OUR FAMILY: Elder Hamula

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Tuesday, August 8th, 2017

Hamilton, New Zealand

11th operating temple

Dedicated: 20-22 April 1958

By: David O. McKay

Alma 47:1-19

How can the interaction between Amalickiah and Lehonti be symbolic of our interaction with temptations?

*C.S. Lewis wrote, "The safest road to hell is a gradual one." Like Amalickiah, Satan is subtle and will try to gradually poison those who come, even a little way, to meet him. A spiritual fall generally does not happen in one fell swoop but by degrees. It's poison destroying little by little. Nephi said, "He leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever...thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell." (2 Nephi 26:22; 28:21). And, Elder Carlos E. Asay wrote, "Those who become followers of the evil one do not generally reach their captive state with one misdeed; they lose their freedom one sin at a time - one error after another - until almost all is lost. Flaxen cords are transformed into awful chains of steel as they allow themselves to follow the downward course. Each easy step away from the line of goodness and truth makes it more and more difficult to recover."

DC 109:41-60

Which verses spoke to me today?

43 O Lord, we delight not in the destruction of our fellow men, their souls are precious before thee;

44 But thy word must be fulfilled. Help thy servants to say, with thy grace assisting them: Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours.

46 Therefore, O Lord, deliver thy people from the calamity of the wicked; enable thy servants to seal up the law, and bind up the testimony, that they may be prepared against the day of burning.

47 We ask thee, Holy Father, to remember those who have been driven by the inhabitants of Jackson county, Missouri, from the lands of their inheritance, and break off, O Lord, this yoke of affliction that has been put upon them.

49 O Lord, how long wilt thou suffer this people to bear this affliction, and the cries of their innocent ones to ascend up in thine ears, and their blood come up in testimony before thee, and not make a display of thy testimony in their behalf?

53 But inasmuch as they will repent, thou art gracious and merciful, and wilt turn away thy wrath when thou lookest upon the face of thine Anointed.

54 Have mercy, O Lord, upon all the nations of the earth; have mercy upon the rulers of our land; may those principles, which were so honorably and nobly defended, namely, the Constitution of our land, by our fathers, be established forever.

55 Remember the kings, the princes, the nobles, and the great ones of the earth, and all people, and the churches, all the poor, the needy, and afflicted ones of the earth;

56 That their hearts may be softened when thy servants shall go out from thy house, O Jehovah, to bear testimony of thy name; that their prejudices may give way before the truth, and thy people may obtain favor in the sight of all;

58 That from among all these, thy servants, the sons of Jacob, may gather out the righteous to build a holy city to thy name, as thou hast commanded them.

General Conference

Confide in God Unwaveringly

Elder Ulisses Soares

"If we are not rooted by steadfast trust in God and the desire to serve Him, the painful experiences of mortality can lead us to feel as though we are burdened by a heavy yoke; and we can lose the motivation to live the gospel fully. Without faith, we will end up losing the capacity to appreciate those designs of our God regarding the things that will happen later in our life. (See DC 58:3)

Brighter and Brighter Until the Perfect Day

Elder Mark A. Bragg

" We are children of God. Receiving light, continuing in God, and receiving more light are what we are created to do. From the very beginning, we followed the light; we followed our Heavenly Father and His plan. Seeking the light is in our spiritual DNA.