True Course – Destination Verified

"True Course - Destination Verified"

Elder Richard D. Allred

February 17, 2003

  I am grateful to be here today and seek an interest in your faith and prayers. I pray that I might speak with the Spirit and that we might all be edified.

I am pleased and honored to have my wife Gay with me today. I appreciate and love her with all my heart. I am ever thankful for the unstinting support of my dear wife that has enabled and permitted us to receive church callings that have provided us so many happy and exciting opportunities as we have served the Lord throughout the world. I quote from the letter I received from The First Presidency when I was released as a General Authority - “We especially express gratitude to Sister Allred who has stood by your side and whose generous support and personal testimony have made this unique opportunity of service possible.” The thoughts of spending eternity with her in her exalted position thrill my soul.

Gay and I, along with the membership of the Church, are thrilled by the 22 December 2003, announcement of the Rexburg Idaho Temple. What a marvelous blessing this temple will bring to this university, the community, and the saints living within the new temple district. I am confident that there is much jubilation on the other side of the veil, as there is among us mortal beings. It is a time of rejoicing, preparation, and goal setting. The blessings of the temple are essential to obtaining immortality and eternal lives for yourselves, your families and your kindred dead (Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4). It is my prayer that you will always have a current temple recommend, and that regular temple activity will be a blessing of which you and your families will avail yourselves.

  My purpose for being here today is to give you a compass check. This check will reconfirm to you:

-Who you are

-Your mission or purpose in life

-Your potential

and will validate your present course of direction. Answering these questions will enable you to evaluate your present direction and to help you establish and verify a true course. It will indicate to you if a change of direction is required in order for you to return back to the presence of your Heavenly Father.

  Let me share a personal experience with you. For many years as a career officer in the United States Air Force, I was assigned to the Aerospace Defense Command. I was responsible for the maintenance of avionics and fire control systems installed on the fighter interceptor aircraft that formed the first line of air defense of the Continental United States of America. These aircraft were man’s supreme creation in aerospace defense equipment; they were the state-of-the-art, and their associated electronics systems, munitions and support equipment were on the cutting-edge of aviation technology. It was our mission to be ready and to defend the United States against any enemy airborne threat at a moment’s notice. We were capable of launching an armed aircraft within five minutes of notification of a sighted intruder.

  Cost of research and development of these awesome, magnificent machines of war and the training of their aircrews was inconsequential. The capability and potential of these machines of defense and their associated electronic systems and armament were truly spectacular. The most advanced types of these aircraft were capable of flying in excess of twice the speed of sound, and of reaching altitudes that perhaps are still classified. They were designed to successfully intercept, engage, and destroy any known enemy airborne threat.

On one occasion, during a test flight of one of our fighter interceptors, the aircraft experienced a compass system failure. The aircrew could not find the target, and the mission was aborted. This particular airplane had just complete an extensive airframe/engine inspection, and an electronics modification update, and had been declared combat ready. The defective compass system was ground checked by expertly-trained, well-qualified navigational aids technicians. The malfunction could not be duplicated, and the aircraft was flown again. It returned with the same discrepancy. In total, the aircraft was flown three times. Each time the mission was aborted and the aircraft returned with the same compass malfunction. During each subsequent post flight, no compass discrepancies were found; nevertheless, after each aborted test flight, the compass components, indicators and associated wiring were replaced with new units.

  More by accident than skill, I discovered that six ferrous screws that, out of approximately one hundred non-ferrous aluminum screws required to secure the compass receiver access panel in the tail of the aircraft, had inadvertently been installed. The aluminum screws are of a non-ferrous material, which means they were not affected by the magnetic field of the earth, and would not interfere with a true signal being received by the compass magnetic receiver; while the screws of a ferrous (iron) material influenced the magnetic field resulting in a distorted signal, causing the compass to malfunction and give improper and false headings. These few overlooked ferrous screws had erroneously been installed when the aircraft was in extensive maintenance, prior to the first test flight, and were responsible for each of the three aborted flights. The compass system had been ground-checked "OK" prior to, and after each flight because the compass maintenance access panel had been removed when the system was inspected, and the magnetic interference of the ferrous screws was not present during operational testing and checkout of the compass system.

