“Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you” President J. Reuben Clark Jr., in Conference Report, Apr. 1938, 103

Let me preface this by saying that it may not necessarily be provident living to some, but it is a huge change in my families spending habits and a change in our mindset of how we want to handle money in the future.

I also need to give a little background on our family. We made the choice some years ago to be be a one income family, though there may have been times since then that both of us have worked, we’ve never relied on daycare or outside systems to take care of any of our kids. We also had gotten ourselves into some bad habits, like using credit cards to supplement our income and by the end, racked up quite a bit of debt. I won’t use exact figures, but it was sufficient to finally make my wife and I sick of the situation and decide to make some changes. We still struggle, but we are making it.

So let’s roll back the clock, to the beginning of  2010. Lots of stuff changed for my family, with my wife being pregnant, getting a raise, having to move and enjoying a nice car, things were a little overwhelming in different ways. We finally landed a rental and couldn’t believe how we could afford all the stuff we had: a rental house, our nice Honda Pilot and we were still only one income (we had a little help from my wife’s sister living with us). But in all reality, we were one incident away from ruin and there were some tough decisions coming…and soon.

But at the beginning of the year, we really hadn’t made any real choices, we had stopped using the credit cards because, well it seemed like there was enough money every paycheck – and I think we had kind of gone over board with Christmas (like we seemed to do every year). Then my wife’s sister decided to move, and that was the catalyst.

Now I don’t think of myself as that stuck on things of the world, I mean I like things don’t get me wrong – but never quite realized how deep it was. When I was younger I bought the vehicles I wanted and I liked my vehicles. After I got married it slowly went away though I was still quite proud and stubborn about them. Though eventually after years of driving beaters and vehicles that some might consider to be less manly I’ve come to a point where I thought I didn’t care. Then we bought our Honda Pilot in a moment of weakness – well I say it that way, but that’s usually how we ended up with a car, go and look at usually bought the first thing we saw. So here we are with a pretty hefty payment, with a really nice car – one that I felt pretty good driving. It was shiny, powerful, had fancy gadgetry and awd drive.

If you ask me now, I’ll admit I never was happy with the Honda, and not for any reason other than I was always too worried about it. Like every new sound I heard I would have a mental break – How much is this going to cost me, how do I find the money to fix it. etc, etc, etc. But I wouldn’t admit it back then. I liked having a nice car.

But here we were, a loss of about the same amount of money per month as our car. The choice seemed easy, but the execution was not. I fought it tooth and nail saying I needed a car for work, we’ve had two cars since the day we were married. Also, there were legitimate times of needing a second car – like when I commuted over an hour each way to work. But my excuses for keeping the car were petering out and I finally gave in to my wife’s wise counsel. We put the car up on an internet site to sale it and to make a long story short, sold it within a week or two – and here’s the miraculous part, sold it for about $40 dollars less than we owed on it! As we look back on this we know that the Lord helped us sale this car because we needed to make choices, we needed to start a ball rolling that will ultimately lead us to financial freedom.

So now we’re down to one car. A 13yr old minivan. The talk was that at tax time this year we would look at buying a car for me, but now it’s changed – and I’ll get to that in a minute. But we’ve been sharing the van since the summer and while it’s not an awesome solution it has worked.

So here we are at the beginning of a new year. We look at last year and look at the debt savings we’ve made. We removed a vehicle from the equation which really freed up a nice little amount of money per month. We haven’t used any of our credit cards last year so they are going down, albeit slowly – they are going down. And we’ve got an initial amount of tax return that as our habits have changed, our use of that money has also changed. Our plan for this year is to start off with a bang, and by bang I mean using some of the tax money to get some work done on the van, put together an emergency fund and then pay the rest onto one of the credit cards.

You can look at this any way you want, but a snowball starts with one snow flake, however small that snowflake is it does grow over time. Personally I can get very focused on seeing results and when you’re talking about something the size of a snowflake it’s hard to see the results. But with a good woman at my side, support from various sources and strength from the Lord this year is going to make a bigger snowball and the effects are going to be very visible.

