Open the windows of Heaven

One Saturday night I was right in the middle of prime time. It’s the time when the bars close down, the rates go up and we make the most money. This starts about 1 o’clock and at about 12:55 I got a ride to pick up a young man.

I pulled up and he came out and got in my car. We started on our way. I was playing Christmas music and I told him that I love to play Christmas music. I told him some people don’t like Christmas music and they give you bad ratings for playing it.

He asked why they would give you bad ratings and I said that they say that they give bad ratings because they hate Christians. He was appalled. He couldn’t believe that someone would be like that.

I told him that people today have no shame. I said the people who are trying to destroy our culture and our religions will shame other people, but the prevailing wisdom in society right now is that shame is bad and shame is evil especially when directed at people who are destructive. I told him that I believe that shame is the guard rail of our society. When you bump up against those guard rails, you know not to go any further and you need to correct yourself.

He said, that’s profound. He said, so many people these days aren’t ashamed at all to do the wrong things and hurt good people by shaming them and destroying them if they don’t follow the narrative.

I find many times that members of the church don’t understand that a large number of people in our society these days are very passionately and virulently anti-Christian to the extent that they find it hard to be civil.

He was angry and he asked me if I was Christian? I said 100% Christian. I said, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In a subdued voice he said, so you are a Mormon and I said absolutely!

I will say here that with him having said this, I got the spiritual impression that this kid was a member of the church or had relationships with members with the church. I just had that feeling and I felt comfortable calling that out.

As soon as I said those words, he said, I’m Christian too! I was raised Mormon when I was young but we left the church. He said, my mom and dad who are returned missionaries decided that they didn’t believe the church was true and they decided to leave the church. We all left the church based on their choice. He said, I kinda didn’t get a say in the whole thing, period.

He said that they left because his dad and mom really had problems with the way the church administered money and the amount of money that church had. He said, now I think that the church has some major problems and there are some things that I just can’t answer, so I don’t go to any church.

The spirit indicated that there was a lot of confusion and vulnerability in this young man. I felt by the spirit a conflict in that he wanted to do what was right but he felt like he was doing so much wrong and didn’t know how to get out of his spiral.

I asked him point-blank, well, as long as you have some questions that you don’t think there are answers to, why don’t you ask me. He said, all right let’s talk about my dad‘s question. What about all the money? Why does the church have so much money?

I told him that the church counsels all people to be self sufficient and be able to take care of themselves for an extended period of time just in case something bad happenes in the economy. I said that the church is no different. I said that the church has money in businesses, cash and bank accounts sufficient to take care of the church for a prolonged period of time.

I said, this is wise, considering we don’t know what’s going to happen in the world. One thing we do know is that the church could almost certainly take care of its members for an extended period of time, and that might be necessary given a financial worst case scenario in the world.

I said, that’s the answer to the question you asked but that’s not the answer to the question your dad really has. Your dad is upset about paying tithing to a church that already has so much money and doesn’t need his money. He said that it is unethical for the church to ask for money from poor people in tithing.

He said, thats exactly my Dad question! I said, there is something you need to understand about the law tithing. I don’t pay the church for blessings. I don’t pay the church for anything. I give money to the church because that’s how I give it to my Heavenly Father. Tithing is between he and I. The church only collects the money.

I don’t care if they start campfires with it. God tells me that I need to pay tithing and if I do, he will open up the windows of Heaven and bless me. I told him the leaders of the church are who God had authorized to receive that tithing. That’s why I pay tithing and that’s why I pay it to the church.

I told him that the last three years in my life have been very difficult. I told him that my wife and I lost our jobs during Covid. I started driving as a result. I said that many times it was very close for us not having enough money but someone would always come up and ask me for a private ride and give me an extra hundred bucks.

Someone would offer to help me out with money and someone would always bless me so that we always had what we needed.

I told him that I never missed paying my tithing. I always paid my tithing because God commanded me to pay my tithing and he opened the windows of heaven to bless me.

I told him that when I went in for my temple recommended interview, the stake presidency member was shocked when I told him that I had been a full tithe payer all throughout this scenario. His response kind of made me sad. I said I believe we should have strong enough faith to pay our tithing so that we can have strong enough faith to receive blessings that God has in store for us.

