tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62144665139838978362024-03-19T20:38:39.327-07:00In 200 Words Or LessAh, if only the truth could be told so succinctly!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger366125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-45320997398776871362022-06-26T16:41:00.002-07:002022-06-26T16:49:08.936-07:00What "fruits" do we have?<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Only <i>one</i> member of the LDS Church has ever really tried to "reclaim" me since they kicked me out for apostasy nearly eight years ago. Most members of the cult undoubtedly said "good riddance!" and never talked to me again -- including members of my own family. Using an admixture of calling me to repentance, inviting me back to the fold, and offering his service as a real estate broker, the fellow above prompted this <a href="https://in200wordsorless.blogspot.com/2015/12/my-confession.html" target="_blank">post</a>:<br /><br />After I declined his offers, I reminded him that we can know the Lord's <i>true</i> disciples by their fruits. So, of course, he asked me, what were <i>my</i> fruits? <br /><br />As you may be asking yourselves the same question, I give you the answer I gave him nearly eight years ago:<br /></span></p><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Literally, my fruits are </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>my family</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">. [My wife] would not be my wife and we would not have our seven children together but for my faith in Jesus Christ and my understanding of his gospel.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In another sense, the totality of my life’s achievements represent the “fruits” I bear, for better and worse.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In the deepest sense, the greatest “fruit” I have born is that hefted from the Tree of Life: my love for Jesus Christ and whatever good I have done because of his influence over me. I have tasted that fruit and it has filled my soul with joy. My perdurable conviction of the authenticity of the prophetic ministry of Joseph Smith, the divine inspiration and power undergirding the production and translation of the Book of Mormon, and the coming forth of the great revelations pertinent to the restoration of the gospel in our time (a movement substantially “stalled” and incomplete now) are more “fruits” I bear.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Much of my fruit, however, is destined for the grave and is not eternal, lamentably. What can be gathered for heaven from what I have produced? Not much. Neither my wife nor my children have been “born again,” born of God, or “converted,” though, from time to time, they receive inspiration via the Holy Ghost. My calling and election have, by no means, been made sure. My personal interactions with Jesus have been few and far between. I am estranged from him, it would seem (no doubt by my actions, choices, and faithlessness). Nevertheless, I have heard his voice and have seen his light. He has pierced my soul to the very core with his love.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I wish I could bear fruits that would appeal to heaven and be noted as something worth “saving.” (Otherwise, I won’t be!) What “fruits” would heaven preserve in me? Let’s see (by examining me and the scriptures) which ones I possess and which ones I lack.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">First and foremost, the list of commandments and duties articulated in D&C 88:118-126 come to mind. Someone possessed of the mind of God would do (and be!) those things. Of particular note is the commandment/attribute: “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">” (v. 125), for “charity </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">shall cover the multitude of sins</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">.” (1 Peter 4:8.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I pray for charity! (But, apparently, not enough! At least you don’t think so!)</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Clearly one of the spiritual gifts I possess is knowledge. But you have accused me of being arrogant and unhumble. Perhaps that’s because “[k]</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">nowledge puffeth up,</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">” while “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">charity edifieth.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">” (1 Corinthians 8:1.) I’ll continue to pray for charity.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I affirm what Paul wrote Timothy:</span></span></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><blockquote class="quote-indent" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.81in; margin-right: 1in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:</span></blockquote><blockquote class="quote-indent" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.81in; margin-right: 1in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">6 From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;</span></blockquote><blockquote class="quote-indent" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.81in; margin-right: 1in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span>7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> (1 Timothy 1:5-7)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><b>Salvation is by grace</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><b>through</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><b>FAITH IN CHRIST</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">. “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><b>It is the </b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>gift of God: n</b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><b>ot of works, lest any man should boast.”</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> (See Ephesians 2:8-9.) We must labor, nonetheless, with all the energy of our souls, to </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>receive</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> salvation — by asking, seeking, knocking, obeying God, sacrificing, purifying ourselves, consecrating our whole souls to following our Savior — until we receive his gift. It is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>his</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> gift, after all, to give. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>He </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">earned it.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">There is a penchant among Latter-day Saints — even as there was among the Jews who were converted unto Christ, who formerly followed the law of Moses — to focus on the law (again!) and to put their trust in their </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>works</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">, or the arm of flesh — giving heed to mortal leaders (and their endless demands, the commandments of men) and minding ordinances (the rituals and observances of the law first delivered to them, but later added upon, changed, and corrupted by those who followed) — thinking by doing these things (whatever they are), they might somehow “earn” their salvation (as Christ did, he never really having “lost” it, because of his strict obedience).</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Salvation (for us), however, does </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>not</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> come by keeping the commandments of God alone (for we are all — and yet remain! — sinners!), but by </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>trusting in the Lord</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> and by </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>enduring in the faith that </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>he is righteous and mighty to save</b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i> </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">until the end of our mortal lives. (See Mosiah 4:6.) Works alone (without faith in Christ) </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>cannot</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> save us, but faith in Christ and </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>his </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">power </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>can</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">, our faith being made “perfect” (or manifest) by our works. (See Joseph Smith Translation of James 2:15.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><blockquote class="quote-indent" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.81in; margin-right: 1in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,</span></blockquote><blockquote class="quote-indent" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.81in; margin-right: 1in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span>10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">…</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="quote-indent" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.81in; margin-right: 1in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span>15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> (1 Timothy 1: 9-10,15.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Trusting in the law to save us </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>damns</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> us! </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">(For we have ALL broken the law.) Consequently, </span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">salvation</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i> </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">is</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i> in Christ</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> — who is the Love of God — and none (and nothing) else! One can keep </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>many</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> commandments (even as I image Lucifer once did and still does!) and not feel </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>one particle</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> of selfless love. So what of that? Of what usefulness to the universe is an unloving renegade? What good can come of him who might turn on a dime and </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>destroy</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> that which he </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>doesn’t </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">love, if he could? What a danger would persist if someone possessing all power and knowledge didn’t love </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>all</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>that</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> which the Father has created? Perduring love alone is able to keep in check unlimited knowledge and power. That’s what holds the worlds together!</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus) was a pretty “bad” dude. He “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">” (Acts 8:3.) Meanwhile, “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And </span><span style="color: black;"><span><i>the people with one accord gave heed</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"> unto those things which Philip spake, </span><span style="color: black;"><span><i>hearing and seeing the miracles which he did</i></span></span><span style="color: black;">.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">” (Acts 8:5-6.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">As a Pharisee, Paul was a </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>false</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> prophet. He taught false doctrine and persecuted and scattered the Lord’s flock. Philip was a </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>true</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> prophet, his authority from God being confirmed by the evidence of miracles which he performed (just as Jesus’ authority was demonstrated). The people thus gave heed to him, even as they did Jesus.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Who are God’s true messengers and authorized servants today? How would we know?</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Was Paul a murderer, a whoremonger, a deviant, and such? Yet, once converted unto Christ, he called himself “chief among sinners.” Was he being falsely modest? Or simply telling the truth?</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">I’m </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>astounded</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> by to what degree I have violated during my lifetime the knowledge of God I possess. My propensity to commit sin (or to refrain from doing so!) used to be far greater (and, simultaneously, far less) than I initially imagined.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God gives us weakness to make us humble…and it works! But while some are softened, even being lowered to the dust by their failures and shortcomings, others are hardened, “steeling” themselves against the truth, ashamed to admit or confess their mistakes and weaknesses. Once “tasting” of the delicious, sweet, pure and perfect fruit of the Tree of Life, they look about as if they are ashamed of the opinions and judgments of others, then slink off into filthy waters and forbidden paths, or perhaps ascend lofty towers, having no sure foundation. They live without Christ (or his forgiveness and cleansing) in this world.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Salvation is in Christ Immanuel (“anointed one,” “God with us”). If I could sum up the </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>entire</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> Book of Mormon in one sentence, it would be that salvation is gained by partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Life — which fruit is the love of God, manifest in Jesus Christ…for salvation (for us) is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>not</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> obtained by wielding the sword, by laying up gold and silver, or by serving one’s fellow man while keeping a long list of laws, but rather salvation comes by </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>knowing and loving Jesus Christ personally </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">and</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i> becoming love oneself!</i></span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">One’s association with Christ suffuses and infuses </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>everything</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> every “saved” person does.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">You asked me earlier: “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">Do you love the Lord</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">, Will</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">?</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">” I do. And because I love him, I strive to keep his commandments. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>Which commandments?</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> The ones </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>he</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> has given me — and continues to give me — </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>not </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">the commandments of men which (like bodily exercise) “profiteth little,” but are </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>powerless</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> to save.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">For </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>only</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>Christ</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> (and his love!) can save us, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>not</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> just (or even </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>primarily) </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">our works!</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">This “salvation by Christ” is a </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>personal</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> experience. Christ manifests </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>himself </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">to those who love him and keep his commandments. (See John 14:23; D&C 130:3.) He introduces to his Father those whom he </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>seals</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> to himself. He </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>personally</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> promises — with an assurance that </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>cannot</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> be broken — that </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>he</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> will save whom he covenants with (by his foreknowledge and power) to do whatever it takes to resurrect and exalt that soul who manifests implicit trust in, love for and obedience to him. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>He</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> will insure that </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>they</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> continue, having eternal life in a mansion </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>he </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">prepares for them! (See John 14:2-3.) This is a </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>personal</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> manifestation, ordinance and experience performed </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>solely</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> by him. It </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>cannot</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> be assigned to another, or gained and gleaned for oneself by being baptized only by water, or by going through some temple ceremony, or by serving a mission, holding a Church calling, getting sealed to a spouse, or receiving any other ordinance performed by mere men. This ordinance comes </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>from God alone</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>Salvation</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> is found </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>in him</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> and </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>nowhere</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> else! “[T]he keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there.” (2 Nephi 9:41.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">“<span><span lang="en-US">Follow the prophet” can take one only so far. We must </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>come unto Christ</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> to gain eternal life.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">In the past, God’s wrath and displeasure were poured out on those who would </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>not</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> ascend, who failed to prepare and sanctify themselves </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">to meet him personally</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">. Instead they trusted in their own power, in other gods, or in the flesh pots of Egypt. (See Numbers 14.) Even when they beheld God’s power and he declared he wanted them to see and hear him personally, they besought </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>Moses</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> to go up for them, expecting </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>him</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> to approach the God of Heaven on their behalf! (See Exodus 20:19.) For this “wickedness,” those Israelites were caused to wander 40 years in the desert, until they all died, never entering the Promised Land.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">How are we, by and large, any different than the</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">m</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> if we claim to “follow the prophet” instead of “come unto Christ”? And if we do not experience the power and gifts of God in our own lives, how can we honestly claim to </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>know</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> him?</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I reveal a great mystery given to me as I prepared these words:</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">11 And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">12 And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>baptized</b></span></span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>in my name</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">, </span><span style="color: black;"><span><i>to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me;</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"> wherefore, </span><span style="color: black;"><span><i>follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.</i></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>follow the Son</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but </span><span style="color: black;"><span><i>with real intent</i></span></span><span style="color: black;">, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>willing to take upon you the name of Christ</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>shall ye receive the Holy Ghost</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">; yea, </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">” (2 Nephi 31:11-13.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">I have read these words </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>hundreds</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> of times. And </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">(as you've noted previously)</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> when gifted with the Holy Spirit, we experience and understand things kept “hidden” from the world.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">This scripture speaks of water, but being baptized by </span><span style="color: black;"><span><i>water</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">alone </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">does </span><span style="color: black;"><span><i>not</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"> ensure that the gift of the Holy Ghost is received. In fact, one doesn’t even need </span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">baptism</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"> by water (or the laying on of hands</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">!