The Manifesto: The Right Thing at the Right Time

I finished reading No Unhallowed Hand, Volume II of Saints, yesterday. The book concludes with the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, but just a few years before that the First Presidency issued the Manifesto which essentially acknowledge that the church was no longer practicing plural marriage. Many good members of the church, including members of the Quorum of the Twelve, struggled with this change.
As I read through the account of this period in Saints, I was reminded of a social media controversy last September regarding a reiteration by the church of it policy on firearms in meetinghouses. As a response to that discussion, I posted a quote from President Wilford Woodruff as found in Declaration 1, which is included in the Doctrine and Covenants:
“The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme [sic]. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place”
The Manifesto was ultimately a response to a report issued by a group of federal officials known as the Utah Commission. The report claimed, falsely, that church leaders were still publicly encouraging and sanctioning plural marriage, and also that 41 such marriages had been performed in Utah over the previous year. The commission then recommended the passage of laws even harsher than those already on the books.
President Woodruff was infuriated by this report. He had already decided that no plural marriages should be performed in Utah or anywhere else in the United States, and he had spent the last year discouraging new plural marriages. Wilford met with his counselors on September 22, 1890, and discussed the commission's report. George Q. Cannon suggested that the church issue a denial of the report's claims.
"Perhaps no better chance has been offered to us," said President Cannon, "to officially, as leaders of the Church, make public our views concerning doctrine and the law that has been enacted."
The dilemma was pretty simple, if the church did not stop performing plural marriages, the government would keep passing laws against the Saints, even though the vast majority did not even practice the principle. More men would go to jail, while the government confiscated the temples in Logan, Manti and St. George, and chaos would reign. With the temples, where work had been performed for hundreds of thousands of the dead, confiscated, how many of God's children, both living and dead, would be barred from the sacred ordinances of the gospel?

After the meeting, President Woodruff prayed for guidance. The next day he told President Cannon that he believe it was his duty as president of the church to issue a manifesto, or public statement to the press. George went outside while Wilford collaborated with his secretary; while he waited he was joined by Elder Franklin Richards of the Twelve. When President Woodruff appeared shortly afterward, it was clear that he was no longer troubled by the Utah Commission's report as his face seemed to shine and he looked pleased and contented.

The statement, which Wilford had read out loud, denied that new plural marriages had taken place during the past year and then affirmed the church willingness to work with the government. "Inasmuch as the nation has passed a law forbidding plural marriages," read the statement, "we feel to obey that law, and leave the even in the hands of God."

After listening to the statement, President Cannon said "I feel it will do good." While he did not think the statement was ready to be released, it was on the right track.

The following day, three talented writers were commissioned by the First Presidency to refine the statement. George Reynolds, Charles Penrose and John Winder revised the document before President Woodruff presented it to Elders Richards, Moses Thatcher and Marriner Merrill, who recommended further changes.

When it was finally completed, the Manifesto declared an end to future plural marriages and emphasized Wilford's resolve to obey the laws of the land and persuade the Saints to do the same.

"We are not teaching polygamy, or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice," read the statement. "I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the member of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise."

Once approved by those present, the Manifesto was sent by telegram to the press.

"The whole matter has been at President Woodruff's own instance," wrote George Q. Cannon in his journal. "He has stated that the Lord made it plain to him that this was his duty, and he felt perfectly clear in his mind that it was the right thing."

Wilford would write in his journal that "I have arrived at a point in the history of my life as the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where I am under the necessity of acting for the temporal salvation of the Church."

A determined stand had been taken by the federal government in Washington, whose authority the church and Utah was subject to as a territory of the United States (in those states which had been granted statehood, the laws against plural marriage did not have the same power). The president of the church, a prophet called by God, had prayed and received inspiration from the Spirit, and the Lord had revealed his will for the Saints.

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When B. H. Roberts, one of the presidents of the First Council of Seventy, first read the Manifesto, as printed in a newspaper, he was astonished. A flash of light then ran through him and the words "That is all right," entered his mind, which was followed by a feeling of peace and understanding. But then his analytical mind took over and his thoughts were invaded by a multitude of questions. What about the sacrifices his wives had made because of the principle of plural marriage? What about everything the Saints had suffered for honoring and defending the practice? What of the many sermons preached over the decades supporting it?

President Roberts believed that God would sustain the Saints through whatever hardships came their way because of plural marriage. Could this Manifesto, then, be taking the coward's way out?

Roberts was joined by Francis Lyman, a member of the Twelve, who was not ruffled by the news. Lyman explained that President Woodruff had already been discouraging new plural marriages in the United States. In his opinion, the Manifesto simply made the position of the church on the issue public. But another apostle, John Henry Smith was agitated by the Manifesto.

When President Roberts was by himself, he could not find the peace he had experienced in that first moment after reading the Manifesto. For every reason his fellow general authorities might give in support, he thought of ten more for why the Saints should have held to the principle of plural marriage -- even if it brought about the very annihilation of the church.

Some member's of the Quorum of the Twelve thought the Manifesto was a temporary solution, merely suspending the practice of plural marriage until it could performed legally. Lorenzo Snow thought it was a necessary step to earn the goodwill of others.

"The Manifesto will turn the hearts of many honest-hearted people to a feeling of friendship and respect for us," said Elder Snow. "I can see the good of the Manifesto clearly and am thankful for it."

