Month: August 2020

Statement of Support

8/24/2020
Statement of Support

Being aware of the abundance of work that needs to be done to prepare a people and a place for the return of the Lord, we the members of a fellowship of families and friends who meet together in Clinton, Utah, issue this “Statement of Support” to our Brothers and Sisters who are anxiously engaged in the important work to be done.

We are thankful and express our gratitude for all who have applied their time, talents, and resources to past efforts. So many of those efforts have provided light and understanding for the blessing and benefit of us all. We know that much work is and has been quietly engaged in with no desire for recognition or fanfare. We pray that every worthy effort will be recognized and sustained by Heaven as surely it will be.

The Lord commanded, “Teach your children to honor me. Seek to recover the lost sheep remnant of this land and of Israel and no longer forsake them. Bring them unto me and teach them of my ways, to walk in them.” (T&C 158:11)

We pray particularly for those who are actively working to recover the descendants of Lehi on this land as well as the House of Israel in the land of Israel and other lands.

In as much as all cannot be physically engaged in every needful effort, We offer our hearts and our thoughts to be united with those who do the labor for the sake of the covenant, bringing to pass the blessing of God’s people and vindication of God’s promises to the Fathers.

Our hope and prayers are that Heaven will inspire with light and understanding, every individual found laboring. We also pray for a spirit of unity and harmony to be with those who labor with others to identify and obtain difficult objectives.

We are striving to heed the Lord’s recent counsel to us.

“But remember that without the fruit of repentance, and a broken
heart and a contrite spirit, you cannot keep my covenant; for I, your
Lord, am meek and lowly of heart. Be like me. You have all been
wounded, your hearts pierced through with sorrows because of how
the world has treated you. But you have also scarred one another by
your unkind treatment of each other, and you do not notice your
misconduct toward others because you think yourself justified in this.
You bear the scars on your countenances, from the soles of your feet
to the head, and every heart is faint. Your visages have been so marred
that your hardness, mistrust, suspicions, resentments, fear, jealousies,
and anger toward your fellow man bear outward witness of your inner
self; you cannot hide it. When I appear to you, instead of confidence,
you feel shame. You fear and withdraw from me because you bear the
blood and sins of your treatment of brothers and sisters. Come to me
and I will make sins as scarlet become white as snow, and I will make
you stand boldly before me, confident of my love.” (T&C 157:49)

“Be of one heart, and regard one another with charity. Measure
your words before giving voice to them, and consider the hearts of
others. Although a man may err in understanding concerning many
things, yet he can view his brother with charity and come unto me,
and through me he can with patience overcome the world. I can bring
him to understanding and knowledge. Therefore, if you regard one
another with charity, then your brother’s error in understanding will
not divide you. I lead to all truth. I will lead all who come to me to the
truth of all things. The fullness is to receive the truth of all things, and
this too from me, in power, by my word, and in very deed. For I will
come unto you if you will come unto me.
Study to learn how to respect your brothers and sisters and to
come together by precept, reason, and persuasion, rather than sharply
disputing and wrongly condemning each other, causing anger. Take
care how you invoke my name. Mankind has been controlled by the
adversary through anger and jealousy, which has led to bloodshed
and the misery of many souls. Even strong disagreements should
not provoke anger, nor to invoke my name in vain as if I had part in
your every dispute. Pray together in humility and together meekly
present your dispute to me, and if you are contrite before me, I will
tell you my part.” (T&C 157:53-54)

With gratitude for those who labor for The Kingdom of God and His Zion,

Clinton Utah Fellowship

Brittany Mulvey
Benjamin Henderson
Steve VanLeer
Linda VanLeer
Preston Hurst
Heidi Hurst
John Dutson
Elaine Henderson
Keith Henderson
Alan VanLeer
Jan VanLeer
Brian VanLeer
Kristen Weber
Tammy Hunt
Bonnie Parkinson
James Adair

Worried

Our fellowship, in its past regular Sunday meeting, became aware as a group that we are in peril. When I say “we” I am referring to the Restoration effort going on today and all those who identify with it. This movement stands in jeopardy.

I have been aware for some time of various efforts among us to take “the Gospel” to the “Lamanites.” Some have done this by living among them for short or extended periods of time. Some have carried Books of Mormon of one edition or another to a target group of their choosing. Others have developed video content to be put on the internet in general, and otherwise on some very specific sites. I applaud all these efforts. I think they all have merit, and I personally think it shows the Spirit of the Lord working on many who have come to feel they have specific responsibilities with the Seed of Lehi. Reading again in the Answer to the Covenant, a person comes to realize that our being blessed by having taken the Covenant is contingent upon two very direct commandments given by our Lord immediately when we sat down after saying “Yes.”

“Now hear the words of the Lord to those who receive this covenant this day.” (Commandment #1) “Teach your children to honor me.” (Commandment #2) “Seek to recover the lost sheep remnant of this land and of Israel and no longer forsake them. Bring them unto me and teach them of my ways, to walk in them.”(T&C 158: 9&11.)

Then to our dismay all of a sudden we learn that these disparate groups have received an invitation by the Hand of God, to allow him to help unify their efforts – which they reject. My hell people, haven’t we learned anything. The podcast this was reported on went on to say that maybe we’ll have to dissolve this fractured effort and wait for a more faithful group of people to rise up, who are willing to bend their effort according to the Lord’s way of doing things; which is to be as noble in their efforts to bring something about as is hopefully, their product.

One in our fellowship, however, interjected a hopeful rumor into this forlorn discussion, in that he heard that in just the last day or so there might be a re-think on their knee-jerk dismissal to the offer of help for unification, and that reconciliation among the factions might yet be possible.

We certainly hope so!

In fact we are counting on it. You, who have had this inspiration to work on this Lamanite effort, have had months and years devoted to your efforts. You have discovered many of the questions which need addressing and maybe even a few of the answers. You have at this point the experience of having gone through a Movement wide effort to produce Scriptures, a Statement of Principles, establish a Temple Fund, and see a Restoration Archives process get underway, et al. And you have right in front of you an on going example of a unified effort to take the Gospel message to the Jews. None of these could have been accomplished or come as far as they have with out unification. They would have all failed, and so will you, without a unified effort. So far none of these have failed. Not that there hasn’t been some butting of knot heads.

So, Are you going to be the first? You may think I have no business butting in with my 2 cents when I am not on any of these group efforts. Well, in that you’d be wrong! We all out here stand in peril of losing what’s been offered if you butt-heads [with those others] who have been personally inspired by the Lord and now are under offer by the Hand of God to help produce unification, shatter like glass, and think you can do this on your own.

So, here’s what we’re gonna do for you. As a fellowship we’re going to pray collectively and individually for you all to get your act together, repent, and come together with your collective knowledge of the subject, and with the help of a dispensation head produce a viable effort.

None of you can affect my individual salvation, but you can make it impossible for me to see Zion in my lifetime. It’s hell for a guy like me to have to admit something like that. I hope I never cause an outcome of something like that for you because of something I refuse to do, which is something of the heart.

SO….

We of this fellowship are exercising our faith, praying for you, individually and collectively we will be praying for your complete turn around and success in this effort you have been called to.

We invite all other fellowships to do the same

with all our love!