A Conference Headline I Would Like to See

The Salt Lake Tribune held a contest just prior to the October 2022 General Conference, where contestants could submit and vote on 'Conference: Dream Headlines.' 

This is my dream headline with an article that I would like to see.

President Russell M. Nelson Prophecies Concerning the End-Time Judgments

President Nelson began and ended the conference by reminding and warning the members of the importance of Isaiah's endtime prophecy, reminding listeners that Christ said that great are the words of Isaiah, and that we have been commanded to search them. He said that everything Isaiah wrote about in his vision has been and shall be, or in other words Isaiah carefully selected events in history that will be repeated in Jehovah's endtime.

He shocked those in attendance and watching on television when he made it clear that these endtime judgments are the result of the apostasy of the Lord's people. He identified us as Gentiles or Ephraim among the Gentiles, and that we are the wild branches identified in Jacob’s recounting of Zenos' Allegory of the Olive Tree which have brought forth only wild fruit. He identified some of these wild fruits as idolatry, self righteousness, covetousness and ignorance, and reminded listeners of President Spencer W. Kimball's talk on the Bicentennial in 1976 titled "The False Gods We Worship."

He then quoted Christ in 3 Nephi 16:10 where Christ says that because members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will reject the fulness of His gospel, it will be taken from them and given to the Jews, Ten Tribes and Lehi's descendants, who are of the House of Israel.

Our only hope, he said, to be 

1) numbered among the House of Israel, 

2) to participate in their gathering, and 

3) to avoid the endtime judgments, 

is to repent and come unto Christ. He reminded us to look to God and live and not to the living prophet--not to put our trust in man, any man. We should, however, give heed to the word of God regardless of who is teaching.

If we fail to repent, he reiterated that we will be as salt that has lost its savor and is good for nothing, but to be, again quoting Christ, trodden under foot by the House of Israel.

President Nelson thanked God for sending Avraham Gileadi to help us unlock Isaiah. He said Gileadi's 40 years of work searching Isaiah was the motivation for him to begin to do the same. He also reminded us that these same Prophecies are given in the Book of Mormon by Nephi, Jacob and Christ, and that one third of the Book of Isaiah is quoted in the Book of Mormon. He made it very clear that we should use Gileadi's book "Endtime Prophecy" as an aid as we keep Christ's commandant to search the words of Isaiah. 

He, admitted, however, that there were certain of the church and its leadership who had been and who remain critical of Gileadi, which is to say critical of Isaiah's vision, of which they know nothing, and that he has invited Brother Gileadi to teach the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, so that they too will be able to see clearly the Lord's endtime events. He reminded us, however, that Isaiah had prophesied that this would be the case--that some would fight against Zion.

He spoke of the irreconcilable division among the people and how we will be found on one hand or on the other of the Lord's Great and Marvelous Work--those that believe His words and those who do not. 

In his closing remarks on Sunday he quoted D&C 88:73 that when the Lord says, "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time," He is referring to His great and marvelous work (1 Nephi 14:7; 3 Nephi 21:9) which is identified by Isaiah, Nephi, Jacob and Jesus, the commencement of which was the Restoration and the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon. 

He prophesied of an additional fourteen events associated with the Lord's great and marvelous work that have not yet happened and are indeed endtime events which will take place in domino fashion before the Lord's second coming. They are 

(1) God's "setting his hand the second time" to restore the house of Israel;  

(2) God's "baring his arm" in the eyes of all nations; 

(3) his servant fulfilling a mission to the nations; 

(4) the Gentiles' rejecting the fulness of the gospel after having received it; 

(5) God's performing his "great and marvelous work" among the nations; 

(6) Gentiles, including former believers "fighting against Zion;"

(7) the spiritual kings and queens of the Gentiles' nurturing the house of Israel; 

(8) the house of Israel [Jews, Ten⁹ Tribes & Lehi's Descendants] receiving the fulness of the gospel; 

(9) God's righteous people being endowed with power; 

(10) the House of Israel's returning from the four directions of the earth; 

(11) the destruction of the wicked; 

(12) the deliverance of the righteous; 

(13) the house of Israel's receiving lands of inheritance; and 

(14) the Father's fulfilling his covenants with the house of Israel.

