Q & A with the "perfected" Millennial Mormon

I'd like to spend a few minutes responding to some questions about this blog and about myself.

Q:  Why is the blog called "Millennial Mormonism Today" when you don't write everyday?
A:  There are multiple reasons for this.  As you press forward in your millennial journey to rediscover who you are, what you will find is that you are more mindful about today and this very moment than you are about the past or the future.  It is a hellish, Telestial, natural man/woman mindset that worries and perseverates about the future (or the past).  Jesus the Christ said:  "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matthew 6:34).  This is repeated in the Savior's sermon at the temple to the Nephites and in D&C 84:81-84.  The natural woman or man finds this to be a hard saying.  Who can hear it?!

Q:  Are you an apostate or excommunicated member of the church?
A:  No.  I actually hold a current temple recommend and love the church.  The church, the apostles and prophets and the temple have brought me out of the world and into the wilderness.  Jesus Christ is bringing me into the promised land.

Q:  So you don't follow the prophet?
A:  The scriptures, the laws and ordinances, the temple, the apostles and prophets (dead and living) and indeed "all things" are types and shadows of Jesus Christ (see 2 Nephi 11:4).  The apostles and prophets are special witnesses of Jesus Christ and point to him as the means and example of perfection (becoming whole, holy or complete).  The natural woman or man worships the types and shadows.  They spend most of their energy focusing on the external symbols.  A millennial mormon is more concerned with the meaning behind the type and the internal application for him or herself.  For every external type, there is a corresponding internal meaning that leads to perfection.  Thus there are external apostles and prophets and internal apostles and prophets.  There is an external temple and there is the internal temple.  There are external ordinances and internal ordinances.  It is not that the external is meaningless or of no value.  They are very valuable clues that lead us in the right direction.  But they are not ends of themselves.  Once the meaning and focus is directed to the internal, peace, joy and happiness are found.  If you are from Utah, I'm sure you are familiar with the song Jerusalem by Alphaville.  There is a profound line in that song that corresponds to my answer.  "Chasing shadows (types) leaves you feelin' blue, this situation needs a cure . . ."

Q:  So why do you stay in the church?
A:  The church continues to be a beautiful and wonderful place to work out my salvation.  God speaks to us in our own language as you well know.  The language and learning of my "fathers" (in this case the church) is helpful for me to know where I am in my internal millennial journey.  The church is the faith and tradition of my fathers and mothers.  I have friends and family there.  The dogma, doctrines, policies, rules, standards etc. are types and shadows.  I don't spend a lot of time focusing on the external.  It is the internal that counts more for me at this stage in my journey.  If I were to attend another church I would need to learn a whole new language and the message would be the same for me anyways.

Q:  Are you a "New Order Mormon"?
A:  No.  Although there is certainly significant overlap.  The difference as I see it is that Millennial Mormons tend to "believe all things" because all things are types and shadows.  I would let New Order Mormons speak for themselves on how they would like to be defined.  I do like the band New Order though.

Q:  Why do you talk about the temple?  Don't you know it's sacred?  You're not supposed to use the temple's words in common speech.
A:  The temple is one of the most profound ways we come to know Truth.  As we know, the temple is saturated with symbolism.  The entire temple endowment, past and present has been published for quite some time.  It truly is not a secret.  There are many phrases from the temple that we use in common church dialogue.  One example is the phrase:  "return and report" which is used frequently outside the temple.  I do not claim that how I see the symbolism of the temple is the correct way.  I don't speak for the church.  I am not President Monson.  I alone am responsible for what I say and believe.  It is merely my opinion.  This is as it should be.  The Brethren are correct in promoting the sacredness of temple.  On a Telestial level, this is very appropriate.  There should not be one correct interpretation of the temple's symbols.  What is sacred is the subjective internal meaning translated from those symbols for the individual.  The Internet is a miraculous thing.  It is a great symbol in and of itself of oneness and unity.  I see you the reader of this blog as one with me rather than separate.  The Telestial world is about seeing things and people, including God, as separate, whereas in millennial thought, the emphasis is placed more on oneness and unity.  Therefore the meaning of how something is sacred and when, how and where, sacred things can be expressed depends upon your mindset.

