| Missionary ltr#1
(My Conversion) Let me start by sharing with you a little about my conversion to the church. I should begin with a decision I made in high school that there was no God. I looked, from a purely logical point of view, at the many diverse belief systems that have in the past existed and do now exist among men and concluded that they couldn't all be correct therefore none of them were correct. I believed that God, (or the gods), and the belief systems built around them were merely ". . . the effect of a frenzied mind; . . ." seeking for reasons where none existed, for answers to questions that had no logical answer. I became a staunch atheist. After going through a few years of traumatic experiences at home I ended up joining the Marine Corps at age 17 to avoid being sent to the local reform school. In boot camp, which was in San Diego , CA, in June (hot!), on Sundays we had 2 options; we could remain in the company area polishing our boots, cleaning up the area, sweltering in the 110° sun or we could spend 3 to 4 hours attending church in an air conditioned chapel there on the base. I have always been a practical person. Since there was nothing to religion there was no harm in sitting in a cool place for a few hours every Sunday. I signed up as a Presbyterian, since their service was one of the longest and was held in the afternoon, when it was the hottest outside. About the 3rd week they had a group of youth singers that came in and poured out there hearts through song. They sung of their love and devotion to the Savior and of his sacrifice for us on the cross. I felt the Spirit for the first time. I went up on the alter call and accepted the Lord as my personal Savior. I was converted to the Lord, I was born again. (At least according to the sermon that followed.) I began trying to read the bible and learn more. I actually paid attention in the church meetings each week. My beliefs about the differing teachings from church to church, even within the BACs (Born Again Christians) kept me from attaching myself to any one church or system of beliefs other than my belief in the Savior. I sought for answers in the bible. I went "inactive" fairly quickly, military life being what it is. Being transferred from place to place, being ridiculed for an interest in religion, I quickly learned to keep quiet and put my studies on the back burner. I knew in my heart that Jesus Christ was a real being, the Son of God and that the bible was his word, but I had no idea where to go from there. I was transferred to various training and duty stations and eventually completed my tour of duty and was honorably discharged. I still had a testimony of Jesus Christ but no direction in my life. (In hindsight I look with wonder on the course of my life that lead me through each step, at the right time and with just the right preparation. I had never heard of the Mormons, and that was important because I hadn't formed any opinions about them. Once I make up my mind about something, only an act of God can shake me lose, and sometimes I have to be shaken more than once.) When I got out of the service I went to Ontario, OR where my father and his half of the family live. I ran into a girl I had known for years and we began talking about religion. She had gone to live with an aunt in Salt Lake City and had almost been converted to Mormonism until she heard that Joseph Smith had seen God. She recalled having read that no man could see God and live. I also recalled the having read that, although, curiously, neither of us could find it. (Ex 33:20, 1 Jn 4:12) Together we embarked upon a search to find that scripture so we could prove, by the bible that the Mormon beliefs weren1t true. I really didn't know anything more about the Mormon beliefs. At this same time I was also trying to find a piece of property I could buy as I had saved up several thousand dollars while in the service and I wanted a little piece of earth to call my own. I went from one Real Estate office to the next. (There were only 2 in Ontario at the time and they were almost right next door to one another.) In the second one I told the broker what I was looking for and he taught me a little about land and informed me gently that what I wanted was not in the price range I had hoped to find. He then gently steered the conversation over to religion and I quickly found out he was a Mormon. I immediately pointed out his beliefs couldn't be true because the scriptures say that no man can see God and live. He brought his scriptures out of his desk and pointed out about a half a dozen examples of men who had seen God and lived, including a group of several hundred of the Elders of Israel at one time. I was shaken. I said something to the effect that he clearly had a greater familiarity with the scriptures and I would need to do some study to rebut his argument. He said he was too busy with work to carry on an ongoing debate but that if I could come by his home that evening he would introduce me to a couple of young men who could give me more information about the Mormon beliefs, answer all my questions and spend the time I desired debating the issue. Boy he really saw me coming. I showed up that evening at the appointed time and received the first discussion. They gave me a BOM and challenged me to read it. Then they made their fatal error. They promised me that if I would read it and ask God with a sincere desire to know the truth that God would reveal the truth of it to me so that I would