I give you my patience
That you might follow your path;
I give you my understanding
That you might love you more;
I give you my forgiveness
That you might learn to love;
I give you my tolerance
That you might grow;
I give you my wisdom
That you might have courage.
I give you my witness
Of the fountain of it all
In whom if you believe,
You will never fall.
From my heart to yours;
Forever more
Because a heart can give no more.
-
CATHRYNE
ALLEN
(Art: Mother In Zion by Greg Sargent)
“Idolatry
is among the most serious of sins….modern idols or false gods can take such
forms as clothes, homes, businesses, machines, automobiles, pleasure boats, and
numerous other material deflectors from the path to godhood…
“Intangible
things make just as ready gods. Degrees and letters and titles can become
idols…
“Many
worship the hunt, the fishing trip, the vacation, the weekend picnics and
outings. Others have as their idols the games of sport, baseball, football, the
bullfight, or golf….still another image men worship is that of power and
prestige….these gods of power, wealth, and influence are most demanding and are
quite as real as the golden calves of the children of Israel in the
wilderness.”
-
President Spencer W. Kimball, “Thou Shalt Have No
Other Gods Before Me” , Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, Gospel Library Chapter
14
The other
day I happened to see a video clip of a deceased and very famous music artist performing
one of his most known songs. I had never before noticed what I saw in this
video – a frenzied screaming audience with adult men and women crying as this
performer contorted his body in unnatural movements meant to be dancing that reminded me of
nothing less than contortions of evil spirits cited in Jesus’ time (Mark 9:17-29)
This video
brought to my mind the subject of idolatry……so I would like to add the stark
reality of worshiping other human beings to the above list of what we worship…..because
I think they are the most dangerous.
Today our
idolatry has moved into another realm, that of influence. We have even invented
the legitimate title of ‘influencer’ to people we watch and revere on social
media. There are influencers for fashion, home, travel, body and anything that
would make us covet what they have and what they tell us to buy. Who and what
we idolize, we worship.
And then
there are podcasts of people who pass off conspiracies as truth and who persuade
others to their way of thinking whilst earning great amounts of money without
conscience. Technology has made it ever
so easy for many voices of the world to be heard. Many of these voices are
under the influence of the adversary who seeks to sow criticism, division and
hatred amongst us.
If we are
not listening to the voices who promote and inspire us to seek after the paths
that strengthen our connection to God, we are listening to one of the voices of
the world. If we work on our relationship with God, our relationships with
family, friends and the human family will follow. It’s called ‘obeying the two
greatest commandments’, loving God and loving our neighbour. Where these two
commandments are alive and vibrating in our lives, idolatry has no place.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Artist Unknown)
“Ultimately, the gospel of Jesus Christ was not given us
primarily to PREVENT our pain. The gospel was given us to HEAL our pain. That
is the promise of the scriptures: the Atonement not only heals us – it can
sanctify our trying experiences to our growth.
“Our doctrine is not just that adversity can help us learn
and grow; rather, it is that Christ, because of what flows from the redemption,
gives us the power to make weak things strong, to sift beauty from the ashes of
our lives.”
-
Bruce C. Hafen, “The Belonging Heart”, p 90-1
Thou art my Prince of Peace,
Thou art the God I know,
Thou art the love of my soul,
Thou art my comfort, my guide, my all.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Lord and Master by Greg Collins)
HOMAGE TO
MOTHER EVE WHO WAS THE FIRST WOMAN TO KNOW SORROW:
God said, “BE FRUITFUL, AND
MULTIPLY”
And God said, “I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY THY SORROW”
Thy sorrow, sorrow, sorrow –
I have gotten a man from the Lord
I have traded the fruit of the
garden for fruit of my body
For a laughing bundle of humanity.
Adam, where are the boys?
Where is Abel?
He is long caring for his flocks.
Are the ewes lambing in this storm?
Why your troubled face, Adam? Are
you ill?
Why so pale, so agitated?
Dead? What is dead?
Merciful God!
I am trying to understand.
You said, “Abel is dead.”
But I am skilled with herbs….
Herbs will not heal? Dead?
And Cain? Where is Cain?
Listen to that thunder.
Cain cursed?
