| February 17, 2019 Dear Copper Hills 8th Ward Members, Jesus taught, that His disciples would be known by their love. So, why, in the church, isn’t love the focus of worthiness interviews? Why isn’t love mentioned in temple recommend interviews? Why isn’t love mentioned in the sacrament prayers? Why isn’t love mentioned in the temple? Before you spend another tithing dollar, in support of the church program, you might want to, maybe, consider thinking outside the box of the church’s clever rhetoric you’ve been fed for so many years, which, in my opinion, prevents you from experiencing a heart filled with love. Greetings! This is my 19th postcard. I’ve sent my postcards, three times each year. Because my mailing list is outdated, you might be receiving this, and yet, not be a member of the LDS church. If this is the case, please pardon me, or feel free to read what I have to say. In my opinion, the church doesn’t focus on “love” in worthiness interviews, in sacrament prayers, or in the temple, because Joseph Smith believed the Lord’s house was a house of order, rather than perceiving it to be a house of love. Recently, for about a month, on a daily basis, I corresponded with a church member who posted a video on YouTube. In her video, she discredited another person who also posted on YouTube, who said they were excommunicated for asking questions, which she said couldn’t be true, for she said, the church wouldn’t ever do that. So, I decided to let this lady know, that I too was excommunicated for asking questions. It’s actually true, that members who ask questions, who don’t believe it’s impossible for a prophet to lead the church astray, who won’t doubt their doubts, are considered apostate. In every case of apostasy, that I know of, including my own case, the church has stated, that the member was excommunicated, because their actions were against the “order” of the church. Jesus said, by their love, shall all men know my disciples, but I’ve never, ever, heard of a case, where a member was excommunicated because they weren’t loving, which would mean that they weren’t a disciple of Christ. As I discussed church doctrine with this lady, it was blatantly obvious, that she had the mindset of those who focus on “order,” rather than love. She was harsh with me. She was very judgmental. However, she seemed intrigued, when I told her that I felt nothing but love for others. How many of you, are currently experiencing a heart that feels nothing but love for others? While I was a member of the church, I didn’t always feel loving, like I do now. I’ve only experienced this constant love in my heart, after staying away from church indoctrination for eleven years, which led me astray from feeling this way. Love, is the fruit of the Spirit of God in our lives. And, 2 Nephi 32:5 states, that if we’ll receive the Holy Ghost, which is the Spirit of love, it will show us all things what we should do. Basically, in order to be disciples of Christ, shouldn’t we adopt this way of thinking, letting the Spirit of love show unto us, all things what we should do? I’ve now asked the church, 124 times, over a period of almost 4 years, every ten days, to please answer the simple question, does the church consider the content of 2 Nephi 32:5 to be true, or not? But, the church won’t answer me. Why is that? I’m thinking, the church won’t answer this question, because so many church doctrines, policies, and procedures focus on creating order. In the church, even salvation is perceived as being based on the orderly obeying of laws and ordinances. The idea, that a heart filled with love will produce salvation, is far from the minds of church members. Under the Old Testament covenant, obedience to law was expected, but everyone fell short, except for Jesus. So, for everyone besides Jesus, this created a sin debt, that Jesus paid in full. And, this made it possible for a New Testament covenant to be introduced, which would not be based on obeying law. Because, only Christ was able to keep the old covenant law and be saved by that law, a new covenant was established, where salvation wouldn’t be based on our merits, but now it would be based on the merits of Christ. And, along with this New Testament covenant, came a new and very different commandment, to love one another as Jesus loves us, which is to abide by the Golden Rule, which replaced the law and the prophets, including a charge to cease from judging one another. In other words, we’re all, now, worthy before God, through the merits of Christ, because the sin debt was paid in full, to experience the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of love, by exercising faith in the atonement of Christ. Paul taught it this way, that under the new covenant, we’re now saved, not by obedience to the law, as was the case under the old covenant, but now it’s by grace that we’re saved, through faith, and not of works, lest anyone should boast. With the sin debt paid in full, we can turn to God, at any time, and be filled with love. Because of the merits of Christ, nothing stands in our way, of experiencing the Holy Ghost, except for a lack of faith. The only repentance required, now, under the new covenant, is that we exercise faith in the atonement, where we turn from hate and fear, to love, that we seek to remain in the zone of feeling nothing but love for one another, at all times. Essentially, the new covenant is about remaining in tune with the Spirit, to always be filled with love. Romans 13:10 states, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” It’s often been said, that we’re to endure to the end, but I think it’s more accurate, that we’re to enjoy to the end. Life is about enjoying the companionship of the Spirit, through the merits of Christ, which provides a heart filled with nothing but love