Search This Blog

11.24.2008

Only Two Options

The Lord’s way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel. “There is an opposition in all things,” everywhere, for everyone. Life is hard for all of us, but life is also simple. We have only two choices. We can either follow the Lord and be endowed with His power and have peace, light, strength, knowledge, confidence, love, and joy, or we can go some other way, any other way, whatever other way, and go it alone—without His support, without His power, without guidance, in darkness, turmoil, doubt, grief, and despair. And I ask, which way is easier?There is only one way to happiness and fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the Way. Every other way, any other way, whatever other way is madness.
Lawrence E. Corbridge, “The Way,”

11.23.2008

The Love Dare

If you've seen or heard about the movie "Fireproof" you may be wondering if you can get that book the changes Caleb's life. It's the Love Dare. Well Barnes and Noble has it! It has a topic for each day and scriptures to support it. I gives a challenge to go along with the topic and a place to check off the successful completion of the challenge of the day. It also includes a place to record your thoughts for the day. I decided to give it a try and see how these tasks could change my own life. I am on day one. I'll keep you posted on how it works as I get through the full forty days.

Quit Pushing Your Politics On My Religion!

Many leftists and their lemmings are all whipped up about the separation of church and state. They consistently tell us that the Constitution separates religion from politics. I agree politics should stay out of my religion. If my religious values tell me I ought to pray at school, the government should get out of my way. If my religion says I ought to be chaste before marriage and faithful after marriage, the schools (aka. government) should not pressure me otherwise. If my religious values say that life is precious and ought not be taken in the womb or at old age, the government should not take my tax dollars to support these practices, nor should they compel me to dispense life taking medications and instructions for suicide. If my religious values say that homosexual sex is contrary to God's laws, I should not be threatened for believing and acting on those beliefs.
When other religious values clash with mine, the government should remain neutral. The government needs to stay out of my religion. I don't want the government threatening me to conform to the trends of the day or else risk prosecution. The government should be defending my ability to act on my beliefs.
Marriage has been a religious institution for centuries. Government got involved to keep records of marriages, and eventually to create a contract that was legally binding in the interests of society. Society is tangled with this institution because it is the foundation for civil order. Without healthy and orderly families, we cannot have a healthy and orderly society, and the next generation brings chaos. Any wonder why crime has spiraled to new heights lately? Anybody checked the family situation in America lately? Anyone who pays even the least bit of attention knows that crime stems from hurt children in chaotic families. Chaotic families do not have healthy marriages. Now of course there are exceptions, even when marriages were somewhat stable, we had crime. But as marriages and families have been torn apart we have also seen our societal order torn apart.
We see that politics is increasingly poking its nose in family and religious affairs. Family planning, school sex ed, school lunch programs, administering child support orders, welfare, health insurance, day care, abortions, and religious speech being morphed into discrimination and hate speech are all areas of family and religious responsibility. Agitators for the "nanny state" and the "do what makes you feel good" ideas are pushing their political views on my family and religious views.
The most blatant example is the gay "rights" agenda. They want to distort what marriage means all in the name of civil rights. But they are not happy to just have the rights, they want the word. In several states, including my own and California, gay couples already have these legal rights as a civil union. This is not enough. They want to poke their noses into my religious values by changing the meaning of the word marriage in order to elevate their lifestyle to the normal and beneficial marriage of centuries. Because of recent trends in other places that have accepted this practice and definition we have a legitimate right to be concerned that making this religious value into a political issue is a threat to our religious freedoms.
I'm sick of hearing that the LDS church is pushing its religion on a state. That state and its agitators are pushing their politics on my religion!

11.17.2008

Who Says Mormons Don't Have Fun?

