Dear brother or sister, please accept my apology for contacting you unsolicited. If it were not important for you to read this I would not have written. On the 23rd October I had a severe stroke that left me totally paralysed down my left hand side. I spent 9 weeks in rehabilitation being taught how to eat and walk again. I came out on 21st December still not being able to walk on my own but I am now able to eat though I cannot hold a cup of chocolate in my hand. The event was traumatic for me and I am now very vulnerable. Last week, for the first time ever, I was able to bare my testimony on the church’s main world wide members Facebook page. I had 285 reactions, all positive, and 150 comments with one indifferent. One of the comments came through messenger from a General Authority, a Seventy, that read as follows.
Thank you Brother Smart, I love your testimony, so wonderful to read it. Another example of how God makes good things come from our challenges, your testimony will reach so many more people who need to hear it because it is on social media! I am sorry about your family and friends deserting you, it’s a good reminder for me to look out for people in my ward who are struggling. I am happy you have a strong testimony and know that Jesus Christ is in charge. Yes I think Satan works extra hard on those who are stalwart and strong, he knows your potential for spreading light! Again, thank you, have a blessed Sabbath day tomorrow!. May I suggest you post this on your ward web page if only to let people know of your struggles.
When I followed the instructions from the Seventy my testimony was rejected by the Bishop and the Stake President without a reason given. That indifferent comment was found in amongst all the rest by Sister Hannah Smart who then messaged me to tell me that none of the Bridgend members like me. In my current state of health that has effected me, which is my reason for writing to you. As far as I am aware, I do not think I have done anything to bring the wrath of the entire ward to a point of disliking me. First off, I want to apologise to anyone who has been offended by anything I have said or done that has caused Hannah to believe that you do not like me. If you read my testimony on the main church site, because you were not allowed to see it here, you will be able to ascertain exactly who I am and see how destructive the comment that none of you like me has caused. So, please let me know what i have done to offend you so that I can begin to rectify it by repenting, making restitution, and forsaken the sin so that I can ask for forgiveness of the sin. And please, please, please do not let Hannah know if you dislike me, instead, let me know. Hannah cannot do anything about it, but I can.
You can read my testimony by clicking below
My First Public Testimony on Facebook
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I joined the church in the early 80’s. I was so bowled over with the Book of Mormon that I entered the waters of baptism within 2 weeks of first contact with the elders. Something inside told me it was true so I could not wait to be a part of it all. But I did not get a rock sold, immoveable, testimony until eight years later
My real testimony came in 1989. The day I went to the temple in London. When I walked through the doors, I felt like I was walking into another world that I did not immediately recognise. Everyone was dressed in white, which was a real leveller. All the same with no social status. The man sat next to you could be a chairman of a multimillion-dollar company or a refuse collector but in the temple, we were all the same. Children of God. We were all about to go through the exact same covenants, ordinances and submit ourselves to the same consequences, no matter who we were. It felt so right. Washing and anointing’s, endowments and eternal marriages all containing signs and tokens that are so sacred we cannot divulge them to the world. It is a place where things happen that are not of this world and nowhere in this world will you find them.
It was in the house of the Lord where my faith came as close to pure knowledge as it ever would. I saw things that were not explainable in terms we use in this world. I experienced phenomenon that was unexplainable and I was given knowledge, even new knowledge, that I would have never been exposed to in this world. I walked away from that Temple with a sure and certain knowledge that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints was a true church, and I knew that I would never be able to deny that. I also received a warning in the temple through the mouth of the temple president. He told me that this day I had been given signs and token and had made covenants with God to never divulge what I had been exposed to in the Lords house that day. I knew that what I had received was the words of God and was thankful for what I had received. But there would be consequences to what I had seen.
