By their fruits ye shall know them
These two portraits are visual proof of what a life with the gospel can offer, and what a life without the gospel contains. This picture is of the same man, George P. Lee.
I've had many friends decide that membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was either too hard, or just not worth it. One of the trends I've noticed as I've seen many leave the church is they immediately openly adopted the vices of the world. Pornography, sex, alcohol, drugs, etc. A recent story of Br. Lee, the first native american to be called as a general authority for the Church, brought this to my attention again.
Focus on the picture to your left. Lee is well groomed in a nice suit and smiling. You can sense his goodness. Lee was called by President Spencer W. Kimball to the Church's First Quorum of the Seventy in 1975. He attended Brigham Young University where he earned a bachelors and doctoral degree.
Now focus on the picture to your right. Lee's mugshot captures him miserable, unkempt, and desperate. Lee was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1989 after a dispute with then-president Ezra Taft Benson. Lee was also arrested in 1989 and eventually pleaded guilty to the attempted sexual molestation of a young girl. Lee was arrested again in 2007 for failure to register as a sex offender. The case was eventually dropped. Lee divorced his wife in 1996. They had 7 children together. He recently passed away from lingering physical problems. A life that had become full of sin, hopelessness, and despair.
I can't imagine a more glaring example of how the gospel of Jesus Christ makes us better men, women, children, and families.
And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper...
1 Nephi 2:20
posted by Ben Arkell @ 10:52 AM
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