God said, “A fugitive and a
vagabond?”
But God can’t do that.
They are my sons, too.
I gave them birth in the valley of
pain.
This is his home
This the soil he loved
Where he toiled for golden wheat
For tasselled corn.
To the hill country?
Quick, we must find him
I worry, thinking of him wandering
With no place to lay his head.
Cain cursed? A wanderer, a roamer?
Abel, my son dead?
And Cain, my son, a fugitive?
Two sons Adam, we had two sons
Both – oh, Adam – multiply sorrow.
Dear God, why?
Tell me again about the fruit.
Please tell me again, why?
-
Arta
Romney Ballif
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(aRT: Eve by Mandy Jane Williams
-
“As with
many other truths of the gospel, our present knowledge about a Mother in Heaven
is limited. Nevertheless, we have been given sufficient knowledge to appreciate
the sacredness of this doctrine and to comprehend the divine pattern
established for us as children of heavenly parents. Latter-day Saints believe
that this pattern is reflected in Paul’s statement that “neither is the man
without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
“Men and
women cannot be exalted without each other. Just as we have a Father in Heaven,
we have a Mother in Heaven. As President Dallin H. Oaks has said, “Our theology
begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them.
“Indeed, as
Elder Rudger Clawson wrote, “We honour woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her
eternal Prototype.”
-
Mother in Heaven, Gospel Topics Essays, lds.org
ODE TO
HEAVENLY MOTHER
You nurtured me so lovingly
And placed me on the godly path;
You bid me follow in Your footsteps,
To bring honour to Your noble heart.
I long to bring You my earthly memories
And tell You of them, one by one;
I hope to bring You endless joy
When home at last I come.
Chapter 23 of Leviticus contains a series of holy days
that the Lord commanded all Israel to observe. Three of the most important are:
1. The Feast of Trumpets; 2. The Day of the Atonement and; 3. The Feast of the
Tabernacles.
The Feast of Trumpets in particular signifies: 1. The beginning
of Israel’s final harvest; 2. The day God had set to remember His ancient
promises to gather Israel; 3. A time for new revelation that would lead to a
new covenant with Israel and; 4. A time to prepare for the Millenium.
This is the significance of the Feast of Trumpets as
it relates to us and this last dispensation. The final harvest of Israel began on
22 September 1827, the very day Israel celebrated the Feast of Trumpets. This
is the day that Moroni gave the golden plates to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The
timing of its deliverance was not coincidental. This was a carefully
orchestrated and rehearsed event for four years prior. Picture Joseph receiving
the golden plates from Moroni whilst trumpets blew in Israel. (see The
Golden Plates and the Feast of Trumpets by Lenet Hadley Read, Ensign 2000)
We know that many truths have been lost and taken away
from the Bible, but none more significant that the prophecies of the restoration
of the gospel in the latter days missing from Isaiah 29 and which Nephi quoted
in its completion in 2 Nephi 27 as were contained on the brass plates:
1.
Letter-day
context of the prophecy (2 Nephi 27:1)
2.
A
‘book’ that Isiah prophesied would come forth in the last days (verse 6)
3.
The
book would be ‘sealed’ (verses 7-8)
4.
Roles
of Moroni and Joseph Smith in bringing forth the Book of Mormon (verses 9-10)
5.
‘Three
witnesses’ who would behold the ‘book’ and testify ‘to the truth of the things
therein’ (verses 12-13)
I stand in awe of God who orchestrates His work with
such perfect precision to fulfil His purposes which cannot fail. The adversary
might be working hard to ‘pervert the right ways of the Lord that he might
blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men’ (1 Nephi 13:27)
but he cannot win. God’s plan for our salvation runs like clock-work with every
step put into place long before its’ reality.
So ordered are the events that will transpire upon
this earth that they cannot possibly fail, because ‘God created all things
spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the earth’ (Moses 3:5).
Everything was designed, proven and tested before it came into being.
The Final Harvest is under way and in our hands we
hold the book that is gathering Israel…..
We
Israel, His chosen seed
will
come to Zion
With
songs of everlasting joy
To
worship our Lord and our King
And
to Him forever our praises we will sing.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Reaping the Harvest by Nathan Greene)
