Spiritual Egypt

1. Spiritual Egypt Khinckley1@yahoo.com

2. Letters from the Congressional Travel Office A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations, "I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York." I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, "Are you sure that's the name of the town?" "Yes, what flights do you have?" replied the lady. After some searching, I came back with, "I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code in the country, and can't find a Rhino anywhere." The lady retorted, "Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!" So, I scoured a map of the state of New York, and finally offered, "You don't mean Buffalo, do you?" The reply? "Whatever! I knew it was a big animal" An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 am, and got to Chicago at 8:33 am. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that. A New York lawmaker called, and asked, "Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?" I said, "No, why do you ask?" She replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!" After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it (I was laughing), I came back and explained the city code for Fresno, California, is (FAT), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.

3. Gatherings Future? Today? Judah LDS Families Today Promised Land The World Egypt (Jerusalem) (Stakes) Homes

4. Question- All these gatherings started with Israel. Why was Israel taken to Egypt (the world) in the first place?

5. Genesis 46: 2-4 Abraham 3:22-25. 22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was… 24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; 25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt for I will there make of thee a great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again

6. Questions The story of Joseph is inspiring. How is it also symbolic? Even though he was a slave, what was his responsibility to his family? …to the Egyptians?

7. Hugh B. Brown Reads from “a letter written by an army nurse in the last World War from Africa to her parents” “It is Sunday morning, and I know you are in church. That fact, almost as sure as sunrise and springtime, is one of the chief sources of whatever courage I may have. It is not just that I know you are sitting in a certain building at a certain hour of the week, but that from my earliest childhood everything you did and encouraged me to do harmonized with, and somehow stood behind, your going to church. "Your church attendance was not just a gesture lightly made, nor duty grimly performed. It was vital and real, the open avowal of your most cherished convictions, … "I can see the picture now-you two and us children, the light coming in through the windows, the music, the quiet peace, that is what I mean when I say it is the source of whatever courage I find at my command now under these conditions. That courage you built up within me because I learned from you and your daily experience that God is good; that right prevails even in present circumstances, even though present circumstances indicate the opposite. And oh, how I need that courage… Such faith will enable you to maintain your virtue as did Joseph. He endured calumny and imprisonment, but because of his faith and virtue he became the virtual ruler of Egypt and the savior of his father's household.

8. The Moment of truth- 20 years later 1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; … 2 And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. 4 And Joseph said unto his brethren… I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

9. Smoot Hearings1903-1907 Church was clearly on Trial in the US Senate Joseph F. Smith was called to testify President Smith became the focus of jokes and ridicule in the United States and England.

10. New York Magazine

11. The Conclusion? Senator Penrose: "I don't see why we can't get along just as well with a polygamist who doesn't polyg as we do with a lot of monogamists who don't monog."

12. President SmithOctober Conference, 1907 I feel in my heart to forgive all men in the broad sense that God requires of me to forgive all men, … to this extent I bear no malice toward any of the children of my Father. But there are enemies of the work of the Lord, as there were enemies to the Son of God. There are those who speak only evil of the Latter-day Saints. There are those— and they abound largely in our midst, who will shut their eyes to every virtue and to every good thing connected with this latter-day work, and will pour out floods of falsehood and misrepresentation against the people of God. I forgive them for this."

13. D&C 58:3,4 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand. Question What if this “tribulation” comes at the hands of those we love or that we thought loved us?

14. Brigham Young …there are two courses of action to follow when one is bitten by a rattlesnake. One may, in anger, fear, or vengefulness, pursue the creature and kill it. Or he may make full haste to get the venom out of his system. If we pursue the latter course we will likely survive, but if we attempt to follow the former, we may not be around long enough to finish it.

15. 1. When Joseph his brethren beheld, Afflicted and trembling with fear, His heart with compassion was fill'd, From weeping he could not forbear. 2. Awhile his behavior was rough, To bring their past sins to their mind: But when they were humbled enough He hasten'd to show himself kind. 3. How little they thought it was he Whom they had ill-treated and sold! How great their confusion must be, As soon as his name he had told! 4. "I am Joseph, your brother," he said, "And still to my heart you are dear; You sold me, and thought I was dead, But God, for your sakes, sent me here." 5. Though greatly distressed before, When charg'd with purloining the cup, They now were confounded much more, Not one of them durst to look up. 6. "Can Joseph, whom we would have slain Forgive us the evil we did? And will he our households maintain? O, this is a brother indeed!" From Emma Smith’s Hymnbook