I have been the beneficiary of a profound sense of peace since last Sunday. (I got angry for the first time this week when I discovered my toothbrush missing again tonight. I understand it is regularly used by my one-year-old as a scrub brush in the toilet and knowing that...and dealing with it...and having to look for it day after day -- frustrates me to no end!)
Still, as that anger flashed through my mind and heart like wildfire, I realized how rare it had become.
"Woah! Where did that come from? I don't want you here! Depart!"
We cannot be angry with our brother (wife, child, neighbor, etc.) or call him "fool" without inviting hellfire and damnation upon ourselves. Indeed, we invite dark spirits to enter into us when we judge and condemn others. We must simply bow the head, take the blows, and try to persuade others to do right, no more. Compulsion, dominion, coercion, anger...these are of the devil. They do not belong in our homes or hearts.
In weeks and months to come, I expect to see a great personality change in me. The frustration I felt each Sunday is now no more! God has surely blessed me. The prayers of many have sustained me. The Lord's peace is now upon me. Quite frankly, I don't quite know what to make of it. I only know I do not want to depart from this feeling. I want to preserve it and do everything in my power to maintain it and remain in this state of grace forever.
I have felt this week as I did on the day I was re-baptized. At perfect peace.
People at church (who are beginning to notice my absence) are asking how I am doing. (Very few know they will never see me again on Mormon property.) But I am doing well. My only regret is that the LDS Church (at the local level) will, in all likelihood, begin to persecute my wife and children now as they did me. This is as unconscionable as it is almost inevitable. I have counseled them not to leave the Church. If they must leave, I've told them to go only at the hands of false priests who oppress. They must not abandon the Church (even though its influence is increasingly deleterious and spiritually disorienting).
A friend recently wondered when I would turn my attention from the LDS Church to the Lord. I have. While I will be discussing several "Church-related" issues yet in coming posts, I have no further dealings with the LDS Church personally (except through my family) and I am fine with that. I bid the members of that sect farewell and I wish them the very best. If any of my local ward or stake are reading this: Thank you for all you've shared with and done for me. You have enriched my life enormously and blessed my family immeasurably. Without the Mormon Church, I am assured, I would either be in prison or dead right now and I would certainly not have the wife and family that I do.
For that alone I am truly grateful.
Well...
ReplyDeleteThen he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?
Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
... just because. ;)
Keep the peace, Will - do all things whatsoever you have been commanded, always. Don't struggle against your conscience, and hearken not unto fear.
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
ReplyDeleteSo there! ;oP
Unless we hear the Lord tell us to say it, we ought not to risk it!
It sounds like log was talking about the LDS church. In any case, that is what it fits.
ReplyDelete