This Saturday morning I have arisen,
searched the scriptures and meditated. All week I have been depressed because
one of the men in the clinic is leaving – apparently because he feels a need to
make more money. I just can’t understand this because we have been blessed
with such a monetary abundance. For many of us, I guess there is never enough
because of greed and selfishness. I have been emotionally shaken because I
thought I was building through my relationships with the other doctors a
bastion of loyalty, respect and pride in our ability to serve those who come to
us for medical help. Certainly, it is foolishness to put our trust in “the arm
of the flesh” and I anticipate a gradual crumbling of the temporal world in
which I personally live and work unless the doctors I work with maintain some
of the objective ideals I have worked for. I have constantly tried to create an
atmosphere in which each doctor can experience a democratic atmosphere in which
to develop his talents and skills and that he not be stifled by an
authoritarian influence of one person who exercises leadership through
coercion, etc. (D&C 121). I am sure that the time is fast coming when the true
converted Saints will cry constantly to the Lord to hurry the Second
Coming. For we live in the midst of unbelievable evil (D&C 82:6).
All types of shortages are developing. In the State of Washington the gas lines are getting longer,
tempers are short and I can imagine how it will be when we develop real
food shortages. Then we will really see the uprising of mean against men, state
against state, etc.
Last night
I spent time in an intimate interview with one of the brethren in my High
Priest Group. He is a choice individual with a marvelous family. With the
treacherous inflationary rise in food prices he finds himself in a financial
bind that is strangling. He has a very good job, is a PhD in Animal Husbandry
and he has 2 boys on missions. He is looking for another job to supplement his
income. His plight will become more common – I resolve that we can, will and
must live the Gospel more closely, for “Every man seeking the interest of his
neighbor” (D&C 82:19). We do as the Lord requires of us and become a true Zion people.
To those of
my family who read these writings, I want to convey the understanding that we
are now passing through very difficult times. We enjoy technological advances
our forebearers never dreamed possible but our hardships are affluence,
greed, selfishness, pleasure-seeking and unbelievable evil that bombard us
from all quarters. Our only protection is to have and develop a strong family
oriented in the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the scriptures and the oracle of
the present-day prophet to guide us.
Truthfully,
it would be wonderful to receive an honorable release from this mortal life now
but I resolve to endure to the end. The promise we have to return to the
presence of our loved ones in their great family, my family, and our Father in
Heaven make me want to go on and do all that I can to build for those that are
to come. I rejoice in having my eyes opened to see that these Spirits are more
choice, spiritual, and intelligent than my generation. Oh! how their presence is
needed now and in the near future. May they know that I love God
with all my being – that He is a living and loving God who places a gentle hand
on my should to guide, and on my mind to understand, and on my heart to love
and feel a peace in this environment so influenced by the spirit of Lucifer.
May the know the respect and love I feel for our forebearers, many of whom I
have never met but am coming to know spiritually through geneaology, because
they lived their lives honorably and distinguished the name I now bear. May
they know that I know we are protected by the Lord, that as long as we do what
He asks He is bound and we have a promise (D&C 82:10).
Tomorrow,
John will be advanced to the office of a Priest. How grateful I am that the
children are progressing in their lives. What transpires tomorrow in this
ordination far transcends any temporal problems we now face. 