Q:  Do you believe in the literal historicity of the Book of Mormon?  What about DNA studies, etc.?
A:  For me the value of the Book of Mormon is not so much in what aspects are literal and what aspects are symbolic.  There are legion opinions about that.  As I have said before, for me, everything is a type and shadow.  Which is more important, the mirror and the reflection, or the actual person it is reflecting?  Nicodemus Mormons focus on the mirror and the reflection.  Millennial Mormons are more interested in the actual person.  It is not that the mirror or the reflection isn't valuable.  It is.  But once you are familiar with what is being reflected back, it becomes less necessary to look into it.  The Book of Mormon is a mirror and it is about you!  You are the golden plates that have been hidden (deep in the mountain side) and are now coming forth.  You are being translated correctly and published to the world.  You are the most correct book on earth.  The Nephite and Lamanite wars within you are coming to a close as Christ comes.  You are the temple in Bountiful where Christ visits.  This is what is important from my perspective.  I still get curious about if the Nephites actually existed and where they lived.  I'll smile if they ever find ancient horse bones, an "I Nephi" inscription or Middle Eastern DNA in Native Americans.  But if they don't, then it won't change the incredible meaning and peace I have found through the symbolism of the Book of Mormon.  God brought the book forth not as a history lesson but to change your life and help you to remember who you are.  The curse has not yet been lifted on the church for treating lightly the sacredness of the Book of Mormon (see D&C 84:54-57).  I sometimes wonder if we are seeing that played out now because in times past we have focused so much on the historicity and searching for an epic and romanticized perspective on the book rather than recognizing how the book applies to us individually, spiritually and internally.  You can lift the curse for yourself, and eventually it will come to pass that the curse will be lifted on the whole church collectively.

Q:  What is a Nicodemus Mormon and why do you hate them?
A:  A Nicodemus Mormon is a member of the church who is in the Telestial phase of their spiritual journey towards becoming perfected or whole (holy) and complete.  They tend to center their focus and lives on the law and the prophets.  They are akin to scribes and Pharisees.  They are named after Nicodemus, a Pharisee in the New Testament, who initially took what Jesus was saying as literal and at face value.  They tend to be uber literalists.  They tend to focus on the physical/material world and make judgements from that perspective.  I use the name "Nicodemus" (see John 3:1-9) to describe a stage in my life because he was an open minded Pharisee who became converted to the gospel and began following Jesus.  Therefore, Nicodemus Mormon is not a pejorative so much as an identifier of where one is at in their journey.  I was once a Nicodemus Mormon but now that phase of my journey is fading away as I continue to rediscover who I am.  I may sound a little harsh with them sometimes but that is consistent with the example of Jesus.  His most direct criticisms went to the scribes and Pharisees.  He was kind and merciful to sinners and prostitutes who wanted to change their lives.  This seems to me to be a mirror as to what style a person wants and needs to help them to move forward.  Some need kindness and mercy and some need something a little stronger.  I do not hate anybody.  I especially recognize the difficulty of moving beyond the Telestial.  I know it is not easy and I love those who are making the journey as well as those who choose not to in this life.

Q:  Why do you believe that we can become perfected in this life?
A:  It depends on what you mean by perfected.  I use the terms whole or complete as a way to describe a fullness of the triune nature of the soul.  The soul is made up of three parts.  Intelligence (Divine Nature), Spirit, and Body.  Intelligence is co-eternal and cannot be created or destroyed.  When all three parts are functioning in harmony and unison then a soul is said to be perfect.  Our Heavenly Father has a perfect triune soul.  Jesus Christ has a perfect triune soul.  The natural man makes a superficial judgement about perfect and tends to only look at the physical or superficial, and is concerned with rules, commandments, traditions and laws.  A millennial perspective is more interested in internal process and interaction between the three parts and how they become one.  There are many scriptures about finding this perfected process in this life.  In Matthew 5:48 Jesus commands men "to be" perfect not to "become" perfect.  It is present tense.  It is about what is going on right now inside of you.  Another scripture is in 2Peter 1:10 where Peter says we should be diligent in making our calling and election sure.  Most members of the church see this concept as something out of reach for them when it is clearly applicable to all of us.  It is meant to be in this life.  In Moroni 7:3 the prophet Mormon speaks about entering into the "rest of the Lord" in this life before our body dies!  Many members of the church are in anything but a restful state because they are in the Telestial part of their journey.  Jesus said:  "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).  That is so true.


