LeGrand L. Baker

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  • MONISM OR DUALISM?

    Chauncey C. Riddle

                The purpose of this paper is to delineate some of the factors pertinent to a monistic conception of man as contrasted with a dualistic conception. In the monistic thinking presently in vogue, man is seen as a material being wholly governed by laws of the universe as discovered and formulated by science. Some persons grant that man has a spirit, but in their accounts of and treatment of man, the spiritual aspect is nonfunctional; such persons may appear to be dualists but are here classed as functional monists. The dualistic concept entertained in this paper posits mortal man as a spirit, which is the real person, and a body, which is the tabernacle of the spirit person. Though the spirit as well as the body is of a material nature, dualism obtains because each represents a different order of matter; this difference is manifest in that the set of laws and influences governing the spirit aspect of man is different from that which governs the fleshly body. Basic to this whole discussion, of course, is the assumption that law and order govern all things in the universe, that all events are caused and that there is a regularity or uniformity in the universe.

                The thesis of this paper is that the key concepts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ have consistency and significance only when one conceives of mortal man as a dualistic being, these values being lost if a monistic conception is adopted. The key concepts here discussed are the Fall of Adam, agency, spirituality, sin, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, salvation, and righteousness.

                The Fall:  Before the fall, Adam and Eve were in a monistic state, we may presume, because they were subject to only one set of laws and influences, those of God. Their whole being was of a spiritual order, with spirit matter being the life-substance of their bodies. In this condition they had no freedom; they simply responded positively to the commands of the Father.

                The influence of Satan in tempting Eve and Adam in the garden brought a new and opposing set of forces and laws to bear. The Father granted Adam and Eve freedom in the garden in that he allowed the influence of Satan to work upon them and allowed them to choose between his influence and that of Satan. Having chosen to obey Satan in rejecting the counsel of the Father, the promised death came upon our first parents. In this death their bodies were rendered spiritually dead; spirit was replaced by blood in their veins and their bodies lost the ability to perceive things of a spiritual order.

                Fallen Adam was a paradigm of dualism in that his body was fully of the order of what we call physical matter, subject to the laws and forces of a fallen realm, while his spirit, trapped within the physical body was fully of the order of what we call physical matter, subject to the laws and forces of a fallen realm, while his spirit, trapped within the physical body, was yet subject to the laws and forces of the spiritual order of the universe. The true person, the spirit, was now set in opposition the the physical body, since each was subject to a different set of laws and forces. The fall was thus a sundering of man resulting in a duality. This duality is the basis of both conflict and progress in the individual person.

                What would the fall become if man were construed monistically? Under a monism, death could only be physical, and if literal, the death of the body. Since physical death is explicitly not an immediate part of the fall, a monist must reject a literal interpretation. When the spiritual death of the fall is construed non-literally, is is usually seen either as a change of place, the process of being cast out of the presence of God, or as a change of the nature of man. Change of  place, removal from the Garden of Eden, did occur, but this sort of change cannot alone account for the scriptures concerning the fall. If man’s monistic nature were considered to change in the fall, that change could only be accounted for by external forces. Because under a monistic system there is only one set of laws and forces, there could be no meaningful choice, and thus Adam could not be held responsible for his fall. If Adam was not held responsible for his fall, he is likewise not responsible in any way to the opportunity of redemption. This, of course, renders the Gospel meaningless.

                Agency:  Freedom is the opportunity to choose; agency is power. Man’s agency is then the freedom to choose and the power to attain what is chosen. Whereas God is completely free, man is but infinitesimally free. But man is free enough to respond to the influence of God, by means of which influence to become like God, or to respond to Satan and by means of that contrary influence to become like Satan.

                The agency of man, then, is limited, specific. It is a freedom given of God to the spirit in man to become free of the governing and controlling influence of one’s own physical body. It is the freedom and power to respond to the commandments of God through the Holy Spirit, thus bringing the flesh into subjection to the spirit by denying the power and influence of Satan, which operates through the flesh. A father Lehi puts it, the agency of man is to be free according to the flesh. When that freedom is full and final, the body of man functions only under the powers, forces, and influences of the spiritual order of existence. This is to say that Satan never again has power over that being. He is free forever.

                If man is construed monistically, freedom from the flesh makes no sense, for this monistic  man is only flesh. If monistic man feels free it it either a psychological illusion or simply a physical freedom of a physical body to act without restraint. Under a monism, self-discipline is meaningless, for all discipline is a thing which must be superimposed upon a person by external force. Monistic freedom is the absence of that dualistic freedom, the discipline of the body by the spirit, which the Gospel affords.

                Spirituality: In the Gospel, spirituality is the condition of the spirit of a person being responsive to the commandments and influences of God, specifically the influence of the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is manifest in the control of the flesh wherein the walk, talk, eating, drinking, work, etc., of a person are models of fulfilling the words of the prophets of God to the degree to which the person is spiritual. The more spiritual a person is, the more complete and absolute will be the discipline of the spirit over the body.

                It should not be supposed that spirituality enjoins what is often called “asceticism.” While self-denial is a frequent action of the spiritual person, pleasure of itself is not considered to be an evil. But pleasure is not sought for its own sake by a spiritual person. Such an one seeks first the kingdom of God and then to establish in the earth the righteousness of God. In line of duty of serving God and blessing his fellowmen, the spiritual person will strive for health, cleanliness, comeliness, strength and skill. But these are sought as means, not as ends. They are means by which to glorify God and to build his kingdom, and are an integral part of the control of the appetites and proclivities of the physical tabernacle of the spirit. Furthermore, this control when sought for the glory of God redounds to the blessing of the person spiritually and temporally. Part of these blessings will be pleasure that is pure, unmixed with lust, because it is allowed rather than sought. Pleasure that is spiritually pure does not turn to pain, regret, and remorse of conscience as do pleasures sought to fulfill the appetites of the flesh.

