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God Turned Out Liberty Jail and Made it a Temple!
Although it is not customary for one to seek out the difficult or unpleasant experiences, it is true that the trials and tribulations of life that stand in the way of a person’s growth and development become circumstances, or experiences that serve to assist one in reaching or progressing toward a goal or desired outcome. These tumultuous situations help us to reach greater heights, providing, of course, that we do not allow adversity to discourage us. The story of most men and women who attain a degree of greatness and achievement is generally the story of a person overcoming hardships. It appears that there are lessons that can only be learned through overcoming of obstacles. Eduard von Hartmann believed that the Earth is not the worst of all possible Worlds; indeed, the infinite purposiveness of the particulars in it makes it the best of all possible Worlds. Nevertheless, he believed that it can be shown that the Universe would be better if Earth had never been created and, paradoxically, the purposiveness of this World is moving to that end. North Korea is launching missiles just about every few weeks that have nuclear capabilities, and they even have submarine weapons. The Media spends its time attacking the president and encouraging disharmony, while there are serious issues that need attention. #RandolphHarris 1 of 11
We all must battle with some fierce despair. Artem Kolesov just turned 23 years old. He is the fourth of six brothers, and grew up in a small town near Moscow, where his father was a deacon and his mother was a church youth pastor at the Pentecostal church. He allegedly grew up hearing that all he should be killed. This made young Artem fear for his life and have suicidal thoughts, as he prayed to God for the courage to live. Artem thought life in Russia was dangerous and could be a death sentence. Artem is a thin young man, with bright eyes, a head full of silky brown hair, and a perfectly symmetrical face. However, he was lucky enough to make it to Chicago, and was taken in by a nice couple. But anyway, it is amazing that Artem is a violinist and is using his talents to raise money to help pay for his legal expenses as he goes through the process of becoming as citizen of the United States of America. I love story of people who, instead of just creating a donation page online and begging for money, actually use their God given talents to work for money. Best wishes to Artem Kolesov. Nothing worthwhile ever comes to a person except by the anguish of his soul and the sweat of his brow. #RandolphHarris 2 of 11
Another journey that is amazing is the life and career of Aaliyah Haughton. Although she went on Starsearch, a show which showcases talent in hopes of awarding someone with a prize, which will launch their career as a celebrity, and did a great job performing, there were dissensions within and hostile demonstrations from without. Aaliyah ultimately did not win, although many thought she did a great job. The young girls gracefully accepted the lost and was very sweet and professional about, but when he got home she cried and cried and cried. However, Aaliyah was determined to become a star. There were hardships and disappointments, but she came out with her first record at the age of 15 and it was a success. From there she used her talent to build the careers of other stars and produced many great records, one of the most successful being the red album known as Aaliyah. Aaliyah went on to be a successful actress, and many were saying she was going to be a mega star. However, her career became inactive in 2001 because of some unforeseen circumstances. #RandolphHarris 3 of 11
Although Aaliyah has been missing in action for 16 years, these experiences has some real value because she is still breaking news and making headlines. Recently, Aaliyah signed a deal with MAC cosmetics and her own makeup line is coming out. Fans fought hard to get this makeup line for Aaliyah. They petitioned, called radio stations, news outlets, and gathered thousands of signatures and MAC cosmetics finally agreed to the production. Therefore, the trials and tribulations endured by Aaliyah, her family, friends, and fans were not in vain, and it was the will of God that allowed this project to come to fruition. These experiences were of immense value to both the individuals involved and the Church. Because it that no matter what God is in control, and even in your absence, when God wants things will happen to extend your legacy. There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is simply to try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of divine grace. #RandolphHarris 4 of 11
Life is a hard fight, a struggle, a wrestling with the principle of evil. Every inch of the way must be disputed. The night is given us to take breath, to pray, to drink deep at the fountain of power. One of the darkest periods in the history of the Church was the Winter of 1838-1839. The Saints had been persecuted, robbed, and murdered. The Prophet and his associated had been betrayed and were imprisoned in Liberty jail. Dissension and apostasy were rampant, and the Church appeared to be faces with disintegration and ruin. However, emerging from this dark period were people who led the Church through trying experiences as well as amazing growth and development. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose, but only upon the Beloved God who will never pass away. It was during these dark days that the Lord gave to the Prophet Joseph Smith, while in Liberty jail, a great revelation. God armed him with the strength for this battler and told the Prophet that he could do all things through Christ who infused him with inner strength. The prophet was more than a conqueror, a victor, and not a victim, and Liberty jail for a time became a center of instruction. #RandolphHarris 5 of 11
Real satisfaction comes not in understanding God’s motives, but in understanding his character, in trusting in his promises, and in leaning on him and resting in him as Sovereign who know what he is doing and does all things well. The eyes of the saints turned Liberty Jail into a place where they could encourage people, counsel, and preach the word of the Lord. It was more of a temple than a prison, so long as the Prophet was there. Liberty Jail became the House of God, a place of prayer. God never said he would prevent life storms, but he did promise he would use every storm for his divine purpose. A temple, first of all, is a place of prayer; and prayer is communion with Go. It is the infinite in humans seeking the infinite in God. Where they find each other, there is holy sanctuary—a temple. Joseph Smith sound God in this rude prison, and found him. Having faith does not exempt us from difficult times. The storms of life come to every person. However, out of the midst of his tribulations, he called upon God in passionate earnestness. Here is the key: God will direct the winds of the storm to blow you where he wants you to go. #RandolphHarris 6 of 11
We see storms as being negative, but God uses the storm to move you from point A to point B. The winds may be stronger than tropical storm Harvey, the planet may quake, mountains may explode into the sky, the circumstances may look catastrophic, but these same circumstances are also responsible for why we are here in the first place. We can call it nature’s fury, but it is really just nature’s way. If you will stay in faith, not get bitter, not start complaining, the violent nature that has raged all about this little sphere of ours for billions and billions of years, will blow you to a new level in your destiny. Earth has been buffeted and flooded, frozen and thawed, burned and blown up, and at the end of the long, long day, nature has delivered us these gifts: our precious planet and life itself. Even as we bewail tragedies that occasionally afflict us—the killer storms the fiery lava flows may have been meant for your harm, but God knows how to shift the winds. Instead of blowing you backward, he can use them to blow you forward where you will come out better, stronger—and that storm will also move you to a place of greater blessing and greater influence. #RandolphHarris 7 of 11
Instead of using your faith to pray away difficulty, you should use your faith to believe that when the winds stop blowing and when Harvey and Sabrina get back together, you will be exactly where God wants you to be. May peace be unto your soul; your adversity and your afflictions shall be but a small moment. And then, if you endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high. The Prophet Joseph was told that if great tribulation should beset him and even if the very jaws of Hell shall gape open the mouth wide after him, know you are a child of God, and that all these things shall give you experience, and will be good for you. The Son of Man has descended below them all. Are you greater than he? One of the greatest truths that came from the so-called prison temple, Liberty Jail, has to do with priesthood and Church government. This is found in the 121st section of the Doctrine and Covenants, a part which reports: Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this World, and aspire to the honors of men and women, that they do not learn this lesson. #RandolphHarris 8 of 11
