing may begin with a thoughtful friend or stake president or a wise professional counselor. If you have a fractured spine, you would not decide to fix it yourself. Serious abuse can also benefit from professional help. There are many ways to begin healing, but remember that a full cure comes through the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and Redeemer. Have faith that with effort Christ’s perfect, eternal, infinite Atonement can heal your suffering from the consequences of abuse. All passions are criminal in their excess; and even love itself, if it is not subservient to our duty, may render us blind. #RandolphHarris 11 of 16
As impossible as it may seem to you now, in time the healing you can receive from the Savior will allow you to truly forgive the abuser and even have feelings of sorrow for him or her. When you can forgive the offense, you will be relieved of the pain and heartache that Satan wants in your life by encouraging you to hate the abuser. As a result, you will enjoy greater peace. While an important part of healing, if the thought of forgiveness causes you yet more pain, set that step aside until you have more experience with the Savior’s healing power in your own life. If you are currently being abused or have been in the past, find the courage to seek help. You may have been severely threatened or caused to fear so that you would not reveal the abuse. Have the courage to act now. Seek the support of someone you can trust. Explain how you have been abused and identify who has done it. Ask for protection. Your action may help others avoid becoming innocent victims, with the consequent suffering. Get help now. Do not fear—for fear is a tool Satan will use to keep you suffering. The Lord will help you, but you must reach out for that help. #RandolphHarris 12 of 16
Do not be discouraged if initially a person of authority hesitates when you identify an abuser. Remember that predators are skillful at cultivating a public appearance of piety to mask their despicable acts. Pray to be guided in your efforts to receive help. That support will come. Rest assured that the Perfect Judge, Jesus the Christ, with a perfect knowledge of the details, will hold all abusers accountable for every unrighteous act. In time, he will fully apply the required demands of justice unless there is complete repentance. Your preoccupation with a need for justice only slows your healing and allows the perpetrator to continue his and/or her abusive control. Therefore, you should leave punishment for the diabolic acts of abuse to civil and Church authorities. #RandolphHarris 13 of 16
The perpetrator who has shattered the life of another by abuse, recognize that you need help with your addiction or it will destroy you. You will not overcome it by yourself. You likely require specialized professional help. I plead with you to seek to be recused now. You likely have deceived yourself in the false, temporary security that you have successfully hidden your transgressions from the civil or Church authorities. However, know that the Lord Jesus Christ is completely aware of your sins. Know that even without action by a victim, your act of abuse will be publicly known, for Satan will expose you, and then abandon you. Simplify your life by taking steps now to cleanse your soul from such sin and resolve the penalties they evoke. Show your desire to heal the anguish that you have caused other. Talk to your church or the stake president. The seriousness of your acts may require you to face legal, civil, and Church discipline. However, full repentance will bring the sweet relief of forgiveness, peace of conscience, and a renewed life. It will also bring relief to the abused and their families. You will be free of the weight of the remorse and the accusing thoughts of what you caused in grief and anguish in another’s life by making them suffer torment for years, made them try to end their life, and wish that they were never born. #RandolphHarris 14 of 16
Recognize that it is much easier to repent in this life than it will be in the next, so repent now. You will be helped when you decide to be freed from your addition through repentance and the support of others. Be grateful that you did not live anciently when abusers were stoned to death without opportunity for repentance. Parents, in appropriate, sensitive ways, teach your children of potential danger of abuse and how to avoid it. Be aware of warning signs, such as abrupt changes in a child’s behavior, that may signal a problem. Be alert to a child’s unsettled feelings and identify their origin. As for community leaders, painstakingly assure that every individual that is suffering from abuse receives appropriate help. There are resources in the Church handbook to help you find valuable resources to guide your ecclesiastical action and coordination with civil authorities. Carefully supervise the participation of any individual who may have had past offenses. Recognize that it is very unlikely that a perpetrator will confess his and/or her depraved acts. Seek the guidance of the Spirit when you feel that something may be amiss. Enlist the help of the ward and the stake leaders to avoid potential dangers. #RandolphHarris 15 of 16