It is interesting to note that these six seemingly insignificant screws of the wrong type, with a value of less than one dollar, were sufficient to thwart the successful completion of the mission of this magnificent, multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art instrument of national defense, and nullify the efforts of its trained, skilled, and dedicated aircrew and ground technicians. At the time of its development and use, this fighter interceptor aircraft was man’s supreme creation as a defensive aerospace weapon; however, even with its awesome capabilities and magnificent power, its potential was nullified by a seemingly small and insignificant means, due to man’s lack of attention to details in following established maintenance procedures and practices. Let us now perform your compass check and address the validity of your spiritual and moral compass by defining:

-Who you are

-Your mission or purpose in life

-Your potential

-Your present course of direction

Who are you?

Scripture tells us, and the Holy Ghost confirms that:

-You are a child of God (Acts 17:29; Romans 8:16).

-God is the father of your spirit (Hebrews 12:9).

-You are created in the image of God by the Father himself (Genisis1:26-27) and endowed with an infinite, awesome, unlimited power and potential (Matthew 5:48; 3 Nephi 12:48; 27:27).

-You are an heir to godhood (Galatians 4:7) and have the seeds of deity within you.

-You are a god in embryo (John 10:34).

  Brigham Young stated:

I want to tell you, each and every one of you, that you are well acquainted with God our Heavenly Father, or the Great Elohim. You are all well acquainted with him, for there is not a soul of you but what has lived in his house and dwelt with him year after year; and yet you are seeking to become acquainted with him, when the fact is, you have merely forgotten what you did know.

There is not a person here to-day but what is a son or daughter of that Being. In the spirit world their spirits were first begotten and brought forth, and they lived there with their parents for ages before they came here. This, perhaps, is hard for many to believe, but it is the greatest nonsense in the world not to believe it. If you do not believe it, cease to call him Father; and when you pray, pray to some other character (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 50).

  What is your mission or purpose in life?

-To know God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ (John 17:3).

-To keep God’s commandments, seek to bring forth and establish Zion (Doctrine and Covenants 11:6-7).

-To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).

-Live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God ( (Doctrine and Covenants 84:44-45).

-Do the right thing for the right reason (Moroni 7:5-10).

-Do good and be faithful to the end (Doctrine and Covenants 6:13).

-And as President Hinckley encourages: "Do your best, do your very best."

What is your potential?

You, as child of a Heavenly Father, through the Atonement of Christ, and by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, have the potential of returning to God’s presence and being the recipient of all that the Father has (Article of Faith 3). You are the beneficiary of all The Father’s love, creations, wisdom, power and knowledge, and are the object of His work and His glory (Doctrine and Covenants 59:18). It is humbling to know that all that The Father has done, all that He does now do, and all that He will ever do, is to bring to pass your immortality and eternal life. (Moses 1:39). I feel as Nephi when he said: “I know that He (God) loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things” (1 Nephi11:17).

Your present course of direction

When you were baptized and confirmed a member of the Kingdom of God on Earth (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) you were given God’s greatest gift He can give His children in mortality - the Gift of the Holy Ghost. You have been given a true compass, the Holy Ghost, which, if followed, will lead, guide and direct you back into the Father’s presence, and the promised blessings of eternal lives, God’s life (2 Nephi 32:5; John 14:26). However, the workings of this divine compass can be attenuated or nullified by seemingly small and insignificant acts on your part. The Holy Ghost is ultra-sensitive to contention, your unworthy thoughts, desires, speech, overt and covert acts that deviate from strict obedience to God’s commandments. Like the few small screws that gave a false direction to the airplane, inattention, neglect, pride, rebellion, lack of faith, and ignorance place you in a state where you are no longer worthy of the companionship of this divine Liahona (Spirit of God) and you are left to your own finite wisdom as to direction and subsequent ultimate destination (Doctrine and Covenants 1:31-33).