He urged all those who hear and read his remarks to search for themselves to know the details of these 14 events and be prepared to warn others. The call to say nothing but repentance, he said, is more important now than it has ever been. He said there are many like Samuel the Lamanite and Abinadi who have been called of God in these last days, who are not necessarily local or general authorities, to warn us and to call us to repentance. He urged local leaders to find and use these people in their wards and stakes because they have been given these gifts from God, and to not deny the Gifts of God.

He told the members to be prepared to hear and listen to the Lord's servant who will be raised up. He said this servant, who will be marred and healed by the Lord, will have authority to judge the nations and with the help of the 144,000 spoken of by John, and other nursing Gentiles, aided by additional written records such as the sealed plates and the writings of the brother of Jared, will gather the Jews, Ten Tribes and Lehi's descendants in a latter-day exodus to the lands of their inheritance, the old and new Jerusalems.

Those who fail to repent, he prophesied, who remain in Babylon will be destroyed along with everything in Babylon. Leading this destruction will be a latter-day King of Assyria who will wreck havoc on the nations and their people. He warned those in attendance to see what is happening in America, of which Egypt in Isaiah is a codename. Democracy is being destroyed by those he likened to the King-men in the Book of Mormon. 

President Nelson urged us to give heed to these Prophecies and protect ourselves and others by placing our faith in Christ alone, and by feasting upon the words of Christ. He said that we will have no excuse since we have been adequately warned. He said he is adding his warning to those of Joseph Smith; Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel; Book of Mormon prophets Nephi and Jacob; and The Prophet Jesus Christ. 

Yes, I would love to hear a prophet prophecy at general conference.

Note: There is not one item in this article that is not based on the word of God, is subject to interpretation, or runs counter to the scripture narrative, and yet the chances are very slim that we will ever hear these prophecies from the pulpit. But then again Isaiah prophesied that His watchmen would fail to warn the people (Isaiah 56:10-12).

The Publican and Christ

This is the follow up to the previous post titled The Pharisee and the Publican. Please read it first.

So now the Publican has answered the door when Christ knocked. Now what? Hug? Shake hands? No, more likely the Publican will fall at His feet, being overcome with Godly sorrow, recognizing his nothingness and Christ's goodness, overcome by Christ's love for him, the ungodly! 

The Publican, having been justified by faith, what, if anything, will Christ ask of the Publican? Will he ask him to reform his ways and live the gospel? Not according to the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican! 

But Christ will teach the Publican His Gospel and explain to him that he can have access to God's Grace because of his faith. He offers as a gift to the Publican, His grace. A free gift. The Publican must accept the gift. This is not as easy at it sounds. For the Pharisee it is quite impossible until he becomes like the Publican, a sinner, and pleads for mercy. But the Pharisee may not think he needs mercy. Why should he? His justification by works is quite impressive to all those that matter--his bishop, stake president, his family, his fellow high councilors and himself!

But back to the Publican and Christ.

Christ will teach the Publican His Father's words, after explaining that because of Adam all die, and because of Adam sin entered into the world, but because of Him all may live and be reconciled to God. Not by living the gospel. Not by becoming religious like the Pharisee. Not by paying tithing or keeping the word of wisdom. Not by performing ecclesiastical duties. Not by daily scripture study. Not by attending or working in the temple, but by coming to Him. By turning to Him. The Publican, unlike the Pharisee, knows that Christ is his only hope. The Publican is taught that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. It is the righteousness of Christ that will save him from his sins!

But, you keep asking, what must the Publican do? I hope by now you know that living the gospel, being religious, like the Pharisee will not cut it. Adam's fall brought death and the Judgment of God on us, and my and your only hope is in Christ. Leave your Sunday best in your closet. Quit trying to impress God. He is not impressed with your good works, your righteousness, your white shirt! Quit preening in the mirror of others' opinion. He has made it crystal clear that He can only help the lost, the last, the least and the dead. He can only work with Publicans. 

Let Paul take it from here and teach us what happens next:

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, and have access to His grace, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

It begins with faith in Christ and faith only comes by hearing the word of God. 

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord

Grace comes through faith in Christ and leads to eternal life. Whereas sin leads to death. We must be saved from our sins. We cannot be saved in our sins.