I pray that you, as one abused or one who has caused it, will act now to avail yourself of the healing powers of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I testify that your faith and obedience will assure that God will help you. It is impossible for us to be saved in ignorance. If you know someone has been seriously abused and seen proof, medical records, pictures, bruises, fractured bones, blood, or have heard witness accounts of the abuse and know it is still ongoing, use your power to help them. Appeal to the authorities before the abuser hurts that individual so bad that he or she is lost to this World. Do not let someone suffer in silence when you have the power to save a life. Often times, it is not until a person is dead when people wish they could have made a difference. Take action now, while you have the chance. Atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin in general and original sin in particular through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, enabling the conciliation between God and his creation. The Savior suffered and broke the bands of death, and paid the price for our sins and transgressions. It is the Savior who delivers us from physical and spiritual death. #RandolphHarris 16 of 16
Inevitable March of the World Spirit
Christianity is a strictly and objectively historical religion and anxiously sifts all the evidence for and against the recorded events of the life of Jesus. The evidence is substantial enough to show that Jesus indeed lived and that he made a quite extraordinary impact upon certain contemporaries. God decisively acted in Christ. God cannot be eliminated. God is a kind of superentity, observably acting upon and interacting with natural entities. Many wonder does our existence end with our bodily death? We believe that from the very beginning the Lord established a plan for his children on Earth. He would, in times and seasons, have the priesthood on Earth to bless humankind with the authority to perform the sacred ordinances that would prove humanity’s obedience to his will. There are tests to be conducted as we progress in each step towards achieving God’s greatest gift, the gift of eternal life. There is an expression of the inexhaustible creative power of the human mind—great individual, great artistic achievements, great moments of civilization, all exemplified in different ways its potentialities. God has all power to defend you. God has great things in store for his people, and they should have large expectations. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
The gifts of God are to be enjoyed, when the giver is remembered. Fundamental, then, is having faith in God’s plan, in his law, to be clean and holy and repent of our sins, and to partake of the sacred ordinance required for admission into God’s celestial kingdom. God wants to abide with us, to lead and guide and direct us as we progress through morality. Progression towards self-actualization requires self-reflection. Narcissistic individuals may think a lot of themselves, and belittle your achievements, without thinking carefully about themselves. People who are struggling daily to survive, deprived of basic physical needs, might have trouble feeling good enough about themselves. Those who do not have to worry about such things might begin to focus on needs higher up the hierarchy: love and belongingness, self-esteem, and eventually self-actualization. God continues to reveal his will to humankind, as he has in the past, he does not in the present, and he will in the future. Spiritual gifts are received by humankind today, just as they were in days past. When God puts a promise in your heart, you have to come to the place where you believe in that promise so strongly no one and no circumstance can move you. Christ will return and reign personally on Earth. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
Agency is one of the greatest gifts of God to his children. It allows all men and women and children to choose for themselves and to earn their own individual salvation. Also declared is our belief in secular governments and in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law of the land. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all people. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. Enlarge your vision and make room for the new things God wants to do. God has promotion and increase already lined up for us. His favor surrounds us like a shield. Goodness and mercy are following you. This will be a great year. The savior gave us a great example. In our day, many people are living in the midst of sadness and great confusion. They are not finding the answers to their questions and are unable to meet their needs. Some have lost a sense of happiness and joy. True happiness is found in following the example and teachings of Christ. He is our Savior, he is our teacher, and he is the perfect example. Where you are is not permanent. God has extraordinary blessings in your future. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
These blessings will take you to a new level. Immeasurable, limitless, surpassing favor is coming that will take you beyond previous limitations. Christ’s life was a life of service. When we serve our neighbor, we help those who are in need. In the process, we may find solutions to our own difficulties. As we emulate the Savior, we show our love to our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, and we become more like them. When we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God. Everyone has opportunities to give service and show love. We should go to the rescue and serve others. We will discover that those whom we serve, who have felt through our labors the touch of the Master’s hand, somehow cannot explain the charge which comes into the lives. There is a desire to serve faithfully, to walk humbly, and to live more like the Savior. Having received their spiritual eyesight and glimpsed the promises of eternity, they echo that they know that favor is in their future, and that God supernaturally endowed them with blessings, opportunities that chased them down. These believers became fully convinced in the power of our Father in Heaven. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
