Category: Monthly Messages

Monthly Message, July 2022

Book Report:
Tornado in a Junkyard: The Relentless Myth of Darwinism
Author: James Perloff, Refuge Books, Burlington, Massachusetts, 1999

(The author says that believing in organic evolution is like believing a tornado went through a junkyard and produced a functioning Boeing 747.)

Ch1. Baby Boomer Tunes Out, Turns On, Bums out, Burns out.

The authors life as a hippie.

Ch.2 Problems Carved in Stone.

Repeat of the current Darwinian hypothesis, with a wondering why some fossils stay the same through supposed millions of years.

Ch.3 Marvelous Mutations.

The discovery of genes proved a roadblock to the theory of evolution, but the idea of mutations came to the rescue. But most mutations are deadly and are not passed on. The chances of creating a new species by mutation alone are calculated by some evolutionists to be one over 3.6 x 10²⁷³⁸.

Ch.4 Logic Storms Darwin’s Gates

If gradual mutations made new species, how do the intermediate forms survive? Would a half- ling enable survival? The transition from scales to feathers does not seem to offer survival advantage. How did the human eye evolve gradually to advantage its possessors? All the organs of the human body would need to mutate together to produce a working harmony. “No matter how far back we go in the fossil record of previous animal life upon the earth we find no trace of any animal forms which are intermediate between the major groups or phyla.” (Austin H. Clark, zoologist of the Smithsonian Institution.) “Evolution is not visible in the past, via the fossil record. It is not visible in the present, whether we consider an organism as a whole, or on the microscopic planes of biochemistry and molecular biology, where, as we have seen, the theory faces numerous difficulties.”

Ch.5 Origin of the Specious

Darwin’s supposed 13 species of finches in the Galapagos Islands turned out all to be only one species. There are no recorded occurrences of a new species arising. Darwinists invoke breeding experiments as evidence of evolution, but breeding only produces variations of pheno-type, never of the geno-type. Microevolution does occur, but macroevolution (new species) has never been observed. (CCR note: On the 200^th birthday of Charles Darwin Time Magazine published a cover story on his life, giving evidences of evolution. But all the evidences were changes within species and not one of them was a change of species.)

Ch. 6 Darwin vs. Design

Could chance have created the sculptures at Mt. Rushmore? The biology of the human being is far more complicated than Mt. Rushmore. Could chance have done that in a billion years? Design proves a designer. We never suppose that chance produced any of the clothing we buy in a store. Creationism can’t be true, say the evolutionists, because it cannot be observed. But evolution has the same problem; it also cannot be observed.

Ch. 7 Vegas Odds on Life

Natural selection may be used to explain change in living forms, but it does not explain how life itself came to be. No case of spontaneous generation has ever been proved. The amino acids found to have been produced by chance under very favorable conditions are only a fraction of the complexity required to create and sustain life. “Like evolution’s other branches, theories of origins require as much faith as religion.” (p. 75)

Ch. 8 An Ape Man for All Seasons

By 1950 all supposed human-like remains had been shown to be frauds.

Ch. 9: The Reigning World Chimp

Searches for missing links, as required by Darwinian theory, have produced nothing substantial.

Ch. 10 Old Myths Never Die-They Only Fade Away.

Haeckel’s “biogenetic law” has been shown to be a fraud produced by altering embryo representations. But it is still used by proponents of evolution. Evolutionists invented “punctuated evolution” to explain rapid change necessary for the theory. In spite of its many deficiencies, the theory of evolution refuses to die because so many want it to be true.

Ch. 11 The Big Bang goes Blooey

The Big Bang theory defies the First Law of Thermodynamics, the conservation of energy.

“Design is suggested not only by the Earth, but by the very structure of the universe.” p. 129

Ch. 12 Earth, Dahling, You don’t look a Day Over Five Billion

Our sun is observed to be shrinking. That rules out billions of years for the earth. If the earth is as old as evolution requires, there are millions of missing meteorites. Comets present a problem to evolution. There should be a lot more helium if the earth is very old. If the earth is very old, the magnetic field would have made life impossible because the magnetism of the earth is declining at a steady rate. The Mississippi River delta seems to be only 4400 years old. If mankind has been on the earth for a long time, drastic overpopulation should be the case.

The ocean’s salt content and sediments suggest a young earth.

Ch. 13 Assumptions Aplenty.

Carbon dating gives widely varying results, and rests on a number of unprovable assumptions.

Radiometric dating depends on many assumptions and requires as much faith as believing in creation.

Ch. 14 Rocks of Ages

The ages of rocks are usually assigned by the fossils they contain, assuming the theory of evolution. Then those fossils are used to justify the theory of evolution. Bending layers of rock strata should be greatly shattered if they were formed long ago and bent later, but they are not.

The bones in many fossil beds show that there was some great destruction which contorted them.