"I am convinced that God was with President Woodruff when he was preparing the Manifesto for publication," said Elder Franklin Richards. "When the Manifesto was read, I felt that it was the right thing and that it had been given at the right time."

But Elder John W. Taylor, the son of the late President John Taylor, was unsettled. After the death of his father, John W. had found a purported revelation about marriage among the prophet's papers. Dated September 27, 1886, the revelation seemed to suggest that the commandment to practice plural marriage would never be revoked. The revelation was never presented to the Twelve, nor was it accepted as scripture by the members of the church, and Elder Taylor knew that revelation was continuing and ongoing in order to address new situations and problems, and he had faith that God has also spoken to President Woodruff.

"I know that the Lord has given this Manifesto to President Woodruff," said John, "and He can take it away when the times comes, or He can give it again."

"I am willing to sustain the president in issuing the Manifesto," said Elder John Henry Smith, "although I am a little at sea as to the wisdom of its having been issued. My fears are that the Manifesto will do us, as a people, more harm than good."

"I feel that the Manifesto will result in good," said Elder Anthon Lund, the only monogamist in the quorum. "I give my approval to what has been done."

Finally, Elder Heber J. Grant told the quorum that he was happy with the Manifesto. "There is not the least reason why such a document should not be issued," he added. "President Woodruff has simply told the world what we have been doing."

In a meeting with the First Presidency on October 1, 1890, each apostle sustained the Manifesto as the will of God.

The Manifesto was read by Elder Orson Whitney to the congregation in the tabernacle on the third day of general conference. Lorenzo Snow then presented it to the Saints for a sustaining vote. Some hands went up decisively, some reluctantly, and some not at all. There was no direct opposition, and many an eye was wet with tears.

President Woodruff then asked President Cannon to do something he had hoped he would not be asked to do, speak about the Manifesto to the congregation. George was reluctant because, as sure as he was that Wilford was going to ask him to speak, he had no idea what he was going to say. He thought of the talk he had delivered just the day before.

"The presidency of the Church have to walk just as you walk," President Cannon had said. "They have to take steps just as you take steps. They have to depend upon the revelations of God as they come to them. They cannot see the end from the beginning, as the Lord does. All that we can do is to seek the mind and will of God, and when that comes to us, though it may come in contact with every feeling that we have previously entertained, we have no option but to take the step that God points out and to trust to Him."

Now he stood again at the pulpit, and he prayed in his heart for inspiration, yet his mind remained blank. Then he opened his mouth and the fear immediately left him, and words and ideas began to come freely. Opening his scriptures to Doctrine and Covenants 124:49, he read:

"When I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings."

This revelation had been given to the Prophet Joseph Smith at Nauvoo, Illinois, on January 19, 1841, almost 50 years earlier. Due to the persecutions which had driven the Saints from Missouri, the church was now excused from building the temples in Jackson County and Far West. Now, President Cannon declared to the congregation that the Saints had done all in their power to obey the Lord's commandments regarding plural marriage. Now, after being hindered in that practice, and in other areas of the work of the church, by the opposition of the government of the United States, the Lord had given them new direction through His prophet.

"When God makes known His mind and will," said President Cannon, "I hope that I an all Latter-day Saints will bow in submission to it."

To those who doubted the divine origins of the Manifesto, and to those who questioned why it had not been issued sooner to avoid the suffering and persecution of recent years, President Cannon said: "Go to your secret chambers. Ask God and plead with Him, in the name of Jesus, to give you a testimony as He has given it to us, and I promise you that you will not come away empty nor dissatisfied."

President Woodruff followed President Cannon in speaking from the pulpit. "The Lord is preparing a people to receive His Kingdom and His Church, and to build up His work," he said. "That, brethren and sisters, is our labor. The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place."

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B. H. Roberts was still troubled, and he found listening the Manifesto as it was read in general conference to be one of the most difficult moments of his life. He had no desire to oppose the declaration openly, yet he was unable to raise his hand to sustain the statement..

General Relief Society President Zina Young sustained the Manifesto, but felt that her heart was tried. "We looked to God and submitted," she wrote in her journal that night.

Joseph Dean, recently returned from a mission to Samoa, was also in the tabernacle for that session of conference. He believed the Manifesto was a painful but necessary action. "Many of the Saints seemed stunned and confused and hardly knew how to vote," he wrote in his journal. "A great many of the sisters wept silently and seemed to feel worse than the brethren.

The news of the Manifesto stunned Zin Presendia Card and her neighbors when it reached Cardston, Alberta, Canada. But then they realized that it was precisely what the church needed. "We feel our true position is known and appreciated now, as it could not be before the issuing of the Manifesto," wrote Zina in a letter to the Women's Exponent. "The Saints here as a whole all feel our leaders are carrying on Christ's work to victory and are one with the Saints in the Land of Zion."

Lorena Larsen was traveling from Colorado to Utah when she heard about the Manifesto. In Moab, Lorena and her husband Bent encountered people who had attended general conference. She could not believe what she was hearing; she had embraced plural marriage, becoming a plural wife of Bent, because she believed that it was God's will for her and the Saints. The sacrifices she had made to practice the principle has brought her heartache and trial, but they had also challenged her to live on a higher plane, to overcome her weaknesses, and to love her neighbor. Why would God now ask her to turn away from the practice?