May you always be blessed my friends.  I hope this helps to clarify your questions.

Does God laugh?

Greetings my friends. I'm grateful for each one of you. Thank you for your comments and questions. I always welcome and enjoy them.


There is a Yiddish proverb that says: "Man plans and God laughs". I think there is a lot of truth to that statement, in more ways than one.


When you juxtapose the recent Icelandic volcano activity with the fear based global warming movement, this proverb can be particularly instructive. While I do not deny that humans have an impact on the Earth's environment and even climate, I think we must keep perspective on the limited power and authority of the natural man. Again, I do not deny the science of man-made impacts on climate. That is not my point here. However, if you believe that the natural man can somehow calibrate climate change then you are fooling yourself. Natural man can hardly predict weekly weather patterns, let alone climate change over millions of years. While it is a worthy goal to create Man/Nature At-One-Ment, we must recognize that for this to be effective we must first be in harmony with our own internal divine nature and create the At-One-Ment within.

But why would God laugh at this situation according to the Yiddish proverb? In our planning efforts to curb greenhouse gases to prevent GLOBAL WARMING we may find as time goes on that we come to regret that decision. WHAT!!??  What do you mean Millennial Mormon??!  I thought greenhouse gases were a bad thing and a pollutant! 

In the future, we may recognize that a few more volcanic eruptions such as the recent one in Iceland would actually create a significant COOLING effect on our climate. This is called: Volcanic Winter and since we can't predict when and how often volcanoes will erupt, we really shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that we can calibrate our climate. In the future, we may look back and realize that our greenhouse gas emissions were a good thing and actually prevented us from experiencing a mini ice-age or worse.  In the mean time, all the fear based global warming hyperbole has actually generated elaborate ideas such as a giant space-based sun-shade.

This is why "man plans and God laughs". Darth Vader said something akin to this when he made this comment about the Death Star: "Don't be too proud of this technological terror that you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of the force."

Therefore, we can construct all the technology we want to curb greenhouse gases but until we understand and remember who we are, we may find God laughing at our best laid plans.

Since I have shown that God obviously does laugh, the next question is how loud does He laugh? The answer is that it is usually not loud laughter. There are many layers of symbolism to this so let those who have ears to hear God laughing, let them hear.

If all of this is still not evidence enough for you that God does indeed laugh and you need a further sign, then just imagine God watching me as I try to pronounce the name of the Iceland Volcano:  Eyjafjallajökull.

Say no more.


Peace and blessings to you my friends.  All the best to you in your millennial journey to let go of fear. 
Laugh a little on the way.  But not too loud.

Millennial Conference Report April 2010

Greetings to everyone! I hope this post finds you well and in the millennial moment. I hope you had a wonderful Easter. Like many of you, I had the opportunity to watch conference on Easter weekend. When I watch conference now, what I am most curious about is what strikes me as millennial and what strikes me as "nicodemus". Please note that I never blame the Brethren for a nicodemus message. Like many of you, I know that the living Apostles and Prophets speak on behalf of the Lord. Their message is a perfect mirror of our millennialness or lack thereof. While there may be many who will blame and fault find the Brethren, I will not be one of them. Blame and faultfinding are inextricably tied to the Fall. Blame is a sign that we have partaken of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that we see the world in a fragmented perspective, and out of fear and shame we avoid accountability and a recognition of our agency. As a result, we blame and sink deeper into a fear-centered Telestial world. Blame is natural man territory. If you blame, you're lame! When I say "lame" I am using it in the same context as a racehorse. If the horse is lame, it is hurt or damaged and will not be able to progress very far in its journey. The same is true of you, if you blame. When you blame, you sink deeper and deeper into a fallen world that few find their way out of. Millennial Mormons recognize that accountability and recognition of agency or free will is the opposite of blame.


