Comments on: Contact

By: J.J. Brown

J.J. Brown — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:14:13 +0000

Wanted to leave you a note. I’ve just read “Our Origin and Destiny,” “The First Pillar,” and the “Second Pillar” in succession and reviewed them on Amazon.

I think I understand the role these books will play in waking up many in the LDS community to who they really are and to their special calling.

No doubt, the books will find their way into the hands of those who’s job it is to raise up a community of saints worthy to meet Christ. And those hands will be strengthened and made more useful as a result of this series.

Thank you for putting your talents toward helping me better sanctify my life. I’ll do what I can to pay if forward.

BTW, RaNelle first gave me the assignment to read your series.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:46:21 +0000

Heidi,
Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad the book is helping. You will witness miracles.
Larry

By: Heidi Park

Heidi Park — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:37:07 +0000

Dear Bro. Barkdull- I am writing to thnk-you for your book-”Rescuing Wayward Children”! It has changed my life. Instead of feeling lost and helpless and hopeless- I feel empowered and know what my duty is! I feel like I have hope again for this precious son! I am learning to love him unconditionally and let him choose- and live with consequences. I am sanctifying my life- and have a whole different perspective about this hard situation.
You wrote this book in such a simple way- as I read it- I cried cause I knew it was TRUTH!

Thank-you so much!
Heidi Park

By: June Gamble

June Gamble — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:27:16 +0000

Dear Larry
I have finally received my copy of the “Pillars of Zion”. I had hesitated so long because of the prohibitive cost of shipping to Australia – the shipping costs were more than the cost of the book. But I did want the book instead of downloading it. I am very pleased to have received it and think it worth the cost – my husband and I will be using it every Monday night as a course of study.
I would also like to thank you for the articles you write for Meridian Magazine entitled “Wayward Children”. I have been following them for some time and relaying them to friends who I think will find them helpful.
I have a son who is an addict and has ruined the lives of his six children with his behavior. He is my only son and showed such great promise as a young boy. It is hard to realise that my darling boy has developed into this man of such frailty.
Yes, of course I love him, but his behavior sometimes shocks me. I put his name on the Temple Prayer Roll and we all continue to pray for him daily, but there are times one loses hope. It takes quite a bit of praying to get that hope back again.
Anyway, what I want to say to you is that of all the articles you have written the one that affected me the most and helped the most was the one entitled “Power in the Priesthood”.
As I read the article and the words of the title the Spirit opened my eyes to certain truths. I will never again repeat certain words in the temple without a silent prayer that the power of the temple will work for the good of my son, in the here and now.
I shared the article with my husband and he used some of it as a basis for his lesson in the High Priest’s Group. He did so with the hope that some of it would sink in regarding the marvelous power of the Priesthood and the responsibility that these men bear in holding the priesthood.
Once again, thank you. Please don’t stop writing your wonderful articles. They may bear fruit in quarters you cannot imagine.
Regards
June Gamble

By: daisies

daisies — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:27:55 +0000

Hello,

I recently read your book “Touch of the Masters Hand”. My mother had given it to me.. I have been going through 3 yrs of adversity with children, finances and as a single mom, but my health and testimony are strong! I constantly am sharing the gospel here in Texas and know one day the struggle part might end. But through it all I have been the one who has become strong, and patient and with this book it opened my eyes to reality. What a wonderful read! I’m wishing we had a DI here so I could search for a few other wonderful finds to read. But I will find some of your books somewhere! Thanks for the inspiring words. My aunt used to work for Meridian and there is great strength from this site too, I will go on and read the article mentioned above.. If you ever come to Texas, Dallas please let me know, I’d like to come and listen..
Blessing to you!

By: Jean

Jean — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:34:14 +0000

Dear Bro. Barkdull,

I so appreciated your discussion of covenants as I read it in Meridian Magazine recently, although now I can’t seem to find it.

I am teaching a RS lesson in a week on the topic and would like to distribute the following statements from your discussion. I would like to present them as individual statements, not in paragraph form, so that we may muse on each one. The ideas build on one another so powerfully.

I’m pretty sure it would break copyright law for me to distribute these in a handout without your permission. If you grant me permission to distribute them, I will certainly credit you and your book. Or, I could distribute them and collect them at the end of the lesson and destroy them. I anticipate making about 20 copies.

The following shows how I have separated the ideas out from your paragraphs. Please let me know if I may proceed or not.

Many thanks, Jean (Missouri)

The Covenant is founded on a Loving Relationship.

