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Love is a More Wonderful thing than Art
God’s eternity signifies an everlasting, endless time. God created humans to think, act, and to feel and to be in a relationship with other humans. God is in all things, transcendent, and above all things. God is the unity of all aspects of like, as he is unchangeable, eternal, and independent. The nature of God is manifests in our consciousness. God, or the One, stands in the same relation to the manifold produced by it as does our mind to its thoughts, feelings and decisions. Our consciousness pictures the Absolute One. God’s mercy illuminates human understanding and reveals thing about human nature through human reflection, research, and insight to lead us to greater knowledge of God. From a careful study of the Bible, the exegete can affirm with bold confidence that the human brain is a product of the creative work of God. As we grow older, we are more aware of mortality and better able to solve highly emotional problems. We may be seeing a larger group of people who can get along with a greater number of people. They are care more and are more compassionate about problems, and that will lead to a more stable World. The valiant among us keep moving forward in life because they know the Lord loves them, even when they do not know the meaning of all things. #RandolphHarris 1 of 13
God actually possess the perfection we ascribe to him and those coalesce in an unimaginable unity. The courageous cope successfully with severe and relentless trials, we applaud and celebrate their emerging strength and goodness. The very essence of religion is to adjust the mind and soul of human beings healing means, bringing the person into a right relationship with the physical, mental, and spiritual laws of God. It stands to reason that God’s magnificent creation required thinking, planning, artistry, and execution—all qualities that men and women share with their Creator. As God reveals more of himself apart from the creative order (general revelation) and into the redemptive order (special revelation), we find a person with personality, love, mercy, and grace—again, qualities that are share in limited quantities with the human race. Christianity acknowledges the existence of the supernatural, including a consciousness within us that is more than an epiphenomenon of the brain. The Bible’s statements regarding body, breath of life, soul, spirit, heart, and mind suggest a dualist ontology (or study of the being), that is, the view that human nature consists of two fundamental kinds of reality: physical (material or natural) and spiritual (supernatural). #RandolphHarris 2 of 13
God is wholly good and perfect. Christ’s statement about fearing the one who could put both soul and body in Hell suggests we should find a way out through which moral principles are correct. One ought not to disrupt the unity of the family. The Father in Heaven’s plan provided humans the right of choice, that though it exercises the humans might become strong and advance in learning, wisdom, and righteousness by conquering weaknesses and by resisting the temptations to do wrong. Now, the truth is that Satan lives! Indeed, some have seen his satanic majesty in spirit form. It may too late to fix some communities, but not to help those individuals and families willing to fix themselves. It is not too late, either, for some to become pioneer disciples in their families and locations, or for individuals to become local peacemakers in a World from which peace has been taken. Proverbs 2.2-5 reports: Make your ear attentive to wisdom and include your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and gold and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand fear of the Lord and find knowledge of God. #RandolphHarris 3 of 13
The most attractive solution to the problems of human existence, to the tragic sense of life, is the hope for eternal life expressed in human’s perennial human for immortality. This hunger has two dimensions—it refers either to the nondestruction of the soul or the merger of the soul with the universe or the totality of being. The hope for immortality is supported by the notion of God. The traditional arguments for the existence of God prove that the heart craves God. Everyone has heard of loyalty, most prize it, but few perceive it to be what it is in its true spirit. Loyalty is to heart of all the virtues, the central duty amongst all responsibilities. Loyalty is the central spirit of the moral and reasonable life of humans. Be loyal to the best that is in you. Be faithful and true to the covenants that are associated with the fellowship of God. We are children of God, honored to hold his divine authority, but we live in a World where there is evil. There is a constant power pulling us down, inviting us to partake of those things which are totally inconsistent with divine law which we hold. It is amazing how the father of lies that was cast out of Heaven always has the means and capacity to entice, invite and convince others to partake in his ways because they are not strong and alert. #RandolphHarris 4 of 13
As we are purifying our souls for everlasting life, we understand that every loss is a tragedy. The kingdom of the Lord needs you. Be worthy of it. Be loyal to your best selves. Never stoop nor bend to anything which would take from you the strength to abstain. Run from the tide of sleaze that would overcome you. Flee from the evils of the World. Be faithful and true to the covenants that are associated with God. You cannot wallow about in lasciviousness, cannot lie, cannot cheat, cannot take advantage of others in unrighteousness without denying that touch of divinity with which each of us came into this life. One learns a great deal about ethics as one matures. The relation between the practical and the eternal. The goal of the eternal is to win the heart. Conventional morality has been required in company with religion and also in company with exact science to endure the fire of criticism. If our moral standards themselves are questioned, the iron of doubt so some of us feel seems to enter our very hearts. The foundation of the moral life is a timely undertaking. In many ways, our traditional moral standards ought to be revised. We need a new Heaven and a new Earth. We do well to set out to seek for both, however hard or doubtful may be the quest. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13
Many of us believe in the eternal. We are in quest of the eternal. As to moral standards, in particular, we do not like that mere homesickness and spiritual estrangement, and that confusion of mind about moral ideals, which is nowadays too common. We can sometimes see in the World of opinion of sort of resurrection of the dead, a resurrection wherein what was indeed justly sown in dishonor is raised in honor, glorified, and perhaps incorruptible. Therefore, revision does not mean mere destruction. What we want is its glorified body and its immortal soul. Among spiritual gifts, we believe in the gift of healing. The gift extends to the healing of both the body and the spirit. The Spirit speaks peace to the soul. This spiritual solace comes by invoking spiritual gifts, which are claimed and manifested in many ways. The Lord has restored the temple work to the Earth. It is an important part of the work of salvation for both the living and the dead. Our temples provide a sanctuary where we may go and lay aside many of the stresses of the World. Our temples are places of peace and tranquility. In these hallowed sanctuaries God heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13
In loyalty, when loyalty is properly defined, is the fulfillment of the whole moral law. One can truthfully centre one’s entire moral World about a rational conception of loyalty. Justice, charity, industry, wisdom, spirituality, are all definable in terms of enlightened loyalty. This very way of viewing the moral World—this deliberate centralization of all the duties and of all the virtues about the one conception of rational loyalty is of great service as a means of clarifying and simplifying the tangled moral problems of our lives and of our age. The spirit of reverence will increase, mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. We will be counseled in greater love and wisdom. People will be more responsive and submissive to that counsel. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of God—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness. The willing and practical and thoroughgoing devotion to God, a person, and a cause means that we will express our devotion in some sustained and practical way, by acting steadily in the service of a mutual cause. We choose what we are loyal to, as a patriot to one’s country, when this devotion leads us to actually live and perhaps to die for our country. #RandolphHarris 7 of 13
Loyalty is never a mere emotion. Adoration and affection may go with loyalty, but can never alone constitute loyalty. Furthermore, the devotion of a loyal individual involves a sort of restraint or submission of our natural desire to our cause. Loyalty without self-control is impossible. The loyal person serves. We do not merely follow our own impulses, we look to our cause for guidance. This cause tells us what to do, and we do it. Our devotion, furthermore, is entire. The promises for those who keep the Word of Wisdom continue. Those who observe this law shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures. Each one of us is a living, breathing miracle—far too often we forget that. That is something we need to celebrate before God. When we pray for ourselves and others, we bring the mysterious power of God into their lives. Prayer also has psychological benefits, but it is not just a psychological exercise. Intercessory prayer is when we have a period of prayer where we do not stop. Some people will pray every day, for hours, over a period of months and years. It is far better than complaining after you have taken all the actions you can to correct a problem. Intercessory prayer changes things, circumstances, and people for the better. #RandolphHarris 8 of 13
We are asking God to work on our hearts and we thank God for our faith, humbleness, and whatever gifts we have that may bless other people. When we pray for others, our concern for them grows, our love for them grows. Prayer strengthens our relationships and connection to Jesus Christ and God. Moses won a battle because he was behind the scenes praying. And intercessory prayer is really hard work precisely because it is by nature behind the scenes work. People channel all their energy to behind delivered from a problem or situation and they spend hours praying night and day, which feeds the mind and keeps an individual balanced. The World is created for every person who loves. There is therefore this constant miracle of a new Heaven and a new Earth. Our prayers can not only change things for ourselves, but they can significantly improve the lives of others. Prayers move the heart and hands of God to take action on behalf. Through our prayers, others can receive most of the same benefits we receive when we pray from comfort, protection, freedom, healing, and more. It allows us to also stir up slumbering faith in others and causes miracles to happen and increases their relationship with God. #RandolphHarris 9 of 13
We cannot buy loyalty, we cannot buy devotion of hearts, minds, and souls. We have to earn these things. Whoever is loyal is devoted, is active, surrenders one’s private self-will, controls oneself, is in love with one’s cause, and believes in it. The loyal person is thus in a certain state of mind which has its own value for oneself. To live a loyal life, whatever be one’s cause, is to live in a way which is certainly free from many well-known sources of inner dissatisfaction. Thus, hesitancy is often corrected by loyalty; for the cause plainly tells the loyal individual what to do. Loyalty, again, tends to unify life, to give in centre, fixity, stability. When we spend time in prayer with God, he fills us with the gifts of Spirit, which include love, joy, peace, endurance, temperance, faith, gentleness, meekness, and goodness. As we receive more of God’s Spirit, others will see the Lord and his gifts reflected in our everyday lives. Our duty in life is simply our own will brought to our clear self-consciousness. That which we can rightly view for us as good is simply the object of our own deepest desire set plainly before our insight. For our own will and desires, once fully brought to self-consciousness, furnish the only valid reason for us to know what is good and right. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13