Self Motivated Questions

Who knew rocks were so complicated? I remember taking my dad's hammer and breaking open rocks on the walkway. Does every kid do this?
I'm trying to feverishly finish my BYU Independent Study Geology class. Igneous rocks have been a insurmountable wall twice before as I attempted to make progress on this class. This time I decided that I would get it over with no matter what grade I might get on the test. I managed to squeak out a C-. I never knew volcanic rocks were so complicated! I still don't quite understand all the information, but I knew where to find it in the book. Did you know that different kinds of magma make different kinds of rocks? Did you know rocks have cleavage? It's all amazingly confusing and beautiful.
I suppose if I wasn't doing a class I might be more interested. I am beginning to understand how making a normally fascinating subject into a requirement and then judging someone on how much a person can spew back at an authority figure, can ruin the desire to learn the subject. There is definitely something to the theory that kids ought to be allowed to pursue knowledge according to their desires.
Self motivation is what really results in learning. I know that the assignments I have been given that allow me to chose the subject stick with me far longer than an assigned topic. Books I've read because I was curious teach me far more than those imposed on me by someone else's choice. Although I chose to learn Geology, I am finding that the structured study is killing my curiosity and making rocks baffling and boring. I wish I could just ask questions and get answers in the order that the questions come to me.

11.15.2008

American Nehors

What is priestcraft? Is it something we need to be worried about in modern times? Is it simply a religious practice? Can it become unrecognizable to us? Can we be persuaded to support it?
for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion. 2 Nephi 26:29
Priestcraft is the idea that popular leaders ought not to labor with their hands, but should be given money by their followers so that they can simply be popular and do whatever it is they are advocating to do. In Alma's time this took the form of a religious leader who proclaimed a flattering doctrine, that man is not to be punished for sin, and then began to tell his followers that he ough to be free of the need to support himself so that he could preach this doctrine. These followers were named after Nehor, the leader who proclaimed it.
Do we have modern day equivalents who proclaim falsehoods "for the sake of "riches and honor"? Do we have any who seek to be supported by donations? We see this commonly in leaders of Protestant churches whose occupation is leading their churches. Many Protestants "shop around" for a church they like to attend. They look for doctrine that flatters them and makes them feel righteous. This is human nature. We all want to avoid being wrong. We all gravitate to doctrines that we agree with and away from those we disagree with. There are even LDS people who go to another ward to avoid an uncomfortable situation or disagreement with their leaders.
But is there another unrecognized type of priestcraft out there? I believe there is.
Let us look at our political election system. We have two parties that dominate the system. People donate to the party that they most identify with. Leaders of the parties go to fund raisers and some are leaders simply because they are good at raising funds. We see rallies where the crowds are cheering and clapping as the candidates speak flattering words. These are mostly the party faithful who love the candidates. Those who are looking for information are quickly converted by slogans and a brief look at a website or two. What is the most common doctrine that we hear from politicians? This last season we heard about how much the average person is struggling -ad nauseum. The government was portrayed as a Prince on a white horse riding to the aid of the distressed American princess. Is this flattery? I think so.
If we look back at our definition of priestcraft, we see that we have all its elements in our political system. 1. Donations to support leaders who preach flattery. 2. Votes to these same leaders puts them in power. They receive gain and power for their flattery. Have they set themselves up for a light to the world? Do we see citizens who believe that those leaders will make their lives all better? Yes we do. Do we see the whole world taking sides? Yes we do.
In the beginning of our Nation elections were much different. Presidents were voted on in Congress and candidates did not openly campaign or raise money. They ran solely on their reputations and record. There were no adoring crowds, fundraisers, and worldwide opinions and powers.
How similar we have become to these Nehors! Could Americans be called Nehors?

Follow the Prophets

It is suddenly obvious to all LDS people in America that the future of following the Prophet may get very ugly. We are seeing the mobs combine again in California over the passage of Prop 8, an amendment to the state constitution that reads "Only marriage between a man and a woman will be recognized in California." Temples are being targeted. Homes and jobs are being targeted.
From Proclaim Liberty:
"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.'

