{"id":18427,"date":"2022-12-28T15:36:57","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T22:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicsquaremag.org\/?p=18427"},"modified":"2023-08-09T19:16:59","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T01:16:59","slug":"living-as-the-angels-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicsquaremag.org\/faith\/gospel-fare\/living-as-the-angels-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Living as the Angels Do"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"notes\" style=\"font-style: italic;font-size:0.9em;\">Painting by Rudolf Hirth du Fr\u00eanes &#8211; Feeding the Poor  (1846-1916)<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At every Christmas season, I commit some time to reflect on life\u2019s blessings over the years, and the many gifts I\u2019ve received from God, His Son Jesus, and people who\u2019ve made my life meaningful. This year has been especially poignant because of the recent untimely death of our 42-year-old son, Ryan. In my work around the globe among the world\u2019s poor, I\u2019ve seen a great deal of death, disease, and suffering. But when it\u2019s in your own family, it becomes more painful than perhaps otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet during this sacred week we\u2019re just finishing, as we reflect and evaluate, I\u2019ve remembered so many people who have become mortal angels who\u2019ve inspired and labored with me to reduce sorrow and human suffering, both locally and globally. I can\u2019t pick a single individual only. But together, we\u2019ve learned and worked around the world over decades. I believe our collaboration is an exciting testimony of how believers in Christ can uplift the poor and improve society today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our approach is not what the institutional Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may officially do. Nor is it about the things that government programs, the World Bank, the United Nations, Big Business, and others can accomplish. But I believe our collaboration is an exciting testimony of how believers in Christ can uplift the poor and improve society today. We can each become a blessing to others as we focus on what Jesus taught\u2014that we, like Him, should \u201cgo about doing good.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this dialogue on practical Christianity, I will share examples of\u00a0associates I\u2019m blessed to serve with who establish private humanitarian initiatives as they collectively see social needs around the globe and respond by reaching out with both faith\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0action. In the process, many are becoming angels serving others every day. We\u2019re inspired by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/scriptures\/nt\/heb\/12?lang=eng\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Apostle Paul<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: \u201cWherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees;<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I will build off this idea about ways each of us may become a source of blessing others by sharing mini stories about a number of global humanitarians with whom I\u2019ve labored. In some instances, they felt motivated by events, saw people\u2019s suffering, and felt determined to lessen the pain of those in this world of toil and trouble. Quite frequently they go unappreciated or unremarked-on. Instead, they make quiet commitments to design and carry out humanitarian efforts, often in far-flung corners of the world, and often in the face of tremendous odds, they go ahead and\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">do<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An example of such an angel is my old friend, Addie Fuhriman, with whom I served in a BYU stake young adult program years ago. She asked if I would be willing to help her and others laboring to reduce human suffering in West Africa. I agreed and joined the Ouelessebougou Alliance board of trustees, which included Elder Marion D. Hanks of the presidency of the Seventy at church headquarters, Sister Chieko Okazaki of the general Relief Society presidency, and others.<\/span><b><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This alliance, often simply called \u201cOA,\u201d was begun in the 1980s by a Utah group of Catholics, Latter-day Saint folks, and Muslims, including my friend, Addie. Their goal was to develop a long-term socioeconomic relationship with people living in a group of 30 villages in Mali, an African country that at the time was the third-poorest nation in the world. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OA undertakes projects requested by the villagers, who define their own needs, contribute labor to projects, and provide leadership from their own ranks. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lifteachother.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Projects include<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> constructing wells in a country suffering a 30-year drought, planting and fencing off gardens, providing basic health care training, teaching literacy, and establishing a village bank, along with various microenterprises and producer cooperatives. Through the years since, my life has been blessed by laboring with Addie and others among some of the poorest families on the planet, as well as serving and partnering with Latter-day Saint influencers. Addie became a lifelong humanitarian. Her initial request for me to assist was a blessing in my life that my wife and I, as well as our children, have benefited through decades of travel and volunteering among the poor in West Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Different Ways to Reach the Need<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As I see it, those of us who are believers in the scriptures and teachings of Latter-day Saint prophets and apostles can each become\u00a0global ministers by providing humanitarian service in three principal ways. First are the\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">traditional church programs<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as paying tithes, making personal offerings, going abroad