I got a pretty good night’s sleep considering I now have a full-fledged cold. I started the day checking messages on my phone. Since I had gotten up later than normal, the messages had already started flowing and I needed to keep them moving. I had made arrangements the day before to interview a few missionaries this morning and we were scheduled to have our weekly staff meeting this morning. All interviews and the staff meeting went off as scheduled. As the Doctrinal Instruction at our staff meeting, I spoke about the importance of forgiveness and being able to forgive others. The following scriptures and quotes were used:
Ephesians 4:32
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Colossians 3:13
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye.
Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye In Holy Places, p.221
But please do not misunderstand the true meaning of the scriptures. One may not wallow in the mire of filth and sin and conduct his life in a manner unlawful in the sight of God and then suppose that repentance will wipe out the effects of his sin and place him on the level he would have been on had he always lived a righteous and virtuous life. The Lord extends loving mercy and kindness in forgiving you of the sins you commit against Him or His work, but He can never remove the results of the sin you have committed against yourself in thus retarding your own advancement toward your eternal goal.
The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p.233
Humility is repentant and seeks not to justify its follies. It is forgiving others in the realization that there may be errors of the same kind or worse chalked up against itself. ...
Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p.263
The early disciples evidently expressed words of forgiveness, and on the surface made the required adjustment, but "forgave not one another in their hearts." This was not a forgiveness, but savored of hypocrisy and deceit and subterfuge. As implied in Christ's model prayer, it must be a heart action and a purging of one's mind. Forgiveness means forgetfulness. One woman had "gone through" a reconciliation in a branch and had made the physical motions and verbal statements indicating it, and expressed the mouthy words forgiving. Then with flashing eyes, she remarked, "I will forgive her, but I have a memory like an elephant. I'll never forget." Her pretended adjustment was valueless and void. She still harbored the bitterness. Her words of friendship were like a spider's web, her rebuilt fences were as straw, and she herself continued to suffer without peace of mind. Worse still, she stood "condemned before the Lord," and there remained in her an even greater sin than in the one who, she claimed, had injured her.
I then related one of my favorite stories about forgiveness from President Kimball:
The Kempton Story
My memory takes me back to 1918 and to another story of forgiveness seldom equalled in my experience. It concerns my good friend, Glenn Kempton, who rose to spiritual heights not often attained by mortal man.
In February, 1918, in the Southern Arizona country, there occurred one of the most sensational tragedies of Arizona history. Four officers of the law went into the fastnesses of the mountains to enforce the draft law upon the Powers boys, who had failed to register. Three of the four officers were killed. Well do I remember the funeral, with the three caskets draped with the United States flag, and the three young widows and their nineteen orphaned children sitting on the front rows. Knowing the families intimately, the entire community in the Gila Valley was stirred deeply.
We saw the sweet young widows plod through the years in their loneliness, rearing their nearly a score of children. We saw the youngsters grow to maturity and become prominent in the community, while the Powers boys and Sisson were serving their long and desolate years in the state penitentiary.
When the shooting at Kilburn Canyon was over, "The Powers boys and Sisson fled and for 26 days eluded a posse of more than 3,000 men, including about 200 U. S. Cavalrymen."*
The Arizona papers carried big headlines. Excitement was at an all-time high. The whole country was at fever pitch. The men surrendered March 8, 1918, 14 miles below the Mexican border. They were tried, found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Arizona Penitentiary.
Forty-two merciless, unending years had passed. Sisson had died three years before. The Powers boys, old men now, were released in April, 1960, by the Arizona Governor and walked out on "…their legs still bowed in the parenthesis of horsemen, their receding hair turned grey. Each lost the sight of his left eye in the gunfight."*
Our concern now with the tragic story involves this great man, Glenn Kempton, one of the nineteen orphaned children of 1918, who was big enough to forgive. He grew up deprived of a father and was subject to the usual prejudices, hates and bitternesses which would naturally surround a young boy under such circumstances. He has been gracious enough to tell me the story in his own way:
It happened on the tenth of February, 1918, high in the fastnesses of the Galiuro Mountains in southern Arizona. It was a cold, grey dawn, sky overcast, snow gently falling, when Father was shot down from behind. Two other law officers also lost their lives in the withering blast that emitted forth from the little log-cabin fortress in which the draft evaders had taken refuge.
After a cautious ten or fifteen minutes waiting, they came outside to view the remains of their grisly work. Having satisfied themselves that they had killed the entire party, they bore their father, who had received a mortal wound, into a nearby tunnel, covered him with an old blanket, sent word to a nearby rancher to look after him, saddled their horses and headed south. Destination—Old Mexico!