have no doubt. I figured I had them over a barrel. All I had to do was do everything they asked me to do and if I didn't get the results, then it was all a bunch of hooey and I could dismiss it. I read the BOM, the brochures, and devoured all eight discussions in just 2 1/2 weeks. Everything they told me made perfect sense. It all fit together with a level of perfection that screamed of divine guidance. I began to want it to be true. But God appearing to man and setting up his church here on the earth, in person, was so earth shatteringly important that I had to be absolutely sure. I wasn't going to just accept warm feelings and little promptings. I had to KNOW! My poor missionaries. First they thought they had THEE golden contact of their missions. I wanted them there every day to teach me more. I read everything they asked me to read and more. I did every assignment they gave me and went beyond. I knew all the answers to the questions raised in the discussions. I had eliminated the things in my life that were contrary to the gospel and was attending church. I prayed frequently and fervently. But I wasn't getting the answer I wanted. They gave me a special Priesthood blessing that I would receive an answer and after a week, still no answer. (I say no answer, but in retrospect I realize I was getting answers every time I asked, it just wasn't the earth shaking, absolutely final, end all answer I felt I had to have.) They had about given up. I truly believe I was shaking their faith because everything was going right except the most important part. Then, in my studies I learned more about fasting. I decided I had to know so I was going to fast until I got an answer. I sequestered myself in my little apartment and did nothing but study, ponder and pray for 3 days. In the early evening of the third day I got the answer I was seeking (and a little bit of chastisement for being so stubborn.) I arose from my knees and called the missionaries to tell them I wanted to be baptised immediately. Kar-thump, crash, bangity. After his companion brought him around he picked up the receiver and asked me what I had said to him. I repeated my request and heard the phone hit the floor again. (I must admit I am embellishing slightly here, but you get the general idea.) I have had innumerable additional special experiences since then confirming the truth and reality of the experience I had that July evening, many years ago, some of which I hope to share with you in future letters. But that experience was so profound that I believe that it could have carried me through my whole life without any further experiences. I believe that the greater the desire to know, the greater the testimony will be when we seek for it. I have a firm and absolute testimony that God lives, that He hears and answers our prayers and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. And I share this with you in His holy name, even Jesus Christ. Amen. |
| Missionary ltr #2:
(Prayer) My own conversion to the gospel gave me a strong testimony of the basic tenets of the church. In addition to the testimony I have that the church is true I also have a powerful testimony regarding the prayer and the active role the Lord plays in our lives. Let me take you back a few years to when my first born son, Gerry, was three. He began throwing up for no apparent reason. He walked with a list to one side. We took him to doctors and hospitals and got no answers. Then a pediatric specialist identified a fast growing brain tumor. Gerry was scheduled for surgery that night. There were many complications resulting from the removal of a tumor that the doctor described as being the size of a softball. Radiation and chemo-therapy followed, with a very small chance of recover forecast. When he first went into the hospital he would scream and cry and beg them not to stick any more needles in him, not to hurt him. But the nurses and doctors had to. Not being able to stand the pain or to have any effect on his environment he withdrew and became catatonic. The experience was devastating for my ex-wife and I as you can well imagine. He spent almost 3 months in intensive care following the initial surgery. The trauma to his surviving brain was enormous. I was forced to resign from my job because I couldn't commit to work. Gerry would stabilize, I would go back to work and my ex-wife would call me mid shift and tell me his heart had stopped again and I better get down there right away. Finally after a very trying night of Gerrys heart stopping and massive efforts being made to revive him, after they had him stabilized again I sought for a private place in an unused part of the hospital and knelt in prayer. I had had the impression, as Gerry was being given a blessing by the Bishop earlier that day that Gerrys time on earth was over and our fervent prayers for him to recover were hindering his return home to his Heavenly Father. But we weren't emotionally ready to let him go. So I asked my Father if he would heal Gerry and let him come home for a while. I asked to be able to see my son playing, happy and normal again so that we could remember the happy Gerry instead of the little bundle of love that had been tortured into a catatonic state. I asked that when he went that it would be quickly and with virtually no pain. From that day he began to mend. There was more medical treatments but in another month he was able to come home. It took another month at home before he began to even respond. As time progressed