The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of Heaven, and that the powers of Heaven cannot be controlled nor handled, but only upon the principled of righteousness. On one occasion, the Prophet Joseph Smith was asked how he governed his people. His replay was, there is a delivering faith and a sustaining faith. God keeps you from the fire. God keeps you out of the adversity. However, most of the time we need sustaining faith. Sustaining faith is when God takes you through the storm, through the difficulty, and the wind is blowing. You are filled with stress, fear, and angry. You will be discouraged, but when you know that God is in control of the storm, you will not be worried. He will put you in the armor of God. God has put an orb of protection around you and you will come out stronger, increased, promoted, and without smelling like smoke, just like those teens. These are the correct principles and the children of God govern themselves. We believe that one of the important purposes of this life is to be proved, tried, and tested. Love comes again. Just when you break out of love, you have to believe that love can come again. #RandolphHarris 9 of 11
The Liberty Jail experience truly constituted a refiner’s fire for those who participated in it and it truly empathizes the necessity of experiencing difficult and complex situations in life in order to properly develop and draw closer to our Heavenly Father. These experiences certainly give us a better understanding and appreciation of greatness of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the early leaders of the Church. Liberty Jail teaches us that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and loyalty to our leaders and the Church is important, and we need to endure to the end regardless of how many difficulties we have to surmount. Why? Almighty God is in control of the furnace. He is in control of the winds. God is even in control of our enemies. Dinosaurs were the kings of the food chain until, for whatever reason, they were not. God told Noah that a food was coming and asked him to save the animals. The summit of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, which today stands more than a mile above sea level, was buried under ice 18,000 years ago, and Most of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois was blanketed by a large white sheet. The Earth is always in the forge, or on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things. #RandolphHarris 10 of 11
We should be at peace today because God is in control of the winds and the storms of our lives. The writers of the Scripture knew what a torrential flood looked like and the power it possessed to destroy all in its path. We must believe that instead of defeating us, God will promote us. We have to commit ourselves to follow the counsel of our leaders, accept every opportunity to serve, and complete each assignment well—yes, endure to the end. Let us avoid setting our hearts upon the things of the World, and as we exercise our priesthood, let us incorporate the great principle of righteous dominion. By so doing and keeping the commandments of the Lord, we shall have joy, happiness, and development and eternal life, which is the greatest of all gifts of God. Like those who participated in Liberty Jail episodes, I can bear witnesses that God lives and the Jesus is the Christ—the Holy Ghost has borne this witness to me and that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God, and that through him the power to act in the name of God and the gospel in it fullness has been restored on Earth. Let us never forget the Liberty Jail and remember that when trials and tribulations, and hardships come to us, as they will, these are the tests that we must meet in order to enjoy eternal life. May we meet them successfully, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. #RandolphHarris 11 of 11
The Discovery of a Secret Implies No Obligation to Retain it
Grant me but health and give me but this fair goddess Liberty as my companion. Money is a thing which none of us can afford to hate, but it is neither God nor Devil; that should make one noble nor another vile. Money is the set of assets in the economy that people regularly use to buy goods and services. The cash in your wallet is money because you can use it to buy a meal at a restaurant or a house from a real estate agency. By contrast, if you happened to own most of Microsoft Corporation, as Bill Gates does, you would be wealthy, but this asset is not considered a form of money. You could not buy a meal or a house with this wealth without first obtaining some cash. Money includes only those few types of wealth that are regularly accepted by sellers in exchanges for good and services. Money is a medium of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value. When it comes to overcoming being greedy, selfish, and overly indulgent, we all need a lot more help. The worst fear I have about the people is that they will get rich in this country and forget God and his people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church. My great fear is that they cannot stand wealth. Many people believe in money, power, and respect. It is believed that first you get the money, then you get the power. And after you get the power, people will respect you. Several individuals believe that money, power, and respect are what you need in life, and that it will help you eat right, sleep at night, and that you will see the light. These types of people worship money as if it is a God, and they will take your money while you pout about it because the things they can buy with your money will attract people to them, and make them desirable. RandolphHarris 1 of 13
These vipers will take a life to get rich quick. They will set you up to get your money and get away with it. There are people who gain from their wealth only the fear of losing it. If all you get from your wealth is the wrong view of it, wealth will destroy your peace and you are no different than a debt-ridden consumer. Therefore, the answer to happiness is emotional well-being, and spiritual maturity. True wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. Be thankful for what you have; you will end up having more. If you concentrate on what you do not have, you will never, ever have enough. Money will bring about unlikely things. Try and keep clear of wanting small sums that you do not have. Our prosperity brings some real challenges because many are getting rich, more of us are waxing fat, and as a result of greed, selfishness, and overindulgence, we could lose the Spirit and literally kick ourselves out of the Church. Money and material things are on the mind of almost everyone. The great question many want to know is how they can acquire wealth? No question occupies a larger place in the minds and hearts of people today, and this is true of people in every occupation and in every walk of life. With the generality of humankind, money will purchase respect as well as everything else. Money in and of itself is not an evil, but it is the love of money that is the root of evil. Money, the common mistress of all cheats, makes them regard each other in the light of rivals. However, there are some of the wealthy who deal with their prosperity very well using their resources to bless others and build the kingdom. For man, however, wealth presents major difficulties. Loss of money is not the worst pain in itself, but loss of God is. #RandolphHarris 2 of 13
As we deal with the materialism that threatens us, we should not confuse wants with needs. My mother taught me an important lesson along these lines. For many years my father had a practice of trading for a new car every year. Then, shortly before recession in 2001, when the grain prices increased, we were surprised one day when my Dad drove home in a more expensive car. One morning my mother asked, “How much did the new car cost than the other one?” When my Dad told her, my mother said, “Well, the other car has always been able to get me where I need to go. I think we ought to give the difference to someone who needs it more than we do.” And so it was. The next year Dad returned to the less-expensive cars, and they continued their generous ways. Little did I know, he has saved the car for me and when I needed it, I went to pick it up, paid the registration on it, and am still driving it today. If we are not careful, it is easy for our wants to become needs. Remember the line, “There, there, little luxury, do not cry. You will be a necessity by and by.” God will take the stars of your life and turn them into stars, and will pay you back double for anything you lost. #RandolphHarris 3 of 13
We should avoid spoiling children by giving them too much. In our day, many children grow up with distorted values because parents overindulge them. Whether you are wealthy, or like most of us of more modest means, parents often attempt to provide children with almost everything they want thus taking away from them the blessing of anticipating, of longing for something they do not have. One of the most important things we can teach children is to deny themselves. Instant gratification generally makes for weak people. How many truly great individuals do you know who never had to struggle? A few of our wonderful youth and young adults in the Church are unstretched. They have almost a free pass. Perks are provided, including cars complete with fuel and insurance—all paid for by parents who sometimes listen in vain for a few courteous and appreciative words. What is thus taken for granted tends to underwrite selfishness and a sense of entitlement. When you become weary and feel like quitting, there is a way to have your strength renewed—wait on the Lord. #RandolphHarris 4 of 13
We all grow tired sometimes, tired of trying to make a business grow, tired of dealing with an ailment, tired of raising a difficult child, tired of being lonely and waiting to meet the right person. We can even be doing what we love, but if we are not careful, we can lose our passion and allow weariness to set in. Children who always get what they want will want as long as they live. And somewhere along the line it is important for the character development of our children to learn that the Earth still revolves around the Sun, and not around them. Rather, we should train our children to ask themselves the question: How is the World a better place because they are in it? We live in a world of entertainment in full color with a lot of fast action, a World in which many children grow up thinking that if it is not fun, it is boring and not worthwhile. Even in family activities, we need to strike a balance between play and work. Some of our most memorable experiences while growing up centered around family activities: learning how to shingle a roof, build a fence, or working in the garden. Rather than being all work and no play, for many of our children it is almost all play and very little work. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13
