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Souls Will Not be Saved by Brute Force
Each person has his or her own faith, and it is the true religion. Each individual has one’s own faith, and every person’s conscience is entitled to the same respect. Seed sown in faith day by day is the nightly harvest of the soul, and with the soul we work. With the soul, we see. We have in history durable testification that our seasons come in the souls of humans, as a planet that we have set in motion. No matter what happens in the World, or in our individual lives, there is a place we can turn for stability. We can look toward the future with hope, regardless of life’s and the World’s circumstances. These days, many people are seeing the value of God as their constant. The yearning of our souls, formed by God in a peculiar mould, for communion with those to whom it bears a resemblance. The World around us is ever-changing, but God does not change. The soul needs air; a wide sweep and frequent change of it. Morbid influences, in a thousand-fold variety, gather about hearths, and pollute the life of households. However, God is always there. He can be counted on. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And God can make himself known giving us peace of mind through him, setting our hearts securely at rest. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
Faith and revelation must rely upon the evidence of faith. Mystery does not designate what cannot be known by humans but, rather what is revealed only to the chosen few. Faith, the hallmark of Puritanism, is consequently of no avail without the confirmation of reason. Priestcraft introduced mysteries and then fostered them by ceremonies and discipline. To be in a real-life relationship with God is an extraordinary and beautiful daily reality. There is a cosmic companionship that we will not trade for the World. We are deeply known and loved by God. No matter what happens in this life, it is not the end of the World because this World is not the end. God has shown me love, security, forgiveness, support, comfort, acceptance, and a purpose for living. He is my strength, and I would not be here today if it were not for God. Who knows what the future holds? The church exists to save people’s souls, and it can fulfill this mission only by persuasion, by essentially nonviolent means. The state, on the other hand, exists to protect human rights—their lives, liberties, and estates—so that the use of force as an ultimate sanction is a necessary part of the state’s function, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and prosperity for the United States of America. The state has no concern with the salvation of human’s souls, just as the church has no concern with the use of force. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
The most fundamental reasons for the existence of the state is the preservation of human’s natural right to liberty, and the government is entitled to use force against an individual only when it is necessary to protect the rights on others. Liberty, freedom from external or foreign rule, is essential to existence. Liberty, individuality, and peace are of the highest ethical values; they are what made humans nobler to contemplate. Goodness is varied, but that does not mean that variety itself is good; a nation in which half the population is criminal would be more diversified than a wholly honest one, but it would not be a better nation. It is far better to be alone than in bad company. We should observe good faith and justice toward all and cultivate peace and harmony with all. The purpose of the human spirit is to merge itself in God by merging itself in other beings: human beings are not as valuable as an individual and are truly alive only as manifestations of the divine impersonal force, which is love. We must therefore renounce the personal life, in which we love ourselves alone and seek maximum enjoyment for ourselves, and learn to love all people. This does not mean to give up our personal being or space, but to be a conduit of the spirit of God and show compassion to others. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
We become immortal through merging our personalities into humanity as such. Our real or special self is immortal. All are free to choose, of course, and we would not have it otherwise. Unfortunately, however, when some choose slackness, they are choosing not only for themselves, but for the next generation and the next. Small equivocations in parents can produce large deviations in their children! If we are obedient, faithful, and earnest, the Lord helps us reflect our dedication and skill. We are ready to step over that threshold into a new dimension of spirituality and light. Looking forward to the future with a perfect brightness of hope to the plan God has in store for us. Our joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ and our place in his plan will draw people to us and change lives. We will lift and inspire a World so desperately in need of goodness. This new faith will build an even greater sense of purpose and contribution to society. We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Many people have a new perspective in life know that they have a loving and eternal friend, God, a Heavenly Father, on their side. There is nothing that we cannot handle together with God. With God involved in our lives, we can rest easy. As we get to know God and listen to what he reports in the Bible, he brings about that peace of mind in our lives, because we know him. We see life from his vantage point, aware of his faithfulness and ability to take care of us. So, no matter what the future holds, we can place our hopes in God as our completeness. God is waiting to prove himself in our lives if we will turn to him and seek him. The physiological systems of humans and other living organisms require certain stable conditions—physical, chemical, psychological, and environmental—to survive. These systems also allow for the maintenance of these conditions even in the face of ever-changing circumstances; stability in living organisms is generally in a state of dynamic and adaptive equilibrium. Stability also provides basic information about the overall developmental course of a given in life. It is generally proven that it is meaningful to show substantial consistency across time. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Psychological stability affects the environment: Interactants often adjust to match a consistent in another individual. Personality traits tend to be stable across time and can serve as examples of a develop-mentally stable individual. That is why God does not want us to engage in conflict with others and having faith in God stresses that we have free will and are able to control our own behavior even when others are going through great means to provoke us. Stability itself varies, and variation in stability depends on individual (some may be more stable than others). The age of the individual when stability assessed may not be in infancy, but stabilize in adulthood—people are thought to become increasingly consistent in relation to one another as they age. Why might stability fail? If not stable, there are two possible explanations: Either an individual is not stable, or the individual has not been assessed adequately. Barring measure imprecision, we attribute instability to genetic and biological as well as environmental and experiential forces. The timing of biological phenomena is partially driven by genetic factors and tends to happen within a specific period of the life course for most people in any particular population. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