I suggest that cheerful compliance with and obedience to the God’s commandments will help you draw ever closer to your Father in Heaven, and will enable you to complete your earth mission, and give you a true direction to enable you to reach your final destination, the Celestial Kingdom, and receive all that the Father has for his children that love Him and keep His commandments.

As a check as to the validity of you personal compass and the direction you are traveling, I suggest that you evaluate your performance with the following list of commandments that sometimes might be taken lightly and considered as no "Big Deal" because everyone is or is not doing it. Or perhaps, it is inconvenient at the present time, and you have the intentions and will make the proper adjustments to your personal compass sometime in the future. Remember the small screws and their effect on the airplane and its mission. Make the proper calibrations to your compass now so you can "fly right" and reach your proper destination.

I suggest that you establish your own true course and verify your own direction by evaluating your performance in relationship to the following listed commandments. Do you?

1. Participate in personal prayer and scripture study on a regular daily basis.
2. Observe the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
3. Pay an honest tithing and are generous in your fast offerings (Doctrine and Covenants 119).
4. Keep the Word of Wisdom as contained in Doctrine and Covenants 89. Do you wrest with this scripture to justify your non-compliance as you blindly follow others that ignore the sacredness of this promise, or are not bound by the covenant which you have made concerning all the commandments and laws of God?
5. Touch not the unclean thing. Avoid pornography, refrain from all premarital sexual activity and maintain sexual purity through total abstinence prior to marriage, and complete fidelity to your companion after marriage.
6. Are you modest in your dress?
7. Avoid finding fault with those who preside over you.
8. Magnify your church calling. Give your stewardship the attention and dedication it requires. You represent the Lord in this sacred trust and office.
9. Avoid all foul language and vulgar innuendoes, unclean stories, and taking the name of the Lord in vain.
10. Remember always the covenants you made when you were baptized, received the priesthood, and when you received your endowment and sealing in the temple. Renew these covenants on a weekly basis as you worthily partake of the sacrament, that His Spirit may always be with you.
11. Always avoid “X” & “R” rated movies, TV presentations, literature and music. They have not the message, nor the power to instill virtue, honesty and reverence for that which is holy in your heart.

  If you violate the commandments and do not keep the covenants you have made with the Father, the influence of the Holy Ghost will depart from you, and you will have lost your compass and sense of true direction. You will be under the influence of Satan and for you to get back on course, repentance is in order. You must plead with God for forgiveness. You must manifest a godly sorrow. All your sins must be sacrificed, restitution must be made, you must forgive yourself; a broken heart and a contrite spirit must be placed on the altar, and your covenants must be renewed which will bring you forgiveness of sin and will permit you to appear before the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart, that His Spirit may always be with you. Thus, your true direction will be confirmed, and your destination will always be sure. Always be worthy to hold a current temple recommend.

In closing, I humble testify that I know that God lives. He is our Heavenly Father. We are His children. We have the seeds of deity within us; we are heirs to godhood. We can obtain all that the Father has through the atonement of Jesus Christ and by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. I know that Jesus is the Christ, “The Anointed One.” He is the Firstborn and the only Begotten of the Father. He is Lord of lords, King of kings, the Creator, the Savior, and the God of the whole earth. He is my Deliverer, my Redeemer, and my Advocate with the Father. He takes away my sins, He died for me. He gives me the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and offers me eternal life. He is my friend, and I love Him. My only desire is to serve Him and to please Him. Joseph Smith is the prophet of this last dispensation. He saw what he said he saw. Gordon B. Hinckley is a prophet, seer and revelator. He holds all the priesthood keys on earth today. The Church is true and the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

  It is my prayer that the Lord will continue to watch over, bless and prosper each of you, and each of your family members, as you press forward each day in magnifying your calling and in sanctifying yourself through your efforts to establish and build Zion. May you find joy and success in your studies, and in your service to others, and continually give thanks to Him from whom all blessings flow, as you follow the guidance and direction and receive the comfort, and the peace that only the Spirit gives to those who love the Lord and keep his commandments. I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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