Frequently do we labor to secure the things that debase us into slaves, and overwhelm us with calamity. As a consequence of overindulgence, many children leave homes ill-prepared to meet the real World. Of course, we need to earn a living. The Lord told Adam that in the sweat of his face he should he eat bred all the days of his life, which means as long as you are doing something productive, you will be able to provide for yourself. It is important that we qualify ourselves to be self-reliant, particularly that every young person at the time of marriage be ready and able to assume the responsibilities of providing for one’s companion and for the children who may come to that home. All too many enter marriage who have never learned to cook, sew, or develop other important like skills. Ignorance of these skills, along with the lack of understanding of the management of money, sow the seeds for many failures in our marriages. Wisdom cannot be grafted on the stock of slavery: justice cannot be established without denunciation and disapproval of the wrong. I fear that in many cases we are rearing children who are slaves to expensive fads and fashions. For Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13
People who have plots in their heads as seldom have good nights as deserve them. How do we determine where our treasure is? To do so, we need to evaluate the amount of time, money, and thought we devote to something. Might it not be well to evaluate how much focus we place on shopping and spending? This does not mean that our children should not dress in some of the appropriate clothing that is in fashion because that can be very important to them. As members of the Church, we have a responsibility to present ourselves in a well-groomed, attractive, and modest manner. With good planning, this can be done without being driven to spend extravagantly on our clothing. People of the church began to have egotistical pride and take advantage of others because of their exceeding riches, and their fine silks, and their fine-twined linen and in all these things were they lifted up in the pride of their eyes, for they began to wear very costly apparel. What sort of liberty is it whose chosen religion is its slave-market? #RandolphHarris 7 of 13
Children today are often left with no role model in the home. Instead they turn to the television and video games. It seems that for many people in today’s society, money has become the thing they most cherish. It is apparent in the endless hours many people devote to their job. For some, their identity is wrapped into how much money they have. Money may be the only thing they even want to talk about, or the measure by which they judge themselves and others. With the constant talk of how to make money, or save money, it may lead you to wonder: Is money more important than family in today’s society? For millions of people, family still comes first. Without family, many people realize they would have very little in their lives, or that the things they had would no longer mean much. For people with real values, they realize that money is a means to support their families. However, as long as their basic needs are being met, they would rather be poor but surrounded by family than rich and alone. Such people recognize the value of love and of human connectedness. They realize that life about giving and being there for others. #RandolphHarris 8 of 13
However, not all people feel this way, especially in today’s materialistic society. Many, in fact, value money far more than anything else. They dream of having money, and they will go to any end to acquire it. They will sacrifice having a family, in the name of attaining a certain career level. Some may have a family, but completely neglect it due to work and the priorities placed on work. These people may think they love their families, but their energies, time and devotion are all dedicated to their jobs. Remember, it is in our actions that we truly show where are priorities are. Even worse, countless people feel that as long as they make money and can buy their kids whatever gadgets or clothes they may desire, then they are being good to their family. People mistakenly believe that they can buy their children’s love, or substitute their lack of parenting with monetary things. The priority placed on money is evident everywhere you look. You can read the news on any given day and see tragic and horrific results of the breakdown of the family. Those who place money before the family are failing to teach their children proper values, and they are not properly guiding them through key stages of a child’s development. #RandolphHarris 9 of 13
Clearly, they will not be taught values or compassion through such medium. Instead, they are more likely to be exposed to violent images or self-centered fictitious characters. And, there will late be consequences for these children’s lack of parenting. Many say that money is not more important than family, but live in ways that does not reflect this sentiment. In fact, these people instead worship money and do not prioritize being there for their family. They would even set a family member up to die, as long as they could profit for the death and demise. Let us hope that one day soon there will be a shift—one in which people start to realize that money will not buy them happiness, especially not if they have to result to criminal activity. A guilty conscious is a normal human response experienced by someone who is aware of having done something wrong. We should live modestly and avoid debt as if it were a plague. If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means, and if there is any one thing that is grinding, and discouraging and disheartening it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13
Do not accustom yourself to consider debt as an inconvenience, you will find it to be a calamity. How much house do we really need to accommodate our family comfortably? We should not endanger ourselves either spiritually or economically by acquiring homes which are ostentatious, feed our vanity, and go far beyond our needs. If we are to be self-reliant and in position to share, obviously we must acquire some resources. If we live within our means and avoid debt, resources can be accumulated. There are those with average incomes who, over a lifetime, do amass some means, and there are those who receive large salaries who do not. What is the difference? It is simply spending less than they receive, saving along the way, and taking advantage of the power of compound intertest. Most people have it all wrong about wealth. Wealth is not the same as income. If you make a good income each year, and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier. You are just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend. Be generous in giving and sharing with others. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13
The more our hearts and minds are turned to assisting others less fortunate than we are, the more we will avoid the spiritually canker effects that results from greed, selfishness, and overindulgence. Our resources are a stewardship, not our possessions. I am confident that we will literally be called upon to make an accounting before God concerning how we have used them to bless lives and build the kingdom. However, before you seek for riches, seek the kingdom of God. And after you have obtained a hope in Christ you shall obtain riches, if you seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted. We must have the courage to examine honestly where our treasures lie and avoid the pitfalls that result from greed, selfishness, and overindulgence. Remember, do not confuse wants with needs. Avoid spoiling our children. Live modestly, and avoid debt. Be generous in giving to others. Let me tell you a secret you should disclose, giving really is at the heart of our faith. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13
God, our Heavenly Father, so loved the World that he gave his only begotten son, who came to the Earth and could have possessed any material thing but rather chose to give to all us an example of a simple life free from any shade of greed, selfishness, or overindulgence. May we strive daily to love more like Christ lived, the ultimate example of a life of depth and meaning. I testify that Jesus is Christ, this is His Church led by living prophets, and His tomb was literally empty on that third day. Your challenge may be difficult, but you can handle it. God have given you the grace for this season. If we were not up to this, God would not have brought it across your path. In tough times, remind yourself there is always a reward for doing what is right. God never fails to compensate you. He pays very well. The season may be difficult because the reward is coming. Perhaps the battle you are facing has lasted long than you though it would. You have prayed. You have believed. You have done what you are supposed to, but there it is. How will you shake off the weariness and see God’s promises come to pass? A big part of faith is trusting God when you do not understand why things happen the way they do. Strength is coming into your body and mind. Just receive it by faith. In Jesus name, Amen. #RandolphHarris 13 of 13
Southern Living–It is Fall Y’all!