Ch. 15 The Flood Remembered

More than 200 human cultures have traditions of a universal flood.

Ch. 16 Dinosaurs, Dragons and Ice.

Many cultures not only have traditions of the flood, but also of dragons. Dragons are like dinosaurs. If there was a universal flood, it would have created the conditions necessary for an Ice Age.

Ch. 17 Trial by Hollywood

The theory of evolution was greatly advanced by the play and movie Inherit the Wind, a twisted recollection of the Scopes trial about evolution in Tennessee.

Ch. 18 Have You Murdered Anyone Since Breakfast?

Darwinism provided so-called “scientific” grounds for racism. This was one justification for eugenics and for the Nazi theory of a superior race and for Stalin’s murder of millions.

Ch. 19 The Boomers Doomed

The rising generation today is fed on evolution and prefers to believe it and not the Christianity taught by parents. Teen suicides have greatly increased. It became illegal to teach about God but perfectly legal to teach there is no God. The Supreme Court legislated by its actions.

Ch. 20 Good Company

People who believe in creation are prevented from publishing their views in most university situations. People who advocate creationism or intelligent design are discriminated against.

Isaac Newton would have a hard time getting published today because of his firm belief in God.

Ch.21 You and the Man Upstairs.

Science should be based on supporting observations, but evolution has few. It is poor science.

Christianity is more about your personal relationship with God than about going to church.

Monthly Message, June 2022

Sacrament Meeting Talk
19 June 2022, Hillcrest 6^th Ward

CC Riddle

My daughter, Elizabeth, and I moved into this ward a little over three years ago. We are grateful to have been warmly received. My dear wife of 70 years passed away six years ago, and I hope to join her soon. While she was alive we were blessed with thirteen children, filled four full-time missions, published ten books, served as temple ordinance workers for twenty years, and enjoyed filling many church callings. We are blessed with 42 grandchildren, 78 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren.

            One of my regrets is that I do not yet know the names of many of you. When I was teaching at BYU, I memorized the names of all my students each semester. That power has now faded; so please forgive me if I do not know your name.

            I specially address my remarks today to one special group here: those who are 12 to 20 years old. The rest of you may also be interested, but it is the rising generation that I most wish to speak to because the cause of Christ in the earth will soon be in your hands. I hope and pray you will mightily further that cause, because it is this world’s only real hope for the future and each of you can play a significant role in that cause, especially as mothers and fathers. Please remember that I speak by way of testimony. I will tell you what I know and believe. It is your task to hear me and accept only that which the Holy Spirit tells you to accept.

            When I graduated from BYU in 1947, I went to work for my father in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he operated the Yellow Cabs of Nevada and Riddle Scenic Tours, a sightseeing company that took people on limousine tours principally of Death Valley and the Utah Parks. I found that I did not especially like that business, having to work most Sundays, so I decided to go to graduate school and study philosophy. I was admitted to Columbia University in New York City to enroll in the Fall Semester of 1949.

            In the summer of 1949 I was assigned to drive a passenger in a limousine from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. The passenger turned out to be a member of the philosophy faculty at Columbia University. When I told him that I had been admitted to begin study in his department, my passenger invited me to call him that fall to arrange to have dinner at his home. So that fall I did call and was invited to dinner.

            This professor’s residence was a lush apartment near Columbia University, for he was a very wealthy man, having inherited much from his business tycoon father. There were three of us at the dinner, the third person being another professor at Columbia. After dinner the two of them engaged in a lively discussion about a movement they were engaged in. This movement they said was to destroy the influence of Christianity throughout the world and to replace it with the philosophy of Humanism. They recounted the success the movement was having and that soon all forms of Christian religion would be either captured or rendered useless. They talked of the success that Humanism was enjoying in taking over the universities, the public schools and the media, and they said they could see the time in the near future when their project would be a complete success. They emphasized that Christian morality was a real detriment to the enjoyment of life which all humans should experience. I did not enter into the conversation and they largely ignored me. But they opened my eyes to what was and is going on in the world.

            Humanism is the philosophy and religion that there is no God, that the smartest humans ought to reign over all the others, that so-called moral scruples are a detriment to mankind, that science gives the only reliable answers to questions. If you would like to know more about humanism, look on the internet to find Humanist Manifestos Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Humanism is the philosophy behind both Communism and Fascism for the far left and the far right meet each other as you go around the circle.

            So there is an operating program to destroy morality, the family, the U S Constitution, and to bring all mankind into slavery except for the elite who have power and govern things. This program is in nearly total control in China and Russia and is gaining ground everywhere else, even in Utah.

            But enough of the negative. The negative must exist for the work of Jesus Christ to be meaningful. That’s why there was a Fall of Adam, to give foil and choice to all mankind. Let us now recount and rejoice in the work of Jesus Christ to save all mankind.