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

The first fruits of our turning to Christ or repenting is desiring to be baptized. We are then "baptized unto repentance" so that we will not be in bondage to our sins if we continually repent. We are born again in newness of life, freed from the bondage of sin.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

For he that is dead is freed from sin.

See how Paul takes us from faith and repentance to baptism, so that by dying with Christ, the body of sin also dies. And as we continually repent we are freed from sin because of Christ. But there is more.

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen!

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Yielding ourselves unto God is repentance. 

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Repeat. "For ye are not under the law but under grace."

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me. 

And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned (3 Nephi 11:32-34).

Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness, the servants of God.

Not the servants of sin.

I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Repentance is not a change of behavior but a change of direction to Christ, and He changes our behavior when we yield to Him, to His righteousness. 

For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. (Did not have access to His righteousness!)

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

We can tell the righteous from the wicked by the fruits of their repentance.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 4:1-2; 5:23; 6:1-23).

Clear? Maybe not at first glance, but it becomes clear as you experience it. Reading it is not enough and counts for very little. The Publican (like Alma the elder, Alma the younger, Amulek, Nephi, Sons of Mosiah, Paul, etc) experienced their need for mercy. The Pharisee did not. Can you? For those who struggle with the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, ask why it is that you struggle? Certainly we must do more you say? What must you do more, I ask? 

Perhaps exercising the type of faith required is more difficult than it seems. Perhaps baptism is much more than just becoming a member of the church. Perhaps we have bought into the pulpit narrative (the Pharisee narrative) so totally that we can't hear the scripture narrative (the Publican and Christ). 

Let me ask you three questions: 

1) Have you ever experienced being 'harrowed up' by your sins? 

2) Have you ever fallen to the earth and pled for His mercy because of your sins? 

3) Have you ever experienced Godly sorrow because of the goodness of God and your nothingness? 

What? You ask. What indeed.

"Let Paul conclude this post:

The Publican attained to righteousness, by faith.

But the Pharisee followed after the law of righteousness, but did not attain righteousness.

Why? Because he sought it not by faith, but by the works of the law"

(Romans 9:30-32).

For the Pharisee, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, went about to establish his own righteousness, and has not submitted himself unto the righteousness of Christ.

(Romans 10:1-4)

The Pharisee and The Publican

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican is an unacceptable parable, as you shall see.

 Luke 18:9-14

"Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised everybody else.

Two men went up to the temple to pray: one, a Pharisee, the other, a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed thus: `God, I thank thee that I am not like others are, greedy, unjust, adulterers - and I thank thee especially that I am not like this tax collector. 

I fast two days every week and I give thee a tenth of all my income.

But the tax collector stood a long way off and would not even raise his eyes to heaven. 

Instead, he beat on his breast and said, `O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.' 

I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other: 

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." 

End of the story? Do we now say "in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen?"

Not quite. The first thing to get off the table is the notion that this parable is simply a lesson in the virtue of humility. It is not. It is an instruction in the futility of religion - in the idleness of the proposition that there is anything at all you can do to put yourself right with God no matter how long the list. It is about the folly of even trying. 

The parable occurs after a series of illustrations of what Jesus means by faith, and it comes shortly before He announces, for the third time, that He will die and rise again. It is therefore not a recommendation to adopt a humble religious stance rather than a proud one; rather it is a warning to drop all religious stances - and all moral and ethical ones, too - when you try to grasp your justification before God. It is, in short, an exhortation to move on to the central point of the Gospel: faith in Christ, repentance, baptism unto repentance, relying alone upon His merits, and rebirth! Note: repentance is not a one and done proposition. 

Consider the characters in this parable. Forget the prejudice that Jesus' frequently stinging remarks about Pharisees have formed in your mind. Give this particular Pharisee all the credit you can. He is, after all, a good man. To begin with, he is not a crook, not given to rock the boat, not a womanizer. He takes nothing he hasn't honestly earned, he gives everyone he knows fair and full measure, and he is faithful to his wife, patient with his children, and steadfast for his friends and community. 