                Especially noteworthy is that the more spiritual a person becomes, the less he will depend upon physical evidence through the flesh as to what he believes. This does not mean he ignores physical evidence; he accepts the responsibility of accounting for it, but he believes and interprets all things as he is instructed by the Holy Spirit. He will not judge on the basis of physical appearance only.

                Under a monistic system, spirituality must be classed with insanity. Since the bodies of men are demonstrably very similar, any person who does not respond “normally” to physical stimulus must be tagged as “abnormal”–insane. The more spiritual one is, the more suspect he would become to the monistic mind. Persons with great self-control cause those without it to wonder and to feel uncomfortable. To sin a little, to laugh at the possibility of perfection, to justify pleasure sought for its own sake are normal to the monist. Youth, strength, and worldly learning are honored above all else in the monistic thinking because they represent the fullest accomodation to and power in the realm of the physical, the realm of the flesh.

                The monist also has a curious insistence on omniscience. He will not pretend actually to know all things, but will assert that he does know all the factors pertinent to a given social problem and can therefore prescribe its solution. Thus he reserves to himself a practicing omniscience. Having denied the existence and influence of God as a Naturalist, he finds it necessary to pronounce himself at least a demi-god in order to justify rationally his practical decisions. Or if not himself, at least his leader, who then becomes the demi-god. Judging by appearance and arrogating to himself sufficiency, the monist has left a trail of blood, slavery and failure, confronted only occasionally by a John the Baptist or a Socrates who points our that he doesn’t really know what he is doing. But the monist has ways of dealing with John and with Socrates.

                To a monist, spiritual people are indistinguishable from spiritualists—those possessed of evil spirits; both are classed as insane because they do not act “normally.” History shows that what is “normal” changes from age to age. There are vogues in what is socially acceptable from time to time, fostering first one species and degree of carnality, then another. But the Gospel is the same in every age:  dominion of spirit over body through the gifts of God through Jesus Christ.

                Sin:  Sin in the Gospel is breaking a commandment of God; it is acting to yield to the influence of the world upon the flesh rather than a responding to the influence of God upon the spirit. Faith is willing obedience to God’s Holy Spirit, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Sin is the triumph of the flesh over the spirit, and is therefore the triumph of Satan over the person.

                In the monistic system there is no meaningful concept of sin. People are said to act strictly according to their heredity and environment, and are not to be blamed for any act, since they are not free. To change people’s actions is simply to change the influences that touch them. Monists say that it is institutions of society that control mens’ actions. This is why control of educational programs and information media are crucial to the monist—though he never can quite account for how the governor of the system can himself escape what he is trying to cure in those whom he “benevolently” controls. The monist does not fathom the concept of repentance, because it, too, has no meaning in his thought. He will look upon sexual sin as “normal” and excuse any offender as is that were a light thing. Should he be a church worker, he sees social control (socialism) as the ultimate panacea, and thinks that in promoting social control he is doing God a favor.

                The Atonement:  The atonement of Jesus Christ is the central and crowning concept of the Gospel. In living a perfect life as a dual being, Christ overcame the power of Satan. His life was the great triumph of spirit over flesh, the example and pattern for all mankind. In his death, the Savior climaxed that triumph by seizing from Satan the keys of death. Through his suffering in taking the bitter cup, the Savior satisfied the demands of justice, making possible for all men an eternity free from the consequences of their sins. Through the sacrifice of his life, the Savior made it possible for all men to be raised again in the resurrection with a spiritual, physical body, thereafter to serve God through the spirit in eternity. As in Adam man became dual and fallen, even so in Christ men may be made spiritual and whole again, redeemed to the spiritual order of existence of their own choice.

                In a monistic system, the Atonement of Christ can only be the suffering and death of just another person, having efficacy for us only as it might affect us in a physical way. A monist would see the Atonement at best as a symbol, as a noteworthy deed, as an ultimate protest. But he will see no connection between the shedding of the Savior’s blood and the forgiveness of our sins, since the physical world affords no such causal connections; in fact, he is likely to be appalled by this idea and see it as a barbaric superstition. Thus it is possible for one who in the relative innocence of youth was cleansed and forgiven through the blood of Christ might later in a state of monistic “erudition” to shed the blood of Christ afresh and put him to an open shame, not being able to see any point in the Atonement and thus rejecting Christ as savior.

                Salvation:  Salvation in the Gospel is to come to be beyond the power of one’s enemies. It is a thing of degree, progressing step by step as the spirit of a person triumphs over his own flesh through faith in Jesus Christ. Considered in the aspect of being able to stop sinning, salvation is self-denial of the lusts of the flesh, and the ultimate demonstration of it is in voluntarily giving up the life of the body. Only in our death is salvation fully manifest and only in willingness to die is it fully attainable. To be free of the control of the flesh, through faith in Christ and in death, is to be forever free from Satan. If through the Savior we also gain a remission of the sins we have committed and attain the character of Christ, we can then go on to inherit all that Christ has.

                But salvation for the monist is quite opposite. It is ease, opulence, pleasure, comfort, and security for the flesh. The greatest of all evils for the monist is pain, though pain is challenged for that position by death. The body is the object of concern, the thing to pamper and perpetuate. Sacrifice of things material is a great misfortune. Indeed, the monist conceives it the moral obligation of every man who has physical salvation to furnish it to everyone who does not; thus the monist chooses forceful redistributive socialism over freedom of choice and conscience with faithful monistic regularity. He does not even comprehend the voluntary charity of a free agent, since he cannot comprehend either charity or agency in the Gospel sense.