Watching Good Times, I always wanted to see them come up out of the transient high rise building. I used to not like the show, but after ever episode, I thought maybe the tide would turn in their favor, so I keep tuning in. We are not here to punish the innocent. Forgiveness is the economy of the heart. The focus of life should be on the calmness of the mind. Only when the mind is calm—that is, free from selfishness, cunning, and deliberate effort—can it be peaceful. One can then respond to things as they come and naturally maintain a balance between the internal and the external. Changes have exerted tremendous influence throughout the ages, and progress is naturally turned to for inspiration and support. We live in the most enlightenment since the creation of the World. Scientific achievements of today are staggering to the human mind. We realize that the law under what these achievements have been accomplished has always been in existence, but it was not until this era that human learning and understanding have sufficiently increased to make use of natural laws to produce the accomplishments of today’s World. A few generations ago, goods were manufactured with hand tools from crude materials; but in these times, mass production has replaced the antiquated methods with greater efficiency and in some cases superior quality because of the genius and skills of humans and the machines that have been developed. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17
However, much of modern architecture cannot rival the hand built houses, with decadent materials, and geometrical shapes of the Victorian era, which proves old is sometimes superior. Perspective is a study of human nature and destiny on the basis of principle ascetics. The spirit of life is in everything. It is the principle of Nature, the self-evident Universal truth that carries with it the dictate to distinguish right from wrong and the imperative to do good. Agriculture is the means of livelihood for more than half of the World’s population. As we pass through modernized farming areas, we no longer see farmers tilling the land with horse and plow, cutting one furrow at a time, or families working together in the fields at harvest time. These things seem to have disappeared. Today, large pieces of mechanical equipment with the strength of a hundred horses plow many furrows at one time. Not many years ago, the hand sickle was used to harvest the fields of ripened grain. The sheaves were flailed by hand and tossed into the wind to separate the chaff. Large combines now do all of the work in one operation as they mow the fields. #RandolphHarris 2 of 17
Unfortunately, ducks build nests in the fields and because humans are no longer harvesting the fields by hand, many duck eggs are being destroyed before they even hatch. However, because humans were originally good and endowed with the innate knowledge of the good and the innate ability to do good, some farmers are inviting dozens of volunteers to scour their fields over a few weekends before the harvest to collect the wild eggs. Over the past 15 years, on just one farm, more than 30,000 eggs were brought to a local wild bird hatchery before the tractor blades got there. Inside of those little eggs, it starts with a little tiny heart and little tiny veins going to the inner lining of the egg. That is the embryo, and it just grows and grows and eventually turns into a little duck in there. And that is amazing. It is life. It is amazing how it happens. Also, eradicating the wild grasses and then over-farming the land leads to deep erosion that helped contribute to the Dust Bowl crisis. People hope that in Sacramento, California America that we can sustain the land and leave this ground better than we found it. We do not want be mining the soil, and chasing away wild life, instead we want to build it up and improve it. #RandolphHarris 3 of 17
We have to be ecologist and keep the spirit. Happenings in faraway places are viewed in the quiet of our own houses, a phenomenon which would have been considered a miracle in the generations preceding ours. Modern living requires that we have instantaneous communications at our side so that we may quickly dial and transact business or have the luxury of visiting, regardless of long intervening distances. Animals provided human beings transportation for centuries, but these have now been replaced by vehicles of great speed and comfort. There has always been a curiosity to what lies beyond the river. Today’s rapid flight through the air has made the oceans no wider than the rivers of years past and humans have quick access to the World. We take great pride in modern accomplishments—the fact that we are better housed and fed, have greater conveniences, improved medical facilities, greater advantages in education, and the highest standard of living ever enjoyed in the history of the World. Currently, President Trump set up a new hotline to help the 470,000 veterans who are appealing their denied claims for financial and medical disability assistance with the Department of Veteran Affairs. #RandolphHarris 4 of 17
Many of my ancestors were engaged in the World’s most followed occupation of tilling the soil. Some of them left their old moorings in England and came to the shores of the New World, settling in the Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies. I get a warm feeling when I read the soul-stirring accounts of their conquest against hardships and the difficulties that faced them and their families. They used to rotate their crops—letting the fields go fallow every other year to replenish the soil’s nutrients, and used cover crops in the off season. We have to stop paving over our food-producing land. Also, I do not think what the ordinary farmer is doing can be long-term, because pretty soon the ground will not produce anymore. It will just be poison. If you want sustainability, you protect the land that grows our food. Early missionaries of the Church went to Germany, Italy, Scotland, Denmark, Africa, and Norway where other of my early ancestors lived. They accepted the teachings of the gospel, gave up the security of their homelands, and participated in the gathering of Zion’s descent from Heaven. #RandolphHarris 5 of 17
These people faced hardship and sudden death, as they walked across the dust plains of the Middle West and over the Rocky Mountains, pushing all of their Earthly belongings in carriages. The difficulties they endured brings tears to their eyes of those who are their beneficiaries today. The stories of these people who have gone before us are ones of faith, devotion, and dedication. Although there were trials, hardships, and lack of the conveniences we think necessary in our World today, there seems to have been a happiness in their living, in their individual lives, and in their families. In their houses, there was faith and prayer—faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and prayers asking God for their needs and thanking him for his goodness to them. The Good Book (Bible) was read in the house and there was profound belief in its teachings. America would be the place of the New Jerusalem, where the Saints believed they could find protection from the desolation and tribulation soon to descend upon the wicked. Life was more simple, but can we say that there was less happiness in simplicity? #RandolphHarris 6 of 17
Today, many people have all the riches they could dream of, but wake up to sin and make life hard on others. They actually dream of ways to offend people they do not like and find ways to make life difficult for them. That is so wicked and so far from God. We learn American history for its purpose, discipline, and solidarity that is supposed to show us what people have overcome and how, through the evolution of time and the cultivation of the human mind, we should treat people with kindness and show them the love of God. The purpose of learning history is so people do not repeat the mistakes of the past. If you are walking around with 525 years of hate and animosity, one-sided in your emphasis on principle and the investigation of things, and looking to hurt others, it is important to seek professional help because you have invited the Devil into your soul and he is planting roots of hatred and poison in your heart and mind. Both the principle and Nature of human desires are good, and they should not be constrained. The mind fills the whole Universe. Throughout all ages and in all directions, there is the same mind. It is identical with all things, for there is nothing outside of God and there is no God outside of things. #RandolphHarris 7 of 17
The mind is the Universe. To investigate things, then, is to investigate the mind. Since all principles are inherent and complete in the mind, there is no need to look outside, as do people who worship Satan do. In the writings of Enoch, revealed in December of 1830, the Saints found a concrete example in the righteous achievements of Enoch and his city: “And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them” (Moses 7.18). We must honor moral nature, which will give rise to intellectual creativity by means of moral vigor in it. This idealistic movement can take us to the highest point in American and World history. The direction of the mind is the will. A thing (or affair) is nothing but the mind determined to realize it. There is no such thing as a filial piety, for example, unless one is determined to put it into practice and actually does so. The investigation of things is the investigation of the mind. However, since the most important aspect of the mind is the will, the sincerity of the will must precede the investigation of things. #RandolphHarris 8 of 17