Many of us grow and will continue to grow through steady efforts, as we quietly do our part. We may struggle with daily challenges, but we remain humble, patient, and long-suffering. Our hearts fill with joy when we are dedicated to our faith in God. Many of our hearts are full of gratitude and great joy. Change also rises because people engage in normative life tasks and roles, such as leaving home, establishing a family, and starting a career. The life span perspective in psychology specifics that human beings are open systems, and the plastic nature of psychological functioning ensures that people exhibit both stability and instability in many individuals throughout the life course. As we invest our time, talents, and means to build the kingdom of Heaven, our hearts are purified, our wisdom increases, celestial habits begin to form. Surely God is pouring his spirit in rich abundance upon his Earthly kingdom. We declare to the World that the Lord’s kingdom is by no means a closed community. The Lord invites all people to travel this perfecting pathway of divine truth. He promises joy and everlasting happiness as the reward. The entry fee: a broken heart, a contrite spirit, and a willingness to continue to purse Godly ways. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
God, we come to you with heavy hearts. You have felt our pain and suffering and only you know the hardships and pain that we feel. God, please take control and be the compass of our lives. Walk with us and become a major part of us as we are on this journey in life. Always be by our side as you have been, for we know that with you, your love and promises will bring salvation. We are able to face everyday life because of you, God, and will never falter in our trust for you. God, please shower us with your blessings so that we may be living examples of love and grace. Make us a conduit of your gospel so that other may see what a wonderful God you are. Bless those who have lost their way and lead them onto the path you have set for your children. We are human and we sin and we thank you, God, that you sent your love and understanding so that we may be forgiven with deep love. The Lord’s kingdom should be the prime focus of our lives. It seems reasonable to suggest that we each agreed to that in our premortal life. God’s kingdom is becoming perfected. As we invest our time and talents, our hearts are purified, our wisdom increases, and celestial traits start to manifest. The Holy Spirit prepares us to receive the presence of God. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
The Winchester Mystery House
TRUE STORY: The Winchester Mystery House is a location which holds a history of several different types of paranormal activity. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
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
God is a Pervasive Principle of Goodness
Good habits formed at youth make all the difference. All acts and all thoughts are irreducibly the products of individual human beings and therefore inescapably associated with the needs, desires, and purposes of humans. Such terms are reality and truth denote nothing complete and absolute; rather, they are intertwined with human intentions and deeds. Effective creativity of the human mind in organizing the Universe of human experience is in making or remaking reality. Humans make their truth along with their other values, beauty and goodness. Our axioms are never God-given but are human-made; they are not a priori verities but postulates, or working hypotheses, whose truth grows or diminishes within our experience. The logic we employ in gathering knowledge is dynamic and functional rather than eternally fixed. Our data are not the given, but the taken. Human being’s activity is focal both to epistemology and to metaphysics, and there is genuine novelty in our growing universe and no theoretical limit to human’s freedom. The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Reality is a seamless logical unity, not a mere disjointed plurality; that in the Absolute all separateness vanishes; that nothing finite, nothing that changes, is ever quite real, not even human personality; and there is something makeshift, transitory, and unsatisfactory about the bits of matter we see, the individual acts we perform, and the private thoughts we think. That is all that exists for us. An independent or absolute reality that does not enter into our experience, or explain our knowledge, is irrelevant to us. Reality for us is piecemeal, incomplete, and plastic. It is idle to ask “What is real?” Rather, the only question we can answer is “What can I know as real?” Everyone’s situation is different, and the details of each life are unique. Nevertheless, we can make life sweeter, more joyful, even more glorious by being grateful. Spiritual gifts are powerful blessings. They increase our capacity as we develop them by drawing on the storehouse of Heaven. Our Heavenly Father did not put us on Earth to fail, but to succeed gloriously. It may seem paradoxical, but that is why recognizing answers to prayer can sometimes be very difficult. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
The reality revealed by our actual active procedures of knowing is not rigid but malleable, not completed but evolving. Because it responds, at least to some extent, to our working and probing, it must somehow be not unrelated to our needs and purposes. The process of knowing is never one of bringing the mind into relation with a fundamentally alien reality, but always one of improving and extending an already existing system which we know. What we call real is that which, for our own reasons, we evaluate as important. It is the result of the kind of selection by which we reduce the chaos about us to order. Some face life with only their own experience and capacity to help them. Others seek, through prayer, divine inspiration to know what to do. When required, they qualify for power beyond their own capacity to do it. Communication with our Father in Heaven is not a trivial matter. It is a sacred privilege. It is based upon unchanging principles. When we receive help from our Father in Heaven, it is in response to faith, obedience, and the proper use of agency. We are here on Earth to gain experience we can obtain in no other way. We are given the opportunity to grow, to develop, and to gain spiritual maturity. To do that, we must learn to apply truth. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
How we face challenges and resolve difficult problems is crucially important to our happiness. Stress, culture, and community maintains that the primary motivation of human beings is to build, protect, and foster their resource reservoirs in order to protect the self and it social attachments. The more stress you are under, the more important it is to balance this by moving the body. Move the energy and do not let things stagnate. Stagnation can cause illness and pain. Identify the source of stress in your life and work to eliminate them by changing how you perceive things. So much worry comes from our imagination because we are always thinking of what might happen. The imagination and its ideas mediate between perception and will. As opposed to the conceptions of the understanding, which are finite, the ideas of imagination are both finite and infinite. An idea’s relation to its object is finite, but the activity of the imagination in this relation is infinite. The function of the will is to idealize the imagination’s ideas. The contradiction thus engendered gives rise to impulse, defined as the desire to restore destroyed identity. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