"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.... Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."---
Elder Neal A. Maxwell's whole talk (fabulous and prophetic as usual)

We know that in the future our safety and security in Zion will be dependent on our adherence to the prophets. Man is fallible- God is not and he talks to us through his prophets. But we must be able to discern a real prophet from a false one. If we are reading and pondering the scriptures and praying intently we will be able to know who is speaking for God.
Because there is opposition in all things, we will see an increase in evil and wickedness, in proportion to the rise in righteousness. Look at how the temples have sprung up all over the world. We should not be surprised that wickedness will also sprout up all over the world. And that wickedness appears to be directed at a specific demographic- Mormons. We should not be surprised to see it. How sad it will be to see the fair weather Mormons bid farewell when the summer heat and winter storm begins. Let us hope we are not among that group.

Those Tolerant GLBT folks!

Because of the high number of comments submitted on this story that contain threats or references to violence, no more comments will be posted on this story.

This was the quote from Deseret News after this story was reported.
Substance mailed to LDS Church not toxic

And here is a picture of the tolerant folks who don't like Mormons since Prop 8 failed at the polls in California.


Though opponents of Prop. 8 who seek for same-sex marriage tout that they are the movement of tolerance, their actions mark them as hypocrites, as they send the message through protests, property vandalism and singling out donors for vilification that anybody getting in their way had better watch out. Payback and punishment will follow for those who have exercised their right of political expression to support traditional marriage.

This, of course, is designed to inhibit and terrorize anyone who opposes redefining marriage, chilling not only discussion of the issues, but political opposition altogether. At the very least, those who support that marriage is between a man and a woman are labeled hateful and bigoted.


Businesses are being targeted for boycotts because an employee supported Prop 8 and professionals have been forced to resign jobs of 25 years and . Temples have had to be closed for fear of the safety of those entering. All this courtesy of the folks who want to teach us tolerance.



No thanks, I'll pass.....

11.13.2008

Fireproof

We went to see Fireproof after hearing rave reviews. It was great! It was unabashedly Christian. The whole premise of the movie is based on faith. The husband tries the love dare when he wants to file for divorce. In the end he finds faith which changed the way he treated his wife and the way he viewed life. As a result, he gets his wife's heart back. It's a very simple answer to a relationship problem... But sometimes the simple answers are the best answers.

11.11.2008

Old Friends

I've lived in lots of places.
I have recently been thinking about old friends. Having moved around so much I have accumulated a lot of friendships that I have had to leave. In Texas it was Marie. In Nevada it was Tiffany, and Montse. In Washington it was Lisa and Kelly. Some I can't even remember anymore. Sad.
Not everyone keeps in touch. I'm not known for it either. It is so hard to do when you aren't part of their everyday lives. What do you talk about? Only old stuff.
I do have a couple friends that I have been able to keep in touch with on a more intimate level. These are the people I can talk with about anything. They are open-minded and like to talk about everything. They want to keep in touch with others around them. I find that the busier I am the less able I am to keep in touch. In fact busyness keeps me from even keep up with my new friends that are right in my neighborhood.
Thanks heavens for email and the internet. It is so much easier to visit with friends. We can look at pictures, read blogs,and emails, and feel like we are more a part of what is going on. We can see each others kids grow up and hear about their progress. Hard to imagine how much time has passed sometimes.
I am so glad to be able to drop in on old friends and quietly see them again.

11.08.2008

Sad....

Look at these faces lashing out after the passage of Prop 8 in California. They are blaming the church for their unhappiness. I feel so sorry for their misery- even more so because they lash out at the very thing that could save them....




LDS Leader Ezra T. Benson 1975

I found this little nugget at lds.org. President Benson was so awesome.
**************************************

The elders of this church have a prophetic mission yet to perform so far as the Constitution is concerned. In a discourse by Joseph Smith on July 19, 1840, he said:

“Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.” (M8d 155, Bx4, Joseph Smith, Church Historian’s Library.)

