More jottings in the pocket book of J. Golden Kimball:

If you begin to run short of things to be thankful for, commence to pray for your enemies and you will be surprised how soon you will want to quit and say, Amen.

-ooOoo-

Reformers do not improve anybody, neither do they make people happy. They are snooping into the lives of people to gratify their ambition and to gain notoriety: They always use force. Old Satan’s plan.

-ooOoo-

Almost everything now a days is standardized, staked out, fenced in, blue printed and so perfectly all planned and laid out that the Lord couldn’t get in a word edge-ways.

-ooOoo-

To me it’s wonderful to be human, natural, child-like, without fear, doubt and feel as a colt on the range and freedom to say what you mean and mean what you say.

Of course we are responsible for what we say.

-ooOoo-

Do we as Latter-day Saints work for the happiness of all people and do we always find brotherhood, friendship, fraternity and love one another in all our communities? Are we as Saints growing year by year happier, as we advance day by day? Are we better trained spiritually, religiously, educationally in the doctrines of Jesus Christ? Is the Church as a whole succeeding in conserving interests of the people in that inalienable right the pursuit of happiness? When we lost contact with God, thru sin or carelessness, do we unjustly and unrighteously judge our brother until he cherishes a grievance, not remembering that one act of charity and godliness has greater force than many sermons spoken about what God has done. An educator said: “You attain happiness, because you are conscious of being a part of human energy turned to human service.”

They say “Men and women do not turn joyfully, as a rule, to a life of service except to a prompting of moral and religious motives.”

-ooOoo-

Set Fire to Our Souls

We do not get good results when we play with the word of God; when we drift, absorb and forget. Neither do we get anywhere when we are ashamed of Truth, hesitate and are afraid to let it be known we are agents for God unafraid.

How many of us dare accept the challenge of the Almighty to prove him, and come out as conqueror? How many of us dare put to the test the power and authority vested in us?

In all centuries a few great souls have had the faith and courage to exercise this power and in so doing have achieved results that seem supernatural to us; we imagine that they were specially favored, or were given powers that others do not possess.

We are told plainly that God is no respecter of persons. There is no doubt in my mind that we all have the right to exercise the gifts and power within us, thru faith in Christ.

Why was it our pioneer fathers and mothers overcome mountains of seeming difficulties, that others of this generation who possess a far greater intellectual knowledge of the law of God cannot move? Their faith was unmixed with doubt; they were so situated that they accepted the power of God as invincible and there was no thought of delay or defeat, no matter how big or how impossible it may have seemed to them.

We need to awaken f rom our slumbers and affirm our birthright of divine power and use the intelligence and knowledge with mighty power and zeal.

We need to cry out and shout more than we do; we should add vehemence to our understanding and recharge our batteries with enthusiasm, hope, charity and love; without which we can do nothing. We should cultivate a spirit of conviction and be unafraid.

“Sing unto Jehovah; for he hath done excellent things; let this be known in all the earth. Cry aloud and shout; thou inhabitant of Zion; for great in the midst of thee is the Holy One of Israel.”

To illustrate: In some oil wells the oil has to be drawn by pumping. It is a hard, slow process, and while the oil that is thus obtained is first class, the flow is so meager and the cost of obtaining it is so high that the dividends are very few.

A real well, after it has been drilled, cased and made all ready is shot with a powerful charge of explosive at the bottom to make a great opening for the flow of oil. If everything goes well a gusher follows.

It is just as easy to be a “Truth gusher” as to be a pumper. What some of us need is a strong charge of spiritual dynamite. Of course, spiritual dynamite is composed of faith, hope, love, kindness, friendship, helpfulness, brotherhood and service.

Cease pumping others and “shoot” yourself, that is, work out your own salvation before spending your efforts on others, knowing always that it is God that works in us and with us both to will and to keep his commandments.

There is a hopeless, almost useless bunch of Mormons who get all mixed up and mistake spiritual dynamite for tear-bombs and they cry and whine, Oh God, Oh God, and spoil every spiritual power that would have flooded their lives with happiness and sunshine; they continue weeping, crying for help and living in mist and fog and misery; they are never happy only when making others miserable.

There is still another crowd of men called High Priests, Seventies and Elders who are in a static condition; they are just resting, taking it easy and drifting with the tide; they are sterile, impotent, producing no marked results spiritually. They are not progressive, neither are they constructive. There is no dynamic creative positive force behind them; they are seemingly spiritually dead, and don’t know it. All such men need “shooting with spiritual dynamite” and converted to the Gospel as the Lord revealed that. “He is to act in his office in which he is appointed in all diligence. He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand.”

There is still left a class of people who have kept a few of the minor commandments who are already saved. Neither God nor man can do anything for them and why? Knowledge is the power of salvation. Intelligence is the glory of God, and if we are not saved sooner than we get intelligence and knowledge how can God save ignorant souls? He can’t.

-ooOoo-

Understand Thyself, O Man

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And the Lord God planted a garden and there he put the man. He created a woman as a help meet for him. After they had been together a period of time, as God’s children generally do, they got into trouble by doing what the Lord told them not to do.

They heard the voice of the Lord God, and hid themselves. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him: Where art thou?

They began to multiply and other men entered the picture and trouble again arose. Can slew his brother Abel and the Lord said unto Cain: Where is Abel, thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

The two important questions bring out our relationship to God and our relationship to man.

This story surely ought to impress any thinking an that we cannot be favor with God unless we are right with our brother.

A man coming to worship and bringing his offerings and supplications has little “importance” if he has ought against his brother. The all important question is: “Where is thy brother?” God might say what business have you coming to a house of God or a place of worship? Your prayers, your supplications, your offerings have no real meaning to God unless you are right with your brother.

Is it not a truth that many of us hide behind and dodge the question by saying: Lord, if we bring our offering, if we observe the sabbath, if we attend all church meetings, if we pray and sing psalms is that not enough? Are we our brother’s keeper?

It would seem to me we are neglecting the weightier matter, as the question comes straight as an arrow like a piercing sword: Where is thy brother?

Jesus makes this clear in the sermon on the Mount. That it’s not much use to try to talk with God unless we are right with our brother. Just leave the gift and forget it until you find your brother and get right with him and then you can talk with God and not until then.

Our personal salvation, the greatest gift from God to man, brings out the first question: Where aft thou? and the second is like unto it: Where is thy brother? Why all this talk? Because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was brought into existence for the accomplishment of two great things:

1st. The proclamation of the truth as revealed from God concerning man’s salvation to all the world.

2nd. The perfecting of all those who accept the truth.

-ooOoo-

I can truthfully say as Harry Lauder did, Funny ideas flit thru my mind. I don’t know just where they come from. They just come, I don’t control them, they control me. I open my mouth and it says extraordinary things and some foolish things. My friends try to explain it away. They say, Oh well, you have to make allowances for Brother Kimball. He may not have said it but it sounds like him.