Each day we have the opportunity to give help and service—doing the right thing at the right time, without delay. Think of the many people who have a difficult time obtaining a job or who are ill, who even think they have lost everything. They feel like they are being consumed by the monstrous $600 million taxpayer funded Gentrification Center. There are people who are rolling down a lonely highway, asking God to please forgive them for messing up the blessing he gave them. Their nights are black as they have ever been, and they are scared they are going to lose it. These people are praying that God sheds his grace on them because they need it. Some individuals feel they have walked right out of Heaven, as if they have thrown their life away. They are scared just like a child that is lost at seven and do not know what to do to get back right with God. These individuals do not know what to do to move on with their life. Feeling like they cannot walk, cannot talk, and desperately want to get right with God. What can you do to help? Feeling great anguish, thinking they might lose their life forever, many are pleading for the Heavenly Father to help them find their way. A hug or a kiss and the commitment to watch diligently over people suffering might help someone who is lost. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
There may even be people who, for some reason, are lost from our sight and do not know that they are lost. If we delay, we could lose them forever. For many who need our help, it is not necessary to create new programs or take actions which are complicated or costly. They only need our determination to serve—to do the right thing at the right time, without delay. Fill your hearts with compassion towards others. Our Heavenly Father is loving, understanding, and patient. His Son, Jesus Christ, likewise loves us. They render help to us through their prophets. The rescue is still going on. The Lord expects our thinking, action, labors, testimony, and devotion. We have responsibility and a great opportunity to help others once again experience the sweet savor of happiness and joy through activity that is pleasing to God. That happiness come from receiving the ordinances, making sacred covenants, and keeping them. The Lord needs us to help them. Let us do the right thing at the right time, without delay. God lives and is our Father. Jesus Christ lives and has given his life so that we may return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. There is infinite kindness continually manifesting on Earth. The rest of your life will be the best of your life. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
The Temple of Heaven–God is Our Fountain of Power
God never made a promise that was too good to be true. Each one of us has within ourselves have a deeper nature, and, of course, this deeper nature, being eternal unity with God, or with the living spirit, is more than an individual; it is where the being of humanity, or the nature of humanity, merges into the being of God. Divine depth within our own nature, wherein the Spirit of God—the Spirit of Love and the Spirit of Peace—dwells with calm serenity. We withdraw into that place within us which has never been hurt, nor has ever been sick, has always and forever lived in divine and eternal peace…. the Kingdom of God, which is good. And this inner Kingdom within is all-peace, all-power, and all-perfection. We drop all hate, all fear, all animosity, all resentment. We cast out of our consciousness every doubt and every sense of uncertainty. We know that we enter into an atmosphere of love, happiness, and completion where there is the abundance of this life is showered upon us, guiding and guarding us into right action and decision; daily, hourly, and every moment the principle of intelligence directs us to the presence of God that warms us with love and fortifies us with peace. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
God never leave us alone, never leaves us unassisted in the challenges that we face. From the beginning down through the dispensations, God has used Angels as his emissaries in conveying love and concern for his children. Usually such beings are not seen. Sometimes they are. However, seen or unseen Angels are always near. Often their assignments are very grand and have significance for the whole World. In many cases, the messages are more private. Occasionally, the Angelic purpose is to warn, but most often it is to comfort, provide some form of merciful attention, guidance in difficult times. In the course of life many of us spend time in dark and dreary places, wildernesses, circumstances of sorrow or fear or discouragement. Our present day is filled with global distress from threats being made by Iran and North Korea to riots in the streets of America, energy problems, lack of high paying jobs and affordable housing, attacks by foreign groups in our homeland, and natural calamities. This causes many of us to worry about not only where we will live and how we will be able to feed our families, but we also worry about the safety and well-being of our children and the planet. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