For us to grow, we need to do what we feel is right. In time, God will answer. God will not fail us. Through impulse, there is constant realization of ideals, but the ideas of the imagination are constantly striven after and never attained. The brain and body are completely pliable. One can shape one’s brain through one’s thoughts and actions. Once we recognize that the only thing we can count on is change and that change is inevitable, one can begin to let go of how we think things should be. One can then let go of the tension that comes from that way of thinking. The distinction between will and intelligence thus is relative, not absolute. From a higher point of view, they are identical. In intelligence, the I that acts and the I that knows are one. The acting I is an object for itself, while the know I merely perceives other objects. In action, there is no transition from the World of mind, for the subject has become an object to itself. Any change in the outer World is received as a perception, but every action causes such a change; therefore, action is perception. Self-determination is the primary condition of all consciousness. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Happiness depends upon ourselves. The soul never thinks without a picture. The people who give us trouble are our best teachers. What are we willing to learn about ourselves? The World and God have as common ground the incomprehensible basis of reality. Existence is a self-affirmation. God is the infinite affirmation of himself. The objective World is the unconscious poetry of the spirit creating itself. There is a striking formulation of the existential anxiety, which is also an anticipation of the psychoanalytic doctrine of resistance: The philosopher who knows his calling is the physician who seeks to heal with gentle, slow hand the deep sounds of human consciousness. The restoration is all the more difficult since most people do not want to be healed at all and, like unhappy patients, rise unruly outcry if one even approaches their wounds. Family is an important part of one’s life, and is also very important to God. From Adam and Eve onward, God made humans to be together with love to guide and support one another. Through prayer, we can make out families stronger. Alma 10. 21 reports: God will judge all of our iniquities; the voices of Angels cry out to his people telling us to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
How much time are you spending sitting watching the TV? Watching other people’s lives and experiences rather than creating you own? When we seek inspiration to help make decisions, the Lord gives gentle promptings. These require us to think, to exercise faith, to work, to struggle at times, and to act. Seldom does the whole answer to a decisively important matter or complex problem come all at once. More often, it comes a piece at a time, without the end in sight. Endless appreciation to our Father in Heaven whose blessings depend upon our obedience, but whose ratio of blessings to obedience makes him a generous God! Heavenly Father, please shine your light upon our families. Give us strength to overcome all of the difficulties that we are dealing with now and protect us against any and all problems we may encounter in the future. Lord, please bring us together where we are meant to be. May the love that binds us only grow stronger as we fulfill the destiny you have laid out for us. Grant us forgiveness for any sins we have committed. May we also forgive one another Lord, as it is sometimes difficult to do. Bless us God, in your name I pray, bless it be. #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
Ryan Phillippe is Withstanding Extortion and Financial Assault
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Every morning when we wake up, we face a new day filled with the challenges of life. These challenges come in many forms: physical challenges, financial setbacks, difficulties with relationships, emotional trials, and even struggles with our faith. Many of these tests we face in life can be solved and overcomes. However, there are also some difficulties in life that we do not understand and they seem impossible to overcome and may be with us until we pass on to our next life. As we temporarily endure the challenges we cannot solve, it is important to remember that the spiritual strength we develop will help us successfully endure all the challenges we face in life. Ryan Phillippe is beautiful. He is strong. As a man, Ryan Phillippe has the physical bearing and the inner self-confidence of a born aristocrat. When people meet Ryan Phillippe, they sense a man who cannot be had for any price—a man unreservedly committed to the cause of liberating humanity, and a man who deeply loves himself, his children, and his friends and family. May God protect Ryan Phillippe and his family, strengthen their relationships, and give them personal confidence before the Lord. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
Forces in a developing social struggle are frequently buried beneath the visible surface and make themselves felt in many ways long before they burst out into the open. These generative forces make themselves felt through the power of an idea long before they burst out into the public eye. It is important that we give a high priority to the power of ideas in a social and financial struggle. It is our weakness to confuse truth with the numerical strength and allegations people use for publicity, attached to individuals and organizations starving for fame and fortune, as they germinate the forces that sow the seeds of social upheaval in our community. Pornography is more vile, evil and graphic than ever before. Recently, a fairly unknown prostitute, sex actress, and compulsive liar called Elsie Hewitt (age21), who has done sex advertisements in a sleazy pornographic magazine called Playboy, accused legendary actor Ryan Phillippe (age 43) of assaulting her on 4 July 2017, and she is now suing him for $1,000,000.00 USD. These allegations just recently made the celebrity gossip news and online fan magazines, and they are false. Elsie Hewitt is known for being manipulative and cunning. She will do anything for money and lying is Elsie’s reflexive ways of responding to questions. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