"If the Lord and the Church authorities have gone back on that principle," she thought, "there is nothing to any part of the gospel." If plural marriage as a doctrine was not as fixed and immovable as God Himself, why should she have faith in anything else?

In darkness and despair, Lorena collapsed into the bedding of her tent, wishing that the earth would open and swallow her and her children. Suddenly, she felt a powerful presence in the tent. "This is no more unreasonable than the requirement the Lord made of Abraham when he commanded him to offer up his son Isaac," she heard a voice say. "When the Lord sees that you are willing to obey in all things, the trial shall be removed."

All would be well, she knew as peace and happiness enveloped her soul.

There have been many changes in recent years such as two-hour church; the end of high priest groups; ministering instead of home teaching; none, perhaps, as big as the Manifesto and the changes it wrought, but we may at times feel overwhelmed -- or even underwhelmed -- by it all. Change can leave us unsettled,

Or, when a policy is merely reiterated by the church, we may feel to react the same way we would in a political debate. Regarding the announcement last September regarding the policy of firearms and meetinghouses, I ready many comments suggesting that the leaders of the church had made a poor decision.

Whatever the reason for our being unsettled, overwhelmed or disappointed which the changes and the policies, we should remember the counsel given by President George Q. Cannon after the Manifesto was presented in general conference:

"Go to your secret chambers. Ask God and plead with Him, in the name of Jesus, to give you a testimony as He has given it to us, and I promise you that you will not come away empty nor dissatisfied."

We all have the right to go to God in prayer, we don't do blind faith in this church. So let us plead with God that we might know, as Lorena Larsen, that all will be well.

Jerusalem 1999: Golgotha and the Garden Tomb

Caiaphas' house is now a church built over dungeon rooms, two thousand years old. It is south of the Old City, between the Dung Gate and Mount Zion (the Upper city). After his betrayal and arrest Jesus was brought here for a mock trial.

Since that night was the first half of the Preparation Day, incarceration, interrogation and trial were illegal under the circumstances. Caiaphas was the High Priest over three councils that made up the grand Sanhedrin assembly. However, it is apparent that only one of the councils met this night, further making any trial illegal.

It was a priestly tradition never to say "God" or utter his name. Instead they would substitute words representing God's name and use phrases like, "He that comes in the clouds of Heaven." Referring to the Messiah they might say, "He sits on the right hand of Power," or "Blessed is his name." Yet Caiaphas broke this tradition when he directly challenged Jesus (See Matthew chapter 26).

"I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God."
Jesus replied:

"Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see [this] Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."

Caiaphas, perhaps realizing that he himself had invoked God's name, cried out:

"He hath spoke blasphemy! . . . What think ye?"

The council answered:

"He is guilty of death."

Under the Roman political system, the Jewish priests could not carry out executions except for Temple violations. And so, the priests bound Jesus and took him to Pontius Pilate, the governor, in the Antonio Fortress.

The ruins of the Judgement Hall of the Antonia Fortress now lie underneath the Arab Section of the Old City, just north of the Temple Mount. Today, the site is maintained by the Catholic Order, The Sisters of Zion. Floor stones reveal markings of ancient Roman games the guards played for own amusement.

It was here that Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate. Initially, Pilate wanted nothing to do with the situation, but then he saw a potential political gain. After having Jesus beaten, flogged, and crowned with thorns, he taunted the Jewish priests.

". . . I find in him no fault at all." (John 18:38)

The priests became angry.

". . . Away with him, crucify him. . . ." (John 19:15)

Pilate continued to goad them.

". . . Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar."

And so Pilate got what he wanted, the public acclaim by the priests that Caesar was their king.

"Then delivered he him . . . to be crucified." (John 19:16)

We return to the streets of the Old City and the route of the Via Delarosa (The Way of the Cross). After about a city block we reach an intersection. A left turn would take you along the Via Delarosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. A right turn takes you up through a marketplace of the Arab Section to the Damascus Gate.

It is one of my regrets that I did not take the time to snap some pictures of this market. It had been a long day; it was hot; the muscle I pulled at Lazarus' Tomb was still bothering me; and I felt the crowd pressing in.

Out through the Damascus Gate we cross the street into the Arab part of Modern Jerusalem. A block to the north we find the Garden Tomb.

Sometime in the 1880s General Charles Gordon, of the British Royal Army, peered over the wall of the Old City from a little bit east of the Damascus Gate. In the side of a hill, at the site of an ancient quarry, he saw what looked like the eyes of a skull. Could this be Golgotha - the Place of the Skull? It was the Roman practice to crucify along the roadways. In this abandoned quarry, known by Jews as a place of execution, a roadway still passes by.

Further exploration of the area revealed an empty tomb. In 1893 the Garden Tomb Association was founded with its headquarters in London. Today, the grounds of the Garden Tomb are maintained by this group.

We enter the Garden and take a path that hides the tomb from us, because first we are going to a place where we can see Golgotha. Here we read the accounts of the Crucifixion.