God’s will is that in which, and in which alone, our wills can find rest and peace, and God’s will is the rule of life. If enlightened recognizes the divine will as right, God has made us for himself that our own wills are by nature inwardly restless until they rest in harmony with God’s will. Our restlessness, then, so long as we are out of this harmony, gives us the reason why we find it right, if we are enlightened to surrender our self-will. If you want to find out, then, what is right and what is good for you, bring your own will to self-consciousness. Your duty is what you yourself will to do in so far as you clearly discover who you are, and what your place in the World is. This is, indeed, a first principle of al ethical inquiry. This is the principle of the autonomy or self-direction of the rational will of each moral being. Many of us have the desire to escape from pain and to get pleasure. In accordance with the desire, means relief from tension; and that is usually accompanied with pleasure. On the other hand, a thwarted activity gives us pain. Of all that we might do to find solace, prayer is perhaps the most comforting. The very act of praying to God is satisfying to the soul. There is never a time when the spirit is too young or too old to approach God. All are in reach of pardoning mercy. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13
In the celestial glory, we are told that God will provide everyone with pleasure and healing and cure death and there will be no more pain. Faith and hope will replace heartache, disappointment, torment, anguish, and despair, and the Lord will give us strength that we will suffer no manner of afflictions. Find your happiness with one another. Give your family, friends, and companion the opportunities to grow in their own interests, to develop their own talents, and also experience their own sense of accomplishment. The only people I owe my loyalty to are those who never made me question theirs. Loyalty is essential to the most basic things that make life livable. Without loyalty, there can be no love. Without loyalty, there can be no family. Without loyalty, there can be no friendship. Without loyalty, there can be no commitment to community nor country. And without those things, there can be no society. To learn the will of God is one of the largest of your human undertakings. No outer authority can ever give you the true reason of your duty. We need God. Left to ourselves, we would never find a plan of life. By nature, many simply go on crying in a sort of chaotic self-will, according as the momentary play of desire determines. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13
May the joy of our fidelity to the highest and best within us be ours as we keep our love and our family, our society and our souls, as pure as they are meant to be. Cultivate and be where the Spirit of the Lord is. Make sure that includes your own home or apartment. You do not want to be left crying, “What was I thinking?” Be good people and ask God for guidance. Have a real hope and real intent that God will step in and act for the beneficial advancement of whatever you are praying about. Trust God to act, even if it is not in the manner or timing we seek. God wants us to ask, even urgently. We are casting our thanks and requests before God. Intercessory prayer opens our souls, gives us a healthy play to God’s sympathies, constrains him to feel that he is special and this this wide World and this great Universe were made by a great God, and everything will bend to his will, and all the creatures respect him. Thank you, Father, that you are looking at us with your grace, and that you have provided and protected us. Thank you that no matter what difficulties arise in our lives, our hope and trust is in you. Thank you that we have nothing to fear, when you are with us. Thank you, God, in Jesus name, Amen. May the rest of our lives be the best of our lives. #RandolphHarris 13 of 13
The Divine Incognito in the Incarnation
The will is the most immediate reality of consciousness. Altruism is a necessity, since isolation is impossible; moral choice is explained in terms of the attractive or repulsive power; and ethical conduct is defined in terms of social beneficence. It is not difficult to see that the character even of a well-behaved child is not the character we should wish to find in an adult. A child is absolutely egotistical; children feel their wants acutely, and strives remorselessly to satisfy them, especially against their competitors, other children, and first of all against their brothers and sisters. Eventually, altruistic impulses and morality will awake in the little egoist. Morality, of course, does not develop simultaneously in all its departments, and furthermore, the duration of the amoral period of all childhood differs in different individuals. This can be compared to the mediating presence and activity of God and explains how people undergo a religious mode of experiencing, and other choose not to. We have probably all had the opportunity to do a puzzle. Each small piece has its place in the final picture, even when we do not know where it fits at a given moment. The Lord knows where each piece belongs so that it all fits into the plan. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
All the commandments are of eternal importance in the context of the great plan of the great plan of happiness. As with our fellow humans, a venture of faith on our part may be necessary if we are going to establish any beneficial relationship. To respond as a person to another person involves showing a certain trustfulness and willingness to make a concession that a person is regarded as being correct or justified, as long as the contrary has not been proven, and thereby anticipate proof and verification based on our trust of that individual. In every advance from sense data to the perception of an ordered World or from the projection of a scientific hypothesis to its observational verification, as in every successful voyage of discovery or in the invention of some new kind of machinery, there must be not only an act theorizing or of insight, but also a sustained effort of will which carries the operation through to completion. It may be that God can or will disclose himself only to one who shows such an initial faith and is willing to venture in trust beyond what has been established by scientific proof or philosophical demonstration. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
It is possible that in order to gain the religious knowledge upon which our personal good depends, we must give rein to our passional desire to believe. Some day we will be in God’s presence forever if we know Christ, and we will see God in all of his greatness and glory. In Matthew 5.8, Jesus Christ reported: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Many of us have called our humble communities a World, and so we covet them; and yet there is among us but a half-awakened common consciousness, sprung from a common joy and grief, at burial, birth, or wedding; from a common hardship in destitution, scarcity of land, and meager wages; and, above all, from the sight of the veil that hangs between us and opportunity. All this caused us to think some thoughts together, may we experience the fullness of God. May we be given the strength to comprehend the love of Christ in its height and depth and length and breadth. This is remarkable: the fullness of God is the spiritual comprehension (experience) of the satiety of the love of Christ. Everything that God does make me believe in him. All the things that he says makes me feel this way: Look at the World and tell me what you see. If you ever need someone, you can count on me. The fancy World of Heaven, in your eyes, you are the cure to make me smile. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
Give yourself time and quietness in this Advent season and seek this experience. Pray to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. It is a blessing that we would know in our heart the outpouring of grace upon grace, and that the glory of God would shine into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the splendor of God in the face of Christ; that as people, we can be amazed that Christ can be so real to us. God will be the cure to make us smile. Everything that we eat is to believe in God. All that we want is for God to spread his love over us. Look at the sea, and tell me what you feel. If you ever need someone, you can always count on God. For decision that affect eternity, having a gospel perspective is essential. In a revelation given to Moses, we are told of our Heavenly Father’s declared intention: For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of human beings. God’s desire is to give everyone the opportunity to receive a fullness of joy. Our Heavenly Father created a great plan of happiness for all his children, a very special plan so that we can return to live with him. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Heaven will be far greater than anything we presently know. In some ways, Heaven may be like our lives right now; we may even live in a World somewhat like our own—although one without sin nor decay. However, in other ways it will be far more glorious than anything we have ever experiences—and one reason is because we will be in the presence of God forever. Like the shepherds to whom the angels came on that first Christmas night, when we first glimpse Heaven, we will surely be overwhelmed by the glory of the Lord. Understanding this plan of happiness provides us with an eternal perspective and helps us to truly value the commandments, the ordinances, the covenants, and the trials and tribulations. The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. The word advent means coming. In this season, we focus on the coming of the Son of God into the World. And the spirit of our celebration should be joyful and happy. A very important connection has long been recognized between faith and what may be called the cognitive freedom of the human mind in its relation to God. And not merely in works, but also in faith, has God preserved the will of human beings free and under their own control. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Faith is a sufficiently free act to be meritorious. God’s self-revelation in the Incarnation to a deliberately veiled from, so that no one could be compelled to find God in Jesus Christ, and yet so that all who were willing to find God there might do so. God is willing to appear openly to those who seek him with their hearts, he so regulates the knowledge of himself that he has given signs of himself, visible to those who seek him, and not to those who seek him not. God, having created human beings as personal, always acts toward them in ways which respect and preserve their personal freedom and responsibility. In the United States of America, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, to reinforce God’s desire for freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation provided that all enslaved humans in states still in active rebellion against the United States of America would be freed automatically on 1 January 1863. Complete abolition of slavery occurred with the congressional passage and ultimate ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. The divine presence is always mediated through the events and circumstances of a World which God has created to be a relatively independent sphere of interaction with his human creatures. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
