I enjoyed reading Moroni 7-9 this past week. I’ve always loved the definition of charity from Moroni in Moroni 7:45-48.

“And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”

I’ve posted the video from the Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Evidences Podcast that relates to Moroni 7-9. It features Lori Bean Henderson, talking about her grandfather, Willard Bean. More about that in a minute.

I love finding movies to watch with my children to show this Christlike love, this charity. I was pleasantly surprised that we stumbled upon one recently. Last night as a family we watched a movie called Christmas With a Capital C. It was cute. It shows a family showing Christlike love to an enemy. See the trailer below.

It makes me think of Willard Bean, “The Fighting Preacher.” He was called by the leaders of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make friends of The Church in Palmyra, New York, where Joseph Smith lived when he got the plates that became the Book of Mormon. Some people made a movie about Willard.

See the trailer for that below. Willard Bean definitely had Christlike love to make friends with people who were originally enemies. People were extremely rude to them at first. Willard and his wife Rebecca won the people over with a combination of boxing (from Willard), love, service, and food.

This clip below shows the bullying that happened

In the podcast episode at the very top of this post, Willard’s granddaughter says that the bullying did not happen to her Aunt Palmyra, as shown in the movie, but to her dad and his brother.

It’s just amazing to know that Christ, as the source of all that is good and glorious, gives people strength to overcome ugliness, meanness, and rudeness, because of His love. I highly encourage you to watch the video at the very top of this page to hear the back story of Willard and the true story of his charity. It’s a bit different from the movie. Then go watch the movie if you haven’t already.

Praise God for the examples of Willard Bean, Corrie ten Boom and her family, and many other Christians for showing us real life examples of charity.