as a group, or even serving as international missionaries in a needy African country, for example. I\u2019ve come to believe that this kind of service should be our top priority\u2014offerings that we give to bless the poor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A second area of outreach and humanitarian assistance can be provided through\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">partnering with other institutions<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Church programs like Latter-day Saint Charities, the Perpetual Emigration Fund, regular church welfare, self-reliance services, and more can join forces with other noble causes. In this way, friends from other faiths may benefit from our work, as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2022\/10\/18oaks?lang=eng\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">President Dallin Oaks admonished<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in a recent General Conference. Religious groups like the Adventists\u2019 ADRA, Catholic Relief, and the Muslim Relief Society, as well as various other outreach efforts, can help us bless our neighbors in need as global ministers, also.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The third category, and the one I will primarily describe in this paper, is that of our\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">engaging in individual acts of consecration and stewardship<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as contemporary Christian servants to the poor. These are what we might refer to as personal initiatives\u2014not through our own church\u2019s programs as an organization alone, but rather through the inspiration that comes when we pray about how we might help those around us or when we see on the nightly news the devastation impacting a community, region, or a country. Even our own neighbors right next door and others who might suffer and struggle in our community deserve our financial support, illustrated by the past months of horrific destruction and death <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/10\/03\/us\/hurricane-ian-trail-destruction\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from hurricanes in the South<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, this week\u2019s massive snowstorms hitting much of the country, and other natural disasters that have recently torn up regions of the United States. I might add that I believe it is crucially important that we engage in these kinds of activities locally, not merely globally, because those suffering in circumstances around us typically affect our own lives, and thus we can affect\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">their lives<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> much more easily, more rapidly, and with fewer costs, than we can affect people globally. However, in this article, I will specifically emphasize international humanitarian initiatives.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Illustrations of Angelic Practice\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I believe that becoming something like \u201cMinistering Angels\u201d on the ground empowers us to provide individual acts of consecration and stewardship, the kind that demonstrate a complementary path of service alongside large organizations or the institutional outreach\u2013even \u201cnoninstitutionalized\u201d acts of service to the poor, as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/deseretbook.com\/p\/teachings-gordon-b-hinckley-2269?variant_id=109178-hardcover\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">President Gordon B. Hinckley encouraged<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> us (p. 459).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We may consider these types of angels (or believers) to be unsung heroes\u2014individuals doing wonderful work to bless the lives of others while not demanding recognition for their work. Such faithful Christian disciples are those having characteristics such as being self-starters who don\u2019t wait to be commanded. They take action when they see a problem. They are inspired by something they feel inside. They are not motivated by external rewards, pressure, or recognition. Rather, their angelic services come from pure and authentic motives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another person I know who is a kind of ministering angel is Cecile Pelous, who, when she was stake Relief Society president in Paris, decided to launch an orphanage and asked me to help. She founded First Hope, an orphanage and school in Nepal. She started taking summer vacations to Nepal, leaving her prestigious job with the high-fashion industry in France to volunteer by helping abandoned children high in the Himalayas. Later she accumulated the funding to build her first orphanage and eventually left her job of luxury to operate a home and school that developed a better future for the local children. Some 20 years later, this angel, Sister Pelous, is still dedicated to her simple yet amazing program.[ref num=&#8221;1&#8243;]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The capacity for us to become angels as followers of Christ in changing the world is limitless, I sincerely believe. Yet far too often in our society, we do not fully appreciate those who live their faith. I reflect on the inspiring <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/scriptures\/nt\/1-cor\/16?lang=eng\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">words of the Apostle Paul<\/span><\/a>,<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who seems to invite us to become angels in service to others:\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over my years of working, teaching, and consulting in my chosen vineyard with the poor, I\u2019ve met many faithful Latter-day Saint angels who have developed what I refer to as\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">social entrepreneurial acumen<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014the capacity to see problems and then take action. Many draw on\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">business and other training to establish nonprofit start-ups of what are called nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs. As