Because of one’s innate ability to do good, one necessarily extends the innate knowledge into action. Knowledge and action are really identical; one is beginning and the other the completion. The extension of the innate knowledge and the unity of knowledge and action, both of which represent new steps in American thought. Society has made a great effort to modernize the World in education, communication, travel, health, commerce, housing, and in many other ways, so as to increase the standard of living; but what has this socialization and modernization done to the family—the basic institution of society? The spirit of the time demanded the evident, the concrete, and the practical. Never before has there been greater instability. The divorce rate is 53 percent, and is higher than any time in history. Modernization has transferred the responsibility of education from the family to public institutions where modern thoughts has become paramount and moral principles have become abandoned. The crime rate has increased alarmingly, in 2016, there were 762 homicides in Chicago, Illinois. Drug addiction, disobedience to the law, increase in venereal disease, and corruption in all forms seem to be accepted in this new tradition. #RandolphHarris 9 of 17
In this day of modernization, and this new doctrine of consciousness and freedom of thought and action is sponsored and promoted without consideration of the responsibilities that must accompany such freedoms if society is to be stabilized. Ungendered species are spreading and the youth are being brainwashed at young ages to be unsure of their gender and question their sexuality. The perpetual transition of deviance being spread by the media at every instant is continually arising anew and this resulting in many ungodly manifestations. When a three-year-old boy comes back to the house from school telling his grandfather he is not a boy, something is very wrong with our system because that thought surely came from somewhere outside the house. Surely we would agree that the family institution has been seriously, if not irreparably, damaged, in our society. In the past, churches have taken a leading role through extensive and vigorous religious and intellectual reform in teaching men and women and children to have faith in God and to develop moral stability. Their work and advancement is quickly disappearing. What is happening to organized religion as a stabilizing force in society? #RandolphHarris 10 of 17
To my grandparents, church was the order of things, and by things they mean daily affairs, it was as important as drinking water and eating food. The way to investigate principle is by critical, analytical, minutely detailed, and objective study of things based on concrete evidence. Many of the largest Christian churches have reported losses in membership and also in income to carry on the work of their religious endeavors. Here again, modernization has taken a heavy toll and created a burden on society. Modernism has become the order of the day in some religious thought. Modernists advocate a restatement of traditional doctrine on the grounds that today’s modern scholastic and scientific advances require a new critical interpretation of The Gook Book, and the history and doctrines. The term “modernism” is often used interchangeably with “liberalism.” Its advocates claim that religious truths are subject to constant reinterpretation in the light of modern knowledge; therefore, new and more advanced concepts are required to express modern thought and progress. Principle can never prevail when feelings are not satisfied, for principles are merely feelings that do not err. #RandolphHarris 11 of 17
God knows what he is doing in your life. Do not be discouraged. Healing is coming. Promotion is coming. We are the leaders of an intellectual revolution and must remain strong, as we establish our state philosophy. The Bible has been subject of attack by modernists. It is said by some that science refuses to support the authenticity of God, his Son, and the Biblical accounts as the creation of the World, placing life upon Earth, Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the flood, and many other happenings in Old and New Testaments. However, these same people who refuse to believe in God think The Queen of the Damned is a true and factual documentary and that they have a legal and moral right to eliminate certain bloodlines by any means necessary. What is claimed to be superior knowledge in this day of enlightenment causes some people to look upon these accounts as fables. Because of this, can believers in Christ repudiate them? In an attempt to regain the confidence of communicants who have ceased to believe, many liberal churches have abandoned one doctrine after another, even to extent of failing to stand by the doctrine of the existence of a personal God. #RandolphHarris 12 of 17
Reality is endless transformation of closing and opening, which constitutes a process of unceasing production and reproduction. The original substance is in perpetual transition at every instant, continually rising anew and thus resulting in many manifestations. People no longer uphold as reality the resurrection of the crucified Savior, they believe the World would be better off if he had stayed dead, and the atoning sacrifice has lost its credibility. Under such circumstances, how can organized religion maintain its place as a stabilizing influence of society? In its closing, the aspect original substance has the tendency to integrate, resulting in what may temporarily be called matter, whereas in its opening aspect is has the tendency to maintain its own nature and be its own matter, resulting in what may temporarily be called mind. This mind itself is one part of the original mind, which in its various aspects is minds, will, and consciousness. In this day of increased knowledge, higher thought, and a modernization of the antiquated, the simple has been overlooked and the profound sought after. The basic, simple, fundamental truths of the gospel are being ignored. #RandolphHarris 13 of 17
We marvel at so many of your who are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Perception, conception, mind, and consciousness are all syntheses, or constructs, and constructs are products of society and culture. Although we have combined Western logic with modern psychology and sociology, this system is our own. It is the gospel of Christ. However, in modern times, we are surrounded by people who will murder a father so they can torture, experiment on and kill his son. There are people who will take money from a dead man, renovate their house, then let it go into foreclosure, and let his family suffer, while they marry Satan, and steal money and use it to abuse the righteous. This seems to drag down people, destroy faith and morality. Where, then, is hope in this World of frustration and moral decay? It lies in the knowledge and understanding of the truths taught by the Master, which must be taught by the Church of Christ without deviation and believed in and lived by in its membership. #RandolphHarris 14 of 17
We can be modern and enjoy the benefits of a modern World and its high standard of living, and we can have the benefits of modern scholarship and scientific advances without turning to the theories of the modernist. The principles of the gospel announced by Jesus Christ is our Heavenly Father’s plan for the happiness and salvation of his children. According to his plan, our Heavenly Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the World to show us how to live meaningful and happy lives and experience eternal joy after this life. Through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, you can become clean from sin and enjoy peace of conscience. You can become worthy to live in Heavenly Father’s presence after this life by enduring to the end. Truth is eternal and never changing. These are eternal truths and will be so perpetuity regardless of changing circumstances in society, development of new scientific achievements, or increase of human knowledge. The gospel of Jesus Christ is ever contemporary in a changing World. The knowledge explosion which the World is so proud of is not of human creation. It is their discovery of portions of the unlimited knowledge and information which is part of God’s knowledge. #RandolphHarris 15 of 17
How we use knowledge is determined by whether we are of the eternal kingdom of God are a part of the temporary understanding of the World. The question is simply this: are we seeking to find our place in the World in the realm of the Worldly, or are we seeking to find our place in the unchanging kingdom of God? Knowledge is a function of reason. Since actual existence, as distinct from the merely possible, is not an indeterminate, anarchic chaos, there must also be an initial creative, purposeful act, determining the pure possibility; this is God. Through God, possibility becomes identified with potentiality; and one may speak of the tendency of freedom to become, or of freedom linked with cosmic aim. Insofar as this aim achieves existential embodiment, God is the Creator bringing value into being ex nihilo; that is, out of freedom. Since all existents (but especially human) participate in the determination of value, God and creatures are mutually related in the pursuit of the common goal or realizing maximum value. Due to this fundamental correlation, all beneficial value experience may be interpreted as the immanence of God. #RandolphHarris 16 of 17
Contrariwise, all evil and frustration, as instances of unrealized potentiality, involve a separation between the divine purpose and the creatures’ actuality that may be described as the transcendence of God. How grateful am I for my membership and association in The Church of Jesus Christ. I know that God, our Eternal Father lives; that the Bible is inspired writing; that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is real and also lives, having shed his blood for us, and is truly and literally resurrected. I also bear witness that there is a prophet of God on Earth today. May the Lord bless us in our righteous endeavors to shun the influences that lead into the ways of the World, that we may take our place, in faith, and believing, in the kingdom of God. Enlarge your vision. Make room in your thinking for the new thing God wants to do. Do not let your temporary provision become permanent. If you will learn this principle of faith in God and not settling, then you will see the fullness of what God has in store and make it all the way to your Promised Land. I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. #RandolphHarris 17 of 17
All is One and One is All
