Home Teaching

I went home teaching to a new family tonight.  I was very impressed with this young couple. We made an appointment with them and they were there when we came.  They were very pleasant to us and made us feel very welcome.  As we learned more about them I was edified.  One of my grandpa's sayings that has stuck with me goes something like this:  he loves to go home teaching because he gets to see the burdens that people carry and when that happens, it brings him to Christ.  If I think of home teaching like this, it is more of a privilege than a responsibility.  

I'll share the thought that I shared with them with you.  It went something like this:
The gospel is amazing because it can take any person and make them better.  This applies to prophets and apostles as well as people that struggle like me.  One of the reasons the gospel can make us better people because of the scripture from Matthew 7:7 which says, "Ask, and it shall be given you...". I recently read about Nephi right after his vision.  Nephi had heard Lehi rehearse his vision of the tree of life and Nephi wanted to see for himself.  So he asked and he received; received much more in fact than is recorded that his father had received.  Right after he had experienced that, his brothers were fighting.  1 Nephi 15:3 says that, "they were disputing one with another concerning the things which my father had spoken unto them".  Nephi tells them in verse 8: "Have ye inquired of the Lord?"  I thought that was powerful because he had just experienced the fruit of asking and now he uplifts his brothers by reiterating the Lords admonition to ask.

I've been thinking about how I can be a better father, especially how I can have more patience with my kids.  I prayed about it a lot.  Then at general conference there was a talk that was written for me.  It probably was written for a lot of father's that were praying for guidance.  My prayers were answered and I know that if we ask, the Lord WILL answer.

Overhaul

I'm going to overhaul my blog a little. I'm not going to limit my posts to the signs of our times. Instead, I'm going to be posting about anything LDS... from canning... to the temple... to church history... to emergency planning and more. Look for more coming soon.

websites

This website comes to me via my sister:

This is an article showing the backlash the LDS church is receiving for supporting Proposition 8: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081108/ap_on_re_us/mormon_backlash_boycott_2;_ylt=ApteNfwdBLEvIy1levMFU1HLLJ94

Finally over

The elections are finally over and I feel we have much to celebrate. California, Arizona, and Florida all passed gay marriage bans. This will have to be a runner-up prize for not having John McCain win.

I had an interesting conversation about the presidential election with a staunch union member yesterday. Both of us were having a hard time picking a candidate because we thought neither of the guys running had all of the qualities and stances we would have selected. He told me what his deciding factor was: he believes that he needs his wages to take care of his family. After he has his wages taken care of (through the benefits of a union), then he has the money to support the organizations he believes in such as the NRA for anti-gun control and his church for anti-abortion. I thought this was an interesting point of view and one I'm not familiar with because I've never been part of a strong union. A thought then came to me on how I should vote. I had read the Book of Mormon on the bus that morning and had come across one of the major themes: if people keep the commandments, they will prosper. If they don't keep the commandments, they will be destroyed. I then explained my position to my friend as well as understood my own position on voting. In my personal life, if I live a life of high morales, then I will be blessed. If a presidential candidate takes a stand on morales, then shouldn't the same be true for our country?

As I stated in previous posts, I believe that the LDS church did in fact uphold the Constitution, especially in California where they actually amended their Constitution. What an awesome time to live!!! A time in which you can see the signs of the times revealing themselves. At a time in which there is so much doubt about our government, the financial system, and our national security, I find comfort in reading about and identifing the signs that are promised to precede Christ's coming!!!

I found a couple of more signs of the times in my studies that are being fulfilled. Bruce R. McConkie, in the Millenial Messiah, states that, "Every temple built in the last days, every new wave of genealogical interest and research, every baptism performed for the dead, every vicarious ordinance performed in a house of the Lord-- all these are signs of the times, witnesses that the Lord's coming is near, even at the door". Think of the recent explosion in the number of temples. Can there be any doubt that this sign is being fulfilled? Another sign in his book that he mentions is about the worldly conditions in the last days: "Robbery, plunder, murder, and violent crimes of all sorts; many of the strikes and labor disputes in the industrial world; much of the litigation that clogs the courts of the nations; drug abuse and indecent and immoral conduct; the spreading plague of evil abortions; the abomination of incest and homosexuality-- all these things are signs of the times".