While I haven’t been very specific on somethings, these are some of the things we’ve been doing. We’ve been talking more – my wife and I about our finances. While I still struggle with sitting down with my wife and going over the finances. I talk to her more about it and we discuss most of our purchases. We also employee some rewards here and there. One of bad habits is going out to eat, and so we’ve been trying to change that habit into a reward system – it works, but sometimes it’s hard to stick to it. We listen to Dave Ramsey also, not so much for advice but to hear the people that call, both success stories and the people who are worse off then us. Because nothing motivates better than knowing how bad it can get. The most important thing to remember is the Lord, He is a big strength to us in trying to do this. We’re all human and subject to weakness – but with His help we can over come. We’ve been counseled to pray always, on everything and so this might be a helper to remember. but be warned it’s long Alma 34:18-27 – but the gist is simple, pray always. If you have serious spending problems pray over that candy bar at the check out isle, for me it’s more about impulsive big purchases like a car – but sometimes it’s about being weak or tired and saying let’s just get a pizza.

So while this may not be the provident living post you were hoping for, this is my experience with debt, finally getting sick of it and making changes. The changes may not be great, they are making a difference. However slow they start out as, they do grow, just like debt continues to grown, the snowball can also grow and eventually you will be free.

I caught a post on facebook from Dave Ramsey that mentions a police officer (I don’t remember where, but the numbers a probably close) that said about 80% of the domestic dispute calls he gets are based around money. Couple that with this article linking financial arguments and debt and you can see that you should do what you can now, however small it is.

“If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet” (Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, comp. G. Homer Durham [1941], 111)

Now realize that the article was written in 2009, though we as LDS were told about the problems even back in 1941…

I leave you with a testimony of living within your means. That if you follow the counsel of God and pray to him for help and strength that you to can work your way out of debt and release yourself from that bondage.

Quotes pulled from a General Conference address given by President Gordon B. Hinckley in the October 1998 Priesthood session entitled “To the Boys and Men“.

Men and Women are Equal Partners

I’ve started reading a fascinating book “65 Signs of the Times Leading up to the Second Coming” – David J. Ridges and I thought I might start a series of posts that opens the discussion for them, because I like to go beyond what he highlights in the book, to more of a let’s show examples in the world. Let’s talk about after effects, etc.

The author makes a good point to say this book isn’t written to scare people and uses quotes from prophets to try and set the tone. I’ll probably put these quotes on each of the posts so that we don’t forget and end up getting caught up in the signs. That isn’t what I want to do either.

Gordon B. Hinckley

I do not know what we did in the preexistence to merit the wonderful blessings we enjoy. We have come to earth in this great season in the long history of mankind. It is a marvelous age, the best of all. As we reflect on the the plodding course of mankind from the time of our first parents, we cannot help feeling grateful. ["Living in the Fulness of Times," Ensign, November 2001, p. 4]

Thomas S. Monson

I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us.

My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.

I declare that God lives and that He hears and answers our prayers. His Son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior and our Redeemer. Heaven’s blessings await us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.[Ensign, May 2009, pp 89-92]

I think the first one I want to discuss, and as a matter of fact isn’t actually one of the 65 listed – but it is most certainly something happening and seemingly getting worse.

Pitting men against women, and women against men

In today’s modern world what are some themes we see? I know, that was a little vague, so let’s refine it a little more. First we each have roles – and this isn’t based on a sexist look, it’s based on prophetic counsel from our Lord through our leaders.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. [emphasis added]

But what do we see happening? What are some examples in today’s world where men are pitted against women and women against men?

What do we see in today’s political arena, in the media, or maybe in our own circles?

Here’s one example of breaking down roles – I’ve noticed in commercials these days the trend (and I’m sure isn’t necessarily a new concept) that men are portrayed as bumbling fools, they couldn’t do anything without the heroine wife. No, I’m not saying women can’t do anything either – but the portrayal of men as incapable of knowing how to anything I think it pitting women against men (women are the new hero’s men are dumb as rocks). The examples for men spread over the centuries and can be found anywhere.

Doctrine and Covenants 121:39

We have learned by sad experience that it is the ^anature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little ^bauthority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise ^cunrighteous dominion.