                Righteousness:  In the gospel, righteousness is the way a man acts towards his neighbor when he has overcome the flesh through Christ. It is the power and authority of a saved being  blessing others in leading them to Christ. A righteous man is concerned about both the physical and the spiritual needs of his fellowmen, but has no illusion that the physical needs are greater. He has kept the great law, and loves the Savior with all his heart, might, mind and strength. And because he has kept the commandments of Christ, he is able then to love his fellowman with the same pure love that he receives from the Savior. His goal is to make a heaven on earth where all who want to be saved can be saved, where Christ and his pure love reign supreme, where spirit has triumphed over the flesh. This involves concern for the temporal, for the material circumstances of men, as well as the spiritual. But the spiritual aspect of things is always seen as the key to progress in the material realm.

                For the monist, righteousness has little meaning because sin has little meaning. To the monist, righteousness could be but conformity to human norms. The problem which the monist ever pursues is how to make a society of pleasure-seeking people productive enough to give each person all the fleshly freedom and pleasure he or she wants. Since that goal ha never been attained (and obviously, to a dualist, cannot be attained), the substitute is slavery. With slavery at least some can enjoy fleshly freedom and pleasure, even if others have to suffer. Thus the long series of social arrangements to perpetuate control of one person by another; clergy over lay, nobles over commoners, powerful over weak, educated over uneducated, majority over minority, voters over taxpayers, caste systems, party members over non-party members, etc.,–all bolstered by religious or moralizing theories, and all anti-Christ.

                Now the real question of the whole matter is simply this:  Is the universe monistic or dualistic? If the universe is monistic, then all the attendant ideas so abhorent to the dualist are true, and the dualist is indeed insane. But if the universe is dualistic, if there is a real Savior Jesus Christ in opposition to and opposed by a real Satan, then man is a dual being, spirit opposed to flesh, and the monist is indeed in sin.

                The answer would seem to lie within the individual. Does he acknowledge the voice of conscience which warns him not to yield to the lusts of the flesh? Has he sought for the influence of God through humble prayer? Has he experimented with the word of God to see if the promises are fulfilled? The testimony of the prophets is plain. They teach us of God. They teach of dualism. They teach us to experiment honestly with our own conscience, to observe the fruits of doing the best which we know. It would seem that only the honest in heart can acknowledge the things of God, and that only those who hunger and thirst after righteousness can fully find the means by which to come unto God.

    “The whole purpose of life is to bring under subjection the animal passions, proclivities, and tendencies, that we might realize the companionship always of God’s Holy Spirit.”

    David O. McKay

  • Keys for Interpreting the Scriptures

    1. The fullness of the scriptures is the key to knowledge.

    The scriptures do not bring knowledge of themselves, for they are only sets of inkblots on paper. But as those inkblots are examined carefully and prayerfully, they become an occasion for revelation from the Savior, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Ghost. Those revelations are the word of God, which is his law, Willing, heartfelt obedience to that revelation is faith in Jesus Christ. As a person lives by that faith, that person gains knowledge of the being and ways of God. The fullness of the scriptures provides what a person needs to ponder to begin the process of knowing God. Thus the fullness of the scriptures is the key to knowledge. (Luke 11:53, Inspired Version.)

    2. There is a parallel between things spiritual and things physical. All things physical have a spiritual counterpart.

    Whenever the scriptures tell a story or mention a physical counterpart, whatever is being discussed physically has a spiritual counterpart which should be sought. For instance, the ark that Noah built to save animals and righteous souls from the great flood is a representation of the New and Everlasting Covenant which will save every righteous soul from the flood of evil which the scriptures call “the world.” Every so-called temporal commandment is a representation of the spiritual wisdom which will save human beings. For instance, the word of wisdom as given in D&C 89 is a representation of the wisdom of God which will save every person spiritually, even as physical commandments help a person physically. (D&C 29)

    3. It is the spiritual side of existence which drives the physical, not vice-versa.

    It is sometimes tempting to believe that physical things govern themselves, that the physical universe is a great clock which just clicks on with all of its gears meshing. A fundamental contrary truth of the universe is that everything physical is governed and controlled by the spiritual order of existence. For instance, most people believe that when a storm comes, it does so because it is simply the play of atmospheric forces at work. While indeed there are aspects of atmospheric physics at work, all is governed and controlled by the hand of God. Thus there never was a storm which did not accomplish that which God wanted it to do. To please God, we must recognize his hand in all things. (D&D 59)

    4. We should liken the scriptures unto ourselves.

    The real fruit of all scripture is to help each individual to receive and to be faithful to the present revelations of God as they are teceived by that person at a given moment. The value of reading the scriptures, is, then to inquire of the Lord constantly as to how what we are reading applies to our own present personal situation and predicaments. Knowing the scriptures does not of itself save us in any way. But making application of the scriptures to our daily lives as Christ gives us promptings is the very thing that will bring us to the Savior that he might save us. For that is Faith in Christ. (1 Nephi 19:43)

    This principle is a species of a more general principle which would have us liken all things unto ourselves.  Whenever we see any person speaking or acting we should ask ourselves what we would and should do in that situation as covenant servants of the Savior. Whenever we see a problem to be solved, we should ask ourselves how that problem might be solved in the Savior’s way. Since the formation of a Christ-like character is our most important and precious accomplishment in this world, and since character is formed by making correct decisions and then carrying them out without procrastination, likening all things to ourselves and making these correct responses is the process of salvation. Likening all things to ourselves and responding as Christ would is the process of taking upon ourselves the divine nature

    The scriptures are especially helpful in the process of likening all things to ourselves because we see there both the acts of good and godly men and those of evil men. And to be constantly in the presence of good and godly men is a great blessing to help us do as they do, we can live with them in our imagination and burn into our souls the values, beliefs and action patterns of those godly men.