</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">) </span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">to be filled with the</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"> Holy Ghost! Nevertheless, one who receives this gift </span><span style="color: black;"><span><i>will</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"> be inspired to be baptized (born of water, spirit and blood) even as Adam “was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water. And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.” (Moses 6:64-65.)</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">What is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>essential</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> is that we be </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><b>baptized </b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>in Christ’s name!</b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> It is in </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>taking upon ourselves his name — becoming like him</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>doing the works which we have seen him do</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>following him</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>receiving his Holy Spirit</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> — that we are saved…and in </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>no other way</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">. (2 Nephi 31:4-21.) Immersion in water is but a sign, a symbol, a token of death, rebirth, cleansing, what have you. (You’ve heard it all!) But it is also a symbol of complete and total immersion </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>in the name of Christ!</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> We </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>must</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> experience being baptized </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>in his name!</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> (LDS apostles were commissioned to be special witnesses of </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>the name of Christ</b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> in all the world. See D&C 107:23.) We must </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>take upon ourselves his name </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">and become </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>even as he is!</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> THIS is salvation! Jesus is the prototypical saved Man, the exemplar of all we </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>must</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> do and become in order to be saved, even as he is, coming unto the Father as he has! There is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>NO OTHER WAY! </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (John 14:6)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Of course, I’m not just saying we must acknowledge we are Christians by </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>calling ourselves</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> such (as I did with each of my three sons: </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>Christian</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> Daniel Carter, Cael </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>Christian</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> Carter and Nathaniel </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>Christian</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> Carter). I’m saying we must become </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>indistinguishable from Christ</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">: to see </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>us</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> is to see </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>him</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">. (See D&C 130:1, 1 John 3:2 and Moroni 7:48.) In fact, Moroni’s words are most instructive, because he identifies what</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i> </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">we</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i> </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">must</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i> do</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> and </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>be</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> in order to be “saved”:</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Wherefore, my beloved brethren, </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>pray</b></span></span><span style="color: black;"> unto the Father </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>with all the energy of heart</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">, that ye may </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>be filled with this love</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">, which he hath bestowed upon all who are </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">; that ye may </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>become the sons of God</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">; that when he shall appear we shall </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>be like him</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">, for we shall </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>see him as he is</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">; that we may </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>have this hope</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">; that we may </span><span style="color: black;"><span><b>be purified even as he is pure</b></span></span><span style="color: black;">. Amen.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> (Moroni 7:48.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">One possessing charity is loath to swat a fly! He cares not for material possessions, but wants nothing more than to relieve the suffering and lift the spirits of others. He will not willfully sin. He is “outward-oriented,” focusing on others’ welfare, not his own. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">H</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">is sorrows (and he will have </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>many</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">, if he is a true follower of Christ) will be “swallowed up” in the joy of Jesus. (See Alma 31:38.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Peter elaborated:</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">“</span><span style="color: black;">Use hospitality one to another without grudging.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">” (1 Peter 4:9-11.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">In other words, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>whatsoever God has given and entrusted to us </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">we ought to use in the service of others, to the glory of God through Jesus Christ.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Moroni (and others) have expounded on these gifts and attributes:</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“And again, I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the Spirit of God unto men, to profit them.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">For behold, to one is given by the Spirit of God, that he may teach the word of wisdom;</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And to another, that he may teach the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And to another, exceedingly great faith; and to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And again, to another, that he may work mighty miracles;</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And again, to another, that he may prophesy concerning all things;</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And again, to another, the beholding of angels and ministering spirits;</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And again, to another, all kinds of tongues;</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And again, to another, the interpretation of languages and of divers kinds of tongues.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that all these gifts of which I have spoken, which are spiritual, never will be done away, even as long as the world shall stand, only according to the unbelief of the children of men.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><b>And except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God</b>; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope. And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair; and despair cometh because of iniquity.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And Christ truly said unto our fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth—that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">And wo unto them who shall do these things away and die, for they die in their sins, and they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God; and I speak it according to the words of Christ; and I lie not.”</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> (Moroni 10:8-26.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Perhaps we </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>all</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> are in need of calling upon God with greater faith to receive and exercise his power and gifts in greater abundance </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>in the service of our fellowman</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">An angel visited king Benjamin, delivering a message for his people that they might repent and exercise faith in Jesus Christ unto keeping his commandments (see Mosiah 3). Before delivering that message, however, king Benjamin spoke of the dire consequences of listing to the evil spirit:</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">36 And now, I say unto you, my brethren, that after ye have known and have been taught all these things, if ye should transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken, that ye do withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom’s paths that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved—</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">37 I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">38 Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">39 And now I say unto you, that mercy hath no claim on that man; therefore his final doom is to endure a never-ending torment.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> (Mosiah 2:36-39.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Apparently “that man” </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>won’t</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> be saved!</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">We know </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>we are counted with that man </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">if we transgress and refuse to repent; if we are inclined to “shrink from the presence of the Lord,” perhaps feeling “guilt, and pain, and anguish” for our sins. All those who come unto Christ initially </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>feel</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> this way…for they recognize they are </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>fallen</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> and </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>damned.</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> It is </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>impossible</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><u>not</u></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> to feel this way and come unto him…for we stand — or, rather, we kneel and lie prostrate before him — fully cognizant of our unworthiness and dependence upon </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>his </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">grace and mercy and cleansing and ordinances for our salvation.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Those of us whom he saves receive </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>him</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> — not just his words or his servants — but </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>him</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">, personally</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>.</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> In his own time, and in his own way, and as </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>he</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> sees fit (see D&C 88:68), he comes to those to whom he chooses to minister and with whom he chooses to covenant and dwell — introducing them to his Father. (See John 14:23.) I have now met (since being excommunicated from the Mormon Church) </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>two</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> men who have testified of meeting Christ. I have reason to believe they are telling the truth. (Of course, we can only </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>know</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> of these things </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>for certain</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> by experiencing them ourselves.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">I have </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>enough</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> personal experience with Deity, however — with Jesus Christ, specifically, via the Holy Ghost — to believe these witnesses are telling the truth. I have </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>hope</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> to continue pressing forward with steadfast faith </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>in Christ, </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">feasting on his</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i> </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">word. (See 2 Nephi 31:19-21.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I am told (and believe) he is the same yesterday, today and forever. His ways are from everlasting to everlasting, unchangeable. The gospel he bares is the same from the foundation of the world. All are equal before him. We are saved and exalted upon the very same principles and by the very same means. God cannot lie.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Surely those who defy his laws “forfeit” his spiritual gifts, for without his Holy Spirit, how could any possess them? (Nevertheless, God is faithful to “reward” even evil doers and the ungrateful with goodly (even godly) gifts, for he keeps his own word, giving unto them who faithfully ask…and even to them who don’t! (See Matthew 5:44-45 and Helaman 5.)</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Consider the “hardened” Lamanites and “apostate” Nephites that were converted to the Lord, even the </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>murderous</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> dissenters who came to </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>kill</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> Nephi and Lehi being held in prison! In a miraculous display of God’s power and glory — for he works by power and glory through faith, which Nephi and Lehi exercised on the behalf of others; as did Alma on behalf of his wicked son, Alma the younger; or Ammon on behalf of king Lamoni and his family — God pours out his Spirit </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>even</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>upon the wicked</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> that they </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>might</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> be saved…if they will but hearken and look and call upon his holy name for deliverance! (See Helaman 5.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God has so delivered me, many times, in many ways. Those are more “fruits.”</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">Those who have violated God’s laws and have withdrawn from his Spirit can be “detected” by their </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>lack</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> of spiritual gifts. Moroni wrote:</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">“<span><span lang="en-US">[I]</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">f the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief. And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God.</span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">” (Moroni 10:24-25.)</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">The kind of “charitable” stuff we “commonly” do — what we call “good works” — does </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>not</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> qualify as “the power and gifts of God.” (Going to church, paying tithing, working on a welfare farm, receiving the ordinances of the temple, etc. — these are the “works of men” (though they may be </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>motivated</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> by charity, a heavenly gift). We may all have “joy” in these works for a season, but they come to an end.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God’s works, on the other hand, are everlasting.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I have received many divine gifts, primarily the gift of knowledge, but also several others, including the gifts of prophecy and revelation (through visions and dreams), healing (both spiritual and physical), tongues and interpretation of tongues, detecting and casting out devils, etc.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="western" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; break-before: auto; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.31in; margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">What “fruit” do I have and exercise now? I </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>hope</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> I have charity! But, if not, I pray with all the energy of my soul that I may cultivate and receive </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i>that</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"> heavenly</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US"><i> </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span lang="en-US">gift!</span></span></span></span></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-88068703752477138812021-09-26T08:36:00.001-07:002021-09-26T08:36:23.592-07:00Noah's flood<p>As some of you have already deduced, "Noah's Flood" did not happen as we've been led to believe.</p><p><br /></p><p>God did not -- nor did He need to! -- kill all life on Earth outside of Noah, his family, and the animals on his boat. The flood was localized and the animals Noah took with him were those familiar to him where he lived. Noah's world -- not the whole world itself -- was destroyed.</p><p><br /></p><p>And it didn't need to be! The rest of the world -- plants, animals and humans included! -- were innocent. They had not been taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. They knew nothing of Adam. They had not rejected God.</p><p><br /></p><p>In fact, God DID just as many of you wish He would do here and now! He walked and talked among them, His children -- the children of God, the children of Adam -- from the days of Adam, for over a thousand years!</p><p><br /></p><p>Noah's people knew Adam! (Not just believed in him, but KNEW him!) He had lived among them (or their immediate ancestors) like George Washington lived among us. </p><p><br /></p><p>Unlike for other humans on Earth, Adam was these people's direct and universal progenitor! (The Bible is simply Adam's story and that of some of his direct descendants.) Cain (who slew his brother, Abel) afterward (still) heard God's voice! He KNEW God. Consequently, he knew right from wrong -- not just believed, but KNEW! -- and WILLFULLY chose the Evil (devil) over Good (God). </p><p><br /></p><p>The wicked who were with Cain likewise chose evil over good and were ultimately left to their own devices -- killed by the natural consequences of their own ignorance and disbelief. (They could have gotten on the boat God provided for them, but they refused!) </p><p><br /></p><p>They were "past feeling" and could no longer repent. They had "ripened in iniquity." They would no longer listen to -- and, ultimately, could no longer "hear" -- God's voice, having become "immune" to the influence of His Holy Spirit. They were subsequently unable to rightly distinguish between Good and Evil -- and almost invariably chose evil (a lot like almost all Damnicrats and most Repugnicans today).</p><p><br /></p><p>They were a warlike, violent and lascivious people. Having once been enlightened by the gospel (unlike true savages, who don't know better), they became moral and educated derelicts whose very existence was a blot and stain on the earth (like the blood of those whom they murdered) that could not be blotted out by Noah's preaching or his sacrifices. Noah's words were not heeded. His example was not followed. The world he inhabited was, therefore, doomed by the presence and influence of the wicked. </p><p><br /></p><p>They had to be removed -- and the bloody world cleansed by baptism -- otherwise, God's righteous posterity could not persist or endure in peace on the earth.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-13440853086943399002020-12-13T18:45:00.001-08:002020-12-13T18:45:29.965-08:00It is 1861 again<p>I hope President Trump declares martial law and rounds up all of the seditious conspirators who have sought by fraud to treasonously steal this election.</p><p>I imagine they would be the same principle characters who lied to the American people for 4 years, fraudulently implicating him and his cabinet in collusion with Russians, followed by a phony impeachment, numerous fruitless, litigious and harassing lawsuits and investigations, and countless lies, including false polls and blatant censoring by social media.</p><p>These crooks, consisting of many Democrats and some Republicans, in collusion with China and other foreign operatives in many other nations, unleashed a pandemic on this land that crippled our economy and killed hundreds of thousands of our citizens - all to effect an attempted coup against a sitting US president!</p><p>This is no less than an act of war against the United States! </p><p>If many of them hang, justice will be served.</p><p>If President Trump does NOT now bring justice to these actors - America's enemies, foreign and domestic - our republic is finished.</p><p>Lawlessness will reign; freedom will be extinguished; truth will be suppressed; and the American way of life will end.</p><p>Better to shed a little blood now than a lot of blood later! </p><p>Godspeed, President Trump! Do what you have to do to save these United States of America! </p><p>It is 1861 again.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-1996271392492517042020-10-29T08:05:00.009-07:002020-11-03T03:43:47.128-08:00The Left's Success<div style="text-align: left;"><div>The Left's coordinated psy-ops campaign against this president and the American people is staggering for its scope and success.