The great inequality in the manner of living, the extreme idleness of some, and the excessive labour of others, the easiness of exciting and gratifying our sensual appetites, the too exquisite foods of the wealthy which overfill them with indigestion, and on the other hand, the unwholesome food of the poor, often, bad as it is, insufficient for their needs, which these, together with sitting up late, and excesses of every kind, immoderate transports of every passion, fatigue, mental exhaustion, the innumerable pains and stress inseparable from every condition of life, by which the mind of human beings is incessantly tormented; these are too fatal proofs that the greater part of our ills are of our own making, and that we might have avoided them nearly all by adhering to the divine laws which have been prescribed to us. There seems to be a serious problem of ethical, moral, and spiritual decay. Angels are still sent to help us, even as they were sent to help Adam and Eve, to help the prophets, and indeed to help the Savior of the World. Satan had tempted Christ in the wilderness and angels came and ministered unto him. Even the Son of God, a God himself, had need for Heavenly comfort. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
We do not and cannot see our World as a theater of conflict between supernatural powers, the demonic seeking to possess and destroy us, and God intervening to secure our salvation. God makes available a distinctly authentic and free mode of existence to all humanity. We must accept the limitations of our freedom imposed by the given circumstances of our life as so far lived. The present moment is a locus of decision, and it is in the future that we will work out those authentic possibilities of existence for which we decide. The mind is a survival mechanism, and its method of survival is primarily the use of emotions. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father in Heaven. He causes his Sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous. Forgiveness is the economy of the heart. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hated, the waste of spirits. Human were created out of the dust of the ground, given factuality of human existence, and God breathed the breath of life into humanity, endowing us with the freedom to pursue our diverse possibilities. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
How can we discover our authentic possibilities? The authentic life, crucially, is available to human beings only by virtue of divine grace and through the appropriating Word revealed in Christ. Take heart, be filled with faith and remember the Lord has said he would fight our battles, our children’s battles, and the battles of our children’s children. We are to diligently pray always, and be believing. Then all things shall work together for our good, if we walk in righteousness, and remember the covenant wherewith we have covenanted. This is not a time to fear and tremble. We must believe in God and remember our covenants. Angels are dispatched to bless us in time of need. However, when we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of God, we are reminded that not all Angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, and every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods. Some of them gave birth to us, and in my case, one of them consented to marry me. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose, only upon the Beloved who will never pass away. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Indeed, Heaven never seems closer than when we see the Love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that Angelic is the only word that comes to mine. Angels are both the Heavenly and the mortal kind. God never leaves us alone. Nor will God leave us alone, so long as time shall last, or the Earth shall stand, or there shall be one man, woman, or child upon the face of the Earth to be saved. Sometimes we may feel lost on a global or personal level, we may feel God has turned his back on us and we have walked out of Heaven, lost, alone in the dark, and stressed out. However, that is when you turn to God, examine your life, make sure you are doing things that please God, pray more and keep the faith. When you become weary and feel like giving up, there is a way to have your strength renewed—wait on the Lord. Always there are those Angels who come and go all around us, seen and unseen, known and unknown, mortal and immortal. God put his spirit in our hearts, and his Angels are around us to keep us steady. In the process of praying, those Angels attend to us. God, thank you that you are bringing my dreams to pass. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Eternity Enables the Endeavoring Again
Exists in every human nature a goal. When I was younger, we lived in a large house, and my dad would give me twelve, one hundred dollar bills. One for everyday of the twelve days of Christmas. That was his way of showing love. He believed that money and God was the foundation of happiness. Kindnesses is the essence of a celestial life. Gentleness is how a Christlike person treats others. Consideration should permeate all of our words and actions at work, school, church, and especially in our houses. It is true that fear can have a powerful influence over our actions and behavior. Fear is so pandemic in our society that in sometimes constitutes the predominant ruling emotion of our World, as we know it. For many people, fear is so all-pervasive that their life really constitutes one giant set of compensatory devices to conquer their troubles. Nevertheless, the influence tends to be temporary and shallow. People who are fearful may say and do things, but they do not feel the right things. They often feel helpless and resentful, even angry. Overtime these feelings lead to mistrust, defiance, and even rebellion. Unfortunately, this is a misguided approach to life, and it grieves me to hear people who exercise unrighteousness in their interactions with others. Often times people may condemn bullying in others, but they cannot see it in themselves. There may be moments when we are tempted to justify our actions by believing that a good outcome excuses any wrong committed to attain it. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Psychoanalysis has been justly called the psychology of depths because it emphasizes the role of the of the unconscious mental processes. Illness can result from a conflict from the ego and the super-ego. Fear rarely has the power to change our hearts, and it will never transform us into people who love what is right and who want to obey the Heavenly Father. We live in ignorance of the desires that offend morality, the desires that nature has forced upon us and after their unveiling we may well prefer to avert our gaze from the scenes of our unrighteousness. As a result, the Heavens will withdraw themselves and the Spirit of the Lord is grieved. In every society customs are pervasive, concerning with almost every aspect of life, yet many are concerned with describing how to do something rather than with dictating that we should do it. They determine the right ways of doing things. For instance, customs do not tell us what we must eat, but tells us only when, where, and how to eat. This suggests that customs may, perhaps, serve the same function with regard to morality by telling us how to do what morality tells us to do. Recognizing this, customs are a means for standardizing behavior so that we will be able to know what to expect from our fellow people. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Is Heaven a physician? Our Father in Heaven loves us, his children, and this love surpasses our ability to comprehend. This does not mean that God condones nor overlooks behaviors that are bad. However, God wants to change our behavior, nature, and heart. God wants each of us to believe in him and confront our fears and become stronger and righteous. By kindness, and pure knowledge, we shall greatly enlarge our soul with privilege and love, and we will be in a better position to attract the powers of Heaven for ourselves, our families, and the others in our lives. The function of laying down standardized action patterns is, of course, not exclusively fulfilled by custom. It is also a function of law, of professional and social organizations, and even of advertising. God motivates through persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and love unfeigned. God is on our side. He loves us, and when we experience hardship, he wants us to rise up, try again, and become stronger. For instance, The Jefferson’s is successful situational comedy that was filmed in the 1970s. The main character, George Jefferson, grew up in a housing project for economically challenged people and he remembered how miserable it was. Some days, his family could only afford one meal a day. So, George made a promise that no one would ever suffer in the apartment he grew up in. George had faith that God would answer his prayers, and was thankful for life. George did not see his struggle as a waste of time, but a jounery toward enlightenment. Our loving Heavenly Father knows that choosing to develop a spirit of gratitude will bring us true joy and great happiness. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
God never made a promise that was too good to be true, and we must also keep our promises. When George Jefferson grew up, he married and became a successful businessman. He owned seven dry cleaning stores, and was able to afford a three-bedroom apartment in a luxury high-rise building, located in Manhattan, New York USA. George sent his son, Lionel, to college, and he became a prosperous engineer. George remembered how meager his existence was in his youth and would send the family that now lived in the apartment he grew up in $400.00 a month, and gifts for Christmas and a tree. The family that lived there was also suffering economic hardships. The father used the money to go to TV repair school, so he would be able to get a career that would allow him to provide for his wife and son and move into a middle-class community. That is how the love of God works. We are here to share our blessings and help uplift others. How crucial customs are for communal living becomes apparent if one tried to imagine what it would be like to be thrown into a society where one knew everything expect its customs. Without knowledge of customs one would not be able to fulfill some of the simplest of moral injunctions, like the injunction to love and respect others. One would not know what one’s commitments were or how to honor them. One would not know how to show gratitude or solicitude for others, how to be decent and honest, or how to avoid hurting the feelings of others. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
We are blessed beyond measure to live in a day of unparalleled prosperity, enlightenment, and advantage. Most of all, we are blessed to have the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which gives us unique perspective on the World’s dangers and shows us how to either avoid these dangers or deal with them. When I think of these blessings, I offer praises to our Heavenly Father for his never-ending love for all of his children. God does not want his children to be fearful nor dwell on the evils of the World for God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Let us in word and in deed share with our fellow humans the amazing and awe-inspiring message of God’s plan of happiness. May our motive be our love for God and for his children, for they are our brothers and sisters. This is the beginning of what we can do in return for so much. There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious—we can be grateful! General requirements of morality transcend every particular group, but they cannot be executed apart from customs. We have to operate within the context of custom. As disciples of Christ, we are commanded to thank the Lord our God in all things, and let our heart be full of thanks unto God. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