            First of all, let us be clear just what we need to be saved from. The work of Christ is not to save us from humanism or any other persuasion. The work of Christ is to save us from ourselves, from the littleness, the selfishness, the worldliness that grasps at each of us. We need to be saved from ourselves so that we can reach our full potential. Being the literal children of the gods, our full potential is to become as the gods, to come to enjoy the full stature, nature and power that Jesus Christ has. Christ has been sent into this fallen world to make that growth possible.

            So from the beginning, meaning from the Fall of Adam, mankind has had two basic choices: To become a disciple of Jesus Christ and become like him, or to yield to the temptations of Satan and become like Satan. Each of us has been granted the agency to choose either of these alternatives or to make our own personal mixture of the two. Satan is busy trying to hide the gospel of Jesus Christ from mankind, but our Savior sees to it that every human sooner or later will hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and have the opportunity to become as He is. Satan stands for selfishness and Christ stands for righteousness.

            Selfishness is using others to feather one’s own nest. Righteousness is taking the feathers from own nest to bless others. To actually bless someone else it is necessary to have both knowledge and power. We need knowledge to know what will actually help another person, then we need power to bring about that help to someone. Jesus Christ helps any person who wants to bless others to have the knowledge and power to actually bless other persons.

            To help us in our desire to help others, Christ gives us commandments. The commandments are not arbitrary. Each commandment is there to help us in our quest to escape selfishness and to gain the power to bless others and is required by the nature of our social existence.

            The basic commandments from Christ are known as the Ten Commandments. These ten are the things human beings must do and not do to live in a society where they can enjoy safety and prosperity. When a society exists where the majority of people honor these commandments, they enjoy peace and do prosper. The history of the United States of America is a testament to that prosperity. But now that the Ten Commandments are a hiss and a byword to many in our country and are under legal attack, this nation is in a downward spiral.

            And only when a people first live the Ten Commandments can they enjoy and prosper under celestial law and principles. That is why Christ gave Moses the Ten Commandments after the children of Israel rejected the Celestial Law and the temple ordinances during their forty years in the wilderness after being freed from the Egyptians. The celestial law is the law that helps a human being to bless others, even unto blessing them the way Christ did and does. The celestial law is essentially embodied in the two great commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all of thy heart, with all thy might, mind and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self.” (D&C 59:5–6) To me, these are the most important verses in all of holy scripture.

            Most importantly we must love God with all of our hearts. This means to want and treasure what He wants and treasures. He wants and treasures righteousness, which is blessing others. Blessing others is not giving them what we think will help them, but what He thinks will help them. Only as we treasure the guidance of the Holy Spirit can we be aware of what He thinks is good for someone. It is as his humble servants, not as self-appointed do-gooders that we actually make this world a better place. He would have us master kindness and real caring about others above the honors and acclamation of this world. He would have us care enough about those who do not know Him to serve difficult missions to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He would have us spend hour upon hour in genealogical searching and verifying personal data so that each departed soul may be given an opportunity to receive the freeing saving ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ even though they are now in the spirit prison.  He would have us seek out the poor in health, the poor in wealth, the poor in knowledge and in courage, and to minister to them as He would. The heart that loves God with all its power is a busy heart, scanning the horizon each day for those in need and hastening to their support. And if the ministering person has attained that greatest gift of God, a pure heart, then their service is exactly what Christ would do if He were there doing the actual ministering Himself.

            If we love God with all of our might, we will take the treasures of the earth with which we have been blessed, and all the powers of skill and knowledge we possess, and all of the influence we have with our neighbors, these being part of our might, and use that might to bless others as the Savior would have us do. It matters not whether our might is small or great. What counts is using all we have  in the cause of relieving the suffering, misery and needs of those who have less might than we do. Our might also includes our power in the priesthood, which gives us greater opportunity to bless those in need. That power is not ours, it is the power of God. But if we have it and wield it to make this world a more habitable place or a less painful existence for those in need, we are using our might to love God.

            To love God with all of our minds is to believe Him in everything He tells us and to take the Holy Spirit for our guide, being unwilling to believe in anything unless that Spirit tells us to do so. We human beings actually know very little of ourselves, for most of what we think we know is just what we believe. So it is vitally important that we take the Holy Spirit for our guide as to what we believe: “And by the power of the Holy Ghost you may know the truth of all things.” (Moroni 10:5)

            We live in an ocean of propaganda and half-truths. Unfortunately, both our professors and our politicians often feed us what they want us to think rather than the way things really are. For instance, we are taught that organic evolution is a proven fact when in fact it is but a factually unsupported theory. We are taught critical race theory to assure the hatred of people of different skin colors for one another. The recent COVID epidemic has witnessed half-truths and suppressed truths mixed with real truths to thoroughly muddy the waters. Et cetera.

