Jul

3

The 4th Of July

Filed Under Ezra Taft Benson, Faith, Gospel, Government, Joseph Smith Jr., Preparedness, Prophesy, Responsibility, Teachings | 4 Comments

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I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this upcoming holiday. Before all the fireworks, picnics, swimming and parties lead to one short weekend, and I realize I’ve yet to make a post.

I want to talk about why this holiday is one of the most important holidays to me. This one isn’t about presents, or candy. This one isn’t about bunnies or ghosts. This one is about God and this Country.

People can say what they will about the founding fathers, but they are all wrong! God inspired the men and women who led and changed the course of events to take this country out of bondage and create the first uniquely free nation, a nation founded under the belief in God.

It amazes me how far people will go in their effort to tear this country apart under the guise of freedom. Using inept interpretations of how those freedoms work. They tend to forget that with all that freedom comes a very real and a very great amount of responsibility. They take for granted, just exactly how they obtained the freedom they so carelessly toss about.

As LDS members, this should mean more to you then the jello salad you’ll have this weekend, or that perfectly cooked steak you’ll have. This country and it’s Constitution is so important to our religion. We should try to understand it as completely as we can. We have been warned, even prophesied - ““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”1.

Does anyone actually understand what that means? In a talk given by Cleon Skousen, entitled “Secret Combinations and Freedom” he describes the answer by learning it, understanding it and being able to apply it [The Constitution]. Are you ready to bear up the Constitution? I know I’m not. But as brother Skousen said, it gives a measure of relief to know it’s us that will do it.

With the recent 2nd Amendment ruling, it was made evident to me, just how much I didn’t know. Sure I understood the basics, but even then I was painfully aware that I lacked understanding in key principles that I thought I knew.

According to brother Skousen, in another talk entitled “Secret to America’s Strength” he illustrates that the founding fathers answered every problem America is facing (I beleive the talk was written in the 70’s) at that time, and I’d be willing to bet still answers them today - but we’ve been slowly and quietly moved in a different direction. Away from what God had inspired these men to write, and what those words meant.

I’ll end this post with just a couple of thoughts and ideas.

The first so give you some cause for happiness. It’s a prophesy [The Constitution will crumble], and that means there is always a cause and effect action applied to it. If we do this, this will happen adversely if we don’t do this, that will happen. The Constitution need not crumble.

That’s where the second piece comes in. I’ve suggested it before, and I’ll do it again. LEARN THE CONSTITUTION. But don’t just read it, understand it. You’ll notice if you read the first couple of pages of opinion on the recent 2nd Amendment ruling that even Supreme Court justices reference 18th century dictionaries to properly define words used. You can do this too. I also suggest reference material, written by church leaders and scholars - Cleon Skousen is a great start and you get his teaching material that he used in his own Constitutional course given at BYU.

Readers, I testify to you of the power and strength of Heavenly Father. He loves us, and that loves is so deep and sweet that with it and His strength we can over comes anything! While I am not a perfect person, and sometimes feel so inadequate, but as my Father in Heaven has the greatest capacity to forgive and love me, I know that with Him all things can be accomplished.

One last thing, have a wonderful 4th of July! Cook a yummy meal and celebrate exactly what the 4th means to this nation and your family.

  1. Ezra Taft Benson, “Our Divine Constitution,” Ensign, Nov 1987, 4 ↩

Jun

9

LDS = Politically Dormant or are we just not listening?

Filed Under Atonement, Debt, Ezra Taft Benson, Faith, Food Storage, Government, Joseph Smith Jr., Preparedness, Prophets, Spencer W. Kimball, Teachings, Topics | 7 Comments

Signing the ConstitutionI know the title is a little bit of a generalization, and it’s probably due to my own lack of finding out, but I still wanted to talk about it.

With the Presidential elections coming up, political climates, and after listening to a few older talks by General Authorities and past Church Presidents, the question arises.

You listen to talks given by Ezra Taft Benson, and realize rather quickly that he had some very poignant words about the proper role of government 1, the divinity of the constitution 2, and various other quotes 3, that there was a different climate in the church.

What happened?

I sometimes lament to my wife that our church has taken a less active role in being proactive in politics. My wife of course who is the smarter of us explained that maybe it has to do with a bigger problem in our church.

By this I mean a listening problem. What were we told 50 years ago about food storage, 30 years ago, 10 years ago? I don’t know either, I would hazard a guess that it started at something like storing as much as possible, then worked it way down to 1 year of food, fuel, essentials to the current level of basically just get something stored, a 72 kit and like 1 month of food storage.

Do you know in the 70’s, Spencer W. Kimball said:

Recognizing that the family is the basic unit of both the Church and society generally, we call upon Latter-day Saints everywhere to strengthen and beautify the home with renewed effort in these specific areas: food production, preservation, storage; the production and storage of nonfood items; fixup and cleanup of homes and surroundings. We wish to say another word about this in the next meeting.

We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Study the best methods of providing your own foods. Make your garden as neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities.4

I was listening to a statement on NPR the other week that talked about how much can be saved by just growing tomatoes and other small vegetables over buying them from the store in the course of a year. It said that the average savings was ~$1500. That goes a long way in helping to reduce debt too. But don’t get thinking this was for home owners with large yards, if I remember correctly the woman they interviewed lived in a town home or apartment.