he got healthier and began to come out of the shell into which he had gone. After three months he was a happy, healthy, (for the most part) normal kid again. He was still undergoing powerful chemotherapy that was given in courses. For one week he would go in once a day and receive the treatment. For the next week he was without immune response and a little sick, then he had two more weeks to recover before the next course began. During one of the courses, while his immune response was repressed he developed a little sniffle at bed time. By morning it was a serious case of pneumonia and we rushed him to the hospital. The doctors came out to us in a couple of hours later to inform us that he had died of an infection to the lungs that spread too rapidly for them to counteract. Heavenly Father graciously had granted exactly what I had asked for. I continue to see Heavenly Fathers hand in my life on a daily basis. I have learned that He listens and provides a way for us to receive all that we ask of Him that is for our good. Another example I feel demonstrates just how small a thing can reach his attention and result in miraculous action occurred when I was involved in a ward service project to do fall clean up of the yards of some elderly people in our community. I was with a group of about 10 other ward members, mostly youth, raking and bagging leaves and trimming bushes and bagging up the debris. I was the only one there with a watch on so everyone kept asking me what time it was. As the time for us to go back to the chapel for goodies approached and the work wasn't getting done we all worked furiously to get all the debris bagged and loaded on the truck that was to haul it to the dump. When we arrived at the church and I went in to wash up I realized I had lost my watch. I drove back to the yard and went over it very thoroughly for almost an hour, missing out on the snacks that had been prepared. That watch had been the most accurate and reliable watch I had ever owned and it meant a lot to me. I went home saddened by the loss. I prayed that night for it's return. I knew it was impossible, but I really liked that watch. I was in a bathrobe, with big pockets and when I arose I reached into one of the pockets to take out a handkerchief, and there, in my pocket, was my missing watch. As I review mentally the things I have sought for in prayer and compare them to the things that have come into my life I find that even the things I sought that perhaps were not the wisest things to ask for I have received. Things don't always come instantly, like the watch, but if I really want them, and fervently pray for them, they come to pass. In many of the answers to prayer I have seen how carefully the Lord prepared the way for the thing to come to pass, right when I asked for it. For instance a while back I was out of work and the bills were piling up fast. I began to get depressed at my inability to come up with enough money fast enough. In desperation I prayed in earnest for relief. The next day in the mail came a check for several thousand dollars, an unanticipated early disbursement from my late grandmothers estate. He knew before hand what I needed and when I was going to call on him for help. (It is amazing how He does this stuff.) I also remember asking for help in building my network marketing business. I was deliberately avoiding contacting members of the church because I had a negative experience in the past with a ward member in some business dealings that left me in a very precarious position financially. Yet when I prayed for people to come to me that needed and wanted what I had to offer, it was members of the church that started asking questions and getting interested. I often see members of the church, frequently unknowingly, fulfilling an answer to someones prayer. One more quick account of an experience I had several years ago. At the time I was living in a in the country outside of a small town 20 miles the other side of Rainier and working in SW Portland. When I got off work it was a 2 hour drive to my house. I was zooming for home and dinner when I observed 2 young men on the other side of the road hitch hiking to Portland, the opposite way I was going. The spirit came strongly to me to go back, pick them up and take them where ever they needed to go. I responded and did as I had been prompted. The road was fairly deserted and so they knew I had turned around to pick them up. I asked them where they needed to go and they indicated that they were planning to attend a religious seminar at a bible college in SE Portland. The meeting was going to start in about 30 minutes and they knew they weren't going to make it. I asked them if they had been praying for a ride. They looked at each other in amazement and one of them responded that they had gotten up off their knees from doing so just before I came into view. I told them about the prompting I had received and proceeded to get them to their destination with time to spare. I talked with them about the Lord, the church and and the power of prayer all the way there. I may never know the outcome of that experience, but it strongly re-enforced my faith in the Lord, in the power of prayer and in His guiding hand in our lives. I know from these and many, many other experiences that God listens to us when we pray and prepares the way for us to receive the things we desire as we strive to serve him faithfully and keep his commandments. |
| Missionary ltr #3:
