The Message by Lance Richardson
A couple years ago (2003'ish) I had the opportunity to meet Cleon Skousen,
quite a well known individual in church and government circles. I spent a wonderful
afternoon talking with him about a variety of subjects and over the course
of that conversation he made a fascinating statement to me about a man named
Lance Richardson. He told me that Lance had had an NDE (Near Death Experience)
where he died, went to the spirit world, and came back. When Lance returned
he said that he was told by some of the men who lived with the founding fathers
of our country to read several books when he returned
to help him better understand
why our
founding
fathers
were
inspired
to organize this country the way they did, and several of those books were
written by Cleon.
Cleon is in his early-mid 90's and still pretty lucid, but
I wanted to verify the story so I tried to track
Lance down to ask him if this was true.
My first search led me to a website where the author claimed to be at a fireside
in rural Utah somewhere and Lance came and shared his experience with a small
group. This person wrote down a bunch of notes including one I thought was
particularly interesting about Lance meeting up with a friend of his in heaven
that was still enjoying golf in the spirit world.
So I ordered Lance's book, The Message. The book describes how Lance got some
illness on a European mission when he was young that devastated his health.
Numerous and frequent trips to the hospital for recurring pneumonia and other
diseases really wrought havok in his body and finally after a motorcycle accident
ended with his near death experience. He talks about family relations and
how
there
are
reunions
and
celebrations
(with
food
:)) in heaven. It also talks about sometimes departed friends and loved ones
are sent to inspire us and give us direction in our own mortal lives. Part
of "the
message" that
Lance was instructed to bring back is that this country is on the brink of
self-destruction for removing God from
our lives and country. He also discusses how he was told we needed to serve
each other to prepare for the coming trials and preparation for creating Zion,
or a place where peace and harmony exist between people.
Finally I tracked down an email address for Lance and made contact. These
are Lance's comments on the website I mentioned above:
"...the website you refer to where this guy claims to have heard me say
each of these things he has in his website has many erroneous statements.
I
have tried
several times to have him remove this material, because it is false. But
he has hid behind the same legalities as the tabloids do in their false reporting.
So, I have not been able to shut his article down.
"However, he does have
a number of items in his article that are true. It is true that I met a
friend of mine who used to be a professional golfer before he died.
He is now a missionary to his ancestors, for he was the only family member
in mortality that had joined the church. He was having great success, whereas
these
family members knew him, and loved him, and were willing to listen to him.
But they do have a balance in their time and are given some time to enjoy
the tremendously
beautiful world God has created for them, as well. One of the things he had
enjoyed in that world, he said, were some incredibly beautiful golf courses
that had
been created in this wondrous world. He said they were absolutely amazing.
So, according to my friend, there are some of the wonderful things we enjoyed
in
this life in the world beyond, too. It is important that this point is properly
understood, though. Unfortunately, because of this report, I have been quoted
numerous times as having said that the spirits are just sitting around golfing
in the spirit world, having a great time. Nothing mentioned about balance or
the rest of the work they are doing. Thus I mention that it is important that
the whole story be told rather than just that one sentence."
The next part is where it really started interesting me. I had asked Lance
about Cleon's comments. Lance's reply drew out an exchange of emails between us
that has provided me with some great reading material. Lance said:
"What occurred was that I met with many men who had died in the revolutionary
and civil wars and who had assignment now, as part of a quorum, to protect
America and keep her free for the final day when Christ returns and directs
the building of the city of New Jerusalem, or the latter-day Zion. These
men who died in the Revolutionary War shared with me that they had lived
with the
men who we consider as the founding fathers of America, and that they head
the quorum which these men are a part of. They further explained that these
men, in particular Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and Washington, were deeply
inspired in their work, and that they came to an understanding of exactly
what they were ultimately doing; laying the foundation for the latter-day
Zion to
be built spoken of in the Old Testament by several ancient prophets. They
came to understand this work that they were doing and carried out their assignments.
"These
men then explained to me that I needed to understand better what they
knew and what they had recognized in their studies and works. They told
me several books which I should read in order to come to this better understanding.
Three or four of these books were books written by Cleon Skousen about
the
founding fathers."
Lance died last year (2004) before he could look up from his journal the full
book list,
but he did
give
me several
off the
top
of
his
head. I have only read a couple so far but they're all on my short list to
get and read. Here's the list:
Books by Cleon (co-authored the last 3):
- The Making of America
- The Majesty of God's Law (this book, I believe, Cleon
told me he wrote at President McKay's request stating this was how he got
a job
at
BYU.
President McKay
and the first presidency told Cleon if the Elders of Israel are to save the
constitution, we need to figure out how it is we are to do it. Please go
do some research
in the archives at BYU and Cleon wrote this book on the subject. I hope I'm
not too far off on my recollection...)
- The Real George Washington
- The Real Thomas Jefferson
- The Real Benjamin Franklin
Other books Lance was told to read:
- Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- De Tocqueville's Democracy in America
If you are interested in getting Lance's book "The Message," and
I do heartily recommend it as well as a couple other of his items, you can
go to www.americanfamilypublications.com.
I have read his book "Masquerading as Angels" which is a wonderful
story he only partly tells in his book "The Message" about a family
service vacation that is very inspirational. I also have his tape set
"They
Saw Our Day" which talks about Indian Prophecies of Christ's second
coming. After playing the tapes for some scouts on an overnighter, one of
them replied "whoa, that's crazy cool!" Take that as an endorsement
I guess. Purchasing from the website I just gave you also helps support
Lance's family
directly.
That
is their
own
personal
website
and they could use the support since Lance's death has obviously burdened
the family.
To acquire the books by Cleon visit www.skousen2000.com and
www.nccs.net (National Center for Constitutional
Studies--founded by Cleon). The other books you can get at Amazon.com.
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