This is why we are increasingly concerned about the destruction that pornography is causing in the lives of Church members and their families. Satan is attacking us with unprecedented fury. One reason we are here on Earth is to learn to manage the passions and feelings of our mortal bodies. These God-given feelings help us want to marry and have children. The intimate marriage relationship between a loving couple that brings children into mortality is also meant to be a beautiful, loving experience that binds together two devoted hearts, unites both spirit and body, and brings a fulness of joy and happiness as we learn to put each other first. I was deeply disturbed when I got home and had accidentally seen startling and disturbing images and actions of Elise Hewitt on my computer after doing an internet search. I felt horrible about what I had seen and wished I could get it out of my mind. However, I was grateful that I could confide in a member of the church, she was able to sooth my innocent and aching heart and helped me know how to get relief through our Savior’s Atonement. We sat together and petitioned the help of our Heavenly Father. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
The allegations made against Ryan Phillipe are all lies. I saw Ryan Phillippe on 4 July 2017, at 7.09pm, and he seemed peaceful, and told me to drink some coffee. He was sobbing because he was afraid that his mother, and his children would be hurt by the vicious lies. We said a prayer. Then I saw him again the next day 5 July 2017, at about 8pm, and he was on his way home. It is more likely that a jealous friend and the gossip magazines conjured up this assault allegation to ruin Ryan Phillippe’s life and career. Elsie Hewitt is unknown and she is trying to use Ryan Phillippe’s name to launch her career. Ryan Phillippe is a pretty peaceful guy and he actually seems kind of shy. He tends to keep to himself and like to be quiet. He enjoys time to himself and does not socialize too much. Since his divorce from the beautiful Oscar winning actress Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Philippe has been heartbroken and likes the single life and he has not been in a relationship for a while. He says that the mother of his children is the second most beautiful and talented woman he knows, second to his mother, and that most women are not cut from the same cloth. It is hard for him to become interested other women, when they are not on the same level as your first love. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Elsie Hewitt is like a master salesperson, she used her charisma to get your attention, flattery to make you feel special, seduction to lift you off your feet, and persuasion to get you to give her what she wants. Elise Hewitt is a hard prostitute, she smokes marijuana, uses cocaine, crystal meth, pops ecstasy pills and loves champagne, she called an ecstasy tablet in a glass of champagne and energy drink. She is what some older men dream of, young, fake silicone breast, and other parts that she has tightened from time to time to give the clients they traction they like. The hallways and stairs of her apartment are busy any hour of the night with White and Black men coming and going. It is no more than one would expect in a building out of which a prostitute was working. However, what is astonishing is the full-house crowd that rushes in between, say six and seven-thirty in the morning, then rush away, and about nine, the house is empty. Many married men leave home in time to stop by Elise Hewitt’s house before they go to work, she calls them her clients. Many of her clients are in frustrating marriages and they have kids and their wives will not have the sex with them, so they get up early and go to the well-known prostitute, Elsie. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Elise has an inflated sense of herself. She craves approval, and is highly sensitive to criticism, and tries very hard to perform in bed. This is especially turn during the initial phases of a relationship with her clients, when she is seeking to impress them and win them over. Many man mistake Elise’s elaborate performance for true passion, but she is merely acting. However, after a while some men catch on. Inevitably, they can tell something is missing in her performance—the genuine human emotions. Her clients can tell by her style of love making that she does not really have an interest in her partner and that they are nothing more than an object to her. Elise lets her guard down and the caring, passion, tenderness, and vulnerability tends to seem as artificial as her breast. These are qualities that can only come from the heart. It is more than likely, if Elise Hewitt was assaulted, it by one of her clients she manipulated with her sexual prowess. She fools men into believing that she is interested in them, but only wants to extract money for them, and perhaps one of them was deeply offended when they found out about the army of men, and sometimes women, leaving her bed chambers. Perhaps she lost some of her traction and that is why she needs the money. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
Many children, youth, and adults are innocently exposed to pornography, but a growing number of both men and women are choosing to view it and are drawn back repeatedly until it becomes an addiction. These individuals may desire with all of their hearts to get out of this trap but often cannot overcome it on their own. Elsie Hewitt is deeply in need of prayer. She uses her body to make money and traps men for profit. We need to counsel with our children, families, and youth on an ongoing basis, listening with love and understanding. They need to know the dangers of pornography and how it overtakes lives, causing loss of the Spirit, distorted feelings, deceit, damages relationships, loss of self-control, and nearly total consumption of time, thought and energy. Young people and adults, if you are caught in Satan’s trap of pornography, remember how merciful our beloved Savior is. Do you realize how deeply the Lord loves and cherishes you, even now? Our Savior has the power to cleanse and heal you. He can remove the pain and sorrow you feel and make you clean again through the power of his atonement. We are so greatly concerned about how destructive pornography is, and we are deeply saddened at how Elise Hewitt is lying about Ryan Phillippe and extorting him for money. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
If you are free of serious sin yourself, do not suffer needlessly the consequences of another’s sins. You can feel compassion, but you should not take upon yourself a feeling of responsibility for those acts. Know that you are not alone. There is help. We pray that Elise Hewitt will seek addiction recovery and that the Lord will show her the error of her ways. When we face challenges with life, and are desperate for help, we pray and plead to the Lord. In my home, our focus has become talk, rejoice, peach, and testify of Christ by striving to pray daily and study the scriptures and have weekly family home evening. Frequently, I am up praying from midnight until four in the morning because it is that serious to me. These are the very practices that help take away stress, give direction in our lives, and adds protection to our home. Then, if pornography or others challenges like Elsie Hewitt strike our family, we can petition the Lord for help and expect great guidance from the Spirit, knowing that we have done what our Father has asked us to do. Remember, as we search out our ancestors and prepare our family names for the temple, we will be protected now and throughout our lives as we keep ourselves worthy of God. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
Call on the Lord Out of Pure Heart