When acknowledged, love authorizes freedom; and freedom begets freedom. Society should be governed by people of virtue who, through personal examples and moral persuasion rather than law or punishment, bring out the people’s welfare and social order. If a ruler applies his or her originally humane mind to the administration of government, we will have a humane government. However, since some people have an evil nature, we need rulers to regulate them by law and teachers to guide society by the rule of propriety and righteousness so we can have a well-ordered society. God promises that out of suffering, sorrow, and sadness that joy will come. Sometimes we cannot understand that mortal suffering can bring eternal blessings. The Son of God promised deliverance from the chains of death, and declaring liberty to the captives who have been faithful. We should not blame God for our sufferings nor assume we know the cause of another’s suffering. Suffering is not always bad, as it will allow us to develop strength and will not exceed our ability to endure to the end. When we are experiencing misery, we tend to look for things that will bring us joy. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
A person must earn their freedom daily, or one will become a slave in some form or another: and the way to earn it is by work and obedience to right direction. Like every other privilege, the liberty of the press must be restrained within certain bounds; for if it is carried to a breach of law, religion, and charity, it becomes one of the greatest evils that ever annoyed the community. Sometimes people hurt the people they know because they cannot hurt a stranger as much as they can a loved one. People who know you know just what to do to hurt their companions, parents, or brothers and sisters. They know just where their loved ones are vulnerable. They know just how you can be hurt the most by their actions. To many, it seems to be a test of faith in life to be wounded by those closest to us. However, is it not true that God, our Father, and his Son grieve when we sin? When we fail to be obedient and accept the atoning sacrifice of our Lord, are we not hurting him who loves us most? More bounteous run rivers when the ice that locked their flow melts into their waters. And when fine natures relent their kindness is swelled by the thaw. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
The test of suffering can dim our eyes, but we also realize the joy we will receive when we receive perfect immortal bodies. Also, our joy of service in helping others we love in time of need brings us greater appreciation for one another. If the jaws of Hell shall gape open the mouth wide after you, know that the Son of God will turn all these things you experience into a miraculous blessing. Not only will you survive, but it will also foster the ability to have concern for others while we are suffering. It is a key element in our spiritual growth. Suffering is Universal; how we react to suffering is individual. Suffering can take us one of two ways. It can be a strengthening and purifying experience combined with faith, or it can be a destructive force in our lives if we do not have the faith in the Lord’s atoning sacrifice. Some people are so tired and weak, but have appointments that are mandatory to attend, and the meetings may take a lot out of them. Some days they may even be too weak to drive, but still have to go because their income and house depends on them enduring the suffering. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
When the mind is unperturbed by selfishness or deliberate effort and is left to take its own course, it will reveal its pure nature, and enlightenment will come suddenly. The purpose of suffering, however, is to build and strengthen us. We learn obedience by the things we suffer. We should be humbled and drawn to the Lord. The harmony of the individual and society rests on several basic ideas. Foremost of these is humanity. Humanity is a particular virtue, such as kindness, benevolence, and affection. Humanity is the general virtue, the foundation of all other virtues. Humanity is the moral character developed in oneself and in one’s relations with others. The will of Heaven is that humans should practice humanity and righteousness, be economical, and practice Universal love, and it is our duty as members of the human population to obey the will of Heaven. After a number of mistakes and failures to live as we know we should, we may lose confidence in ourselves and have a poor self-image of who we are and what we are capable of becoming. We may forget that we are children of God and have the potential of dwelling with him and his Son if we accept the Atonement and keep the commandments. By keeping faith in God and living right, this benefits Heaven, spiritual beings, and all humans. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Ultimately, through the moral principle, Heaven and Earth will attain their proper order and all things will flourish in a harmonious Universal operation. When the individual behaves correctly and society operates in right manner, the way of God is said to prevail. God is moral law and moral order. It is the way of Heaven. Heaven is the origin of all things, the Supreme Reality, whose purposive character is being manifested on Earth. By this time, there is a clear distinction between what is good, correct, or proper and what is evil, incorrect, or improper. The first of the commandments we must keep is to have faith. First, we must gain faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith that he lives. Faith that he hears and answers prayers. Faith that he will forgive us of our transgressions. Faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Why is the Savior’s atonement so important as the central gospel principle in the Church and in our lives? Jesus was born of Heavenly parents in a premortal World—he was the first born of our heavenly Father. Only he could make the atoning sacrifice—having received the power over death from his Father. Eventually, all alternatives will be synthesized so that harmony reigns over conflict and unity exists in multiplicity. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Jesus Christ overcame death, the grave’s power was nullified, and he became our Savior, Mediator, Master of the Resurrection—a means of salvation and immortality to all of us. We will be resurrected and become immortal because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In the study of the Atonement, most of us have probably asked the question: Why is it so easy for the World to see and believe that in Adam all people died and were cast out from the presence of our Heavenly Father, yet it is so hard for the World to understand how Jesus Christ can bring us back in the same manner? Because people want an excuse to sin, they want someone to blame. However, scriptures are clear on this. For as by one man’s disobedience [Adam] many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. As sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness until eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus will take upon him death, that he may lose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy. Jesus will take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverances. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
The whole focus in one process, order, and laws of operation. Existence is viewed as a dynamic process of change obeying definite laws, following definite patterns, and based on a pre-established harmony. Wherever harmony is sought or change takes place, the forces of God are at work. “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they might not repent, they must suffer even as I.” I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me; I tremble to know that for me he was crucified, that for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled, and died. I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine to rescue my soul; that he should extend his great love unto such as I, sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify. I think of his body beaten, pierced and bleeding to pay the debt! Such mercy, such love, and devotion can I forget? No, no I will praise and adore at the mercy seat, until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet. It is my prayer that our sorrow and suffering will strengthen our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that our sorrow shall be turned to joy, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. The World is in reality a perfect harmony in all its flowery splendor. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
The Evidences of Revealed Religion
There is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside. A cause has traditionally been thought of as that which is produced, its effect, can be explained. That which is caused might be either some new substance or simply a change in something that already exists. This appears to be only a relative distinction, however, for outside Christian theology philosophers have usually taken for granted that no new substance can be produced out of nothing by a cause. A statue, for example, results from imposing changes on something that already exists. The most general idea of a cause, then, is that which produces, and thus accounts for, some change. If the change is sufficiently striking to warrant applying a new name to what results, then it is natural to speak if the cause as producing a new substance. The Devil is mustering his forces to full strength to bring about discord, sin, and sorrow among the human family. These calamities can be averted to the extent that people live the basic principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is love. Love the Lord, God, with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, while you still have one, and with all of your mind. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10