  • Temptation

    Temptation is an opportunity to sin to which we are strongly attracted. We have opportunity to commit many sins which we find not at all attractive. Why the difference? What tempts us is our own desires. If we have thought upon some act, some object, some experience, and have thought how delicious that would be, we have thus desired that thing. Having desired something, we have lowered the barriers of judgment and good sense which normally keep us out of trouble. When that trouble suddenly stares us in the face as we turn some corner, we embrace it because we have already embraced its idea. The only cure for sinning is to purify our desires, to search with honesty the depths of our souls, and to reject every evil thing whose idea we have ever embraced.

  • Bondage

    Human bondage: The condition wherein a given human being lacks the ability to choose and/or to act relative to a certain opportunity, as seen by an omniscient observer or as approximated by human understanding Bondage is the complement of agency.

    1.   Physical bondage

    Synonyms: Slavery, serfdom, imprisonment

    • Definition:
    • a.   The location, change of location, and physical activities of a normal adult human being are controlled by some agency other than his own will.
    • b.   A person is deprived of a physical body and thus cannot do those things which a physical body makes possible.

    Ultimate: Death

    • Examples:
    • Russian peasant, 1784, 1984
    • U.S. Negro in Georgia, 1820
    • Feudal serf, England, 1100
    • Inmate in a penitentiary.
    • An unembodied spirit.
    • Drug addict.
    • Non-examples:
    • A small child being carried by his or her mother.
    • A patient in intensive care.

    Controls: Food, freedoms, guns, chains, iron curtains, promises.

    Opposite: Freedom to go anywhere and to do anything that can be done physically.

    Release: Increase of strength and/or might.

    2.   Intellectual bondage

    Synonyms: Intellectual blindness, being brain-washed.

    Definition: The knowledge, ideas, and thinking of a normal human being are controlled by other agent(s), possibly against his will and possibly unbeknownst to him.

    Ultimate: Lobotomy

    • Examples:
    • Cuban subject for whom all media presentations and educational opportunities are carefully controlled.
    • A member of a church who is prevented from learning of other churches and religions.
    • Non-examples:
    • Students in a university class who are exposed to a variety of ideas and positions on the same subject.
    • A child who believes his father and mother, knowing other beliefs which other people have which differ from his parents’ beliefs.

    Controls: Opportunities to learn, shame, rejection, grades.

    Opposite: To have a thorough understanding of all options on an issue. To have a complete understanding of all existence, of all possibilities and of all issues.

    Release: Increase of mind.

    3.   Emotional bondage

    Synonyms: Neurosis, psychosis, self-pity, self-justification.

    Definition: The feelings of an adult human being are self-controlled to create misery, the condition of an unhappily divided self. This self-destruction is often performed unconsciously, unbeknownst to that person himself.

    Ultimate: Insanity

    • Examples:
    • One who is enraged at the economic injustices of his society.
    • One who feels unloved.
    • One who is bitter about how his family treats him.
    • Non-examples:
    • Feeling temporary grief at the loss of a loved one.
    • Feeling sorrow for one’s sins.
    • Feeling sorrow for another person’s sins.

    Controls: Authorities, culture, which teach a person that he is not responsible for his own feelings, that feelings are just things which “happen” to a person.

    Opposite: A person who through correct ideas and habits has achieved the ability to feel any way he desires to feel, regardless of any influence his environment may have on him.

    Release: Increase of mind to understand every person feels only that which he desires to feel (speaking of emotion, not of sensation), plus increase of self-discipline to feel only positive emotions (gratitude, love, forgiveness).

    4.   Spiritual bondage

    Synonyms: Spiritual death, spiritual impotence, the bondage of sin.

    Definition: The spiritual experiences and powers of a person are limited to evil sources because of his sins.

    Ultimate: To suffer the second death.

    • Examples:
    • One who prays and receives no answer from the Lord.
    • One who lays his hands on to heal, but nothing good happens.
    • One who wonders but cannot gain a testimony of the Restored Gospel.
    • Non-examples:
    • One who gives up a promising career to fulfill a church calling.
    • One who does everything which the scriptures suggest.

    Controls: Pleasure taken for its own sake, social power and esteem, physical strength used selfishly, indulging in evil thoughts and feelings, not using one’s might to serve God.

    Opposite: To have a fullness of spiritual gifts and spiritual power such that the powers of Satan and the powers of the earth can restrain that person no longer.

    Release: Increase of heart, might, mind and strength through forgiveness of sins (thus not to have to carry the weight of those sins and to suffer the lack of spiritual opportunity which those sins make necessary). This forgiveness is made possible only through the atonement of Jesus Christ and is available to men only through accepting and living by the laws and ordinances of the Restored Gospel.

    5.   The bondage of desire

    Synonyms: Selfishness, perversion, self-indulgence.

    Definition: The situation of a divided person, part of whom desires that which is good, the other part desires that which is evil. Desiring that which is evil is the bondage of desire.

    • Examples:
    • A medical doctor who smokes.
    • A poor man who desires to be righteous, but who lusts after is neighbor’s wealth.
    • A missionary who desires to help people understand the Restored Gospel but who thinks lascivious thoughts.
    • Non-examples:
    • A poor man who wishes he could help his equally poor neighbor.
    • An ill person who desires to have the strength to fill a mission.

    Controls: Habit, past history.

    Opposite: One who has first reduced his needs and desires to zero, and then has come to desire with all of his heart that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord.

    Release: Increase of understanding until one understands that which is good and right, then increase of self-discipline until one desires only that which is good and right. This is the achieving of a pure heart.