With purity of heart, we reflect the Savior’s love and give others a glimpse of Heaven. There is only pure knowledge in God. Knowledge does not exist for its own sake (that is, for the purpose of contemplation) but always aims at the pragmatic reconstruction of being itself. Sometimes we feel discouraged because we are not more of something—more spiritual, respected, intelligent, healthy, rich, friendly, or capable. Naturally, there is nothing wrong with wanting to prove. God created us to grow and progress. However, remember, our deficits can help us to be humble and turn to Christ, who will make weak things become strong. Satan, on the other hand, uses our weaknesses to the point that we are discouraged from even trying. He has sent people wooing false gods and invoking false means of salvation, and at times has even seemed to make them ashamed of themselves. The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the people have not yet found their freedom in the promised land. Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the people. What we need to realize is that in life we do not need to be more of anything to start to become the person God intended us to become. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
God will accept you for who you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord. Love replaces control as the motive for knowledge of essences. Essence refers to some elusive, unattainable, inner content of a thing which is hidden from perception. It is the properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. It is strongly believed both that the essence resides in the real or extra-mental thing and that it is able to be known. You ever hear someone say that they like a person because of their essence? The energy of the mind is the essence of life. It is something that radiates from the soul, the very core of their being, it is part of their personality, the way they smile, and their style. Essence, is an immanent consciousness of our experience. It is a realm of being and value which is in basis and origin utterly different from the whole reaming empirical World. If we look at ourselves only through our mortal eyes, we may not see ourselves as good enough. However, our Heavenly Father sees us as who we truly are and who we can become. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
Although knowledge of essences is acquired by observing even a single real or imaginary object, God sees us as his sons and daughters, as beings of eternal light with everlasting potential and with a divine destiny. Ultimate being is presumed to contain rational power and an infinite spirit as well as an irrational driving force that appears in the life cycle of individuals. Just as the macrocosm is a replica of the microcosm, so are humans a microtheos, a miniature God, and is thereby the primary source of the access to God. Genesis 1.27 reports: So, God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Just think about that for a moment. That is very powerful. God’s greatest desire is for you to see a clear picture of his character. When you see God clearly, you will find his love irresistible. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being. He stands for wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. In our hearts, we know that is true, and God makes no mistakes. There is absolutely no sin nor evil thought in God at all. He is perfection and moral purity. God possesses perfect knowledge and is all-knowing, his knowledge is infinite. It is impossible to hide anything from God. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
Everything that God has promised will come to pass. His faithfulness guarantees this fact. God is the truth. This is extremely important for us to understand because it is on God’s faithfulness that our hope of eternal life rests. He will honor his promise that our sins will be forgiven, as long as we repent, and we will live forever with him. The metaphysis of salvation is therefore a kind of meta-anthropology. Understanding of God—the ground of being—is to be achieved not through theoretical contemplation, but through active commitment. All people share in the divine nature; they sense it in the drive of sympathy and love toward oneness with the Universe, which is the way to God. Human beings are thus a cocreator with God. The Savior’s sacrifice opened the door of salvation for all to return to God. His grace is sufficient for all who humble themselves before God. His grace is the enabling power that allows access into God’s kingdoms of salvation. Because of his grace, we will all be resurrected and saved in a kingdom of glory. It surpasses all understanding, and countless people will inherit this salvation. It is life eternal in the presence of our Father in Heaven. It is the greatest gift of God. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
In the celestial kingdom, we receive of God’s fullness, and of his glory. Indeed, all that the Father has shall be given unto us. Exaltation is our goal; discipleships is our journey. Through the phenomenological approach to ethics and to values in general—this is, the description of the ethical states of consciousness and of existence. As we exercise a little faith and begin our walk as peaceable followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, our hearts will change, and our whole being will be filled with light. Joy about good news, for instance, is an experience with a subjective as well as an objective pole. The object of that experience is seen as a good thing, which instantiates a value. It follows that there are such things as cognitive emotions and that they point to certain real objects. Some values are experiences as having characteristics that might best be described and evoked by the word eternal. God will help us become something greater than we ever thought possible, and we will discover that the gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed working in our lives. It is true. God is living to fill us with his love. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
We may understand another’s emotion, and even feel empathy or experience the contagion of his or her feeling, or we may feel as one with another individual, that is, feel totally identifies. In none of these instances do we feel sympathy. Authentic sympathy is not the experience of fusion; it recognizes, meets, and respects unequivocally the subjectivity of another human existence in a genuine encounter. To love is to experience spontaneously the movement from a lower to a higher value in the object loved, an experience that leads to sudden intimation of the object’s superior value. Love is the adumbration of human possibilities; it is thus the sine qua non (an essential condition; a thing that is absolutely necessary) for sympathy and the basis for the religious ideal of infinite compassion and unqualified acceptance. God’s love affects the way we live. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as you love yourself. God loves us even when we choose to reject his love. In those times, he allows us to walk away into the life of our own choices. Yet, he is still there, always ready to redeem us from the results of our decisions. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