Some beings on this Earth and evil and hard to escape from. God has given us a rational nature, and will call us to account for it. We should reason about the Bible precisely as civilians do about the Constitution under which we live. It is not because God’s will is irresistible, but because his will is the perfection of virtue that we pay him allegiance. We cannot bow before a being, however great and powerful, who governs tyrannically. Since the first great commandment is to love our God, how can he show love for him? We can show our love in our prayers to the Father, given in the name of the Son, and also through our worship of those divine Beings. Our Eternal Father and his Only Begotten Son both have intense, comprehensive, and full love for us. They have much greater intelligence and understanding than we have, and so their feelings of love go far beyond our capabilities to love. The attribute of love is so highly developed in these divine Beings that the scriptures state: God is love. In fact, God’s transcendent love is above and beyond our deepest feelings and keenest conception. At times of great spiritual experience when we feel an abundance of the Spirit, we have a greater realization of the magnitude of God’s love. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10
God is the Father of our spirits. He placed us upon this Earth and provided a gospel plan of salvation through his Only Begotten Son, thereby making it possible for us to come back into his presence and receive exaltation or eternal life. Those who attain that glorious condition will experience the sweetness of love, which surpasses our present. God so loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Jesus Christ loved us so much that he freely laid down his life and shed blood for our sins, and also to bring about a Universal resurrection. Can you imagine that? The Son of God wanted us all to live, so he gave his own life. This is not an example to follow, but the purpose is to understand that your life means so much to God that he gave up something so precious. The reason he did that is so you could understand the power of love and see how important your life is and why you should be a good person. By being good, it makes God feels like he did not give up his son in vain. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So, do not give up your life so easily. Live right. Sometimes we feel lost. Sometimes we feel drained and unprepared. However, sometimes we feel free and what will be will be. No matter what they say it is going to be okay. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10
Sometimes you need more than you can say, taking it all inside. To take your faith from no human creed, to submit your conscious to no human authority, but to repair to the gospel, to read it with your own eyes, to exercise upon it your own understanding, to search it, as if not a sect existed around you, and follow it wherever it may lead you. Hold fast to your Christian and protestant liberty. We wish you continued peace, and growing prosperity. We pray God, that your good works may glorify your Christian profession, that your candour and serious attention may encourage our young people in the arduous work, and that your union with a loved one may begin in hope, may continue in joy, dancing like an angel in your eyes. Dive into the sea of love and climb the ocean waves until they fall at your door, and perfectly in place. In the stillness of the night, whispers float on by, until they break, where the moonlight hits your eyes. Time will just fall away between us, perfectly embraced. Everything is beautiful. May you continue in joy, and may issue in the friendship and union of Heaven. To all who hear me, prove all things hold fast that which are good. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10
Do not shrink from the duty of searching God’s word for yourselves, through fear of human censure and denunciation. Do not think that you may innocently follow the opinions which prevail around you, without investigation, on the ground, that Christianity is now so purified from errors, as to need no laborious research. There is so much reason to believe, that Christianity is at this moment dishonored by gross and cherished corruptions. If you remember the darkness which hung over the gospel for ages; if you consider the impure union, which still subsists in almost every Christian country between the church and the state, and which enlists people’s selfishness and ambition on the side of established error; if you recollect in what degree the spirit of intolerance has checked free inquiry, not only before, but since the reformation; you will see that Christianity cannot have freed itself from all the human inventions which disfigured it under the papal tyranny. No. Much stubble is yet to be burnt; much rubbish to be removed; many gaudy and false traditions must be swept away; and the Earth born fogs, which have long shrouded it must be scattered, before this divine fabric will rise before us in its native and awful majesty, in its harmonious proportions, in its mild and celestial splendors. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10
Some aspire to walk on water like Christ and make their dreams come true. Nothing is impossible! This glorious reformation in the church we hope, under God’s blessing, from the demolition of human authority in matters of religion, from the fall of those hierarchies, huge establishments, general convocations or assemblies and other human institutions, by which the minds of individuals are oppressed under the weight of numbers, and a papal dominion is perpetuated in the protestant church. Our earnest prayer to God is, that he will overturn and overturn, and overturn, the strong holds of spiritual usurpation until he shall come whose right it is to the minds of humans; that the conspiracy of ages against the liberty of Christianity may be brought to an end; that the servile assent, so long yielded to human creeds, may give place to honest and fearless inquiry into the Scriptures; and that Christianity thus purified from error, may put forth its almighty energy and prove itself, by its ennobling influence on the mind, to be indeed the power of God unto salvation. Among the entire human family, there is no example where the principle of love was demonstrated as perfectly as was shown in the life of Jesus. He healed the sick, raised the dead, restored sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, and cleansed people. His heart was filled with compassion upon the poor and any who suffered afflictions. He lifted them spiritually with his deep understanding. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10
Heaven and Earth had been separated, the dark and windy chasm of Chaos was transformed, through the appearance of Eros, into the background against which the World was created. This fertilizing force of Eros brought back Heaven and Earth into a productive embrace, and the resulting rain helped to separate the Wet and the Dry, the Cold and the Hot. Fire exhalations then created the stars; waters surrounded the land; and the starry sky, like a hollow hemisphere, covered the Earth. Christ’s love and compassion is demonstrated when he spoke unto the children and blessed them, and as they cast their eyes towards Heaven, and they saw the Heavens open, and they saw Angels descending out of Heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled the little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the Angels did minister onto them. They reached a new realization of a significant humanitarian influence. There was a belief in the parental character for God and the dignity of humanity provided an ideological base for humanitarian efforts. Our Father in Heaven is perfect and we should become like him. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10
Starting a long way off the true point, and proceeding by loops and zigzags, we now and then arrive just where we ought to be. What should be the relationship between husbands and wives? A husband and wife should always be gracious and kind to each other. Neither of them should ever say nor do anything to hurt the feelings of the other. Deepest love and affection should be shown toward each other continuously. At all times, each should make a conscious effort to do everything possible to bring joy and happiness into the life of the other. A husband should show and express appreciation for the accomplishments of his mate, and she should do likewise. We should look for ways to build each other up and make each other happy. Neither the husband nor the wife should let a day pass without expressing love for the other. We should not assume that our mate knows and that it is not necessary to express it. Under these circumstances, God’s blessings will shower down from Heaven upon the married couple and especially for those married by the power of the Lord. The power from on high will bind the love and married of such couples for eternity. Homes are made permanent through love. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10
God loves with a great love the person whose heart is bursting with a passion for the extraordinary. Learn the value of self-control. You are never sorry for the word unspoken. The lack of self-control is one of the most common contributing factors of unhappiness and discord. We see something in the other which we dislike. It is easy to condemn it. And that condemnatory word arouses ill feeling. If we see it, and refrain from speaking, in a few moments all is concord and peace instead of animosity and ill will. Controlling your words is one of the greatest contributing factors to concord in the house, and one which too many of us fail to develop. Love should also characterize the center of the family life. Each child should be made to feel at all times by one’s parents that he and she are of great importance in the family. Parents should express their love to their children and show them in numerous ways that they love them dearly. Then the Spirit of the Lord will reside in the house. The family will be love-centered and thereby God-centered. The children in turn will reciprocate the love to the parents and strive to please them. The goal of families who are actuated deeply by love will be to keep the commandments of our Savior in every detail and someday come back into the presence of the Eternal Father and his Only Begotten Son to dwell. The true gospel of our Lord has been restored to Earth again. #RandolphHarris 9 of 10