Human’s personal autonomy is protected by the fact that one can become conscious of God’s activity toward him only by an uncompelled response of faith. Thus, people are not only free to obey or disobey God; they also have the prior and more fundamental freedom to be conscious of God or to refrain from being conscious of him. The human mind displays a natural tendency to interpret its experience religiously, but this tendency acts only as an inclination which can be resisted and inhibited. Humans thus cognitively free in relation to God. Faith is the correlate of freedom and is related to cognition as free will is to conation. This is a great truth. Understanding the plan will help people keep the commandments, make better decisions, and have the right motivation. Many of us have witnessed the devotion and faithfulness of Church members in different countries, some of which have political, social, or economic conflict. One common factor that is found in these faithful members is the perspective that they have of eternity. The eternal perspective of the gospel leads us to understand the place that we occupy in God’s plan, to accept difficulties and progress through them, to make decisions, and to center our lives on our divine potential. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
Perspective is the way we see things when we look at them from a certain distance, and it allows us to appreciate their true value. Moroni 8.18 and 26 reports: For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity. And the remission of sins brings gentleness, and humbleness of heart; and because of gentleness and humbleness of heart comes from the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filled with hope and perfect love, which endures by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God. It is extremely important that we do not make decisions of eternal value from the perspective of mortality. For decisions that affect eternity, having a gospel perspective is essential. Faith in the Heavenly Father’s plan gives us endurance even amid the wreckage of such proximate hopes. Hopes keeps us anxiously engaged in good causes even when these appear to be losing causes. Not having an eternal perspective, or losing it, can lead us to have an Earthly perspective as our personal standard and to make decisions that are not in harmony with the will of God. Look at life as a journey that expands from the premortal past to the eternal future, and focus on happiness. The rest of your life will be the best of your life. We are eternal beings and life goes on. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
Work in Us What is Pleasing in God’s Sight
Drawing near to God is what qualifies us for the eternal saving work of our High Priest. God’s gifts are precious beyond words, and we will sing of them forever. The most precious gifts lead to God himself. Ultimately, that is what all his gifts are for. The unique and absolute infinity of God is the attribute that best distinguishes him from creatures and constitutes his absolute perfection. Life and the World around us is a painted veil, an illusion through which we must penetrate to the reality behind (this reality being the one that remains when the many change and pass). We see life as if through a veil—the veil of our own prejudices, which are imposed by social institutions. Humans must transcend these prejudices in order to understand their love of fellow humans. Once the veil is removed, the World will be seen as a unity—both in the sense in which science may be said to be a unity (the truth about one field of study cohering with an illuminating the truth about another), and in the sense that a true understanding of our fellow people will give rise to virtuous behavior. This is what we have in mind when we speak of the indestructible order. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
It is the function of coupling poetry and religion to provide humans with a coherent view of the World that will help them to understand both themselves and their fellow beings, and to provide it in a form that will kindle the imagination as well as the intellect. There is a natural order in the Universe, which science and philosophy reveal; there is also a moral order, which humans themselves must impose. When Christ became our servant as a ransom, he took away the curse of the law and the threat of punishment for all who believe. However, to what end? That we might enjoy sin with impunity? No. That we might enjoy God for eternity! Forgiveness is precious because it brings us home to God. Why does anyone want to be forgiven? If the answer is just for psychological relief, or just for escape from Hell, or just to have more physical pleasure, then God is not honored. The selfish picture of human nature cannot be the whole story, for if selfishness were the only natural feeling, there would be no society. The rise of a nation, the pressing forward of a social class, means a bitter struggle, a hard and soul-sickening battle with the World such as few of the more favored classes know or appreciate. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
What is more, since the existence of a social feeling is sufficient to account for the origin of society, appeals to the religious sanctions for society are necessarily subsequent to the actual foundation of society and are therefore of secondary importance. Romans 15.9 reports: The aim of Christ’s serving us is the glorifying of God for his mercy. However, if we exploit God’s mercy as a ticket to enjoy sin—or even just to enjoy innocent things—God gets no glory from that. God gets glory for showing his mercy when his mercy frees us to see him as the best gift of his love —as the most enjoyable person in the Universe. It is good for us that Christ came on behalf of the truth of God, because his coming this way shows that God is true first and foremost to himself; and he confirms the promises of God, and that the promises are promises of love; and he shows that the essence of the love he promised is himself. Virtue is the pursuit of the public interest. There is no real love of virtue without the knowledge of a good public. We are disposed to act virtuously by our affection for God. Virtue is called the moral sense. Moral sense is like a sense of harmony in music and a sense of proportion in architect and art. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
The voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the Earth, that all that are willing to listen will hear, and the day will come that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his children, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people; for they have strayed from their ordinances, and have broken God’s everlasting covenant. People who knowingly and willfully do wrong seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every one of them walks in their own way, and after the image of their own God, whose image is in the likeness of the World. If you seek him, God will waken your heart to your deep need for mercy as a sinner! And then ravish your heart with a great Savior, Jesus Christ. And then release your tongue to praise him and your hands to make his mercy shine in yours. A Vietnam Veteran called Roger Harris just knew that he was going to die and would never make it home from the war. And his mother told him that he would make it back alive, but he did not believe her. In fact, many of the veterans thought they would never see America again. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Roger Harris considered himself a sinner and saw many young men who had never had an adult relationship, were honest, Christian, and did not swear get killed right before his face. However, the day came for Roger Harris and his team to come back to America, and as they were getting ready to board the helicopter, an attack broke out and it he just knew he would never make it home and that he attracted the calamity because he was supposed to die and so many good people lived and died, but he made it back to America safely and was able to tell his story. Perhaps Roger Harris made it come because someone loved him and kept him in their prayers and God knew he had more to learn about the miracles of God. And maybe the other guys passed away because they were pure and God wanted them to come home to Heaven because they learned all they needed to know and their mission was complete. Furthermore, it is possible other good people also stayed alive so they could testify and share the gospel of God with others and help to save their souls. God has a purpose for all of us and he employees our talents and abilities for different reasons. Therefore, release your faith and praise God and use your hands to make his mercy shine in yours. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
God is benevolent and his love reinforce the affection. Also, virtuosity is an inherent part of human nature. God is really good. This morning I was asleep and I was awakened a few days ago by the fire alarm in the high-rise building going off. Usually, when the crews test the alarm, they tell us on the loud speak, but they started the test first, and in a low voice told of they were testing the alarm. I was going to stay in bed even if it was a real alarm because usually there is never a fire. The has only been once serious fire since I lived here. So, Sunday morning, I was laying in bed and my mother called and I did not answer the phone because I was not in a great mood. Then about an hour later, the fire alarm went off again, and I stayed in bed, and was not going to get up. However, my neighbor screamed from outside to tell me to get out of the building, it was a real fire. If my mother’s call had not woken me, I might have slept through the fire alarm, and who knows what would have happened. The fire department got here and put the fire out and there was no significant damage. As you see, God is always looking out for us, and even if you do not feel like talking, always answer the phone when your parents call. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
God owns and controls all things. And there is nothing that he would not give you. God has the power to provide redemption, restoration for past losses, and liberation from future enemies, forgiveness and freedom, pardon and power, healing the past and sealing the future. There is a revelation from God the Father, opening the eyes of the heart so that it cries out, like a person who stumbles onto an incredible treasure. Oh, I totally forgot to tell you. I have been experiencing a lot of hardships in life, so I cut certain people out of my life, stop swearing, gave up mature movies, I am celibate and have been, do not smoke, nor do drugs, and I do not drink. The purpose is so that I may have the favor of God. Maybe this will cause Satan to flee from my life completely. Now, may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom by glory forever and ever. Amen. One of the things pleasing in God’s sight is that his people keep on drawing near to him forever and ever. And so, he is working in us this very thing. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Out Upon the Deep Over Seventy Thousand Fathoms of Water
The torment and torture was so painful that even the innocent would confess. A human being must care for one’s soul more than anything else. We all make mistakes. It is then in our nature to feel guilt and humiliation and suffering, which we alone cannot cure. That is when the healing power of the Atonement will help. Many people care more for wealth, reputation, and their bodies while neglecting their souls. We must give our first and greatest care to the improvement of our soul. The care for the soul means to become a thoroughly ethical human being. The soul exists prior to its life in the body, and it is immortal. Therefore, we must make ourselves good and wise as possible. Wealth does not bring about human excellence nor virtue, but virtue makes wealth and everything else good for human beings. Of the many illnesses of the intellect humans must cure themselves of, the most pressing are in ethics. Matthew 16.26 reports: What does it profit a person to gain the whole World, but lose one’s soul? The soul is the distinguishing mark of living things, as something that is the subject of emotional states and that is responsible for planning and practical thinking, and also as the bearer of such virtues as courage and justice. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
