Your Most Precious Object

In recent years I've enjoyed helping my father edit his semi-annual missive to his former missionaries in the California Arcadia Mission. This is his way to keep in touch with them after these many years since their service together. Many of these missionaries have raised families of their own by now, sent their own sons and daughters into the mission field, seen them married in the temples, and now those children have children of their own too. His has been a long legacy of faithful service to the Church, as he outlines in this latest edition of "Heartlines" - 

April 2014

“YOUR MOST PRECIOUS OBJECT”

              We were greatly blessed –

- to be able to raise our family in a comfortable, large and spacious home on the Avenues of Salt Lake City, not far from my work at the L.D.S. Hospital. The three-level home had multiple exits on the second story level, some more dangerous than others. It was important to us that our children knew where to go in case of an emergency. So, on one occasion we devoted a Family Home Evening to conducting a fire drill to teach this possibly life-saving lesson.

Besides the life-saving preparation there was another very important outcome to be realized. A searching test question was added asking each person to decide which object they would choose to preserve, above all others, if they had but one, not more than two, minutes to quickly take possession of it before the menacing flames would envelop them. The answer to that question would declare this chosen object to be their most-prized possession. It was then, and still is, a most perplexing question. I could imagine that my daughter might choose her violin; her mother, maybe a diamond ring, but it would, of course, vary with each person and the decision might change as values are altered by maturity. But in my case, my choice has been unchanged over most of my life, for reasons I will explain.

Les Goates family as Brent
prepared to leave on his first mission

In 1942, I was called to serve in the Texas Mission. I had just completed my sophomore year at the University of Utah. Economic times after the Great Depression of the 1930s were still difficult and employment had just begun to improve with the stimulation of World War II.

My father, Les Goates, was employed by the Deseret News as sports editor. It was difficult for him to financially meet the expenses necessary to send his first boy on a mission. When it came time to provide for my scriptures, he gave me his own Triple Combination which had his name, Lesley Goates, embossed on the cover.

All through my two-year mission I studied from this sacred book and found therein the truths of the gospel which gave me a testimony of its divine message. Therefore, every page was treasured, and most of them were marked up with my notes in the margins. This same Triple Combination was with me through the next 23 years as my gospel scholarship broadened. It had been an instrument through which true revelation flowed. Therefore, it was to me priceless.

During the years of 1964-67, I served as a member of the General Priesthood Home Teaching Committee, traveling to teach the program with General Authorities at weekly stake conferences. In the Fall of 1967, a new level of general leadership was announced and many of us serving on one of the four General Priesthood Committees were called to be among the first appointed Regional Representatives of the Twelve. We came to the closeout of our last Home Teaching Committee stake visits on the weekend of September 23-24, 1967. Because the Brethren were reluctant for me to be far from the hospital on weekends, most of my assignments had been to nearby Utah stakes. But on this last appointment I asked to be sent to the most distant stake assigned to a conference. It turned out to be the Taber Stake in Western Canada. I was to accompany then-Elder Thomas S. Monson of the Council of the Twelve, who would preside at the conference.

We left on a Friday, spent that night at the Country Club Motel in Great Falls, Montana, then on Saturday we rented a car and drove about three hours to Taber. The assignment was one of the most satisfying and memorable experiences ever, and after completing our work at the Taber Stake we retraced our route and boarded a plane for home at Great Falls.

When our flight was underway, I brought out my scriptures to read. Seated next to me was Elder Monson, who noted the dilapidated condition of my Triple Combination. He turned to me and said, “Brent, your scriptures are falling apart and are hardly hanging together. If you will let me have the book for ten days I will recondition it and return it to you looking like new with a new binding and cover.” Elder Monson’s profession was in the printing and publishing field. He had previously been president of The Deseret Press, and still had connections there. So, reluctantly, I parted with the book.

Elder Monson was true to his promise. He returned to me a completely restored book neatly bound with a beautiful new leather cover, this time bearing my own name embossed in gold letters.

Almost every day in the subsequent 47 years, I have turned these pages seeking guidance and revelation for my life’s journey. This book has become my precious companion, and has endured a lifetime of scrutiny and research, accompanied by prayer. How can one put a price on a treasure like that? It is truly irreplaceable, and still is the most precious object which I would first of all preserve from the flames.

And now, what about you? What is your most precious object? If all else were to be destroyed, what would you choose first to save?

Always your friend,

          President L. Brent Goates

The Sinister Side of Secrecy

Helen and Brent Goates, 1975

My father, L. Brent Goates, now in his 91st year, served as a mission president in the California Arcadia Mission back in the seventies. Twice a year at General Conference time he continues a tradition started when he was serving in that calling. He sends out something he styled as "Heartlines" to about a hundred of his former missionaries and friends. 