(Promptings) I'd like to share with you in this letter some of my experiences with the promptings of the Spirit. I have, since joining the church, sought to better understand and learn to consistently recognize the promptings of the Spirit. And then to heed them. It has been a slow process for me because I have in the past tended to focus on the intellectual more and feelings less. Despite this, the Lord has used many means to teach and guide me in my life. (I have found that often I study a concept and hear it in lessons in church meetings but fail to grasp it at the heart level until I see it in something outside the church. Sometimes I've had to bump my head on a principle pretty hard before it got through.) For me promptings fall into 4 general categories: 1. Immediate answer to/during prayer in the 3 forms; Burning, Stupor, Internal voice or image. The burning feeling of the spirit is probably the most common and the most talked about prompting of the Spirit. I have learned that this feeling is always accompanied by a feeling of peace and love. In marital arts study I learned to consciously stimulate the production of endorphines (powerful pain killers produced in the brain when we are injured. This produces a physical feeling nearly identical to the feeling of burning. The accompanying feelings of peace and love are what I now use to determine the source of the feeling. Burning is felt anytime truth is being conveyed from one person to another by the Spirit. I believe that it is a "heart to heart" connection made by the Spirit. When asking if a course of action I have chosen is correct I almost always get burning or stupor. (Actually there is a another answer, sort of. Its nothing, not a stupor of thought, but nothing. I have learned from experience that when I get the "nothing" response, it is a matter of no consequence, I.e. it doesn't matter if I do or don't do what I'm asking for help in deciding.) The stupor is really a fascinating form of inspiration. It took me a long time to let go of thoughts and allow them to be forgotten and wiped from my mind as part of the inspiration process. Early in my church experiences I would ask if I had made the right decision, forget what I had been praying about and then spend the next several minutes dragging it out of my memory so I could ask again. 2. Answer to prayers at unexpected moments which can take too many forms to delineate. Probably the most common for me is to be reading or pondering and receive a a flash of insight that answers some challenge I have been praying about. I have come to find that whatever I ask for I get, usually in pretty short order. I have learned to recognize a particular prompting I get frequently to go shopping at the local thrift stores. Every time I have heeded that prompting I have found some item that I had been wanting, but couldn't fit in the current budget, at a price that could only come as a result of paying ones tithing. I have had powerful spiritual experiences that I didn't understand until some time later when some little thing in the course of living would open the floodgates of understanding. These feelings sometime are accompanied by visualizations. A good example occurred concerning the drain in my bathroom sink which was non-functional when I moved in. According to the owner a snake had been run down it to no avail. I had tried plunging with no success. It would drain, but at a rate of a quart a day. I had given up on it, figuring it would get fixed when we replumbed the apartment. One morning, out of the blue I had a little flash of inspiration in which I visualized a small clot of hair in the gooseneck. Heeding the prompting I removed the gooseneck and found that in the pipe just beyond the gooseneck, which ran parallel to the floor several inches, there was a buildup of what appeared to be toothpaste filling over 3/4s of that little section of the drain pipe. It took two minutes to clear out and now the drain runs free. I never would have thought to remove the gooseneck if it hadn't been for that flash. I have had many similar flashes that solved problems that I believed were not solvable at the time. Many times answers to prayers come through the actions of others. Even animals can be instruments in the hands of the Lord to answer prayer. I was once able to get into visit an inactive family because their dog, normally very unfriendly, took an immediate liking to me which impressed the man that I was a good person, as he believed his dog could tell instinctively what kind of person you were. 3. Unexpected promptings/warnings/protection which almost always falls into 3 categories; Voice, Physical, Strong feelings of foreboding, anxiety or danger. The voice, whether internal or audible, almost always repeated because we don't listen the first time. I have had many experiences when I have felt physical or nearly physical contact. I watched my 14 month old son fall toward the corner of a table and at the moment before he would have gotten a serious dent in his face his head was pushed aside so that he missed the table entirely. I have felt a hand push my head down and moments later saw that if I had remained upright a board sticking out of the bed of a pickup, passing me at 70mph, would have clobbered me, probably fatally. I have also learned to recognize a tense feeling in the pit of my stomach to be a warning that I'm about to do something really stupid. As a parent I have felt a sense of foreboding about activities my kids were involved in and when not heeded they got hurt or had bad experiences. I learned real quick to put my foot down when I have had those feelings. 