I told my rider that it has nothing to do with giving money to the church and everything to do with being faithful to God. He was visibly touched by this explanation and the spirit testified to his heart. He began to be emotional. He said, that’s beautiful.

I said, the problem you have is that you have let your relationship with God deteriorate. He loves you and you love him, you just don’t remember. He remembers who you are and he knows what’s best for you. He loves you.

I told him that he had allowed Satan and other people to diminish God in his eyes. I told him that he had lived with God for thousands of years and that his spirit knew God and wanted to be in his presence.

By this time I could feel the spirit in the car and I asked him if he could tell me what he was feeling. He started to cry and said, I can’t believe what I’m feeling. I’ve never felt anything like this. He said, knowing that God loves me means a lot to me.

I told him that he was feeling the Holy Ghost and that God had sent the Holy Ghost to him so that he would know that the things I was saying were true. He sent his spirit so that he would know what it felt like to be in the presence of God.

He said, I can’t be in the presence of God, I’ve committed way too many sins! He said, I’ve committed horrible sins and I don’t think I could be forgiven. I asked him if he had killed anyone and he said no. I told him, then you’re not too far gone, you can be forgiven!

I told him that God wants us to look to him. He gives us everything we have, including our agency. I told him that when someone uses their agency poorly, either to harm other people or to teach false things God expects us to be his hands and help bind their wounds and lift them up. He tells us that the person to look to is Jesus Christ. This goes for the sinner and those affected by the sinner alike.

I told him that Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane for all the pains, injustices and sins of the world so that we wouldn’t have to suffer for those sins. I said, he’s already suffered for those. Why would you allow yourself to sit here in the car and continue to suffer?

I told him that Satan, on the other hand, tells people to blame God and find faults with his church and its leaders. They alienate themselves from God and turn away from God. I told him that is what his parents had done and that’s what he was doing.

I told him that if he wanted to be clean, he could be clean but he would have to turn to Jesus for that to happen. He would have to use the power of the atonement.

He said, are you sure I can be for forgiven? I said, yes. You have to learn how to do that but your bishop can help you. You should go to church and talk to your Bishop. He said, I don’t think I can do that because I’ve already been baptized and the sins that I have committed completely surpass that.

I said, no, that’s not true because we learn in the scriptures that even if our sins are red, they can be turned white through the atonement of Jesus Christ. He can clean us of our impurities, bind our wounds and bring us home to our father.

I said, what you need to do is read the scriptures, pray often, more than daily and go to church. You need to change and your bishop will help you make that change.

By this time he was in a full on crying situation. He said, so you think God could help me and that he would help me? I said, yes, I know he would. I told him that the fact that I was there tonight was evidence of this. I said that I believe God sent me to give him a ride so I could pass this message along to him. He said, I think you might be an angel. I told him that any shine he saw coming off of me was probably streetlight bouncing off of my balding head but that I was sure God put him in my car and gave me the words to say to him.

He said, the words you said tonight are almost direct answers to the questions that I was thinking while you were saying them. How did you know what to say? How did you know what was in my heart? You hit all of the topics just right. I told him that God sends people, he sends his spirit with them and he whispers his will and his words to the people he sends. I told him that because I said those things he knew they were true and that it came from Bod.

I asked him, do you believe the things I’ve said are true? He said yes.

I asked him if he wanted to go to church and he said yes, I looked up the church that he attends and he said, where is that? I said, let’s go see, I turned off the app so he wouldn’t be charged. Even though we had just reached his destination we left and drove over to his church house so he could see. I said, this is where you come to church. Those are the doors you go in and then you ask for the bishop. He will show you the pathway to get you to this forgiveness that you need.

He said, I want to do this.

He said, I keep coming back to the sins I’ve committed. Are you sure I can be forgiven? I told him that in the Book of Mormon there was a prophet who’s son was going around, trying to destroy the church and destroy the faith people had in God. He was doing all manner of evil and God sent an angel to him and turned his life around.

He repented, came back to God and later became the prophet of the church. I told him that the Book of Mormon is very important because it teaches that God loves everybody not just the people in Jerusalem. It teaches that he is the father of everyone who ever lived no matter where they lived.