So, let’s hear some examples that you can think of? Let’s discuss…

The Resurrected Savior

I don’t feel as though I completely understand the Atonement. Don’t get me wrong, I get the jist of it – but I feel like I’m missing pieces of it.

I looked up the Atonement under Gospel Topics on lds.org. There is a brief description of the atonement and some additional links for other information. I chose to look at Church Magazine Articles to see if there were some talks out there that might help me understand it in a more plain fashion.

Reading that the Atonement is “the most difficult to understand”[1. James E. Faust -The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope], or “it is impossible for me to put into words the full meaning”[2. Elder M. Russell Ballard - The Atonement and the Value of One Soul] of the Atonement is not exactly what I needed to see. I need it easy!

But I figure I’m going to have to read a lot, if I want to get to a better understanding of it. We can start with the basics of it and what it does for us.

The Bible Dictionary states “Atone describes the setting “at one” of those who have been estranged, and denotes the reconciliation of man to God. Sin is the cause of the estrangement, and therefore the purpose of atonement is to correct or overcome the consequences of sin.”[3. Bible Dictionary - Atonement]

If you look it up through Gospel Topics, it says this “As used in the scriptures, to atone is to suffer the penalty for sins, thereby removing the effects of sin from the repentant sinner and allowing him or her to be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ was the only one capable of carrying out the Atonement for all mankind. Because of His Atonement, all people will be resurrected, and those who obey His gospel will receive the gift of eternal life with God.”[4. Gospel Topic - Atonement of Jesus Christ]

In essence, Jesus is our rescuer, and he stands in our place. He was the only one capable. Because He was born of a mortal mother [could die] and of an imortal Father [overcome death]. [5. Gospel Topic - Atonement of Jesus Christ; Additional Information]

I’m still missing something though and I think it has to do with sin and the effects there of. What I mean is, if we commit sin that removes us from God – the opposite of atone [at one]. As a mortal we can only do so much, repent and obey. To complete the process [what we can't do] Jesus atoned for us, enabling us to return [at one] to God. It’s our choice.

Gordon B. Hinckley explained it like this

“a one room school house in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough no teacher had been able to handle them.

“Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied. He was told that every teacher had received an awful beating, but the teacher accepted the risk. The first day of school the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class came up with 10 rules, which were written on the blackboard. Then the teacher asked, ‘What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’

“ ‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response.

“A day or so later, … the lunch of a big student, named Tom, was stolen. ‘The thief was located—a little hungry fellow, about ten years old.’

“As Little Jim came up to take his licking, he pleaded to keep his coat on. ‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’

“The boy took off the coat. He had no shirt and revealed a bony little crippled body. As the teacher hesitated with the rod, Big Tom jumped to his feet and volunteered to take the boy’s licking.

“ ‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’ the teacher asked.

“After five strokes across Tom’s back, the rod broke. The class was sobbing. ‘Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. “Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!” ’[6. Pres. Hinckley: Christmas a Result of Redeeming Christ,” Church News, 10 Dec. 1994, 4]

In this parable, I would hazard a guess that in the great counsel in heaven we all agreed on the rules. God is the teacher, we are Little Jim and Jesus is Tom. Jesus stepped in for us because as a mortal we can not bear the punishment alone.

I once asked a Stake President to help me understand the Atonement, and he went about it in an even simpler method taking his garbage can and putting it to the edge of his desk. Then telling me the items on his desk were our sins, wiped them into the garbage can. Back then I didn’t quite grasp that concept, I over thought it, but it makes sense. I can not forgive myself and be worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven – Jesus has got to help. He can take those red stains of sin and turn them white [7. Isaiah 1:18].

I understand now more so about why they counsel that it is hard to understand or to put into words the concept of the Atonement. There is a lot of pieces that are not known to me, suffice it to say that you keep digging deeper to learn as much as you can about it.

James E. Faust understood what was meant in Mosiah 4:6–7 when he said “Our salvation depends on believing in and accepting the Atonement.”