We should focus on the simplicity that is in Christ and allow his grace to life and carry us during our journey from where we are now to our glorious destiny in our Heavenly Father’s presence. We have direct, immediate, and primary access to the minds of other people. Careful description of our consciousness of other bodies discloses that we experience directly the other’s pain in his or her tears and embarrassment in his or her blushing, even though there is in addition an inaccessible area (Intimsphare) in every person’s soul. Phenomenological analysis of the structure of experience also discloses that we are confronted by a neutral sea of being and that the process of judging data to be either subjective or objective is a constitutive act of our ego. May we choose to serve righteous cause as valiant emissaries of our Lord Jesus Christ, and remain pure in heart, and love the Lord and serve him, even amid our own trials. We must love one another and see in one another the beauty of the soul. Remember, the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. No matter how young or how old we are, each of us s precious in God’s sight. He loves us. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
The phenomenology of religion seeks to understand the ultimate nature of the divine, to study its manifestations in the World of human concerns, and to explore religion through an analysis of the act of faith. Proof of the existence of God must make allowances for direct intuitive manifestations (Aufweis). We are in search of an infinity, traditionally called God. Humans are God-seekers (Gottsucher). This search lead human beings to an ineffable numinous experience of an ultimate Personality, appropriately described as ens a se, being in itself, which has qualities that can be described metaphorically in the usual religious doctrines, rituals, and legends. God meets us half way in response to faith. Divine attributes are absoluteness, infinite goodness, infinite power, holiness, spirituality, and personality. Crucial to the religious experience is a feeling that human beings are nothing at all (Nichtigkeit). This so-called creature feeling (Geschopflichkeit) is the experience of direct contact with the source of one’s being; it is the feeling of infinite dependence (Gewirktheitserlebnis). We have no choice; we are coerced into responding religiously because the salvation of our souls is no matter to gamble with. #RandolphHarrus 8 of 9
We have a divine nature, and each have a glorious work to do. If we do so authentically we face God (Gott); it not, we face an idol (Gotze). Religious rituals, such as prayer, contrition, reverence, and strongly held spiritual beliefs well up from within our deepest nature. That a response to these states can be experiences—a response which does not come from the World of everyday experience—is presumably a fact of both historical and personal awareness. We may discover our individual and eternal worthy by acting in accordance with our divine purpose in mortality. As we follow the example of Jesus Christ and love God, and serve one another with kindness and compassion, we may stand in purity, blameless before God at the last day. We choose to serve the Lord in his righteous cause that we may become one with the Father and with the Son. We embark in the service of God with heart, might, mind, and strength. We receive the Holy Ghost and seek his promptings to guide our efforts. Righteousness emanates out to the World when we understand what God wants us to do and then we do it. The family is the very heart of the work of salvation. The divine plan of happiness enables family relations to be perpetuated beyond the grave. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
MEADOWS| HOMESITE 48
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What Shall We Do About It?
A succession of small successfully kept promises leads to integrity. As we keep our promises, we feel the Spirit in our lives. Experience is not just an aggregate of heterogeneous items of mental content, but a structured whole whose two poles are pure consciousness, as a constitutive, meaning-conferring activity, and the World, conceived as the transcendent correlate of these intentional acts of consciousness. Between many of us and the World there is ever an unmasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. Why did God make some of us outcast and strangers in our own house? Many people feel different from others in heart and life and longing; shut out from the vast World by a veil. However, over the years, as we mature, all this fine contempt begins to fade for the Worlds we long for, and all its dazzling opportunities becomes more appealing. We want to use our best powers and latent genius. These powers of body and mind have in the past been strangely wasted, dispersed, or forgotten. The powers flashed here and there like falling stars, and died sometimes before the World had rightly gauged their brightness. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
Intellectual work is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and its own highest reward. Aspirations of human beings runs so deep as to be virtually definitive of what it is to be a human being: the aspiration to find one’s own individual being in a rational necessity of some sort. The innate love of harmony and beauty that set the souls of people forward with strength and courage is pure consciousness. To teach and help raise a sin-resistant generation might strike a deep spiritual cord within you. We have a master concept of human existence in the Holy Bible, which teaches us about the total human reality. Life must be treated as a spontaneous activity of consciousness and not as something that is passively suffered or undergone. Emotion is in fact not a physiological phenomenon, but a certain total mode of relating oneself to the World; its peculiar strategy is that of a magical transformation of given situations that bypass the necessity for dealing with them by rational, step-by-step methods. Thus, sadness makes the World appear sad so that it offers no opening to our efforts to change it, and in this way it justifies our passivity by making purposeful effort seems pointless. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
This self-imposed passivity is called a degradation of consciousness, a concept which is a clear forerunner of the bad faith that figures so largely with people who have lost confidence in humanity. How can emotion (or any other mental function) be interpreted as a spontaneous and purposive activity without attributing an intolerably sophisticated kind of self-consciousness to those who have the emotion? We have to set up an intermediate kind of self-awareness between explicit or reflective consciousness of self (as when I am writing and think to myself, I am writing) and events of which we are completely unconscious (for example, the circulation of the blood). This intermediary is exemplified by the awareness that I have of what I am doing—my intention—while I am doing. This is what is known as a non-positional consciousness and the strategies of action, such as those which are taken to be characteristic of the emotions, can be attributed to it without any of the incongruities that would result is explicit or verbal self-awareness were required. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