MILLENNIAL HIGHLIGHTS:
President Uchtdorf is on a millennial roll! His talk: "You Are My Hands" was extremely impressive. If you want to shift your life into more of a millennial gear, I would highly recommend his talk. Reading the words don't really do the talk justice. Hearing him express this talk was truly inspiring. The feeling of love was overwhelming. Thank you President Uchtdorf.

Elder Oaks also gave an interesting talk in the Priesthood Session entitled: "Healing the Sick". What was interesting and unifying about this groundbreaking talk is his recognition that faith is the central element in the miracle of healing. He referenced that other churches and traditions have legitimate healing miracles in their midst and that those miracles are attributed to faith. He also said that the faith of the individual asking for a priesthood blessing is more essential than the words spoken by the priesthood holder in the blessing. Remarkable, and as I said, groundbreaking in many regards.

Were there other talks or moments that you would describe as millennial?


NICODEMUS HIGHLIGHT:


I have great memories of Easter weekend because without fail one of the networks would show The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. One of my favorite parts is when Moses is on the mountain and about to receive the ten commandments and the Lord, in a deep and authoritative voice, calls out one of the ten commandments like: "THOU SHALT NOT KILL" and this blast of fire writes the law in stone with sparks flying everywhere. I must admit a smile crossed my face when I juxtaposed the Nicodemus highlight of the conference with me imagining the Lord, in a burst of fire and a deep thundering voice, writing in the stone and saying: "THOU SHALT NOT WEAR FLIP-FLOPS TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY". I had this image of God who loves His children, actually becoming offended at those who would think of wearing flip flops to church. It reminded me of the Zoramites in their church who cast out those who did not meet their clothing standards for worship. Have we considered what Jesus used to wear for footwear? What about those in other countries who wear this style as typical to their culture? Let me be clear, it is not the Apostles and Prophets who are to blame for nicodemus utterings.  It's you and me.  Clearly I still have a ways to go in my millennial journey when such attention and concern is placed on external footwear at General Conference.


Flip-flops are considered to be comfortable. What if if those who wear uncomfortable shoes to church perhaps may have an uncomfortable inner relationship with God whereas those who wear flip-flops and other comfortable shoes may be more at peace and comfort in their relationship with God? Just a thought. But it shows how judging appearances can be deceiving and detrimental. Clearly you and I have some millennial work to do!


Contrast the carnal commandment footwear focus with President Uchtdorf saying: "I hope that we welcome and love all of God’s children, including those who might dress, look, speak, or just do things differently. It is not good to make others feel as though they are deficient. Let us lift those around us. Let us extend a welcoming hand. Let us bestow upon our brothers and sisters in the Church a special measure of humanity, compassion, and charity so that they feel, at long last, they have finally found home."



When we care more about the external than the internal we can be assured that we are in the Nicodemus or Telestial stage of our spiritual journey. As I've said before, this is an important and essential stage in our journey to rediscover who we are. However, is it not time for you and me to remember who we are and create an internal millennium within ourselves?

I had a man come up to me a few months ago and he was concerned about people who were taking the sacrament with the left hand instead of the right hand. I have pondered that quite a bit over the last several months. The Brethren have not taught in Conference anything about the "correct" hand to use during the sacrament. At least not recently. There is nothing written about it in the Church Handbook of Instruction either. If the proper hand you use to take the sacrament is so important, why is it not being taught? It's a great example of how the church is becoming more millennial all the time. The external hand that we use when we take the sacrament is not nearly the most important part of our anatomy when it comes to that profound ordinance. It's a broken heart and contrite spirit that are truly required (see D&C 59-8-9). When we focus on, judge, and condemn the external, often we miss the internal which is the holy place of the soul.

General Conference is a great mirror that we can use to look at ourselves to see where we are at in our spiritual journey to rediscover who we are. The more nicodemus we are, the more of that is reflected in the talks of General Conference. When we yearn to enter an internal millennium we will hear more talks that reflect a millennial consciousness and awareness. The servants of God, the Apostles and Prophets, truly reveal God's secret (Amos 3:7). The secret that is within you. I look forward to the day when all the messages of conference are millennial.



All the best to you on your journey. Peace and blessings to you always my friends.

In The Year 3000

Greetings to everyone. Peace be with you. May you always be blessed.

