2nd Nephi 31:14
Like many fellow friends and family, the older I get the clearer it becomes that rarely, if ever, do things in life happen by mere coincidence. Almost always, there is a lesson or reminder that the Lord sees the need to send us through mortal events and experiences which are divinely designed. And this, I've learned, is especially true when an event is unexpected, momentous, and/or unforgettable. One such occurrence unfolded in the evening of Friday, October 12th in 2018 for me.
While living in New Haven, CT, my wife, Bethany, and I attended the monthly dinner date night hosted on this evening by the local Institute of Religion for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The theme this month was of course Halloween. So after a great meal of (scary) food, the group of about 15 people played the game Werewolf. As a summary of the game, everyone is secretly assigned to be either a werewolf or a villager. The werewolves win if they can together kill off all the villagers; the villagers win if they can figure out who all the werewolves are an kill them. And to make it more fun, some of the players are secretly given special privileges or abilities. And it turns out that a couple of these played a major role in this game of Werewolf.
After the cards that would secretly assign each of us our role in the game were shuffled and distributed, I found out that my role was a villager with one of the special roles: a wild man. At the beginning of the game I needed to secretly pick a mentor. As long as my mentor was still alive, I would play the role of a normal villager trying to hunt down those werewolves. But if my mentor died in the middle of the game, I would become one of the werewolves. After the first couple rounds of the game, I had a pretty good guess about who were some probable werewolves in the crowd. And after forming a convincing enough argument, I was able to persuade enough of the other players to agree with me. And it turns out I was right! One after another I was somehow able to accurately guess who was a werewolf and persuade enough of the other villagers to "hang" them, upon which their werewolfness was revealed. Of course many villagers were also dying either from the werewolves killing one each round, or due to false accusations. After three of the four werewolves had been "hung", unfortunately a villager who was designated as the sheriff was killed by the remaining wolf. The sheriff had the special, but publicly known, ability to have two votes whenever we would vote on who to hang each round. And upon being killed, he was able to designate another player as the sheriff. And it turned out that he chose me as the new sheriff! By this time only about four villagers (including myself) remained to try and discover who of the five players was the final werewolf, and I had a pretty good clue as to who it was. Of course, my mentor was among the players who still lived. But when the next round began, my mentor was killed by the remaining werewolf. Interestingly enough though, my mentor also happened to have the special role as the witch who could use a potion to kill anyone around the same time as the werewolves could. And he happened to choose to kill the remaining werewolf whom I had suggested in previous rounds was the final one. So the round began by the final werewolf dying, but my mentor also died; this of course meant that I was now a werewolf, so the game of course was not over and my role had now changed secretly. While everyone knew that the wild man had turned into a new werewolf, I was the only one who knew who that new werewolf was. And through my "trustworthiness" that I'd built up through the previous parts of the game, combined with my capacity for two votes as sheriff, I was able to kill the remaining two villagers and win the game for the werewolves once and for all!
Along with being such an amazing and dramatic turn in the game that nobody anticipated, this absolute "coincidence" of how my role changed the entire course of the game was unforgettable. I had been able to discern so well who the werewolves were, enough so that the sheriff was willing to bestow upon me extra powers upon his elimination. And after a short time of using that power for good, I diverted to the group I once fought against and used my additional potential to become a winning force for them. It was absolutely fun, but I couldn't help but think, "Is there a spiritual reminder hidden inside this seemingly coincidental and momentous outcome?" Was there something to be learned from this that could affect the eternities?
While it of course seemed silly at first to try and draw a spiritual lesson from this game, I still felt the need to search for one. What could one learn from such an "Anakin Skywalker experience"? Relatively quickly, I began thinking of all the many great and faithful people I had known throughout the years, a (fortunately small) subset of which had dissented away from the truth of God and became a powerful force against what they once knew to be true and good. It seemed as if I had retraced their steps in the game of Werewolf. These friends of mine were once my examples; they had received the blessings of baptism, the Lord's holy priesthood, and some even served as full-time missionaries of truth; but when various life experiences came, often in the form of imperceptible spiritual storms, they diverted to the other side in a nearly permanent manner. It didn't take long before a scripture that I had sincerely shared many times as a full-time missionary was brought to memory:
Having previously used this scripture in multiple instances to warn friends against forsaking the Lord after taking upon themselves sacred covenants, I now had my own personal experience that gave me at least a perception of how true it really was. The truthfulness of it was manifested in history by King Solomon and King David in the Bible; it was confirmed by Judas Iscariot; I had seen it in the lives of friends. And now, I had been given my own personal warning from the Lord in a seemingly "coincidental" game of Werewolf to not let such a dissension happen in my own life.
