The LDS pioneers, often mischaracterized as westward expansionists, were actually refugees fleeing persecution. Facing extreme hardship in Winter Quarters, they endured starvation, disease, and squalid living conditions. Despite these trials, their faith and dedication grew stronger, ultimately establishing the Kingdom of God. Their story is one of resilience and unwavering belief that should inspire all of us to aspire to match their examples in dedication, sacrifice, and faith.
Tag: Brigham Young
The Constitution: No Friend of the Latter-day Saints
Recently, I was asked to give a talk in church about the ways that the Constitution aided in the Restoration. Though greatly expanded with additional quotes and pictures, this article is fundamentally the talk that I gave. By examining the breadth of early LDS history (form 1830 to roughly 1890), I provided evidence and argument that the Constitution of the United States did nothing to help the Restoration and that it was always on the side of those who brutalized, oppressed, and killed us. The reason the Restoration occurred, and has continued, was the power of Jesus Christ to protect the Saints from annihilation. No law of man gave us any aid. It was God alone who preserved and prospered us against all odds and it is He alone that continues to do so now.
The Three Greatest Threats To The Church And Society: Academia
In 1993, Apostle Boyd K. Packer delivered an address to church leaders delineating three of the greatest threats to the church and society that not only then existed, but whose influence would only increase and worsen as the years went on.
This article is about the third of those three threats and the worst one of all: the so-called scholars whose ideologies threaten society itself. In this article we review the history of the politically leftist “Progressive” take over of education, their efforts from the very start to use education as a tool to indoctrinate students into their economic, social, and political theories, and how the plan has always been to try and take control of society. We also expose the idolatry at the heart of their claims to be experts guiding society to a better future for the lie it is and provide examples of the real world failures of their lies. Finally, we look at what hope we have for overthrowing their lies and freeing ourselves and our children from the prison of leftist ideology and thereby abort the headlong run into societal collapse it is bringing to pass.
What It Means To Be Like Jesus
We talk about being Christ-like all the time. Our hymns repeat the refrain and our children sing about how they are “trying to be like Jesus.” But what does that mean? What was Jesus like as a person? And how could we hope to emulate Him? The question may seem impossible to answer and we may feel despondent under the weight of it. We can know Jesus Christ and we can fulfill His commandment to become like Him. This lost LDS Classic explores what character is, what Christ’s character is, and how we can manifest His character in our thoughts, words, and deeds today. This is how we can possibly, happily, joyfully be like Christ!
The Great Blessings of A Modern Prophet
This article is a talk I was asked to give in church as our ward prepares for the coming General Conference. In it I talk about how the importance of the modern prophets, how they actively receive revelation from God for us right now, the blessings and truth to be gained by following the Prophets and Apostles, and exactly what so many in the world are so threatened by the existence of modern prophets. (Hint: It has to do with their money and power.) I end by sharing a tool that we can use to get the most out of General Conference and the talks of Prophets and Apostles. Come, brothers and sisters, let us listen to the Prophet’s voice and hear the Word of God!
How Mormonism Influenced The First Mistborn Trilogy
I recently finished Brandon Sanderson’s first Mistborn trilogy -The Final Empire through Heroes of Ages – and loved all three books. They’re incredible works of storytelling and some of the best fantasy out there. Sanderson is easily one of the best fantasy writers alive. He is also a devout Latter-day Saint. As I was reading his books again and again I kept coming across ways that Mormonism influenced his writing in crucial ways, but was shocked to find so little online exploring these influences. This article is my attempt to demonstrate some of the major ways that LDS scripture, history, theology, and culture deeply influence Sanderson’s writing and appear in these books.
Brigham Young: Anti-Government Activist and First Wave Feminist
Reading through some of President Young’s sermons I have been astounded at the clarity with which he understood and addressed the threat of the State. He understood the threat of its so-called charity and he especially understood the role of public schools as indoctrination centers whose purpose was to implant loyalty and obedience into the minds of children form a tender age. He also clearly understood the threat this indoctrination posed to the Church and the Restored Gospel. Those who would support public schools he labelled as miserable apostates. Openly.
Interwoven with this are his comments about the role of women in Latter-day Saint society. He consistently calls upon them to be self-independent, to be educated, and to take their place in the workforce of Utah. The only jobs that he saw as not being for women were strenuous physical jobs, otherwise he declared a woman could perform any work any man could. Which was remarkably radical for his day.
That Time When Brigham Young Absolutely Demolished Young Earth Creationism
In writing my last two articles refuting some erroneous ideas and false doctrines about the creation and age of the Earth, I cam across a rather fantastic address by President Brigham Young from 1871. In it he teaches that there is no antagonism between science and religion. This is especially true for “Mormonism” as our faith embraces all truth from wherever it comes as part of it. Science and religion are both ways that God makes known the truths that He wants His children to know. His specific comments on the Creation and Age of the Earth do a great deal to dismiss the idea that the Earth is only 7,000 years old and that it was created in six literal days. This address will be enlightening to everyone who reads it.
The Mormon Pioneers Were Refugees and Illegal Immigrants
Pioneer Day is today. Celebrating the first time a company of Saints entered the Salt Lake Valley to permanently settle there, it is the closest thing we Latter-day Saints have to our own church holy day (holiday.) But there is a lot to this story that we don’t tell on Pioneer Day, a lot of our history and precious truth that we leave on the cutting room floor. For example: The pioneers weren’t really pioneers. They were really refugees illegally immigrating into Mexico in order to escape the decades of pogroms, ethnic cleansings, exterminations, and genocide they had suffered in the United States. This article is an attempt to tell this story of our spiritual and literal ancestors so that we can apply to real lessons of our history to the world we live in today and make it a better place, a more Christ-like place, a Zion-place.
Scriptural Proof The Earth Is More Than 7,000 Years Old
There are two different but connected errors that seriously plague modern Christianity. The first is the common error throughout segments of Christianity, including among Latter-day Saints, that the Earth was created in a single week. I addressed this error and corrected it last week. The second common error is that the world approximately 6,000 to 7,000 years old. That is what this article is about. The idea that the world is only 6,000 years old, an error that has damaged the faith of tens of thousands, even millions, of people, is based on a couple of fundamental misunderstandings of the scriptures. Both have also been refuted by modern revelation starting with the Prophet Joseph Smith. In order to correct this error and demonstrate what the scriptures truly teach on this subject I will combine a proper understanding of scriptural context with modern revelation to establish what it is about the Age of the Earth that the scriptures do teach so that we Latter-day Saints will not continue to fall into the error that other Christians have.