I’ll end this by saying that, I am not a LDS scholar, nor do I consider myself all that smart with the LDS Gospel. I’m trying to learn as much as I can, and so there may be errors in my thoughts. I’m not trying to pass anything off as official, but making sense of what I don’t understand. If you feel there are errors here, please let me know.

Photo: Rosemary Masters

There was a discussion on an email sent around at a family dinner then other night that referenced a talk given by Gordon B. Hinckley[1. Gordon B. Hinkley], entitled “Living In The Fullness Of Time”[2. Ensign Nov, 2001 p.4].

The main reason I was interested is because in the email it was said that the “vision of Joel” had been fulfilled and since I get skeptical of emails that claim anything (especially LDS[3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints] related emails), I had to verify it. Luckily the email, which I hadn’t seen and the person telling me about it couldn’t remember, did include the reference to the above mentioned talk.

The important bit on Joel(Joel 2:28–32) is this;

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will ^apour out my ^bspirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall ^cprophesy, your ^dold men shall ^edream dreams, your young men shall see ^fvisions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

30 And I will shew ^awonders in the ^bheavens and in the earth, blood, and ^cfire, and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into ^ablood, before the great and the terrible ^bday of the Lord come.

32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall ^acall on the name of ^bthe Lord shall be ^cdelivered: for in ^dmount ^eZion and in ^fJerusalem shall be ^gdeliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the ^hremnant whom the Lord shall ⁱcall.

[emphasis added]

It was the sun and moon bit that I didn’t recall, and got skeptical about. I mean that’s a pretty scary one right. But luckily with most things from the Lord, it’s followed closely with a light at the end of the tunnel, “that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered“. Awesome.

If you recall, September 2001[4. 9/11] was a tragic time, and this talk followed it during conference. The pillars of smoke, blood and fire – could be witnessed from around the world. In the big scheme of things, it doesn’t matter what caused it, or by whom, what matters is that the events occurred. Sure we’ve been warned for decades we were at the end days, and some are hard of hearing. But lately, with the current climate in politics and ethics, and such you’d think more people (members) might be listening a little closer.

Further in the talk he quotes verse from Paul (2 Tim. 3:1–5)

1 This know also, that in the ^a last days perilous ^btimes shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, ^acovetous, boasters, ^bproud, blasphemers, ^cdisobedient to parents, ^dunthankful, unholy,

3 Without ^anatural ^baffection, ^ctrucebreakers, ^dfalse accusers, ^eincontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 ^aTraitors, ^bheady, ^chighminded, lovers of ^dpleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a ^aform of godliness, but ^bdenying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Who can see where I’m going to go with this?

I’ll enumerate each verse here, with some opinions.

1. The last days will be perilous.

Look around us, while I don’t think it’s so bad you can’t step outside of your home, there are dangers out there more so then there use to be, even inside your home there are dangers, the TV, the internet, video games, etc. See, it doesn’t just have to be a physical danger, spiritual danger is everywhere. In that email, it also references a quote from Heber C. Kimball[5. Life of Heber C. Kimball by Orson F. Whitney p446 ];

Yes,’ said Brother Heber (by which name he was so familiarly known), ‘we think we are secure here in the chambers of the everlasting hills, where we can close those few doors of the canyons against mobs and persecutors, the wicked and the vile, who have always beset us with violence and robbery, but I want to say to you, my brethren, the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to that extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then, brethren, look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall; for I say unto you there is a test, a TEST, a TEST coming, and who will be able to stand?’

[emphasis added]

While not all of you are from Utah, I think the gist here is that as a representation, if it fails in Utah, it all fails. No I’m not some Utah supremacist, I just think it’s a metaphor for the righteous people.

2. Lovers of themselves, etc.

Covetous: While this isn’t a new sin, and you know it’s a problem because it traces it’s roots all the way back to Cain, and maybe it’s just me, but I see a lot of ‘keeping up with the Jones’ going on. I myself have fallen prey, and I do struggle with it, I’m a tech junkie and I want new techno gadgets. Bless my wife who puts up with it and counsels me on the difference between need/want. But I pose the question, is a part of our economic woes due to this? Are their societal problems because of this?