We honor people who strive to live pure and obedient lives. The strength of many people throughout the World is resilient, steadfast, and immovable in a variety of challenging circumstances and environments. These people with pure consciousness understand their divine identity, feel the Heavenly Father’s love for them, and seek to obey his will. The human consciousness is free because it is forced to think of itself as—and this is—other than the World and unincorporable into any casual sequences it may discern within the World. The feeling of anguish is our experience of this freedom. There who are susceptible to negativity. People who do not have the proper influences in their lives and their minds are being wounded, and are in need of some reinforcement and support. There is kind of a reality-negating function which is happening in some families and in the community where people in positions of authority are knowingly setting bad examples by telling others to fight certain individuals and making them feel that it is okay to do drugs and drink liquor, and it is not. Many attempt to conceal with freedom from themselves by a variety of devices, the most typical of which is belief in some form of psychological determinism. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
All of these efforts are doomed to failure because human beings can try to conceal their freedom only to the extent that they recognize it. The attempt succeeds only in producing a paradoxical internal duality of consciousness in which consciousness thinks of itself as a thing at the same time that it gives recognition to its freedom. This state, which has to be carefully distinguished both from lying to others and from the Freudian conception of a manipulation of consciousness by subconscious forces called bad faith. Its antithesis is an acceptance of one’s own freedom and a recognition that human beings are the absolute origin of, and are solely responsible for, their own acts. When you are planning to mug someone or rob a business, how do you get past all the thoughts telling you that what you are about to do is very, very wrong? How is it that criminals who carry out immoral acts day after day manage to convince themselves that they are actually rational people? To be a career criminal, you either have to be a master of self-deception, or genuinely just do not care. The majority of criminals either make excuses for, or attempt to justify, their actions. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
There is little evidence that criminals make justifications prior to committing the crimes, so it is possible—and somewhat likely—that they are conjured up afterwards as a way to mitigate the guilt. Criminals use a technique called neutralization theory. By using the neutralization theory, criminals are able to ignore values that would otherwise prohibit them from carrying our certain acts by: denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, and appealing to higher loyalties. This impossible combination of being-for-itself and being-in-itself, and in this impossibility is the ultimate reason for the hopeless character of these human enterprises (which is an attempt to make oneself God). And there is no way you can teach these people why what they are doing is wrong because they know and do not care and they will repeat the behavior until they have achieved their objective or are punished by the law. Their life-attitudes are self-contradictory because they are making an effort to achieve the status of a thing while remaining a consciousness that contemplates itself as a thing. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
However, their effort to convince themselves that they are God must fail, or while human beings (in most cases) are absolutely responsible for their choices, their existence is not the result of conscious choice. It is simply a fact, and it is uneliminable contingency makes it impossible for human beings to be ontologically self-sufficient in the way that God must be. These criminals often justify their wrong doings to others, including attempted murder or murder, by blaming corrupt politicians, police, and society. They also convince themselves that the ends justify the means by saying their victims deserved it or were asking for it, and they keep telling themselves that they are doing good and being successful, and repeat it so many times that they actually believe it. They treat them crimes as a skill and it helps them mitigate feelings of guilt. In their minds, it legitimizes the behavior. Criminals may view themselves as skilled entrepreneurs rather than someone who made a living by committing immoral acts. Alma 8.11 reports: We do not believe in such foolish traditions. We have enlisted in the cause of Christ to withstand the powers of Lucifer. We need to strengthen our spiritual strategies. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. We must teach people to become sin-resistant by teaching ourselves and others to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and to pray and to walk uprightly before the Lord. The Spirit will inspire us in the most effective ways we can spiritually inoculate our children. Being sin-resistant means being continually repentant, vigilant, and valiant. To help people become sin-resistant, we have to lovingly infuse them with the respect of the law and to honor God and want to be honest and understand that it is important to be on a high moral level, even when no one is paying attention to their behavior because God sees everything and will judge us for our actions. Keeping commitments prepares people to make and keep sacred covenants. When we talk about covenant keeping, we are talking about the heart and soul of our purpose in mortality. There is unusual power in making and keeping covenants with our Heavenly Father. It is even important to keep simple promises with our friends and family because it will empower us to keep holy covenants. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
The consummate reward of integrity is the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Out of the well of integrity springs an empowered sin-resistant generation. The youth are great imitators, so we have to give them something great to imitate. True moral freedom is now projected into a future that will not be realized until the dialectic of human antagonism has run its course, and of this future we are indeed helping to teach and raise a sin-resistant generation unto the Lord promise by promise and covenant by covenant. We need to take a conscientious effort to devote our energy and time to the things that truly matter, while we uplift others and build the kingdom of God. Hearing the word of God with earnest intent leads us to believe in God and to trust his promises. The more we trust God, the more our hearts are filled with love for him and for each other. Because we love God, we want to serve him; we want to bless the lives of others and help the poor and needy. The more we walk in this path of discipleship, the more we desire to learn the word of God fillings us with ever-increasing faith, hope and charity. It is beautifully simple, and it works beautifully. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
Envision What a Happy Ending Might Look Like
Dreams are the bright creatures of poem and legend, who sport on Earth in the night season, and melt away in the first bream of the Sun, which lights grim care and stern reality on their daily pilgrimage through the World. Human beings can achieve goodness and fulfill their nature when they act according to reason. A person who lives his or her life according to reason is a good and happy person. How necessary and important it is that we all continually strive to improve ourselves and prepare for the day when a call might come to serve in a new or more responsible position! The whole purpose of our existence in mortality is to build the kingdom of God and to prove ourselves worthy to go back to into God’s presence. To act and live according to reason is what is objectively good for every human being. However, this does not suppose that every human being knowingly desires a life lived according to reason. Wishing what is ultimately good is to desire union with God, and only those who exercise their specifying potentiality—reason—can do so. Part of what it is to suffer is to prevent someone from being what he or she ought to be, that is, to prevent him or her from flourishing. On the other hand, to cause someone to suffer is to prevent him or her from fulfilling his or her desires. Therefore, suffering is bad because it undermines or destroys what the sufferer cares about, his or her own flourishing, his or her desires, or both. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Fate is just even to rival storytellers, and balance matters. In this brief time, away from our Heavenly home and parents is a time when we are given agency for the purpose of being tried and tested in every way. There will be some days when we are stressed and sad, and we will face some hard tests. It is important to learn from them and grow from them. These experiences will teach us to be stronger. God cares and loves you very, very much. The experience of pain and heartaches, sorrows, and tribulations give us all experience; we can also make them work for our own good. Difficulties are just God’s errands. If we are sent upon them, it is an evidence of his confidence in us. Therefore, let us be glad, be happy, for it is a way of being wise. God loves you and he is ever willing to help you at all times. Just call on God through fervent prayers. God never fails; he is there, he is listening, and he cares very deeply about you. With daily prayer, scripture study, and our feet firmly planted on the road to the celestial kingdom, we have a perfect brightness of hope. God loves with a great love the people whose heart is bursting with a passion for the extraordinary. When you face situations that seem impossible, we should pray. When we ask, God releases favor. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
I remember how I seemed to float, then, down the melancholy glory of that track upon the sea, away into the World of dreams. There is a secret way of the soul which all may know, it is the way of peace and love. This secret way leads into places of joy and into the house of God. It is the way of the spirit and all may enter who will. Plant your feet firmly on the path to the celestial kingdom. Lift up your heart and let your soul rejoice, and never give up. When you ask God, angels go to work and strongholds are broken. When you ask, God beings to turn things around in your favor, and you will see the greatness of God. As love enters, fear vanishes. God will fill us with love that no fear can enter our thoughts and perfect intelligence guards and governs our every act. Our soul will rejoice at the realization of life, and we cannot be depressed because God has claimed us as his own. The light of God has come and the day of salvation is near. We need those who bring gladness into our lives. We need those who give encouragement and reflect optimism. Sincere yet simple words of praise can lift souls and bring gladness. Encouragement can be quick and simple, but it is a voice of gladness that is needed by everyone. Some things in life are precious like freedom and liberty and are very important. Many have had their lives changed permanently fighting for our freedom, but their voices of gladness overshadow the prevailing interruption and sacrifices they have made for all of us. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
You have no right to dispose of your future destiny whilst there is the least probable chance you may be reclaimed. God never made a promise that was too good to be true. Hope springs eternal for those who have the vision to trust in and to live by God’s inspired principles. Thank God for noble souls who can and do weather life’s storms with sincere voices of gladness which overshadow the present and make the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ real and strengthening. Have a faith that God can see. Put actions behind what you believe. Demonstrate your faith. You may not see how your dream could ever work out, but as you take steps in faith, you will see God open new doors. You will have the strength to do what you could not do. You will see God’s favor in unusual ways. The voices of gladness from the scriptures remind us that we do not have to walk through life alone. We do not have to run around like savages jumping on each other’s bones. Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. 2 Nephi 25.23 reports: For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. Therefore, know that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
Let us remember that acts of kindness with pure motives and righteous purposes can be and are encouraged to be done in quietness, gentle voices, and in privacy. We can program ourselves to build, encourage, and give strength. Moroni 7.47 reports: Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endures forever; and who is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him or her. God’s spirit and power will comfort us as we extend ourselves in help and love to those who need us. However, God’s commandment that as we love him, we must respect ourselves, suggests we must not accept disrespect from others. It is not charity to bow down in despair and helplessness. That kind of suffering should be ended, and that is very difficult to do alone. If we help individuals to relieve pain, or loneliness, or injustice in our own communities, God promises that a compassion would enter our hearts, and through the Holy Ghost sanctification could take place within our souls, and we will become more like our Savior. I pray in all humility that our faith in God may move us to such action and that we may thus know, by the Holy Spirit, the meaning of charity, so that we can exercise it in our lives. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
What secret of happiness is greater than to follow your illusions? Experience is a great teacher, except when it is not. What we make of experience—and whether it serves us or harms us—depends on the knowledge we build out of it. And make no mistake: we are all master knowledge builders, able to turn the most random events into meaningful knowledge about the World and how to operate it. Much of this knowledge is called experiential knowledge, and it lies outside our awareness, where it is difficult to see or assess. Father in Heaven, thank you for bring to completion the good work you began in us. You promised to complete our incompletions. So, thank you Lord that the fulfillment of our dreams is on the way, even the secret petitions of our hearts. You spoke the Worlds into existence, and you have us in the palm of your hands. I believe that you will make sure we complete what you put us here to do. As we move forward in faith, the foundation of greatness is being laid, which will allow us to go beyond our barriers and become everything God created us to be, and everything he intended for us to have will come to fruition. In Jesus name, Amen. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Randolph Harris II International Institute 