    6.   The ultimate (and independent variable) bondage is the bondage of desire. The bondage of desire is always the self-imposed bondage of desiring evil. As a Latter-day Saint disciplines himself to reduce his own personal needs (desires) to nothing, and at the same time learns fervently to desire those godly things which are shown to him by the Holy Ghost, he begins to be one person (to have integrity), to be a whole person (to be sanctified), and to be a new person, born again as a child and servant of Jesus Christ. That process is of course partly unavailable to a person who does not have the opportunity to accept the Restored Gospel. They may learn this unselfishness and implement it to a degree through the light of Christ, but one needs the gift of the Holy Ghost to find the fullness.

    7.   But if a person hears and accepts the Restored Gospel and then is born again of the water and of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit then teachers him what is good and right that he may be able to desire what is good and right in all things eventually. He then has the opportunity to achieve a pure heart. A pure heart is a heart so trained to choose only that which is good and right that it never deviates from that choice. That training is done by each individual person as he allows himself only to desire that which is good and right. This is the agency of man: to choose what is good and right through the Savior, or to choose captivity and death through the flesh (and with the help of Satan). A pure heart is not the result of one such choice. It is the result of a long, unbroken series of such choices. Another way to describe such a long series is to say it is to learn to love the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind and strength.

    8.   A person who has a pure heart is able to bring himself to do the very best he knows to do in any and every situation of choice in his life. The first thing which a pure heart enables him to do is to gain control of his feelings so that he never feels any emotions except gratitude, love and forgiveness. This sets him free emotionally. Being free emotionally, he can then of his own present power minimize the intellectual and physical bondage in his life. If the Restored Gospel is available to him, it is possible for him to achieve elimination of the spiritual bondage altogether. But what can a person do if he does not know the Restored Gospel? He can do the best that he knows to do. The best one knows is to respond to the light of Christ rather than to the adversary. As one responds to that light, desiring and choosing the best he knows to do, one begins to feel better about himself and to be able to see the truth of things about himself and the Savior more clearly. Eventually that spiritual discipline of doing the best that he knows to do will lead him to accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ when it is presented to him. Through the Restored Gospel and its ordinances (through the gifts and mercy of the Savior), he may obtain eventual release from every degree of each bondage. To know the truth is to become free, and to be free indeed.

    9.   In the beginning man is not free. Each person suffers two versions of each kind of bondage except the bondage of desire, which is always totally self-imposed. The other bondages consist of bondage imposed upon him by others and also of bondage imposed upon himself by himself. The real freedom which this world affords it to desire and to choose what is right, this to be released from all self-imposed bondage. He who thus releases himself is then a candidate to be released from all other bondage by the Savior.

    10. To reject the light of the Savior is to reject all of the good in one’s self, to reject righteousness, to reject freedom, and to reject increase. In other words, to reject that light is to be damned. Because our God is what and who he is, that damnation is always self-imposed. We conclude that though every human being is born to self-awareness, each being is fettered in the chains of multiple bondages, and ultimately each of these bondages is self-imposed.

    11. He who avails himself of the freedom to increase through the Savior will be able to enjoy increase forever, even eternal increase. All of which begins with the freedom to desire what is good and right.

  • President Nelson Conference Message

    “Overcome the World and Find Rest,” October 2022

    1. Wonderful days are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen.
    2. Between now and the time He returns with “power and great glory,” He will bestow countless privileges, blessings and miracles upon the faithful.
    3. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!
    4. Making and keeping covenants makes life secure.
    5. The reward for making and keeping covenants is heavenly power, power that strengthens us to withstand our trial, temptations and heartaches.
    6. The Savior overcame the world and entreated each of us to do the same. As you truly repent and seek His help, you too can rise above this present precarious world.
    7. Overcoming this world means overcoming the temptation to care more about the things of this world, than the things of God, giving away our favorite sins. Your resistance to sin will increase, and you will grow to love God and Christ more than you love anyone or anything else.
    8. We overcome the world by yielding to the enticing of the Holy Spirit.
    9. Overcoming the world does not happen in a day or two. It happens over a lifetime of living the doctrine of Christ.
    10. As we live the higher laws of Christ, the Savior lifts us above the pull of this fallen world to find true happiness.
    11. Power, possessions, popularity and pleasures of the flesh are not true happiness.
    12. Christ alone has the power to lift you above the pull of this fallen world through keeping covenants.
    13. Making covenants with Christ does not make life easy, but it brings power, the power of Christ.
    14. Pres. Benson: God can make more out of our lives than we can.
    15. Take charge of your own testimony. Nurture it by finding the truth. Don’t pollute it with false philosophies of men.
    16. As you make strengthening your testimony your highest priority, watch for miracles to happen in your life.
    17. His plan: Find rest by overcoming the world, then keeping covenants, asking God to
    18. Each day, record the impressions that come as you pray.
    19. Follow diligently the instructions you receive in prayer.
    20. Spend more time in the temple which teaches you how to rise above this fallen world.
    21. The Gathering of Israel is the most important work today.
    22. Part of gathering Israel is establishing Zion.
    23. As you let God prevail in your life, you will overcome this world and find rest by drawing upon His power.
    24. The prophet blessed all of us to care more about the things of God than the things of this world, and to bless others you love.
    25. Because Christ overcame the world, we can also.

  • Sacrament Meeting Talk, Jun. 2022

    19 June 2022, Hillcrest 6th Ward

    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 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 to 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 the 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 US 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 chance 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 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 our 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 other 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 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 Spirit 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 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 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 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 and 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 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.

    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 to 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 an 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.

    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 mean 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 in 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.

  • I Give Thanks

    This is in response to the request by President Russell M. Nelson’s recent plea on November 20, 2020 to #GiveThanks with a daily post to social media for 7 days.