            But if we love God with all of our mind we will ponder his scriptures daily, pay close attention to the words of our prophets and leaders, and pray about what we should and should not believe. This is holding to the rod of iron as we wade through the mists of darkness, and only by holding fast to that rod can we find the tree of life. The mists of darkness are the lies and half-truths with which we are bombarded in our schools and media.

            Finally, to love God with all of our strength is to use our physical tabernacle to bring about Christ’s good in this world. This good can range from a neat and orderly home to a beautiful garden to painting and sculpture which increases faith in Christ. But the most important thing we do with our physical body is to have children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord, happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.” (Psalm 127:3–5). God’s work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39) and we get to partner with God in His great work by bringing children into this world, that they also may have the great opportunity each of us has to grow into the stature of Christ and become a blessing to many others.

            Note that the scriptural order of these ways we may learn to love the Lord is heart, might, mind and strength, which is the order of importance. But the temple order is mind, heart, strength and might, which is the order in which they must be done.

            All of this now brings us this Father’s Day to the Proclamation on the Family given to the Church 23 September 1995, a most important statement by the General Authorities of the Church. It is an example of the revelation which should be the rock upon which our faith in Christ is founded.

            “We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” I understand that the reason for this is that God Himself is married and has children who are his principal concern. It is our privilege to be parents here as He and our Heavenly Mother are there, that we might demonstrate here that we are willing and able to be faithful parents in eternity by being faithful parents here.

            Continuing the Proclamation: “All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual pre-mortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.” This tells us that we should treasure our gender and make the most of it, for gender is a gift from God. Satan and his world would have us question our gender and be dissatisfied with it so that we might not fulfill the purpose God has given us in mortality. But knowing that our gender and roles are an eternal gift from God makes a big difference. Satan is especially active in trying to get women not to be mothers or to have few children.

            The Proclamation: “In the pre-mortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.” Having a physical tabernacle made in the image of God makes it possible to be parents in mortality. To bear and nurture children in the Lord is the most godly thing any human can do, and is the perfect training and preparation for godhood.

            The Proclamation: “The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.” The world would have you think that the earth is overpopulated. But that is not true. This earth could sustain two or three times its present number of inhabitants if only they would cooperate and not hate one another. And the physical union of a husband and wife is a beautiful thing to be cherished and protected, not to be counterfeited by the many ways the world would popularize.

            The Proclamation: “We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and its importance in God’s eternal plan.” Each child is a gift from God. Those who hate God have no trouble killing their children or preventing them from coming. Millions and millions of aborted children are a blemish on the escutcheon of this nation, and this must and will be answered for.

            The Proclamation: “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord.” (Psalm 127:3) Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives— mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.” It does not matter what the occupation of husband or wife is: the most important thing they will do in this life is to nurture children in the Lord and raise up strong saints. Raising children in love is maximized only where husband and wife have conquered selfishness and have learned to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which means to have mastered the steps to be able to manifest the pure love of Christ as they deal with each other, their children, and their neighbors. This mastery is attained only by pursuing the covenant path laid down by Jesus Christ, the same path that He followed to the end.

            The Proclamation: “The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.” Each person on this earth is a child of God and has the potential to become a God. But each must choose and deliberately pursue the covenant path. There is no accidental exaltation nor is it possible to slide into the celestial kingdom on a parent’s coattails. That is because exaltation is a matter of character, and character can be built only by deliberate, personal choosing of right over wrong successively until one has finally eliminated the choosing of evil over good. Only then can one enjoy the powers of exaltation

            The Proclamation: “We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.” Most non-believers dismiss the idea that they will ever have to account for and stand for their choices in mortality. But each and every human being will know from God that they are responsible to God for their choices and actions and will have the opportunity to repent before they meet that final judgment. At the final judgment, everyone judged will admit that God is fair and that their judgment is just. And morality is not just a nicety for eternity. As the prophets have warned, those who ignore and break the commandments of God give power to Satan and bring upon themselves and others calamities and suffering, both from nature and from other men.

            The Proclamation: “We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.” One way you and I can measure the governing authorities over us is how they treat the family. Those who try to lessen and destroy the family are evil, and those who try to strengthen and protect the family in Christ’s pattern are good. That is a simple test we all can use to measure those who have governing authority.

            I conclude by bearing to you my testimony. I have seen the hand of the Lord in our lives. I know that righteous prayers are answered. I know there is power in the priesthood in this Church for I have seen it perform miracles and have used it to give real blessings. I know by the testimony of the Holy Spirit that we are presided over by men of God, and especially that President Russell M. Nelson is truly appointed to preside in this Church by Jesus Christ. I believe that any one of you can gain a rock-founded testimony of the truth of this latter-day work and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by following the covenant path, not just receiving the ordinances, but then doing the service and righteousness that we undertake in accepting the covenant path.

