In January 1945, American Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, who was in charge of about a thousand American prisoners at a German POW camp, was told to have all Jewish prisoners report in front of their barracks in the morning. Instead, Master Sergeant Edmonds ordered all the prisoners to stand together in front of their barracks. When the German officer saw them, he said to Edmonds, “They cannot all be Jews.” Edmonds responded, “We are all Jews.” The German officer took out his pistol and threatened to shoot Edmonds. The Master Sergeant said, “If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of us, and after the war you will be tried for war crimes.” The German officer turned around and left. About 200 Jewish American prisoners were spared.
With the announcement of the new meeting schedule, it is more important than ever that the sacrament become a pivotal point in our weekly devotion. I share this Pondering in the hope of deepening our sacrament worship. It is based on notes for a talk I gave in a sacrament meeting a couple months ago in Mongolia.
A couple years ago I wrote the BYU-Hawaii campus a pre-conference message on hearkening. I spoke about how we should listen to prophets with the intent to obey. Today I want to share a similar message but from the negative perspective: how not to listen to prophets.