    I give thanks #6 – November 29, 2020

    Consider the marvel of the planet on which we reside, earth. So delicately balanced for heat and cold, light and darkness, air and water, plants and animals, minerals and soil to provide a wonderful habitat for human probation. All bespeaks the hand of a careful creator, though some prefer to give the credit to blind chance. But thanks be to the gods who put all things in order for our wonderful habitat. Those persons of a spiritual inclination see that appreciation for nature is one form of worshiping that generous God who gave us all this.

    What a miracle it is to drop a seed in the ground and have it reliably turn into a tomato plant or a melon vine. What a blessing that sun and rain bless the ground so plentifully in most places. What a blessing that this earth can sustain billions of God’s children and could support many times more people than there are now were it not for selfishness and greed.

    Part of our human probation and training for godhood is the opportunity to deal with the delightful earthly environment with which we have been blessed. May we each prove appreciative of this great blessing and strive to leave our physical surroundings better, cleaner, more productive than we found them.

    How grateful we should be!

    I give thanks #5 – November 28, 2020

    Because of the Fall of Adam all accountable humans are in the power of Satan and sin, breaking the commandments of God. Having sinned, we become unclean, and no unclean thing can come back to the presence of our Father in Heaven. Some sin much, some sin little. But we all sin and would be lost forever were it not for our Savior.

    But Christ is of sin the double cure: He saves from wrath and makes us pure. He saves those who accept his atonement from the punishment justice demands for their having sinned. And he makes us pure by teaching us to repent, to replace each of our ways of disobedience with coming into the strait and narrow way of righteousness.”Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1: 18)

    Could there be a blessing greater than having a Savior? Could there be a human action wiser than giving ourselves to follow our Savior, to become his humble imitators? There is hope for all of us, but only in true faith in Jesus Christ.

    I give thanks #4 – November 27, 2020

    One of the greatest blessings of being a human is to have a physical body. We are not that body. The real “us” is our eternal intelligence (person) clothed in a spirit body given to us by our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. Our physical body is a temporary “loaner” from our Heavenly Parents to see what we will do with it while it lasts. How we use it determines what kind of physical body we will be rewarded with for the rest of eternity: celestial, terrestrial, telestial, or perdition.

    The basic options for use of our mortal human tabernacle are to use it to bless others or to use it strictly for our own imagined pleasures. The first option is called righteousness and the second is called selfishness. Almost all humans try both to see how they feel about each, then settle into a pattern favoring one or the other.

    The greatest power our Heavenly parents have given us is to use this physical tabernacle to beget children, to bless other spirits with physical bodies. Satan hates this power because he will never have a physical body and tries to destroy as many human bodies as he can through wars, murders, drug use, celibacy, etc. But his favorite tactic is to entice humans to murder their own children. Anciently he did this by getting his followers to pass their children through fire as a sacrifice to some fictitious god. Today he prevails upon humans to kill their children in the womb, preferably at conception.

    Blessed are those humans who choose righteousness and bless others, especially their own children.

    I give thanks #3 – November 26, 2020

    Father has given his human children two great gifts to guide them away from the grasp of his unfaithful son to be able to follow his faithful son. The first is conscience, the light of Christ which lightens every human being, and which brings to each of us feeling of what is right to do and what is wrong to do. The second is the Holy Ghost which brings to those who accept the light of Christ and try to do what is right a witness that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind. If any human accepts Jesus Christ as Savior and makes the covenant to remember and to serve Christ always, then the Holy Ghost will bring to each accepting soul a knowledge of the truth in any matter where the person needs it.

    Thus accepting a feeling for righteousness is the first step to salvation from eternal servitude to the unfaithful son. The second step is to accept the witness that Jesus is the appointed Savior of mankind, then to accept Christ through the covenant of baptism, then to follow the Holy Ghost until we gain a new being in the image of Christ himself, full of righteousness and truth.

    Oh the graciousness of our Father in giving us these two great gifts to guide our mortality!

    I give thanks #2 – November 25, 2020

    Because Father so loved his children, he sent his unfaithful son to cause his human children to fall in dying both spiritually and temporally to create a mortal situation. But this fallen condition made each child an agent, the perfect context for each of Father’s children to choose for himself or herself what each would be happiest doing in eternity. The context and agency were made complete when Father also sent his faithful son, the Son of Man (of Holiness), to atone for the sins of all mankind and to bring about the resurrection of each person. And messengers were sent to Adam and Eve and all of their children so that they could know how to be saved from the power of the unfaithful son by committing to and following the faithful son, Jesus Christ. Thus it is that all who love blessing others like the faithful son can become free from the power of the unfaithful son by binding themselves to the faithful son to become like him and by rejecting the messages from the unfaithful son.

    That is why I am so grateful for the faithful son, Jesus Christ, and his precious gospel.

    I give thanks #1 – November 24, 2020

    I am thankful for my Heavenly Father. “Man of Holiness” is his name because he only does that which blesses others. In him there is no selfishness of any kind. His actions are one eternal round of creating and blessing. Because he does no evil and is dependable in doing all the good that can be done, he is trusted by everyone and everything in the universe that is not satanic. All the elements of the universe obey and worship him because of his goodness. This gives him great power to bless. He became a God by choosing righteousness over evil. And he blesses all of his children with that same opportunity.

  • Righteousness vs Preparing to Be Righteous

    8 December 2019
    by Chauncey C Riddle

    Brothers and Sisters, I rejoice in this opportunity to speak to you. Being the oldest member of this ward, this is probably the only time I will ever be asked to address you. My task here is to say what the Lord would have me say, and I have spent many hours searching out what he would have me say. Your task is to dissect everything I say so that you understand me, but then not believe a word that I say. But you are bound by and will be judged by what the Holy Ghost tells you while I am speaking. Do believe the Holy Ghost and do what he tells you to do.