But why have we reached such a low level of storage? I’m sure some of it has to do with smaller living spaces, but I also think as a church, people just aren’t listening, and this is exactly what they [The Church] was running into in the 70’s. Quoting from the same talk by Spencer W. Kimball:

As I listened to their addresses, I kept thinking over and over of something the Savior said,“Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” It rolled over and over and over in my mind: “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” [Luke 6:46] 5

So why am I going in such a large circle to explain a point of political dormancy? Well it’s to put it into context. Why do our Prophets and General Authorities continually going over the same principles every conference?

Do we listen?

But back to politics.

I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose[D&C 101:80].

It would seem to me, that the Constitution is a rather important document to our church. I can’t find the article I read that explained the LDS church and the Constitution being intimately connected but suffice it to say - if it [The Constitution] fails the LDS church fails.

But knowing that the Lord brought about the Constitution, why aren’t we as members doing more to uphold it, to stand behind it, to defend it?

Are we caught up in the idea that a member will save it when it hangs by a thread therefore we don’t need to do anything? Are we content in just letting someone else do something to fix it (and how well is that working?)? Are we just too complacent?

I can’t answer the question wholly, and trust me I understand how hard it is to know what to do. But I think there are some basics we can do to start with.

Get to know the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. All three of these documents are the foundation of our country. Teach them to your children, right along with learning the Articles of Faith, help to them to understand our rights and freedoms. I feel the more you know, the more likely you are to take offense when they are violated.

Take some time to listen or read some of the older talks. Especially “The Proper Role of Government” by Ezra Taft Benson. He offers a lot of great talks that are politically charged. There are also some talks given by Cleon Skousen that are part of this subject too.

I’ll leave with one last thing…

Children should learn to work. Parents should not spend their nights and days trying to find something to interest their children. They should find something to occupy them and get them busy doing something that is worthwhile.6

  1. The Proper Role of Government - Ezra Taft Benson ↩
  2. Our Divine Constitution - Ezra Taft Benson ↩
  3. Various Quotes ↩
  4. Family Preparedness - Spencer W. Kimbal ↩
  5. Family Preparedness - Spencer W. Kimball ↩
  6. Family Preparedness - Spencer W. Kimball ↩

Jun

3

The growing spiritual void

Filed Under Ensign Articles, Ezra Taft Benson, Magazines, Prophets, Spencer W. Kimball, Spirituality, Teachings | 2 Comments

I haven’t really watched a commercial in years, so it was bound to happen. As I got ready to watch something that was void of commercials, the a/v component that brings my computer files to my TV failed. So I ended up flipping through the channels. That’s when it occurred to me.

Something I’m familiar with, but I’ve since grown away from - or filled. I’ll call it a spiritual void, others may just call it a void or emptiness and some may not even realize they are a victim to it. But it’s effects are all the same. People want to fill it - and that’s where the problem lies.

Before I started writing this I went looking for some subject material and came across an article written for Islam, but it brought up a very good point. It said:

Look to the hard-core sports fan. He spends his life supporting specific teams, financially, physically and emotionally. He attends every game, either in person or vicariously over the TV. He buys the memorabilia. He is devastated when they lose, and he reaches Paradise when they win… Sounds strange. We need to just change the way we look at it. This person is completely preoccupied with sports because his life lacks something else. This is how he has chosen to fill that spiritual vacuum.1

I knew what I had filled my life with before I came back to the Gospel, and it wasn’t sports - but I hadn’t thought enough through it to even make a connection about those who become so fanatical about anything. Don’t get me wrong, having goals and being motivated is good, but this goes beyond that.

Look at the increase of “Reality” shows. What is the main goal of anyone of them? To gain an amount of money, but what is lost?

Each of these shows require people to participate, people to sell their lives for the chance to win money, how empty a person must be to sell their life just for a chance to win money.

How have we gotten here?

It’s occurred to me that there’s been a gradual move towards secularism. By that I mean the removal of anything spiritual from our lives. We were listening to a speech given by Ezra Taft Benson in 1970, title “The American Challenge” 2. In it, you’ll hear about the problems they faced then, which sound a lot like the ones we have today - so the expansion of secularism isn’t something new, it’s been going on for awhile - I would even hazard a guess since day one.

Last night we had a discussion with our children about proper Sunday activities. I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the war and battle games my boys play all day everyday - so I talked to them about what Sunday means.

Spencer W. Kimball stated:

It is a day on which to read good books, a day to contemplate and ponder, … a day to study the scriptures and to prepare sermons, a day to nap and rest and relax, a day to visit the sick, a day to preach the gospel, a day to proselyte, a day to visit quietly with the family and get acquainted with our children, a day for proper courting, a day to do good, a day to drink at the fountain of knowledge and of instruction, a day to seek forgiveness of our sins, a day for the enrichment of our spirit and our soul, a day to restore us to our spiritual stature, a day to partake of the emblems of his sacrifice and atonement, a day to contemplate the glories of the gospel and of the eternal realms, a day to climb high on the upward path toward our Heavenly Father 3

This is basically what we decided would be great Sunday activities. But what does this have to do with the rest of the topic?

Well, this is just one thing that can be done to shore up the loss of spirituality in the world. While this doesn’t seem like much, it is a lot. Think if everyone observed the Sabbath in this manner, if all the stores closed, and sports weren’t played. How more spiritual would the world be?

While I know this isn’t the only answer, there are so many other things that have transpired to bring us to this point, but it is something we can change now.

As we talked in our discussion, I admitted my own failings when it comes to Sabbath observence and explained to my children that I would make a concerted effort to raise the bar - “Good Better Best“.

  1. Filling the Spiritual Void By Shariffa Carlo ↩
  2. The American Challenge Benson, Ezra Taft ↩
  3. Teachings, 216 ↩