            May I commend to you a regular study of the Book of Mormon. Reading it every day will bless your life, for it is the most correct book under heaven and the keystone of the religion of the Latter-day Saints. One marvelous thing about pondering the passages of the Book of Mormon is that that thinking provides a unique opportunity for further revelation. As we heed that additional revelation, it becomes an extension of the covenant path which leads to power in the priesthood and to exaltation itself.

            It is my hope and prayer that everyone here today will gain and live by an unshakable testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Messiah who will soon return in glory, and that blessing our fellow-men under His direction is what the work of Christ is all about. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Material not read in Church because of exceeding time limits:

            The most important thing each of us can do to be good Latter-day Saints is to get and keep with us the gift of the Holy Ghost. President Nelson has warned us that the only way to survive these Latter Days is to have that gift with us and to use it. I make now some suggestions for getting and keeping the companionship of the Holy Spirit.

            First and foremost: Listen to your conscience. Your conscience is the light of Christ within you and is given to every human in this world who gains normal intelligence. The role of conscience is to help us know the difference between good and evil. Some individuals are born with a strong conscience, others with weak ones. But the gift is precious, strong or weak. As we accept and abide the advice of our conscience, it grows stronger. As we reject the advice conscience gives us it grows weaker. If we bash our conscience enough, it will eventually just go away, and we are left in the control of Satan. For there are only two directions to go: Further into the arms of Christ and his righteousness or back into the arms of Satan and his selfishness. Most of us wallow back and forth, first turning to good, then turning to evil. The way of intelligence is to steadfastly seek only the good.

            If you have a problem and lack wisdom as to what to do, take the problem to the Lord in humble prayer, even as Joseph Smith did in the Sacred Grove. If we are truly humble, we will get an answer from the Lord. Often the answer will come with blazing speed, coming even before the prayer is finished. We have been told by the prophet Joseph Smith that nine times out of ten, the first flash of answer we receive is the correct one, from the Holy Spirit. Then the challenge is to act on that prompting without delay. We learn by sad experience that often we have known what we should do but were either lazy or timid about doing it, later to see our folly and to bask in remorse for not having seized the moment to do what we knew we should do.

            Another clue as to how to receive the Holy Spirit is to pause and listen during a prayer. Let the prayer become a conversation, undertaken as a little child on our part. The Lord has told us that He loves to answer prayers: “Then shall you call upon me, and find me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12–13). In fact, the best way is to have a prayer in our hearts at all times, our daily experience being a constant conversation with the Lord.

            And let us not neglect reading the Holy Scriptures, which includes the Standard Works and the Conference Reports. The greatest value of the scriptures in my experience is that reading them humbly and thoughtfully becomes an occasion for revelation as the Holy Spirit reveals special messages to us, some of them related to what we are reading and some of them totally unrelated to what we are reading. But each message from the Holy Spirit will bring us either greater understanding, which is seeing how things are related, or direction as to something we should do, or both.

            One clue for dealing with temptation: When we are tempted to think and evil thought or if we come upon pornography, we get one chance to reject it and be unscathed. But if we delay and either look a second time at the pornography or savor the temptation, it grasps us and we lose the Holy Spirit. So, never give evil a second chance, for if we do, it takes possession of us and Satan gains power over us.

            But after all is said and done, the main way to get inspiration from the Holy Spirit is to hunger and thirst after righteousness, seeking ways to bless our fellow beings. “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” (3 Nephi 12:6)

            To make a long story short, to obey the Holy Spirit in the “right now” is the best way to have more of it.

Monthly Message, May 2022

Father’s most important gift to all mankind was to send His Only Begotten Son into this world to live with us mortals. The Son lived a perfect life, not sinning even once, which enabled Him to take upon himself the burden of suffering the penalty due for each and every human sin. And because he had the powers of godhood, he could also make recompense for the damage caused by each human sin. Without the gift of the Son to the world, no human being could be saved from sinning nor exalted. The Son also voluntarily gave up his ability to live forever as a mortal, being the literal son of God the Father. By so doing, Christ gained the keys over death and is able to resurrect every human who comes into this mortal sphere. These two gifts of forgiveness of sins and resurrection are called the Atonement.

Next, we humans are born into this world with a body fashioned in the likeness of those of the gods.

The light of Christ is given to us so that each of us knows the difference between good and evil.

Knowing to separate good from evil, each of us is given agency to choose to follow good or evil.

Every human is given the opportunity to receive the witness of the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ can save them from selfishness, if that is what they want. Sometimes that witness only comes after mortal death, in the world of spirits. But it comes to everyone before their final judgment.

If we accept the witness of the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ is our Savior, we are given the privilege to receive the saving power of Jesus Christ by accepting baptism into the Savior’s Church, promising to take His name upon us, to keep all of the commandments He gives us, and to remember Him always.