for others, providing us maximum gladness and rejoicing. Are you familiar with the movie, Pollyanna, produced in 1960 by Walt Disney Productions? In the movie, the town preacher changed his approach, from preaching hell, fire, and damnation, to giving sermons about being loving, glad, and rejoicing. This change of heart occurred, in a beautiful nature scene setting, where the preacher was practicing his sermon, where Pollyanna, an orphan living with her aunt, approached, and delivered a message to him from her aunt. After delivering the message, Pollyanna paused, and thought about the harshness of the preacher’s words, and then she spoke to him, about her father, who was also a preacher, who discovered numerous scriptural passages about being loving, glad, and rejoicing. She told the preacher, that her father looked for “happy” texts in scripture, after reading something that President Abraham Lincoln said, which was engraved on the necklace she was wearing, “If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.” After meeting with Pollyanna, on the following Sunday, the town preacher told his congregation, that he’d had a change of heart, that he was going to look for the good in them, with a focus on love, gladness, and rejoicing, which astonished everyone. Basically, we’re given a major choice in life, to either embrace hatred, through orderly thinking, where we spend our time looking for the bad in others, seeing all that’s “out of order,” with a focus on law, obedience, and judgment, or we can embrace love, and refrain from judging each other. We’re commanded to forgive, but wouldn’t it be better, if we refrained from judging others in the first place? Why do we hatefully judge, only to let it go later? Why not, continue to always feel love, by simply refraining from judging? Why do we let the actions of others, cause us to cease from feeling love? Why do we let others, control how we feel? Why do we blame others, for our bitterness? Isn’t it our own fault? Don’t we choose to feel hatefully judgmental? Didn’t Jesus feel perfect love? Didn’t He love, even His enemies. And, would he have commanded us to love as He loves, to love, even our enemies, if He didn’t believed it was possible for us to do so, through His atoning sacrifice? Because of the atonement, because the sin debt was paid in full, because we won’t be judged, shouldn’t we refrain from judging, which is to refrain from hating, so that only the Holy Ghost will lead us, in how to love, accompanied by a feeling of nothing but love, even toward our enemies? When I discussed the principle of love, with the lady who produced that YouTube video, she explained that her love began and grew for others, according to how much she served them. She believed, that her works, rather than faith in the atonement, caused her to feel love for others. This led me to think about my love for others. And, I realized, through pondering about it, that my love neither increases, nor decreases toward others, but remains constant, as if a perfectly loving heavenly presence is with me, which I believe is the Holy Ghost. Also, I realized, that because I constantly enjoy this feeling of love, I’m always inspired to serve, and I’m empowered to serve, rather than the other way around, where she pushes herself to serve, and then feels love, which grows, only as she serves more and more. On the one hand, I’ve experienced being endowed with the ability to love, and on the other hand, she’s experienced working for the ability to love, which must feel so heavy, because how can she ever serve enough to experience the level of love necessary for her to keep the commandment to love as Jesus loves? Maybe, it’s because the church teaches, that “all blessings” come from obedience, and because she’s so trusting of this church indoctrination, she’s prevented from experiencing the “gift” of God’s grace, the gift of a heart filled with love. Maybe, because of this indoctrination, she thinks that a feeling of love must be earned or deserved through serving. In previous messages, I’ve explained how the church indoctrinates members to believe that obedience is required ahead of time, that through obedience, a person becomes worthy of the Spirit, but this only makes the “gift” of the Holy Ghost, like a carrot dangled in front of members, and never enjoyed. In other words, we can’t perfect ourselves enough, we can’t do enough, to merit the presence of God, and those who try to earn or deserve His presence, who believe it’s a “blessing” earned from their obedience, will never experience it. In reality, those who simply exercise faith in the atonement, who experience God’s unconditional love, who believe that their sin debt was paid in full, who enjoy the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, which fills their hearts with love, they fulfill the law and experience the presence of God. Again, we read in Romans 13:10, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Those who possess loving hearts, given by the grace of God, are enabled to keep the entire law, through receiving the gift of loving empowerment from God. Those who obey commandments, who try to obey the entire law, without receiving God’s gift of a heart filled with love, will be among those who were prophesied about, who will say, “have we not done so many things in Thy name, and the Lord will say to them, I never knew you, depart from me.” Jesus won’t know these people, because they won’t know love, because those who won’t accept God’s deliverance from hate and fear, are motivated to obey, by a fear of judgment, and their obedience creates a pride in them, where they can’t help but look down on others, in hateful judgment. It’s like the parable of the two men who were praying side by side, where one boasted of his obedience, and thanked