Daily Message

"I have good news for you. The armies of God are larger than the armies of Lucifer. You may look around and think to yourself, “The world is becoming more and more wicked. Satan must be winning the war.” Don’t be fooled. The truth is, we outnumber the enemy. Remember, two-thirds of God’s children chose the Father’s plan. Brothers and sisters, make sure you are fighting on the Lord’s side. Make sure you are carrying the sword of the Spirit."

—Larry R. Lawrence, "War Goes On", Liahona, April 2017

Daily Message

"Jesus suffered deeply because He loves us deeply! He wants us to repent and be converted so that He can fully heal us. When sore trials come upon us, it’s time to deepen our faith in God, to work hard, and to serve others. Then He will heal our broken hearts."

—Russell M. Nelson, "Jesus Christ—the Master Healer"

Lovingly Warned

As I was listening to The Book of Mormon a few days ago, Helaman chapter 13 stuck out in my mind. Because I've been thinking about it for a few days, I decide that I should post it.  I thought about posting the whole chapter but it's kind of long.  So I'll post a few excerpts and add my commentary.

Since I'm not posting the whole chapter I will give you a little background.  This is Samuel the Lamanite speaking.  At this point in time, about 6 B.C., the (usually righteous) Nephites (church members) had turned wicked and the (usually wicked) Lamanites were the ones keeping the commandments of God. One of the Lamanites, Samuel, began preaching to the people who promptly threw him out of their city.  He was about to leave and go back to his own city and the Lord told him to stay and preach repentance unto the wicked Nephites.  He obeyed the Lord but they wouldn't let him in their city so he got on the wall surrounding the city and began preaching from the wall.

Here is part of what he said:

Helaman 13:5-8 

5 And he said unto them: Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart; and behold he hath put it into my heart to say unto this people that the sword of justice hangeth over this people...

6 Yea, heavy destruction awaiteth this people, and it surely cometh unto this people, and nothing can save this people save it be repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, who surely shall come into the world, and shall suffer many things and shall be slain for his people.

7 And behold, an angel of the Lord hath declared it unto me, and he did bring glad tidings to my soul. And behold, I was sent unto you to declare it unto you also, that ye might have glad tidings; but behold ye would not receive me.

8 Therefore, thus saith the Lord: Because of the hardness of the hearts of the people of the Nephites, except they repent I will take away my word from them, and I will withdraw my Spirit from them, and I will suffer them no longer, and I will turn the hearts of their brethren against them.

The parallels to today are unbelievably similar.  It's obvious that The Book of Mormon was written for us, in the last days. Here's Samuel, trying to lovingly warn people and call them to repentance, for their own good.  And he gets kicked out of the city. Kind of reminiscent of modern-day prophets and apostles and missionaries.  He was going to go home but the Lord told him to go back.  Well they would not let him back so he gets on the wall to warn them, at the Lord's request. And all Samuel gets for trying to help the people and lovingly warn them is persecution and arrows thrown at him.

The hardness of the hearts of the wicked Nephites is evident. Verse eight is significant in pointing out that not only does the Lord withdraw His Spirit from those who harden their hearts against Him -- which is not an insignificant thing.  But he also withdraws His word.  To me that means they can no longer receive revelation.  Not only personal revelation, but they themselves withdraw themselves from modern revelation through prophets and apostles and even the Lord's word through scriptures. All of this withdrawal being self-inflicted. It's very sad.

Continuing to quote the Lord, Samuel tells them:

Helaman 13:9-11 

9 And four hundred years shall not pass away before I will cause that they shall be smitten; yea, I will visit them with the sword and with famine and with pestilence.

10 Yea, I will visit them in my fierce anger, and there shall be those of the fourth generation who shall live, of your enemies, to behold your utter destruction; and this shall surely come except ye repent, saith the Lord; and those of the fourth generation shall visit your destruction.

11 But if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger, saith the Lord; yea, thus saith the Lord, blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me, but wo unto him that repenteth not.

I think Samuel makes it very clear how the Lord feels about their iniquitous lifestyle choices. The interesting thing about these scriptures is that Samuel is speaking to apostates.  The Nephites are people who were taught the gospel, were members of the Lord's church, made covenants, kept the commandments, then hardened their hearts and turned away from the Lord. Just like modern-day apostates.

The Lord expects more from his covenant people.  That's why Samuel mentions the Lord's "fierce anger".  The Lord's covenant people should know better.  They have been taught.  They have made covenants.  The Lord does not take that lightly.