After our baptism by water, we are commanded to receive the Holy Ghost as our constant companion, but only those who really want the Holy Spirit obey that instruction and receive that gift. Having this gift is the key to having the knowledge and power to bless others.

If we obey and actually receive the Holy Ghost after baptism, we are given at least one of the special gifts of the Spirit and can become heir to as many of those gifts as we are willing to seek and use to bless others.

As we learn from the Holy Spirit how to serve and bless others, our power to bless grows. Young men are given the Aaronic Priesthood to give them special ways to bless others. And those who use the lesser priesthood well are given further the Melchizedek Priesthood with its greater power to bless.

A special part of receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood is to receive the holy endowment in the temple, which is a blessing to know precisely how to love the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. As our love of God grows, so our power to bless others, as God does, grows.

A further blessing connected with the Melchizedek Priesthood is the privilege of being sealed as husband and wife in the temple. This blessing makes possible a further blessing, that of bearing children sealed to the couple for eternity in the New and Everlasting Covenant.

Callings and other opportunities to serve in the Kingdom of God on earth may come, but none is greater or more important than the blessing to be father and mother and preside over posterity. Each person is given gifts to grow in power and responsibility as he or she serves faithfully.

The ultimate grace (gift) from Christ is to be able to overcome worldliness through faith in Jesus Christ and be given the gift of a pure heart. He or she who gains a pure heart has everything. He or she who lacks the pure heart is still nothing in and of himself or herself. He and she who receives the pure heart will be exalted and will become one with the Father and the Savior. The scriptures call this gift of a pure heart “charity” because those who have it have been given the way to really care about others, to bless others as much as those others are able to stand, even as God does.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8–10)

“For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.” (D&C 88:33)

Monthly Message, April 2022

Because we are blessed with knowing the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, we understand that there are four basic irreducible purposes for our mortal existence. Only the first is absolutely essential.

To fulfill the others makes a fullness of blessings. The four are as follows:

1. To gain a mortal, physical tabernacle for our spirit. This is the necessary prelude to immortal life in a tabernacle of flesh and bone, which is the heritage of all human beings.
2. To develop Christ-like character. To learn to act righteously, responding to the influence of the Savior and not being governed by the other influences which bombard us is our goal. Every human situation is rich with opportunity to learn to be honest, true, chaste and benevolent and to do good to all men. Either sex, any race, any age, any educational level, and economic level affords an almost overwhelming opportunity to add good habit to good habit, correct preference to correct preference, true idea to true idea, all done following the Savior and his example. Each soul is given the light of Christ to guide him or her to the Restored Gospel and its ordinances. Only in fulfilling the covenant path in the Restored Gospel can anyone come into “the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11–13)
3. To pass on the seed. To marry in the Lord’s covenant and to bring the souls of men and women into this world is the third task. To forebear having children by artificial means subverts both character and the plan of God. Children are an heritage of the Lord. Blessed is he or she who has a quiver full. (Psalm 127:3–5)
4. To pass on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To bring up our children in the nurture of the Lord, engendering that faith in Christ which is the most precious attainment by any human being in this world, is the fourth great opportunity. We are not limited to sharing with our children, but thus fully sharing with them is essential. To assist them and others to find Christ and his character is the essence of that joy for which mankind was created. (2 Nephi 25–26)

When our mortal lives are finished, only these four things will be important in eternity:

1. We gained a mortal tabernacle and therefore can be resurrected to immortality. (D&C 29:26–27)
2. If we gained that Christ-like character, we will be trusted with that same glory which the Savior has. (2 Peter 1:3–8)
3. If we sacrificed to bring others into mortality, and have gained Christ-like character, we can be trusted to continue to bear souls into eternity. (D&C 132:19, 26)
4. If we lived and taught the way of the Savior in all things to all who would listen to us, we will have shown that we can be trusted with stewardship over all the Father has, becoming joint heirs with Jesus Christ. (D&C 76:50–60)

What a privilege to be in mortality with these opportunities!

Monthly Message, March 2022

The main answer: He will come to bless all mankind. This is also why He came the first time. And that is how he spends all of His time when he is in heaven. In fact, He exists to bless this universe. That is His joy. And associating with Him in blessing others is the joy of each of his faithful disciples.

Before the Second Coming Christ has restored his gospel and his church and priesthood authority so that His servants can prepare everyone for that Coming. This they are doing by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its restored fullness so that each human being who is accountable will be able to choose between good and evil and align himself or herself with either good or evil. And in this process His church will gather Israel and establish Zion.