    But remember that there are two spirits speaking to you while I speak. Satan will entice you not even to listen to me or to interpret what I say incorrectly, while the Holy Ghost will tell you what our Savior wants you to hear and to do after hearing what I say. You are the agent that will choose.

    The topic I have been sent to discuss with you is the difference between doing a righteous act and preparing to do righteous acts.

    A righteous act is blessing some other person or thing as one is instructed by the Savior and done at some personal sacrifice of our own. It must be done as instructed by our Savior because he is the true vine and we are the branches who can bring forth no good fruit except we do it in him. It must be done at some personal sacrifice of our own because only then is it our true gift to the person we bless. Preparation for doing a righteous act is repenting and increasing our faith in Jesus Christ so that we can truly do our Savior’s quality of work in blessing others. Preparatory acts are necessary and good things to do. Acts of righteousness are the best things to do. Let us not confuse the two.

    Our Savior gave us a parable to impress upon us the difference between preparation and real righteousness:  And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise, a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him,

    Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. (Luke 10:30-35)

    Most people see this parable as simply a lesson on who is our neighbor. It is. But the larger message is how do I love my neighbor instead of myself. And here many people get confused. They think they are supposed first to love themselves and then love their neighbor the same way. I submit to you that that is not what the Lord intends. He intends that we love our neighbor instead of loving ourselves. Do not confuse self-love with self-respect. We must respect all that God has given us: a body, a life, opportunity to serve. And that is what this parable shows among other things. The principal other thing it shows is the difference between preparation for righteousness and righteousness itself. The priest and the Levite doubtless were very observant of the instructions of the Law of Moses and prayed and fasted and performed sacrifices of blood on the altar. Praying, fasting and performing sacrifices on the altar were good things to do, but they are preparation to do righteous acts, not righteous acts in and of themselves. We do not know what preparation the Samaritan performed, but we know he did rise to the opportunity to bless another person in real need and at his own expense of time and money. Thus, the Samaritan did acts of true righteousness and the priest and the Levite shrank from true righteousness in spite of all their preparation to do righteous acts.

    Another word for righteousness is charity, and charity is the pure love of Christ. It is the pure love that comes from Christ and ministers to those in need as the one who ministers, has compassion on the one in need to do acts inspired by Christ. All good things humans do come from Christ and are inspired by Christ, for we are nothing without him. Our Savior said:

    I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
    Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 
    Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 
    Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
    I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
    If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 
    If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
    Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
    As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
    If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Fathers commandments, and abide in his love. 
    These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
    This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
    Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15: 1-13)

    The fruit the Lord wants to bear is righteousness, not just preparation for doing righteous acts. But he also wants us to be well prepared to bless our neighbors.

    What are the acts by which we prepare to bless our neighbors? Let us recount and define some of them.

    1. Repenting of our sins is the unique preparation for exercising true faith in Christ unto baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost. Repenting is thus preparation for ministering to others as instructed by the Holy Ghost, which is righteousness.
    2. Praying sincerely to God for forgiveness of our sins and for the guidance of God is indispensable preparation for performing the acts of faith in Christ which are the sacrifices of righteousness.
    3. Fasting is a wonderful way to enhance prayer, a good thing to do often, but it is good preparation rather than righteousness itself.
    4. Partaking of the sacrament to renew our covenants is a good thing to do, but is preparation for rather than righteousness itself, as is attending our church meetings.
    5. Receiving our own endowments in the temple is a wonderfully good thing to do, but it is preparation rather than righteousness itself.
    6. Being sealed to an eternal companion in the temple according to God’s law is a magnificent and good preparation for righteousness but is not of itself righteousness.
    7. Studying the scriptures is wonderful preparation, but of itself is not the crowning work of righteousness.
    8. Meditating in the Spirit of the Lord is wonderful and good, but is preparation.

    It should be plain that all these good things are great preparation, but of themselves, they do nothing to help our neighbor who lies helpless because he has been robbed and beaten by the servants of Satan.

    If we do all of these things, we are uniquely prepared to be inspired by our Savior to know exactly what sacrifices we should make to bless the wounded people we encounter. Actually, blessing our neighbor by sacrificing something of our own stewardship in his behalf is the only true righteousness. The following are some of the ways of performing acts of righteousness.

    1. Mothering and fathering, service to our brothers and sisters.
    2. Ministering (assigned or not assigned), especially to the widows and the fatherless.
    3. Presiding.
    4. Fulfilling our church calling.
    5. Teaching the Restored Gospel.
    6. Preaching the Restored Gospel. (Every member a missionary).
    7. Performing or being proxy for temple ordinances for others.

    All can be true righteousness if done in the pure love of Christ and as guided by the Holy Ghost.

    And if we do not bless our neighbor through Christ-inspired sacrifice, we actually curse our neighbor by withholding the blessings Christ wants him or her to have.

    Righteousness is also called charity in the scriptures. Charity is really caring about someone unto preparing ourselves in all humility to administer the blessings Christ would have them have. Paul gives us a good list of defining characteristics of charity in 1 Corinthians 13:

    Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

    A person who gives a great talk in church but who will not minister blessings to his neighbors does not really believe the Gospel of Christ.

    And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

    Having sought and received the gifts of the Holy Ghost is wonderful, but that blessing to him is meaningless unless the one so gifted cares about his neighbors enough to bless their lives.

    And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

    Thus, one can give away everything he has, even his life, and not have it be righteous charity unless the person cares enough about his Savior to come unto Christ and cares enough about his neighbor to minister as Christ would have him do.

    Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

    The person who has attained the pure love of Christ is willing to suffer whatever suffering God allows to be put upon him, and he or she is kind to everyone, friends and enemies alike, and envies no one because he or she has the greatest of all the gifts of God, which is charity. The person who has this charity does not toot his own horn to call attention to himself or herself but avoids all pride by proceeding through life as a humble child of Christ.

    Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

    This person who has true charity never tries to call attention to themselves by their dress, grooming, or actions. They do not seek to feather their own nest, which thing all those who love themselves try unceasingly to do. Those who have charity bear abuse with aplomb, not rising to self-defense except when prompted to do so by the Holy Spirit, and never giving in to anger, which always is prompted by Satan. And they never plot evil against anyone, for that also is always prompted by Satan.

    Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

    The true servants of Christ always lament the evil, the inequities they see around themselves, but they rejoice in the truth of all things, no matter where found.

    Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

    Those faithful to Christ are willing to suffer whatever Christ allows to be put upon them, and they believe all that comes from Christ, hope for every good gift from Christ, and endure all the vicissitudes of mortal life in and by the power of Christ. 

    Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

    If a servant of Christ attains the gift of charity, it will never be taken from them as long as they exercise that gift in ministering to the needs of their neighbors. But if one does not gain charity, then eventually their other gifts of the Holy Spirit will be taken away from them, even their ability to prophesy, the ability to speak in foreign tongues will be taken from them, as will be the special insights of knowledge they have been given. For all the gifts of God are given to mankind so that they may minister righteousness to their neighbors. If they never learn to love and bless their neighbors, they will lose their other gifts from God and just be like all the other natural and fallen persons in this world dominated by Satan.

    For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

    Until we attain the gift of charity because our faithfulness to Christ, all of our other blessings from him are temporary and partial. But when we gain the greatest of all spiritual gifts, that of charity, the pure love of Christ, then and only then can our ministering to others become perfected and complete. When we gain the gift of charity, we will have become as Christ in the most important way that can be done, because the essence of Christ is his pure, selfless love for all other persons and things. When we have become like Christ in that ultimate step, then we will be privileged to know him even as he knows us, which is to know him completely.

    And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

    The greatest gifts God gives to mankind are faith in Christ, hope in Christ and the pure love from Christ. And clearly, the greatest of these gifts, the ultimate fruit of the Holy Spirit, is the ability to minister to our neighbors in the pure love of Christ, which is charity. (1 Corinthians 13: 1-8, 12-13)

    So how does a covenant servant of Christ gain this greatest and most desirable of all the gifts of God? Mormon tells us plainly in the Book of Mormon:  

    And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men. For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness. (Moroni 7: 29-30)

    The requirement for receiving the gift of charity is the same requirement to receive the ministering of angels and of coming into the presence of Christ himself. The covenant servant of Christ must pursue faithfulness to Christ until his faith in Christ is so strong and unchallengeable that the servant has attained strong faith and a firmness of mind and will unto the keeping of all of the commandments of Christ. The words of Christ will show us all things we must do to attain life, salvation, and a completeness or perfection of our power to minister in the name of Jesus Christ. Nephi also makes this very clear:

    Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. (2 Nephi 32:3)

    So if we will press forward in the vicissitudes of this fallen world, thrusting aside all of the temptations of Satan until through feasting upon the words of Christ unto receiving from him instruction as to all things we should do, then doing all things he instructs us to do, we will come to know him face to face and will be like him when we see him.

    Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am; (D&C 93:1)

    It is my hope and prayer to be able to truly come unto Christ through calling upon his name unto the faithful keeping of each and every instruction and commandment that he gives me until I see his face and know him as he knows me. For then I will have shown that I truly have taken upon me that greatest gift he has to give, his pure love and his personal ministering to each of his created children. And I desire that blessing for each of you also, that with one accord we can come to the fountain of eternal life and minister the pure love, in righteousness, to others through him, unto all eternity.

    Conclusion: Do diligently prepare to be righteous, but also earnestly fulfill righteousness.

    This talk was constructed as an admonition to myself. And if there is any one person who now hears me who is being helped to come unto Christ and to be perfected in ministering in the pure love of Christ to his or her neighbors, I would be most grateful.

    I bear you my witness that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that the only true and living church on the face of this earth is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Other churches have much truth, and there are many persons who do not now belong to the true Church of Jesus Christ who are good persons and who do much to bless others because of the light of Christ which is in them. When all of Israel has finally been gathered, every soul who loves Christ will have been brought under his influence and love unto a fulness of all that they can stand to receive of his blessings. What a blessed day that will be indeed. And for that day all who love Christ will serve him with as much of their heart, might, mind and strength as they can muster.

    In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

  • On this Christmas Day:

    The most important thing for any human being to understand: We humans are all literal children of the Gods who control this universe, and because we have their DNA in us and they have made us free to choose, we have the potential to become gods also or any lesser thing of our own choosing.
    The most important thing for any human being to do: Pray to the Father, using the key name of his Son, Jesus Christ, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, asking and seeking what we most desire. If we are persistent enough to show them we really mean what we ask for, they will bless us, and if we do what they say through the Holy Spirit, we will inherit all we can stand to receive.

  • Tributes to LeGrand

    Hi Everyone!

    This is Tonya Baker Miller, LeGrand’s daughter.

    As many of you already know, LeGrand passed away peacefully on Thursday, August 2, 2018. He left such a legacy of love – love for the gospel coupled with love for each one of us! I miss him so much, but have a strong sense that he is thrilled with what he is learning and experiencing now!

    His funeral will be a week from today, Saturday, August 11th, at 1:00 p.m. (Please email me if you would like more details.)

    I am currently compiling tributes to my dad and want to invite any of you who are interested to share a story of time spent together, a favorite passage of scripture you read with him, etc. Please email your tributes to me at tonya_b_miller@yahoo.com

    This website will continue to be maintained but not added to, and my family and I hope that you will still use it!