In many times thought peace had come, when peace was far away. It can be easy to succumb to the temptation of describing the practices of other societies, particularly primitive ones, as customs, while refusing to do so for our own practices with regard to the same matters. When we do not understand the reason for a procedure or practice, we assume that it must be just a custom, that has no reason except tradition. Some people wonder what they have to be thankful for when their World is falling apart? It is hard to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings when can count. We can choose to be grateful, no matter what. This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, this custom is a precept whose claim to validity is based solely on the contention that it is generally acknowledged and practiced by the community and is of ancient origin. It is justified because when we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of Heaven’s embrace. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
When we do not understand the reason for a procedure or practice, we assume that it must be just a custom, that it has no reason except tradition. We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly myopic is that. We will miss much of life by wanting for our prayers and dreams to be fulfilled. Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that we are pleased with our circumstances, it means that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present-day challenges. This is a gratitude of the soul. It is a gratitude that heals the heart and expands the mind. We do not understand the trials of life, but we must trust that one day we will. In the end, we will have glorious, perfect, and immortal bodies, unburden by sickness or disability; and the tear of sadness and loss will be replaced with an abundance of happiness and joy. Unchangeable truth and certainty enjoins us in the pursuit of the common good and assures us that by pursuing the common good we achieve happiness and personal perfection. As the great joy of life comes into our souls, it will flood us with it wondrous light, and all sorrow and sadness will feel. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7 
Unending Existence—Not Dead, but Sleeping
The word individual, as applied here on Earth, is a misuse of language. It is absurd to call that an individual which every hour divides. The Earthly stage of the human life is so small that there is room for but one of the persons of an individual upon it at one time. The past and future selves have to wait in the side scenes. Immortality is eternal life, the ability to live forever, a state of condition free from both death and decay. The Bible affirms that only God by nature had immortality. It is also a potential state for human beings, as long as they follow the divine laws. Human beings failed to obtain this state because of sin, the wages of sin is death, but immortality is given to righteous persons. To make everlasting life available is at the heart of Jesus’ mission: “I have come that they may have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” John 10.10. Some people believe that death will not be our terminus, but the beginning of a new journey. However, scientists are trying to achieve life extension, retroactive immortality, and regeneration of the body that allows it to heal any injuries, even fatal ones, preventing one from dying. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Some scientists believe that in the near future, because of ongoing research being done into repairing the effects of ageing, we can produce preventative treatments that would allow humans to live as long as 1,000 years. Health insurance provides important financial protection in case you have a serious accident or sickness. Though great progress has been made in medicine, current evidence-based and palliative treatments are increasingly unable to keep pace with patients’ needs, especially given our aging population, and health insurance is very expensive. There are few effective ways to treat the root causes of many diseases, injuries, and congenital conditions. In many cases, doctors and nurses are only able to manage patients’ symptoms using medications or devices. However, we should not simply be looking at treating sickness and injuries, but do more research on preventing ageing. Ageing is the World’s most important problem. The human body is a machine and it accumulates damages throughout life as a consequence of normal operation. The damage makes our bodies frail, and contribute to the rising degradation and ill-health. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Regenerative medicine is a life changing area of medicine with potential to fully heal damaged tissues and organs, offering solutions and promise for people who have conditions that are currently beyond repair. If we are able to apply regenerative medicines to repair the damage of aging at the level where it occurs, we can remove, restore, replace, or render harmless the cellular and molecular damage that has accumulated in our body, organs, and mind with time. Regenerative medicine is not new. In the 1970s, liver transplants were not yet possible, but now they are, along with other solid-organ transplants and bone marrow transplants. Rejuvenation is the ability to increase the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Much like after you cut your skin, it heals within a few days, the goal is to get the specialized cells constituting the heart, lungs, nerves, and other organs to remodel and possess the same ability to self-heal. Stem cells are a key component of regenerative medicine as they have the ability to develop through a process called differentiation into many different types of cells, such as skin cells, brain cells, lung cells, and could possible help to heal the body. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