4. Insight/inspiration/revelation which almost always comes while reading, pondering or praying. This is the area I most enjoy. I have heard it said that all the scriptures we have today came as a result of a prophet reading, pondering and praying about the scriptures they had available to them. I have sought, as the Lord commands us, for revelation. (James 1:5, D&C 82:4, TG:Seek) This can be a dream, a vision, a visit from an angel or simple understanding that is on that "heart to heart" conduit from the Spirit. Heeding the promptings we receive can be as great a challenge to the spiritual novice as recognizing them is. I believe that many experiences we have are given to us so we can learn to recognize and heed the promptings of the Spirit. In 2 Nephi 28:30 and more especially in D&C 98:11-14 the Lord implies that we receive more as we give heed to that which we have already received. In D&C 89:18-19 The Lord states clearly that if we keep His sayings we will find hidden treasures of knowledge. I believe that as we more perfectly follow the promptings of the Spirit, we will receive more and greater promptings. A lesson of life I have learned that parallels this idea is that when we master a truth or concept we get to move on to the next lesson. Unfortunately for most of us when we have good experiences we tend to celebrate. When we have negative experiences we tend to ponder. I would like to suggest getting in the habit of pondering all experiences, both good and negative. The quicker we learn the lessons the Lord has for us the better off we will be. |
| Missionary ltr #4
(Gratitude) I often hear of missionaries having served in areas where they worked, prayed, cried and pleaded with the Lord and then nothing happened. I also hear of them later having great success in the area where they are currently working. Could this later success be the cumulative response to many, many entreaties? Life has taught me that Gods delays are not Gods denials. Sometimes we struggle and plead for help and when it doesn't come that instant we forget about having asked and then fail to recognize the answer when it arrives. (I'm sure this doesn't apply to you.) Recall, if you will, how much Job suffered before he was blessed with that which he desired. And I quote; Job 42:12 &16 "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: . . .After this Job lived an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons, sons, even four generations." Surely you have also read D&C 58:4. I have found that one of the things that brings the greatest abundance of blessings into my life is to be profoundly grateful for those things which I have already received. To me it is an exercise of faith to accept all that is clearly good, or even might be good as coming from my Father. Every trial I have experienced has profited me either in blessings or learning (which is a blessing, really). I have come to accept that as long as I strive with a sincere heart to do the best I am able, the Lord takes care of the rest. An example of this can be found in the following experience: As Michelle, my oldest daughter, advanced ahead of her classmates to the point that she was academically ready for college at 14 I had to come up with a way to pay for it. I have struggled financially most my life. Coming up with an extra $4000-$5000 a year for her to attend PCC was an enormous hurtle, especially since the most I had earned in a year at that point was $8,000. Since she was only 14 at the time she was not even considered for any of the scholarships we could ferret out. I had faithfully paid my tithing, and was doing everything I knew how to do so I felt confident asking the Lord for help. I came up with the idea of contacting friends and family members and asking them if they would sponsor her for just one credit a quarter ($29, at the time). We put together a letter asking for help which was sent to several people I believed were in a financial position to help if they were so inclined and within a couple of weeks Michelle had enough to take her first two classes (5 credits worth). Most of those who chose to support her sent more than one credit's worth and over the next 3 years, as she earned her Associates Degree, she accumulated enough of an excess to help her with her first semester at BYU. (She started there in the fall of '94, as a Junior at the ripe old age of 17!) Needless to say I'm a very proud father. She's planning her mission after she receives her Bachelors Degree. The point here is that our Father in Heaven provides from the abundance of the earth and from the bounty of the hearts of others for those things which we desire, if we serve Him with all our hearts and do the best we can with what we have. The principle of gratitude is one I have spent considerable time pondering. I was fortunate to realize fairly early in life that others received as much joy from helping and giving as I did and that in order for a person to be able to give there had to be someone to receive. I have many, many times received help from others that was not needed or even really welcome which I have always tried to graciously accept and show (and feel) gratitude for. The Savior demonstrated on several occasions acceptance of a gift or act of service with deep respect for the heartfelt purpose of the giver, regardless of the real need of the gift. (Matthew 26:6-13, Luke 7:36-50, Mark 12:41-44.) Gratitude, like most of the principles of the gospel, applies as much to our interactions with each other as it does in our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Those who display sincere appreciation for the things we do tend to receive more and greater things while those who treat our service and gifts with disdain tend to not receive them any more. |