I have been privileged to be a part of growing that movement, I see a powerful trend that, in some ways, I would argue is far more important and ultimately will give us better recognition as Christians than would the typical for-profit business start-up or other means of wealth generation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, I think what we are seeing now is the flourishing of the means for building civil society. These include private voluntary organizations (PVOs), nongovernmental organizations, and third-sector institutions that are having an enormous impact in benefiting the lives of the poor around the globe. Many such angels have launched initiatives in the past several decades acting as \u201csocial entrepreneurial\u201d Christians drawing on their faith, relying on their values, harnessing their educations, and calling forth their business skills in designing and launching effective humanitarian services strategies. We see in the preceding illustrations of Addie Fuhriman and Cecile Pelous growing efforts by Latter-day Saint members within the U.S., outside the U.S., and across the world in Latin America, in Africa, in Asia, who are starting their own similar programs, drawing on that same faith, and as a result achieving significant impacts for good.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another illustration of this is a Latin American Peruvian student of mine, Jaime Figueroa, who was in my Master of Public Administration course I was teaching for the Romney Institute\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of Public Service and Ethics\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at BYU. He asked the class and me to help him organize a nonprofit foundation serving the poor of Peru, especially in the Sacred Valley of the ancient Inca region. A group in the class and I began designing and implementing a new nonprofit, now called Eagle Condor Humanitarian, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation working mostly in the Andes region of South America. This foundation works with local civic and religious leaders through projects that will empower impoverished villagers to acquire for themselves what they need and even want so that they will raise their own standard of living and have a more fulfilling life. With a variety of projects, volunteers work in several areas, including agro-industry, education, health, hygiene, housing, water, family gardens, small enterprises, microcredit, job and vocational training, and English and computer classes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Started by Jaime, the mission of Eagle Condor is to enrich family life, empower people, and build self-reliance. Its purposes include offering Peruvian employment opportunities, working out ways of raising the standard of living, and offering basic humanitarian charity. Our goal has been to build an ongoing organization that would improve the lives of the meek and the humble in Peru. Eagle Condor drew for its value statement on Latter-day Saint religious teachings that remind us we are all sons and daughters of God and must reach out to one another with love and concern. In this angelic enterprise, lifting the sorrow and suffering of those who are in distress is made possible by U.S. followers of Jesus who give financial and other resources such as skills and talents that rise out of people\u2019s generosity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other ministering angels I collaborate with have primarily been students, most of them alumni of BYU or alumni of other schools. Also, my colleagues have reached out for volunteers beyond academia, such as homemakers, retirees, artists, businesspeople, school teachers, CPAs, musicians, and lawyers. In all our work, we try to use gospel principles, defining\u201d charity,\u201d the very term which comes from old words for \u201cChristian love,\u201d to help the poor and elevate them in such a way that they may help themselves and in turn can begin to help others. So, it\u2019s this notion of a beneficial ripple effect. It\u2019s not a hand-out but a hand-up. It\u2019s not building dependency and giving out things and goods. It\u2019s not a form of creating a culture of wanting more and living passively while charity and relief simply continue to flow to the recipients. Rather, the Latter-day Saint ministering that my angelic friends seek consists of helping people learn principles and develop systems so that they may empower themselves and then reach out and empower others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why are such humanitarian \u201cangels\u201d needed today? Because the reality is that a great many people on the face of this earth are suffering. Over two and a half billion of them\u2014or almost half the world\u2019s entire population\u2014live on less than $2 a day. And over one billion live on less than a single dollar a day. It is clear to experts that critical needs are not being met by the enormous systems and large institutions, whether they be governments or the UN, or the International Red Cross. And the reality is that even if we gave away all the money we have as a country that it still wouldn\u2019t solve the problems of the billions of poor people. Churches could give away all of their funds, but that, too, wouldn\u2019t solve the problem. The challenge is to learn how we can be practicing angels by using capital\u2014whether financial, human, or organizational\u2014to build a better world and to address these terrible problems that the poor face around the globe and, by doing so, help them lift themselves up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hopefully, these brief stories I\u2019ve described suggest what Joseph F. Smith taught over a century ago: that \u201ca religion which has not the power to save people temporally and make them prosperous and happy here, cannot be depended upon to save them spiritually, to exalt them in the life to come.\u201d[ref num=&#8221;2&#8243;]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This great prophet shows that we are to become angels by helping the poor here and now, not just later in heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps one inspiring, final case from my experience will help conclude this matter. It involves my associations with a group of successful Latter-day Saint \u201cministering angels\u201d who enjoy considerable business success and wealth. Friends like Bob, Joseph, Mike, and Tim approached me, saying they\u2019d read my book,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/scholarsarchive.byu.