Thoughts on the Importance of the Individual:  If one person joins the Church, or falls away, marries and has five children who follow in his or her footsteps, in the second generation there are six who are either in or out of the Kingdom.  In the third generation there are 31.  In the eleventh generation there would be 2,832,031.  These numbers are arbitrarily applied, and all the possibilities for variants are ignored, but it is an exercise which helps one understand the importance which the Lord places on the individual; and why we must do the same.  

         The same principle can apply to a single act of charity or obedience.  When I was in high school, back when we had Priesthood Meetings and Sunday School in the mornings and Sacrament Meeting on Sunday evenings, I was assigned during my Priests Quorum meeting to visit an inactive member of the quorum whose family was totally inactive and invite him to attend Sacrament Meeting with me that evening.  

         More than 40 years later, at a high school class reunion, Dar Dudding called me aside to thank me for that visit.  From that time he had begun to attend all of this meetings and keeping the commandments.  He was married in the temple and had raised a righteous family.  He attributed it all to that one simple invitation that I had not even remembered I had given him.

          

         CONSECRATION – Consecration begins with the offering of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  It is not the equivalent of being religious.  The people who killed Jesus and those who bombed the World Trade Center on 9/11 were religious to a fanatical degree.  The consecrated person will serve the Lord, the church, and/or his fellowmen at the earliest inconvenience.  Tithing is a baby step in the direction of consecration.  

TITHING - A Pleiades Trilogy

Ten percent of our increase is

The

Tithe

That God requests.

This is to the

True Christian, a fundamental

Test.

The money is not the real issue.  He could grow money on

Trees, or the

Treasures of gold in the earth He could

Take at His ease.  To

Tithe is to show Him that we do believe; that we

Trust Him to open the Window of Heaven and give more

Than we can receive, or conceive.

“This is my promise.

Test me herewith."  He says: "Test my power

To love and to bless.” And

Those who have

Tithed under financial stress are

They who bear witness to God’s

True largesse!

         (c) Robert Lynn Brown

A truly consecrated person has learned to orient all that he/she does in the direction of contributing to the glory of God.  "And if it be that your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things."  (D&C 88:67)  

How can anyone in his rightmind resist an offer like that?

CONSECRATION

The Lord would have me pledge

to Him, with willing heart,

my talents and my time, my life,

and all my means impart;

should all of this--or any part--

be called for to support His Plan

for the rescue and redemption

of the race of fallen man.

He seldom asks more than a tenth

of what we covenant to Him

to build his Kingdom here on earth;

yet He reserves his title to my life and limb.

And though I render all of this,

And more, >tis but a start.

For these are merely stepping stones

toward the throne where I will offer up

... my broken heart!

(C) Robert Lynn Browm

            

            CHERISH VIRTUE --  Last night at the adult session of our Stake Conference, the choir sang a song that brought back priceless memories from my youth in Pomerene.  The hymn, "Dearest Children, God Is Near You," was not memorable because of the tune or the general message, but there were two words, "cherish virtue," in verse two that, as a child, I didn't understand.  Language that I didn’t understand always bothered me, so I asked my mom one afternoon after Primary what was meant by that phrase.  She was wise enough to grab this teaching moment, take me for a ride in the station wagon, while she made sure that I knew what I needed to know about the 'facts of life' and that I understood the principle of chastity thereto attached.  I have always felt especially blessed by the way she handled that little ‘vocabulary’ lesson.

[The following essay was written by my son Paul following a discussion of recent writings by individuals concerning out of body experiences and other types of visions related to the hardships that will precede the building of the New Jerusalem and the coming of Christ.  While the church has formally advised that such materials are not to be included at any level in the curricula of the church, the church has not condemned the writings nor their authors.  It is my belief that these writings have already motivated many church members to refine their thinking on preparedness and will continue to do so, but they should not be taken as direction on when and how to prepare.]         

         Every Wind of Doctrine By Paul Christian Brown -- There are many “winds of doctrine”  (Ephesians 4:14), direction, and motivation that seem  to be blowing around these days.  They come from a wide variety of sources -- even if you try hard to stick with the ones that seem right and good.  There are scriptures; conference talks; church magazines; Stake and Ward leaders and teachers; there are home and visiting teachers; full-time and ward missionaries; parents; siblings; patriarchal and other blessings; church history stories; mission stories; inspirational books and writings about doctrines, afterlife, visions, and personal revelations; including our own personal dreams, inspirations, and revelations we may receive; not to mention the endless philosophies and ideologies of men.

