“CHILDREN ARE AN HERITAGE OF THE LORD”

by: Norberto Betita

“Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalms 127:3). It was nice to think of having thirteen as we are in my family, but the accompanying responsibility of child rearing was such a frightening venture. The original family plan was only for four at four years interval. And so they came almost exactly as planned, except for the eldest and the second which were gapped at 5 years. However, one miraculous embryo sneaked, perhaps hoping for an opportunity to be with us, and by the providence of the Almighty was conceived under serious maternal risks. Her birth then almost cost her mother’s life. But her mother and Shauna Megan---our last-born--- were both saved by the family’s combined prayers of faith.

Like all her siblings, Shauna Megan had been such a wondrous addition and gift to the family. The parental sacrifices and the pains we have gone through from conception to her growing up, makes her even more important to the family. Her presence in the family circle filled our hearts with joy unspeakable.

The gifts of the Spirit she carried with her, generated a boost in the family. God has given her His “ten talents” or even more which since then were made manifest by the humble achievements and accomplishments she had gained during the last 26 years. Her gift of intellectual brilliance was long proven by her desire to excel from kindergarten through college. Maintaining the highest honors from grades I to VI and from first year to fourth year of high school was exemplary. Her record of excellence consistency was somewhat extraordinary. As parents, we stood with pride as we were honoured to hand over to her the “Cum Laude” medal she eligibly deserved from the University of the Philippines-Cebu. We have tried to keep her awards and medals of excellence. We find so much that many could no longer be identified as to which and where and when they were awarded. Her personal history will indeed be an inspiration for her nieces and nephews, and for her future children and posterity.

She loves the arts and music. Her writings inspire hearts. Her love for good books envies her nieces. Her persistent earnest desire for knowledge and learning keeps her intellectually alive. Her verbal ability reminds me of her kindergarten graduation when she stood with passion and confidence and delivered a welcome remarks by exact memory in an audience of children, parents, guests and educators. Such was further proven by awards in oratorical contests, speaking assignments in proms, and in two valedictory addresses in elementary and high school graduations which in my observations had stirred up high the heads of guest educators in awe.

Summing up all her strengths and wonderful gifts of the Spirit; I found that the greatest of all is her attribute of self-denial. In many instances even in her early childhood, she always placed the welfare of others above her own. Despite her quest for academic excellence, she always finds time in service for her nieces and nephews, for her friends, for her siblings, for us and for God. In her, the words of Ronwell Dwight Hitchcock find its real meaning: “The secret of all success is to know how to deny yourself. Prove that you can control yourself, and you are, an educated [woman]; and with this all other education is good for nothing.” Her love and generosity are virtues which in her heart inherently abide. 

Twenty six years since that fearful day of November 23, 1990, when she was given birth by caesarean as a result of her mother’s stroke, she is supposed to already be on her independent journey. She is to be on her way to find personal growth and progress. But she prefers to be of a broken heart and contrite spirit and by her attitude of selflessness she instead bears with us the burdens which should have been solely ours to lift.

Indeed how grateful we are of that miraculous embryo which sneaked in Mama’s womb, conceived and delivered under great risks of life. By her coming to life we find greater parental honor, greater family joy and gladness, greater inspiration and faith, greater hope in life, and stronger testimony that God does love His sons and daughters and that in His eternities we will one day be united together forever.

May the gleaming light of dawn awaken her with the sweetest smile on this her 26th birthday, and may the flashing rays of the rising sun shines brightly forward to remind her of the wonders of her birth and the joy in every footstep of her journey since then and onwards. The future is still far and uncertain. Our best wish is for her to always ‘walk the pathway where Jesus walked’ that joy and happiness will ever continue to be a part of her blessings in life.

I and my wife are immeasurably grateful for having her and her siblings as being such amazingly wonderful divine heritage from God. I believe that children are not only 'an heritage of the Lord,' but are our ultimate treasures on earth as well as in heaven.

THE INCREDULITY IN A CHANGING WORLD

By: Noberto Betita

I had grown my beards, while sheeps are sheared. But I tried to be a sheep in a wolf’s clothing and never to be a wolf in a sheep’s clothing. Yet, I realized sooner than my maturity does that even in old age, I am an easy target of the lure and wheedling of the world; that we are all subject to the mad rush of worldly indulgence and are easily carried into the rushing river of filthy waters; and if we are not mindful to hold fast to the iron rod provided for safety, we might eventually be drowned into the vortex of the satirical and scornful world. 

In my growing, past the ages of an advanced, most modern and highly sophisticated planet earth, I have come to observe more of the incredulity in a changing world---a condition upon which the people’s unbelief, eventually brought about things and events which I felt to be totally impossible and preposterous, but which are actually happening.

In disbelief I am entirely stunned to see that more animals are behaving like humans in a human world, while more humans are behaving like animals in a human world.

More animals are tamed in a domesticated environment, while more humans are becoming ferocious and wild in the jungles of towering concrete, glass and steel.

More animals are content and sharing with each other the things which God provided them, while more humans are greedy of gain and envious of each other’s silver and gold; power and riches.

Animals are easy to obey the warnings of forest rangers and park guards, while many humans are opt to challenge and defy enforcers of law and order.