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1364&amp;context=msr\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Working Toward Zion<\/span><\/i><\/a>,<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and wanted to collaborate in empowering poor communities. I told them they were \u201cangels in disguise\u201d because, just previously, I\u2019d had some requests from Mexico and India for economic assistance. Ultimately, we recruited other successful associates formally known as \u201cangel investors\u201d and launched a new nonprofit we called Unitus. The name meant we were going to \u201cunite-us\u201d as a human family by trying to practice the Law of Consecration and Stewardship among impoverished regions of the world. Raising tens of millions of dollars in its first several years, Unitus generated amazing impacts in dozens of nations. Encouraged by President Gordon B. Hinckley and several other General Authorities, my friends and I believed that greater global unity among people was possible by helping our sisters and brothers in lasting ways through socioeconomic self-reliance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Conclusions<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I believe these mini-cases offer glimpses of the many ways in which believers in Christ can utilize their God-given talents to carry out what the Church teaches. The scriptures show us how we can each become \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Everyday<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Angels.\u201d Better yet, \u201cEvery\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Year<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Angels\u201d or\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lifetime<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Angels.\u201d Such individuals practice the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/biblehub.com\/matthew\/5-42.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lord\u2019s own teachin<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">g,<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u201c<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Or, as the ancient apostle <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/biblehub.com\/james\/1-27.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James taught<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/1986\/04\/in-the-lords-own-way?lang=eng\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">President Russell M. Nelson<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur Heavenly Father is concerned for (the poor and needy). They are all his children. &#8230; The poor\u2014especially widows, orphans, and strangers\u2014have long been the concern of God and the godly <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2026 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To those who cared for the poor, blessings were promised.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I devoutly hope that this humble paper will inspire many more\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">angelic<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0initiatives from Latter-day Saints everywhere to offer increased and heartfelt service to those who struggle\u2014especially people in developing countries who suffer from abject poverty, illness, hunger, and even war. The ministering angels I\u2019ve described in my life have blessed others beyond me. In accelerating our missions as angels to the poor, perhaps we can establish a new private initiative as members of our church: \u201cLatter-day Saints Without Borders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[footnote num=&#8221;1&#8243;]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Woodworth, W. (2016). \u201cThe Work of First Hope Programs in Nepal.\u201d An analysis by the author of school and orphanage, 2002\u20132015.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[footnote num=&#8221;2&#8243;]Smith, J. F. (1905). \u201cThe Truth About Mormonism,\u201d\u00a0<i>Out West<\/i>. Vol. 23, p. 242[\/hiddenfootnotesection]<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"bottom-notes\" style=\"font-style: italic;font-size:0.9em;\">This paper draws on my life as a Latter-day Saint believer in God, a global change agent, as well as a practicing academic. Now in my 81st year, after teaching at BYU and other universities such as Rio de Janeiro, the University of Michigan, and Claremont in southern California, I am accelerating my writing to bear witness of Christ. I have always sought to engage others in applying their abilities to serve the world\u2019s \u201chave-nots.\u201d Growing out of my scriptural beliefs and adherence to modern prophets and apostles, I have sought to share valuable gospel principles that would help others to retain and grow their faith, as well as then to use their faith to make a real difference in society. I fervently believe they can apply their skills and formulate personal strategies in such a manner that they may become, in effect, initiators of a new nonprofit organization which we could call Latter-day Saints Without Borders.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even with so much suffering around us, I rejoice to have witnessed much suffering tangibly relieved by real-life, creative ministries to the poor. What more is still possible?  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":18428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[475],"tags":[138,308,554,128],"coauthors":[596],"class_list":["post-18427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gospel-fare","tag-christianity","tag-ministering","tag-service","tag-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Living as the Angels Do - Public Square Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I rejoice to have witnessed much suffering tangibly relieved by real-life, creative ministries to the poor. 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