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- [00:03]
A
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Follow Him Favorites this is where John and I are sharing a single story to go with each week's lesson. John, we're in Mormon 7, 8 and 9 this week. There's this point where Moroni, who's now writing because Mormon his father is, passed away. He's writing to us and he says something that's a little harsh. He says, you love money, you love your substance, your clothes, more than you love the poor more than you love the needy, the sick and the afflicted. And then he says, you adorn yourselves with that which hath no life. Yet you let the hungry, the needy, the naked, the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and you don't even notice. I have a story for you, John. I want to hear what you think. Now, I need to give a couple of disclaimers as we go, so watch out for those. A couple of years ago, I won't give the man's name. He was a bishop for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and he decided to do something really different for Sacrament meeting. Now, I need to say, John, that since that time, the church has said, please don't do things like this. So I don't want anyone out there to go, oh, I want to try that. No, no, don't do that. He wasn't breaking any rules on purpose. The bishop decided to get up early, go to a makeup artist and look like a real homeless person before church. Then he sat right outside the front doors of the church as his ward was coming in. I don't want anyone out there to think, oh, I'm going to do this. But he did learn quite a bit, and I think the ward learned quite a bit. He said, as my ward was coming in, many went out of their way to purposely ignore me. He said, some gave me an apple crackers or a $20 bill. He said, I was most impressed with the children. They definitely were eager to want to reach out and help in some way. He was told by several members of his ward to leave the property. I had one person who went out of his way to tell me this was not a place to ask for charity and that I was not welcome. Now, John, the second counselor in the ward, was in on this. He told him, I'm going to be this person. So after the meeting starts, the bishop, who's the homeless man, he walked to the front of the chapel, sat close to the front and listened. And the counselor, the second counselor is the one giving the talk. He started kind of whispering or talking to the second counselor from the row that he's at, which is kind of out of the ordinary. And he said, can I say something? The second counselor, not realizing that this might give it away. John. He said, brothers and sisters, this homeless man would like to say a few words. There was some odd looks, some silence, and the bishop walked to the stand. He said he wanted to thank the people for all the kindness they showed. He had some money that he had received and he would like to give a portion of it back as a token of appreciation. He asked, where's the bishop? I would like to give the money to him. But no one spoke. And the homeless man started to take off his wig and glasses to show that he was, in fact, the bishop. This is what he said. It had a shock value I did not anticipate. He said, I did not have any idea. The MORD members would gasp as they did. He said some attendees started crying, others said nothing. Many came forward to apologize for their indifference to the bishop, announcing they would do things to atone for their actions. He said, I felt horrible that they felt so horrible. But he said the experiment was more potent than a sermon he could have given. This was the interesting part. This is what he said. There was an unexpected lesson for me. We don't have to give money or food. And John, I know that's kind of discouraged. To give money?
- [04:07]
B
Yeah. The principle is commodities over cash, right?
- [04:12]
A
Yeah. There's organizations you can give your money to and really help. He said, we don't always have to give money or food, but if we really believe what we say. But we believe, shouldn't we smile, make eye contact, and allow them to have a little bit of human dignity? Now, again, John, please, nobody go do that. It's not something the church would have you do. And he wasn't breaking any rules. It wasn't a rule until then. I just like the lesson. Do we walk by with our AirPods in? Do we walk by people who need us and we don't even notice?
- [04:46]
B
That's one of those real stories that causes you to introspect with a what would I do?
- [04:52]
A
We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We're with Dr. Sheldon Martin this week. He has some wonderful insights from his background that you're going to love. And then come back here next week we'll do another Follow him favorites.