Now, how are the elders going to prepare for that mission? How are they going to know what the Constitution is so they will know when it is on the brink of ruin? In many of the law schools of today you will hear that the Constitution is whatever the Supreme Court says it is. Could it be that the Supreme Court, which President McKay said is leading this nation down the road to atheism, is the agency to tell us what this divine document is? Can we learn best how to preserve it by studying what it is at the hands of some of those who are seeking to destroy it?

But President McKay had a better approach when he encouraged us to support good and conscientious candidates who are truly dedicated to the Constitution in the tradition of our founding fathers. Ah … there it is … the Constitution in the tradition of our founding fathers. They are the ones the Lord referred to as wise men. It is to them, the Lord, and his prophets that we should go to determine what the Constitution is. There must have been a tradition of our founding fathers or President McKay would not have referred to it.

One of the best books on this subject was written by Clarence Carson and is entitled The American Tradition; it is distributed by the Foundation for Economic Education at Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., served on their board of trustees for some time. I now have the honor of so serving.

To the Lord, his prophets, and the founding fathers we must go to learn of this divine document so our efforts will be to preserve and not destroy the Constitution.

The Prophet Joseph Smith said in a great discourse in Nauvoo on February 7, 1844, “Were I the President of the United States … I would honor the old paths of the venerated fathers of freedom; I would walk in the tracks of the illustrious patriots who carried the ark of the government upon their shoulders with an eye single to the glory of the people. …” (HC, 6:208.)

Said President George Albert Smith, “I am saying to you that to me the Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments. When that is my feeling I am not going to go very far away from the Constitution and I am going to try to keep it where the Lord started it, and not let anti-Christ come into this country.” (Conference Report, April 1948, p. 182.)

And speaking of anti-Christ, if you want to get some idea of how we are flaunting the Constitution, see how the Constitution defines treason. Then observe what we are doing to build up the enemy, this totally anti-Christ conspiracy. If we continue on this tragic course of aid and trade to the enemy, the Lord has warned us of the consequences that will follow in chapter 8 of Ether in the Book of Mormon. [Ether 8]

Thank God for the Constitution that made it possible for the Lord to establish his church and base of operations here in the United States for these last days. And may God bless the elders of Israel that when, as President John Taylor said, “the people shall have torn to shreds the Constitution of the United States, the Elders of Israel will be found holding it up to the nations of earth and proclaiming liberty.” (Journal of Discourses, 21:8.)

Now, Christ’s life, his prophet, his Church, the Book of Mormon, and the Constitution of the United States are but a few of the gifts of Christ that bless us throughout our lives.

And We Are Intolerant? Give Me A Break...




Silly Laws Coming Soon to a State Near You....




11.04.2008

Mornings- Love/Hate

I hate mornings. I am not a morning person. I love evenings, after everyone goes to bed and the house is all mine! But now I am a working woman. My work hours are stubbornly stuck on the few hours between kids getting out of school and a late dinner time every weekday. A friend advised me to try to spend one on one time putting the kids to bed each night, but I am so tired when I get home (and sometimes quite grumpy) that I haven’t been doing this very well. (ok not at all). The other day I hit on an idea. I had been to IHOP with a friend and ordered biscuits and gravy. And now I was at the grocery store in the area with the bins of bulk dry goods and staring at a country gravy mix. Inspiration struck. I could get up and make biscuits and gravy in the morning before the kids go to school. They would actually get a home made meal! (I’m really not a very good cook, and find my creativity lacking after working). I would have one on one time with them, help them get out the door on a cheerful note in the morning, and maybe even effect the rest of their day!
So the next morning I dragged myself out of bed, made the breakfast, and was surprised at how smoothly the morning went. No fighting (a major problem lately) kids had all their supplies, we actually had a conversation, and all the teenage angst seemed to have disappeared! I managed to get up in time to make breakfast the rest of last week and so far both days this week. I even got some compliments. It feels good. So good in fact that I don’t’ quite hate mornings so much lately. (I love naps though!)

