Thursday, April 14, 2011

Become as a Little Child - A General Conference Review

Manipulation of Children is a form of abuse which is not tolerated in the Church.  The Savior said that it would be better to have never been born than to offend one of these little ones.  We do however as leaders need to be taught how children can assist in building up the Kingdom of God upon the Earth.  

One of my favorite talks in the recent general conference was given by the first counselor in the Primary General Presidency, Sister Jean Stevens whom I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting. The talk was entitled “Become as a Little Child” and can be found at the below link:

I would kindly ask that you open/read it alongside this post to ensure I am not misrepresenting in any way the words she spoke.

Sister Stevens asked this important question; what qualities do children possess and what examples do they demonstrate that can help us in our own spiritual development?

These precious children come to us with believing hearts.  They are full of faith and receptive to feelings of the Spirit. These are qualities that many in these the latter-days are losing as Satan gains a grasp on the world.

Sister Stevens goes on to ask this poignant question; Have some of life’s experiences taken from you the believing heart and childlike faith you once had?

I know that many readers of this blog used to believe when they were children and even kept that faith right into adulthood.  Then, through sin and weakness they drifted away from the faith of their youth into their current state of misery.

To those who have thus strayed the advice was given to look around at the children in your life. Do you have sufficient humility of heart to learn and a willingness to follow the example of children?  If so their divine attributes can hold the key to unlocking your spiritual growth.

This general conference talk is completely in harmony with 1 Corinthians 13:11 where we read “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

This scripture has reference to things that children believe in that are not true such as the tooth fairy or Santa Claus.  As we grow up we put away such childish things, but we do not under any circumstances give up our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Church and current or past Church leaders.  

I will now quote from the talk as Sister Stevens shows us how children can be used to get parents to pay tithing to the church in order that they may receive blessings.  My comments are in brackets:
“Some years ago a member of the Seventy was on assignment in Hong Kong. He visited a very humble ward that was struggling in many ways, unable to provide for its own needs (it is very important for wards to not only be able to cover the costs of operation, but also to be able to send funds back to Salt Lake to enable the Church to run in the efficient manner the Lord intends). As the bishop described their situation, the General Authority felt the impression (leaders regularly feel such impressions whilst on the Lords errand) to have the members pay their tithing.

The bishop, knowing their dire circumstances (but lacking in faith), was concerned about how he could carry out that counsel. He thought about it and decided he would approach some of the most faith-filled members of his ward and ask them to pay their tithing (this would allow them the blessing of holding a temple recommend assuming they also kept the other necessary requirements such as abstaining from drinking coffee etc). The next Sunday he went to the Primary. He taught the children about the Lord’s law of tithing and asked if they would be willing to pay tithing on the money they earned. The children said they would. And they did (it brings tears to my eyes to think of these children having the faith to pay ten percent of their incomes to the church).

The bishop later went to the adults in the ward and shared with them that for the past six months their faithful children had been paying tithing. He asked them if they would be willing to follow the example of these children and do the same (this is an excellent example by an inspired Bishop. If children can have the faith to pay tithing on their incomes there is absolutely no reason why parents can't do likewise). The people (like me) were so touched by the sacrifices the children were willing to make that they did what was necessary to pay their tithing (some no doubt were unable to pay their debts, but at least they were being honest with the Lord and helping their ward to not become a burden on the Church in any way) and the windows of heaven were opened (and what were the blessings received when the windows of heaven were opened you might ask. Read on). With the example of these faithful children, the ward grew in obedience and in testimony (isn't that wonderful?).”

As a stake president I plead with all leaders; if you are having problems with your members, if they are not being obedient to your counsel you can likewise reach them through their children.  For example if a parent is drinking green tea and is unable therefore to enter the temple, you can meet with their child and ask the child if he or she is willing to never partake of this forbidden substance.  My promise to you is that children will almost always, when invited by an authority figure, agree to keep such commandments. Then when you meet with the offending parents you can explain the faith of their children and their hearts will be touched.     