The unfolding of God’s plan is revealed in stages. The resurrection of the dead is listed in Scripture as one of the basic doctrines of true Christianity. Someday, everyone who has ever lived will come to life again. Self-resurrection is the ability to completely heal fatal injuries and resurrect upon death if they body is not entirely destroyed. Through regenerative medicine, organ transplants would no longer be required. Your own cells, in the future, could be collected and reprogramed in a laboratory, then delivered back to your body to treat your disease. A lot of people may be wondering will they also look younger if stem cell treatment can be used to regenerate their organs and cure illnesses? Yes. The skin is your largest organ, so when scientists are able to heal or cure you through stem cell treatments, it will also regenerate your skin to keep it youthful. Regenerative medicine is working in vivo and in vito procedures. In vivo means studies and trails performed inside the living body in order to stimulate previously irreparable organs to heal themselves. In vito treatments are applied to the body through implantation of a therapy studied inside the laboratory. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
By reconstructing the composition of the living machinery of our tissues and organs, these rejuvenation biotechnologies will restore the normal functioning of the body’s cells and essential biomolecules, retuning aging tissues to health and bringing back the body’s youthful vigor, and restoring normal function. A small percentage of people all over the World have a condition called Spina Bifida, which is a birth defect. Some patients must manually empty their bladder by compressing it with their hands from the exterior,which will eventually case the bladder to harden and basically die. And while some people may think it is funny, it is not. Imagine if you could not urinate at will, or even regulate the buildup of urine, the backup of urine into the kidneys could cause a ripping infection, creating life-threatening damage, and it could also cause your bladder to fill until it ruptures. However, a series of child and teenage patients have received urinary bladders grown from their own cells. The laboratory-grown organ transplant placed into a human was all made possible by regenerative medicine. This powerful new technology is being used to create new body parts from a patient’s own cells and tissues, and the success of these efforts will eliminate the concept of tissues rejection from transplants. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Regenerative medicine has already successfully grown heart valves from human cells. In the past, heart valves were taken from the heart of pigs and transplanted into humans. Well, with new technology, the need to test on animals and prematurely end the life of an animal to extend a human life is no longer required. With the use of biomaterials to create a mold, scientists engineer the cells to grow in the form of a heart valve. Once mastered in clinical trials, any transplant patient will be able to receive a heart valve that is essentially their own. And with the advancement of regenerative medicine, we will be able to repair these valves without even having to perform surgery. Stem cells can even be used to treat leukemia. The umbilical cord, usually discarded at birth, holds blood vessels that contain about a half cup of blood that belongs to a newborn child. That blood contains many stem cells and our body uses stem cells as one way of repairing itself. By collecting and storing that blood, there is a possibility that those cells might be used in the future to help your body remain healthy. Regenerative medicine has the potential to cure other conditions like heart disease, valvular disease, and diabetes, which will save lives and billions of dollars. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Regenerative medicine has the potential to heal or replace tissues and organs damaged by age, disease, or trauma, as well as to normalize congenital defects. Regenerative medicine can abet maladies occurring across a wide array of organ systems and context, including dermal wounds, cardiovascular disease and traumas, treatment for certain types of cancer, and more. There will no longer be a need to wait for an organ donor and possibly face severe immune complications with regenerative medicine. The human body will have an innate healing and advanced repair mechanisms that will extend life, keep us youthful and healthy and lower medical costs. And with the cost of living being so high, people do need more time to generate wealth and enjoy life. We are essentially composite beings. Besides the more familiar corporeal element, the body, there is also something else, different in kind—the incorporeal soul. For the duration of a life the soul is somehow attached to—incorporated into or imprisoned in—its body. Perhaps the substance of the soul is stem cells. Essentially, in the future self-resurrection will be possible. “There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away,” Revelation 21.4. RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Randolph Harris II International Institute 