![]() Feb.92 on our way to Pres.Hunter
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I saw myself as "Watchman in Zion" beholding the signs of the times, the winds of war, something big in the making .... Jerusalem - Salt Lake City - LDS Headquarters - VIP - a deep connection to President Hunter and the Holy Land .... Salt Lake City - Utah - Feb 22, 1992: to my dearest friends & fellow laborers in the vineyard, In the last few hours prior to leaving to the airport in Salt Lake City, I was prompted strongly by the spirit to write the following lines to my dear friends on the back of the card that shows the second coming of the Lord : As we embark on our journey into the future we are guided & motivated by the glorious vision of the Lord's second coming.We shall behold this glorious vision which has been burnt into our innermost beings,never to be wiped from our memories. We shall behold this vision in our darkest, most violent and troublesome hours, for the Lord shall always be with us when we faint and falter. All our talents and faculties are mobilized towards this glorious event and the triumphant reception in Jerusalem. Towards this moment we submit our lives,yes our entire beings! We have but one aim: to be worthy of HIS atoning sacrifice and to be numbered with HIS Church of the first born, to dwell with HIM during the milenium, and to partake of a glorious celestial heritage. I am overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness to be numbered amongst you and to partake on this marvelous work. May we endure to the end Apostle/Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “O, Divine Redeemer,” Ensign, Nov. 1981, 8 Soon, however, all flesh shall see Him together. All knees shall bow in His presence, and all tongues confess His name. (See D&C 76:110–11; Philip. 2:10–11.) Knees which never before have assumed that posture for that purpose will do so then—and promptly. Tongues which have never before spoken His name except in gross profanity will do so then—and worshipfully. Soon, He who was once mockingly dressed in purple will come again, attired in red apparel, reminding us whose blood redeemed us. (See D&C 133:48–49.) All will then acknowledge the completeness of His justice and His mercy (see Alma 12:15) and will see how human indifference to God—not God’s indifference to humanity—accounts for so much suffering. Then we will see the true story of mankind—and not through glass darkly. (See 1 Cor. 13:12.) The great military battles will appear as mere bonfires which blazed briefly, and the mortal accounts of the human experience will be but graffiti on the walls of time. |
| Before that reckoning moment, however, both your ministry and mine will unfold in the grim but also glorious circumstances of the last days. Yes, there will be wrenching polarization on this planet, but also the remarkable reunion with our colleagues in Christ from the City of Enoch. Yes, nation after nation will become a house divided, but more and more unifying Houses of the Lord will grace this planet. Yes, Armageddon lies ahead. But so does Adam-ondi-Ahman! Meanwhile, did not Jesus tell us what to expect by way of heat in the final summer? Did He not also say that He would prove our faith and patience by trial? Did He not provide needed proportion when He spoke of the comparative few who will find the narrow way leading to the strait gate? (See Matt. 7:13–14.) Did He not also say that His Saints, scattered upon all the face of the earth, would, in the midst of wickedness, commotion, and persecution, be “armed with righteousness and with the power of God,” for He is determined to have “a pure people”? (1 Ne. 14:12–14; D&C 100:16.) His work proceeds forward almost as if in the comparative calmness of the eye of a storm. First, He reigns in the midst of His saints; soon, in all the world! (See D&C 1:36; D&C 133:2–3.) So as the shutters of human history begin to close as if before a gathering storm, and as events scurry across the human scene like so many leaves before a wild wind—those who stand before the warm glow of the gospel fire can be permitted a shiver of the soul. Yet in our circle of certitude, we know, even in the midst of all these things, that there will be no final frustration of God’s purposes. God has known “all things from the beginning; wherefore he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men.” (1 Ne. 9:6.) Humbly, therefore, I promise to go whithersoever I am sent, striving to speak the words He would have me say and acknowledging in the tremblings of my soul that I cannot fully be His Special Witness unless my life is fully special. I close with pleadings from the hymn “O, Divine Redeemer!” which pleadings are my pleadings: Ah! turn me not away, Receive me, tho’ unworthy, … Hear Thou my cry, … Behold, Lord, my distress! … Thy pity show in my deep anguish! … Shield me in danger, O regard me! … O, divine Redeemer! … Grant me pardon, and remember not, remember not, O Lord, my sins! … Help me, my Savior! (Charles Gounod, New York: G. Schirmer.) Neal A. Maxwell, “O, Divine Redeemer,” Ensign, Nov. 1981, 8 |
These words from the Prophet demonstrate the spirit of encouragement to be worthy - special - members of the Church of a chosen Generation