| Missionary ltr #5
(Love) This time I'd like to share a few thoughts on what I have come to believe is the single most critical factor in our personal spiritual growth. (The following is the gospel according to Mark {Sr.}) Have you ever wondered how Jesus, his Apostles, the prophets and faithful priesthood holders are able to instantly heal people and perform miracles that defy the laws of nature as we understand them? I believe that all matter has intelligence and spirit. I believe that matter voluntarily conforms to the laws God has organized for this earth by choice and that matter can defy what we consider to be physical laws if it chooses to do so. I believe that it is out of love for Him that the elements conform both to his laws and requests. Accepting these premises I asked myself why would all this matter love Him so much as to obey him so perfectly? What must I do to become like Him? To me the answer comes back resoundingly I must learn to love others, indeed love everything, as He does. In 1 Jn 4:19 it puts it very plainly that "We love him, because He first loved us." 1st John says a lot about this love. In 1 Jn 2:5 we read "But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: . . ." This lends greater depth to Jn 14:15/D&C 42:29. Tie these together with Mor 7:47-48 and you have begun to scratch the surface of the importance of developing a perfect love. I often sit and try to comprehend what it would be like just to love everyone. I mean truly love them enough to sacrifice my life for them, regardless of what they did or if they even cared. To go beyond that to loving every thing with that same love is beyond my capacity to grasp at present. (I get head pains just trying to fathom our Fathers love for us.) Yet it is clear that without developing or receiving the gift of this love we are nothing. I suspect that missionary work is an opportunity to experience that love on a level we almost cannot experience anywhere else in life. Knowing that He loves us and experiencing that love first hand is the deepest motivating factor in the world. It is what drives the elements themselves to do His will and it is what draws us to Him and gives us the desire to keep His commandments. If all truth can be tied together in a single concept, that concept would have to be love. Parenthood also gives us an opportunity to experience a great level of love and, for me, has been a great source of understanding my relationship with my Father in Heaven and how he feels about me. Although I cannot claim to have very loving parents here on earth I have found in my experiences with my own children feelings of love, acceptance, concern and joy that I believe are cloudy foreshadowings of the feelings of love we will experience in the Celestial realms I don't have an exact figure, but I believe that love is the single most repeated theme in the scriptures. It is linked to every commandment. Think about the first and great commandment and the second, which is like unto the first. On these two laws hang ALL the law and the prophets. But how are we to develop this great love? I believe that it is partially a gift from God that is received as a result of keeping His commandments and asking for the gift, (Jn 14:15, D&C 50:29, Mor 7:48) and partially something we must strive to develop within ourselves, (Matthew 5:44, 46, Romans 12:10, Ephesians 4:2, Ephesians 5:25, 28, 1 Peter 3:8, etc. . .) I also believe that charity, once received, it carries with it great responsibility, which is why so few receive it fully in this life. I also believe that in its fullness it is bestowed on us in person from the Savior and is the final step in our purification. (3 Ne 19:15-30) |
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Missionary ltr #6 (Personal Integrity) I'd like to ask you in this letter to
consider in your heart the following question: "Do I keep
my covenants?" [References] *2 - Jeremiah 35:13 - 14 *3 - Ezekiel 37:13 - 14 *4 - 2 Chronicles 6:10 *5 - Jeremiah 34:17-20 *6 - Ezekiel 17:24 *7 - Ezekiel 22:14 *8 - Ezekiel 24:14 *9 - D&C 1:38 *10 - 1 Samuel 15:22 *11 - Esther 6:1-3 |
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Missionary ltr #7 (Keeping the Sabbath day holy) Since joining the church every time
in my life when I have struggled to break free of the influences
of the world, D&C 59:9-14 comes to my mind and putting it's
principle into practice has brought me the freedom I was seeking.
Throughout the scriptures we can find commandments linked to
promised blessings, and the Lord always keeps his promises.
The blessings attached to keeping the Sabbath day holy, in conjunction
with keeping the commandments, are profound. And it is important
enough that the Lord has outlined in detail the steps involved
and the blessings that will come in numerous places in scripture.
In the Ten Commandments it is one of two commandments to which
the Lord devoted multiple verses [*2], going into detail explaining
why it is significant and how it should be observed. [References] *2 - Exodus 20: *3 - Exodus 31: *4 - Leviticus 26: 1-13 *5 - Leviticus 26: 14-39 |