Wednesday, December 18, 2019

The Tale of the Faithful Nephite

There was once a man named Stan Jensen. He lived his whole life in Juab County Utah. He was born into the lds church, baptized at 8, served a mission at 19, married in the Provo temple at 22, and was buried in the Juab cemetery at 87 in 2022. He was a good man, and always treated his wife and 3 children well as long as they did what he asked. He spent his last 7 years working in the Payson temple.

When Stan died he was taken to the World of Spirits. He had a glorious reunion with family members who had preceded him in death. He finally asked specifically where they were. He was shocked to find out that he was not in Paradise. He was also not in Hell. He asked his grandfather William about this. "I learned from Primary on up that there were 2 possible places to wait before the final judgment. We seem to be in a kind of middle area?" His grandfather replied "Our former church liked to alter GOD's plan to fit their own needs. We are in Spirit Prison, which is not the same thing as Hell." Stan then asked, "I thought our membership in the mormon church would guarantee a spot in Paradise on the way to highest heaven, the Celestial Kingdom?" William responded soberly, "If you are not like CHRIST, it does not matter what religion you belonged to."

Stan took a few weeks to adjust to the tolerable conditions of Spirit Prison. One day Stan remarked to his Astronomy teacher visiting from Paradise, "If I had known the lds church was not going to facilitate my journey back to GOD, I would left that organization years before my passing." The teacher told Stan to wait until his first visit from a missionary from Paradise. Two weeks later a representative of JESUS CHRIST came to visit with Stan. His name was Mark. Mark started to slowly correct the unbelief Stan had about the actual Gospel. Stan began to learn about the real plan of salvation. At the end of the lesson Stan asked Mark where he had gone wrong. The missionary promised to return as soon as he had conferred with the LORD.

One week later Mark returned. Stan was eager to hear how he gone astray. All his life he was simply trying to remain faithful to the religion and traditions of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. 

The missionary told Stan that the LORD wanted Mark to ask Stan a series of questions. Mark would then impart his message. 

Mark began by asking Stan, "Do you remember in the 1960s and 1970s all the uproar about the children of Africa not being worthy of the Priesthood?" Stan responded, "Of course, and the church gave them that right in 1978." 

Mark then asked, "Do you remember your church working tirelessly to block passage of the Equal Rights Amendment?" Stan replied, "Yes, but women do not need equal protection under the law, they just need to raise children and support their husbands." 

The messenger then queried, "Do you recall a time when your church would not allow the children of same sex couples to be baptized?" Stan said "Yeah, but the church changed that back after just a couple of years." 

Mark then asked, "Do you have any recollection of the scandal your church went through in 2019 involving 100 billion dollars of unspent tithing money?" Stan replied, "Certainly, but the church said it was saving that money for the second coming."

Mark then stated, "The LORD has asked me to convey this message to you...

...Stan, you are like the man who attempted to survive a flood by praying and asking for GOD's intervention. He ignored the warning to flee before the flood.  He then rejected offers from a man in a boat, and a woman in a helicopter to take him to safety. The man arrogantly believed GOD would save him by some supernatural means. The fool finally drowned."

Stan was stunned. He had told that story a few times when relating the frustration he had experienced on his mission to Japan. Stan like to tell the class or quorum he was teaching that the Japanese had had their last chance at salvation.

Mark continued, "Your church committed increasing levels of evil acts acts against the children of the MOST HIGH. Some people left your church because of obvious racism. Others left because of rampant misogyny. Many resigned because of the inequities your church imposed on people based on sexual orientation. Your last chance to repent was the financial scandal." 

"Rather than see these events as obvious signs from GOD, you chose to do nothing. You remained faithful to a church that hated the majority of its members. Your church hated non-members even more. Your church saved its greatest wrath for former members."

"The only things your church loved were money, power, and fame."

"GOD is not a God of Hate."

Stan spent his first 87 years in Spirit Prison learning what he should have learned in his 87 years living in Juab County. You need to understand that Stan lived in the town of Nephi. That technically makes him a Nephite, and you know what happened to the vast majority of them.