aware<\/em> of that.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a matter of fact, Elder McConkie was fatally ill with cancer, as he well knew. \u00a0He died on 19 April 1985, less than two weeks after he spoke in General Conference.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Viewed in that light, his dry mouth might well have been a result or a symptom of his very serious illness. \u00a0And his emotions were almost certainly more intense because he knew that he had only a few days left. \u00a0More sympathetic or more charitable people might even feel that it was rather heroic of him to speak for one last time, to publicly declare his faith on one final occasion, despite his pain and his weakness.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But a certain breed of apostate seems \u2014 online, anyway \u2014 to feel neither charity nor sympathy for anything or anybody connected with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can never help being reminded, in such cases, of the description of the apostates of Ammonihah described in Alma 14. \u00a0After reading about how they\u2019ve burned a large number of faithful women and children alive and repeatedly beaten Alma and Amulek, we find this verse:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
21\u00a0<\/span>And many such things did they say unto them, gnashing their teeth upon them, and spitting upon them, and saying: How shall we look when we are damned?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
To which my inevitable inner response is, \u201cYou\u2019ll look exactly as you do right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Calgary, Alberta, Canada<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Even at this late stage of my life, I can still be, and not infrequently am, astonished by the behavior of certain especially bitter and hardcore critics of the Church. \u00a0Typically \u2014 and unsurprisingly \u2014 they\u2019re not never-LDS Evangelicals but, rather, apostates. \u00a0(That seems to be historically true, as well, and not merely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Flores](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/07\/320px-Rafael_Flores_-_Dante_y_Virgilio_visitando_el_Infierno.jpg\")
<\/a>