Satan is a very real entity. He exists and is convinced that he will win the war in heaven and reap the rewards that are Gods alone. As we get closer to the second coming of Jesus Christ, he is trying harder and harder to thwart the plan of salvation. His influence is at its greatest in our Chapels, Homes and Temples and makes little effort in our promiscuous society venues, in public houses and night clubs, in prisons, and within the media industry where many have sold their souls to the Devil so little to no effort is required in The Temple president then warned me to be aware of Satin in my life and in the lives of those around me because Satin knows what I have been given today in the Lord house and will make concerted efforts to destroy me and my family. I have become a threat to him this day and he is angry with me. From that day forward I have sometimes regretted the steadfast testimony that I had been given because I have at times become battle weary and found it hard to maintain the fight. I have lost 5 out of 6 of my children to Satins cunning plans of deception, by family and church members making themselves available to him without even knowing what they were doing. I have a son who sits in the same sacrament meeting as I do but ignores his parents as though they do not exist, breaking the commandments to love one another and to honour your mother and father and then blatantly partakes of the sacrament in the Lords church with the congregation looking on, knowing what he is doing, saying nothing to them or attempting to resolve what they are doing. They will be held accountable. I am told that by virtue of the fact that the person I am talking about is my son then I should keep it private. That I should not expose a sinner, who needs to repent for his actions, but it is ok to expose anybody else’s son because we are not biologically connected. That does not seem right or logical. That was not what happened to Ham when he found his father naked. That negates the universal law of cause and effect. The children of our Judges, Lawyer and Barristers would be exempt of their sin so would never face the consequence of their action. That just feels wrong. Why should a person be exempt of consequence by his father but not a stranger. The Lord looks upon sin with the least degree of allowance, unless, of course, he is your son, who is destined to be excused the consequences of sin. No, a sin is a sin, regardless of who committed it. A breach of the law, whether moral or physical is a breach that must be resolved regardless as to who you are. My son breached at least two commandments. To love one another and to honour his parents. Shame of the sin is part of the consequences and a necessity in the forgiveness process.
https://wedidourbest.blog/?page_id=1010/
I had a stroke caused by the stress of having my children and grandchildren ripped from me. That found me in a stroke rehabilitation ward for 9 weeks surrounded by true angels of God. During that time my old Bishop came to visit me once in his busy schedule. No one else did, even to offer me a blessing. No relief society president approached my wife to ask her if she needs help. Where was the love. I am not judging them. They will have to answer for it before God. I am just making and observation. Does that mean the church is any less true. No, on the contrary, it only strengthens my testimony because of that warning that I received from the temple president and the experiences I had in the temple that day. I received the exact same words whilst being given my patriarchal blessing. Word perfect. Coincident, maybe, or maybe not. Recently, I expressed my opinion about a parable published on Facebook by a member that had been a friend of the family for many, many years. That opinion cost me our friendship, got me hounded and insulted by that person’s friends and family and some congregationalist. I did not like it and gave my reason. Just a difference of opinions but a huge controversy made of it. Was that Satan fulfilling the promise I received from the temple president. Yes, of course it was. Does that diminish my testimony, not in the slightest. I do not go as often as I would like as a result of my stroke, but it is still steadfast and strong. I have no choice. If I did, I might have walked away from it all my now, but how can I? I cannot deny what my eyes have seen, and my heart felt so no matter how much persecution I received I can never deny something I know is true. Three people rang Kay to see if I was healing. That was it. Satan holds the hearts of many congregationalist who used to talk to me but now they look the other way or avoid me altogether. The sad thing is that I am telling the truth and many in the congregation have been dupped by those who serve a different master to me, but they do not know it.
I got to say that it has not been easy. We have lost 5 children and 18 grandchildren because their parents will not let them talk to us and their spouses do not like religious freaks like me, as they suppose. We have lost long standing friends who we thought were loyal. We have been spoken of derogatory by people in church who have never spoken to us but have judged us all the same. We are ignored and ostracized by those who should know better. We were not invited to my grandson’s baptisms and the baptism was hushed up so we couldn’t go It was not even mentioned in the sacrament meeting, by Elliott and Hannah’s request. No help was offered to me or my wife, we didn’t need it but it would have been nice to be asked. It would have meant that someone cared enough to ask.
But the tragic thing here is that I cannot walk away from the church because of that day in the temple, and incidentally, on various other days in the temple. I am trapped because of an epiphany that was given to me. I cannot escape it as I am aware that it is all true. That means that I am pretty sure that there is a plan of salvation, that Jesus Christ organised the earth and that Adam was placed on that earth with Eve, our first parents. I think I had a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon that I got during my initial 2 weeks with the missionaries. It seemed right. My testimony about the entire Plan of Salvation came about because it is a perfect plan. I tried very hard to discredit it, but I couldn’t. Nothing about it left me sceptical. When I went to university to study engineering my testimony of the plan of salvation was increased by science, from the Big Bang to Dark Energy. I know, without a shadow of doubt That Jesus is the Christ, that God lives and created the earth and all that is upon it in seven periods of time. I know that I must put on the armour of God and do despicable battle with the evil in this world. I know that we can all return to Him in the celestial kingdom my simply following his teachings. All this I say in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ. Amen
You can read my testimony by clicking below
My First Public Testimony on Facebook
We Did Our Best 