Fulness of Times

While reading this morning, and then writing a post, something in this verse popped out "Yea, wo be unto you because of that great abomination which has come among you; and ye have united yourselves unto it, yea, to that secret band which was established by Gadianton!" Helaman 7:25 When I read "abomination" in this verse I had an interesting thought process. First, "abomination" was not being applied to wickedness but to the conspiracies that had taken over the government, subverted and corrupted the laws, and caused wickedness to prevail and increase across the land. It was being applied to the secret combinations that were among those in power and throughout the people. Another thought was "abomination of desolation" so I did a scripture search on LDS.org and got the following: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)...

We are taught to beware of pride. Most of the time pride is taught as being bad. But, is it ever good? One example is with Ammon. His brother Aaron rebuked him when Ammon's joy appeared, to Aaron, to cause him to boast (Alma 26:10), which is a characteristic of becoming prideful. In the subsequent verses Ammon explains that his rejoicing is in God, and God's strength, mercy, power, and long-suffering. But, it never really talks about this as being pride, although I'm guessing there was a type of pride. Just not one that would make Ammon believe he was better than anyone else. Over the years I have found only one verse (there may be more) that indicates there can be some pride that is good. My personal observations of people indicate that most people have a hard time not going to extremes. If the scriptures taught that there was a "good pride" then too many people might use it to justify their prideful actions. It is much better for the people to teach th...

I have great concerns regarding the Medical Marijuana initiative. As I mentioned in that post, I am not against responsible, appropriate use of marijuana (more specifically parts of the cannabis plant) to treat legitimate medical issues. These issues will have been shown, and even supported by evidence, to be helped by parts of the cannabis plant. I think the legislature has been responsible in not going down the rabbit hole of legalizing medical marijuana, but, instead to legalize the research and study of the legitimate use of it. But, a few loud voices have complained it is not fast enough and people are suffering who could be benefited by legalizing medical use of marijuana. They use political talking points to blind people to the real dangers of legalizing medical marijuana for general use. They have pushed a Medical Marijuana Initiative, and the summary looks appealing to many. The problem is in the details. The Initiative, if it passes to law, will open the doors to ...

I started this post a couple days ago with only the title. I decided to finish it and was going to look up some past statements by the Church regarding the medical marijuana initiative, that will be on Utah's ballot in the upcoming election. I opened KSL and today's lead article (at least at this time) is Shutterstock.com LDS Church issues statement regarding Utah Medical Marijuana Initiative   https://www.ksl.com/?sid=46318852&nid=148&title=lds-church-issues-statement-regarding-utah-medical-marijuana-initiative Here's the article: "The proposed Utah Medical Marijuana Initiative is a matter of great controversy in this state. The negative effects and consequences of marijuana use on individuals, families, and society at large are well-known. There are also those who claim that it has medicinal benefits for those in some circumstances. "Accordingly, the Church asked a Salt Lake City law firm for a legal analysis of the proposed initiative t...

Many of us have now been exposed to some form of two-factor authentication to access some account. This usually involves your smartphone or a text. First, you use your normal username and password. Then the site you are trying to access will request the second factor--a code from an email or text message, or approving access through a third party application, such as Duo Mobile. While two-factor is much more secure than just your username and password, there is still the weak link: the user. It's great if a hacker breaks into the site and manages to steal usernames and passwords (which are usually stored in an encrypted format called a hash), because without the second factor it's almost impossible to access the account. However, thanks to a phishing attack and a specialty tool, even a two-factor protected account is vulnerable. This Tool Can Hack Your Accounts Even with Two-Factor Authentication   https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/269121-this-tool-can-hack-your-accoun...

I've had several past posts where I've discussed a coming recession/depression. I saw this article on my News Republic news feed this morning: http://va.newsrepublic.net/a/6554141997697860106?user_id=6499096077969392649&language=en&region=us&app_id=1239&impr_id=6554374032815294730&gid=6554092083900268810&c=email&language=en "Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal are predicting 2020. We're currently in an economic expansion that started in mid-2009—the second-longest in American history—and 59% of the forecasters surveyed think it is most likely to end in two years due to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. Another 22% predicted 2021; smaller groups predicted 2019, 2022, or an unspecified date beyond that." A quick internet search and here's a few more: Economists Think the Next U.S. Recession Could Begin in 2020,  https://www.wsj.com/articles/economists-think-the-next-u-s-recession-could-begin-in-2020-152...

Yesterday's post I mentioned I believed crime was up but I didn't have any numbers. Interestingly, later that day an article on KSL.com caught my eye: "Violent crime up 17 percent in Utah" https://www.ksl.com/article/46318182/violent-crime-up-17-percent-in-utah-report-says The report was based on numbers from 2015 to 2016. The numbers for 2017 won't be available until the fall. Overall crimes were up only 2 percent. But, according to the report, "the total number of violent crimes rose more than 17 percent in 2016. That included a dramatic 42 percent rise in homicides, a 19 percent increase in aggravated assaults and a nearly 17 percent rise in robberies"

As a people becomes more wicked, including being tolerant and supportive of wickedness--which means laws are put into place that protects wickedness and abomination--then the laws of the land become more corrupt. "They had altered and trampled under their feet the laws...that their laws had become corrupted, and...they had become a wicked people" (Helaman 4:22). And the wicked don't have to outnumber the righteous to corrupt the law. They just have to make enough noise, and complaints, and get friends in the right places (judges, lawyers, politicians) that they can begin to get the laws changed. They will twist things and make the wicked look like victims. They will twist good and make generalizations to gain the sympathy of others, using key talking points to make it look like the proposed changes are for the good of society. Then as the law is changed--corrupted from what it was--wickedness and abominations become more socially acceptable and those who had been mo...

In Helaman chapter 4 we read that in the 54th year some dissenters from the Nephites went to the Lamanites: 3 And it came to pass that they did endeavor to stir up the Lamanites to war against the Nephites; but behold, the Lamanites were exceedingly afraid, insomuch that they would not hearken to the words of those dissenters. But in the next year: 4 But it came to pass in the fifty and sixth year of the reign of the judges, there were dissenters who went up from the Nephites unto the Lamanites; and they succeeded with those others in stirring them up to anger against the Nephites; and they were all that year preparing for war. I've talked about anger before in a few other posts. I believe this is a key point which we are passing, and beyond it is destruction. Think about it this way. A little bit of anger begins to cause us to loss some of our reasoning, but, if we allow ourselves to, we can lose our anger if we allow the Spirit to guide us. However, there is a point, ...

This morning I saw in my email an announcement from the Church regarding a new worldwide initiative for children and youth Development Church Announces Plan for Worldwide Initiative for Children and Youth https://www.lds.org/youth/childrenandyouth/statement-to-members?lang=eng New Children and Youth Development Initiative Coming January 2020 https://www.lds.org/youth/childrenandyouth?cid=email-OCA_050818_Button As part the upcoming transition, the Church "jointly" with the Boy Scouts of America  "determined that, effective on December 31, 2019, the Church will conclude its relationship as a chartered organization with all Scouting programs around the world. Until that date, to allow for an orderly transition, the intention of the Church is to remain a fully engaged partner in Scouting for boys and young men ages 8­–13 and encourages all youth, families, and leaders to continue their active participation and financial support" https://www.lds.org/youth...