Dear Sister Morgan;

"A few weeks ago our son Kenneth, while at Camp Roberts, Calif. witnessed an awful plane crash that lots of people of different ages were killed, and he helped to pick up the wreckage. It seemed to have upset him very much, and he wrote and asked his daddy some questions concerning predestination. When he answered the letter, Ralph, our second son, read the letter and it meant so much to him that he made a copy of it before mailing it to Kenneth.

I thought that since it meant so much to him, it might mean something to others, and since writing that letter several people have asked my husband questions concerning this same thing, so I am sending a copy of the letter to you. If you feel that it would bring comfort and enlightenment to others, you might like to print it in the Trumpet. Do as you see fit with it.

We saw the notice of Elder Morgans sister in the last Trumpet and wish to extend our most sincere sympathy. I truly hope Elder Morgan is improving and hope you had a very pleasant holiday season. Our son is getting out of the army tomorrow, my birthday, so we shall be expecting them home very soon now, and we can hardly wait to see them. We have late pictures of the baby. He is a darling.

I enjoyed and appreciated your good letter some time ago so very much. Write me again sometime if you can spare the time. Humbly yours, unworthily, Mrs. H. E. Harris

 

The letter

Tuesday Night
December 8, 1959

Dear Kenneth:

I wish I could put my thoughts into words. If I could, I think I could answer your question. First, I know what you saw was an awful thing and could cause almost anyone to question. However what God foreknew and what He predestinated are two different things. What all His foreknowledge embraces no one can say but this much we can say. He knew the general outlay of everything and the nature of all things.

In Romans 8:20, we see we were not made vain but subject to vanity. Therefore we are subject to wrong always but at no time is God responsible for the wrong we do. Before your birth I knew you would do wrong at times for I knew the nature of man. But never has it been my will or plan for you to do it. If you do wrong it does not keep you from being my son, but I love you because you are my son.

Because of His everlasting love, God made choice of us in Christ before the world began. We have ever been his. But when we do wrong we are chastise for it as any father would chastise a son if he really love him. This is why we reap just what we sow. But let us not forget that while we reap what we sow there are others that suffer many things while we are reaping. Yet they had nothing to do with the thing we did. If you were to kill a man and leave a good wife, mother and little children without anyone to love and care for their daily needs you would reap what you had sown but just look what they would suffer and yet they had nothing to do with the crime and in no way were responsible for it. Therefore we should be very careful how we figure on these things. I could do many things that would cause you much suffering while I reaped what I had sown. You can do likewise to me.

Just suppose you do some crime and got to the electric chair for it. You would just be reaping what you had sown but look at Mary and little Kenneth where it would place them. Yet they had nothing to do with the crime. If it did not affect anyone but us when we reap what weve sown it would be much different. Now God did not have any part in this. You brought it on yourself and others. I hope you can see here the difference between the works of God and the works of man. Many people have gone to their death by wicked hands but God has never caused anyone to do wicked. We can bring death upon ourselves by exposure or by our conduct. We can cause someone to kill us by our wicked acts. Therefore we have wasted ourselves and God had nothing to do with it.

He has a work in which he asks no one to help him. He has told man what he wants him to do. He does His will but man often fails to do his. You will find in Ecclesiastes Chapter 7, verses 15-16-17, that it is possible for a man to waste himself and die before his time. Now you will notice he says he has seen the just man perish in his righteousness. Though I might be a righteous man I yet could destroy myself by my conduct.

The wicked man prolongeth his life in his wickedness, I might say it this way. This man though he was a wicked man used every precaution to take care of himself. Even a car will last longer if taken care of. Yet it could be wrecked or ruined long before it would wore out Psalms 55:23. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. I think this will be enough Scripture to prove why I feel as I do about it.

In Job 15:5, he says, "Seeing his days are determined the number of his months are with thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." This shows you that God is the giver of life. It belongs to him. No man can lay it down of himself. Or hold to it when God reaches down for it. No one has the right to take his own life or the life of others for that should be left to God as he is the giver of it. There is a boundary line set by God, that we cannot pass and left entirely with God we will reach that boundary. But if we say we cannot go before this time we would be saying God is the author of rape, murder and many other crimes which he has commanded us not to be guilty of. So you see he would not fix a thing for us to do and then command us not to do it.

I admit these things might be hard to understand but I truly hope I have made myself clear. "Not one sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of God." Matthew 10:29. He sees everything as it happens but he didnt predestinate everything. There are many man made devices that we may be destroyed with but God sees us when we fall. God has a permissive will but suffers some things to be so. As to the ways and means of death with God, I find in history of old, He had four Judgments that brought death to man. They were sword, famine, pestilence and wild beast. This he brought to man at his appointed time. Therefore Christ is the only one that had power to lay his life down and take it up again. The four Judgments of God, if you will consider them, cover all the natural ways of death. We cannot lay our life down but we can waste it. Though we do, He will be with us all the way and when we fall He will embrace us, both small and great, and heaven will be our home.

"The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal, the Lord Knoweth them that are his" Second Timothy 2:19. Whether on land or at sea God knows where our dust lies. In Mathew 19:14 Jesus said, "Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." However these little ones leave this world they are in the hands of God, and it is their gain and our loss. It is my prayer that these things be of comfort to you. "Thou shalt keep therefore His statues and His commandments which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever." Deuteronomy 4:40. Honour thy father and they Mother as the Lord thy God has commanded thee, that they days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Deut. 5:16 "That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy sons, and thy sons son all the days of thy life and that thy days may be prolonged." Deut. 6:2

"The fear of the Lord prolongeth days; but the years of the wicked shall be shortened." Proverbs 10:27. "The prince hat wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days." Proverbs 28:16 "And if thou will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy Father David did walk then I will lengthen thy days." First Kings 3:14. "And I will add unto thy days 15 years." Second Kings 20:6 "For by me thy days shall be multiplied and the years of thy life shall be increased." Proverbs 9:11.

Son. I truly hope this will be of some help to you. It is what I believe with all my heart if I know anything about what I believe. May God bless you in every way.

As ever,

Daddy.