If this site is the real Golgotha, then Jesus would have carried his cross, on a route similar to ours, through the Damascus Gate. It is also probable that He carried just the cross beam of his cross, as the upright post was most likely already at the place of crucifixion. Along the way, a man named Simon from Cyrene was made to carry the cross beam, perhaps Jesus stumbled. The name Simon is Jewish, but Cyrene is in North Africa. He was likely one of the hundreds of thousands of Jews gathering to Jerusalem for Passover. In any case they,

"Went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha." (John 19:17)

Crucifixion was a slow, strangling death. The prisoner's hands, wrists and feet were nailed to the cross. The knees were bent so that as he hung from the cross his lungs were suffocated. By standing on the nails in his feet he could unbend his knees and ease the pressure on his lungs. This way he could breath for as long as he could stand the pain in his feet. By periodically changing his position on the cross he could prolong his life, but also his agony.

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama Sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)

"And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." (Luke 23:46)

"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." (John 19: 30)

As it was still the Preparation Day the Jewish priests did not want the crucified bodies hanging on the crosses on the Sabbath days. The first of the Sabbath days, the High Day, would begin with the setting of the sun. The priests asked Pilate to have the legs of the prisoners broken. This would hasten their deaths since they would no longer be able to stand on the nails to enable them to breath. But the Roman soldiers saw that Jesus was already dead, ". . . they brake not his legs." (John 19:33)

After reading about the Crucifixion at the overlook of Golgotha, we walked over to the Garden Tomb. It is situated west of the Place of the Skull in a little clearing in the garden. It is a very beautiful and peaceful setting.

As with most tombs, one must duck down to enter - the smaller the opening, the smaller the stone is that is rolled in front, too big and it is too heavy and immovable. A door has since been installed and a carved wooden sign reads, "He is not here, for he is risen." We enter a very small mourning chamber and to our right is the tomb itself. My wife has been moved to tears, the only time on the entire trip. I feel a sweet, peaceful feeling.

We find a spot nearby where we read that Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, and an unnamed disciple, with the help of Nicodemus, prepared the body of Jesus and laid him in a tomb.

"Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre. . . .

"There they laid Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand." (John 19:41-42)

Then we read:

"The first day of the week (what we now call Sunday) cometh Mary Megdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

"Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple . . . and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre, . . ." (John 20:1-2)

They ran to the tomb and saw that:

". . . the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself." (John 20:4-7)

The tomb was empty!

For Jews today, the cloth put over the head of the deceased is the talith, the garment or prayer shawl. Perhaps the "napkin that was about his head" was a talith.

Mary lingered in the garden,

". . . and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

". . . She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence,  tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away."

Jesus said, "Mary,"

". . . she turned herself, and saith unto him . . . . Master." (John 20:14-16)

We read more accounts of appearances of the resurrected Jesus to his disciples and other, including an appearance to over five hundred people.

And here, in this garden, is a spirit of peace and love.

The Garden Tomb was the last stop of the tour. Our guide ran us ragged for six days . . . and I loved every minute of it! And there was so much more that we didn't see!

No One Can Make Us Angry

At the October 2009 General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson quoted Lawrence Douglas Wilder as saying that "Anger does not solve anything; it builds nothing."

President Monson went on to say, "We’ve all felt anger. It can come when things don’t turn out the way we want. It might be a reaction to something which is said of us or to us. We may experience it when people don’t behave the way we want them to behave. Perhaps it comes when we have to wait for something longer than we expected. We might feel angry when others can’t see things from our perspective. There seem to be countless possible reasons for anger."

Finding reasons for anger appears to become a simple matter when participating in or just watching sports.  But the Apostle Paul asked, "Can ye be angry, and not sin? let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26 of the Joseph Smith Translation).  And in eleventh chapter of 3 Nephi we read:

“There shall be no disputations among you. … For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away” (verses 28-30).

President Monson then warned that "To be angry is to yield to the influence of Satan. No one can make us angry. It is our choice. If we desire to have a proper spirit with us at all times, we must choose to refrain from becoming angry. I testify that such is possible."

After relating the story of two men who lived in a one room cabin that had been divided in half by a chalk line, which neither crossed as they passed 62 years without speaking a word to each other, President Monson counseled, "May we make a conscious decision, each time such a decision must be made, to refrain from anger and to leave unsaid the harsh and hurtful things we may be tempted to say."

In recent weeks I have found myself struggling as I have had to wait for longer than expected for a promotion at work to become effective. I have been frustrated and discouraged, but I think I have managed to avoid being angry or bitter. Even so, I can understand the temptation.

In October 2006 general conference, Elder David A. Bednar spoke on a similar subject.

"When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.

"In the grand division of all of God’s creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:13–14). As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation."

Elder Bednar then referenced an example from church history.

"Thomas B. Marsh, the first President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in this dispensation, elected to take offense over an issue as inconsequential as milk strippings (see Deseret News, Apr. 16, 1856, 44). Brigham Young, on the other hand, was severely and publicly rebuked by the Prophet Joseph Smith, but he chose not to take offense (see Truman G. Madsen, “Hugh B. Brown—Youthful Veteran,” New Era, Apr. 1976, 16).

"In many instances, choosing to be offended is a symptom of a much deeper and more serious spiritual malady. Thomas B. Marsh allowed himself to be acted upon, and the eventual results were apostasy and misery. Brigham Young was an agent who exercised his agency and acted in accordance with correct principles, and he became a mighty instrument in the hands of the Lord.