Let us count some of the blessings Jesus Christ will bring at His Second Coming:

• All persons who have chosen good over evil and have become true Latter-day Saints will be preserved and caught up to meet him in the air as He descends in His crimson robes. D&C 88:96–97; 133:56
• All persons who have kept the Ten Commandments but would not join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will not be caught up to meet Christ but will watch Him come and be preserved from the fire. D&C 88:99
• All persons who insisted upon breaking the Ten Commandments will be consumed by fire at His coming as a blessing to them not to incur more debt of sin. This will include the entire destruction of the great and abominable church, its leaders and participants. 1 Nephi 22:13 D&C 88:94, 101; 133:64
• The enmity of man against man and man against nature will be done away at His coming. The animals of this world will all be benign with each other and with mankind. The earth will return to the paradisiacal glory of the Garden of Eden. D&C 101:26
• The earth will be restored as one single continent as it was in the days of Adam. Many mountains will be made low and many plains lifted up. The waters of the earth will be driven to the north. D&C 133:22–23
• The physical earth will be cleansed by fire to remove every corrupted thing. D&C 101:24, 133:41
• There will be no more war nor any person persecuting other persons. Isaiah 2:4
• Disease will be controlled, and each person will live to the age of a tree. When humans die, their bodies will not be interred, but they will be resurrected in the twinkling of an eye. D&C 101:29–31
• All persons who have ever lived on the earth will be present to see the Second Coming. D&C 101:23
• Christ will reign on earth a thousand years, and there will be no government but His government. He will govern through His Zion. D&C 45:59, 133:25
• Satan will be bound during the millennium because no one left alive will heed his temptations. 1 Nephi 22:26
• Satan will again gain followers at the end of the Millennium and there will be a great and final battle between those who choose Satan and selfishness against those who choose Christ and ministering to others in His power. D&C 43:31 D&C 88:111–114
• At the end of the millennium, the earth will die and be resurrected to a celestial state to be inhabited by those who lived righteously on earth and were worthy of a celestial glory. Ether 13:8,9

And what has to happen before He comes again?

• Every accountable soul on earth must be invited to accept the New and Everlasting Covenant with Christ. D&C 133:37 Moses 7:61–62
• Israel must be gathered out of all nations unto the New and Everlasting Covenant. 3 Nephi 16:5
• Zion must be established, a people who keep the New and Everlasting Covenant unto being of one heart and one mind, who dwell in righteousness, and have no poor among them. They can be trusted. 3 Nephi 16:18–20. Moses 7:18

Monthly Message, February 2022

Sometimes we equate right and wrong with truth and falsity, as in “That is the wrong answer.”

Sometimes we use right and wrong as a matter of taste, as in “That is the wrong color.” Sometimes we use right and wrong to register offense, as in “I was wronged.” But the main use, the one with which we will concern ourselves here, is the sense of moral correctness, as in “It is wrong to bear false witness.”

The thesis I propose here is that the moral correctness kind of right and wrong is not arbitrary but is rooted in the nature of social existence. That which is right is one social being adding to the happiness and/or well-being of another being, as in you are hungry and I give you good food to eat. In this example, if I were to be aware of your hunger and withhold good food from you, eating it myself in front of you, that would be wrong. This conception of right and wrong thus makes right and wrong into absolutes. Right actions are those which add to the well-being and happiness of the beings one affects with his or her actions, and wrong actions are those which detract from the well-being and happiness of those affected by an action.

I further contend that the commandments of God are not arbitrary. Rather they are expressions of what is right and wrong for humans to do in this sense of right and wrong. Take the Ten Commandments. Each one is given because it leads to either blessing or not cursing other beings. We are commanded not to steal because stealing diminishes the well-being of others. We are commanded to honor father and mother because that adds to the well-being and happiness of our fathers and mothers. We are commanded not to commit adultery because that takes away the well-being and happiness of ourselves and others, even if it is ostensibly done for present pleasure. Pleasure is not always evil, but when physical pleasure becomes the main reason for doing something, that turns the action into an evil, a wrong thing to do. So we may take pleasure in blessing others, but blessing others, doing what is right, should be our objective in every action. Then our life will be filled with happiness. Keeping the commandments of God is the path to true and lasting happiness. Seeking to fulfill our lusts by doing things just for physical pleasure is the counterfeit of happiness.

Our God is trying to help each of his children to enjoy all that He is and does. One thing each must do to come to wield His power is to learn only to bless, even as He only blesses his children and all of His creations. (Yes, each of His so-called cursings is actually a blessing in the long run.)

To cherish receiving commandments from God and gratefully obeying them because that produces right action, which is righteousness, is the ultimate wisdom for all human beings.

Monthly Message, January 2022

Your answer to this question is all important because it signals where your heart is. Our spiritual heart is the most important part of us, because it makes all of our important decisions. (Mind is also important, but mind is the servant of the heart and can be used to support and abet any cause or goal the heart is set upon. There is a lot of noise in the world about being rational, and it is usually good to be consistent. But all reasoning depends ultimately upon premises about which we cannot be rational. So all rationality is actually based on irrationality.)