</div><div><br /></div><div>Virtually EVERY mainstream media poll, post, and newscast (with the exception of Fox) has denigrated Trump for the last 4 years, all but ignoring his many positive accomplishments. The Left has consistently, relentlessly projected Trump's downfall and defeat (even incarceration!) while, this election cycle, presupposing and assuring US of Biden's "inevitable" electoral victory.</div><div><br /></div><div>This, despite Biden's anemic, almost non-existent campaign, his hiding out in his basement, not answering questions, his lack of workable policies, his execrable, unpopular running mate, and almost NO visible grassroots support...other than the Marxist, racist BLM marchers and anarchist Antifa arsonists rioting for Biden, looting, and burning down our cities. (The media doesn't cover this anymore because it hurts Biden's poll numbers.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Trump holds MULTIPLE rallies EACH DAY, drawing tens of thousands of enthusiastic, peaceful, flag-waving supporters from all demographic subsets across this country. (But the media doesn't cover this either, for obvious reasons.) </div><div><br /></div><div>In fact, Facebook and Twitter have taken to censoring positive Trump posts, even blocking news agencies publishing articles critical of Biden, while Google manipulates search results to favor Democrats and left-leaning news sites.</div><div><br /></div><div>While dealing with the Clinton/Obama-orchestrated "Russia" hoax, spy and collusion scandal, endless fruitless investigations, court challenges, Democrat-led impeachment, and the COVID-19 crisis, Trump has appointed hundreds of federal judges -- including three excellent Supreme Court Justice picks -- lowered taxes, eased regulations, expanded energy production, and enacted prison reform. </div><div><br /></div><div>Until the latest cordinated "attack" by Democrats, "Never-Trumper" Republicans, and China, in less than 4 years, Trump has brought about the highest wage gains and lowest unemployment in American history, benefitting ALL Americans.</div><div><br /></div><div>By contrast, after nearly 50 years in politics, Joe Biden has done NOTHING to warrant being president. He is unfit for office. (His accusations against Trump are mere projections of his own atrocious attributes. Biden is a proven liar, cheat, and plagiarist. His flagrant, documented dishonesty and unpopularity derailed his previous two presidential campaigns, yet he's the "best" Democrats have to offer!) He now suffers from dementia. He is compromised, subject to blackmail, and unfit to lead.</div><div><br /></div><div>His former business partner, Tony Bobulinski, has produced incontrovertible evidence (documents, recordings, testimony, all corroborated by the Senate) PROVING that Joe Biden is a liar and puppet of the Communist Chinese Party (CCP). With his family, Biden has been "on the take" for BILLIONS of dollars -- selling government access, shaping foreign policy, and benefitting the Biden Family -- and our enemies -- for decades. Biden is a traitor to US.</div><div><br /></div><div>No Biden rallies. No evident enthusiasm. No coherent workable policies or solutions. No answer to Bobulinski's credible claims that Biden is a corrupt stooge of the CCP.</div><div><br /></div><div>By contrast, Trump has produced STAGGERING results:</div><div><br /></div><div>• Secured peace in the Middle East (despite moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, as promised)</div><div>• Destroyed terrorists and vastly curtailed foreign and domestic terrorism</div><div>• Crushed ISIS</div><div>• Started no new wars</div><div>• Brought home our troops</div><div>• Rebuilt our military</div><div>• Fully funded the VA</div><div>• Increased troop pay</div><div>• Held North Korea and Iran at bay via sanctions</div><div>• Brought China to heal by enacting tariffs</div><div>• Sucessfully managed immigration and secured our borders by building hundreds of miles of new wall and imposing travel restrictions, despite universal Democrat opposition</div><div>• In the process, received THREE Nobel Peace Prize nominations</div><div><br /></div><div>But the mainstream media reports NONE of this -- ignoring even Biden's evident, disqualifying corruption.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Commission on Presidential Debates -- staffed exclusively by Democrats and Never-Trumpers, with debates moderated ONLY by liberals -- AVOIDED COMPLETELY the topic of "Foreign Policy" this election cycle, thereby denying Trump the opportunity to tout his many serial accomplishments, "saving" Biden from having to answer for his.</div><div><br /></div><div>The fact that a sizable number of Americans STILL don't know about ANY of this -- even after most of US have voted in advance, at the Left's insistence (one of the many schemes the Left is using to "rig" this election and commit voter fraud) -- is PROOF of the Left's success at making "the long march" through our institutions. </div><div><br /></div><div>Americans have been duped. A "revolution" is underway right under our noses!</div><div><br /></div><div>This article below is a perfect example of how the Left denigrates Trump without citing a SINGLE specific act or policy he has implimented. It is a masterpiece of propaganda.</div><div><br /></div><div>We have witnessed nothing like this in American history. It is nothing short of a coup. This is the sort of stuff that only happens in tolalitarian and communist regimes.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-25270747474332261412020-10-06T11:07:00.005-07:002020-10-06T11:08:49.252-07:00What of the atonement of Christ?<p>My friend, Matt Lohrke -- to whom I owe so much! -- had the following to say regarding the atonement of Christ and our becoming exactly like God. I gave my responses.</p><p><br /></p><p>***</p><p><br /></p><p>Matt: "If we have to be "exactly" like [God], why the need for an atonement? We need God precisely because we aren't like Him. He raised Himself and others from the dead, made the lame walk, gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He offered Himself as a sacrifice because there's nothing we can do to merit our salvation."</p><p><br /></p><p>[Such "argumentation" is used by many to justify continuing to walk in sin.]</p><p><br /></p><p>Me: "The atonement of Christ covers our past sins and vanishingly fewer future sins...until the point we are sanctified. Couldn't do it without Him! That's for sure.</p><p><br /></p><p>The truth is, when you submit completely to Christ, you stop sinning immediately."</p><p><br /></p><p>Matt: "Nephi, who I think we'd agree was a righteous man, lamented his sins and shortcomings.</p><p><br /></p><p>Benjamin told his people there was no end to the ways we sin and fall short.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think there's a toxic perfectionism in post-Mormonism groups. You've got Snuffer out there teaching you cannot be saved unless you become another Jesus."</p><p><br /></p><p>Me: "I lament my sins and shortcomings, but I don't intentionally sin anymore. It is IMPOSSIBLE to look to Christ, love Him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, submit to Him in all things... and sin simultaneously. When you stop doing ANY of the first three, you invariably do the last.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nephi lamented his sins and shortcomings. So what?</p><p><br /></p><p>Benjamin told us there are a thousand ways to sin and fall short. So what?</p><p><br /></p><p>Submit to Christ in ALL things. You will INSTANTLY stop sinning and NEVER sin again."</p><p><br /></p><p>Matt: "If we are sinless there's no need for an atonement. We have merited our own salvation by our own righteousness.</p><p><br /></p><p>Writing later in his life, Nephi exclaimed:</p><p><br /></p><p>'Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities. I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted...'</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course we should always try to better and throw off the natural man. Repentance is a daily process.</p><p><br /></p><p>Only Jesus was sinless."</p><p><br /></p><p>Me: "Ask yourself at every moment: "What would Christ have me do NOW?" And DO THAT! Even if you fail, you will not go wrong; it is not a sin to labor to do right. Christ will lead you to greater power and to greater truth, if you persist.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you "follow" Nephi or Benjamin -- and "use" them to make "excuses" for continuing to sin -- you are damned.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is no "need" to sin -- once you resolve to ALWAYS submit to Christ in ALL things.</p><p><br /></p><p>And if you DON'T submit to Christ in ALL things, you're (ultimately) damned. You're not saved.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are a thousand different "off ramps" along the highway to Heaven. If you take ANY of them (intentionally) -- and don't get back on the "strait and narrow" before you die -- you're damned."</p><p><br /></p><p>Matt: "I don't follow Nephi or Benjamin, but I listen to them more than Rob Smith and Denver Snuffer. They're both deceived.</p><p><br /></p><p>Love the Lord with your heart, offer a broken heart and contrite spirit, recognize my dependence on God, endure to the end. I follow a God who looks on the heart and nurses me along the way.</p><p><br /></p><p>Good luck."</p><p><br /></p><p>Me: "It's not about being perfect. It's about submitting to Christ.</p><p><br /></p><p>When we submit to Christ in all things, we become perfect in Him.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thus, he who lives without sinning is also the most humble.</p><p><br /></p><p>'Love the Lord with your heart...'</p><p><br /></p><p>Don't forget ALL your heart, plus your mind, might and strength! </p><p><br /></p><p>'...offer a broken heart and contrite spirit...'</p><p><br /></p><p>What is that? It is NOT merely "feeling sorry" for your weaknesses and sins! It IS submitting to Christ in ALL things! Nothing more and nothing less.</p><p><br /></p><p>'...recognize my dependence on God,...'</p><p><br /></p><p>Yes.</p><p><br /></p><p>'... endure to the end.'</p><p><br /></p><p>Doing what? Looking to Christ in everything you think, say and do; loving Him with all your soul; and submitting to Him in ALL things. </p><p><br /></p><p>Anything less is NOT the Gospel of Jesus Christ.</p><p><br /></p><p>'I follow a God who looks on the heart and nurses me along the way.'</p><p><br /></p><p>"Nurses" you to do what?</p><p><br /></p><p>If you truly love Christ with ALL your heart and mind, might and strength, you will not sin. Ever.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you say you do, but still sin, you're a liar.</p><p><br /></p><p>As we approach Christ, we are shown, with greater clarity and granularity, our shortcomings. As we instantly repent of our shortcomings, we do not sin. (This is how Christ grew from grace to grace. He did not possess all things at the beginning.) Only when we shirk our duty to assimilate new light and truth do we sin."</p><p><br /></p><p>Matt: "Then we are all damned because only Christ is sinless. </p><p><br /></p><p>If we are all damned then the atonement was pointless and of no efficacy and God is a liar.</p><p><br /></p><p>You are, of course, free to believe whatever you like and pursue your chosen path and worship whatever God you like."</p><p><br /></p><p>Me: "'Then we are all damned...'</p><p><br /></p><p>That is correct. (Conditionally, of course, because of the Fall.)</p><p><br /></p><p>We are ALL damned (who know better) unless and until we come unto Christ and (sooner or later) are perfected (become sinless, that is, sanctified) in Him.</p><p><br /></p><p>'...because only Christ is sinless.'</p><p><br /></p><p>He is the only one who lived a perfectly sinless life beyond the age of accountability who possessed the capacity to commit sin.</p><p><br /></p><p>But only those who become perfectly sinless in Him, being sanctified, are ultimately saved in the fullest sense.</p><p><br /></p><p>'If we are all damned then the atonement was pointless and of no efficacy and God is a liar.'</p><p><br /></p><p>This is a gross misunderstanding on your part.</p><p><br /></p><p>No amount of "good works" you could do could ever atone for your past sins, neither for your future ones! (ONLY Christ's atonement could do that.)</p><p><br /></p><p>But His atonement is NOT efficacious -- except for those who are NOT under the law AND for all those who fully repent of ALL their sins. (Otherwise there would be "sinners" in heaven! And that cannot be.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Christ's atonement, therefore, more fully condemns the sinner who does NOT repent, rather than relieve him of his responsibility to repent of all of his sins.</p><p><br /></p><p>'You are, of course, free to believe whatever you like and pursue your chosen path and worship whatever God you like.'</p><p><br /></p><p>Thank you! (J/k)</p><p><br /></p><p>Fortunately, all you need to do to "qualify" for Christ's sanctification and ultimate salvation is to simply and fully submit to His will in all things.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nothing less will do. (You cannot serve two masters.)"</p><p><br /></p><p>[That would have been a good place to end the discussion, but my friend continued.]</p><p><br /></p><p>Matt: "I don't have a "gross misunderstanding." I understand it just fine. Like I said, you're free to follow whatever theology you like."</p><p><br /></p><p>Me: "Yes, you do, my friend, if you persist in believing that sin is unavoidable, or that the atonement of Christ relieves you of your duty to repent of ALL of your sins in this life before you die. </p><p><br /></p><p>This is NOT an impossible task. You CAN submit to Christ in ALL things RIGHT NOW! (Count the cost. What will it take for you to "build the tower" or "win the war" RIGHT NOW? Give ALL THAT to Him!) What is holding you back? Or, in other words, what are you holding onto, other than Him?</p><p><br /></p><p>Inasmuch as you sin, you are not saved (in the unconditional sense). Christ does NOT save us IN our sins, but FROM our sins. Forgiving us of our sins does us NO GOOD -- if we return like a dog to his vomit or a sow to her mire. ONLY inasmuch as we become sanctified and cleansed FROM our sins -- so that we do them NO MORE -- are we saved. (There is much more which could be said and understood about this.)</p><p><br /></p><p>In the end, ANY sin, even ALL sin, results from failing to submit to Christ in ALL things.</p><p><br /></p><p>So that is ALL you have to do to be saved. He has done the rest.</p><p><br /></p><p>[I would have liked to have ended it there, but he continued.]</p><p><br /></p><p>Matt: "I'll take my chances.</p><p><br /></p><p>He's hasn't done "the rest," (thats a very Mormon belief), He's done everything.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can do nothing to be saved. To believe I can is to deny the atonement and I won't do that. I won't make a mockery of it.</p><p><br /></p><p>As Aaron told the Lamanite King, 'man cannot merit anything of his own.'"</p><p><br /></p><p>Me: "You have misunderstood the atonement of Christ, my brother, and our obligation to walk in holiness before Him.</p><p><br /></p><p>Else, why did Alma teach his son:</p><p><br /></p><p>"6 And so it is on the other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness.</p><p> 7 These are they that are redeemed of the Lord; yea, these are they that are taken out, that are delivered from that endless night of darkness; and thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil.</p><p> 8 Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved.</p><p> 9 And now behold, my son, do not risk one more offense against your God upon those points of doctrine, which ye have hitherto risked to commit sin.' (Alma 41)</p><p><br /></p><p>Read the entire chapter. Substitute the word "salvation" for "restoration" to get a fuller understanding."</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-29517406032134057872020-01-15T04:03:00.001-08:002020-01-15T04:03:23.993-08:00True and FalseI love Tad Callister's testimony of the Book of Mormon. It is riveting, inspiring and convincing! I'm grateful for the church that allows and enables him to preach this message.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, he misleads and deceives his audience -- in the very first sentence of his talk, after giving us the title -- by arguing a logical fallacy, namely:<br />
<br />
"Because the Book of Mormon is 'the keystone of our religion,' as described by Joseph Smith, the Church rises or falls on the truth of it."<br />
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This is only partly true.<br />
<br />
If that book is false, the LDS Church CAN'T be true! It would be based on a lie.<br />
<br />
But while the LDS Church can fall, it can never stand on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.<br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
Because many OTHER churches, organizations and people, including non-members of the LDS Church -- like me! -- ALSO regard the Book of Mormon to be their faith's foundational text.<br />
<br />
By Callister's logic, are they/we ALSO just as "true" as the LDS Church because the Book of Mormon is true?<br />
<br />
No, Callister is using the Book of Mormon as a "prop" standing in for the LDS Church's claim to divine and exclusive priesthood authority -- which it cannot otherwise substantiate and does not have, since it does not manifest the gifts, nor can it identify when, where, or how that authority was effectively received, retained, or transmitted.<br />
<br />
For example, Brigham Young was never ordained a high priest. How, then, could he be the "president of the high priesthood"? (He merely got himself elected!) How did Peter, James and John confer priesthood authority on the Saints? (Where is the contemporary record and account of that event?) Joseph ordained his brother, Hyrum (not Brigham), to be his successor, but Hyrum died before Joseph.<br />
<br />
Besides, the LDS Church's doctrines, practices and organization HARDLY resemble ANYTHING described in the Book of Mormon -- except as one of the APOSTATE churches teaching FALSE doctrines the book predicts will exist when the book comes forth (see 2 Ne. 28).<br />
<br />
For example, regarding race:<br />
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The Book of Mormon (published in 1830) teaches that "[the Lord] inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God" (see 2 Ne. 26:33).<br />
<br />
Consequently, Joseph Smith ordained blacks to the priesthood and authorized them to receive and administer gospel ordinances.<br />
<br />
But after Joseph's death, Brigham Young (Joseph's successor/usurper) stopped that, reversing what Joseph had done. Under Brigham's leadership, the Church denied priesthood ordination and other "essential" saving ordinances to blacks for over100 years, concocting various theories and "reasons" for doing so.<br />
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In its published essay "Race and the Priesthood," the modern LDS Church has stated the following:<br />
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"Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects unrighteous actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form."<br />
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Thus the modern LDS Church has thrown under the bus its own "racist" doctrines, practices, and teachings...and the racist "prophets" who peddled such falsehoods prior to 1978.<br />
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Regarding polygamy:<br />
<br />
Joseph Smith, the translator of the Book of Mormon, and his appointed successor, Hyrum Smith, invariably preached AGAINST polygamy, excommunicating (or otherwise disciplining) anyone they found engaging in the practice.<br />
<br />
Both were murdered, however, in 1844...in a room shared with two acknowledged secret supporters and practitioners of polygamy. (One of these "survivors," John Taylor, later became the president of the LDS Church, but remained in hiding from the law throughout his tenure. The other, Dr. Willard Richards, is on record having "doctored" journals and other "official" records of the church, including Joseph Smith's own history, to make these records better conform to and support Brigham Young's teachings.)<br />
<br />
8 years after the murders, confessed secret polygamist and would-be next LDS "prophet" Brigham Young introduced polygamy to the general body of the saints who "followed" him to Utah. There he claimed Joseph had received a "secret" revelation not just authorizing but commanding polygamy and that Joseph himself had been a closet polygamist!<br />
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Joseph's first and only publicly acknowledged wife, Emma, however, together with Joseph's entire family, vehemently denied this claim. Furthermore, they refused to "follow" Brigham to Utah.<br />
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Brigham's claim is further challenged by his own admission that he practiced polygamy BEFORE Joseph received his alleged revelation! (Brigham justified doing so by saying he received his own "revelation," independent of Joseph's, authorizing the practice, while he was in England.)<br />
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The "official" revelation Brigham attributed to Joseph (D&C 132) was written in a manner and style unknown to Joseph, but typical of Brigham! It states that the Lord "justified...Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon...as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines" (see D&C 132:1).<br />
<br />
But this contradicts the Bible. Isaac was a monogamist.<br />
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It also directly contradicts the Book of Mormon -- which Brigham rarely quoted in his sermons and, almost certainly, seldom read -- denouncing David and Solomon's practice of polygamy:<br />
<br />
"24 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.<br />
25 Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph.<br />
26 Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old.<br />
27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;<br />
28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts." (Jacob 2.)<br />
<br />
It's highly unlikely Joseph would receive a revelation from God authorizing polygamy, contradicting the very book he called the "keystone of our religion."<br />
<br />
Brigham and his followers went on to claim that polygamy was not only authorized, but preferred(!) by heaven, and that the practice was ETERNALLY "essential" for salvation. (As "proof" that Brigham was lying, the modern LDS Church no longer preaches or practices polygamy, but condemns and excommunicates all who do.)<br />
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Curiously, the LDS Church STILL contends that polygamy is a divinely-ordained "principle" and that God will "destroy" any woman who rejects it when it is taught and offered to her by a man having priesthood authority (like Brigham Young). No intimidation there! (See D&C 132:37, 64.)<br />
<br />
About paid ministers:<br />
<br />
The Book of Mormon teaches that ministers of the gospel, as a rule, should not be paid for their services. (See Mosiah 18:24-28; Alma 1:3, 5, 12, 26-27; 30:32-35.)<br />
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But by monopolizing the economic activity of the saints, Brigham Young, as president and "prophet" of the LDS Church, amassed a personal fortune, becoming Utah's first governor and millionaire, and the richest man west of the Mississippi.<br />
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Today's current LDS "prophet," Russell M. Nelson, -- as "corporate sole" owner of the LDS Church -- sits atop a vast empire valued at over $200 BILLION! Top leaders of the Church receive a "modest stipend" (salary) of six figures and have access to private cars, planes, resorts, and "unlimited" expense accounts (to be "tapped" at their discretion).<br />
<br />
Over $100 billion of that wealth is comprised of real estate, including meeting houses (costing millions of dollars each), ornate temples (costing tens of millions of dollars each) and luxury condo complexes and shopping malls (costing BILLIONS of dollars each).<br />
<br />
By contrast, the Book of Mormon condemns building "fine sanctuaries" at the expense of the poor (see 2 Ne. 28:13). A recent lawsuit revealed that the LDS Church gives less than 1% of its tithing receipts to the poor and 0% of its business proceeds go to charity.<br />
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Nephi's temple was humble in comparison to Solomon's. Nephi wrote that he would have used more "precious" materials to build it, had they been available. (Old customs and expectations die hard! See 2 Ne. 5:16.) <br />
<br />
Wicked Nephite king Noah not only "restored" Solomon's "condemned" practice of polygamy (having many wives and concubines himself), but also built "many elegant and spacious buildings," including a temple, at the people's expense. (See Mosiah 11:1-10.)<br />
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Brigham Young used LDS Church funds (including the profits from many LDS Church businesses he controlled) to build a mansion for himself and his many wives. (No similarity there!)<br />
<br />
In short:<br />
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The Book of Mormon teaches NOTHING in support of temple endowments, blood atonement for one's own sins, revenge oaths, taking multiple wives, secret societies or other works of darkness, Masonic rituals, "following a prophet," exercising priesthood "keys," denying ordinances or priesthood to anyone because of race or the sexual orientation or activity of one's parents, Etc.<br />
<br />
The Book of Mormon simply contains the fullness of the gospel: that Jesus is the Christ, the Living God, the Eternal Father of heaven and earth, who made Himself flesh, taking upon Himself our infirmities, and atoning for our sins upon condition of our repentance, by obedience to Him, exercising faith in His ability to save, cleanse, and ultimately perfect us, receiving His Holy Spirit.<br />
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The LDS Church today disavows the teachings of its former "prophets" Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Etc. Its leaders have changed, done away with, or reversed the Church's doctrines, practices, ordinances, teachings, covenants and histories MANY times, even in my lifetime! (How doesn't that make them "false prophets"? I don't know.)<br />
<br />
Precisely BECAUSE the Book of Mormon is true, the LDS Church CAN'T be true. It MUST be false.<br />
<br />
That's a sad irony.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-64018979818303178222020-01-12T12:01:00.001-08:002020-01-12T20:01:20.702-08:00 On Polygamy and ReligionThe following thoughts occurred to me this morning:<br />
<br />
Joseph Smith taught and practiced a doctrine and system of religion that involved people -- men and men, women and women, and men and women -- being "sealed" to each other (in ways that are not altogether clear now) for both here and hereafter.<br />
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Joseph believed that people could be "sealed" together in marriages, families, kindreds, even nations! He believed a covenant people could be "sealed" to God, both as a group and as individuals.<br />
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Men and women were sealed (by Joseph and others) as husband and wife for "time and all eternity." When one of these spouses died, the survivor -- according to Joseph, Hyrum, and the doctrine of the church -- was at liberty to marry again.<br />
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Some argued that someone could NOT get married again on earth because they were STILL married "eternally" to someone now in heaven. Joseph and Hyrum taught this was NOT true. Spouses of the deceased, they taught, are free to remarry -- and thus be married to more than one person! (Just not on Earth! That would be polygamy!)<br />
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Eternity is a long, long time, Joseph taught, involving many sheres of influence and activity. "It will be a great while after you leave this life before you will realize perfection," he said. (I'm paraphrasing.)<br />
<br />
The great "secret" is that "eternity" involves <i>many</i> mortal probations -- with <i>many</i> opportunities for associations. These must necessarily be "staffed" with people and we are free to choose our colleagues, to some extent, both here and hereafter. (Freedom of association is a divine principle vouchsafed by our US Constitution as the 4th amendment.)<br />
<br />
God Himself lives in "eternity" and makes Himself flesh, as we do. He expresses Himself perfectly not just in a tabernacle of clay we call the Son of God, but also imperfectly by and through all of us. He is "in" us. (But now I am straying from my point!)<br />
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Joseph was interested in organizing people into groups that would allow them to maximize their potential for growth and development in present and future spheres.<br />
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I imagine you have married -- and have even been sealed to a spouse -- for here and hereafter. Your expectation is that your relationships will continue beyond the grave.<br />
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It is my assertion that Joseph and Hyrum taught that such sealings and expectations are honored by God for the worthy, who obtain faith and assurance from God that they may do so. In other words, birds of a feather who wish to flock together may do so, God willing.<br />
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That concept was pushed a little too far by Brigham Young and those who deigned to implement (restore?) polygamy on earth -- demonstrating their misunderstanding of the scriptures, the doctrine of sealings and "eternal marriage," and the will of God.<br />
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Just as God would not have us commit fornication -- but enter into marriage and families by appointed means and channels -- He would not have us commit adultery or polygamy.<br />
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He nonetheless has condoned (or allowed) both ad-hoc "marriages," fornication, adultery, and polygamous associations, for His purposes. "If I choose to raise up seed unto Myself," as it were.<br />
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Strange as it may seem, there are many "bastards" -- born of fornication and adultery, even polygamy, "rightly" or wrongly practiced -- who fulfill God's purposes in the eternal scheme of things.<br />
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The "will of God" is expressed in all of us, more or less, by the power of the Holy Ghost: the Spirit (or mind) of God. The more carefully and closely we follow that Spirit (or will), the more like God we will become. And, of course, the less we follow that Spirit, the opposite is true.<br />
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Men organize and practice "religion" as an expression of that Spirit in them. Inasmuch as those expressions become codified and catechized, that Spirit is constrained.<br />
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You may notice that Jesus operated, for the most part, "outside" of religion -- while honoring its requirements and observances (for the time being) for the law's sake -- to "fulfill" the law and bring about the atonement, with Himself as the Eternal sacrifice, after which "the law" was done away.<br />
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God does not intend for men to practice ANY "religion" eternally. We are made "free" in Christ! Embracing more truth sets us free -- free from the shackles, dogmas, and errors of organized religion.<br />
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The grand, overarching, operating principle of the universe is love, not religion.<br />
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Fixation on "religion" -- or any "system" of religious observance that is "fixed" -- ossifies error and practice and thus "sows" damnation -- as religion, by definition, thwarts the very innovation and growth (revelation) required by heaven for advancement -- unless receiving further revelation is a featured component of that religion.<br />
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Unfortunately, "believers" -- even in religions that embrace the principle of revelation -- "naturally" assert and impose orthodoxy (in their efforts to understand and practice all things revealed, in association with like-minded individuals) and thus stifle the very revelation -- even killing and persecuting the prophets among them! -- they allegedly embrace.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-90108024557822834612020-01-07T19:50:00.000-08:002020-01-07T20:04:02.195-08:00Why not leave the Church alone?The following is written in response to my mother's recent query and counsel:<br />
<br />
"Why do you write about the Mormon Church on Facebook, if you're no longer a Mormon? Let it go!! Move on with your life!!"<br />
<br />
I will tell you below why I can't "let it go"...not just yet.<br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
If every Latter-day Saint (or "Mormon") KNEW that Joseph Smith and his appointed successor and older brother, Hyrum Smith, were NOT polygamists -- but that they invariably preached AGAINST polygamy, denied ever being polygamists, and excommunicated (or otherwise disciplined) EVERY member of the LDS Church they found espousing or practicing polygamy -- then they would know...<br />
<br />
... that Brigham Young (and those who followed him) embraced the doctrines of devils, taught lies, usurped authority, and, consequently, were false prophets;<br />
<br />
... that among those lies (and liars) were the doctrines and practices of polygamy, the Adam-God theory, blood atonement, denial of priesthood to blacks, and the adoption of masonic temple rituals -- all of which early LDS "prophets, seers, and revelators" claimed were true, of God, everlasting, and "essentual" for eternal life and exaltation -- but ALL OF WHICH later LDS "prophets, seers, and revelators" abandoned, denounced, repudiated, disavowed, altered, eliminated or denied;<br />
<br />
...consequently, that reliance upon said false prophets for one's salvation -- putting one's trust in "the arm of flesh," as it were -- is both damning and foolhearty;<br />
<br />
... that Brigham Young (and his associates) MUST have lied while fabricating and altering numerous "official" church histories, journals, diaries, affidavits, revelations and other documents, including D&C 132 -- that "revelation" purportedly received by Joseph, but discovered by Brigham in a desk eight years after Joseph and Hyrum's murder -- "authorizing" Brigham, et al., to institute the practice of polygamy, thereby securing ecclesiastical, political, economic, financial, social, and even sexual control of the Saints to themselves -- all of which (thanks to the internet) we now know;<br />
<br />
...and, consequently, that the modern LDS claim to having unique, exclusive and (most importantly) divine "authority to preach the gospel and administer the ordinances thereof" is (not unlike the Catholic claim) false.<br />
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Any other conclusion is wishful thinking, contrary to the (ample) evidence available -- which evidence the LDS Church (not unsurprisingly) labors diligently to suppress.<br />
<br />
Which presents a conundrum!<br />
<br />
The Book of Mormon was procured, "translated" and put forth to the world by supernatural means -- Joseph Smith literally talking out of his hat!<br />
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The contents of that book are evidently prophetic and inspiring, presenting us with an otherwise implausibly rich narrative of purportedly true history and masterful exposition of the divine nature, eternal work, and true doctrine of Jesus Christ, unsurpassed even by the Bible!<br />
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By provenance of that book alone, Joseph Smith distinguished himself as a TRUE prophet, seer, and revelator of Jesus Christ, having authority from God!<br />
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Modern "believers" of that book now include members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons"), but also former members of that church, plus adherents of dozens of other "offshoots" and "sibling" organizations, some of whom still practice polygamy or claim authority to "preside" and "administer the gospel" by virtue of some "dispensation" allegedly received from Jesus, an angel, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, or some other early "Mormon" church "authority."<br />
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The "fruits" of these offshoots has varied remarkably, running the gamut: from cultish, cloistered, murderous, incestuous, sexually predatory and tyrannical...to benign, admirably accomplished, virtuous, prominent, inclusive, and ecumenical!<br />
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All of them profess belief in Jesus. But none now resembles that religion practiced by Joseph Smith -- "save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men." (2 Ne. 28:14.)<br />
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And that's the problem! The Book of Mormon has been most notably (and successfully) published and presented to the world by "Mormon" missionaries -- members of the LDS Church. That book is now associated with them!<br />
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But the doctrines, principles, practices, reputation, influence and impact of The Book of Mormon have been tarnished, tainted, perverted -- even obliterated! -- by the very and various organizations and people who have embraced, adopted, and promulgated it as their foundational text (they having then disregarded or misinterpretted it).<br />
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See D&C 84:54-58 below.<br />
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"54 And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—<br />
55 Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.<br />
56 And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.<br />
57 And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—<br />
58 That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion."<br />
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That condemnation followed the Saints from Ohio to Missouri, from Missouri to Illinois, from Illinois to Nebraska, and from Nebraska to the mountains of Utah and (later) to Mexico, leaving behind two desecrated temples; countless disaffected, dispirited, and dead Mormons; and a trail of tears and bloody footprints in the snow.<br />
<br />
As recently as 1986, Mormon "prophet" Ezra Taft Benson declared that this condemnation had never been lifted from the Church. Nary a Latter-day Saint now speaks of it...at least not since February, 1991. (See<br />
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1991/02/i-have-a-question/what-is-the-condemnation-we-are-under-that-president-benson-speaks-of-regarding-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng) Rather, they sing "All Is Well!" -- with no small amount of irony. (See LDS hymn #30: "Come, Come, Ye Saints.")<br />
<br />
But what saith the Book of Mormon about such self-satisfaction, self- confidence and self-delusion? (See 2 Nephi 28.)<br />
<br />
"1 And now, behold, my brethren, I have spoken unto you, according as the Spirit hath constrained me; wherefore, I know that they must surely come to pass.<br />
2 And the things which shall be written out of the book [of Mormon] shall be of great worth unto the children of men, and especially unto our seed, which is a remnant of the house of Israel.<br />
3 For it shall come to pass in that day that the churches which are built up, and not unto the Lord, when the one shall say unto the other: Behold, I, I am the Lord’s; and the others shall say: I, I am the Lord’s; and thus shall every one say that hath built up churches, and not unto the Lord—<br />
4 And they shall contend one with another; and their priests shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance.<br />
5 And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men;<br />
6 Behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work.<br />
7 Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.<br />
8 And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.<br />
9 Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark.<br />
10 And the blood of the saints shall cry from the ground against them.<br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
We pause from our regularly scheduled programming to mention that, on average, every year, about 900 Latter-day Saints -- baptized members of the LDS Church -- STARVE TO DEATH because -- in contrast to its chapels, temples, and other buildings -- including MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR shopping malls! -- the abject poor in the LDS Church are considered "a poor investment" by Church leaders. They have determined that NONE of the billions of dollars of tithing collected from faithful members shall go to feed, house, or clothe the poor, lest the poor join the Church simply to keep from dying!<br />
<br />
As former lawyer, state supreme court judge, university president, current LDS "apostle" and demon incarnate Dallin H. Oaks deftly explains it: the Lord now prioritizes the "spiritual" needs of the 1st-World wealthy (for chapels, temples, luxury condos and shopping malls) over the "temporal" needs of the 3rd-World poor (for non-essentials like food, clothing, shelter...and life).<br />
<br />
Please rip from your Bibles any reference to our Lord's Sermon on the Mount -- including His injunction to give to the poor and to everyone who asks -- as well as His parable of Lazarus resting in Abraham's bosom...lest ye be smitten with guilt and cognitive dissonance from the Lord!<br />
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Consequently, the LDS Church now has, in its coffers and accounts, HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ASSETS! -- including over $100 BILLION in stocks and bonds, farms and factories, lands and gold.<br />
<br />
One is thus reminded of our Savior's teachings (see Matthew 25):<br />
<br />
"31 ¶ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:<br />
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:<br />
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.<br />
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:<br />
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:<br />
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.<br />
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?<br />
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?<br />
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?<br />
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.<br />
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:<br />
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:<br />
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.<br />
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?<br />
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.<br />
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."<br />
<br />
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming (see 2 Nephi 28):<br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
11 Yea, they have all gone out of the way; they have become corrupted.<br />
12 Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted up; because of pride they are puffed up.<br />
13 They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up.<br />
14 They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men.<br />
15 O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!<br />
16 Wo unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth! For the day shall come that the Lord God will speedily visit the inhabitants of the earth; and in that day that they are fully ripe in iniquity they shall perish.<br />
17 But behold, if the inhabitants of the earth shall repent of their wickedness and abominations they shall not be destroyed, saith the Lord of Hosts.<br />
18 But behold, that great and abominable church, the whore of all the earth, must tumble to the earth, and great must be the fall thereof.<br />
19 For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger, and perish;<br />
20 For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.<br />
21 And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.<br />
22 And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance.<br />
23 Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.<br />
24 Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!<br />
25 Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well!<br />
26 Yea, wo be unto him that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!<br />
27 Yea, wo be unto him that saith: We have received, and we need no more!<br />
28 And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness; and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest he shall fall.<br />
29 Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough!<br />
30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.<br />
31 Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.<br />
32 Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts."<br />
<br />
Such were "the churches" at the time The Book of Mormon was ordained to come forth. Is the LDS Church not so, as well, today?<br />
<br />
Consequently, the power, impact and influence of The Book of Mormon on the world has been almost entirely enervated, eviscerated, stifled and stymied. The "restoration of the fullness of the gospel" -- initiated in earnest by God through Joseph Smith, with "signs and wonders" attending -- has largely been abandoned and aborted. Together with its "mother tree," the "offshoots" thereof are (mostly) fit to be tied and burned, having failed to yield "acceptable" fruit.<br />
<br />
One can only imagine how many previous, other, less "fruitful" attempts God has made to "recover" His people! (See Jacob 5.) How long have we been treading this "treadmill," perhaps "following a prophet," in vain? Centuries? Eons? Worlds without end?<br />
<br />
Behold the status and destiny of those who do so!<br />
<br />
1 Nephi 8:5-8:<br />
<br />
"5 And it came to pass that I [Lehi] saw a man, and he was dressed in a white robe; and he came and stood before me.<br />
6 And it came to pass that he spake unto me, and bade me follow him.<br />
7 And it came to pass that as I followed him I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste.<br />
8 And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies."<br />
<br />
D&C 76:98-101:<br />
<br />
"98 And the glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one; for as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world;<br />
99 For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas.<br />
100 These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch;<br />
101 But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant."<br />
<br />
I imagine that -- to my dying day -- I will always be a firm "believer" in The Book of Mormon and, consequently, a "Mormon" -- though I am not now nor will I ever be again a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or any of its siblings, or a "follower" of any of its beguiling false prophets, though there may be many otherwise "good," even "inspired" men and women among them -- God being merciful to the ignorant and unwillfully deceived, who seek His truth.<br />
<br />
I have had to turn HARD against them -- and from the false religion they practice, proffer and espouse -- to see, hear, feel and worship the one true God, who is Jesus Christ, in a manner and form that would be pleasing to Him. This is extraordinarily simple -- but very difficult! -- to do! It requires worshipping God with every particle, synapse, and quantum of one's being, surrendering and rendering one's WHOLE soul unto Him, with FULL obedience to His will, by the power of the Holy Ghost.<br />