"The Savior is the greatest example of how we should respond to potentially offensive events or situations.

"'And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men' (1 Nephi 19:9).

"Through the strengthening power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, you and I can be blessed to avoid and triumph over offense. 'Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them' (Psalm 119:165)."

Sources:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2009/10/school-thy-feelings-o-my-brother?lang=eng

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2006/10/and-nothing-shall-offend-them?lang=eng

Jerusalem 1999: From Bethany to the Mount of Olives

Two miles east of Jerusalem is the town of Bethany, and it was our first stop on the morning of Monday, April 19, 1999. The word Bethani means "house of the poor," and there are still many honorably poor people living here.

We visit the home of the widow Abu Issa Mukhal, a Moslem married to a Christian woman, Shifa. She lives in a small room, built many years ago by the Crusaders. In this room, that is smaller than my living room, she faithfully raised eight children. An additional room and a kitchen hut has been added in recent years. At last count some twenty-eight grandchildren assemble here almost daily or weekly. There is one full time job and some part time jobs to support them all.

This small room is across the street from the entrance to Lazarus' tomb. To the left are two Christian churches and to the right is a Moslem mosque.

Our guide takes me aside asking me to help him with something. He leads me down a narrow, steep, and not very well lit stairwell to the mourning chamber and the tomb. I hide in the tomb itself while he calls the rest of the group down to the mourning chamber. I had to step down into a passageway and I slipped on the last step.

Once gathered the group reads through the account of the raising from the dead of Lazarus by Jesus Christ (see John chapter 11). When our guide reads "Lazarus, come forth" I crouched through the passageway, suddenly appearing from the tomb to the surprise and enjoyment of everyone. On the way back up the stairs I noticed immediately that I had pulled a muscle when I slipped on that step entering the tomb.

Our next stop was the Old City, again through the Dung Gate. We visited the Western or "Wailing" Wall where we witnessed a young boy singing his Bar Mitzvah. We also learned about ancient temple practices.

The men of the group got the better part of the deal because men and women worship in different sections. We were able to go under Wilson's Arch, excavated remains of a bridge that led from Herod's palace to the Temple itself. Today this arch, now more of a tunnel under the city, houses a worship area for Jewish men wishing to be as close to the Holy of Holies as possible. Women are allowed to worship in here on rainy days. Various "arks" containing Torah scrolls are also kept here. Three times a week male worshipers come and collect the scrolls for Bar Mitzvah readings (singing in many cases, actually) or Sabbath readings.

In the wall itself there is also evidence of a very old custom. Here and there one can see nails pounded into the wall. Tradition and older texts reveal the custom of the "sure nails." People would bring there sins or grief to the wall and "nail" them in a sure place. The nails are a reminder of Isaiah's prophecy that man's burden will be removed when the nail in the sure place is taken down.

Bits of paper are also stuck in the cracks of the wall. More secular Jews have started to write prayers or wishes on paper and stuff them into the cracks. Today one can even fax or e-mail a prayer to someone nearby who will stuff it into a crack for you. Some papers contain lists of names of people needing special prayers and are placed there by orthodox Jews.

It is said that non-Jews call the Western Wall the "Wailing Wall" because they may have mistaken the prayers as crying or wailing. This worship area is only a remnant of the entire Western Wall, and Jews gather here to worship because they believe they have no priestly permission or authority to go on the Temple Mount itself. The wall simply serves as the closest gathering spot available and somewhat satisfies their yearning to connect with their past.

The Western Wall has been desecrated by Moslems throughout the centuries, including the period from 1948 to 1967 when Jews were forbidden to enter the Old City or worship at the wall. Huts and hovels crowded the area below the wall, and a portion of the wall was used for public toilets. After the liberation in the Six Day War of 1967 the area was cleared and restored. The Jews have kept a constant vigil ever since and at any hour of the day or night one kind find someone praying or reciting scriptures at the wall.

Our guide informs us that some years ago there was a riot on the Temple Mount between Arabs and Israeli Policemen, much like the one that followed the visit of Prime Minister Sharon in 2000. The riot was reported that night by the international media. However, the international media failed to report that Arabs had been throwing rocks down on the worshipers at the Western Wall, thus prompting the Israeli Police to send officers to the Temple Mount in the first place.

Our next stop is in what was the Upper part of Herod's Jerusalem, it is now just outside the walls of the Old City. Here there is a room considered to be the traditional site of the Last Supper. A second story room, it was built some eight hundred years ago. In reality, the word "upper" may have referred to a room in the Upper part of the city rather than a room upstairs. The Upper part of Herod's Jerusalem was where the priests generally lived and was considered the upper class section of the city.

We take a seat on the floor and relive both the Last Supper, by reading from the Bible, and a traditional Passover meal. In ancient days the Seder table was set up in a U-shape with participants sitting on the outside. The master of the house, or the oldest male, would sit second from the right end looking inward. The oldest would then select a boy, usually the youngest, to sit on his right and assist him in the order (Seder) of the meal and ritual customs. At one point the boy is to sing "What makes this night different from any other night." Opposite the boy, the last seat on the left remains empty and thus available for Elijah. Through the entire meal a door is left open for Elijah, who, by Jewish tradition, would announce the coming of the Messiah.