Enduring to the end of life in faithfulness may be difficult at times, but it is always worth it. Imagine years of faithful effort not only going to waste, but transforming itself into nearly permanent hatred, guilt, and anger. This is what I learned from the a Book of Mormon scripture should be avoided at all costs. Stick to what you know is true. Look at the good you have already done in life. Endure to the end in faith.
While living in New Haven, CT, my wife, Bethany, and I attended the monthly dinner date night hosted on this evening by the local Institute of Religion for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The theme this month was of course Halloween. So after a great meal of (scary) food, the group of about 15 people played the game Werewolf. As a summary of the game, everyone is secretly assigned to be either a werewolf or a villager. The werewolves win if they can together kill off all the villagers; the villagers win if they can figure out who all the werewolves are an kill them. And to make it more fun, some of the players are secretly given special privileges or abilities. And it turns out that a couple of these played a major role in this game of Werewolf.
After the cards that would secretly assign each of us our role in the game were shuffled and distributed, I found out that my role was a villager with one of the special roles: a wild man. At the beginning of the game I needed to secretly pick a mentor. As long as my mentor was still alive, I would play the role of a normal villager trying to hunt down those werewolves. But if my mentor died in the middle of the game, I would become one of the werewolves. After the first couple rounds of the game, I had a pretty good guess about who were some probable werewolves in the crowd. And after forming a convincing enough argument, I was able to persuade enough of the other players to agree with me. And it turns out I was right! One after another I was somehow able to accurately guess who was a werewolf and persuade enough of the other villagers to "hang" them, upon which their werewolfness was revealed. Of course many villagers were also dying either from the werewolves killing one each round, or due to false accusations. After three of the four werewolves had been "hung", unfortunately a villager who was designated as the sheriff was killed by the remaining wolf. The sheriff had the special, but publicly known, ability to have two votes whenever we would vote on who to hang each round. And upon being killed, he was able to designate another player as the sheriff. And it turned out that he chose me as the new sheriff! By this time only about four villagers (including myself) remained to try and discover who of the five players was the final werewolf, and I had a pretty good clue as to who it was. Of course, my mentor was among the players who still lived. But when the next round began, my mentor was killed by the remaining werewolf. Interestingly enough though, my mentor also happened to have the special role as the witch who could use a potion to kill anyone around the same time as the werewolves could. And he happened to choose to kill the remaining werewolf whom I had suggested in previous rounds was the final one. So the round began by the final werewolf dying, but my mentor also died; this of course meant that I was now a werewolf, so the game of course was not over and my role had now changed secretly. While everyone knew that the wild man had turned into a new werewolf, I was the only one who knew who that new werewolf was. And through my "trustworthiness" that I'd built up through the previous parts of the game, combined with my capacity for two votes as sheriff, I was able to kill the remaining two villagers and win the game for the werewolves once and for all!
Along with being such an amazing and dramatic turn in the game that nobody anticipated, this absolute "coincidence" of how my role changed the entire course of the game was unforgettable. I had been able to discern so well who the werewolves were, enough so that the sheriff was willing to bestow upon me extra powers upon his elimination. And after a short time of using that power for good, I diverted to the group I once fought against and used my additional potential to become a winning force for them. It was absolutely fun, but I couldn't help but think, "Is there a spiritual reminder hidden inside this seemingly coincidental and momentous outcome?" Was there something to be learned from this that could affect the eternities?
While it of course seemed silly at first to try and draw a spiritual lesson from this game, I still felt the need to search for one. What could one learn from such an "Anakin Skywalker experience"? Relatively quickly, I began thinking of all the many great and faithful people I had known throughout the years, a (fortunately small) subset of which had dissented away from the truth of God and became a powerful force against what they once knew to be true and good. It seemed as if I had retraced their steps in the game of Werewolf. These friends of mine were once my examples; they had received the blessings of baptism, the Lord's holy priesthood, and some even served as full-time missionaries of truth; but when various life experiences came, often in the form of imperceptible spiritual storms, they diverted to the other side in a nearly permanent manner. It didn't take long before a scripture that I had sincerely shared many times as a full-time missionary was brought to memory:
"...After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels, and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me." ~ 2nd Nephi 31:14
Having previously used this scripture in multiple instances to warn friends against forsaking the Lord after taking upon themselves sacred covenants, I now had my own personal experience that gave me at least a perception of how true it really was. The truthfulness of it was manifested in history by King Solomon and King David in the Bible; it was confirmed by Judas Iscariot; I had seen it in the lives of friends. And now, I had been given my own personal warning from the Lord in a seemingly "coincidental" game of Werewolf to not let such a dissension happen in my own life.Enduring to the end of life in faithfulness may be difficult at times, but it is always worth it. Imagine years of faithful effort not only going to waste, but transforming itself into nearly permanent hatred, guilt, and anger. This is what I learned from the a Book of Mormon scripture should be avoided at all costs. Stick to what you know is true. Look at the good you have already done in life. Endure to the end in faith.
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