All of us sometime, and some of us much of the time, suffer remorse of conscience from things we did wrong or things left undone. That feeling of guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the physical body. However, guilt can be harder to bear than physical pain. Physical pain is nature’s warning system that signals something needs to be changed, or cleansed, or treated, perhaps even removed by surgery. Guilt, the pain of our conscience, cannot be healed the same way. If one is burden with depressing feelings of guilt or disappointment, of failure or shame, there is a cure. The intent is not to hurt one’s tender feelings, but to help one and help those you love. The prophet Alma reports: I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins. Racked means to be tortured. A harrow is a frame with spikes through it. When pulled across the ground, it rips and tears into the soil. The soul is not only responsible for mental or psychological functions like thought, perception and desire, and is the bearer of moral qualities, but in some way or other accounts for all the vital function that any living organism performs. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Faith then must clearly be a trusting and confident attitude toward God. Faith is belief in revealed truth. Not only is the soul immortal, but it also contemplates truths after its separation from the body at the time of death. The disembodied souls enjoy lives of thought and intelligence. It is natural for the soul either to be altogether indissoluble, or nearly so, but in any case, the souls is less subject to dissolution and destruction than the body. The soul is like intelligible being on the grounds that it is not visible and, in general, not perceptible, and it shares it natural function with the divine, namely to rule and lead the body in one case, mortals in the other. Religion supports people’s need to feel personal control over events in their lives and reduces stress over events that are out of our control or that simply do not meet our expectations. However, it is not only belief in personal control that helps protect people against feelings of randomness, disorder, and chaos, but also the belief that the World is under the control of God. Thus, a belief in a controlling God may be interchangeable with a sense of personal control and helps one deal with events that are genuinely beyond our control. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Ultimately the object of faith is God himself, who is not, however, known by the human mind in his divine simplicity, but only discursively and by means of propositions. These revealed truths are authoritatively presented in the creeds. Thus, to have faith means to believe the articles of faith. We believe in God, the Eternal Faith, and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. People will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression. Through the Atonement of Christ, he paid the price to make up for the fall of man, and all humankind may be saved, by ordinances of the Gospel. We are to have faith in the Lord first, Jesus Christ second, practice repentance. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. We claim the privilege of worshiping the Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all humans the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. It is important to be honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and to do good to all people. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. Alma 37.7 reports: And the Lord God does work by means to being about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord does confound the wise and bring about the salvation of many souls. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Suppose there was no cure, no way to ease spiritual pain or to erase the agony of guilt. Presume each mistake, each sin, was added to the others with the racking, the harrowing up, the torment going on forever. Too many of us needlessly carry burdens of guilt and shame. For some reason, we think the Atonement of Christ applies only at the end of mortal life to redemption from the Fall, from spiritual death. It is much more than that. It is an ever-present power to call upon in everyday life. When we are racked or harrowed up or tormented by guilt or burdened with grief, Jesus Christ can heal us. The gospel plan is the great plan of happiness. Happiness is what I found yesterday when I saw my father and he told me that I was blessed. It was nice to see him, he was wearing a nice suit, and it good spirits. And what a joy, and what marvelous light I did behold. My soul was filed with joy as exceeding as my pain. Under the influence of divine grace, to certain external evidence, it was a miracle. A supernatural virtue, by which was guided and assisted by divine grace, and it what true what God revealed because the authority of God can neither deceive nor be deceived. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Faith is an act of the intellect assenting to divine truth at the command of the will moved by the grace of God. That is to say, whereas in knowledge the intellect is moved to assent by the object itself, known either directly or by demonstrative reasoning, in faith the intellect is moved to assent through an act of choice, whereby it turns voluntarily to one side faith the other. When we have faith, it is a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit. There is a permanent relationship between faith and the Word, which is why 85 percent of people in the World believe in God. I can testify that if you have an undying faith in something, something good, if you believe hard enough, long enough, and keep praying to God it will come true. The important thing to remember, we magnify what we focus on, so let us magnify God in our lives. The objective uncertainty of the religious realm, can be entered only by a leap of faith. It is a tremendous risk involved, like being out upon the deep, over seventy thousand fathoms of water. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
One must decide to believe or to disbelieve; and regarding the decision as a wager, it is prudent to decide to believe. One will then gain eternal life and felicity if God indeed exits, which he does. Whereas if one decided not to believe, one will gain nothing and may forfeit eternal life. Alma: 37.12 and 14 reports: They are preserved for a wise purpose, which purpose is known unto God; for he does counsel in wisdom over all his works, and his path are straight, and his course is one eternal round. And now remember, my son, that God has entrusted you with these things, which are scared, which he has kept sacred, and also which he will keep and preserve for a wise purpose in him, that he may show forth is power unto future generations. Physical pain requires treatment and a change in lifestyle. So, it is with spiritual pain. There must be repentance and discipline, most of which is self-discipline. Religion has survived for over 100,000 years and the findings are getting strong. It is hard to then build the case that religion is a pathology. Go through each day of your life and find something that you are thankful for. Acknowledge and give thanks for all the abundance your life has brought you. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
The Winchester Mystery House
Stories about The Winchester Mystery House being haunted are different than most because there is evidence that is difficult to ignore. These are not myths and fables, but events and individuals whose existence can be proven. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Where is My God in Shinning Amour?
I call upon the Gods above, the ones of benevolence and of love, come down to me from above, come to this place and come to me from time and space. No one is to blame for suffering an evil he or she cannot avoid. Some people are under spiritual attacks and have been for years and spend hours praying for God to deliver them. Life can be hard when you have no one to turn to for comfort, but the good thing is God is always there. If you begin to see that everything you have counted on, may be taken away, it becomes much harder to take for granted. In the battle of life, the adversary takes enormous numbers of prisoners, and many who know of no way to escape and are pressed into his service. Every soul confined to a concentration camp of sin and guilt has a key to the gate. The adversary cannot hold them if they know how to use it. The key is labeled Repentance. The twin principles of repentance and forgiveness exceed in strength the awesome power of adversary. Having a grateful attitude is essential when going through spiritual warfare. It is precisely under crisis conditions when we have the most to gain by a grateful perspective on life. I am tired, in pain, and would like nothing more than to rest and not have my daily life feel like it is a job of which I cannot seem to take a day off and rest. However, in the face of demoralization, gratitude has the power to energize and heal and bring hope. Being thankful for life can help us cope with hard times. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
It is a great challenge to raise a family in the darkening mists of our moral environment. Our words, like our deeds, should be filled with faith and hope and charity. No one feels good about losing a job, home, or when good healthy has taken a devastating hit on his or her retirement portfolio. However, trials and suffering can actually refine and deepen gratefulness if we allow them to show us not to take things for granted. Our national holiday of being thankful, Thanksgiving, was born and grew out of hard times. The first Thanksgiving took place after nearly half the pilgrims died from a rough Winter year. We have been entrusted with the most sacred gift God can give us, which is life. We should be full of love and joyful about waking up every day. In times of uncertainty, though, people realize how powerless they are to control their own destiny. God grant that we will come to our sense and protect our moral environment from this mist of darkness which deepens day by day. The fate of all humanity hangs precariously in the balance. And may we have the protection of God who is our father and our Savior, and may we merit the love and blessings of his Son, our Redeemer, in whose name, even the name of Jesus Christ, I bear witness, amen. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
The great work we will do will be within the walls of our houses. No other success can compensate for the failure in the house. Nevertheless, with great conviction, many of us believe that one day the wicked influences will be overruled. The eternal sealings of faithful and divine promises made to us will save us, and our posterity. Sooner or later, we will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after us and invading our lives with blessings. However, people who are knowingly involved in evil and refuse to repent and find great joy in making others suffer will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins. Consciously cultivating an attitude of gratitude builds up a sort of psychological immune system that can be a source of support when we go through hardships. Even the wicked, if their path leads them to our loving Heavenly Father’s heart and home, the painful experiences will not be in vain. Pray for the careless and disobedient; hold on to them with your faith. And for those who are living right, but experiencing undue hardships, trust on and you will see the salvation of God. There is scientific evidence that grateful people are more resilient to stress, whether minor everyday hassles or major personal upheavals. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