Precious children come to us with believing hearts and are full of faith.  In General Conference we were taught how to effectively use these children and their simple faith to bring adults unto obedience to the laws of heaven.  Stay tuned for more of my analysis on the inspiring words of General Conference.

President Paternoster

22 comments:

  1. Ok President let me get this straight. You think that children paying their tithing will help to inspire their parents? And how exactly do the children have an income? duh! There is no way that you can compare the two! And I disagree that people who cant afford their bills should go into debt to pay tithing! I dont really think that God would rape them of their last dime so they could go with out or go into debt! Your church might want to think about the abuse and pressure they put on their members!

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  2. President, I'm sorry that Anonymous (probably an apostate) is being too "stiff nekid" right now to listen to your advice. He probably left God's true church so that he could drink green tea. I pray that with the right kind of firm but gentle loving pressure, he will respond and eventually, that which is hard in him will be softened.

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  3. What I love about this blog is that it presents the gospel and church policies in a clear and unvarnished way. Sometimes I get distracted during conference talks and miss the nuggets of wisdom, thank you president for pointing them out to me.

    I'm thinking about keeping my kids home from church from now on.

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  4. I would love your thoughts on my recent blog post about conference: http://lifeasareader.blogspot.com/2011/04/mormonism-and-marriage.html

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  7. This wonderful example reminded me of a very important lesson I learned at age 6. I am afraid that I was not like these faithful children. My mother had recently started giving me the equal of 1 dollar in weekly wages, so that I would learn to pay tithing to our dear Lord. The shiniest 10 cent was given to God and stored in a matchbox (with an image of Uncle Scrooge with his lucky dime!).
    But across our street, Satan lurked in a candy store... And one day I could not resist buying two chewing gums with 2x10 cents from my tithing. I thought no one would ever notice, but somehow my mother saw straight through my wicked heart and next fast sunday confronted me with the fact that... I WAS STEALING FROM GOD!!! I had not thought of it like that, I just wanted some gum... Naturally I was horrified at the very thought of having given our Heavenly Father so much pain and sorrow (and not to mention my worries what would happen to me on judgement day...)! I repented from the bottom of my little soul, and from then on paid my tithing faithfully.
    Thankfully I was baptized two years later and thus finally cleansed from my sin.

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  8. Pres Pater-tither,

    Congrats on paying tithing... & did you know some of those funds go to support giving children around the world vaccinations that frequently mame & sicken children for life?

    Why do you advocate such a thing? ..."Let's be as little children" then return the favor in gratitude (Huh???) and treat them with life-altering cruelty, & unjustly destroying many of their lives through the ailments that result from the vaccinations!

    Makes sense to me!!! (NOT!)

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  10. The funds from which the church pays for vaccinations that are given to children & others isn't as important as a purported church of God, with living prophets who are to guard the flock from wolves (things that harm the flock) but is not guarding & warning the flock. In fact, they are doing the opposite & even proclaim to the world how great their humanitarian efforts are!

    It is inexcusible when they allow harm to come to anyone (see ezek 34 - talking about the latter day shepherds).

    Other informative information:

    A Wealth of vaccination info & research:

    Professionals' Research:

    Vaccination Hoax: http://www.whale.to/a/hoax.html

    Ingredients: http://www.vaclib.org/basic/vacingredient.htm

    Standard vaccine additive ingredients:
    thimerosal (a mercury derivative),
    ethylene glycol (antifreeze),
    phenol (a disinfectant dye),
    benzethonium chloride (a disinfectant),
    formaldehyde (a preservative and disinfectant),
    aluminum.

    Q & A: http://www.vaclib.org/intro/qandaone.htm

    LDS church vaccination donation:
    http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/17382/Vaccine-to-be-provided-for-African-children.html

    http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=49543ca6c17fc110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=7cecc8fe9c88d010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

    http://wwrn.org/articles/10822/


    These links only scratch the surface!

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  11. Not all the links came through: end attempt.


