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 ↩

May

28

The Kingdoms and Questions

Filed Under Gospel, Joseph Smith Jr., Prophets | 7 Comments

I was reading a post over at Small & Simple and ended up with some of my own questions about the different Kingdoms of Heaven and Perdition.

1. Can anyone be a “Son of Perdition”?

I haven’t found anything concrete about this, but reading the definitions makes it out as if anyone could be one. So why the question? Well I know not every Mormon gets into this mode of thinking, but if we’re taught we are the only church teaching the truth, how could anyone come to a “personal witness of Him [Jesus Christ] from the Holy Ghost” 1, except someone who is actually taught the truth about him.

What are your thoughts on this?

2. A Testimony of Jesus Christ

One of the requirements to enter into the Celestial Kingdom is to have “received the testimony of Jesus”2. But exactly what kind of testimony is this? We all tend to bear our testimony with a piece that states “Jesus is our Savior”, and for the card carriers, we admit to having a testimony of Jesus Christ. But is this the same kind of testimony that if once we say we do, then deny it have made ourselves a son or daughter of perdition?

I always thought (and was probably taught some where down the road) that heaven would have to be opened to you, you would have to have a perfect knowledge or understanding of Jesus Christ3.

I believe the answer is held in part in [D&C 76:10], “For by my aSpirit will I benlighten them, and by my cpower will I make known unto them the dsecrets of my ewill—yea, even those things which feye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man”. Which seems to be more then just the basic testimony.

But…(don’t you love it)

The Iron Rod asked the same question, and came up with a different idea on this subject, one which takes from the King Follett sermon.

All sins shall be forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Ghost; for Jesus will save all except the sons of perdition. What must a man do to commit the unpardonable sin? He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against him. After a man has sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no repentance for him. He has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it; and from that time he begins to be an enemy. This is the case with many apostates of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints4.

[emphasis added]

I guess that does change it, I knew I remembered something else from a Gospel Doctrine class a few years back, and that’s why I use the term Sons and Daughters or Perdition. So it looks like it’s very possible for anyone of us to become one, which is a sobering thought.

What are your thoughts?

3. Are the Kingdoms more personal then grouping everyone into 3?

This question relies heavily on [John 14:2], ” In my Father’s ahouse are many bmansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” [empahsis added] and [1 Cor 15:41], ” There is one glory of the asun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the bstars: for one star cdiffereth from another star in dglory.” [emphasis added]. Also by reading [D&C 131:1-4] you find that there are 3 degrees within the Celestial kingdom.

I think this goes a long way in showing exactly how much Heavenly Father loves us and wants us all to return to him. I also know as nice as it sounds, it’s also hard. I can sit here and say anything I want and make it look like I’m a perfect little angel, but that’s not the case. God understands this and Jesus takes the cases one by one.

See this is yet another one of those connected reasons I love. In Fatherhood (Parenthood), you can see the process on a lower level. I have 3 kids, and each one is different. They respond differently to punishments, love, and fun. I cannot (even though I do sometimes) use the same reasoning on each one. One of my children obeys very well, one does not, and one sort of does. Like how each one of us will be “will be judged according to our works, according to the desire of our hearts “[D&C 137:7–9].

What is your take on this?

  1. Son Of Perdition - Wikipedia ↩
  2. Kingdoms of Glory (Additional Info) - Gospel Topics ↩
  3. Son of Perdition - Wikipedia ↩
  4. King Follett Discourse Part 2 ↩