<br />
That is all! (And ONLY that will do!)<br />
<br />
The Book of Mormon is a competent and trustworthy "blueprint" on how -- and how not! -- to do that. Mere "belief" in any prophet or book, or membership in any church, is insufficient to save anyone! Christ's PRINCIPLES must be put into PRACTICE!<br />
<br />
Even then, ONLY CHRIST ALONE can save us -- after all we can do (see 2 Nephi 25:23):<br />
<br />
"23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."<br />
<br />
ALL who fully believe and put into practice the principles put forth in The Book of Mormon -- which contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel -- will come unto Christ and be saved.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-54246756894076034842019-11-09T10:41:00.001-08:002019-11-09T14:50:21.026-08:00How to win the drug warNewt Gingrich recently opined that Mexico is effectively in a state of war with the drug cartels -- and losing badly. President Trump has committed to helping the Mexican government wipe out the cartels completely. However, if he plans to use the same methods and strategies he used to defeat ISIS, he will fail badly.<br />
<br />
We have been fighting the "war on drugs" -- with weapons, propaganda, and incarceration -- for nearly 50 years, and nothing tried so far has worked. The drug traffickers have only been emboldened and made stronger, wealthier and more brutal. More Americans are dying now from drugs and more Mexicans are dying from drug-related violence than ever before!<br />
<br />
So what to do? Newt Gingrich urges controlling our borders, eliminating sanctuary cities, and more harshly punishing those who profit from dealing illegal drugs here in our own country. All good strategies.<br />
<br />
But then he undercuts his whole argument and effort by making this one very stupid assertion:<br />
<br />
"Reforming our criminal justice system, which I strongly support, does not mean we have to accept the legalization of heroin, cocaine, fentanyl and other deadly drugs."<br />
<br />
Oh, yes, it does!<br />
<br />
As long as drugs are highly illegal and highly desirable, there will ALWAYS be a strong market for them. The more difficult drugs are to get, the more expensive they will be to obtain and the more profitable they will be to sell.<br />
<br />
Alcohol and cigarettes kill far more people each year in the United States than do illegal drugs. Yet alcohol and cigarettes are legal. We don't have "alcohol lords" and "cigarette lords." Nobody is killing anybody to get a cigarette or to control the alcohol market. Even with high tariffs and taxes, you can buy a week of "good times in a bottle" for the price of a juicy steak in practically any grocery store -- even though a bottle of Jack Daniels, if consumed all at once, would most likely kill an adult and most definitely kill a child.<br />
<br />
And, yet, almost any child can walk into any grocery store in California and pull a "killer" $20 bottle of Jack Daniels off the shelf and put it in their mother's grocery cart, or conceal it in their pants...and simply walk out of the store.<br />
<br />
It's still illegal for children to buy or use alcohol or cigarettes, or for adults to sell or give them to children. But children end up using these products nonetheless, despite the illegality.<br />
<br />
Our laws don't make sense! We punish the wrong things!<br />
<br />
Clearly, making something illegal, or even discouraging it with threats of lifetime incarceration or addiction, or death by overdose or execution, is NOT ENOUGH to stop those people who desperately want to do something.<br />
<br />
Murder is highly illegal, too, yet highly-motivated people still find a way to murder!<br />
<br />
There are two ways to stop the drug trade. One involves a tremendous amount of freedom. The other involves a tremendous loss of freedom. Only one works very well.<br />
<br />
Even in federal prisons surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, manned by armed guards with standing orders to "shoot to kill," illegal drugs still get in. They are made, marketed, and consumed -- sometimes by the prisoners themselves, and sometimes even by the jail keepers! On any given day, you can find illegal cell phones, knives, and illicit guns, too, inside prison walls. Clearly, walls and guards are NOT a perfect solution...or even the best one.<br />
<br />
What IS necessary and effective is making the manufacturing, marketing and consuming of recreational drugs UNDESIRABLE. People don't need to be forced NOT to do what they DON'T want to do. People DON'T naturally do undesirable things.<br />
<br />
Besides, keeping people (and things) behind prison walls is not only ineffective and counterproductive, it is inimical to freedom. A "free" people are not free if they must be locked up behind walls and enchained.<br />
<br />
So what's the alternative to tyranny, oppressive regulation, Draconian punishments, and imprisonment? (All these have been tried in the "drug war" without success.)<br />
<br />
Quite simply, freedom.<br />
<br />
Make ALL drugs legal, but lightly regulated. Do NOT punish the user. (If they have suffered at all, perhaps they have suffered enough already! If they haven't suffered from their drug use, why would YOU make them suffer?) To each his own!<br />
<br />
But DO strongly condemn and punish those who harm -- or practically threaten to harm -- others. This can be done quite efficiently and effectively.<br />
<br />
First, employ the powers of the Food and Drug Administration to designate FDA-approved and non-approved substances and products. Both would always be legal. But those deemed potentially most harmful would be regulated (much as prescription drugs are regulated now).<br />
<br />
So where's the catch? How would people be dissuaded from making, marketing, or using (currently illegal) drugs if they would be legal to make, market and use?<br />
<br />
Easy! Hold the manufacturers, marketers, and users of these dangerous substances and products responsible for the damage they do to others. Sic the trial lawyers on them! That will dry up the market and use of these products almost as fast as lawn darts and thalidomide disappeared from American backyards and medicine cabinets.<br />
<br />
Barrring negligence and misrepresentation, the law would hold blameless any manufacturer, marketer, or user of FDA-approved products deemed "safe and effective" when used as intended. But non-FDA-approved products and substances would be subject to the full force of the law. You knowingly make, market, or use a substance that is non-FDA-approved (because of its potential to harm or kill someone else)? Then you will be held responsible.<br />
<br />
While it would be LEGAL for 7-Eleven to sell heroin on every street corner, no corporation would do it! The legal and financial liabilities would be too great! (Plus they'd kill off their customers.)<br />
<br />
Still, there will be some dummies who try. They will soon be tracked down and caught up by the private investigators and profit-seeking litigators, hungry to find "justice" for their clients. Those who traffic in evil -- whether or not it is profitable for them to do so -- will financially and personally be ruined!<br />
<br />
But drugs will still be legal. Adults will still be allowed to use them. You will still be able to buy your (FDA-approved) opioids at the local pharmacy (for dirt cheap) or (non-FDA-approved) drugs from the local street vendor (for even cheaper)! You'll even be allowed to make and market them yourself, and share them with your friends and family, even with complete strangers! No one will stop you!<br />
<br />
Until you hurt or endanger somebody.<br />
<br />
Beware! You will be held accountable for any damage you do to others. The non-FDA-approved manufacturer who makes these products that end up hurting others will be punished. The dad who becomes addicted -- and neglects his children -- will be punished. The woman who runs off the road -- and wipes out a family, or nearly does so, under the influence -- will be punished. The babysitter who offers these substances (illegally) to children will be punished. (It will still be illegal for children to have and use thse products and substances, just as it is now.)<br />
<br />
Education is key. Just show the people the consequences of their choices! SHOW THEM the consequences of using these products and substances!<br />
<br />
This will not deter everyone. There will ALWAYS be dummies who do stupid and evil things. But making these substances legal will DRIVE DOWN THEIR COST and thus eliminate the profit motive for most people. People will not be willing to kill and steal for what they can make themselves, or get down the road for a few pennies or bucks from some dummy.<br />
<br />
There will be lots of fools who will need lots of help whenever freedom is involved. But freedom is a lot cheaper than tyranny, more conducive to happiness, and much easier to manage.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-84723414742643704252019-08-21T16:34:00.001-07:002019-08-21T16:38:11.379-07:00Latter-day ApostateMy former Mormon bishop accuses me of being a latter-day apostate. I have asked him to delineate where I have erred and I await his response.<br />
<br />
When I asked the stake president -- at my disciplinary hearing 5 years ago -- what I was accused of, he said "I don't remember." (He had to look back in the notes he had RECEIVED from some higher authority in the church to find out what he was trying me for!)<br />
<br />
It boiled down to this: I did not "sustain the Brethren." But I had no qualms with the leadership of the church! I held a valid and current temple recommend.<br />
<br />
When asked if I sustained Thomas S. Monson and the other leaders of the church as "prophets, seers and revelators," I said I was willing to CALL them that, but I didn't KNOW if they truly were. God had not revealed that to me. (I did know that some of the leaders had truly been inspired. But I didn't know if any had received a personal commission from Christ that would distinguish them as a true prophet, seer or revelator. I had not witnessed any evidence of such gifts among many of them and, when pressed for evidence, my inquisitors declined to cite any examples they knew of.)<br />
<br />
"You're going to excommunicate me because I haven't received a revelation from God?" I asked them.<br />
<br />
"Maybe you ought to get that revelation!" they threatened me.<br />
<br />
The bottom line is I apparently didn't pledge sufficient obeisance to the hierarchy nor establish my bona fides as a spiritual sycophant of "the Brethren."<br />
<br />
I told them I endeavoured to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and if "the Brethren" happened to be going in that same direction, so much the better: I would follow Christ with them!<br />
<br />
But they demanded that I do whatever the Brethren said, right or wrong. They promised me that I would be blessed no matter what, if I remained "faithful" -- even if the Brethren taught me falsehoods, or led me astray.<br />
<br />
They added, "But the Brethren will NEVER lead you astray."<br />
<br />
Of course I knew THAT was a lie. There were MANY historical examples of "the Brethren" doing just that.<br />
<br />
The truth is: the Mormon Church wants its membership to study Church history. Just not too much history! And only from "approved" sources.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, the membership are bound to lose their "testimonies" -- because the church, like virtually all human organizations, is fraught with weak and failing leaders, false traditions, and fables. Too many have "testimonies" built on sand.<br />
<br />
That's not to say Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet, that the Book of Mormon isn't true, or that the restoration of the Gospel was not begun in earnest in 1820 by God Himself.<br />
<br />
It just means the Mormon Church isn't true. (It's a nice religion, don't get me wrong. It's just not the "only true church" of Jesus Christ on the earth.)<br />
<br />
According to D&C 10:67-68, the church of Jesus Christ consists ONLY of those who repent and come unto Christ. No more, no less. (No "ring kissing" of "the Brethren" required.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-29218323244186389272019-08-13T07:28:00.001-07:002019-08-13T14:23:03.537-07:00Incorporation DoctrineThe "incorporation" doctrine -- mandating that the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution (known as the Bill of Rights) are applicable to the states through the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment -- is a huge mistake. In effect, this doctrine destroys federalism and the Bill of Rights itself, handing over vast control of the entire country to the dictates and whims of a capricious and ungovernable Supreme Court.<br />
<br />
Disregarding the hypocrisy of the federal government's judiciary -- which violates the Bill of Rights at nearly every turn -- it was never the framers' intention to proscribe states' rights except with regard to the 18 or so articulated, necessary "privileges" granted to the federal government by the Constitution. With the Bill of Rights, the framers intended to PREVENT the federal government from ever dictating to the states (or the people) in matters of expression, religion, gun control and ownership, even slavery.<br />
<br />
At the time of the Constitution's signing, "free and independent" States could punish their citizens for blasphemy; mandate membership in and financial support for a particular religious sect; require that every man own, possess, and muster a "military-grade" firearm; and, of course, allow -- even promote -- the practice of slavery.<br />
<br />
NONE of this was deemed "unconstitutional."<br />
<br />
The 4th amendment guaranteed that "birds of a feather" could "flock together" and do as they damn well pleased -- unhindered by federal oversight or restriction -- even if that pleasure involved enslaving and subjugating other human beings. (It took several subsequent constitutional amendments -- including a deadly civil war -- to right that wrong.)<br />
<br />
But it is a mistake to say that the same limitations imposed on the federal government ought to apply to the states as well. If States cannot dictate in matters of law and morality, expression, religion, gun ownership, and so forth, in what way are they "free and independent" to do as The People desire?<br />
<br />
If The People of a given State, by popular vote, wish to outlaw or legalize marijuana, gambling and prostitution, proscribe or prescribe gay marriage, punish or promote abortion, condone or condemn racially segregated dormitories, classrooms, and "affirmative action" ... how may they do so if they must breathlessly await and comply with the "final say" of a pretentiously assertive, ever meddling, highly politicized and morally dubious Supreme Court? How, then, is federalism exercised if every state must be and do the same?<br />
<br />
If, let's say, I don't like the current leftist regime of California (and I don't), I can vote with my feet (as I have!) and move to another state governed by a people more "attuned" to my personal values and predilections. (Hello, Florida!)<br />
<br />
"Utopia" (or heaven), by necessity, REQUIRES exercising discrimination against (or conversion of) the lawless, indigent, lazy and misguided; schemers, scammers, liars and perverts; the filthy and degenerate. It REQUIRES freedom OF association ... and freedom FROM association. It REQUIRES the freedom to practice one's religion... and to exclude those who don't.<br />
<br />
We, The People, CANNOT be "diverse" AND "equal."<br />
<br />
To be "free and independent" means everyone is safe ... because everyone is armed.<br />
<br />
In Utopia (or heaven) no one is "free" to exercise unwanted, unreciprocated power or influence over another.<br />
<br />
The current lack of federalism in this country is, itself, a form of tyranny. Government of, by, and for The People cannot exist if we are not able to govern ourselves.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-45069502779368314902019-08-11T09:13:00.000-07:002019-08-11T09:34:39.677-07:00Not one stone leftThere was a time when I was PROUD of being Mormon, GRATEFUL for the LDS Church, PEACEFUL believing that God was in control and that the Church had EVERYTHING I needed to be "saved." I felt SAFE and SECURE in the "fold": spiritually, physically, socially and financially. I would ALWAYS be a Mormon, I thought. A member of the kingdom of God on earth! A true follower of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
I was deceived.<br />
<br />
I was no more "safe" than a shopper at Downtown Disney! I was no more securely a member of the kingdom of God on earth than I possessed a lifetime passport to the "Magic Kingdom."<br />
<br />
Once "management" of the Mormon Church determined I wasn't "buying" EVERYTHING they were "selling," they labeled me a "threat" to the "business" and the "brand," accusing me of "disturbing" their other "customers" by encouraging them NOT to buy all the "merchandise." They said I was no longer welcome in ANY of their "stores" and I was BANISHED from ALL Mormon properties WORLDWIDE. (Seriously.) They gave me a letter warning me NOT to return to the church, under threat of arrest for "trespassing." (I'm not making that up.)<br />
<br />
Since then, they've made no effort to "reclaim" me. The Donald has his "deplorables." The Mormons have their "undesirables" and "irredeemables." I am now one of them.<br />
<br />
So, technically, I broke the "rules" yesterday when I showed up at magnificent Mormon Church-owned City Creek Mall -- let alone Temple Square -- to introduce my partner to how "magnificent" the Mormons really are. (And, yes, they really are, by and large, magnificent and, yes, they still show videos on Temple Square calling themselves "Mormons.")<br />
<br />
Fortunately for us, none of the Church's missionaries, tour guides, or employees recognized me for who I am or knew how "evil" I have become. Instead, they treated me like a saint! I walked among them again as one of the "faithful" and, sadly, reminisced about what I once thought I had. (I felt nothing but appreciation and pity for these fine people. For decades I was honored to serve with and among them.)<br />
<br />
Mormons take GREAT pride in their facilities and Church membership. Their "workmanship of men's hands" and their "works" are truly amazing! Hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars have been spent making Mormons and the Mormon Church what they are today.<br />
<br />
Their beautiful temples, chaples, tabernacles, and conference centers, choirs, campuses, storehouses, factories, farms, and welfare programs, museums, libraries, humanitarian efforts, ecumenical alliances, political clout, financial acumen, business investments, Church leadership, and MANY accomplishments are all standouts. As a people, Mormons have MUCH to be proud of. "Mormonism" is a substantial, highly "polished," and SUCCESSFUL religion and enterprise (as far as this world is concerned). It is as beautiful and inviting and "real" as Disneyland.<br />
<br />
And just as well run.<br />
<br />
Even as Walt Disney brought "magic" to the Magic Kingdom, Joseph Smith brought true prophetic gifts to "Mormonism" from the kingdom of God. With their passing from mortality, each of these men left shoes no one else was able to fill. There was no replacing Walt. There was no replacing Joseph.<br />
<br />
The Disney organization now continues (falteringly) to build on Walt's foundations. They are no longer a "family friendly," virtue-oriented enterprise, but one wholly devoted to merchandizing and seeking the greatest bottom line. (By contrast, Walt's main concern was just making people happy.) Disney now has become a major marketer of evil, DESTROYING Walt's legacy in pursuit of greater profits.<br />
<br />
And Mormonism today? It's NOTHING like what Joseph Smith decreed or bequeathed to the Church and world. It has become, by and large, a corporation which measures "success" by worldly standards: numbers and figures -- baptisms performed and temples constructed, sacrament meeting and temple attendence, tithing receipts, business profits -- and the gain and praise of the world.<br />
<br />
In other words: mammon.<br />
<br />
Modern Mormons seek all the "good" -- and goods -- THIS world has to offer.<br />
<br />
They used to say "Be in the world, but not of the world."<br />
<br />
Today Mormons are VERY much "of" the world. Just look at the stores in their Salt Lake City mall : Rolex, Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss. I didn't even bother to walk in! Who has THAT kind of money? ("Enough" Mormons, apparently.)<br />
<br />
They've come a long way from their muddy dugouts in the desert and bloody footprints in the snow.<br />
<br />
Today Mormons are the most "glorious" example of a "worldly" kingdom of God on earth that I can imagine! Mormon temples dot the land! Gleaming chapels stand seemingly on every corner! Mormons are in possession of power and influence. They are captains of industry, CEOs, members of the U.S. House and Senate, even presidential cadidates. There are MILLIONS of current Mormons, including MANY "happy" families. (Mine was one of them.)<br />
<br />
If Mormonism ISN'T the kingdom of God on earth, what is?<br />
<br />
But Jesus said: "My kingdom is NOT of this world."<br />
<br />
The divine faith, powers and gifts now extolled, portrayed, and proclaimed by Mormon missionaries, scriptures, sermons, and artwork are seldom, if ever, seen or manifest among the "faithful" membership. Mormon "power in the priesthood" is as real as the "magic" at Disneyland.<br />
<br />
You can have anything in this world for money.<br />
<br />
One WEEPS for what has been lost!<br />
<br />
After this year, this magnificent Mormon Temple in beautiful downtown Salt Lake City is closing, I'm told, for the next four years -- for renovation. They are expanding it and making it "earthquake proof."<br />
<br />
God laughs at such folly.<br />
<br />
The Mormons today, like Jews of old, LOVE their temples! They glory in their supposed prophets, scriptures, powers and authority, rites and rituals, status, customs, traditions, history, accomplishments, and comandments of men.<br />
<br />
I am no prophet, but I will be amazed if that temple is NOT slated for COMPLETE destruction by the Almighty, as surely as was Herod's temple: the one Jesus called "my Father's house."<br />
<br />
I suspect, like then, NOT ONE STONE will be left upon another. It will ALL be leveled to the earth and taken away.<br />
<br />
And what will Mormons do then? What will they say? When EVERYTHING they love, trust in, rely upon, and work for is lost?<br />
<br />
Who among them will then have faith in Jesus?<br />
<br />
I guess we'll see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-20482117066939978912019-08-04T07:24:00.003-07:002019-08-04T07:25:04.201-07:00USA not a nationAllen Mendenhall explains why <a href="https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/08/allen-mendenhall/the-united-states-is-not-a-nation-the-problem-with-national-conservatism/">the United States is not a nation</a>.<br />
<br />
"[T]he United States is not, and has never been, a nation. The founding generation referred to the United States as a plural noun (i.e., “these United States”) because several sovereigns fell under that designation. St. George Tucker called the United States a “federal compact” consisting of “several sovereign and independent states.” If his view seems unrecognizable today, it is because nationalism within the United States is dying or dead—and the United States killed it.<br />
<br />
The United States of America in the singular is a country, not a nation. It contains nations within it, but does not itself constitute a nation. Nations involve solidarity among people who share a common culture, language, customs, mores, ethnicity, and history. A country, by contrast, involves political arrangements and governmental territories and boundaries.<br />