    A Wealth of vaccination info & research: http://www.vaclib.org/links/jockslinks.htm

    Professionals' Research: http://www.whale.to/m/critics.html

    Vaccination Hoax: http://www.whale.to/a/hoax.html

    Ingredients: http://www.vaclib.org/basic/vacingredient.htm

    Standard vaccine additive ingredients:
    thimerosal (a mercury derivative),
    ethylene glycol (antifreeze),
    phenol (a disinfectant dye),
    benzethonium chloride (a disinfectant),
    formaldehyde (a preservative and disinfectant),
    aluminum.

    Q & A: http://www.vaclib.org/intro/qandaone.htm

    LDS church vaccination donation:
    http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/17382/Vaccine-to-be-provided-for-African-children.html

    http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=49543ca6c17fc110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=7cecc8fe9c88d010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

    http://wwrn.org/articles/10822/

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  12. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define%3APaternoster

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  14. The original post I made didn't save. I meant to add the following comments:

    The way the church pays for vaccinations is not as important as the fact they are not protecting the flock from the wolves, as good prophets & shepherds do!

    What's worse is they proclaim their humanitarian aid to the world, as if vaccintions are a good thing.

    I recommend reading ezekiel 34 to better understand how the Lord feels about his latter day Shepherds.

    The links I included (see my entry above) are just the tip of the iceberg!

    .

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  16. I also wanted to express my thanks to Sister Sweetie for opening my eyes to the apocalyptic, genocidal reality of vaccinations. It is not often that we get to read comments from representatives of the medical research community.

    I must admit that at first I was a little skeptical of Sister Sweetie's claims, but then I remembered Sister Stevens' conference talk about how we must have faith like children in what we are told. I know better than to question the sources given freely to us by a concerned professional like Sister Sweetie.

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  17. Thank you President and Carson N. This information comes from genuine months, even years of research, much fasting & prayer & personal experience (no seriously!)


    May the Lord bless us all to use the brain He gave us, to research & apply common sense & wisdom.

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  18. I'm disappointed in both Sister Sweetie and the good stake Pres (though normally I try not to speak ill of the Lord's anointed) as they should both know that the only proper treatment for measles should be a priesthood blessing. It's true that the scientific communities in several different nations have performed study after study and the only one that found a link between autism and vaccinations was well proven to be...well...fraudulent. I'm sure that doesn't mean anything. I'm sure that Dr. Andrew Wakefield was just as persecuted as Joseph Smith. The adversary is mighty and strong. I don't need science or studies to tell me if vaccinations are harmful. My faith tells me it's so. My faith is more powerful than anything contrived by the scientific community. Here's a little story: One week I was scarcely able to feed my children but I decided to pay my tithing. Two days later, I received my tax refund in the mail. This experience just reconfirmed to me how important it is to pay tithing. Just as we know that vaccines given in early childhood can lead to autism, which is diagnosed typically in early childhood, I know that paying my tithing led to me receiving that tax return check. Some conclusions are very easy to draw and they don't need any further explanation. Just like Sister Sweetie said.

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  19. Thank you, President Paternoster, I am very grateful to my mother! Although I must admit I got a little confused when a psychologist once said that this and similar events seemed to have had a traumatizing effect on my personal development... But since the therapist is not a member of the church, I am concerned that she might not get the full picture? That she does not understand what is at stake in the long run! Also, I am concerned that she, being a woman like myeself, might not be the best suited in giving advice? Do you have any recommendations as to how most successfully dealing with childhood traumas?

    Yours faithfully, Sister C. Bliss

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  21. Hey PN,

    Just FYI, both of my girls shoot a 1/2" group at 100 yards, and can disembowel a guy with a hair spritzer.

    (And after our last encounter about the Stake Primary Choir calling, they've been given orders to act first and repent later.)

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  22. It's helpful to think as a child.
    But let us not act like a lost child.
    One who taxes the security of our system and cries out because of his own carelessness.
    Good children hold onto the rod and never become lost.

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