Yet, He still gives them every chance to repent.  He sends people to warn them -- much like our modern-day prophets and apostles, and missionaries.  Yet they still have their agency.  Unfortunately, many choose not to repent.

Samuel continues:

Helaman 13:29-30 

29 O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer you? Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides? Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?

30 Yea, behold, the anger of the Lord is already kindled against you; behold, he hath cursed the land because of your iniquity.

The Lord is just.  Yes, he is loving and very patient.  A lot more patient than I am.  So, despite all the repeated warnings, those who choose not to repent will face the Lord's wrath and justice.  It will not be a pretty sight.

Helaman 13:32-33 

32 And in the days of your poverty ye shall cry unto the Lord; and in vain shall ye cry, for your desolation is already come upon you, and your destruction is made sure; and then shall ye weep and howl in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts. And then shall ye lament, and say:

33 O that I had repented, and had not killed the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out. Yea, in that day ye shall say: O that we had remembered the Lord our God in the day that he gave us our riches, and then they would not have become slippery that we should lose them; for behold, our riches are gone from us.

One day those who turn from the Lord and choose iniquity over righteousness will deeply regret it.  Mark my word.  We are given a lifetime in this probationary state to exercise our agency in choosing good or evil.  Those who choose the iniquitous path, especially after following the Lord's path and making covenants, and choose not to repent while in this probationary state will be doomed.

According to Samuel, the Lamanite, this is what they will have to say:

Helaman 13:36-39

36 O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them.

37 Behold, we are surrounded by demons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days.

38 But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head.

39 O ye people of the land, that ye would hear my words! And I pray that the anger of the Lord be turned away from you, and that ye would repent and be saved.

Wickedness and happiness are like oil and water.  They don't mix.  You can try to fool yourself into believing that you are happy living an iniquitous lifestyle, but it's impossible.  It is contrary to God's laws.  If you seek for happiness in doing iniquity, you may find temporary worldly happiness.  But it is fleeting.  And it's not true happiness, it's counterfeit happiness.  True happiness can only be found in living God's commandments.

I will borrow from verse 29, "...how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides?  Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?"

I echo Samuel the Lamanite's sentiment in verse 39.  Especially for my loved ones who have strayed from the truth.  I pray that they will hear these words and repent and be saved. Before it is everlastingly too late.

That's my two cents

A Friend of Mine

You know the old song that says, "you ain't nothing but a hound dog crying all the time... you ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine"?

Well, that doesn't apply to Abinadi.  Yes, he likes to "cry all the time".  Especially when the phone rings!  He hates it when people call here.  :-)  I actually like it when he howls.  I think it's cute and he does warn us when people come.

But the part about never catching a rabbit is not true.  Yesterday he killed a rabbit and was eating it.  Well, we think he killed it.  He was eating it anyway.  At least he didn't kill it and let it go to waste. He is a responsible hunter.  :-)

Some people like to personify dogs but they are animals who have natural instincts.  Their brains are hardwired to hunt.

Abinadi is a good friend of mine.  I guess he would be a good friend of Elvis now too.  :-)

 I don't have many pictures of my good friend Abinadi.  This is probably my favorite.  I cropped it out of the photo Lisa took a couple of years ago.

Use Your Brain

This morning, Lisa and I were discussing the logic of The Word of Wisdom.  More specifically why people would knowingly ingest a drug (caffeine) into their body for no good reason.  Especially knowing the consequences -- i.e. caffeine crash.  Yet, according to a scientist, caffeine is the number one abused drug in the world.  It makes no sense to a logical thinker like me.

Then later this morning I happened to look up the Sunday school lesson for today to read it.  And it happens to be on The Word of Wisdom.  (Lesson 22 in the Doctrine and Covenants gospel doctrine manual) In reading through the lesson I came across a really good quote by one of our past prophets, President Joseph Fielding Smith. The lesson mentioned that not everything that we should or should not partake of is mentioned in The Word of Wisdom revelation.  Here's what President Smith had to say:

“Such revelation is unnecessary. The Word of Wisdom is a basic law. It points the way and gives us ample instruction in regard to both food and drink. … If we sincerely follow what is written with the aid of the Spirit of the Lord, … we will know what is good and what is bad for the body” -- President Joseph Fielding Smith  (“Your Question: The Word of Wisdom,” Improvement Era, Feb. 1956, 78–79).