<br />
From its inception, the United States has been characterized by faction and sectionalism, cultural clashes, and competing narratives — between Indian tribes in what is now Florida and California, Wyoming and Maine, Georgia and Michigan; between the British and French and Spanish and Dutch; between Protestants and Catholics and English Dissenters and nonconformists and splintering denominations; between the Calvinism of Cotton Mather and the Enlightenment rationalism that influenced Franklin and Jefferson. The United States has experienced, as well, numerous separatist movements, including, most notably, the secession of the states that made up the Confederate States of America.<br />
<br />
The United States is not a nation."<br />
<br />
Read the whole thing.<br />
<br />
It brings me comfort to know that we are NOT -- and never have been -- "one nation under God indivisible." Uttering that phrase was, at best, an expression of hope and, at worst, a lie: a vain attempt to suppress the painful reality of cognitive dissonance. We are no more "one nation" today than black is white, gay is straight, rich is poor, Democrat is Republican, or pro-life is pro-choice.<br />
<br />
America began as a collection of free and independent states -- many "nations -- federally united NOT to abolish their differences, but to provide for their common defense and promote their general welfare.<br />
<br />
Initially, "diversity" was our strength! A people united by common language, law, customs, culture, traditions, history, values, DNA, and religion is a nation indeed!<br />
<br />
But what are "Americans" today? Because we are "everybody," we are "nobody."<br />
<br />
America's breakup is as certain as its unity was fiction.<br />
<br />
It's time for Americans to return to being "somebody" again.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-56177928482815585932019-05-16T04:02:00.001-07:002019-08-04T07:37:24.421-07:00Death to America!I wasn't a dishwasher, so I didn't care if that job was filled by an illegal immigrant. (In fact, I liked paying a little less for my meals at restaurants!)<br />
<br />
I wasn't a gardener, so I didn't care if my lawn was mowed by an illegal immigrant. (In fact, I liked paying almost nothing, rather than do it myself.)<br />
<br />
I didn't stock shelves for a living, so I didn't care if the night crew at the local Walmart couldn't speak English (so long as they kept the prices down).<br />
<br />
I didn't own a "mom and pop" store, so I didn't care if Walmart -- hiring droves of illegal workers with stolen or fraudulent IDs -- put other retailers out of business.<br />
<br />
I didn't drive a truck for a living, so I didn't care if trucking companies hired unqualified drivers of every ethnicity and background, willing to work for slave wages while living out of their trucks. (I liked getting my Amazon packages shipped for almost nothing!)<br />
<br />
So what if unscrupulous contractors hire illegal labor under the table? How does that affect me?<br />
<br />
Well, I'll tell you.<br />
<br />
Those workers lower the salaries of everyone else in that industry, driving "good" paying jobs from the market.<br />
<br />
The "costs" of low-skilled labor are not always evident. In a welfare state like ours, the social costs of caring for the poor are shifted onto the backs of those who pay the taxes. Yet the poor seldom, if ever, pay "their fair share" of taxes. On the contrary, they tend to fill up our classrooms, emergency rooms, and prisons -- and avail themselves more of public services -- than the general population.<br />
<br />
The "rich" in America tend to receive very little in proportion to what they pay in taxes, while the American middle class is scavenged of its earning ability and savings. The American middle class is now shrinking, precisely for thar reason.<br />
<br />
My present home was built by crews of mostly illegal, unskilled laborers working for a contractor "under the table" for substandard wages. It is riddled with flaws! Wiring that doesn't work. Pipes that are not insulated and subject to breaking. Framing members that are broken or missing. Windows that leak. Insulation that is inadequate. Fixtures that are installed improperly. Shoddy work, overall.<br />
<br />
But my house wasn't cheap! It cost me a small fortune! The unscrupulous contractor who hired this illegal, low-skilled labor made a killing, while I now suffer the consequences.<br />
<br />
The same is true for the overall American economy. Global businesses made fortunes selling cheap, substandard goods to Americans, driving American producers out of business and rendering middle-class American workers unemployed.<br />
<br />
We didn't care when it was the gardener or the dishwasher who was "replaced" by the illegal foreign worker. We didn't care when all the construction jobs were taken over by foreign, illegal labor. (Our kids were going to college, not get their hands dirty!)<br />
<br />
But then OUR job was "outsourced" to the some global corporation. My information technology job -- that I paid a small fortune for and that used to pay me a decent income -- was given to some barely- English-speaking foreigner on an H-1B visa, willing to work for a third of my salary. And I had the "privilege" of training him before I was let go!<br />
<br />
My kids don't speak Spanish, aren't Muslim, or from Somalia, so they cant find a job in the local community, now comprised mostly of immigrants. So my kids have to move away now to find work elsewhere.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the "newcomers" are doing "crazy" things -- like the current Somali-born U.S. congresswoman from Minnesota, who married her brother! -- to qualify for U.S residency and obtain welfare benefits! They also have -- or claim to have -- lots of kids, so they receive tax credits -- even though they don't work or pay taxes -- giving them tens of thousands more dollars each year in "refunds" -- paid by those who ACTUALLY work and DO pay taxes.<br />
<br />
The illegal alien who stocks the shelves eventually becomes the store manager -- and hires more illegal aliens. The citizen who once held that managerial job is then "retired" or fired. And that job is forever "lost" to the American middle class.<br />
<br />
That refugee from Somalia, who becomes a congresswoman, invites more refugees from Somalia. That Mexican-American official becomes a de facto ambassador for Mexico, opensing the floodgates to greater immigration from Mexico, "replaceing" the current electorate with one more to his liking, culture, and ethnicity<br />
<br />
Eventually, there is no "middle class" or "America" left. Just rich and poor, like in Mexico.<br />
<br />
This is what happens when a government does not protect its borders, enforce its laws, or look out for its own people.<br />
<br />
This is why America is dead.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-35085150342597004192019-05-14T05:18:00.001-07:002019-05-14T05:18:51.132-07:00Not [same-sex] marriageA new friend of mine recently quipped: "I'll respect your right to [conceal] carry when you respect my right to [gay] marry."<br />
<br />
Very clever!<br />
<br />
But the absolute right to keep and bear arms is expressly delineated in our nation's Bill of Rights, whereas so-called "same-sex marriage" is not.<br />
<br />
This was no oversight or calculated political compromise made by our nation's founders.<br />
<br />
Homosexuality is, manifestly, a psychosexual disorder and a reproductive dysfunction, the consequences of which would lead to the mass extermination of our race in one generation, if experienced and practiced by all.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, that is NOT (at the moment) an eminent threat or possibility, inasmuch as homosexuality appears to be not so much a choice but a condition -- on par with any other biological disorder or condition, like alcoholism.<br />
<br />
It bears noting that, while people may be born with an inherited predisposition to alcoholism, alcoholism is NOT a predetermined outcome (like race or sex), but a condition SUBJECT TO BEHAVIOR AND CHOICE.<br />
<br />
Unlike sexual behavior, we do NOT naturally choose our skin tone or genitalia. Accommodations must, therefore, be made.<br />
<br />
But the demand for accommodations does NOT dictate we must grant "equivalency" status to disorders and dysfunctions! We cannot and we MUST not guarantee "equal" outcomes to unequal inputs! (Any more than we can or should guarantee "equal" pay for unequal work.)<br />
<br />
Men doing with men (or women doing with women) what men and women naturally do together NEVER yields the same result: babies! Consequently, these activities are NOT equal. "Same-sex marriage" is no more ACTUAL marriage than the Paralympics is the Olympics.<br />
<br />
Our imminently wise and experienced forefathers acknowledged the God-given, universal right to self defense. They would have decried -- universally! -- however, any assertion that men and women have the "right" to marry whomever they choose.<br />
<br />
As consenting adults, do we have the "right" to marry our parents? Siblings? Children? Is it even debatable that marrying someone of the SAME sex is EVEN MORE disordered and dysfunctional than marrying a biological relation of the OPPOSITE sex?<br />
<br />
The laws of nature and of nature's God with respect to marriage have not changed since the serpent offered forbidden fruit to Eve.<br />
<br />
Those who would change them now are making the same offer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-72923549203136287112019-04-02T10:39:00.003-07:002019-04-02T10:53:10.835-07:00<a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=hl2p3LW2i2I">Propertarianism</a>. A new word. Get used to it. Let it roll around in your mouth a bit. Say it out loud slowly.<br />
<br />
PROPERTARIANISM.<br />
<br />
Now what does this word make you think of? Proper? Property?<br />
<br />
Yes!<br />
<br />
Propertarianism is the political and social ideology our nation's founders well understood, but took for granted, when they wrote our constitution.<br />
<br />
Propertarianism restores and enshrines that ideology in law, safeguarding the proper administration of government and protecting personal and public property of all kinds -- something our current form of government is incapable of.<br />
<br />
Propertarianism uniquely has the power to restore and ensure freedom, security and prosperity for all who embrace it.<br />
<br />
Short of converting the nation to Christianity and being governed by Jesus Himself, propertarianism is the solution to what ails U.S..<br />
<br />
Our fathers sought to give us the best form of government possible: a self-governing republic. They wrote a constitution, replete with checks and balances, designed for a moral and religious people. The safeguards they put in place were intended to secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity.<br />
<br />
But the founders never imagined the moral depravity and blatant dishonesty of the modern Left. They couldn't foresee, especially with free elections and the Second Amendment, that the American people would ever allow themselves to be overthrown from within.<br />
<br />
But we have been!<br />
<br />
As we now see, our elected leaders are incentivised to lie to us. Rather than strive to represent us, they seek to replace us! The framework our founders bequeathed to us is insufficient to govern those who are neither moral nor God-fearing, who tell lies without conscience or repercussions. (And that pretty well covers almost all who are now in charge, or who seek to be.)<br />
<br />
Unless the moral and God-fearing rise up NOW and embrace the principles of propertarianism, freedom, security and prosperity for all of us, as we know it, will be extinguished.<br />
<br />
One does not need to be religious, or even believe in a deity, to practice propertarianism. But one does need to tell the truth. And the implementation of propertarianism is the means by which truth will be restored to make us free, prosperous, united and at peace once again.<br />
<br />
I urge you to watch this video. It is the most important video I have ever watched on the internet. It is the only real, practical solution to our nation's problems -- short of civil war and killing or converting all who would take from others life, liberty, property, or the possibility of happiness for their own short-term, personal gain.<br />
<br />
Watch the video!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-72526692560548200122019-02-16T02:23:00.001-08:002019-02-16T02:38:54.376-08:00The Beginning of the EndFriends, let's face it: America is toast. We have been betrayed by our president! In the words of Ann Coulter, he has ""f-ed over his base."<br />
<br />
Surrounded by idiots and crooks, at every level of government -- in his Cabinet, in Congress, on the Courts, in the Department of Justice, the FBI, CIA and other government agencies -- President Trump has signed a bill that effectively undoes EVERYTHING he promised to do! It renders our current immigration laws unenforceable and completing "The Wall" impossible.<br />
<br />
He should have declared a national emergency, BUILT THE WALL, and vetoed the bill. (But he didn't.) He shouldn't have allowed the criminals in Congress to railroad him! (But he did!)<br />
<br />
The Democrats ram their policies through Congress and the Courts -- overriding the will of the American people -- whenever they're in power AND EVEN WHEN THEY'RE NOT! They lie and cheat and steal at every turn! And the Republicans do NOTHING! They sit on their hands!<br />
<br />
That's because the Democrats and Republicans are ONE UNI-PARTY: a cabal of criminals and corruption. America is infected by and infested with them!<br />
<br />
America no longer has a functioning constitutional government. We no longer are a republic, but a mob ruled by thugs. Those "in charge" are incompetent! They refuse even to pass a balanced budget, but continue to run our government on credit. They're running US into the ground!<br />
<br />
These "leaders" no longer obey or represent US, but pander to the interests of global bankers, businesses, and bureaucrats. They are "paid off" petty thieves and "hit men" for the great cartel. They are bribed with power, perks, and prestige and use our military, our courts, and our classrooms to do their dirty work.<br />
<br />
These robbers have taken over the national store. They man the cash registers and pretend to be employees, while tying up and gagging the owners, holding US hostage while stripping US of our freedoms, dignity and<br />
fruits of our labors!<br />
<br />
We call the cops! But when the police arrive, they, too, are "in" on the crime! They cover up for the robbers and start handing out "freebies" from the store -- to anyone who walks through the unguarded door, encouraging them to look the other way and keep the robbers in charge.<br />
<br />
No business can operate this way! Eventually the shelves are empty and the owners are broke, out of business, or dead. We are broke! 22 trillion dollars broke!<br />
<br />
Soon America will be "out of business."<br />
<br />
In less than 10 years, I suppose, tens of millions of Americans will lose (or leave) their jobs -- replaced by robots and peasants. The rich are going to COMPLETELY detach from the poor. And this country will fracture into chaos as America defaults on its debts and breaks its promises -- to America's creditors and her own people.<br />
<br />
Unless Americans RISE UP and SWEEP THESE CRIMINALS FROM POWER, a curse will fall upon this land! Atom bombs will rain down upon our principal cities! Armies will invade! Our banks will collapse and our crops will fail! The people of this once-great nation will suffer the consequences of their foolishness and wickedness!<br />
<br />
Americans will come to understand, by their sufferings, what they had and what they threw away.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-28126392373772620412018-08-13T02:57:00.001-07:002018-08-13T12:46:19.578-07:00On being disarmedPeople should not be punished for having weapons to use...nor for words to speak...nor for ideas to think. They should be punished only for using those things to do evil.<br />
<br />
Weapons, words, and ideas must not be arbitrarily restricted, for they are essential for opposing evil and doing good.<br />
<br />
A holstered weapon -- just as an appropriately unspoken word or a prudently guarded idea -- offends no one. Those who live in fear of weapons, words or ideas perhaps should get some -- and learn how to use them!<br />
<br />
An armed society is a polite society and -- inasmuch as real evil isn't going away anytime soon -- ultimately, a safer one.<br />
<br />
An AR-15 is a prudent fashion accessory for one expecting to encounter an enemy who carries one (legally or illegally). The threat is not the weapon, but the enemy.<br />
<br />
Those who wish to kill will kill with sticks and stones (if that's all they have). Do we really want to live in a world where sticks and stones are banned, together with every other useful tool?<br />
<br />
Those who lack good words and ideas invariably employ evil ones -- and frequently resort to perpetrating unjustified violence with the "best" of tools and the "worst" of intentions. It does no good for the rest of us to go unarmed.<br />
<br />
I would be (and feel) immeasurably safer locked in a room with gun-toting, bible-thumping Christians than I would free to roam on any public street with savages ("educated" in our inner-city schools) who have nothing but their bare hands.<br />
<br />
But which are we more likely to encounter in America today?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-22481507733469415612017-12-25T16:50:00.000-08:002017-12-25T16:51:34.756-08:00KarmaThe great high priest who excommunicated me from the LDS Church in 2014, blowing up my family, is now divorced, released from his calling.<br />
<br />
I deeply sorrow for his family. (I would not wish that agony on anyone!)<br />
<br />
How can those who so blithely impose such loss and suffering on others hope to escape the same fate?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-19679553583230952292017-12-18T10:34:00.001-08:002017-12-18T10:34:06.583-08:00The Lord's TRUE Guide and Standard<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
I was not in Boise or privy to the Conference of Christ held last summer. I did not participate with those who entered into a covenant there and then (offered by Denver Snuffer, acting as "voice"). I have been largely absent from any and all discussions regarding the same and lately I have remained ignorant of most of the proceedings pertinent to that "movement," its proposed "guide and standard," (GS) "governing principles," (GP) etc. (I have been attending to other things.)</div>
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Yet I consider myself an "active" member of that "group" commonly called "the remnant," having submitted myself for rebaptism, having my name recorded, striving to take the Holy Spirit for my Guide, keeping the Lord's commandments to the best of my ability, etc., exercising faith in Him alone who is mighty to save, relying wholeheartedly upon His grace and forgiveness.</div>
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I consider myself "in league" with Denver Snuffer, <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=606221506&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/brotherpoet?fref=mentions" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Rob Smith</a>, Jared Livesey ("Log"), <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=655207145&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/rockwaterman?fref=mentions" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Rock Waterman</a>, <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1424288242&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/tim.malone?fref=mentions" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Tim Malone</a>, <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1360776653&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/scott.stover.9?fref=mentions" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Scott Stover</a> and many others. These are not just my friends. They are my "brethren" and extended "family." I love them and feel myself "united" with them by the bonds of charity and our mutual faith. It cannot be overstated how much I cherish their company.</div>
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If it can be tolerated and accepted, I SUPPORT the efforts of Denver Snuffer, Rob Smith, and Jared Livesey.</div>
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However, <a href="https://logscabin.blogspot.com/2017/10/i-do-not-agree.html">I join with Jared</a> in saying I DO NOT AGREE regarding what others have done regarding the GS and GP. I SUPPORT what Jared has proposed to be the GS and GP for us to follow. (Jared has mostly quoted the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.) By so doing, we follow, honor and obey Jesus Christ, our Eternal God, and none other (as it should be).</div>
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I have been inspired and uplifted by the efforts and words of Denver, Rob and Jared. (They are NOT mutually exclusive.) I believe the Lord has commanded Denver to undertake this latest effort for the very purpose of trying our souls, giving us experience and seeing what we could and would do: whether we would turn to Him (the Lord) or gravitate toward any other (fool or dumb idol).</div>
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I particularly LOVE the idea put forth by Scott Stover and Jared Livesey: that we invite each participant to WRITE THEIR OWN GOVERNING PRINCIPLES, then compare them from time to time. In time, those guided by the Holy Spirit will come to agreement and adopt the same words. They will be one fold and have one Shepherd, hearing ONE voice.</div>
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I believe Rob Smith would say: "None of this is necessary. Let each man come to God himself and let the angels sort it out!" I believe the Lord has assisted Rob in fulfilling his ministry.</div>
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I believe Denver would say: "As all have not faith to come unto Christ separately, let us do it together, if we can...and here's how we might!" I believe the Lord has assisted Denver in fulfilling his ministry.</div>
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I believe Jared would say: "I believe Denver has been sent by God, but I don't think those who regard him as a prophet understand what that means. We must avoid committing the same sins and errors of the past." I believe the Lord has assisted Jared in fulfilling his ministry.</div>