We often hear that the church is perfect and true but the members aren't. This is very true on a number of levels. The church actually is a reflection or a mirror of ourselves. Therefore it is a perfect reflection of where we are at in our spiritual journey. When we see Nicodemus moments in church history, doctrine, or policy we really should look at ourselves and understand that we are seeing a refection of where we are right now. When the church moves in a millennial direction, millennial Mormons rejoice everywhere and Nicodemus Mormons become bitter and angry. When the church moves in a Nicodemus direction, millennial Mormons use that as an opportunity to reflect on where they are at in their journey.

Nicodemus Mormons know not what they do.

What would the church be like in the year 3000? Let me play the role of Conan O'Brien for a moment. Let's have some fun and perhaps we can learn something about ourselves that will help us in our journey. Let's pretend that we and therefore the church were to continue down a Nicodemus path, continually partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil instead of setting our sights on the tree of life. What would it be like in the year 3000 if we and therefore the church were to wander deeper and deeper into the Telestial world? Let's get uber Nicodemus shall we? Let's laugh a little. (But not too loud).


In the year 3000 temple attendance is to be observed several times a day. A new fabric has been created using Celestial Nano Technology (CNT) that is very expensive but makes white clothing shine with an amazing brilliance. Members are INVITED to purchase this new clothing or rent it for a fee. All priesthood holders can no longer wear just a white shirt in a temple session but must wear a full suit that uses CNT. Also, when you do your own names at the temple, the slips have become exceedingly large and elaborate whereas if you ask for temple file names they are on smaller and smaller slips of paper and temple workers will continually look disappointed and encourage those people with the small slips of temple file names to bring their own names to the temple so they will be blessed.

In the year 3000, the "4th block" is a meeting where a recap of the previous 3 meetings is the latest in a series of new meetings designed to increase the spirituality of the members. It lasts about an hour and starts with a hymn, prayer, spiritual thought, missionary moment, temple moment, food storage moment, modesty moment and followed by members sharing what they learned in the previous 3 meetings and how they can "apply it in their daily lives." The sick, the diabetic, the pregnant, and nursing mothers are exempt from the 4th block. The levels of sickness, diabetes, pregnancies and nursing at church continues to rise.

In the year 3000 missionary work in the United States and Canada grinds to a halt since almost every non-member has at least one tattoo and multiple piercings. In addition, it is really hard to get any investigators to stay for all 4 blocks on Sunday (Note that baptisms still occur as long as investigators attend sacrament meeting maybe once or twice in a month before baptism). As a result, the ULTRA missionary coordination meeting is developed in addition to the weekly missionary coordination meeting. The ULTRA missionary coordination meeting is a meeting held at least once a month in order to make sure the weekly missionary coordination meeting is being held.

In the year 3000, righteous priesthood holders not only continue to open doors for their wives but they also carry their wives and daughters over any water or debris on the ground no matter how small it may be. In some wards, men are to escort their wives to Relief Society, take them into the Relief Society Room, pull out their chairs for them, seat them, and kiss them goodbye on the cheek. They are also encouraged not to call their wives by their given name due to its sacredness. They should only be referred to as "my sweetheart" or "mother". In a related change of policy, any priesthood holder seen in the passenger seat of a car being driven by his wife or failing to open a car door for his wife is regarded as engaging in conduct unbecoming a member of the church and could be brought before a disciplinary council if there are witnesses to these abominable and despicable acts.

In the year 3000 a new handbook for married couples is published by the church. The list of approved and non-approved married intimate activities (MIAs) receives the most attention. According to the Church's Handbook of Instruction, (which is now 12 volumes) Bishops are to interview all married couples in the ward "at least monthly" in order to encourage them to follow the counsel in the married couple handbook.

In the year 3000 on the night before the Sabbath (Saturday is a special day), members of the church are INVITED to put on their best Sunday clothes at sundown and to sleep in them. Members then are to keep their Sunday clothes on for the entire day on Sunday until 10:00PM. 8:00PM for children, the sick, the diabetic, the pregnant or nursing mothers. The number of children, sick, diabetic, pregnant and nursing mothers continues to increase.