Hanging By A Thread

So many things are hanging by a thread. I feel like my life is a string pulled tight and at any moment it will break. I have felt for about a year and a half that there is another shoe to drop. I felt it right after 9-11 and it eventually went away. But lately it’s back. A talk from spring conference ( Bro Holland I think) encouraging mothers brought it into my awareness in a way that I could not shake. Suddenly my antenna was up and looking for what we were being reinforced for. What great trial was on its way? I already felt that women had been bombarded with satanic strategy; everything from “having it all” and fighting so called “oppression” myths, to men who will not be men and support their families. But it seemed to me that we were in for another onslaught and that conference was our reinforcement in preparation.
In my own personal life, I found myself coming under attack. I found myself forcing myself to go to church when no one at home would go with me. I found my heart breaking for family members who were struggling. I found myself fighting not to drown in despair and depression. My normal optimism was gone and replaced by cynicism and defeat. I was planning for it. This is far from my normal mind set.
But I recently realized why. As I was explaining to someone that I felt that all the joy and hope was being sucked out of me, one of my favorite scriptures came to mind. Helaman 5:12-

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. “

I realized I was being dragged down into the gulf of misery and endless wo! I had let my foundation slip off of Christ and I needed desperately to re-center my life on Christ. So that is my new goal. When I begin to puzzle about someone else’s behavior I repeat to myself that I am centered on Christ. I need to find something more creative to recite, but for now that is what I am trying to remember.
Now, I see another area of life hanging by a thread. Granted it seems like a stretch to those who are not paying attention, but bear with me. We are today voting for a President. Our choice- Obama the Marxist or McCain the liberal “Moderate” doesn’t bring me any comfort. What often isn’t talked about is that that Senate and the House are likely going Democrat by large majorities. Now if Obama is put in with a large majority (read no ability by Republicans to filibuster bad bills) then he is pretty much given free reign. There will be no holding back Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barak Obama – all committed Socialists. Ok well Harry Reid I don’t know for sure that he is a committed socialist, but he is definitely a partisan and is supporting and working for Democrat tendencies to personally attack opposition. There are people who see this danger and are angry. Obama said that the civil rights movement did not go far enough because they didn’t break free from Constitutional restraints! He does not revere or respect the Constitution! I think we may be hanging by a thread just as Joseph Smith predicted.
Related to that is the possibility that this is another close and contested election, and as a result we loose even more confidence in our system. We have already lost so much confidence. I look at my children who have seen the last two elections on the state and federal level bitterly contested. The next election will see my oldest son eligible to vote. Will he have any confidence in the results? Ever? Is there any way that elections will get back to what they used to be- called peacefully and with everyone having faith that the process was legal and fair? The longer we have these kinds of elections the more we hand by a thread. There are violent people out there on both sides who are close to the edge of control. They see what is happening and want to stop it. Think Timothy McVeigh or the Unabomber.
Finally there is the economy, which seems to be hanging by a thread. Many think we are on the verge of a Depression. We have seen totally unconstitutional methods used to try to prop up the false and foolish methods being used to make politicians look good. The Fed is printing money as fast at they can, banks and companies who have been the recipients are holding on to the money the government is handing out and not letting it through to the economy. Once they pull the plug and that rush of money enters the system, we may see huge inflation. Or they may never let it out preferring to keep it for a reserve against poor economic times and we will see layoffs. Either way we suffer with a terrible economy, because we have built a house of cards built on credit that we can’t repay! People have discovered that they can vote themselves goodies, but the government will not to be able to pay on their promises without raising taxes which will in turn cause more economic hardships with layoffs, and less money in the hand of consumers.
In the end the only way to rescue our nation is to return our foundation to Christ. How can the Elders of Israel save our Constitution? Maybe by returning to personal righteousness.

11.02.2008

Iraq War Veteran Addresses Obama

Watch it all the way to the end. The final message is the most powerful.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Popular Posts