{"chapter_no":"8","chapter_title":"The Veil is Lifted","book_id":"2","book_name":"The Story of James","subchapter_no":"0","page_no":"241","page_number":"1","verses_count":0,"total_pages":3,"page_content":"

 <\/p>

Chapter 8<\/p>

The Veil is Lifted<\/h1><\/p>

 <\/p>

The g<\/i>oodness in<\/i> James<\/i>'s soul<\/i> breaks through the veil<\/i> set upon his mind<\/i>; t<\/i>he comforting
knowledge of Jesus Christ's life and mission<\/i> is restored to him—He feels remorse for having taken part in
the teasing of another boy in Sunday School class.<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

 <\/p>

 <\/p>

His mind in turmoil, James soon reached a state of exhaustion. He lay motionless, almost
numb from the constant churning of his emotions. It was not yet 5:30 AM, but already it seemed
like a full day had transpired. In the midst of his suffering, James was still searching, looking for
good in an otherwise hopeless world. <\/p>

 <\/p>

He thought about his sins. A favorite sin of his was to sometimes stay home from church
on Sundays to watch basketball or football games on TV... especially during the playoffs. He
lamented those past decisions now. <\/p>

 <\/p>

I<\/i>t was wrong to skip sacrament meeting all those times.<\/i> W<\/i>hat in the world was I thinking <\/i>
when I did that<\/i>? <\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

He also had a swearing problem that manifested itself every so often, like when he
missed important foul shots in the closing minutes of games. There had been times when he got
into arguments with his mother, like when he wanted to go places with his friends instead of
staying home to do his homework. He didn’t have a major Word of Wisdom problem, but there
were a few instances in which he had drunk iced tea over at the home of one of his nonmember
friends. Without the opportunity to repent, even these smaller sins caused him remorse. The
overall system seemed horribly incomplete to him. Who would create a world like this? A
world––a plan of salvation for the souls of men––where imperfect individuals were not provided
with the means to repent and make amends for past mistakes. The more he pondered, the more
sins he remembered, but thus far, he had yet to recall any large or serious sins. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Suddenly, there was a leap in his stomach. He remembered a sin of great significance.<\/p>

 <\/p>

Months before, he had been in attendance at a joint youth Sunday School class. The
deacons, teachers, and priests all met together, and with them, the young women of
corresponding ages from the ward. But it would turn out to be a particularly sad day for one of
the young boys who had come. James did nothing himself directly, but he had joined in with
many others who laughed when a classroom prank had been done. It hadn't seemed like a big <\/p>

deal at the time, and he had completely forgotten the incident already a few minutes afterwards,
but in the midst of his suffering now, a fuller recollection of the event came back to haunt him.<\/p>

 <\/p>

One of his friends, Ryan Clark, a priest of the same age in the ward, had brought a small
squirt gun with him to class. Directly in front of Ryan sat a fourteen-year-old boy by the name of
William Downs. The boy sat quietly in his seat in the first row, trying not to draw attention to
himself, staring forward towards the front of the class. The boy, not having attended church more
than a few times in the past, was kind of a stranger to everyone. His reasons for coming to
church on this day were unknown. His manner of dress, wearing jeans instead of dress pants,
made him even more of a curiosity. The boy did have a pair of good Sunday pants at home to
wear, but in recent months they had become too short. Afraid that these shorter dress pants might
make him look funny to the other kids, he had decided it was safer to just wear his regular school
pants to church instead. <\/p>

 <\/p>

When the teacher left the room to get chalk and other materials from the library, Ryan
used his squirt gun to shoot water at the thick denim pants of William in front of him. All the
young men in class, including James, and even some of the young women, watched this with
interest, holding back their laughter while waiting for the boy to notice. Finally, after several
sprays of water had been made quietly with the gun, the boy started to notice something. Feeling
with his hand, he quickly stood up, reacting in alarm that his pants had been made wet. The class
erupted in laughter, causing him to look back in horror and discover the attention everyone was
giving him. He quickly spotted the boy right behind him with the squirt gun. Angry, but also
frightened and embarrassed, he said, “Stop it!” and then sat back down. Despondent, he folded
his arms on the desk and rested his head upon them, staring at the front of the room as before. He
longed for shelter, a place to hide from the taunting gazes. There was great danger to him here;
he was an unwelcome stranger in Sunday School class. He felt the urge to immediately flee the
classroom and never come back. <\/p>

 <\/p>

The prank itself had been a terrible thing, but there had been one other important aspect
of the event that had gone unnoticed to James. In his alarm, the boy had looked back and had
seen everyone laughing at him, making quick glances around the room at all the faces. But his
eyes had quickly settled on James in the back row—James was laughing at him just like
everyone else. Saddened, he turned around and sat back down, saying nothing more. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Recalling this moment from class, more was revealed to James by the Spirit. He was
given short glimpses of this young boy, William, shooting baskets on an old basketball standard
outside a low-income apartment complex in the ward. He was trying energetically, although
somewhat awkwardly, to execute some difficult basketball moves that James instantly
recognized as his own—trademark shots and moves he had used sometimes in his high school
games. He could see how hard this boy was practicing, trying to mimic him on the court. He
could also see the great admiration the boy had for him, looking up to him as a big star in school. <\/p>

 <\/p>

James, seeing his bad behavior at church in vision, felt deathly sick inside. He had
laughed at the suffering of the young boy. And while he was not the one who had actually
brought the squirt gun to class, he had endorsed the teasing incident implicitly by his laughing.
No courageous leader among them had stepped forward to protect the boy, leaving him alone to <\/p>

fend for himself, and making him fearful of returning to church anymore. It was the laughing of
James that had hurt him the most. <\/p>

 <\/p>

The Spirit chose this moment to remove the veil from James's mind. Now fully
understanding everything that had happened to him over the past few hours, he wept. The
temporary fear of eternal punishment had aged him from boy to man. But his fear was now
replaced with godly sorrow for the suffering of another. <\/p>

 <\/p>

After a few minutes, James grew tired and exhaustion overtook him. He quickly fell
asleep. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Over the next four hours, James dreamed marvelous dreams. A full account of these
dreams will be given hereafter. Suffice it to say that once he awoke, a well-rested James felt
great peace and a renewed energy in his soul from all that had happened. <\/p>

 <\/p>

At 9:00 AM sharp, the lights in the room came on. A nurse entered to check on him and
give him medication. Minutes later, his parents, brothers, sisters, Charles and Sarah all came
through the door and gathered around him. Never before had James hugged his mother and father
with greater love.<\/p>

 <\/p>

Through the ordeal, James discovered that he had been given the most priceless treasure a
man can receive in this life—the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Like the repentant Jean Valjean, he
now held it in his hand:<\/p>

 <\/p>

Diamonds are found only in the dark places of the earth; truths are found only in the
depths of thought. It seemed to him, that, after having descended into these depths, after having
long groped among the darkest of these shadows, he had at last found one of these diamonds,
one of these truths, and that he now held it in his hand, and he was dazzled as he gazed upon it.<\/i><\/p>"}