God that he wasn’t like the sinner next to him, who he hatefully despised, and the sinner, wouldn’t even lift his head, pleading for mercy. When telling this, Jesus said, that the sinner would be justified, and the obedient man would not be. Paul’s teachings agree with this parable, he taught, that “it’s not by our merits, but it’s by Christ’s merits, it’s by His grace, through our faith in those merits, that we’re saved, and not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Still, even though it’s so simple, like the simplicity of when Moses raised up a serpent on a pole, asking people to look at it and be healed, and many wouldn’t look, the lady I corresponded with, for some reason, refused to exercise faith in Christ’s merits. We discussed ideas and concepts back and forth, so much, that the conversation ended up being over 100 pages, and still, she didn’t seem to believe that it was possible for her to feel nothing but love, because she wouldn’t believe in the principle of grace. Rather, she thinks that grace will be given to her, only after all she can do. So, in her pride, as she works and works, in order to earn or deserve God’s grace, trying to be good enough, I don’t think she’ll ever experience it, because I think her pride will get in the way. I do believe, that this lady accurately represents what the church believes. Her knowledge comes from personal experience with apostles, from her parents, who have served 5 missions, and especially from her father, who’s been a stake president, mission president, and temple president. What do you think? Can we experience God’s grace, right now, and be given a heart filled with perfect love, that fulfills the law? Or, is God’s grace available, only after all we can do, in trying to obey the commandments, through pushing ourselves? Let’s look at this from another angle. Let’s consider church discipline. Discipline, is a derivative of the word, “disciple.” And, disciples of Christ are to be known by their love. So, why doesn’t the church focus on the principle of love, when disciplining members? When I was disciplined by the church, the word, “love,” wasn’t mentioned, at all. In a letter I received from the First Presidency, the word, “love,” wasn’t mentioned, at all. Instead, the words, obedience, hearken, and blessings were used. Love, is about seeking to bless the lives of others. The church, because it teaches that all blessings come from obedience, indoctrinates members to have a mindset of seeking to “get” blessings. In reality, the church seeks to discipline people, away from seeking to bless others, and toward “getting” blessings. Even those who serve, I’ve heard it so many times, do it, because they say, “they need blessings.” In all communication from church leaders, after being excommunicated, I was only encouraged to “get” church blessings. I was never encouraged to think more about blessing others. This explains why the church excommunicates loving disciples who aren’t seeking to “get” blessings, as it’s against church indoctrination, for members to only think of seeking to bless the lives of others. Also, at a very young age, members are groomed to bear testimony of faith in the church, in books, and in prophets, rather than being taught to express their faith in the atonement, about the Holy Ghost, about how it’s filled their hearts with love. Why is that? Again, isn’t it because the church seeks to establish a house of order, rather than one of love? Order, is established by people obediently trusting in a church, books, and prophets. The lady I spoke with, never bore testimony of the love she felt in her heart, she would only testify about the truth of current and past church leaders, the church, and books. Ever since Joseph Smith declared that the Lord’s house is a house of order, the church has focused on promoting this idea, which leads members astray from believing the Lord’s house is a house of love. If the church was seeking to establish a house of love, if it believed the Lord’s house was a house of love, it would encourage people to gain and bear testimony of exercising faith in the atonement, of receiving the gift of God grace, of their hearts being filled with the Spirit of love. Didn’t Jesus teach, that His disciples would be known by their love? So, why isn’t “love” discussed in worthiness interviews? Why isn’t “love” mentioned in the church’s sacrament prayers? Why isn’t “love” mentioned in temple recommend interviews? Why isn’t “love” mentioned in the temple? Why isn’t the church seeking to create a house of love? Isn’t it because the church blindly believes what Joseph Smith declared, that the Lord’s house is a house of order? If I were to ask you, do you believe God is more interested in order, than love, would you say “order,” to sustain Joseph Smith’s idea? What do you think? Do you feel nothing but love for others? If not, why not? Are disciples of Christ known by their orderly conduct, or by their love? How can the church be Christ’s, when it creates disciples who seek to establish order, rather than to love? If you have any questions, please let me know. Regards, Aaron McMillan P.S. After finishing this message, on the very day that I finished it, out of the blue, the lady mentioned above, who posted the YouTube video, sent me a message. It had been over a month since we communicated. She’s starting to see things more my way. She seems much happier. She’s more loving. She’ll, probably end up excommunicated for believing this way, but she’ll be better off, enjoying a heart filled with love. Basically, she’s starting to see, how the Lord’s house is supposed to be based on love, rather than order, and her belief that it should be based on love, is apostate to the teachings of Joseph Smith, who stated that the Lord’s house is a house of order. |