There followed one of the greatest man-hunts in the southwest history. The draft evaders were finally run down and caught near the Mexican border. They were tried and found guilty of murder, for which they received sentences of life imprisonment.
As a young boy in my early teens, there grew in my heart a bitterness and a hatred toward the confessed slayer of my Father, for Tom Powers had admitted killing my Dad.
The years swept by, I grew up, but still that heavy feeling stayed inside me. High school ended, and then I received a call to go to the Eastern States Mission. There my knowledge and testimony of the gospel grew rapidly, as all of my time was spent studying and preaching it. One day while reading the New Testament, I came to Matthew, fifth chapter, verses 43 to 45, wherein Jesus said:
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven….”
Here it was, the words of the Savior saying we should forgive. This applied to me. I read those verses again and again and it still meant forgiveness. Not very long after this, I found in the 64th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, verses 9 and 10, more of the Savior's words:
"Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men."
And then there were these timely words of President John Taylor:
"Forgiveness is in advance of Justice where repentance is concerned."
I didn't know whether or not Tom Powers had repented but I did know now that I had an appointment to make after I returned home, and I resolved before I left the mission field to do just that.
After returning home, I met and married a fine Latter-day Saint girl, and the Lord blessed our home with five lovely children. The years were passing rapidly and the Lord had been good to us, yet guilt arose within me every time I thought of the appointment I had not kept.
A few years ago, just shortly before Christmas, a season when the love of Christ abounds and the spirit of giving and forgiving gets inside of us, my wife and I were in Phoenix on a short trip. Having concluded our business in the middle of the second afternoon, we started home. As we rode along, I expressed the desire to detour and return home via Florence, for that is where the state prison is located. My wife readily assented.
It was after visiting hours when we arrived but I went on inside and asked for the warden. I was directed to his office.
After I had introduced myself and expressed a desire to meet and talk to Tom Powers, a puzzled expression came over the warden's face, but after only a slight hesitation, he said, "I'm sure that can be arranged." Whereupon he dispatched a guard down into the compound who soon returned with Tom. We were introduced, and led into the parole room where we had a long talk. We went back to that cold, gray February morning thirty years before, re-enacting that whole terrible tragedy. We talked for perhaps an hour and a half. Finally, I said, "Tom, you made a mistake for which you owe a debt to society for which I feel you must continue to pay, just the same as I must continue to pay the price for having been reared without a father."
Then I stood and extended my hand. He stood and took it. I continued, "With all my heart, I forgive you for this awful thing that has come into our lives."
He bowed his head and I left him there. I don't know how he felt then, and I don't know how he feels now, but my witness to you is that it is a glorious thing when bitterness and hatred go out of your heart and forgiveness comes in.
I thanked the warden for his kindness, and as I walked out the door and down that long flight of steps I knew that forgiveness was better than revenge, for I had experienced it.
As we drove toward home in the gathering twilight, a sweet and peaceful calm came over me. Out of pure gratitude I placed my arm around my wife, who understood, for I know that we had now found a broader, richer and more abundant life.
D&C 64:9
9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
D&C 64:10
10 I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.
I know that being able to forgive others is critical to our being able be helped by the atonement in this life to move on and bless the lives of others. The rancor of holding a grudge is never worth it. The peace that comes from letting go is always worth it.
Although the rest of the day I was feeling more or less under the weather, I was able to get some important things done. I was able to finalize the expense report for the month with all necessary receipts. I was able to follow up on a number of outstanding issues with the Area Presidency. I was able to interview a young man for receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood. I was able to work through the prospective transfer challenges for Vanuatu where the 30 missionaries that are there now will have to receive approximately 10 or 11 new missionaries. The challenges with this transfer are not only the sheer number of new missionaries for this small area of the mission but also the fact that we are not sure how many will actually be there in mid-September. We have questions as to whether or not visas will come through from some of those in the MTC. In addition, we have a missionary who may be temporarily assigned to Vanuatu while awaiting a visa to Papa New Guinea. However, we also need to get his visa approved for Vanuatu before he can come in there as well. We learned today that one of the Sister Missionaries scheduled to enter the New Zealand MTC today who would be coming to Vanuatu in mid-September didn’t make it due to her home country mission office staff failed to get her temporary visa to New Zealand completed on time. As a consequence, she will have to wait for 3 weeks before entering the MTC. It seems to be an ever flowing set of challenges for knowing when missionaries will be coming and going. I do need another good night’s sleep so I will stop writing now.
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