         I think that some clarifications may be useful as we try to sift through and prioritize these influences in our lives, for example:  the difference between DIRECTION and MOTIVATION.

The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 4:12-14, instructs us about the Lord’s pattern for the ”perfecting of the saints.”  He gives us the Priesthood organization of prophets, apostles, evangelists (patriarchs), pastors, and teachers  for the “edifying of the body of Christ:”  this is how we are to receive DIRECTIION, through the keys of the priesthood organization, from the Prophet, all the way down through the Teachers and Deacons Quorum Presidents.  DIRECTION given from these sources, we can be assured, is from the Lord; and they include the scriptures, conference talks, patriarchal blessings and direction give to us from general and local priesthood leaders.  This also includes the DIRECTION that the Lord gives us personally through prayer, inspiration, and revelation for the enlargement of our own stewardships and personal growth.  If we follow their direction we cannot go amiss.  It is our reluctance to wholeheartedly follow these DIRECTIONS that keeps us from becoming pure in heart and Zion worthy – “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the fullness of Christ:”

Through modern media there are many voices out there, many carrying wonderful messages, and stories brimming with spiritual experiences, teachings, revelations, dreams, and explanations of doctrines.  I believe that these can be important forces for good as they knock on the doors of our minds and hearts and create opportunities for the Spirit to MOTIVATE us to turn to Christ and seek after Him more fervently, and to follow more faithfully the DIRECTION we receive from Him and His authorized sources.  I think there is a growing and dangerous trend where many, perhaps unwarily, are allowing other sources to DIRECT them, instead of simply being MOTIVATED by them towards the correct sources of DIRECTION.

I think that as we strive to become a Zion people, we need to seek all learning and sources that inspire and MOTIVATE us to turn to Christ and to be ever more willing to be DIRECTED by Him, by means of the proscribed sources of revelation. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

         GIVING & RECEIVING -- If it were not blessed to receive, how could it be more blessed to give?  Be assured that it is also blessed to gratefully receive.  No receivers, no givers!

                    

God Loves A Cheerful Receiver

To give, more blessed is, than to receive. 

What Jesus Said is surely true. 

But if the one is 'more,'

                     the other must be 'blessed' too. 

For every gift that's given

there must a receiver be. 

So it seems who is more blessed          

is quite a matter of degree. 

Sure, both giving and receiving

have brought blessings unto me.

Consider, too, how blest are those

who learn to live

according to the gifts

The Savior died to give! 

                     So, as God loves a cheerful giver,

we also must believe

that they are also duly blessed

who gratefully and cheerfully receive.  

         LEADERSHIP – There was a press conference today after the PM session of the General Conference of the Church dedicated to the introduction of three newly sustained members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  A reporter from the Salt Lake Tribune mentioned that President Hinckley had once told her that he had a problem with the adulation with which some church members felt and expressed with regard to the General Authorities.  She then asked the new apostles how they proposed to deal with that.

            Among the cogent comments made by the new leaders was this statement, which rung a strong chord with me:  “You lead by serving.  You don’t serve by leading.”  What a subtle but powerful insight on the subject of attitude!  Like a good poem, it suggests things that you sense are real, but which you can’t quite put into words.

            I have seen essays on the difference between administration and ministering in the church.  That subject, to me, vibrates on a similar wave length as the above concept.

            Another comparison which resonates in a similar fashion with me is the relationship between leadership and discipleship.  (See my blog on DISCIPLINE which follows.

            DISCIPLINE – Early in my teaching career I learned the real meaning and importance of the word discipline.  The word derives from 'disciple;' which means 'follower.'  It is only logical that if you expect people to 'follow,' you have to be going somewhere that is of interest and value to your potential disciples.  

I saw examples all around that affirmed this observation.  Real classroom discipline, for example, is the natural result of classroom leadership; not political control – although the latter might be sometimes called for in establishing sufficient focus so that true discipline can develop.