He is not at all like this publican, this tax-farmer, who is the worst kind of crook: a legal one, a big operator, a mafia-style enforcer working for the Roman government on a nifty franchise that lets him collect - from his fellow Jews, mind you, from the people whom the Romans might have trouble finding, but whose whereabouts he knows and whose language he speaks - all the money he can bleed out of them, provided only he pays the authorities an agreed upon flat fee. He has been living for years on the cream he has skimmed off their milk money. He is a fat cat who drives a stretch limo, and claims to have all the women he wants.

The Pharisee, however, is not only good; he is religious. And not hypocritically religious, either. His outward uprightness is matched by an inward discipline. He fasts twice a week and he puts his money where his mouth is: his tithing--ten percent off the top for God and the Church. If you know where to find a dozen or two such upstanding members, I know several bishops and stake presidents who will accept delivery of them, no questions asked and all Jesus' parables to the contrary notwithstanding. 

But best of all, this Pharisee thanks God for his happy state. Luke says that Jesus spoke this parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. But Jesus shows us the Pharisee in the very act of giving God the glory. Maybe the reason he went up to the temple to pray was that, earlier in the week, he slipped a little and thought of his righteousness as his own doing. Maybe he said to himself, "That's terrible, I must make a special visit to the temple and set my values straight by thanking God." 

But what does Jesus tell you about this good man - about this entirely acceptable candidate for the High Council? He tells you not only that he is in bad shape, but that he is in worse shape than this tax-farmer who is as rotten as they come and who just waltzes into the temple and does nothing more than say as much: 'O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.' 

In short, he tells you an unacceptable parable. For you would - I know I would - gladly accept the Pharisee's temple recommend and welcome him to our midst. But would you accept me for long if I had extorted your family and friends so that I could have a BMW, fine wine and a couple of whores?

Would you, the local, or the general authorities think it was quite enough for me to come into church on a Sunday, stare at the tips of my shoes, and say, "God, be merciful to me a sinner?" Would the bishop commend my imitation of the parable, give me a temple recommend, and praise me for preaching not only in word but in deed? 

Jesus, to be sure, says that God would; I myself, however, have some doubts about us and our bishop. We might find it a bit too ... vivid. There seems to be just no way of dramatizing this parable from our point of view. That being the case, turn it around and look at it from God's. 

The Pharisee walks straight over, pulls up a chair to God's table, and whips out a pack of cards. He fans them, bridges them, does a couple of one-handed cuts and an accordion shuffle, slides the pack over to God, and says, "Cut. I'm in the middle of a winning streak." And God looks at him with a sad smile, gently pushes the deck away, and says, "Maybe you're not. Maybe it just ran out." 

So the Pharisee picks up the deck again and starts the game himself. "Acey-Ducey, okay?" And he deals God a two of fasting, a queen of tithing, and a king of no adultery. And God says, "Look, I told you. Maybe this is not your game. I don't want to take your money." "Oh, come on," says the Pharisee. "How about seven-card stud, tens wild? I've been real lucky with tens wild lately." And God looks a little annoyed and says, "Look, I meant it. Don't play me. The odds here are always on my side. Besides, you haven't even got a full deck. You'd be smarter to be like the guy over there who came in with you. He lost his cards before he got here. Why don't you just have a drink on the house and go home?" 

Do you see now what Jesus is saying in this parable? He is saying that as far as the Pharisee's ability to win a game of justification with God is concerned, he is no better off than the publican. As a matter of fact, the Pharisee is worse off; because while they're both losers, the publican at least has the sense to recognize the fact and trust God's offer of redemption and eventually, perfection. 

The point of the parable is that they are both dead in their sins, and their only hope is someone who can raise the dead. "Ah but," you say, "is there no distinction to be made? Isn't the Pharisee somehow less further along in death than the publican? Isn't there some sense in which we can give him credit for the real goodness he has, for living his religion?" 

To which I answer, we are making the same miscalculation as the Pharisee. Spiritual death is death. Given enough room to maneuver, it eventually produces forever spiritual death. In the case of the publican, for example, his life so far has been quite long enough to force upon him the recognition that, as far as his being able to deal with God is concerned, he is finished. The Pharisee, on the other hand, looking at his clutch of good deeds (his cards), has figured that they are more than enough to keep him in the game for the rest of his life. 

But there is his error. For the rest of his life here, maybe. But what about for the length and breadth of eternity? 