The contrast between suffering and redemption serves that the evil idea has been more destructive of happiness, no philosophy has produced more sorrow, more heartbreak and mischief; no idea has done more to destroy the family than the idea that we are not the offspring of God, only advanced animals, compelled to yield to every carnal urge. No greater ideal has been revealed than the supernal truth that we are the children of God, and we differ, by virtue of our creation, from all other living things. Romans 8.14-17 reports: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to children of God. The Spirit testifies within our spirit that we are God’s children. Now, if we are God children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his suffering in order that we may also share in his glory. Gratitude maximizes happiness in multiple ways, and one reason is that it helps us reframe memories of unpleasant emotional impact. We look for beneficial consequences in negative events. We may look at how a stressful event has shaped who we are today and has prompted us to reevaluate what is really important in life. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Processing a life experience through faith in God does not mean denying negativity. It means realizing the power we have to transform an obstacle into an opportunity. Reframing a loss into potential gain, recasting negativity into a channel of optimism. 2 Thessalonians 1.3-4 reports: We are bound to thank God always for our family and friends that our faith grows exceedingly and the charity of every one of us toward each other will be around us. So that we ourselves glory in us in the churches of God for our patience and faith in all our persecutions and tribulations that we endure. The spirit of God testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. When we cry out to God, the Spirit of God somehow comes alongside us with our spirit, and gives us assurance that we are truly God’s family. This testimony appears to be an inner witness in the heart, a sense that yes, God really loves us. We know we trust God. We have his promises. We see our lives changing and growing. All these pieces of evidence lead our spirit, our hearts, to have a measure of confidence that we really are his. God’s immediate presence and love comes to us when we increase of faith and gratitude in life. We find ourselves deeply assured that we love life and we love ourselves. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
While we pass laws to reduce pollution of Earth, any proposal to protect the moral and spiritual environment is shouted down and marched against as infringing upon liberty, agency, freedom, the right to choose. Interesting how one virtue, when given exaggerated or fanatical emphasis, can be used to batter down another, with freedom, a virtue, invoked to protect vice. Those determined to transgress see any regulation of their life-style as interfering with their agency and seek to have their actions condoned by making them legal. The adversary is jealous toward all who have the power to beget life. He cannot beget life; he is impotent. He and those who followed him were cast out and forfeited the right to a mortal body. His angels even begged to inhabit the bodies of swine. And the revelations tell us that Satan seek that all people might be miserable like himself. The rapid, sweeping deterioration of values is characterized by a preoccupation—even an obsession—with the procreative act. It is never too late to enter into the Kingdom of God through the promises of God. Your Earthly inheritance awaits. At this point, you should know who you are and who God predestined you to be. Others may have become very successful without acknowledging the fact that the Lord allowed them to obtain wealth. Refocus and use your God-given talents under the direction of our loving, Heavenly Father. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Now, if we are children of God, then we have an incredible future. With limited knowledge, we know we must be faithful and diligent in carrying forward our duty to be good children of God and to obey the laws of the land. Remarkable and miraculous things happen when we do so. God works in us and through our circumstances so that we will be conformed and he implants Christ’s nature in us. We become more grateful in our character and attitudes. We are able to talk to God and relate to him as a loving Father, and our Heavenly Father loves us deeply. 1 John 3.1 reports: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. He understands us and has compassion on us as his children. As his children, God promises to take care of our needs. Many of the benefits of that inheritance await us in the future. This inheritance includes the new Heaven and Earth, our glorified and resurrected bodies, and residence in God’s coming kingdom. “I have learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave person is not the one who does not feel afraid, but one who conquers that fear,” says Nelson Mandela. As long as God is with us, we will never be alone. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Our Sure Knowledge of a Resurrection to Immortality
Resurrection is much more than merely reuniting a spirit to a body. The resurrection is a restoration that brings back carnal for carnal and good for that which is good. I am not the one who is so far away, when I feel the snake bite enter my veins, never did I want to be here again, and I do not remember why I came. Who is this irresistible creature, who has an insatiable lust for the dead? Living dead girl. Candles raise my desire why I am so far away, no more meaning to my life, no more reason to stay. Freezing feeling. Hazing clouds rain on my head, as empty thoughts fills my ears, and find my shade by the moon light. Why my thoughts are not so clear? Demons dreaming. Breathe in, breathe in because I am coming back again. Never did I want to, did I want to be here again. You know I cannot believe you, all the things you say, they are not true. However, I fear I cannot just leave you. All I feel is that I need you my love. This is all my spirit can take, anymore and I will surely meet decay. Will you not reach out and touch my heartache, feel it beating, please do not throw it away. I cannot believe your careless speech, your burning eyes, pass through me. I never thought our love would die, but how could I, I could not see. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Our sure knowledge of a resurrection to immortality also gives us the courage to face the unknown. Baby girl you know that I need you, cannot believe that you would leave me this way. If my pain will not appease you, so it please you I have got nothing to say. I now begin to realize, you are not the girl I once knew. However, deep beneath those hollow eyes, reasons that die in part of you, of you. Come on though you shut the Moon out, as though it were bright as Sun in the day. I would crawl through a dementia in your head, you would show me a way. I never thought our love would die, but how could I, I could not see. See for you, I will cry, cry for you, for you. Rage in the cage and piss upon the stage. There is only one sure way to bring the giant down. Defunct the strings of cemetery things with one flat foot on the Devils wings. Crawl on me, skin into me, die for me, living dead girl. Raping the geek and hustling the freak like a hunchback juice on a sentimental noose. Operation filth. They love to love the wealth of an S.S. whore making scary sounds. Cyclone jack hallucinating hack do you think Donna Reed eats dollar bills. Gold foots machine creates another fiend so beautiful they make you, kill. Blood on her skin, dripping with sin. Do it again living dead girl. They were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
And I said unto them, why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Despite these Biblical witnesses, many who call themselves Christian reject or confess serious doubts about the reality of the resurrection. The possibility that a mortal who has died will be brought forth and live again in a resurrected body has awakened hope and stirred controversy through much of recorded history. Relying on clear scriptural teachings, it has been affirmed that God has broken the bands of death and that death is swallowed up in the victor. We readily accept the numerous scriptural doctrines that a similar resurrection will come to all mortals who have ever lived upon this Earth. The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; now, this restoration shall come to all, both antiquated and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not be so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but everything shall be restored to its perfect frame. We should all praise God for the assured resurrection that makes our mortal separations temporary and gives us the hope and strength to carry on. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
Many living witnesses can testify to the literal fulfillment of these scriptural assurances of the resurrection. Many, including some in my own extended family, have seen a departed loved one in vision or personal appearance and have witnessed their restoration in proper and perfect frame in the prime of life. Whether these were manifestations of persons already resurrected or of righteous spirits awaiting an assured resurrection, the reality and nature of the resurrection of mortals is evident. What a comfort to know that all who have been disadvantaged in life from birth defects, from mortal injuries, from disease, or from the natural deterioration of antiquated age will be resurrected in proper and perfect frame. For thou who sleeps in stone and clay, heed this call, rise up and obey, trek on through the mortal door, assemble flesh and be raised in immortality unto eternal life, reunite the spirit and the body. This is the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death. In our eternal journey, the resurrection is the mighty milepost that signifies the end of mortality and the beginning of immortality. We are living in a glorious season of temple and this is a consequence of our faith in resurrection. May our understanding be enlarged. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
It will here be objected that this is the well-known hysterical imitation, the ability of hysterical subjects to imitate all the symptoms which impress them when they occur in others, as though pity were aroused to the point of reproduction. This, however, only indicates the path which the psychic process follows in hysterical imitation. But the path itself and the psychic act which follows this path are two different matters. The act itself is slightly more complicated than we are prone to believe the imitation of the hysterical to be; it corresponds to an unconscious end-process, as an example will show. The physician who has, in the same ward with other patients, a female patient suffering from a particular kind of twitching, is not surprised if one morning he learns that this peculiar hysterical affection has found imitators. He merely tells himself: The others have seen her, and have imitated her; this is psychic infection. Yes, but a psychic infection occurs somewhat in the following manner: As a rule, patients know more about one another than the physician knows about any one of them, and they are concerned about another when the doctor’s visit is over. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
The is how the psychic infection happens. One of them has an attack today: at once it is known to the rest that a letter from home, a recrudescence of lovesickness, or the like, is the cause. Their sympathy is aroused, and although it does not emerge into consciousness they form the following conclusion: If it is possible to suffer such an attack; but it is formed in another psychic region, and consequently ends in the realization of the dreaded symptoms. Thus identification is not mere imitation, but an assimilation based upon the same etiological claim; it expresses a just like, and refers to some common condition which has remained in the unconscious. In hysteria identification is most frequently employed to express a sexual community. The hysterical woman identifies herself by her symptoms most readily—though not exclusively—with persons with whom she has had sexual relations, or who have had sexual intercourse with the same persons as herself. We believe in the literal, universal resurrection of all humankind because of the resurrection of the Holy One called The Living Christ—the immortal Son of God. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the World to come. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
そして私は彼らに言った、なぜあなたは悩んでいますか？あなたの心にはなぜ思考が生まれますか？これらの聖書の証人にもかかわらず、キリスト教徒と呼ぶ者の多くは、復活の現実について深刻な疑念を拒否したり告白したりします。死んだ死人が復活した体で再び生き返って生きるという可能性は、記録された歴史の多くを通して希望を起こし、論争を巻き起こした。明確な聖句の教えに依拠して、神が死の団を壊し、死が勝利者に呑み込まれたと断言されました。私たちは、これまでにこの地球に住んでいたすべての人に同様の復活が起こるという多くの聖句の教義を容易に受け入れます。精神と体は完全な形で再び再会される。四肢と関節の両方は、現時点でさえも、その適切な枠組みに復元されなければならない。今、この修復は老いも若も、絆と自由の両方、男性と女性の両方、邪悪な者と義人の両方に来るはずです。彼らの頭の髪の毛が紛失するほどではない。すべてが完全な枠組みに復帰しなければならない。私たちは、私たちの死の分裂を一時的にし、私たちに遂行する希望と強さを与えてくれる、確かな復活のために神を賞賛すべきです。
Divinity, Eternity, and Family go Together!