The last thing I would like to say in this post is that we are commanded to think about the signs of Christ's coming and as we do, they will be unfolded to us. Elder McConkie says "in our present state of spiritual enlightenment the Lord deliberately leaves us to ponder and wonder about many things connected with his coming; in this way our hearts are centered upon him so that we will qualify in due course to receive absolute and clear revelation on many things". I invite people that visit this site to ponder on the signs of the times with me.

hodge podge

I realized today that my editing skills are lacking. P8 in my last post meant proposition 8 which is a proposal in California to define marriage as one man and one woman in the Californian constitution. For anyone that wants to research the topic more, I found these helpful websites:

http://www.protectmarriage.com/ --the coalition of churchs that asked the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to get involved
http://www.preservingmarriage.org/ --the church's website on the matter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_8 -- a good unbiased resource
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/same-sex-marriage-and-proposition-8 -- includes portions of an official broadcast from the brethren of the church to the members in California

I also have read alot of deragatory things about the church because it's involvement in Proposition 8. I think this topic is especially hot because the church is very adamant that it will remain politically neutral. The thing that people don't realize is that this isn't siding with the Republicans, it is taking a stance on a moral issue that is fundamental to the gospel. Elder Oaks of the quorum of the twelve gives us a good perspective on why the church got involved: "Over past years we have seen unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal, and to characterize those who disagree as narrow-minded, bigoted and unreasonable," Oaks said. "Given these trends, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must take a stand on doctrine and principle. This is more than a social issue -- ultimately it may be a test of our most basic religious freedoms to teach what we know our Father in Heaven wants us to teach." -- http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2008/10/20/news/breaking/1.txt

I read about another state that now allows gay marriage, which is the third state to do so. The Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled that to deny gay's marriage licences infringed on their constitutional rights: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE4996BE20081010?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 I honestly don't care if 2 people of the same sex live together, but when schools are allowed to indoctrinate kids on the matter, THAT IS WRONG. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,436961,00.html

I thought I would list books that I've read that are very informative on the signs of the times and that are written by General Authorities:
The Coming of the Lord by Gerald Lund
The Signs of the Times by Joseph Fielding Smith
The Millenial Messiah by Bruce R. McConkie

If anyone knows of other books that are worth while on the subject, please post them!!!

One tidbit of useful information is that the church is going to make Patriarchal Blessings available for download and is also allowing members to contribute to a LDS wiki. Here is the link announcing it: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705257109,00.html?pg=1

I also should've made it clear that everything I say is my opinion and DEFINITELY not official doctrine!!

Introduction

I had a special experience this morning in our EQ Presidency meeting. The EQ President was discussing business that was mentioned in PEC. He mentioned that 25 members in every ward in our stake were assigned to take 2-3 hours of their time and call people in California to make them aware of Proposition 8. He went on with some other details. For anyone that wants to research Proposition 8. I am currently reading The Coming of the Lord by Gerald Lund. I just recently read the prophecy stating that the Constitution would hang by a thread and the Elders of the church would be asked to uphold it. This is immediately what I thought of in our meeting. To be clear, I will quote the prophecy:

"When the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for the "Mormon" elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it"
--Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 7, p. 182

After the meeting, I thought to myself how dissappointed I was that I hadn't known about it before, especially since it is a sign of the coming of Christ. In Lund's book, he quotes Matthew24:32-33 where Christ compares his coming to a fig tree in summer: "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors". My purpose in starting this blog is to discuss with other saints what prophecies concerning the second coming they have seen fulfilled in hopes we identify when the leaves are put forth on the fig tree.


I invite everyone to participate in this blog so that we can understand through each other and obey the command of M. Russell Ballard to use the internet to spread the gospel (Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet, BYU Commencement speech, December 15, 2007).