Take your own case. Let us suppose that you are an even better person than the Pharisee. Let us assume that you are untempted to any sin except the sin of adultery, and that even there, your resolve is such that, for the remainder of your days, you never do in fact fall prey to that vice. Are you so sure, however, that the robustness of your virtue is the only root of your non-adulterous disposition? Might not a very large source of it be nothing more than lack of opportunity? In other words, quit looking at your deeds and ask yourself what is your real capacity for sin?

Have you never thought yourself immune to some vice only to find that you fell into it when the temptation became sufficient? The lady who resists a five-dollar proposition sometimes gives in to a five-million-dollar one: men who would never betray friends have been known to betray friends they thought were about to betray them. The reformer immune to the corruption of power finds corruption easier as he gains power. The people with the most seem to always want more. Take your desire for another then. From now till the hour of your death, you may very well not meet that one situation that will galvanize it into action. 

But in eternity - can you say the capacity for adultery or any of an unlimited number of sins is not there? Can you say in that state that your desire for another is not within you just because it was not manifested during your life? Can you confidently predict you will never want more than another? Is the armor of your religion so utterly without a chink? 

There, you see, is the problem as God sees it. For him, the eternal order is a perpetual-motion machine: it can tolerate no friction at all. Even one grain of sand - one lurking vice in one of the redeemed - given long enough, will find somewhere to lodge and something to rub on. And that damaged something, given another of the infinite eternities ties within eternity itself, will go off center and shake the next part loose. And then the next; and so straight on into what can only be the beginning of the end: the very limitlessness of the opportunity for mischief will eventually bring the whole works to a grinding halt. In other words to be in His presence their can be no grains of sand, only perfection, and only He can perfect us!

What Jesus is saying in this parable is that no human goodness is good enough to pass a test like that, and that therefore God is not about to risk it. He will not take our cluttered life, as we hold it, into eternity. He will take only the clean emptiness of our repentance in the power of Jesus' redemption and He will change us!

He condemns the Pharisee because he takes his stand on a life God cannot use; he commends the publican because he rests his case on a death that God can use. The fact, of course, is that they are both equally fallen and therefore both alike have been offered the gift of repentance, but only one accepts the gift. The other refuses the gift because he is 'living the gospel.'

But the trouble with the Pharisee is that for as long as he refuses to confess the first fact, he will simply be unable to believe the second. He will be justified in his death, but he will be so busy doing the bookkeeping on a life he cannot hold that he will never be able to enjoy himself. It's just misery to try to keep count of what God is no longer counting. Your entries keep disappearing. 

If you now see my point, you no doubt conclude that the Pharisee is a fool. You are right. But at this point you are about to run into another danger. You probably conclude that he is also a rare breed of fool - that the number of people who would so blindly refuse to recognize such a happy issue out of all their afflictions has got to be small. 

There you are so wrong. We all refuse to see it. Or better said, while we sometimes catch a glimpse of it, our love of justification by works is so profound that at the first opportunity we run from the strange light of 'faith to grace' straight back to the familiar darkness of the law. 

You do not believe me? I shall prove it to you: the publican goes down to his house justified rather than the other. Well and good, you say; yes indeed. But let me follow him now in your mind's eye as he goes through the ensuing week and comes once again to the temple to pray. What is it you want to see him doing those seven days? What does your moral sense tell you he ought at least try to accomplish? Are you not itching, as his spiritual adviser, to urge him into another line of work - something perhaps a little more upright than putting the arm on his fellow countrymen for fun and profit? In short, do you not feel compelled to insist on at least a little reform? 

To help you be as clear as possible about your feelings, let me set you two exercises. For the first, take him back to the temple one week later. And have him go back there with nothing in his life reformed: walk him in this week as he walked in last - after seven full days of skimming, wenching, and high-priced Scotch. Put him through the same routine: eyes down, breast smitten, God be merciful, and all that. 

Now then. I trust you see that on the basis of the parable as told, God will not mend his divine ways any more than the publican did his wicked ones. He will do this week exactly what he did last: God, in short, will send him down to his house justified. The question in this first exercise is, do you like that? And the answer, of course, is that you do not. You gag on the unfairness of it. The rat is getting off free. 

For the second exercise, therefore, take him back to the temple with at least some reform under his belt: no wenching this week perhaps, or drinking less Scotch and paying some to fast offerings. 

