This is version two of this essay. In the first version I severely denounced and criticized those who believed the Adam-God theory. I cited several modern prophets who were very clear in their denunciation of a belief in the theory. I stated that Brigham Young was either misquoted or misunderstood. I especially relished listening to …
Man of Holiness is his name
In our last Institute class we learned about the reality of Satan and the evil spirits in the world around us. That was Moses chapters four and five. In tonight's class we covered Moses chapter six in which we learned about the priesthood, the prophet Enoch and the Plan of Salvation. In this essay, I …
Researching the LDS church on the Internet
You can find all kinds of people on the Internet blogging and commenting about the church these days. There are those who write so far above me that I have no clue what they are writing about or why they feel the topic is important. At the other end of the spectrum are the terrible …
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Joseph Smith was a Mason – so what?
I address this subject as a courtesy to Barbara, a visitor to my blog who asked me to do so. Thank you Barbara, for the suggestion. I had forgotten that this is a problem for some people. Critics claim that Joseph Smith borrowed heavily from Freemasonry for the ceremony of the temple endowment. I'm not …
How to promote your LDS blog
I started my blog about eight months ago in late September 2007. That was before Elder Ballard asked us in December 2007 to participate more in the new media. For the first few months I got just a few visitors a day. That's OK, I wasn't promoting my blog yet. They were just finding me …
Burning of the bosom – feelings from God
Anybody who has researched The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to even a small degree has encountered this promise from the Book of Mormon as found in Moroni 10:4:"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if …
Bruce R. McConkie, bold servant of the Lord
I grew up in the days of Bruce R. McConkie. When it came time for Elder McConkie to speak in General Conference, I sat up a little taller and paid close attention. I was never disappointed. That man had a gift for speaking that was beyond this world. I don't know how anybody could listen …
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The reality of Satan and evil spirits
In our Institute class this evening, we continued with chapter four of the Book of Moses. We were supposed to get into chapter five but the discussion got heavy on just the first six verses of chapter four. In fact, the questions were flying even before we got into the scriptures. Our instructor introduced the …
You can’t teach everything you know
Back in the day when we had missionary farewells, I prepared and delivered my farewell talk with lots of fasting and prayer. I wanted it to be special for everyone in attendance, especially my own family. As I was giving the talk, I could tell it wasn't going well but couldn't figure out why. I …
A different kind of religious education
When I was a young lad of seventeen, I attended BYU Idaho. No, I'm not from Idaho or even Utah. I was born and raised in California, where I still live. If you have been to Rexburg, Idaho in the dead of winter, you might wonder why anybody would want to leave the Golden State …