Modern day preparations include bitter herbs that are symbolic of bondage; there is also a mixture of chopped fruit, nuts, cinnamon, and honey that represent deliverance; parsley or watercress is used as a token of gratitude for the earth's abundance; salted water or vinegar is set out for cleansing use; there is a lamb's shank bone to remind of past sacrifices and an egg which is reminiscent of a sacrifice and new beginning. These and other foods are eaten symbolizing the deliverance from Egypt. Wine is prepared and used four times.

Then there is the unleavened bread. In the week before Passover all the leaven, yeast, and other items that might sprout are removed from the house. A tradition still followed in modern Israel is that the leaven must be "sold." The chief rabbi arranges to sell the entire country's supply of grain, prepackaged breads and leavened products to a non-Jew before Passover begins. In this way, whatever leaven is still around does not really belong to the Jews. The deal usually involves a down payment with delivery to be made when the balance is paid. Somehow the buyer never gets around to paying off the balance and by default "ownership" is returned to the Jews after Passover.

In the Seder, there are three times when the wine is blessed and sipped. Following each sip, a piece of unleavened bread is used. Each piece is blessed, broken, passed and eaten. There is a total of three pieces of bread, but they are used four times. Toward the beginning of the Seder the middle of three pieces is broken in two. One half has to be hidden away, usually in an upper part of the house, or above something. In at least one tradition, the half piece is wrapped in a red cloth before being hidden. The piece will be found later by children and it will be used with a fourth cup of wine.

Considering the Jewish calendar and the scriptural narrative, Jesus led the Passover meal with his disciples on the preparation evening/day, the Passover really began the following evening. This high, holy week always began on the first full moon after the first day of spring. Every year that day becomes an extra Sabbath that week; it is called a High Day. That High Day can occur on any day of the week, including the regular Sabbath. Perhaps, then, we should be celebrating Good Thursday instead of Good Friday.

Jesus did some other significant things at that Passover meal. At one point he changed the order of the wine and bread with the bread first. Jesus also demonstrated his role as servant by washing the feet of his disciples. Then he gave them a new commandment "That ye love one another, as I have loved you. . . ." (See John 13:34)

Our group now concludes our time in the Upper Room by singing a hymn written by Luciane Clark Fox:

As I have loved you, Love one another.
This new commandment:
Love one another.
By this shall men know
Ye are my disciples,
If ye have love one for another.

Chiasmi are word games with subtle meanings, they are words listed in inverted repetitions or in opposites. One can find many a Chiasmus in the Bible. Returning to Jaffa and Acts chapter 10, for a moment, we can find one.

We read first of the dream Cornelius, a gentile, had telling him to send for Peter in Jaffa, then we read about Peter's dream where he is commanded to eat non-kosher food by an angel, then Peter arrives in Caesarea and we read again about Cornelius' dream. In the center, of course, is Peter's dream, the point of which was to tell Peter that he was now commanded to teach the gospel to gentiles because the salvation Jesus' atonement gives is available for everyone.

On the Mount of Olives we find another Chiasmus with the tradition of sacrificing a red calf (whose ashes were used for the purification of sins) on the mount, then Jesus bleeding from every poor as he took the sins of all mankind upon him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and, finally, in the prophecy that Jesus will appear on the Mount of Olives in the last days wearing red clothing. In the center is the atonement of Jesus Christ.

After leaving the Upper Room in what is now called Mount Zion, we went over to the Mount of Olives. There we find an orchard of olive trees. From here we can line up the Golden Gate (the Gate Beautiful) with the Dome of the Tablets on the Temple Mount. Here we sit and read the accounts of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Today there are several traditional churches on the Mount of Olives: Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic. The garden of the Catholic Church has had olive trees existing for the better part of twenty centuries. The garden mentioned in the scriptures was Gethsemane, a word that means a "wine press" or "olive press," usually found in a vineyard or orchard. There are many such orchards on the Mount of Olives today.

The agony that Jesus went through became so difficult that he prayed to his Father for relief, yet submissively said "thy will be done."

"And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44).

It seems that his clothing must surely have been stained red.

As we sat in this peaceful orchard we had a picnic lunch, those pocket things again. The feeling of peace was so strong and sweet, we just didn't want to leave.

But leave we must, after reading about the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, we head over to the Palace of Caiaphas, where Jesus was taken that fateful night.

Jerusalem 1999: Mount Moriah

Friday is the Moslem Holy Day and Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, therefore, the weekend in Israel is Friday and Saturday and the first work day of the week is Sunday. Many Christians have adjusted their Sabbath to Saturday as well, and that was the day we went to the BYU Jerusalem Center for Sunday services. Part of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints service is the partaking of bread and water, representing the body and blood of Jesus Christ. As we partake I am struck by the fact that I am doing this in Jerusalem, a few blocks away from Gethsemane. It is a powerful feeling.

On Sunday, April 18, 1999, it was back to a full day of touring. We started by passing through the Dung Gate into the Old City. We followed a long straight path, through a security checkpoint and up to the Temple Mount. To our left, and below, worshipers are gathering at the Western Wall. In front of us is the Al Aksa Mosque. We are required to remove our shoes and leave all of our belongings outside. Inside we see a large room with two rows of pillars, and on one pillar you can still see the bullet marks from the 1956 assassination of the King of Jordan (the current king's grandfather).