What do you think now? What is it that you want God to do with him? Question him about the extent to which he has mended his ways? For what purpose? If God didn't count the Pharisee's impressive list, why should he bother with this two-bit one? Or do you want God to look on his heart, not his list, and commend him for good intentions at least? Why? The point of the parable was that the publican confessed that he was dead in his sins, not that his heart was in the right place. 

Why are you so bent on destroying the story by sending the publican back for his second visit with the Pharisee's speech in his pocket? The honest answer is, that while you understand the thrust of the parable with your mind, your heart has a desperate need to believe its exact opposite. And so does mine. We all long to establish our identity by seeing ourselves as approved in God's and other people's eyes. We spend our days preening ourselves before the mirror of their opinion so we will not have to think about the nightmare of appearing before them naked and uncombed. And we hate this parable because it says plainly that it is the nightmare that is the truth of our condition. 

We fear the publican's acceptance because we know precisely what it means. It means that we will never be free until we are dead to the whole business of justifying ourselves. But since that business is our life, that means not until we are dead. For Jesus came to save us from our sins. Not to reform the reformable, not to improve the improvable ... but then, I have said all that. Let us make an end: as long as you are struggling like the Pharisee to be alive in your own eyes - and to the precise degree that your struggles are for what is holy, just, and good - you will resent the apparent indifference to your pains that God shows in making the effortlessness of death the touchstone of your justification. The Publican He can work with. The Pharisee He cannot.

Only when you are finally able, with the publican, to admit that you are dead in your sins will you be able to stop balking at 'faith to grace' and its grace-to-grace truth. It is, admittedly, a terrifying step. You will cry and kick and scream before you take it, because it means putting yourself out of the only game you know. 

For your comfort though, I can tell you three things. First, it is only one step. Second, it is not a step out of reality into nothing, but a step from fiction into truth. And third, it will make you laugh out loud at how short the trip home was: it wasn't a trip at all; He was already there, knocking on your door. You just needed to open it! 

Credit Robert Capon his delightful words mingled with many of my own.

Next The Publican and Christ

My Friend Michael Howery

One of my best friends, Michael Howery, passed away in December 2021, and I have missed him. Even though I moved to Arizona several years ago, Mike and I would get together when I came to Utah. We were both old men then and would go to his favorite place for pancakes in Murray, Utah. It would take at least two trips on my part as he would forget to pick me up at the Frontrunner Station in Murray, so I would have to take the train back and then drive to his house and pick him up. The last time I saw him he could barely walk, but refused my assistance to help him to the door.  Four months later he died.

Mike and I met at the office of the Utah Attorney General in 1973. I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and went to work for the Utah Attorney General where Mike was working. We both worked across the street on 4th South from the old Third District Courthouse, and represented the state in collecting child support from mostly men who had failed to pay, and whose spouses ended up on welfare. The state had a right to recoup welfare payments made to the spouse. We were only there a few months when I went to work with a small law firm. I later got Mike an interview there but he turned down their offer.

We immediately became good friends, life long friends who shared a passion for learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as Christ taught it. Mike was the most feeling and passionate person I knew, but not the most sensible man in the world. These traits rarely go together, but Mike was infinitely better and far more rare. Most people have a wish list, but Mike had a wish file (A-Z) where he would put things that he wanted, like cars, houses and other things. This was a paradox in Mike who really didn't want any of these things, but thought he did. He knew they would not make his life better, but he loved to think they would.

We began our learning of the Gospel together by sharing articles, or I should say Mike would find, copy and give me articles to read. They were from many non-traditional sources and they eventually led us to discover Hugh Nibley and later Avraham Gileadi. We devoured Nibley together, first reading what at that time were his essays which had not yet been published in book form. Mike would go down to FARMS in Provo and find them, buy them and always bring me a copy. Many were marked in his unforgettable sharp penmanship with elaborate arrows and notes and underscores. I cherished these the most because I could see what had made an impression on him at that time, only to later receive these same articles marked totally differently. It was through His reading of Nibley, but not just Nibley, but the scriptures quoted by Nibley that he lost his desire for things, or at least thought he did.  

