Fulness of Times

This isn't about the covid-19 but imagine a disease as contagious as measles, but it's contagious in the carrier many days before the person even starts to exhibit symptoms. Measles is considered one of the most contagious diseases where 90 percent of people who are within 50 feet of someone infected will also become infected. What happens if that disease has the fatality rate of smallpox (a virus that killed about of third of those infected and left many of the survivors scarred or blind) or the plague (a bacterium that killed a third of the population of Europe in the 14th century, most likely the bubonic form, but the fatality rate can be has high as 50 or 60 percent). Imagine the havoc that disease would have on a population over the period of year. The economy would be in shambles. Shortages would be everywhere. f a third of the population either dies or becomes crippled in someway due to a rampaging illness society would revert almost to a reset point. By this I...

We've had a few minor virus scares in recent history: SARS, MERS, Ebola. Now we're seeing a new strain of coronavirus, covid-19 The virus has severely spooked financial markets, terrifying them of the global economic impact. It would've been nice to have sold some stocks a month ago so we'd have some money to buy some bargain ones now, or in the coming weeks. But we didn't so we'll just ride it out. I expect the market to recover sometime in the spring or early summer. Just keep in mind this is just a taste of how a real pandemic will affect the world-connected economy. While the efficiency of a just-in-time production and sales economy means less is being wasted, it also means the marketplace is extremely sensitive to any disruption. Companies in China have slowed production to a crawl, which means there will be less supply of those items. Demand for raw materials and oil had dropped because production isn't where it should be. So the cost of materi...

Sometimes I hear the quote "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it." Some people mistakenly think it's scripture. It's not. The quote is attributed to Mae West who was an "American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex symbol." She lived from August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_West Does it seem a little odd that a quote from a "sex symbol" is mistaken to be scripture? Or that it's layered onto a picture of the Savior? Maybe it helps some people feel better about themselves and their challenges. Here's the reality: "For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land." - Alma 37:44    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/37?l...

It was sad, but not unexpected, to hear earlier this week that the Boy Scouts of America had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The title of this USA Today article  https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/02/20/bankruptcy-boy-scouts-chapter-11-ethics-sexual-abuse/4805003002/  is "Did the Boy Scouts violate their own honor code by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy?" I'm not going to debate either way about whether bankruptcy is honorable or not. I personally think bankruptcy is dishonorable, but I also recognize that it may be the only viable option. That said, I think it is used too often. Anyway. I've stated in past posts that the Boy Scouts violated their honor code when they failed to do all they could to protect the youth in their care. They further violated their honor code when they went after money over values. And they violated their honor code in allowing adults as leaders who have values contrary to the traditional values that the Boy Scouts used to esp...

At some time in the future there will be a big earthquake in Utah. Most likely several. If dreams and visions of some are to be believed, there will be a big earthquake at one point and some time later (could be months or years) an even larger earthquake will strike. According to Hector Sosa, Jr., before the first big earthquake there will be a two-day sign. He believes that sign will be volcanic activity in Utah. From Hector's forum on his site he states: "Here are two criteria to know if it is indeed the 2 Day Sign: "1. You won't need to ask if that was it. If you are asking, then it isn't it. "2. There have been more details given. The actual sign is a dormant cinder cone coming alive and spewing ash somewhere along the Wasatch Fault. Once that happens we are on the clock for 48 hours." I'm not aware of many volcanoes in Utah, and most of those are in the southern part of the state. https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/utah.html There are...

Regarding future events, Yoda said "Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future." We have images of major future events in the scriptures, and we can use past events (in the scriptures and history) to model possibilities and likely events of the future. Some are gifted with the ability to see in dreams or visions images and clips of future events. But the actual timing and timeline of events is, I believe, in most cases variable. The Second Coming is a fixed time event, that is I believe there is nothing we can do to make that day come any sooner than it will. But other events and when they will actually occur may have some variability to them. For example, a city threatened with destruction may be spared by the prayers of the righteous and, when the righteous are cast out or leave, the city receives its judgment. I am very interested in dreams and visions, but I am not one to jump to conclusions and make assumptions about their meaning or timing. Many times ...

Not going by actual word definitions but by political characteristics, there is a big difference between liberal and conservative mindsets. I'm intentionally not using Democrat and Republican because while most Democrats are liberals, there are some who are more conservative, or more traditional Democrat. Likewise, while most Republicans claim to be conservative, there are Republicans who are liberal. A big example are many of those in the Utah state legislature. There is a lot of legislation that is being pushed that is not conservative in nature, but I'll get to that. The big difference between conservative and liberal is freedom. I expect most liberals will want to disagree with that and say they believe in freedom, but here is my reasoning. Where does freedom come from? Is freedom our ability to choose what we are going to do and say? Or does freedom come from the government telling us what we can do and say? The conservative mindset wants to minimal government ...

In the Book of Mormon, a few years before the widespread and massive destruction occurred at the Lord's death, the Nephite civilization had become very divided. When a conspiracy to overthrow the government occurred, with judges conspiring together to take away freedom and establish a king, the end result was the country diving into many "tribes." The previously established order and government broke down. Those who had their king ended up going to another part of the land because all the tribes were against them, and blamed them for what happened. But the tribes did not like each other. Even with that dislike, they still had strict rules pertaining to inter-tribe interaction. So, they had some peace in that there were not widespread wars between the many tribes. This is an example of what I've said that people are generally good, in that they want was is just and good. Most people don't want to be at war with others, even if they look, act, or believe diffe...

The impeachment circus that never should have come as far as it did finally ended this week with President Trump's acquittal. Before I go on, I'll mention for those who haven't read all my posts, I did vote for Trump BUT I do not support everything he has done. I also think he can be arrogant, pompous, brash, inconsiderate, and disrespectful. But he has done more to protect our constitutional freedoms than most Democrats. Back to the impeachment ordeal. Was the call to Ukraine last year, "exposed" by some unknown whisteblower, completely inappropriate, I believe it was. But it wasn't impeachable, in my opinion. For it to have been impeachable the whistleblower should have testified instead of all the second- and third-hand "witnesses" and established completely provable grounds that meet the grounds for impeachment. In my opinion, the biggest problem is the Democrat-controlled House impeached the president based on a bunch of second and third-h...