The deeper we dig into the doctrine of the Covenant, the more we discover a loving relationship – a caring Father is offering us all that he has and is.

Through covenants, He reveals the laws by which He lives, which are the commandments that He gives us.

That is, He offers us the same eternal covenants of progression and exaltation that made Him who He is. He knows that the Covenant will help us grow from dependence to independence.

For all these reasons, He invites us into a covenantal relationship, whereby we, together with Him, share His order of life and His pattern of celestial living. This is Zion!

Heavenly Father fully dedicates himself to offering us the Covenant, teaching us its intricacies, and walking with us step by step toward the Covenant’’s stated purpose: immortality and eternal life.(Moses 1:39.)

At each significant event along the way, “to fulfill all righteousness,”(Matthew 3:15.) we meet with Him, often at an altar, of our own free will, to exchange vows and gifts.

We promise and give our hearts, and He promises and gives us tokens and emblems, treasures that help us to remember His gift of a Savior and to retain in our remembrance the infinite price that was paid by the Father and the Son to make the Covenant possible.

Yielding our hearts to God allows us to be assimilated into the celestial order. We do this by living the celestial laws of Zion in a telestial world, adopting the Father’’s work of redemption as our own, and becoming experts at serving and saving his children.

As covenant people, our responsibility is to draw the Father’’s children into a holy circle of oneness that is indicative of Zion: safe, secure, peaceful, cooperative, merciful, charitable, and unified.

Through covenants we become His “peculiar treasures” (Exodus 19:5; Psalms 135:4.) by treasuring up the words of eternal life for the everlasting salvation of our souls in the kingdom of God.(D&C 6:20; 84:5.)

By the Covenant, He calls us out of the world and separates us for a holy purpose, so that one day He might elect (select) us for the highest manifestation of salvation called eternal life, which He will doubtless do if we keep our covenants. In that way, we elect/select ourselves for eternal life.

We are offered the Covenant because of a divine, loving relationship. Over time, the initial seed of the Covenant that was planted in our soul at the time of baptism acts as leaven and swells until it becomes full and delicious.

Our covenants Covenant separates us from Babylon, keeps us safe in the process, and endow us with power to withstand the adversary and perform our covenant responsibilities.

By no other law can we obtain exaltation. This is glorious potential of the new and everlasting covenant.

By: gospelidea

gospelidea — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 05:27:47 +0000

No. Not specifically about family history work.

By: gospelidea

gospelidea — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 22:24:56 +0000

When you are called to a position, the Lord takes the responsibility of making you equal to the task. Think of yourself as a missionary who has just entered the MTC to learn Russian. Not only must you learn the language, you must learn how to teach the gospel in that language. If you are like most missionaries, very little in your background qualifies you for this monumental task. So what do you do? Humble yourself and ask the Lord for help. If this process didn’t work, we would have 60,000 missionaries teaching the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. I suggest that you fast and ask for a blessing. Then go forward in faith. You might stumble around for a little while, but you will be among people who love you. If you are scared, be honest and ask for their prayers and support. You don’t need to be an actor; just be yourself and do your best, and the Lord will make up the difference. I testify that this works. When I began to write books, people started asking me to speak. I was terrified because I was sure I couldn’t do it. I fasted, prayed, asked for a blessing, prepared and opened my mouth. Everyone thought I had been speaking for years. I no longer worry about it, and neither will you. Blessings!

By: Ann Jones

Ann Jones — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:41:50 +0000

Brother Barkdull, you have addressed many topics in a wonderful and Christ-like way. Perhaps you may have already addressed this… I was the youngest in a family of six children from a dysfunctional home (emotional abuse)– we were to be seen and not heard, never allowed to speak at the dinner table (among other things). I have struggled all of my life trying to overcome my fear of speaking in front of a group of people— teach a class, give a talk, conduct, etc. I am okay one-on-one with people, but to be in front of a large group I am nearly paralyzed. I now have a calling at the temple where I must ‘be in charge’— conduct preparation mtgs, talks, etc. How do I overcome this weakness and learn how to replace it with faith, hope, charity, trust, confidence?

By: Michael Gailey

Michael Gailey — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:19:49 +0000

For years I have used your book, The Prodigal in helping to teach young folks the relationship between choice and accountability. Searching the web I don’t believe it to be in print anymore. I’ve been asked to process the teaching moments connected with an upcoming youth trek in our stake. Is The Prodigal available in any form, perhaps in a pamphlet? I’d like to use the story in written form for youth to read during a solo activity.

By the way, thanks for inspiring me over the years. I love your writings.

Mike