The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a letter yesterday directing that all Church gatherings, including Sacrament meeting and activities, be suspended worldwide until further notice due to COVID-19, the betacoronavirus causing the pandemic right now. I taught a lesson just last week at church. I partook of Sacrament last week for what may be the last time in months (unknowingly, of course). Spring 2020 General Conference was to be the Bicentennial celebration of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s vision in the Sacred Grove. The Church, under the inspired leadership of the Prophet Russell M. Nelson, began a home-centered, Church-supported study model called Come Follow Me. It was and is to emphasize deeper conversion unto Jesus Christ through personal study individually and outside or independent of church services themselves, should the time come when we would not be able to gather together to worship. Prophetically, that time has come. Who would have thought that it would have been due to the spread of disease instead of religious persecution or war or something of that nature? I certainly didn’t! Perhaps this is a test run for those types of things to come, but I must say that the Church was indeed warned and prepared by Heavenly Father to weather this storm. I am not one bit worried, to be honest. It is historic in nature, however it is not scary to me. These things have been prophesied, and are coming to pass before our very eyes. Time to believe, I’d say!
Photo courtesy of Bellevue Press, copyright 2020.
CLIMBING 4 THE REST OF US 