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.
Tag: Kirtland
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.
How To Obey The Word of Wisdom: Alcoholic Drinks
The Word of Wisdom is a modern commandment that the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith designed to bless the physical, emotional, and spiritual lives of the Saints in the modern days. It is a topic which many members know about but the history of which very few seem to understand. As a result many members come to erroneous conclusions about its purpose, place, and enforcement in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This in turn leads them to false conclusions about how it should be interpreted and enforced today. One of the most common errors is the belief that beer and perhaps other weak alcoholic drinks were acceptable as “mild drinks” and were only forbidden in the early 20th century by LDS leaders who were supportive of American Prohibition. To find out the truth of this I will be evaluating the history of the Word of Wisdom in the 19th century as well as placing it in the larger context of common ideas of medicine and health common in the era. This will give us a great basis then to address and confirm or dispel some of the most common misconceptions surrounding the Word of Wisdom.