Yes, he still wanted a big house and a nice car, but he never really worked at it like most of us would. Instead he 'hoped' he would get it. This led him to others with the same hope and dreams and they waited their entire lives for the millions of dollars they were going to receive. He told me many times that the money had been 'wired,' was 'in the bank,' or just needed this paper or that paper to get it. I never deflated his hope, because I would have loved to see him have it because by this time he would have used it much differently than buying all the things in his wish file. But I knew he never would. It was not in the cards for him. The Lord had other more important things to teach him. And the paradox? He knew it.

There was one characteristic of God that Mike did not like and that was the justice of God. He could not understand how God could punish us. I think this stemmed from the fact that Mike could not punish anyone. Sure, he could be upset with someone and even say something to them, but he could not punish. He didn't like words like God's anger or God's wrath. But at the time I didn't understand it either and by the time it was revealed to me, he also learned it and we rejoiced together in God's mercy and understood that everything God does, He does because He loves us. He learned that God loves us so much that, as Mike said, he will even burn the hell out of us if we do not repent and come to him.

Mike had a problem with authority, especially in the church. He struggled with it and yet knew many of the brethren personally. His sense of truth was in tune with the equality of men and he did not believe we needed a hierarchy in the church. And although he loved them He did not like the way some of them treated others. The 'September 6' was a struggle for him. He knew many of these individuals and could not understand how a few men (because of the hierarchy) could influence others contrary to the teachings of Christ, and excommunicate them. He believed in forgiveness and charity. He didn't think the church needed protecting. If it could not stand alone on the teachings of Christ and His words, then it should fail. 

There were few, if any, who were better teachers than Mike, but his faith in Christ alone got him into trouble with local leaders on occasion, like the time Mike wore a crucifix when he taught the Gospel Doctrine class. Or during a discussion when he was on the High Council about wearing white shirts, he offered the solution that perhaps they should wear white collars instead. 

His ability to see connections and teach them was a gift and I am grateful that he shared his gifts with me. We got together for lunch and/or golf almost every week, sometimes more than once a week. We would discuss for hours what we were learning and how some things that we observed were contrary to the teachings of Christ. But we knew that we were not to 'steady the ark' as it was not our job. But we did learn, because we studied Isaiah, that there was one who was an arrow hidden in the Lord's quiver who would come and restore Israel and that the Lord would complete His great and marvelous work, and that some in the hierarchy would fight against the Lord's servant. If there was one thing Mike taught me, it was that the Lord was in charge. 

Mike was a romantic and loved music. In fact one of his all time favorite songs was You're The Reason God Made Oklahoma. Only a true romantic would love this song. I still listen to it and think of Mike and the feelings evoked from this song about love and romance. He wanted a love story and shared mine with me. He was happy for me when I married Annie. He, like no one else, understand the power of true love.

His life in his later years became more about love. While his children made decisions that saddened him, he never abandoned them, but continued to love them notwithstanding all the heartache and frustrations. His wife, Sally, was his rock and he knew it. She suffered so many heartaches herself and yet continued to be there for Mike even after all the bad business decisions he made. It was her talents that stabilized Mike and helped him live his later years without having to worry about money. His wish files were all gone. He read and continued to give me, instead of articles, books by Christian and even Jewish writers who he felt understood the Gospel and grace of Christ better than we in the church did. These books are still treasures for me because they came marked with his notes, arrows and highlights.

In our later years, (it was almost 50 years ago that we met) we just enjoyed each other and commented on what a blessing it was in our lives to have found each other. We knew it was not by chance and that the Lord had a hand in it because He wanted us to learn what we did learn so we could teach it to others.

Mike hated obituaries because he thought they made everyone into a saint, so he didn't want one. He thought they were phony and focused too much on accomplishments. Which reminds me of how much he hated those blurbs in the Church News about new Mission Presidents and General Authorities because they always had to say what great businessmen, administrators, professionals, etc, they had been. He felt the church called people to the hierarchy based on their worldly accomplishments. 

Mike chose not to have a funeral for the same reason and donated his body to the University of Utah Medical School. 

So Like Mike! 

Maybe this is my attempt to write his obituary so that Sally, Sarah, John, the twins and Julie can understand how Mike influenced my life and how much I loved him and still love him, and that I miss him terribly, even though I still feel Mike's influence in my life. 

I love you Mike.