As it was explained to me, Islam was started nearly six hundred years after the time of Christ. It was founded by Mohammed who saw both Christianity and Judaism as apostate religions. They had only a portion of the truths which he believed he had received from the angel Gabriel during his "Night Vision." It was in this dream that he was transported from the rock that is now under the Dome of the Rock. The Islamic religion incorporates various tenets, stories, and doctrines of both Judaism and Christianity. Islam is the name of the religion, and Moslem means "a follower of Islam."

The Islam book of scripture is the Koran, wherein it is clearly stated that the people of the "Book" -- meaning the Bible, which are the Jews and the Christians -- are to be protected and valued as friends of the Moslems. The Koran is a collection of the sayings of Mohammed as he was instructed by the angel Gabriel.

Due to the diversity of the Moslem population, many political leaders have used the mosque as platform for their ideologies. The euphoria of these political movements is thus connected to the religious environment and many followers accept political concepts as religious doctrine. The Five Pillars of Islam are:

1) Worshiping of Allah (Allah is a singular/neutral word and the Arabic way of pronouncing Elohim, which is a Hebrew plural/masculine word);
2) Praying five times a day in the direction of Mecca, preceded by a ritual washing;
3) Paying tithes and offerings for the poor;
4) Fasting for a monthly period during the daytime every year (Ramadan);
5) The pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime.

Mecca is the first holy site of Islam and the birthplace of Mohammed. Nearby Medina is the second holiest site, and is where Mohammed is buried. Mount Moriah is the third holiest as the site of the rock from which Mohammed dreamed he rose to visit heaven.

The Al Aksa Mosque was built in 701 A.D. (or C.E.) and has undergone at least four major renovations. Ten years earlier the Dome of the Rock had been constructed. We now exit the Mosque and reclaim our belongings, then we head up some steps and pass under an archway into the area of the Dome. There we must again remove our shoes and leave our belongings before entering.

The Dome of the Rock, unlike mosques that are always directed towards Mecca, has eight sides that symbolically face out in every direction. It is suggested that the Dome draws attention to heaven. In the center of the building, under the dome, is, of course, the rock that Mohammed dreamed about.

While on Mount Moriah we also talked about the Jewish temples, more specifically the possible location of the Holy of Holies. There are numerous domes and cupolas on the Temple Mount, and a little bit north of the Dome of the Rock is a very small dome called the Dome of the Tablets, it is built over a small section of bedrock. Recent archaeological studies suggest that this could have been the site of the alter of Holy of Holies in the Israelite temple. Theoretically, then, it would be possible to rebuild the temple on this spot without disturbing the Dome of the Rock, and there are prophecies which suggest that the temple will be rebuilt.

According to the Bible and to Jewish customs, there was a temple ceremony involving the sacrifice of a red calf (see Numbers 19:2-10). An unblemished, first born red calf was led from the temple out through the Gate Beautiful and up the Mount of Olives. It was then sacrificed high enough to be over the temple but also in-line with the the Gate Beautiful and still northward of the alter of Holy of Holies. When one stands today on the Mount of Olives they can line up the Gate Beautiful with the Dome of the Tablets.
Additionally, it was on the Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus bled from every poor, and according to prophecy Jesus will reappear in the last days on the Mount of Olives wearing red. He will then pass through the Gate Beautiful and up to the temple.

The question, then, is if the current Gate Beautiful is in the same spot as the original gate. One day some years ago, an archaeologist, Dr. James Flemming, was photographing the Gate Beautiful from a spot directly in front. As he was moving around he fell through a grave. When the Turks occupied Palestine they put graves in front of the Gate beautiful believing that this would discourage the Messiah from entering the temple area since Jewish priests are not allowed to walk where the dead are buried. Anyway, After falling through a grave, Dr. Flemming found himself in a large grave room, and he could see that the wall directly underneath today's gate had once been a gate as well. It had been filled in as a foundation for the newer gate above.

At this point we left the Old City, again through the Dung Gate, and our bus took us to the Israel Museum. Here we spent several hours, or so it seemed, looking at artifacts of Jewish worship and from thousands of years of history. The museum has its own web site for those interested.

After lunch at the museum we visited the Shrine of the Book, on the same campus, where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed in cases where the humidity, temperature, and light are controlled.

After this we ventured out of Greater Jerusalem down the Bab El Wad canyon. During the 1948 War of Independence the Arabs had blocked this canyon as part of the siege of Jerusalem. The Israelis built a rather precarious route through another nearby canyon. The media was quick to dub it the "Burma Road." American volunteer Mickey Markus engineered the road and was then accidentally killed on the day of its completion. Later a motion picture, Cast A Giant Shadow, was made about the "Burma Road."  I found this movie on DVD a few years ago; it's very good, with Kirk Douglas in the starring role.

We stopped at Bet Shemesh where much of the Samson episode took place. From there it was over to the Valley of Elah where David slew Goliath. We all tried to throw rocks with the type of sling David used. Many rocks went behind us instead of ahead.

We stopped again, on the way back to Jerusalem up another canyon, at the site of an excavation. Our guide uncovered an ancient tile floor below the sand. After that we replaced the sand so that another group could "find" the tile. It is a major Federal crime in Israel, with severe consequences, for anyone to vandalize or destroy a historical or archaeological site.

