For I Have Seen Him

Carol’s sister-in-law recently passed away. Her funeral was Friday in the Olsen family home town of Brigham City, Utah. I was unable to attend due to work commitments, but Carol made the trip up there to be with her brothers, nieces and nephews at this time of loss.

Just after Carol and I were engaged, this sister-in-law was the first of all the many members of Carol’s large extended family to welcome me to the family. She looked me up and down and said with a smile, “I guess you’ll do,” then gave me a hug. I have always appreciated that.

Carol related to me that, in the funeral, her brother shared that as his wife was dying, in the last few days before she passed, she came out of a coma, possibly induced by the chemo medicine, and asked to have all her children come to her bedside so she could say goodbye.

Come Unto Me

I wish I could have been there as her brother related in the well-attended funeral what she shared with her children on that sacred occasion. Carol tells me the service was recorded and will be made available soon. I look forward to viewing it for myself when it is completed.

He said that once they were assembled, she gathered her strength, sat up in bed and told them once again how much she loved each of them. She then said, as best I can recall from what Carol has told me, “You need to get Christ in your life. He is real, for I have seen Him.”

This post includes an image of the statue “Come Unto Me” by Jerry Anderson of St. George. I have seen a replica that stands in Gillies Funeral Chapel in Brigham City as I attended the funerals of each of Carol’s parents. It is a beautiful piece of art with a comforting message.

Sacrament Meeting in the Home

Today is Carol’s birthday. She is traveling south through Utah from Brigham City to St. George. It seems those two cities have been where we have always gone every time we go to Utah, where most of Carol’s family remains. I have one sister who lives in Daybreak now.

Ordinarily today, we would have gone to the home of our Elder’s Quorum President to have the Sacrament and participate in our ward Sacrament meeting on Zoom. Except for two short weeks in October, they still don’t allow us to gather in the chapel here in California.

Although I was invited to attend, I declined, preferring to hold my own Sacrament meeting in my home, using the recorded prayers to bless the bread and water. I do not bring wine into our home to honor Carol’s request. Besides, I would probably drink the whole bottle.

Through Fasting and Prayer

I am fasting today. There is a strong correlation between being able to hear, identify and respond to promptings of the spirit and how well we have mastery over our own souls. I use the word soul purposefully, it being the spirit and body of man combined in a tabernacle.

For a season, during this mortal life, that is a tabernacle of clay, subject to disease, death, and, although most people don’t think about it, the passions and urges of the natural man. God gave unto men weaknesses that they may be humble. I am in need of God’s grace.

When the Lord’s disciples failed to cast out an unclean spirit, they asked the Savior why they had been unable to do so. “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting,” He taught them. It has always been so in my life. Without fasting, I can become impulsive.

The Spirt of the Lord is Withdrawing

Over the years, I like to think I have developed some sensitivity to the promptings and impressions of the spirit world around me. When I ask the Lord for guidance, I have to be very careful as I listen for His response. There are many spirits around me who also reply.

While I am at work during the day, I have developed a habit of stopping after I complete each task and asking the Lord what is the next most important thing I need to do. I always have a list of dozens of requests (we call them tickets in IT), that I can choose to respond to.

A few years ago, I noticed it has been getting harder and harder to hear the response of the Lord when I ask Him to guide and direct me. I have to make a greater effort to be still so I can distinguish between what the Lord is saying and what the spirits around me are saying.

A Firm Mind in Every Form of Godliness

I have need of ministering and healing from the Lord. I know He sends His angels to prepare us to enter into His presence. I also know I can do much better at being worthy to entertain angels by exercising greater faith, being firmer in my mind and seeking greater Godliness.

I mean that literally. I expect to be visited by the Lord’s messengers, but know I am not yet ready for them. That day will come, and it will be soon. They will instruct me what I must do to enter into the presence of the Lord. I’m not being figurative. I truly expect this to happen.

In my prayers lately, I have been feeling a sense of urgency. I know what my work is and I am feeling a little behind in completing my task. Therefore, today I am repenting. I am making a greater effort to turn to the Lord, to doubt not, to trust Him, to look to Him in every thought.

Gathering to Zion

I have thought much over the past few years about the eventuality of needing to leave California and gather to Zion. No, I don’t mean Zion’s National Park, although we plan to retire near there in a few years. I also don’t mean the Salt Lake area. That is not Zion.

Nor do I mean Jackson County Missouri. I mean someplace where those who have entered into a covenant will gather for protection. It will be a place in the tops of the mountains where the wicked and worldly will fear to go, because the inhabitants are protected.

A King protects His people and His family. His family consists of those who are sealed to Him, those who have been endowed and taught from on high. Again, please take my words literally. I believe we will need to flee to the tops of the mountains for protection very soon.