A hen cuddles her eggs while in the nest and gathers her chicken under her wings for protection and safety, while a woman is willing to abort a life inside her sacred womb and throws her living child in a trash bin or filthy garbage.

A woman leaves her little child as worthless garbage to die, while a dog sensed a life and carried the babe to his master’s home to live.

More animals choose and are determined to protect and save animal life, while more humans are building armaments and weapons of mass destruction to annihilate human life.

A cub was lost and found, allowed to grow into a lion and given the opportunity to finally live in his natural habitat. Many years later, the men who cared for him insisted that they meet despite prohibitions. Yet when the lion saw them he hugged each of them in expressions of deepest gratitude and even introduced his pride and his wife who likewise gave them each a hug of thankfulness. Regrettably, more humans are full of excesses and abundantly overflowing riches, yet securely cuddling an attitude of greed and sheer ingratitude.

Many animals are taught proper behaviour only in cages and fences and they learn to behave, while more humans are trained in most comfortable rooms in best universities with all the most sophisticated learning resources and still they misbehaved. ­­

Cats and dogs are often featured in stories and tales as being the toughest of enemies. As a boy I often witness a dog chasing a cat in our neighbourhood. My maternal grandfather is affectionate of cats because he believed that they are the only animals who prayed for his master to be rich for they always desire to lay on cushioned sofas and soft bed mattresses. But his dog and cat often quarrel. Not long ago, however, I saw “Meming,” our cat and Jackie, our dog as friends. They sometimes eat together and one Christmas morning I saw Meming lying on Jackie’s side while they were both asleep. The cat and dog finally ended their long tales of fighting as enemies as if forgiving each other’s mistakes, while more humans are increasingly involved in continued bickering.

So it seems that an increasing number of animals are becoming more humane, while more humans are spawning and germinating seeds of inhumanity to man.

Yet humans are God’s greatest and grandest creations and the beasts or animals are subject to them. Humans, therefore, should have been more tamed than animals and more obedient than the beasts.

However, to those who are familiar with the prophesied events of the last days and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, these worldly episodes are no surprise. No less than the prophet Isaiah prophesied of the condition when all animals who are enemies, will eventually live together in peace. Cruelty to all living creatures will be ended. He wrote: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

“And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

“And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.

“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6-9).

The attitude and character that these animals are presently exhibiting are most likely preludes and overtures of that prophesied condition.

On the other hand The Apostle Paul declared to Timothy:

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

“Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

“Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:” then he warned, “from such turn away.” (2 Tim. 3:1–5.)

The apostle Jude likewise recorded of a prophecy by “Enoch, the seventh from Adam,” about the coming of the Lord “to execute judgment upon all…that are ungodly…and of all their hard speeches” which people he described as “…murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage” (Jude 1:14-16).

Then the Lord Himself warned the people of a future condition and coming judgement as he taught the parable of the wheat and the tares recorded in Matthew 13:24-30, of which in subsequent verses He declared: “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

“The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

“The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

“As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

“And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:37-43).

It is therefore clear that all that is happening now are merely conditions where men and women---the humans, are showing with enormity, lapses in behavior, being subjected to the lies of the evil one, even Satan the enemy of God. Pres. Thomas S. Monson said, “We live far below our divine possibilities. Some become confused by materialism, entangled by sin, and lost among the passing parade of humanity.”

This is the condition that is immediately preceding the harvest of souls as the Lord comes once again no longer in swaddling clothes, but in power and great glory to judge all men according the their works, and to crown the righteous, not with thorns, but with glory and honor, power and might. The event is described both as great and dreadful. Our only remaining hope of deliverance from this condition is our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atoning sacrifice. We can always look to Him for safety and power to overcome our most challenging circumstances and the evils of our day. He warned the righteous:

“Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free; entangle not yourselves in sin but let your hands be clean, until the Lord come; For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man, and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light, and the moon shall be bathed in blood, and the stars shall become exceeding angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig tree. And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people; For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground, and shall not be able to stand. And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea, heaving themselves beyond their bounds. And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people; And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying, Prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come: behold, and lo! the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him” (D&C 88:86–92).

Beyond the hazards and perils of the coming harvest of souls, Jesus Christ offers hope and assurance that He can carry us even from the depths of our sinfulness, of our infirmities, of our problems, of our sorrows, of our sicknesses. His reassuring promise and commitment rings as ever into our ears as he declared: “For behold, I, God have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent, but if they would not repent, they would suffer even as I. Which suffering caused myself even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink. But glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.” (D & C 19:16-19).

Repentance, obedience, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are necessary so that the effects of His infinite sacrifice; His love and mercy may be manifested in our lives. His promise is sure as the sun rises in the east, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God and he shall be my son” (Revelation 21:7). His warning is ever clear as the light of noonday, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). “...And [together with the devil] shall be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

We are continually admonished to be in the world, but not being a part of the world; and the Lord has given each of us the moral agency to choose for ourselves whether to get in and participate in the world’s unbelief or give heed to the words of eternal life and walk past the incredulity in a changing world. The consequences are ours to suffer or enjoy.