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I particularly encourage ALL who affiliate with this group, "the remnant," to read Jared's blog posts of late, beginning with October, 2017, reading to the present. I believe his focus and admonitions to be inspired of the Holy Ghost and the clearest words of the Lord extant on the subject.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-62201011958874068932017-06-12T09:00:00.001-07:002017-07-20T06:20:22.473-07:00Sacrifice of all things<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rob Smith's book, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6t-rQr3iLAsVlYtLUFZVVFxMkU/view">Seek Ye This Jesus: Hearing, Seeing and Dwelling with God</a>, continues to assault the "natural" man within me with revelation upon revelation...or "reminders" to those of us who already have been exposed to the truth, but who are now quaking in our boots at the implications thereof. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lessons like this: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">***<br /><br />A full relationship with God requires the surrender of <b>all</b> things. This stout principle is stated plainly over and over again in scripture. Few encounter a full relationship with God, because few understand or submit fully in surrender to God.<br /><br />There are three levels of surrender to God. The first is partial surrender, when you are willing to surrender a specific thing or a group of specific things. Many people in this group are honest enough to recognize that their unsurrendered things should be surrendered, but they love those things too much to let go of them. Their unwillingness to let go of these things in spite of a commandment from God to do so means that they love these things more than God, which is a violation of the first and great commandment: Love God with all your heart (see Matthew 22:38). Their withholdings are an idol to them, and as long as they hold onto these unsurrendered things, they cannot have a full relationship with God. No matter what positive experiences they have with God, they will be forever blocked from the much greater portion they were meant to experience.<br /><br />Some less honest people in this group think that their unsurrendered list is acceptable to God because it is comprised only of things they think God will never expect them to surrender. Who are you to dictate what is right and what is wrong to God? If your operating assumption is that you are fallen and incapable of saving yourself, how could you ever think that you are capable of dictating what God can and can’t do? God’s humbling interchange with Job fits any who think for a moment that their wisdom exceeds God’s (see Job 38).<br /><br />The Lord’s ways are higher than yours:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />When it comes to what God might ask of us, there are <b>no limitations</b>. Abraham probably thought God would <b>never</b> ask him to sacrifice a human, let alone his son, let alone the son whose life was required to fulfill <b>promises he had received from God</b>. And yet, he did not withhold Isaac. There are many other examples in the scriptures. <b>Nothing is out of bounds.</b> Even your relationship with your parents and your children* are among what he can ask you to sacrifice:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37)</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />[Emphasis added.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />***<br /><br />I stopped reading there. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">That last scripture contained two words -- "...and wife..." -- that wrenched my soul. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have always known I would have to "sacrifice" my parents. We can't live forever under their roof. We must necessarily "strike out" on our own, chart our own course, even "separate" religiously, financially, emotionally (to some extent) as we "define" ourselves, our personalities and our lives. Inevitably our parents (most likely) precede us in death, as well. We have to "let go" sooner or later.<br /><br />I also knew I would have to "sacrifice" my children. Inevitably they grow up and make their own choices, taking actions that, likewise, define their own lives and personalities. Ultimately, every parent must stand at the "train station," wave "goodbye" to their children and "let go."<br /><br />But I NEVER imagined I would be expected to "sacrifice" my beloved wife! Not under ANY circumstances (except by death)! Even if she pushed me away! Even if she turned from everything I hold dear! My role, my goal, my purpose in life, I understood, was to "cleave" unto her and to NONE else! I was to "save" her AT ALL COSTS and NEVER abandon her. At God's command, my faithfulness to her would need to be stronger than the cords of death!<br /><br />I NEVER imagined that it would be required of me (by Him or by her) to "let go."<br /><br />Abraham "sacrificed" his wife, Sarah, first to Pharaoh, then to King Abimelech. (Though Abraham surely loved her!) He likewise sent Hagar and their son, Ishmael, into the wilderness, arguably to die! Abraham withheld NOTHING from God. He even raised his knife to slay his beloved son, Isaac, at God's command.<br /><br />Rob's words likewise cut to my core and struck at my heart. They revealed in me and to me a truth I've kept hidden from myself. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I THOUGHT I had "spied out" God's own heart and had "carved out" what I "knew" and thought to be His desires for me for my ENTIRE life. I THOUGHT He had given me this woman FOREVER. (We were "sealed" in the temple!) I had NO IDEA that the very thing He had given me to love, honor and cherish forever -- the one I now valued ABOVE ALL ELSE in this world! -- had become an "idol" to me and a "stumbling block." (Hadn't she always been?) My love for her -- and for all that I received from her and because of her -- had become the focus of my life and the "treasure" of my soul. <br /><br />Surely I loved her and our children with all my heart! I loved God, too! <br /><br />But did I love Him MORE than these?<br /><br />He would see. (Or, more accurately, I would see.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">***</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I recognize these tests come to ALL of us who seek to be with and be like God. (Those who seek not God likewise suffer, but they do so, unknowingly, without purpose.) The Powers of Heaven "orchestrate," on our behalf, circumstances that bring us to these "crises" of our faith -- whether by death, destruction, disease, economic ruin or other hardship, trial by temptation, infidelity (either in ourselves or in others), etc. We are asked to "sacrifice." Those who give up what they "love" most because they love God EVEN MORE progress. Those who don't are damned, even in their "lovely" (and pitiful) prisons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">God, in His mercy, allows "evil spirits" to beset us, at times -- to compel us to do things we (otherwise) would not do (unless we were tempted, as we thus are, by our own lusts, if we have any) -- to bring about circumstances to teach us lessons: to humble us and to instruct us, as He did with King Nebuchadnezzar, who went "crazy," living as a beast of the field for seven years (see Daniel 4). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We judge others for their "wickedness" in our own foolishness, not comprehending how <i>easily</i> we could be persuaded to embrace <i>their</i> same plight, attitudes or actions, were the same "lessons" administered to us by Heaven. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We are ALL "children," "fallen" in God's eyes. The "stench" of our sins is hardly indistinguishable to Them who now know no sin. All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God in this world. We are ALL in need of God's cleansing power and forgiveness now (that we might cleanse and forgive each other). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Only the most impenitent and wicked among us are unfit for this world. Our common struggle is to work together now to dispel the darkness and seek to embrace the Light.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rob continued:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Ironically, those who put God in a box do so out of fear. They fear </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">that if they let God out of their boxes, he would end up less loving, less </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">merciful, or less good than they presently imagine him to be. That is ironic </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">because it is only by removing your limitations of him that you can see just </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">how loving, merciful, and good he really is. Trusting him provides the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">opportunity for him to prove his faithfulness and love. It far exceeds anything </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">you can imagine when you box him up in false traditions. If you look at every </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">person in the scriptures who came to know God, you will struggle to find </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">someone who found him less godly upon getting to know him. Instead, you </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">see the opposite. You see deep, loving, worshipful reverence increase in </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">proportion to how well someone knows God."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If I admitted it to myself, I'd confess that I don't want to give up what I have now because I'm afraid God will not fill up my cup again! (I so languished with thirst before! I do not wish to be thirsty again!) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But thirsty for what? The cares of this world? Or the things of heaven? I confess as I've turned my attention toward the things of this world, the things of heaven have waned by comparison and the voice of God has become <i>harder</i> for me to hear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The "greedy," hungry kid who keeps his two fish, rather than toss them into the basket as a gift to God never sees his fish multiplied to feed himself or five thousand more! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We have to trust that, by obedience to God, our every step is ordained for our benefit (and the benefit of those we love and cherish), even if that step takes us through hell.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">* At this point in reading Rob's words, I still held out hope he would never mention what I loved most and would NEVER want to give up! But he did.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-51403033078833363172017-05-18T23:21:00.000-07:002017-05-18T23:21:07.476-07:00Black and WhiteI haven't verified the data below contrasting blacks and whites, reported in the comments <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/city-orleans-down-statue-confederate-gen-robert-e-022551369.html">here</a>. But I have heard these numbers enough, in enough places, to find them trustworthy.<br />
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<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px;">***</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">IQ tests measure the innate and immutable mental capability that involves abstract thinking, logical reasoning, ability to solve novel problems and comprehend complex ideas.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Intelligence is inherited and not equally distributed among the races.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">IQ by race:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Ashkenazi Jews = 115</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • East Asians = 106</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Whites = 100</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Inuits and Eskimos = 91</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • South-East Asians = 87</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • American Indians = 87</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Non-White Hispanics = 86</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • American Blacks = 85 (average 24% White admixture)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Middle East and North Africans = 84</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • African Blacks = 67 (only 2% of Whites score this low)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Australian Aborigines = 62</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Kalahari Bushman = 54</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Congo Pygmies = 54</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Asian IQ scores cluster around the mean; thus, the cognitive variation among Whites produces more geniuses, but also more morons.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">IQ studies are normed for every conceivable variable and have been conducted on twins and trans-racial adoptions, but the racial IQ gap persists, including on non-verbal tests such Raven's Matrices, digit span, and mental chronometry.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">No Black civilization has ever independently developed. No modern creations exist in sub-Saharan Africa that were not brought there by Whites. Without continuous intervention, Blacks cannot even maintain what Whites gave them. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">19 of the 20 poorest countries are sub-Saharan African.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">There are no White Third-World nations, but all Black ones are.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Highest National IQs:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 108 Singapore </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 106 South Korea </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 105 Japan </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 105 China </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 102 Italy </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 101 Iceland </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 101 Switzerland </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 100 Austria </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 100 Netherlands </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 100 Norway </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Lowest National IQs:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 68 Somalia </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 67 Guinea </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 67 Haiti </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 67 Liberia </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 66 Gambia </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 64 Cameroon </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 64 Gabon </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 64 Sierra Leone </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 64 Mozambique </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 59 Equatorial Guinea</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Blacks are proto-humans; modern man evolved from Blacks by hybridizing with the large-brain Neanderthals:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Blacks = 2% Archaic admixture</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Whites = 4% Neanderthal</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Asians = 5% Neanderthal + Denisovan</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Genetic distance is a measure of the genetic divergence between populations. Blacks have a genetic distance of 0.23 from Whites and Asians, but only 0.17 from Erectus. That means Blacks are more genetically proximate to archaic man than to modern man. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Blacks are the only race with no DNA from the large-brain Neanderthals. Civilizations didn't begin until the Neanderthal hybridization created the larger brains in modern man:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Brain Size by Race:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Blacks = 1267 cm</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Whites = 1347 cm</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Asians = 1364 cm</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Whites' brains are faster, larger, denser, and more complex than Blacks' brains:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 7% larger</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 126 grams heavier</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • deeper fissuration in the frontal and occipital regions</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • more complex convolutions</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • larger frontal lobes</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • more pyramidal neurons</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 16% thicker supra-grandular layer</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • one standard deviation more cerebrum</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • react faster on mental chronometry tests</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • 600 million more neurons</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Whites are only 10% of the world's population, yet are the most industrious and innovative race the world has known. Whites unlocked the secrets of DNA, and relativity, launched satellites, created automation, discovered electricity and nuclear energy, invented automobiles, aircraft, submarines, radio, television, computers, medicine, telephones, light bulbs, photography, and countless other technological miracles. Whites were the first to circumnavigate the planet by ship, and orbit it by spacecraft, to walk on the moon, probe beyond the solar system, climb the highest peaks, reach both poles, exceed the sound barrier, descend to the oceans depths... yet Blacks still can't even feed themselves. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Whites have to provide food, medical, financial, and engineering aid to every Black nation. Blacks cannot survive without White charity. Blacks became an out-of-control invasive species after Whites domesticated them. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">No pre-contact Black society ever created a written language, or weaved cloth, or forged steel, or invented the wheel, or plow, or devised a calendar, or code of laws, or system of measurement, or math, or built a multi-story structure, or sewer, or drilled a well, or irrigated, or created any agriculture, or built a road, or sea-worthy vessel. They never domesticated animals, or exploited underground natural resources, or produced anything that could be considered a mechanical device.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Blacks were still living in the Stone Age when Whites discovered them just 400 years ago.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Blacks are the oldest race, so they should be the most advanced — but they never advanced at all. Blacks lived alone in Africa, a vast continent with temperate climates and abundant resources for 60,000 years; so they cannot blame slavery, racism, colonialism, culture, environment, or anything else for their failures. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Simply, life is an IQ test.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">In 156 American studies that have reported the IQ means of a Black and a White sample, the mean Black-White difference is 1.1 standard deviations (SDs), or about sixteen IQ points.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">In 1980, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth administered the largest and most carefully selected national sample of 6,502 Whites and 3,022 Blacks an IQ test and found a difference of 1.2 SDs.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">An IQ gap of at least 1.1 SDs for American Blacks (average 24% White admixture) and Whites has been present for the entire 100+ year history of IQ tests. The gap between African Blacks and Whites is 2.0 SDs.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Black-White IQ Distribution:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Blacks:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 5% above 110 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 16% above 100 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 40% above 90 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 60% above 80 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 40% below 80 IQ </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 18% below 75 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 10% below 70 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Whites:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 10% above 120 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 18% above 115 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 27% above 110 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 40% above 105 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 50% above 100 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 60% below 105 IQ </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 35% below 95 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 15% below 85 IQ</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">As the New York Times put it, "...the difference in IQ points between the groups is quite significant. It means that the top sixth of Blacks score only as well on IQ tests as do the top half of Whites."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The least intelligent 10% of Whites have IQs below 80 (low functioning); 40% of Blacks do. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Only one Black in six is more intelligent than the average White; five Whites out of six are more intelligent than the average Black.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Incidently, Black female IQ is 2.4 points higher than Black male IQ. There are twice as many Black females as Black males with IQs over 120, and five times as many Black females as Black males with IQs over 140.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">About 2.3% of Whites have an IQ of at least 130 (gifted), 20 times greater than the percentage of Blacks who do; only 0.00044% of African Blacks have an IQ over 130. 80% of gifted American Blacks have White admixture.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Geniuses by Race (IQ 140 or higher):</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • African Blacks 1:3,500,000 (0.000003%)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • American Blacks 1:218,000 (0.0004%) </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> • Whites 1:83 (1.2%) </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">So, the per capita genius rate for Whites is 41,000 times higher than it is for African Blacks. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">If all Whites in America were replaced by Blacks, the number of geniuses in the country would fall from about 2.4 million to only about 1,000.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The so-called "achievement gap" by SAT scores:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> Year White Black Gap</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 1985 1038 839 199</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 1990 1031 849 185</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 1995 1052 857 195</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 2000 1060 859 201</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 2005 1061 863 197</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 2010 1063 855 208</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> 2015 1047 846 201</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This gap is so significant that colleges award Blacks 230 SAT "race bonus" points to help them qualify for admission. The Black-only National Achievement Scholarship was created because Blacks are not competitive for the National Merit Scholarship.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">IQ by Race and Highest Degree Earned (1972 — 2014):</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Highest Degree White IQ Black IQ Gap</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">High School Drop-out: 89 82 7</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">High School Diploma 98 90 8</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Junior College Degree 102 95 7</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Bachelor's Degree 108 100 8</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Graduate Degree 113 102 11</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Therefore, a Black with a graduate degree has an IQ equivalent to a White with a junior college degree.