Two Good Books

Last week I finished reading a book called “America’s Hope” by Douglas E Brinely. He is a religion professor at BYU. He had isolated or catalogued the 10 steps from arriving in this Promised Land to the destruction of whole civilizations e.g. the antediluvians (the people who inhabited this hemisphere before the flood), the Jaredites and the Nephites. They all had things in common. Their ancestors had made covenants with the Lord at the b beginning of their sorgein here. And as time went on they forgot them and became very wicked and were eventually totally destroyed. At first it sounded like we as a nation were doomed; but it did end on a hopeful note. Altho’ the supreme court has done its best to destroy the constitution by the way it is interpreting it, the righteous people of our faith as well as other faiths who believe in Jesus Christ will be able to save it. Brother Brinley pointed out that because this is the cradle of the Lord’s church and kingdom, it will be preserved as long as we do our part. He also pointed out that the Civil War or War Between the States was a direct result of the people of Illinois killing the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum and then casting or driving the Saints out of the country. Once they got across the Mississippi River they were out of the boundaries of the United States of America. I knew that the Prophet Joseph had prophesied before his death of the great war, but I hadn’t realized that it was a direct result of his death and driving the Saints from the country. A friend pointed out that “and that was their children that suffered the war not them themselves because the war was a good 20 years after the prophet was killed…almost anyway. It started before 20 but it last longer than 20 years after. I tho’t that very interesting. My friend went on to say, “We can chose our actions but we can not chose the consequences.”

I also read a book last week called “The Message” by Lance Richardson. He was a young man who had been comatose for a month or so and during that time he literally went to Paradise and was allowed to remember and record (actually was told to record) his experiences. He made it all sound so wonderful. I am looking forward to experiencing it myself. Altho’ I am no hurry to get there, I certainly don’t fear leaving this life. He pointed out that his ancestors whom he met there told him that they spent much “time” watching out for and literally helping their descendants get thro’ their struggles and happenings in this life. I found great comfort in that. Altho’ Lance returned to this life and was able to recover much, much faster than anyone every expected he could, he died about five years later. I remember taking care of him as a patient in the hospital. That was before his after death experience. He was two years older than our oldest son.

Both of these books has influenced and strengthened my testimony. I liked to think that my father who died 38 ½ years ago met and conversed with our youngest son as well as our grandchildren before they were born. I now think that he and others are helping all of us thro’ our trials and experiences in this life. This idea is not new with me nor for me, this book just strengthened it.