True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie. It is enough that God has said it. Faith is living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a person could stake their life on it. We all face challenges, but it is not the size of the problem that is important, it is our perception of that problem; it is how big or small we make it in our minds. I am not focusing on how big my problems are. I am focusing on how big my God is. Magnify the Lord with me. What you focus on, you magnify. Failure is really a matter of conceit. People do not work hard because, in their conceit, they imagine they will succeed without ever making an effort. Most people believe that they will wake up some day and find themselves rich. Actually, they have it half right, because eventually they do wake up. Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they do not quit. If you learn to do what you must, you will be able to do what you want. You can achieve your dreams only if you focus on your priorities. God will take you away from the pain and bring you into paradise. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10
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
Do Not Settle for Good Enough
My heart aches when I learn of those who turn from the faith of their pioneering predecessors. As the best institutions are liable to be abused, so are the best people to be vilified. For a few fleeting favors now, will they forget and forfeit eternal life? As poisonous adders lurk beneath the cover of the most delightful shrubberies, so falsity and deceit are concealed under alluring language. We must not let sin drive an ever-widening wedge between ourselves and God. A person may cry out against sin, of policy, but one cannot abhor it but by virtue of a Godly antipathy against it. When we are hungry for God and his presence, we will do whatever it takes to get close to him. The place of intimacy is where we will attract not only the revelation God wants to give us, but we will also charm his heart. Even the desire to seek God is a gift from him. Because we have a spirit as well as a physical body, we also have spiritual roots that go way back. They form our values, beliefs, and faith. Spiritual roots guide our commitment to the ideals and teachings of the Lord. Our noble ancestors were brought to the knowledge of the truth, according to the spirit of revelation and of the prophecy, and the power of God. Their forebears were converted unto the Lord and never did fall away. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
God wills to know the actual, lived-out reality of our preference for him over all things. And he wills that we have the testimony of our own authenticity through act of actual preference of God over his gifts. For the most part, the human mind cannot attain to self-knowledge otherwise than by making trial of its powers through temptation, by some kind of experimental and not merely verbal self-interrogation. In other words, we easily deceive ourselves that we love God unless our love is frequently put to the test, and we must show our preference not merely with words, but with dedication. It forces us to ask repeatedly: Do I really hunger for God? Do I miss him? Do I long for him? Or have I begun to be content with his gifts? How do progenitors feel about the drift of their descendants? Their disappointment will likely turn to sorrow, for people detached from their spiritual roots cannot long survive. Many people are attracted by God by virtue of faith. This faith is plentiful and powerful. From God we get love, joy, peace, fortification, gentleness, and goodness. We pursue an education knowing that the glory of God is intelligence. Rewards are reaped from the Word of Wisdom by obedience to it. We are eternal beings. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Sometimes we might feel like a cyclone ripped through our houses, knocked things around and threw them out. We may not be sure how to put them back. We came to this mortal experience to acquire a body, to be tried and tested. We are to form families and sealed in holy temples, with joy and loving relationships that endure eternally. The true Christian life is a call to manifest God in our lives, that is only way what we carry inside of us can become obvious to the people around us. The first disciples of Jesus spent time with him and that reflected in their attitude of life. They manifested God’s character through their lives. They were brave and bold for God; they intrepidly spoke of God. God delights in us spending time with him so that we can have the opportunity to see and understand his ways, to comprehend his decision, his reactions, and his nature. Love is a way of being. It is the energy that radiates when are motivated by kindness. Love facilitates healing. It transforms life. Forgiveness is an aspect of love that allows us to see life events from the viewpoint of grace. Love empowers us and the people around us, to do things that we would not be capable of otherwise. God will heal us, and cast out dark energy in our lives. To these everlasting truths, we are personally rooted. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Let us not waste the precious time God has given to us! Let us cease every opportunity we have to manifest God in every place we go. The possibility of demonstrating does not depend upon environment, condition, location, personality or opportunity. It depends solely upon our belief and our acceptance, and our willingness to comply with the law of God through which all good comes. God will never deny us anything, unless we conceive that it is possible for us to think of something that is impossible for God to produce! Everyone who asks receives, according to one’s beliefs. God’s work and his glory is to bring to pass the immortality of eternal life of human beings. We can dwell with God and our families forever. Those blessings will be granted to the faithful in God’s own way and time. Reason wants to get to work to amend the present evil environment and pave the way for nature’s good environment. Each of us has an understanding of the truth. The subtlety of God is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding. With this self-consciousness comes the possibility of affirming an ideal for oneself and of the failing to live up to that ideal image of oneself. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all humankind may be saved, by the obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. Saved means to be resurrected and returned as a sanctified, celestial, immortal soul to the presence and society of God, there to pursue and endless course of eternal progress. Humans are a soul, a dual being, a spirit person clothed in a tangible body of flesh and bones. God is a perfected, saved soul enjoying eternal life. He is both immortal and exalted to the highest glory. He is enjoying that blessed condition which humans may attain to by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the God and his eternal glory. Legions of saved souls enjoy God’s society. Family relationships prevail there; spirit offspring are born there; our spirits were born there. Modern revelation affirms the fact that all the inhabitants of the World are begotten sons and daughters unto God. God our Heavenly Father is in fact and reality the Father of our spirits. We are his offspring. The spirits of those who are righteous will be received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
How we live our lives can speed up or delay the manifestation of God. God has called, equipped and empowered us. He put his own love on the inside of us. He shed his love abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. God never planned for us to try to keep any of his commandments on our own. He intends to keep them for us, with us and through us by the power of his spirit. Dwelling in us. And he is well able to do it. God is able to fulfill the command of love through. We draw finite quotas of force from the inexhaustible supply of God. By this process, according to which only finite amounts of energy are subtracted from an infinite accumulation of force, we are able to explain both the eternity of celestial motion and the fact that this motion does not occur instantaneously (ininstanti), as motion under the effect of an infinite cause should do. This shows clearly that the notion of force signified not only the immediate cause of motion or acceleration, but also its cumulative determination, or energy content. God is a force, a moving agent independent of and separated from a constantly rejuvenating source, a notion essential for the future conception of the Universe as a clockwork in action without the need of a constant supply of additional energy. God will manifest himself to us and through us. Let us keep his commandments and commit ourselves to stay in love with one another no matter what. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Let us walk in manifested love and bring the blessing to a planet full of people who are in desperate need of it. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked shall be cast out into outer darkness. This is the state of the souls of the wicked, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; this they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection. An immortal soul will be arraigned before the bar of God’s justice and receive a final judgment based on one’s performance during one’s mortal probation, the verdict will turn on obedience or disobedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. If these laws and ordinances have been complied with during mortal life, the candidate will be cleansed from the stain of sin by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ and saved in the celestial kingdom of God, there to enjoy with God eternal life. Those who have not complied with the laws and ordinances of the gospel will receive a lesser reward. Good enough is not your destiny as a child of the Most High God. Be determined to become everything God created you to be. #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 