As I talked about Alma, the younger, I mentioned specific sins that he and others in the Book of Mormon had committed. Latter these men became prophets or leaders in the church. One they had repented and been forgiven they stood clean before God. I said, this book can teach you how to do what they did.

He said, my doubts tell me that I can’t be clean and that I should wait. I said, those doubts come from Satan. He whispers them in your ears to keep you from doing the things that you need to do. He wants you to suffer, he wants to bring you down and he is a liar. I said never listen to anything a liar says.

I said, in the Book of Mormon those who put Satan aside and followed God received great power and great blessings. If you postpone the day of your repentance, that repentance may not happen at all. If it does happen at a later date, you will miss many of the blessings that you could’ve had like a righteous family or the ability to help others and that would be a tragedy.

I told him that in the Book of Mormon Jesus says that he was going to visit other sheep which weren’t in America and weren’t in Jerusalem because God loves everyone. He said, that feels right.

I asked him if he had ever known anyone that did baptisms for the dead and he said yes. I said, when we do baptism for the dead, we make sure that everyone no matter where they lived, or when they lived, has an opportunity to come home to their father in heaven. He is a perfect fathe, with perfect love and he loves all of his children. I said, a perfect father with perfect love would make a plan. He would make a way to save all of his children if they would be saved.

He asked, “but it’s still their decision?”. I said yes but we do the baptisms for them, and then they have the opportunity to decide if they want to accept it.

I said, this doctrine proves that the church is true because a loving God would have to show how he planned to save all of his children. It’s done through the temple and the ordinances in the temple. I told him that the temple is the place where heaven and earth come together. The place where our Father in Heaven’s spirit abides in power.

I told him that the ordinances in the temple are some of the things that every other religion lacks along with the authority to perform those ordinances. This authority is held by priesthood holders in our church and the temple ordinances are only preformed by God power inside of the temple.

He said, that’s crazy. He asked in a tearful voice, how could my mom and dad leave this and not have this understanding? I told him that satan works really hard with our friends and he influences those around us to cloud our minds with other things and not his word and his will.

He said, how can I know that what you’re saying is true for sure? I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon. The spirit exploded in the car and it was overwhelming. He started crying harder than he had at any point up to then. I said, the way you know that this is true is that the spirit is testifying to you right now. You know it’s true right now.

I told him that if the Book of Mormon is true and because it’s true, Joseph Smith, who translated that book was a prophet of God. I told him that if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God then we have a prophet of God on the Earth today. We have the keys to perform the ordinances we had discussed, including the temple ordinances and the authority to run God‘s church.

I asked him again what he felt. he said that he felt the spirit of God more powerfully than ever.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon. He said no. I pulled out a Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him. He became emotional again, and asked, am I worthy to take this holy book? I told him that book isn’t for people who are holy, it is a book that teaches the word of God so that we can all become more holy. I told him that he should most definitely take the book. He held it for about five minutes before accepting it graciously. He said, I will read this book and pray and go to church. I want to be forgiven.

Then he said, what happens when I have a doubt? How do I know whether my doubt is true or what I’m feeling now is true?

I asked him how his doubt made him feel and he said confused and unsettled. I asked him how the spirit that he was feeling right now made him feel. He said warm and happy. I asked him which one he’d rather be, confused and unsettled or warm and happy. He said warm and happy. I asked him if a loving Heavenly Father would make him confused and unsettled or happy and warm. He laughed and said happy and warm. I said, you belong in the church. Your sins can be forgiven and you can stand before God with a clear conscience. God can walk with you through your life if you’ll have it.

He said, this is what I want. He thanked me and asked me what I was going to do next. He asked me if I was going to drive more that night. It was 2am and there was one productive hour left. I was impressed to say no and wrap it up. I said no. I said, that I believed that the reason why I was there tonight was to talk to you. Now I ’m going to go home and go to bed.

He said, that’s the right answer. That’s the answer. That’s what I thought in my head you should say. I know God sent you for me and I will do the things that we discussed.

It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord pours out his spirit to save rebellious children. It’s almost like when you are with one of them or teaching one of them and it’s a pivotal time. Their hearts are open to the truth and you have God‘s full and undivided attention….. even at 2am.