Basically Joseph Fielding Smith is saying, "Use your brain".  As with any commandment, we are given basic laws and it is up to us to use our brains and our agency to follow them properly.  Much like the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. We are given the basic law, and maybe a few specifics but not everything that we should or shouldn't do on the Sabbath is spelled out to us in detail.  The Lord gives us the law and lets us use our brains and our agency.  Most of the time simple logical will guide you in the right direction.

Now, more than ever science will tell you why certain substances are bad or good for your body.  So, there's really no excuse for not living the Lord's law of health in terms of not knowing why something is bad or good for you. To me, it's just following logic.

If you're using the excuse that caffeine or any other harmful substance is not specifically prohibited in The Word of Wisdom, then you are really just rationalizing.  And we all know that the only person fooled by rationalization is yourself.

Use your brain, use your agency to make good choices.  Don't try to rationalize away bad choices, because you're only fooling yourself.

That's my two cents.

A Father's Work

With Father's Day coming up this Sunday, I thought this quote was most appropriate.



“Perhaps the most essential of a father’s work is to turn the hearts of his children to their Heavenly Father.” —Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “Fathers”, April 2016 General Conference

Relief Society Lesson: Home -- The Basis of a Righteous Life

 Story by President Hinckley:

"Not long after we were married, we built our first home. We had little money, and I did a lot of the work. The landscaping was entirely my responsibility. The first of many trees that I planted was a thornless honey locust, and I envisioned the day when its shade would assist in cooling the house in the summer. I put it in a place at the corner where the wind from the canyon to the east blew the hardest. I dug a hole, put in the bare root, put soil around it, poured on water, and largely forgot it. It was only a wisp of a tree, perhaps three-quarters of an inch [2 centimeters] in diameter. It was so supple that I could bend it with ease in any direction. I paid little attention to it as the years passed. Then one winter day when the tree was barren of leaves, I chanced to look out the window at it. I noted that it was leaning to the west, misshapen and out of balance. I could scarcely believe it. I went out and braced myself against it as if to push it upright. But the trunk was now nearly a foot in diameter. My strength was as nothing against it. I took from my toolshed a block and tackle, attaching one end to the tree and the other to a well-set post. I pulled the rope. The pulleys moved just a little, and the trunk of the tree trembled slightly. But that was all. It seemed to say to me, “You can’t straighten me. It’s too late. I’ve grown this way because of your neglect, and I will not bend.”

"Finally in desperation I took my saw and cut off the great heavy branch on the west side. I stepped back and surveyed what I had done. I had cut off a major part of the tree, leaving a huge scar about eight inches [20 centimeters] across and only one small branch growing skyward.

"… I recently looked again at the tree. It is large, its shape is better, and it is a great asset to the home. But how serious was the trauma of its youth and how painful the treatment I had used to straighten it. When the tree was first planted, a piece of string would have held it against the forces of the wind. I could have and should have supplied that string with ever so little effort, but I did not. And it bent to the forces that came against it."

My handout:

Ultimate Hypocrisy

Just when I think that nothing will surprise me anymore, something surprises me.  Maybe surprise isn't the right word it's more like complete amazement and bewilderment at the unbelievableness of what I heard.  It's like when you ask yourself, "did I hear what I think I heard?"  because you can't believe that person would actually say that.

This happened to me yesterday.  I overheard a conversation where an unrepentant serial adulterer who walked out on his beautiful, chaste wife and kids for a bottom of the barrel, scum of the earth, uglier than sin horse face floozy had the audacity to accuse someone else of living in sin.  Not only is this guy a serial adulterer who himself is "living in sin" with his horse face floozy for whom he left his beautiful family.  But he has also publicly denounced religion -- and especially the church he still belongs to -- and he has also publicly stated that Jesus Christ is not his Savior, and if he does exist, he is nothing special, but just a regular man.  Pure blasphemy.

So not only has this unrepentant adulterer denounced God and religion and spit in the face of deity through his blasphemy thereby denouncing God's commandments.  The Commandments he claims to not believe in are the very commandments for which he is condemning someone else for not following. Two-faced double standard hypocrite comes to mind.  In fact he has claimed that there is nothing wrong with his chosen lifestyle of adultery and atheism. (By the way, just for clarification, adultery is the right term.  Anyone who divorces their spouse for adulterous purposes is still considered as committing adultery in subsequent affairs even long after the divorce is final.  The Scriptures make that very clear.) He claims others are judgmental of his adulterous, atheistic lifestyle, yet he has the audacity to judge someone else and say that they are living in sin.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!  This is ultimate hypocrisy.  There's not enough chalk to fly on this one.

That's my two cents.