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Blacks can only achieve because they are mixed with White genes or because they reside in White societies. Too few of them are smart enough to even build sufficient infrastructure to allow the Black intellectual elite to achieve.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The American Psychological Association declares, "...large differences do exist between the average IQ scores of Blacks and Whites, and that these differences cannot be attributed to biases in test construction."</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-84857499345998288412017-04-16T17:14:00.000-07:002017-04-16T17:14:37.932-07:00Easter Sunday<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I spent my Easter driving my (younger) children to the LDS Church and dropping them off at the curb because (like a non-Mormon visiting the temple), I'm not allowed by the LDS Church to step foot on LDS property ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. There my children joined their mother and older siblings (without me). I made the 14-mile round trip, then received word from them that my oldest son refused to go inside because he didn't have the right SOCKS. <br /><br />That's right. Jesus hung on the cross STARK NAKED and walked out of the tomb BAREFOOT on Easter morn. But my son didn't have the right SOCKS so he wouldn't go to church. (He likes to wear NIKE socks.) His mother asked me to bring him A PAIR OF SOCKS. Would I make the 14-mile drive again?<br /><br />I found only ONE Nike sock at home. So I left it there and drove to church with ANOTHER pair (one of my own, which I no longer wear since I don't don the church's "uniform" anymore).<br /><br />When I got to church, I found my son RIDING HIS BIKE, jumping the curbs of the church parking lot, wearing shorts and a ratty, "casual" shirt (like he was visiting a skate park!) -- not the "Easter Sunday" clothes I expected him to be wearing. "I don't like to go to church," he said. He REJECTED the socks I offered him. (Admittedly, they were "dress" socks. He was wearing one black "Nike" sock on one foot and NO SOCK on the other! This was "acceptable" to him!)<br /><br />I drove all the way home AGAIN -- rather than attend church (as I wanted to) with my family.<br /><br />"Church" had been turned into a "fashion show". A "wrestle" over socks, rather than worship of God. <br /><br />I took the sacrament at home alone -- and choked on the words "WE ask thee...." (Who are "we"?) "...to the SOULS of all those...." (I'm the only "soul" here!) "...that THEY may eat...." (Who's "they"?) "...that THEY are willing to take upon themselves...." (I'm all alone here!)<br /><br />Clearly the sacrament was MEANT to be taken in company with others. <br /><br />I am aware of a "friend" who lives EVERY DAY alone. He dwells in filth. His house is a cesspool. His hygiene (or lack thereof) is so vile that NO ONE wants to get within 20 feet of him. (He stinks!) <br /><br />Do I treat him like this? Yes, I do. I "banish" him from my life. I do not succor him -- as these "Mormons" banish and do not succor me. My "judgment" is just. It is being done unto me even as I am doing unto him. The only way I can rid myself of my stain is do unto him as I would have done unto me!<br /><br />I don't WANT to be his friend! He is filthy, feces covered, and vile in every way!<br /><br />But so am I, apparently (to some).</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-60140310530357350552017-04-16T16:44:00.000-07:002017-04-16T16:44:15.549-07:00The jungle gym<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A boy at school injured himself while climbing on a massive jungle gym installed decades earlier. He had thought to stand at the very top: a place so precarious and frightening that hardly anyone dared make the attempt. But the boy regarded it as a worthy effort, even an adventure! <br /><br />While climbing, he gashed his leg on a broken feature sticking out of the equipment, a deficiency few had discovered and no one else could see looking from the bottom. (None of those who ran the school dared climb the jungle gym themselves.) Writhing in pain and becoming distracted, the boy lost his grip and fell all the way to the bottom.<br /><br />On his own, he made his way to the school nurse and explained to her what had happened. She insisted, however, that it WASN'T the jungle gym's fault! "You shouldn't have been climbing there! It was YOU who slipped! The jungle gym isn't broken! It's YOU!"<br /><br />She had never seen such an injury before. Swooning at the sight of so much blood, she foolishly suggested that a tourniquet and amputation were the only acceptable remedies. The boy vehemently protested. He said the gash was deep, but in no wise irreparable. The injury would heal with proper treatment. The boy, not wishing to see others suffer his fate, endeavored to warn them about the broken jungle gym.<br /><br />But his pleas were ignored by those who could see nothing wrong from where they stood. The fault was the boy's.<br /><br />The nurse told the principal what the boy had said. The principal expelled the boy for his "misconduct" and banished him from the school grounds (so he couldn't tell others what had happened to him). <br /><br />The boy received no treatment for his injuries from the school nurse or the school, but was left to heal on his own. The pain and suffering he experienced were intense! He not only suffered his injury, but "lost" nearly ALL of his schoolyard friends! Plus he could no longer play on the playground equipment he so much enjoyed. Not to mention the rigor and discipline of attending school with others. <br /><br />He was on his own now.<br /><br />But the jungle gym was still broken.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214466513983897836.post-77058784340792313692017-03-24T18:11:00.000-07:002017-04-11T06:09:52.734-07:00Schools are NOT "safe sex" zones<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2017/03/23/desert-sands-bryan-response/99563152/">Robert Keith Bryan</a>, a local public school teacher, clearly took advantage of his students. He was convicted of improperly touching young girls and was sentenced to nine years in prison. <br /><br />I cannot imagine <i>any</i> teacher justifying touching any student <i>under their clothing</i><i>,</i> as Bryan did. (Apparently, neither could the jury!) He was, perhaps, in denial about his sexual predilections. (Maybe he still is.) He "got his jollies off", apparently, touching young girls in seemingly "casual" ways. He thought he could get away with it. (And he did! For a long time!) But he was only kidding himself. His lust was transparent to others. (Touching a student on her chest, under her shirt, is a clear give-away!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Whatever psycho-sexual stage of development Bryan "missed" or became "fixated" on, I hope he transcends it. He needs help. I wonder if he'll get that help in prison. (I've heard prison inmates dish out horrible abuse to pedophiles. Will that "help" Bryan?)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />What's<i> </i>even<i> more</i> difficult to imagine is how anyone "deserves" to be compensated $650,000 of <i>public</i> <i>money</i> for merely being touched in passing, even inappropriately (on the thigh or chest, for example). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I, personally, would let almost </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">anyone</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">anywhere</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">, for </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">any</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> reason, at </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">any</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> time, touch me on my chest -- </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">or almost anywhere else!</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> -- for a few seconds, for $650,000! Call me a pervert or a prostitute, but, truth be told, I'd probably let them do it for a lot longer for a lot less! (And so would you!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Don't get me wrong. What Bryan did was <i>very </i>disordered. The impulses that inspire pedophiles are unnatural, even unimaginable, to "normal" people. But I've had several doctors touch me in unmentionable places, <i>many times</i> since my youth -- putting their hands and fingers in places where the sun don't shine -- and <i>not one of them</i> ever <i>paid me</i> for the privilege! Certainly not <i>over half a million dollars!</i> (In fact, as uncomfortable as it usually was for me, I've <i>always</i> had to <i>pay them!</i>)<br /><br />Bryan's punishment (and rehabilitation) would be much better served at the "working" end of a baseball bat. Only unrelenting, intense, overwhelming, vomit-inducing fear and pain can effectively "reorient" any child molester. (Or any other molester, for that matter.) The punishment needs to be <i>so severe</i> and<i> so devastating</i> that no molester would <i>ever</i> consider repeating the abuse! Without experiencing such gut-wrenching anguish, Bryan frankly has no reason to repent. He may still be entertained (even in his own mind!) by his inordinate affections.<br /><br />In other words, Mr. Bryan needs to have <i>the living shit</i> beaten out of him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For his own good.<br /><br />(The "old" ways are preferable to the "new"...and they are certainly less expensive, more efficient and effective!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The "void" created by overwhelming pain "driving out" inordinate lusts and affections from a pedophile's (or any addict's) heart and mind needs to be filled with overwhelming love for something else for the "transformation" to be permanent. <i>That</i> love serves as the new "addiction" (or healthy "outlet" for the addict's energies and preoccupations). Having "cleaned house" of "demons", as it were, the "landlord" must "refurnish" with something else, something better, before vagrants, vagabonds, and squatters bring their own junk and take over, "occupying" the space.<br /><br />Corporal punishment (or being beaten to within an inch of your life) is not the <i>only</i> way to experience sufficient anguish to fully repent. One who comes into the presence of God (or His holiness) perceives his own unworthiness and utter impending destruction and likewise experiences the self-same, heart-rending, body-piercing, mind-altering pain and anguish that potentially induces a full and complete recovery. In fact, this kind of repentance is preferable to the former, as it comes from within, voluntarily, rather than from without, involuntarily, and the holy Being inducing such sentiments is, Himself, the embodiment of perfect love. The perfect "light" to fill any void of darkness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(That has been my experience with repentance, at least.)<br /><br />Because actual pedophiles (like Bryan) are too expensive and destructive to society and school districts to tolerate, people are "on the lookout" for them and non-pedophiles (who likewise work with children) are now being prosecuted, persecuted and falsely accused. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />The witch hunt for pedophiles at Coachella Valley Unified, Desert Sands Unified and other school districts is so intense and pervasive that otherwise innocuous teacher comments like "You must be hot!" and "You behaved. It was a good day!" are characterized as "sexual harassment" and inordinate "flirtation"!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Awful children have learned from experience that accusing teachers of sexual misconduct allows them to get away with (and get) almost</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <i>anything</i>. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(A</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">dministrators have learned this, too.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />Simply touching a sleeping (or talkative) student on the shoulder -- to tacitly say "Wake up!" or "I see what you're doing, get back to work!" -- is now labeled as "sexual assault" (if the student is failing and wants to get a passing grade). <br /><br />A male teacher -- sitting alone at his desk, rubbing his face, trying to remember if he shaved or not that morning while his students take a test -- is described as "leering" at students and "stroking himself in a sensual and most improper manner" -- <i>especially</i> if he reacts to a female student cheating! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Complimenting a cheerleader who asks "How do I look?" by saying "I like your new uniform" risks further allegations of impropriety from unwitting (and paranoid) parents.<br /><br />I've experienced all of this as a teacher.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />The school yard is a <i>not</i> a "safe" or "innocent" playground, but a minefield of impropriety. (I say this to the uninitiated.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">At one high school I taught at in this valley, I saw scantily-clad females "pole dancing" -- literally in cages! -- for a school assembly. (Who advised these students? That person should be fired!) I walked out of that assembly in disgust. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I saw black students simulating intercourse while dancing to music in the school courtyard at lunch time. When an offended Hispanic cafeteria worker complained to the principal, saying "Mr. _____, they're f***ing!", the principal pointed toward the cafeteria and told her "Get back to work!" (He said </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">nothing</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> to the students.) When a group of boys gathered around a cell phone, I stood on a concrete bench nearby to see what they were looking at. (They were looking at pornography.) I called a security guard to intervene, but he commanded </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">me</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> to get down from my perch and did </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">nothing</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> to stop the students. After I complained to the principal, <i>I</i> was fired.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />At a middle school where I taught, colleagues discovered 8th graders having sex in a bathroom. I personally heard an adult performer, a "rapper", at that school tell an auditorium full of middle schoolers "Put my cock in your mouth," several times. (He said it was part of his "act".) I complained, but the administration did <i>nothing</i>. The school dances were nothing short of simulated orgies, replete with vulgar, pornographic music and simulated (if not actual) sex acts performed on the dance floor. Chaperones were encouraged to "look the other way". (Students don't like being interrupted, interfered with or observed while they're "doing it" and they complain if teachers stop them, getting the <i>teachers</i> in trouble!) When I complained about this sexual abuse of (and by) minors, I was threatened with violating their "civil rights" and was, again, removed from my job!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many schools today are run by the ULTIMATE child molesters. These "administrators" and "counselors" teach our kids it's "okay" to fornicate, giving them free condoms and even access to abortions, if the children want them (without telling their parents). H</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">eaven help the poor teacher who </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>accidentally</i> touches a student on the butt! But administrators enable the <i>actual rape</i> of children and the abortion (murder!) of grandchildren without any consequence!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Teachers like Bryan go to prison for years for touching children while millions are doled out in compensation for <i>much less</i> than what "administrators" <i>routinely</i> approve of and "administer".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Such is our sick and twisted world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />I sympathize for those victimized by Bryan. But I am <i>not</i> so naive as to believe that he is the only "perpetrator", or even the worst. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sexual conduct (and misconduct) is <i>rife</i> in our society -- at home, in church, at school and on the playground. There is groping and fondling and even intercourse happening <i>everywhere</i>, among adults and students alike. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A woman I dated (before I married) told me how she "seduced" her <i>married</i> high school history teacher (in Utah!) -- having sex with him on the floor by his desk -- while his twin brother taught seminary across the street!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had one principal threaten me with sexual harassment if I ever opposed his policies. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A colleague walked in on that principal and found his secretary straddling his lap! (Both were married to others.) Another colleague -- a vice principal, later promoted to principal -- engaged in numerous affairs, despite having a wife and children of his own. <i>These</i> are the people running our schools!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not all students are "innocent" either.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had a former student "flash" me at my desk -- in a room full of students! -- under the guise of "informing" me that she was "cutting" herself, leaving <i>nothing</i> to the imagination. I had a student say to me in front of an entire class: "Mr. Carter, are those keys in your pocket...or are you just happy to see me?" (That happened 22 years ago, during my first year of teaching -- in Utah by the way -- among mostly <i>Mormon</i> 8th graders!) When I <i>thought</i> I had wisely replied "Those are my keys," the student unexpectedly responded: "Mr. Carter, I want to hold your keys!" (That became a running "joke" they "played" on me throughout the year. I didn't have the maturity or sophistication as a new teacher to put a crushing "stop" to it.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've seen and heard students do <i>far, far</i> <i>worse</i> than that. Not every student is sexually abused or as adventurous as some, nor is every teacher a lecher or morally compromised. But who among us would not be "rattled" by a student popping up on social media, asking for help with homework, only to have that disappear (off camera), then reappear stark naked, saying "I want you to f*** me"?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">How would <i>you</i> handle such an event (without <i>blowing up</i> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">everyone's </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">lives)? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm reminded that even righteous Joseph, who <i>appropriately</i> responded when propositioned by Potiphar's wife, was <i>still</i> thrown into prison.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some "traps" just can't be avoided. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are laws against such things. But sometimes "addicts" are "made", "injected" with "heroin" against their will. These have to <i>fight</i> their way back to "sobriety" at great cost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'd be a <i>millionaire</i> if I collected on every "debt" owed to me by those who have abused me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I'd be a pauper again if I had to "pay" every debt I owed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">***</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">UPDATE (Sunday, March 26, 2017): This is unrelated, and yet has <i>everything</i> to do with what I wrote above. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I went to a bar and restaurant last night with a friend. I didn't dance, eat, drink or even talk with any of the other patrons. I simply observed, then left. There were several "beautiful" people there. I wasn't interested in <i>any</i> of them or in <i>anything</i> I saw going on there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Why?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Because my cup was already "full". I have a wife and wonderful children of my own at home. My wife can be lots of fun! (We've done our share of dancing and other stuff.) </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But there's something noble and virtuous about womanhood and motherhood that is </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">completely</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> disassociated from the kind hedonism and "partying" I saw on display last night. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I couldn't even </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">imagine</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> sharing that experience with <i>anyone</i> but my wife. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not everyone is so fortunate. The world is <i>filled</i> with "starving", desperate, lonely people. Even "attractive" people, "rich" people, "smart" people, "successful" people feel the aches and pains of loneliness, deprivation and "unlove" that come to <i>all</i> of us at some point (maybe <i>many</i> points) during our lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My "cup" was "full" last night, even though I was alone. I came to see what "life" was like "out there" for my friend and for others. I came away feeling <i>very grateful</i> for what I have. (Even if what I have is <i>much, much less</i> than what I <i>used</i> to have!) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I won't call what I saw last night "vacuous". There's a time and place for each of us to "celebrate", to let our hair down (those of us who still have hair!), kick up our heels and just be a little "crazy"! (It's very therapeutic, in fact!) A life "punctuated" by such moments benefits from the occasional "exclamation mark". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But an endless stream of such marks (!!!!!!!!!!!) lacks all understanding. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have a wife I love and children I adore. They mean EVERYTHING to me. My joys and sorrows, labors and pleasures, wrecks and rebuildings are made sweeter, even endurable, by knowing she and they are there for me and <i>with</i> me. I don't know what I would do without them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Actually, I <i>do</i> know. I've lived a "lifetime" already without them. And during that lifetime, I missed them <i>terribly</i>. Like many of those on the dance floor I saw last night, I <i>yearned</i> to have my "cup" filled to overflowing with love and passion and excitement (like I have now) only to find it "empty". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The kind of love I seek and yearn to appreciate in its entirety <i>can't</i> be found in a bar, a restaurant or a dance hall. It transcends time. The woman I want to be with isn't "just" someone who can wiggle and gyrate to flashing lights or pulsating sounds. She's not "just" a ravishable beauty. She's a mother, a saint, a caregiver, a lover, a friend and confidant, a soulmate and companion through thick and thin. Frankly, she is the "other half" of that dynamic duo of servants known as "king and queen" to a endless progeny of souls seeking holiness and immortality in Christ.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You won't find <i>that</i> in a nightclub, I imagine. (At least, I never have.)</span></div>
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