The family is the most important place and there is no other setting that comes close in comparison. We are members of a Heavenly Family, and the faithful will be blessed for obedience. Whenever anything so basic as the eternal family is imperiled, we have a solemn obligation to speak out, lest there be critical damage to the family institution by those who seem to be deliberately destructive of it. Family systems are built on the foundation of love, attachment, loyalty, trust, which in turn fulfills safety and status needs. At every stage of life, our relationships and families present us with both joys and challenges. Learning to manage stress, to understand our own emotions and behaviors, and to communicate effectively can help strengthen our own emotional health, as well as our connections to the important people in our lives. If we are to be the Savior’s disciples, if we are to become like him, then we must serve one another, then we must assume responsibility to help with one another’s needs, and we must assist each other through the difficult pathways of life. When it comes to family, we must be willing to bear each other’s burdens, willing to mourn together, and be willing to comfort each other, as the family is the most important place. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
It is a disgrace to every man and woman that has sense enough to live not to take care of their own relatives, their own poor, and plan for them. The commandments and standards of morality set by the Lord himself are under attack on every hand. There are false teachers everywhere using speech and pornographic literature, magazines, radio, and the television, street talk—spreading heresies which break down moral standards. This is a serious matter. It is a grave responsibility, and not an easy one. We are living in perilous times as more and more individuals dishonor their family. Relationships can be difficult, but when it comes to family they can be heartbreaking if things go astray. Having an estranged family member, whether it be a sibling, child, parent, or someone in the extended family comes with stress and frustration. Many of the social restraints which in the past have helped to reinforce and to shore up the family are dissolving and disappearing. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gather of evil around us. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
God wants us to provide for our family, and especially those in our own house, and if we are disloyal to our family, we are worse than an infidel. What that means is we do not hurt our family on purpose, nor do we set them up, nor lead them astray. We are supposed to love and protect each other, and guide one another to do what is righteous. Family needs are not always physical. Often faith, forgiveness, encouragement, comfort, counsel, listening, teaching, moral support, examples of loving and caring, and a host of other experiences will see loved ones through a crisis—and their crisis needs may last a lifetime. However, time with a family member may pay the greatest dividends of all. God wants us to look past negative feelings and turn to him in our time of need. If a relationship is broken, it does not matter whose fault it is, what stage of grief you are in, or if you plan to reconnect with the family member. God wants us to be open and communicate our feelings and stress, love and gratitude with him—God will listen! #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
We have always understood that the foundations of the family, as an eternal unit, were laid even before this Earth was created. Society without basic family life is without foundation and will disintegrate into nothingness. God has a plan in motion for the future relationship for you and your estranged loves ones. Trusting in God will help us get through the difficult times, such as the holidays and birthdays. There is no righteous way to avoid the commandment: Honour thy father and thy mother and your days on this Earth shall be long (Ex. 20.12). No family that hopes to endure eternally can exclude grandmother and grandfather, brothers and sisters, or other relatives. Heaven forbid that any family member—regardless of age or special needs—should be considered a burden. Would it not be wonderful if family members would counsel together as they make plans to assist those in need? Because of personal experience, I am a true believer that families who will fast and pray together can cause miracles to happen. They can literally pray righteous things to take place. Oftentimes it may take longer than we feel is necessary before it happens, however. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
We of all people should not be taken in by the erroneous belief that because many people are losing their minds, and selling their souls that this is a sign of the times. What they mean is that the World is ending and we should just sit back and watch it fall apart. However, that is not true and the arguments that somehow the family unit is tied to a particular phase of development a mortal society is going through. We are free to resist those moves which downplay the significance of the family and which play up the significance of selfish individualism. We know the family to be eternal. We know that when things go wrong in every other institution in society it must be fix or it will cease to exist. Those who, whether in ignorance or malice, attack the family are setting in motion an awful and needless cycle of misery and despair, for they will search in vain and pain for substitutes, and the wisdom of the Worldly wise shall perish publicly for their folly concerning the family. The decline in many of our families is occurring at a time when the nations of the World are moving into some of the most difficult times know. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Do not let the lures of the moment draw you away from the family. We humbly pray to God that you forgive us for our sins, and that you have endless mercy and compassion. Gracious God, we ask that you, through your powers of love and righteousness, restore our relationships in our family. Soften out stubbornness and open our eyes and heart to true love. Father in Heaven, we ask you to right this wrong that Satan has brought into our lives, and that you bring our family back together again. Please remove this instrument that Satan has used to tear our family apart. God, you are all about family and we ask you to bring reconciliation so that we may be allowed to restore the family bond we had before Satan interfered. Hear our cries of sorrow. Heal our hearts and remove this burden that has swept down on us like a plague of vultures, and bring us back together as a family. Permissiveness will not pull us through such crises. Materialism will not sustain us. Our political institutions—parliaments, congresses, and assemblies—cannot rescue us if our basic institution, the family is not intact. Peace treaties cannot save us when there is hostility instead of love in the house. We want our family to show each other love and support. And God continue to forgive us of our sins. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Heavenly father, help us start rebuilding a relationship with our estranged family members. We pray for guidance to say the right things and courage to be a good example. Law enforcement cannot safeguard us if too many people are unwilling to discipline themselves or be disciplined. Rising generations who have been taught that authority and loving discipline are wrong will not keep the faith commandment, honor their fathers and mothers. We hope that parents are using the added time that has come from the time God has granted us to teach, love, and nurture their children. We also must never forget the need for family activity and recreation, for which time is also provided, is an important aspect of bonding. Let your love for each member of your family be unconditional. Where there are challenges, you fail only if you fail to keep trying. And we genuinely welcome and love every race, creed, and culture who care about the family. We must teach each other correct principles and help each other walk uprightly before the Lord—and there is no substitute for teaching our children by the eloquence of example. God, wrap your loving arms around our family and fix the broken relationships. Amen. Thank you. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
What Shall We Do About It?
A succession of small successfully kept promises leads to integrity. As we keep our promises, we feel the Spirit in our lives. Experience is not just an aggregate of heterogeneous items of mental content, but a structured whole whose two poles are pure consciousness, as a constitutive, meaning-conferring activity, and the World, conceived as the transcendent correlate of these intentional acts of consciousness. Between many of us and the World there is ever an unmasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. Why did God make some of us outcast and strangers in our own house? Many people feel different from others in heart and life and longing; shut out from the vast World by a veil. However, over the years, as we mature, all this fine contempt begins to fade for the Worlds we long for, and all its dazzling opportunities becomes more appealing. We want to use our best powers and latent genius. These powers of body and mind have in the past been strangely wasted, dispersed, or forgotten. The powers flashed here and there like falling stars, and died sometimes before the World had rightly gauged their brightness. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
Intellectual work is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and its own highest reward. Aspirations of human beings runs so deep as to be virtually definitive of what it is to be a human being: the aspiration to find one’s own individual being in a rational necessity of some sort. The innate love of harmony and beauty that set the souls of people forward with strength and courage is pure consciousness. To teach and help raise a sin-resistant generation might strike a deep spiritual cord within you. We have a master concept of human existence in the Holy Bible, which teaches us about the total human reality. Life must be treated as a spontaneous activity of consciousness and not as something that is passively suffered or undergone. Emotion is in fact not a physiological phenomenon, but a certain total mode of relating oneself to the World; its peculiar strategy is that of a magical transformation of given situations that bypass the necessity for dealing with them by rational, step-by-step methods. Thus, sadness makes the World appear sad so that it offers no opening to our efforts to change it, and in this way it justifies our passivity by making purposeful effort seems pointless. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
This self-imposed passivity is called a degradation of consciousness, a concept which is a clear forerunner of the bad faith that figures so largely with people who have lost confidence in humanity. How can emotion (or any other mental function) be interpreted as a spontaneous and purposive activity without attributing an intolerably sophisticated kind of self-consciousness to those who have the emotion? We have to set up an intermediate kind of self-awareness between explicit or reflective consciousness of self (as when I am writing and think to myself, I am writing) and events of which we are completely unconscious (for example, the circulation of the blood). This intermediary is exemplified by the awareness that I have of what I am doing—my intention—while I am doing. This is what is known as a non-positional consciousness and the strategies of action, such as those which are taken to be characteristic of the emotions, can be attributed to it without any of the incongruities that would result is explicit or verbal self-awareness were required. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
We honor people who strive to live pure and obedient lives. The strength of many people throughout the World is resilient, steadfast, and immovable in a variety of challenging circumstances and environments. These people with pure consciousness understand their divine identity, feel the Heavenly Father’s love for them, and seek to obey his will. The human consciousness is free because it is forced to think of itself as—and this is—other than the World and unincorporable into any casual sequences it may discern within the World. The feeling of anguish is our experience of this freedom. There who are susceptible to negativity. People who do not have the proper influences in their lives and their minds are being wounded, and are in need of some reinforcement and support. There is kind of a reality-negating function which is happening in some families and in the community where people in positions of authority are knowingly setting bad examples by telling others to fight certain individuals and making them feel that it is okay to do drugs and drink liquor, and it is not. Many attempt to conceal with freedom from themselves by a variety of devices, the most typical of which is belief in some form of psychological determinism. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
All of these efforts are doomed to failure because human beings can try to conceal their freedom only to the extent that they recognize it. The attempt succeeds only in producing a paradoxical internal duality of consciousness in which consciousness thinks of itself as a thing at the same time that it gives recognition to its freedom. This state, which has to be carefully distinguished both from lying to others and from the Freudian conception of a manipulation of consciousness by subconscious forces called bad faith. Its antithesis is an acceptance of one’s own freedom and a recognition that human beings are the absolute origin of, and are solely responsible for, their own acts. When you are planning to mug someone or rob a business, how do you get past all the thoughts telling you that what you are about to do is very, very wrong? How is it that criminals who carry out immoral acts day after day manage to convince themselves that they are actually rational people? To be a career criminal, you either have to be a master of self-deception, or genuinely just do not care. The majority of criminals either make excuses for, or attempt to justify, their actions. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
There is little evidence that criminals make justifications prior to committing the crimes, so it is possible—and somewhat likely—that they are conjured up afterwards as a way to mitigate the guilt. Criminals use a technique called neutralization theory. By using the neutralization theory, criminals are able to ignore values that would otherwise prohibit them from carrying our certain acts by: denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, and appealing to higher loyalties. This impossible combination of being-for-itself and being-in-itself, and in this impossibility is the ultimate reason for the hopeless character of these human enterprises (which is an attempt to make oneself God). And there is no way you can teach these people why what they are doing is wrong because they know and do not care and they will repeat the behavior until they have achieved their objective or are punished by the law. Their life-attitudes are self-contradictory because they are making an effort to achieve the status of a thing while remaining a consciousness that contemplates itself as a thing. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
However, their effort to convince themselves that they are God must fail, or while human beings (in most cases) are absolutely responsible for their choices, their existence is not the result of conscious choice. It is simply a fact, and it is uneliminable contingency makes it impossible for human beings to be ontologically self-sufficient in the way that God must be. These criminals often justify their wrong doings to others, including attempted murder or murder, by blaming corrupt politicians, police, and society. They also convince themselves that the ends justify the means by saying their victims deserved it or were asking for it, and they keep telling themselves that they are doing good and being successful, and repeat it so many times that they actually believe it. They treat them crimes as a skill and it helps them mitigate feelings of guilt. In their minds, it legitimizes the behavior. Criminals may view themselves as skilled entrepreneurs rather than someone who made a living by committing immoral acts. Alma 8.11 reports: We do not believe in such foolish traditions. We have enlisted in the cause of Christ to withstand the powers of Lucifer. We need to strengthen our spiritual strategies. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. We must teach people to become sin-resistant by teaching ourselves and others to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and to pray and to walk uprightly before the Lord. The Spirit will inspire us in the most effective ways we can spiritually inoculate our children. Being sin-resistant means being continually repentant, vigilant, and valiant. To help people become sin-resistant, we have to lovingly infuse them with the respect of the law and to honor God and want to be honest and understand that it is important to be on a high moral level, even when no one is paying attention to their behavior because God sees everything and will judge us for our actions. Keeping commitments prepares people to make and keep sacred covenants. When we talk about covenant keeping, we are talking about the heart and soul of our purpose in mortality. There is unusual power in making and keeping covenants with our Heavenly Father. It is even important to keep simple promises with our friends and family because it will empower us to keep holy covenants. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
The consummate reward of integrity is the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Out of the well of integrity springs an empowered sin-resistant generation. The youth are great imitators, so we have to give them something great to imitate. True moral freedom is now projected into a future that will not be realized until the dialectic of human antagonism has run its course, and of this future we are indeed helping to teach and raise a sin-resistant generation unto the Lord promise by promise and covenant by covenant. We need to take a conscientious effort to devote our energy and time to the things that truly matter, while we uplift others and build the kingdom of God. Hearing the word of God with earnest intent leads us to believe in God and to trust his promises. The more we trust God, the more our hearts are filled with love for him and for each other. Because we love God, we want to serve him; we want to bless the lives of others and help the poor and needy. The more we walk in this path of discipleship, the more we desire to learn the word of God fillings us with ever-increasing faith, hope and charity. It is beautifully simple, and it works beautifully. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
1164 Morning Glory Circle
There will always be something worth living for while there are shimmery afternoons. Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Do not wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it is at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored. Pause for a moment an enjoy the elegant show window of a prestigious furniture store. Let the beautifully designed sofa, and the comfortable-appearing chairs and the coffee table catch your eyes. Gaze at the amazing chandelier positioned overhead, and let your eyes rest as you image yourself relaxing with the evening paper. Each person is passionate about his or her own projects and is primarily interested in cultivating them with the minimum outside interference. To some extent, modern humans are capable of governing themselves, but their individual resources are insufficient. In order to prevent constant collision and frustration, some agency is required which will supervise a set of rules that is designed simply to serve this limited purpose. #RandolphHarris 1 of 11The image of the perfect ruler that of the umpire or referee who controls the game without participating in it himself or herself is the ideal protector of humanity. There will also be times when you will have to demonstrate your righteous courage in plain view of your peers, the consequences of which may be ridicule and embarrassment. Additionally, in your World, skirmishes with an adversary will also be fought on a silent, solitary battlefield in front of a screen. The political skeptic of government warns against the tendency of the specific activity of government to turn into something more grandiose and quite different. For there are many who dream of a perfectly harmonious condition of affairs and who deplore the waste and lack of planning in modern life. Such people regard the government as a vast reservoir of powers that are to be captured and guided in the direction of their own political dream. Politics thus becomes an encounter of dreams, and the umpire abandons his or her position and begins to play the game on his or her own account. In life, as in business, there has always been a need for those persons who could be called finishers. Their ranks are few, their opportunities many, their contributions great. #RandolphHarris 2 of 11
From the very beginning to the present time, a fundamental question remains to be answered by each of us who runs the race of life. Shall I falter or shall I finish? On the answer await the blessings of joy and happiness here in mortality and eternal life in the World to come. For the skeptical conservative, one dream is on par with any other. Governments are not, and cannot be expected to become, repositories of truth: any such claims are impostures. A government that actually governs, rather than imposing some dream or other upon its subjects, will be guided, not by a vision of truth, nor by the attempt to impose one project upon its subjects, but by the evolution of the society it rules. Social life constantly generates new situations: some activities decline and new ones arise, a process which requires an adaption of the rules governing the society. However, the changes in the rules should always grow out of, rather than be imposed upon, the life which they regulate. Further, changes should be made economically or else they may lose their effectiveness. #RandolphHarris 3 of 11
Frequent changes are deplorable in that they give rise to feverish hopes and disappointments which encourage further dreams of taking over the resources of government. All human achievements have been made (and sustained) in the face of great difficulties: authorities exist to guard such achievements and traditions against the continual threat of human folly, laziness, blindness, and stupidity. Conservatism stresses our responsibilities to our duties rather than on rights. We are not left without guidance to make this momentous decision. The Holy Bible contains those accounts, even those lessons, which, if carefully learned, will serve us well and be as a beacon light to guide our thoughts and influence our actions. As we read, we sympathize with those who falter. We honor those who finish. The moment God put a dream in your heart, the moment the promise took root, God not only started it, but he set a completion date. God is called the Author and the Finisher of our Faith. He would not have given you the dream, the promise would not have come alive, if God did not already have a plan to make it come true. #RandolphHarris 4 of 11
Maybe at one time you believed that you could do something extraordinary. You had a dream of living the apple pie life, with a big house, two fancy cars, a three-bedroom house with three full bathrooms, and two main bedrooms, rooms big enough to fit more than one bed, stained glass windows, a washer dryer combination that literally does everything for you…washes, rinses, dries, and shuts off…in one continuous operation…without watching. Once you have tossed in soiled clothes, add Persil Pro Clean, set the time and temperature dials, your work is finished. Take them out at your leisure…clean, completely dried, and “Sun-freshed”…ready to iron, or fold and put away. Your hands never touch water, never come in contact with bleaches nor detergents. Wash at any time of the day, up to ten pounds of clothes. And then zip through a big family ironing in record time with the new Kenmore Automatic Ironer Machine, which features two roll speeds—fast for flat work and slow for fancy ruffles and frills. Both shoe and press controls helps to free hands for guiding work. With an exclusive adjustable light for best work area illumination. And a new, large drop-leaf, laps shelf. Easily accessible release bar. White baked-on enamel finish, and hinged cover and chrome hardware. #RandolphHarris 5 of 11
You believed that you could have a twin top with griddle where you could roast a turkey and all the trimmings, broil other meats and vegetables, fry apple rings on the griddle—all this at the same time! With a smokeless waist-high broiler that is over-size. Chrome-plated broiler rack that adjusts easily to desired height. You dream of an oven with a deep Roast-R-Pan and trivet. With a Visi-bake own door that lets you have the fun of seeing what is cooking; peek-switch turns on oven light. Three giant, two standard top burners, and two Warm-R-Burners. Cook top covers with baking charts inside. Two utility drawers. And a Kenmore garbage burner where you dump food scraps, sweeper dirt and rubbish—anything burnable with a heavy-gauge steel body with a smooth, metallic brown baked-on enamel finish that has a top, grate, burner that is sturdy, warp-resistant cast iron. And of course, a kitchen with an automatic dishwasher, and a Coldspot freezer that can store up to 350 meals and have eleven convenient food store sections. With a quick-freeze compartment, three food elevator baskets, two storage baskets and adjustable basket. Ready rack to store juices, ice cream and small items. Along with a Coldspot refrigerator with rust proof structural aluminum shelving and an automobile type door lock. Color-tone interior beauty…gleaming white porcelain enamel with colorful harmonizing trim. #RandolphHarris 6 of 11
God is telling you do not let lies play around in your mind. Your dream is not over. Keep thinking about the details of what you want. God set a completion date. It does not matter how long it has been or how impossible it looks. If you will stay in faith and not talk yourself out of it, it is just a matter of time before your dreams come true. Just because it has not happened yet does not mean it is not going to happen. God has already lined up the right people, the right opportunities, the right answers. Everything you need is already in your future. Let go of the doubt, shake off the discouragement. Whether it has been a year or one hundred and twenty-two years, what God promised you he still has every intention of bringing it to pass. In the Scripture, it reports that the Holy Spirit revealed to a man called Simeon that: he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah (Luke 2.26). You can image how far out that promise seemed. As time went by, and Simeon did not see any sign of the Messiah, negative thoughts came: “You heard God wrong. It has been too long. It is never going to happen.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 11