Once back in Jerusalem we stopped at the National Diamond Center for a brief tour and some free samples. At that the day was done.

Unsolicited Advice

While serving in my first area on my LDS mission, I experienced some adversity with my companions and an area where the work was extremely slow. Feeling a need for some encouragement, I wrote some letters to friends back home. One friend wrote back, but it was not the kind of letter I was hoping for. My friend wrote that she wanted to be helpful but that she felt she had to be honest -- clearly, she also felt that I needed to understand a few things. I had wanted some kind words, instead I received some unsolicited advice.

It can be easy to find fault and weakness in others, and when they ask for our help, it may seem like a good idea to inform them of our findings. There may be cases where this is appropriate, especially if the individual asks for complete, brutal honesty, but in most cases we may do more harm than good, despite our best intentions. We may do well to remember the words of the hymn:

Should you feel inclined to censure
Faults you may in others view,
Ask your own heart, ere you venture,
If you have not failings, too.
Let not friendly vows be broken;
Rather strive a friend to gain.
Many words in anger spoken
Find their passage home again.

My intent here is not to criticize my friend; maybe she did not need to write some of the things that she did, but I did not have to internalize them in the way that I did.

I felt, at the time, that her letter was the slap upside the head that I needed, and over the next few years, any time I felt I needed another head slap, I would pull out that letter. That was my mistake, and it served to magnify some of the feelings I had in high school about my friends. They were cool, they were special, and I was anything but those things. I was quiet, plain, even socially inept -- so I thought -- and I had other weaknesses.

When I was young I felt that I did not fit in anywhere. At school I was the kid everyone, it seemed, made fun off, and this spilled over to the neighborhood I lived in and to the ward I attended. Additionally, I felt at times that I did not fit in my own family because I seemed to be so different from my three brothers. To this day I much prefer to interact with women instead of men; I was never one of the guys, and never knew how to be.

I made a lot of friends in high school, but most of them lived in other parts of town -- a large gully literally separated my part of town from theirs -- and had gone to different elementary and junior high schools. At first I was happy to bask in the light of my new friends, but eventually it seemed that my quiet nature was keeping me separate from them. I wondered how I fit in, or if I did at all. Even today there are times when I feel that I do not fit in anywhere.

I am still quiet and still an introvert. I value my alone time; I can spend hours just reading a book, or walking around taking photographs. But there are times when I desperately want to be around other people, and there just isn't anyone to be around. Still other times I am with people and I just can't think of anything to say; it gets awkward and I start thinking that I am better off just being alone. It's a vicious circle, and it leaves me feeling even more isolated and alone.

A song I have been listening to recently is about dealing with unsolicited advice:

You've got opinions, man
We're all entitled to 'em, but I never asked
So let me thank you for your time,
And try not to waste anymore of mine. . . .
I hate to break it to you babe, but I'm not drowning
There's no one here to save
Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me. . . .
Who died and made you king of anything?

But then there is this:

All my life I've tried to make everybody happy
While I just hurt and hide
Waiting for someone to tell me it's my turn to decide

I don't think that I have tried to make people happy, simply because I never thought I could. I was no one, an outcast, what could I do? Meanwhile, there have certainly been times that I have gone deep and run silent. Now I am beginning to realize that I have been waiting for someone to tell me that it is okay for me to just be myself.

I learned a lot on my mission -- it was a university of life -- and when I came home I wanted show my friends that I had changed. Instead, I found myself being unsure of how to act around my friends, afraid of being the same socially inept kid I perceived myself to be in high school. I was afraid to simply be myself because, whoever that was, had been so deeply flawed.

A few years ago, the friend who had written the letter with the unsolicited advice joined a social media website, and when I reached out, she blocked me. As hard as that was, it did serve one purpose in showing me that at least some of my friends were not quite as special as I thought they were. In realizing that, it allowed me to also discover that there had been something special about me. I finally took all my friends down from the pedestals I had placed them on.

Only then could I truly understand that God did not just give weaknesses to me, but to everyone. He gives us weaknesses that we might be humble, and if we humble ourselves before him and exercise faith in him, he will make weak things become strong, because his grace is sufficient. Yes, I had weaknesses -- I still do -- but so did my friends, and if, with their weaknesses, they could be special, then so could I.

Ironically, my friend's letter so long ago also contained some of the best advice I ever received, and this is a good place to remember it: Everyone has down times, everyone experiences feelings of inadequacy, but we are the master of our own soul. We have the power to choose how we feel, and we should choose to be confident instead of discouraged.

Finally, it is my turn to decide: I am not a nobody, I am a child of God. I may be quiet, but I have other talents and friends who appreciate them. I forgive my friend for her unsolicited advice, and for cutting me out of her life. Someday we may reconcile, but it does not need to be today. As noted, I have other friends.

Do not, then, in idle pleasure
Trifle with a brother’s fame;
Guard it as a valued treasure,
Sacred as your own good name.
Do not form opinions blindly;
Hastiness to trouble tends;
Those of whom we thought unkindly
Oft become our warmest friends.

Song lyrics: King of Anything, Sara Bareilles
Hymn: #235 Should You Feel Inclined to Censure