I count my most precious possession to be my testimony about Jesus Christ and His Restored Gospel through Joseph Smith. My heart tells me that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior, and that his true church was restored through his latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith. And my mind rejoices in what my heart tells me about this, for my mind sees a system of salvation that is consistent, squares with the scriptures, and answers every question to which I need an answer. There are still some things about the system of salvation through Christ that I ponder and wonder about, but those things are not crucial items.

The main reason I have a testimony of the Jesus Christ and the Restored Gospel is because I get answers to my prayers. I pray about what is real, what is true, and what to do. And my prayers are answered through the Holy Spirit and the events of my life. Some of my long-standing prayers asking for a particular blessing have not been answered as yet, but I do have the assurance to my mind and heart that they will be answered in the Lord’s due time.

I wish and pray for each of you that you will know your own mind and heart, know what is your most precious possession, and be happy with your future.

Monthly Message, November 2021

Giving Thanks

November is a great time to give special thanks to our Father in Heaven and our Savior, for they have given us all we have and are the source of all we hope for. Not to be grateful is to kindle the wrath of God against us. “It pleaseth God that he has given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion. And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.” (D&C 59:20–21)

I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost, for it is the pearl of great price, so valuable that a wise man will give all that he possesses if he can obtain this one great gift. And this gift is the key to all other special blessings from God.

I am grateful to have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who manifests himself to me through the Holy Ghost, answering my prayers and helping me to bless others. The thing I most want him to save me from is from my own weaknesses and foolishness. Above all I want to become like Him, to bless everyone and everything around me.

I am grateful for my wonderful wife, Bertha Janis Allred Riddle, who has blessed my life so greatly. She may be in the world of the departed spirits, but there is not a day that I don’t think of her and wish to be with her. And that day of reunion will soon come.

I am grateful for our posterity. Thirteen special children, forty-two special grand-children, seventy six special great-grandchildren, and one special great-great grandchild. Unfortunately, I am not the out-going person yet that I would like to be, to love all of you as Bertha would. But I am trying and hope to do much better on this score in the rest of my mortal probation.

I am grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ which it teaches, and for the ordinances of salvation which it administers. The temple ordinances are especially important to me, and I marvel at how meaningful and helpful they are. And to have the opportunity to administer those temple ordinances is a really special frosting on the cake.

I am grateful for the world we live in. It is the kingdom of Satan, and Satan increasingly controls what goes on in government, culture, education, entertainment and family life. But as his dominion increases, that also increases the value of faith in Christ, and provides the perfect negative environment in which to show that we truly do love our Savior and our neighbors. Satan’s dominion is the refiners fire which enables us to perfect our faith in Jesus Christ.

So I give thanks to my God and to each of you for what you do and are. I only hope that I can do better by each of you. May each of you be blessed with all that is eternal in Christ.

Monthly Message, October 2021

Just before a concert begins for a symphony orchestra, the concertmaster, usually the 1st chair violin, sounds a note and all the other instruments tune their instruments to that exact pitch. Then as the concert proceeds, the whole orchestra is in tune, producing beautiful music.

General Conference serves the same function as the tuning of an orchestra. The Brethren bear witness of the truths of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and direct us in doing the work of Christ in this dispensation. They tune us to righteousness. Righteousness is serving and blessing others under the direction of the Holy Spirit, which is direction from Christ. And righteousness is even more beautiful than music.

As each assigned person speaks during conference, each of us reacts positively or negatively. If we find we can react positively to each message, that shows us that we are basically in tune with the Holy Spirit. Being in tune is our hope of producing true righteousness. If we miss conference, we can still be in tune and produce what our Savior desires us to produce. But conference helps us to know that we are really on track.

So let us bask in the light of Christ as we partake of conference. If we do, we will all be better persons and better servants.

How blessed we are to have such an opportunity.

Monthly Message, September 2021

The Savior has been very clear about the temporal order he wishes his servants to create on this earth: “For verily I say unto you … it must needs be that there be an organization of my people … for a permanent and everlasting establishment and order unto my church … That you may be equal in the bonds of heavenly things, yea, and earthly things also, for the obtaining of heavenly things; For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things.” D&C 78:3- 6

And again: “For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; her borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily I say unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments. … And you are to be equal … you are to have equal claims on the properties, for the benefit of managing the concerns of your stewardships, every man according to his wants and his needs, inasmuch as his wants are just. … Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.” D&C 82:14–19

As we attempt to create a Zion in preparation for the Second Coming of our Savior, one of the great tasks is to get every faithful person to be so unselfish that we will again have all things in common, every person a steward, all having the same standard of living. As you can see, we have quite aways to go to get to that point. But we can all pray for and work for that goal.