Nevertheless, Simeon awakened every morning believing, expecting, and knowing that it would happen, and one day it did. The promise came to a dramatic fulfillment and Simeon declared, “My eyes have seen God’s salvation!” I am keeping the faith that my dream will come true. I want a house just like Darrin and Samantha Stephens from Bewtiched, and exact replica down to the furniture and appliances, the only difference is I want a turret with a witches cap. And God is saying to all of us, in reference to our dreams, science does not matter, have faith and know that he is going to finish what he started. No one and nothing can stop God from fulfilling his promises. And God put that promise of that house in my heart as a kid. God promised to bring even the secret petitions of our hearts to completion. Some will try to push us down, steal our dreams, and talk us into settling for mediocrity, but we need to have this new attitude and believe that whatever God started in our lives, he will finish. Will you keep believing even though it looks impossible? Will you stay in faith, even though every voice tells you it is not happening? #RandolphHarris 8 of 11
Samantha had no idea that she would ever meet Darrin, that they would get married, but they kept bumping into each other. One day, he came home from work and told her that he no longer wanted to live in someone else’s house with furnishings and curtains they picked out, and surprised her with a house he bought while she thought he was at work. It was a dream come true. If people want to believe the things in movies and on the Silvertone Console matched five-ply mahogany veneer television with magnificent “Photo-Tune” pictures that brings all the magic of no glare into our living rooms are real, could you image how much better our lives would be if we focused on the good stuff, and had faith in God? The Scripture says that for years Rachel desired to have a baby, but she had fertility problems. After she had given up on her dreams, it reported that: God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive (Genesis 30.22). It does not say that Rachel remembered God, but she must have been living right. So somewhere in her heart and mind she kept the divine law active. This is how much God wants you to fulfill your destiny. So, what are the incompletions in your life that you need to stay in faith about? #RandolphHarris 9 of 11
Lust of power, greed of popularity, and disdain for honor have every appeared as faces of failure in the panorama of life. Captivated by their artificial attraction, many noble souls have stumbled and fallen, thus losing the crown of victory reserved for the finisher of life’s great journey. We cannot impress upon you enough, it is best to be popular with God because eternal life is important. There is more to come after life on Earth and you do not want to spend your eternity in Hell. The damned do further evil in Hell. By doing further evil, they lose more being. The damned are confined in different places according to the second nature that they have acquired for themselves. Those, for example, who have given into wrath during their Earthly lives will be consigned to a place with like-minded people. The damned can then act according to their second nature and the sufferings and pain which they undergo emerge from their behaviour, as well as the behaviour and acts of others around them. So, people who are wrathful in their Earthly life, will be attacked and torn apart by others wrathful people. The damned cannot affect anyone with their evil actions as long as the person affected are the damned and so no further evil done. They wanted to live foul and that is what they will experience. #RandolphHarris 10 of 11
Though Jesus was tempted by the evil one, he resisted. Though he was hated, he loved. Though he was betrayed, he triumphed. Not in a cloud of glory or chariot of fire was Jesus to depart mortality, but with his arms outstretched in agony upon a cruel cross. Mortality ended. Immortality began. Times change, circumstances vary, but the true marks of a finisher remain. Know them well, for they are vital to our success. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in humans. Recognize that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other. Let virtue garnish your thoughts unceasingly. Courage becomes a living and active virtue when it is regarded as determination to live. When the burdens of life become heavy, when trials test one’s faith, when pain, sorrow, and despair cause the light of hope to flicker and burn low, communication with our Heavenly Father provides peace. Behave like a child of God, this is one who will finish life. Helaman 15.5 reports: Walk circumspectly before God, and observe and keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments according to the law of Moses. I pray that we will all be a finisher in this race of life and thus qualify for that precious prize: eternal life with our Heavenly Father in the celestial kingdom. #RandolphHarris 11 of 11
The Details of Human Behavior are Unpredictable
God will hold us responsible for all the wonderful things on Earth that we refuse to enjoy. It is better than we should be servants of a kind master than the slave to our own wild passion. All conservatives are united in the belief that human affairs are extremely complicated and that the details of human behavior are unpredictable: this we may call the complexity thesis. The nature of human beings is intricate; the objects of society are of the greatest possible complexity: and be suitable either to human’s nature to qualify their affairs. Many conservatives have accepted some version of the doctrine of original sin and have taken the view that government is ordained by God as a remedy for human defect. It is heartwarming for us to receive so many good wishes from you all during the past six months and to feel your acceptance. Many of you have reported that you are praying for our President. We feel that spiritual strength and gratefully acknowledge it—both to you and to our Father in Heaven. Most people have agreed that virtue, stability, and civilization depend on the continuity of long-established institutions. Political stability is founded on state, church, and family, whole moral stability rests upon a strong sense of duty, preferably buttressed by religious belief. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Conservative accounts of the nature of humans may emphasize either our enduring sinfulness or our frailty. The only position conservatives cannot take without ceasing to be conservative is the belief that people are fundamentally good and perhaps ultimately perfectible. Jacob 4.13 reports: The Spirit speaks the truth and does not lie. Wherefore, it speaks of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly for the salvation of our souls. Religion is not a thing apart from life. It is not principles and ordinances or missionary work or leadership as an end in themselves. It is manifested by the kind of people we are, by our relationship with our Heavenly Father and his Son and all the commandments, by the measure in which we qualify for the approval of our own Spirit-guided conscience, and by the way we treat other people. It is a continuing marvel to me how well and with what grace and unselfish goodness so many live this sacred commandment. And is it sad to think that some may, in joyless version of the gospel, miss the special blessing awaiting on the path established by our Savior and leading to the highest joy through Christian service and sacrifice. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
I never trust writers or entertainers who say critics do not bother them. Adversity is all about us and among us. It is an inevitable element of mortality, and many have some share in it ultimately. An explosive device detonates on London Subway, on 15 September 2017, injuring commuters. This is the fifth attack on London in 2017. Authorities confirm in this specific attack 29 people were injured at Parson Green Tube station in Southwest London. Thankfully there were not life-threatening injuries. God and Christ love us with a mature, perfect love. The plan by which they lead requires mortal instruments of their love. We have the great honor to be invited to be such instruments. We need them, but they also need us. In this service, we find the foundation of those blessings that God wants us to enjoy. If you will always be more fair and more kind to others than a few of them may sometimes be to you, you will enjoy every sweet blessing life afford. The sweetness of true Christian service is often experienced in obscurity—in quiet rooms in houses and hospitals and places of confinement, in military barracks, schools, and in other places far from public attention. Usually it is unheralded, but it reflects the standards set by the Savior for those who will inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the World. These are they who serve the hungry and the thirsty and the unclothed and homeless and those who are sick and imprisoned, and who do this after the pattern in the spirit of God. To those who so serve God promised eternal life. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
Do you not supposed that this is all; for after you have done all these things, if you turn away the needy, and unclothed, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, is you have, to those who stand in need—if you do none of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and nothing will come to you because you are hypocrites who do deny the faith. Empathy cuts through our isolation, generating a network of interconnection. Empathy brings our heart out of the cold. Empathy makes compassion possible. However, empathy also needs an empathic boundary, meaning we sometimes need to take a step back so we do not get overly absorbed in or identified with others’ emotional states—standing back just far enough to keep them in clear focus, resonating with what they are feeling without losing ourselves in it. Being empathetic does not mean putting up with other people’s emotional and mental nor physical mess because we feel what they are feeling, but it does make it very difficult to dehumanize them, regardless of how strong a stand we might need to take with them. Empathy helps keep us from getting numb, heady, or overly detached. It begins with and reinforced vulnerability. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
Emotional literacy blends emotional sensitivity, understanding, and savvy. It means knowing what you are feeling while you are feeling it, and being able to both contain and openly express it. That spirit is still operative among the people of the Church. We should not have to talk about our religion to others, our values should come through like the Sun in the Summertime. One of the first steps in developing greater emotional literacy is uncovering whatever shame you might have about your lack of such literacy. We need to cultivate intimacy with our emotions, getting close enough to all of them, to know them and our ways of handling them from the inside. The people whom they served have looked upon them with almost the reverence that they might have bestowed upon the Savior himself. And when they have experiences this purifying blessing—the blessing of service. Each of your emotions is worth getting to know very, very well—its nature, its purpose, its expression, its containment, its value, your history with it, your use of it. Across the World, such individual investment of self in service is happening, following the example and teachings of the Lord, who laid upon the altar his very life for the blessing of others. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Sometimes hurts to the heart are more damaging than physical blows. Yes, they may take longer to heal, but they will heal more quickly if we avoid bitterness and anger and practice forgiveness. The royal law of love is of sacred significance in the Lord’s program for his people—an element as vital as any other in the gospel. It is inseparable from them and the spirit of them. It is well known to us institutionally; indeed, the Church to which we have the honor to belong is celebrated for knowing and acting upon it on occasions of great need across the Earth. Courage is an essential attribute, for without it other highly valued qualities, like compassion and integrity, would lack the strength and resolve needed to shift into actions. Take pride in what we (and others) have done can be a beautiful part of honoring ourselves and others. The human soul is infinite and not in the least under its own command. Love: an absorbing concentration on some one object, an intense movement to a single point, a gravitation of your whole being around a solitary centre. May we honor that commandment and those who do so well personally to accept God’s invitation to impart to others both temporally and spiritually, according to their needs. That we may do so, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Randolph Harris II International Institute 