The Face of God

He Inviteth Them All

Just outside the door, jail guards were going about their daily business.  All that could be heard were muddled sounds of voices coming through the cinder block wall.  Within minutes after the interview started, Mary in handcuffs and shackles, stood and shuffled to the partly cracked door.  I observed as she pushed the door open with her hip.  She positioned herself majestically in the doorway.  In a voice of thunder she said,

“Someone out here said the word ‘Gosh.’  You are offending the name of my Savior …  You need to stop, this instant!”

She returned to the chair.  Looking me in the eye, this middle-aged, middle-class, attractive sister stated,

“Someone needs to stand up for the Lord.”

She sat in silence waiting for me to continue the interview.

Similar symptoms of untreated mental illness I have often seen, as she stood in chains, in a jail in an obscure city of Utah.

Mary had been warned by the judge on numerous occasions to stay away from her LDS Ward building.  She had continued to interrupt meetings with similar outbursts – calling her ward family to repentance.  The last time the bishop had to call the police.  The police carried her out of the Gospel Doctrine Class.  The police report described Mary as quoting a variety of scriptures as she was removed from the church including – 2 Nephi 26:33:

“…and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.”

She informed the arresting officers, “You have no right to take me.  You have no jurisdiction here.   This is the Lord’s Church.  He never turns anyone away!”

Since she has been in jail, the auditory hallucinations, “voices” like the ones she hears taking the Lord’s name in vain, have increased.  A look of fear came over her face as she told me the haunting voices also come through the jail heating vents.

Mary has refused to seek mental health services for her psychotic-like behavior.  She has become disruptive wherever the jail has tried to house her.  Now Mary sits alone, in isolation, “in the hole” on a misdemeanor criminal trespass charge. When asked about her refusal to take medication or seek counseling, with hope in her eyes, she replied, “The Lord will take care of me.”

Mary’s children and previous husband have all but abandoned her since her mental illness has worsened.

Visitors Welcome

President Joseph Fielding Smith explained that:

“All spirits while in the pre-existence were perfect in form, having all their faculties and mental powers unimpaired. … Deformities in body and mind are … physical.”  (Answers to Gospel Questions, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., 5 vols., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, 3:19.)

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the American Psychiatric Association’s standard reference for psychiatry includes over 400 different mental disorders.  The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) is published by the World Health Organization, also contains a section on hundreds of psychological and behavioral disorders.

“I bear witness of the restoration which will come. Each … mind will be restored in perfect frame. However long and unfair mortality may seem, however long the suffering and the waiting may be, … If healing does not come in mortal life, it will come thereafter. Just as the gorgeous monarch butterfly emerges from a chrysalis, so will spirits emerge.”  (Boyd K. Packer, “The Moving of the Water,” Ensign, May 1991).

The Face of God

We cannot behold, with our natural eyes, the design our God has concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow.  (See D&C 58:3.)  We know that “the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart,” (1 Samuel 16:6-8).

I’m reminded of the play Les Miserables, near the end Jean Valjean sings:

“And remember the truth that once was spoken to love another person is to see the face of God.”

Sometimes, if I paused and really tried, I could catch a glimpse of deity in Mary’s face.  I realized, she too was a child of God.

Mary and millions of others like her, aren’t really the ones on trial. We are!

Can we look beyond the strange behavior, unusual thinking, and uncontrollable emotions—and see the face of God?

Gospel Principle

A spirit’s ability, which was once beautiful and innocent in the preexistence, can become limited by brain disorders (mental illnesses) in our earth life.  We have been reassured that these wonderful spirits will re-emerge in perfect form.

Additional Information

Boyd K. Packer, “The Moving of the Water,” Ensign, May 1991.

Mental Health Anti-Stigma PSA -Friends. A 30 second YouTube video.