Line Upon Line

My brother has a blog at word press and I go there to visit his site to see how things are coming along in his writing. I am rather impressed usually, he does such a great job of teaching the gospel as he understands it and always has such good Bible verses to read attached in them. I had received probably two dozen or so emails from him as he had begun to express his new found love of the Savior in his life and as he has progressed in his own spirituality he has begun to write more and more, a habit that I think is great, and after much nugging , he finally started a blog. I had been reading his blog and realized that there were two I had not read before and to my surprise the one pertaining to knowing whether your going to Heaven when you die struck my intellect, only to find at the end he went from loving people to condemning other religions..... namely mine. I was hurt, really hurt. I know that our doctrinal differences have been a topic for argument in the past but I thought that we were moving beyond that as brothers and I was hoping that my family was finally getting over the fact that the faith I now followed so diligently, that had changed the life of me and my wife, has been one of a positive and uplifting faith and one that definitely was Christian.

I wrote a comment at the end , I do not think he would have the courage to actually post , but it was along the lines of if the Bible states, that the Spirit of God will not dwell in any unclean temple and my Church is not of God, then why do I get promptings from the Holy Ghost and why do I feel the Spirit in church. I went on to say that I know that things are true in my faith and that I know that my salvation is sealed in Heaven contingent upon my faith in the Savior. I also spoke that if God did and does speak to men than there is still revelation on the earth today.

You know I really want to have a good relationship with my family and it makes it hard when they are willing to degrade something that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is true! I have stood in the Holy Temple of God and felt the presence of the Holy Spirit stronger there than any other place I have ever been before.

I had joined the Church after many long months of investigation and when I did join and felt the love that my Savior had for me and He taught me to have that same love for others , I wanted everyone I knew to have it, especially my family. As I have approached each of them over the past few years it has always been the same kind of negativity, but you know I never give up praying that some day their heart will be softened to the Spirit enough and have an opened mind enough to actually hear the Spirit whisper the truth in their hearts. I had prayed for a long time that my Brother would find God, and when He did I rejoiced for gladness that my prayers had been answered only to have him come at me with anti-Mormon material, and you know that was ok because he believed what he felt comfortable with and what my Mom and Dad believed, and he was not looking beyond it either.

So I had worked hard over this past year at looking at others religious beliefs and choosing to be more supportive and by doing so I want the relationship between my Parents and Brother to be good. I know that by expressing my faith and trusting in our understanding Heavenly Father, all things will be made known to those that seek him in this life or the next. I pray for them that won't hear that they hear, and those that choose not to see will see and I pray it is sooner than later , that I might enjoy the gladness of watching them prosper in the rich fruit that only the Savior can provide. I love you Tom,and all that are within the sound of my voice, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.