In the year 3000 church members are no longer allowed to have anything with caffeine and cannot receive a temple recommend if they do not comply. The issue of chocolate though is an exception, and is left up to the members to decide, similar to the fruits and grains section of the word of wisdom. Some members worry that in the year 4000 chocolate will also be banned. Section 89 of the D&C has been revised to include the "caffeine restriction" and verse 2 now reads: "To be sent by commandment, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days—" (see D&C 89:2).

In the year 3000 after conclusive evidence shows that "gay genes" contribute 53% to the outcome of whether a person is gay or not, the church concedes and allows members who struggle with "same gender attraction" to kiss each other without putting their membership at risk. However, the kiss can only be as intimate as a mother towards her son.

In the year 3000 the church continues to emphasize the importance of talents. However, now that church members are entirely responsible for the upkeep and cleaning of buildings, increased inflation of number and length of meetings, expanded home teaching and visiting teaching, extended seminary and institute, more bishop's interviews, more temple attendance, 30 minute missionary moments added to family prayer and scripture study, and increased fast offering contributions, few members of the church have time or money to even think about expressing and working on talents. As a result, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications are the norm. But they must be prescribed by a "competent medical professional".

In the year 3000 bishops can no longer delegate any of their duties. Bishop burnout increases. The sole role of the counselors now is to literally lift up the weary arms and hands of the bishop and give words of encouragement to him. Due to the bishops being burnt out it is thought that they just require more training and so bishop training meetings occur "at least twice a month" in addition to a monthly PPI with the Stake President.

In the year 3000 reverence in the chapel is finally conquered. Members now are silent when they enter the chapel and if they need to communicate they do so in a whisper. Babies and small children are quietly escorted out of the chapel if they fuss. Bishops are instructed that a new goal for wards is for members to apply the reverence they have for the chapel to the entire building.

In the year 3000 modesty continues to take on new meanings as women and girls are no longer allowed to show their bare arms, hands and legs in public. The piercing of ears is abolished and no earrings are allowed any longer. All of this is codified in the new For the Strength of Even Stronger Youth pamphlet. Women and girls wonder when the "Mormon burka" will be coming. It's only a matter of time. Perhaps in the year 4000.

In the year 3000 the members continue to say that it is now the most wicked time on the face of the earth and that the most recent generation of Mormon infants born is the most righteous of any previous generation. The people of the world are worse than in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. There continue to be wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes in diverse places. Many members' hearts fail them as they await the millennium (external of course).

Finally, in the year 3000, one of these "diverse earthquakes" finally hits Utah as had been rumored and thought to be coming for centuries. The epicenter, ironically, is in the county that has the highest compliance rate with the new 40 year food storage plan. Although there are no fatalities, all the food storage on the other hand, has been completely ruined and is utterly unusable. So is the modern shelving units, thermal generators, and the precise temperature and humidity food storage rooms in members' basements. Not so ironic is that the Utah county that had the highest rate of 40 year food storage compliance is also the wealthiest county in Utah. Poorer members of the church outside this county continue to struggle with the food storage requirement and continue to be encouraged to have faith and follow the counsel.

I'm sure you can think of many more. I hope you had fun and I hope you recognized that these exaggerations teach you about where you may perhaps be in your spiritual journey. I have been heartened as I have embraced my journey away from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and towards the tree of life. I can see the church is becoming more millennial all the time.

Remember, the church is not to blame. It is a reflection of you. When the church takes a Nicodemus direction, we don't need to look any further than ourselves for the reason. Conversely, we can rejoice when it moves in a millennial direction.

If you are ready for a millennial church then work on the internal millennium within yourself first and watch how things change externally. Watch how the church continues to become more millennial and rejoice in the journey towards the tree of life.

Peace and blessing to you my friends.

Your Life Is A Parable

Your life is a parable. Your life is scripture.







The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I have a key by which I understand the scriptures. I enquire, what was the question which drew out the answer or caused Jesus to utter the parable?” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1938, pp, 276–77.)




In order for you to understand your life you must do as Joseph said. What is the question which drew out the answer or caused Jesus (Spirit) to utter the parable (Body) or the manifestation of your physical life? Once your life is given the correct interpretation then you will experience "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Philippians 4:7).