He selects a topic that interests him at the moment and summarizes his thoughts by laboriously reducing them to writing on his old IBM Selectric typewriter that dates back to his days at the LDS Hospital. His physical strength is waning dramatically these days, but his spirit and mental faculties are still very much in evidence. 

This month everyone's mind has been preoccupied with the duplicitous nature of the Obama administration. Dad's not nearly as politically attuned as I, but he finds ample evidence to suggest my assertion "the most transparent administration in the history of the Republic" has become anything BUT that. I have also been appalled at the recent death of the Libyan ambassador and the subsequent withholding of the details for political expediency.  

He shares my concerns of the long-term suffering of people we know who have conducted double lives. He has witnessed and lived with those deleterious consequences and they still trouble him. With his permission I share his latest missive: 

October 2012 

The history of The Book of Mormon, my dear companions, reveals the sad demise of two great civilizations which God transported to the new and promised land of America. Both fell to the master Devil’s power when they forsook their Godly heritage. 

Through secret combinations the Jaredite world was continually threatened and finally succumbed. Such bands were a threat to the Nephite and Lamanite nations, challenging righteous authority and eventually seizing power to prevail. These secret societies were not original. They were the offspring of Satan and have existed since the day Cain prepared to kill his brother Abel. (Moses 5:29-31, 51). 

The trademark of Satan’s power operates under the protective cloak and pervasive use of secrecy. This is explained in Helaman’s record: 

Satan did stir up the hearts [of man]. . . and did enter into their covenants and their oaths that they would protect and preserve one another in whatsoever difficult circumstances they should be placed, that they should not suffer for their murders and their plundering and their stealing. . . . 
They did have their signs, yea their secret signs, and their secret words; and this that they might distinguish a brother who had entered into the covenants and whatsoever wickedness his brother should do, he should not be injured by his brother nor by those who did not belong to his band who had taken this covenant. (Helaman 6:21-23). 

Secrecy does have its legitimate place, such as in secret prayers and secret philanthropy. It might be justified in some cases to refrain from providing details or identities about people and their failings for the purpose of protecting their loved ones from hurt when no harm would otherwise result. 

Personal secrecy becomes dangerous and wrong when it is used to cover up one’s own sins. Since the Apostle Paul taught, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), it would be wise for all of us to examine our own sins. If in doing so we are reluctant and unwilling to set them aside, and when necessary make them known to those we are closest to – our loved ones or our ecclesiastical leaders – we should then be aware we are in dangerous territory. Modern revelation tells us when confession is necessary or complete: 

By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins – behold, he will confess them and forsake them. (D&C 58:43). 

If we are not able to abandon our sin through true repentance and we are too ashamed and unwilling to make our sins known to those closest to us, an alarm signal “beep” should sound off in our minds. Hopefully, in that soul searching examination we will find ourselves in an atmosphere of loving confidence and understanding with parents, spouse or the Church’s “common judge in Israel,” so our confessed disclosures will be kept confidential. This is another area where righteous secrecy is demanded. The Savior taught that after repentance, “I, the Lord, will remember them no more,” and I found as a Church leader that He allows us too, to forget after we have done our duty. 

When the recognition of the misdeed has brought a remorse and yet there is an unwillingness to seek forgiveness, then we are left alone with our sorrow. We are cast down into a world of secrecy with its multiple hazards. This is the place where Satan thrives best. Alone with our guilt in this realm of personal darkness, we become easy prey for the further influence of Satan, who delights in minimizing the seriousness of our transgressions and assures us that many others are likewise engaged and managing; therefore, our inaction is justified. 

Then comes the inevitable cover-up with its dishonesty, denial and deceit – and the “Secret Life” is born. Living two lives, one of total secrecy from loved ones and Church leaders is both frightening and exhaustive. As we persist in this direction we lose control over our judgment and so we become gripped by the awful tongs of addiction. Then, only pain and tragedy will follow because some day, after immense sorrow and suffering, the truth will be known. 

The most heinous crime and despicable sin emerge from a quiet and almost unnoticed beginning. Think of the tragedy that could have been averted if timely and humble repentance could have abolished the infractions in their infancy. 

In my experience such a narrow focus on secrecy has seldom been studied. For this reason I have dared to address such a personal and tender topic. Remember, that which we choose to keep secret to ourselves should be constantly under our own scrutiny and can be the tipoff for our future, either leading to rectification with peace or constant personal misery. We get to choose. 

As one sinner to all other sinners, I testify that God and true Saints love the repentant sinner. 

Always, your friend, 

President L. Brent Goates