Hermit Gurus and Keyboard Warriors

Being one of the few here in California who has accepted the message and the messenger of the Lord, I feel to express my love of the Lord and appreciation for both. I am grateful to live in the generation that will witness the return of the Lord as He comes with the angels.

As I’ve written many times over the years, Denver Snuffer doesn’t need me to defend him. But I take literally what he shared in the message he delivered. I am rereading it again today. There is so much in there, I will probably be reading it each evening of the coming week.

As Denver related when delivering the last of that message in Phoenix in September 2014: “The Lord has said to me in His own voice, ‘I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.'” I say God bless Denver Snuffer and those who labor beside the Lord today.

7 thoughts on “For I Have Seen Him”

  1. I met Denver’s lawfirm partner a few years back when he and his wife were serving a seniors mission in Christchurch, New Zealand. He had a a different take on Denver.

  2. I’ll bet he does. I have read a lot of arguments against both Denver, his personality, and his teachings. I don’t give a damn about about the personal attacks on Denver. He’s a man just like I am and can say and do stupid things.

    I think Carol’s reaction when she walked out of the last lecture was typical of how he is perceived by so many – as arrogant, pompous and deceived. That’s okay. However, I am curious if you care to share, Terry, just what that take was.

  3. Hi Tim,
    It was perhaps 5, or 6 years ago that I met Denver’s law partner. He was straight LDS, by the book. I had come across some of Denver’s beliefs only a short time before and thought it timely that I should stumble upon someone who worked alongside Denver. I got the impressiom that he was only vaguely familiar with Denver’s “other” life, but he regarded it as a deception. I guess they never talked much about it.

  4. Thanks, Terry. Deception is probably the number one thing I have prayed about in relation to my studies of Denver’s writings and lectures, especially during the two years from the time I was introduced to his book, “Passing the Heavenly Gift” to the time I decided to resign from the LDS Church and be baptized again.

    It’s a great subject to study, “How to be sure we are not being deceived” when we are reading content that does not agree with the standard narrative presented by the LDS Church. The typical response of most people is to brand anything not published by the church as non-authoritative and not worth the time to study.

    I mean, we all have to filter what we read and study. There’s no way we can read everything that is published. We just don’t have the time. We have to rely on the Lord to guide us to what we should study, in addition to the scriptures. Some folks don’t even take the time to read the scriptures. Everything is secondhand.

    I have always felt drawn to study scripture commentary from the time I was in Seminary during my teenage years. My mom was a school teacher and loved to discuss the gospel. We had a library full of scripture commentary from which I could choose. I grew up as an avid reader, encouraged by my teacher mother.

    I guess that’s why I was so interested in reading Passing the Heavenly Gift shortly after it was published. Since someone asked what I thought about it, I couldn’t very well share my thoughts or offer an opinion if I hadn’t read it. So I did. And yes, I asked the Lord to make me aware of any deception as I read it.

    I must have prayed about the message and the messenger hundreds of times over the next two years. I’m an engineer so I like to be thorough in examining all available resources on a subject. I read, analyzed, compared, compiled lists, published summaries, did everything I could to “study it out in my mind” first.

    Anyway, thanks for responding to my question. I continue to pray that the path I have chosen is not a deception. I continue to receive assurances, that for me, believing the message shared, including the parts about “fleeing to Zion” are central to my faith about what will be happening in America in coming years.

    I so much appreciate your readership and thoughtful comments from New Zealand. Such a beautiful place. So grateful to have made your acquaintance (virtually). In spite of a never-ending daily workload, I hope to be more active in publishing this year, at least on the weekends. God bless you my friend.

  5. It may be of interest to you that I know of two Mediums who have received messages from the other side about the LDS Church. One was from Jesus and the other was from Joseph Smith himself. Both say that the LDS Church started with good intentions and with angelic support, but went a drift as man’s vanity took over. This, in some way supports your diagnosis. I can send them to you, if you like. There are as many voices on the other side of the veil, as there are on this side. Are you familiar with the book, “A course in Miracles”? Its in 2 parts and totals over 1600 pages. The woman who received said it was from Jesus. She was not religious prior to the experience.
    Another Medium, received a message from Jesus who explained that advanced spirits sometime use his name to add authority to their message. He said “The Course In Miracles” was not from him, but from a spirit with good intentions. Not everything it teaches conforms with Jesus’s views, but there is much good in it.

  6. Fascinating. I am interested in the messages of the two mediums. Would love to know more. Would appreciate if you can send them to me (tim@3tcm.net).

    I am familiar with “A Course in Miracles.” The book came up years ago as a comment by a reader in another post on a similar subject. I looked it up and read about it but decided not to read the book.

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