Boasters/Proud: Have you ever heard of the pride cycle? Any reader of the Book of Mormon should be pretty familar with this concept. It would seem, like the bubbles of the past, our current pride bubble should be bursting sooner then later. Do you feel a lacking of humility in the world? How often are people responsible for their own actions these days? I think pride also leads one away from prayer, which leads one away from the Lord. Could boasting be applied to economic, and/or societal troubles today?

Blasphemers: While I would align blasphemers closer to Sons of Perdition because someone who doesn’t believe in the religion they blaspheme against, as a son of perdition would have to have absolute knowledge of God to sin against him. But I would hazard a guess they are the rank and file members of church. Those who have/had a testimony of Christ, yet choose to engage in actions that are quite contrary to him. Take proposition 8 and members who oppose it.

Disobedience to Parents:  Anyone of the reasons in these versus could cause this one. But it doesn’t just apply to Earthly parents. We have Heavenly parents that we can just as easily be disobedient to.

Unthankful: As some one who likes to reference as much information as I can, I also like to take the time to apply the correct information to those references. It’s the same way in life, I try to always thank those who have done something for me, but sometimes you can see how pride or covetousness could keep that from happening. In our home, for family prayer we try to make it a rule to come up with 10 things we are thankful for from God, but again because of other faults it sometimes may not be as easy to come up with even 10.

Unholy: It seems that as the days go by, this nation along with others move more and more towards a secular society. I watched a movie once where it was realized that the world would be a better place if their was no God at all, things would be better – because without God, their is no evil. How truly wrong they are. There’s more and more sacrilege happening, more and more removal of God from our lives. More and more replacing what is good with what is evil.

3. Against those who are good

I think as witnessed by the protests over proposition 8, the adjectives in this verse were very apparent, and still are. There is such a boiling hatred for those who stand up for God’s ways. I tell you, I was a little shocked at the fierceness they have.

4. Lovers of pleasure

I think we’ve all seen about enough of this going on lately. While I’m not against capitalism in it’s natural form, it’s disconcerting to see such blatant love of money over love of neighbor. I consider it a faux replacement for the light of Christ. I’ve been through it, where there is a feeling of missing something, and trying to use everything under the sun to fill it, when in reality only God’s love can fill it. I see a lot of empty people out there filling that whole the same way. Using worldly possessions and acquisitions to fill it up. Traitors, well to get all political, I think most of our politicians are traitors by definition. They sell out their own nation for wealth and power, they give away sovernty for supposed protection and influence. If we are to believe Washington, then it should be the office that picks the man, not the man who picks the office.

5. Denying the powers of God

It’s an old argument, God is almighty, but His powers are limited. The LDS know this isn’t true. We know his power is everywhere, and we know this because we are given the authority to work with that power. This entire universe speaks of that power, yet there are those that would have us believe He is no where to be found. He wasn’t part of it. I’ve always been a big believer in God and Science being reconcilable. It’s not God that doesn’t know this, or lacks knowledge, it’s us – we don’t know.

Now since I’ve really brought down the mood, let me use the words of Gordon B. Hinckley to pick it back up. I know, it’s frightening what’s going on in the world today. It’s scary stuff. But in his love of man, he closes he talk in his awesome fashion, there is light at the end of tunnel, there is a way…

We live in a season when fierce men do terrible and despicable things. We live in a season of war. We live in a season of arrogance. We live in a season of wickedness, pornography, immorality. All of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah haunt our society. Our young people have never faced a greater challenge. We have never seen more clearly the lecherous face of evil.

And so, my brothers and sisters, we are met together in this great conference to fortify and strengthen one another, to help and lift one another, to give encouragement and build faith, to reflect on the wonderful things the Lord has made available to us, and to strengthen our resolve to oppose evil in whatever form it may take.

We have become as a great army. We are now a people of consequence. Our voice is heard when we speak up. We have demonstrated our strength in meeting adversity. Our strength is our faith in the Almighty. No cause under the heavens can stop the work of God. Adversity may raise its ugly head. The world may be troubled with wars and rumors of wars, but this cause will go forward.

You are familiar with these great words written by the Prophet Joseph: “No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny