Fulness of Times

Do  your birthdays leave you feeling older? Mine don't. I've never felt old. And I usually have to think about it to recall how old I am and how old I'll turn on my birthday. My age just isn't really important to me because I feel young. My last birthday--number 49-- a few months ago showed to me how my perception was really changing for the better. But first, a little bit about the last year. Summer 2020 I worked several weeks on building a nice shed in our back yard. It's an 8 ft x 12 ft shed that I designed. The kids did help and it was great to get their help, and to teach them, however I mostly ended up building the shed myself. It was mostly built after a month of getting up early and spending a couple hours on it before going in to work later in the morning, The COVID scare made it so work was slow anyway. For the first few weeks I was regularly sore from the work my body wasn't accustomed to. But after a few weeks I felt stronger, and better. My eating h...

 Read the title carefully. It doesn't say "pride is scarce". Pride is certainly not scarce. It's all too common among all categories, classes, and types of people. From the extremely rich to the poorer-than-dirt, pride infiltrates, infects, and infests many of the human race. Pride is evident is all races, ethnicities, religions, movements, nationalities, genders, ages, groups, etc. Is pride ever good? There's a single verse in the Book of Mormon that implies there must be some level of pride that is acceptable. It's during a discourse Nephi gives to a multitude who had gathered outside his garden tower. He rebukes them for their pride, their desire to "get gain" and "be praised of men", and for setting their hearts on the riches and vain things of the world. He calls them to repentance and to return to God. And he warns them of impending destruction because they had united with secret combinations and allowed wickedness and abominations to...

 I meant for this to be a reply to a comment I received on my post Stretched-forth Necks ( https://fulnessoftimes.blogspot.com/2017/01/stretched-forth-necks.html )  Unfortunately the character limit for a response was less than 5,000 characters and...well... I wanted to be more clear than that limitation allowed. Here's the comment: "How does a book from 800BCE refer to America??? You completely took this out of context. No legit scholar or preacher would agree with this. It’s Jewish literature. Ask a rabbi or ask a priest. The ‘me-ism’ of Christianity is a problem. The Bible is FOR us; it’s about God. Stop finding yourself in scripture and focus on finding God in it." And here's my response.

 It's not my intent to focus so much on COVID-19. The illness is real. I've had it. Thankfully for me it was like a weird cold...at least for the one I had in August, which was likely the delta variant although there was no test to confirm what variant it was. I'm still positive I got the first COVID back in November 2019, months before anyone knew anything (at least publicly) about COVID-19. Most doctors and medical "experts" will tell me I'm wrong because the first known cases weren't detected until later. Without going into detail, it was like a flu but not and when the cough started...let's just say I can't remember ever having a cough that bad for so long. Anyway here are some interesting articles. I've tried to keep similar ones together. Is COVID-19 an engineered virus? From The Telegraph, " Wuhan scientists planned to release coronavirus particles into cave bats, leaked papers reveal ". It's not quite as conspiratorial as ...

 If you've read many of my posts you'll know I'm not anti-vax. But I have become extremely cautious with vaccines in the last few years as I've learned more about the pharmaceutical industry and how much money goes into it. It's also been a little concerning how quickly and eagerly most in the medical profession accept what is told to them by the industry. Here's what I was reading this morning in Nature --  The tangled history of mRNA vaccines The mRNA experiments in the late 1980's were the foundation to the COVID vaccines of today. But those experiments weren't even the beginning of mRNA research which started back in the 1960s. For anyone with eyes, who can read, it really isn't a secret that COVID vaccines are very profitable. In the Nature.com article it states-- "Those experiments were a stepping stone towards two of the most important and profitable vaccines in history: the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines given to hundreds of millions of pe...

 I'm going to take a bunch of quotes from this article on September 17, 2021. Why Does No One Ever Talk About Sweden Anymore? Last year when I heard that Sweden was defying the "wisdom" of the "experts" and the country wasn't going to lock down and wasn't going to have a mask mandate I hoped they'd prove the experts wrong. I got a little concerned when the media reported infection and death rates rising in that country. In October 2020 the country ranked "12th highest" in deaths per 100,000 in adjusted population. Now the country ranks 40th.  Compare that to Los Angeles, whose death rate is in the top 10 of the world. And where lockdowns and mask mandates have been the norm since the beginning of the pandemic. "The media’s depiction of Sweden’s results is an excellent illustration of their desire not to inform, but to coerce. They’re not functioning as simply messengers of information but activists, thoroughly consumed by a desire to f...

 If something pushes the agenda forward it gets fast tracked, pushed, praised, and lauded as proof, evidence, or supportive of the message. If something doesn't add to the narrative it's dismissed, ridiculed, ignored, or brushed over as quickly a possible. This happens almost all the time in politics and media (and elsewhere but these areas are where it's most obvious to those who look).  Since early 2020 COVID-19 has been the poster child that is paraded about by politicians and media to justify controls, limitations, restrictions, etc. placed on society. The more you buy into the narrative, the easier you are to manipulate. Once the threat was identified and actually became a real risk the control started with the reasonable-sounding "15 days to slow the spread" and "flatten the curve". When it was apparent that the public as a whole was buying into the fear narrative and would be compliant with health orders, the lockdowns got extended, and extended a...

 On September 15, 2021, the CDC updated its page  COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Case Investigation and Reporting . At first glance it seems the normal pro-vaccination propaganda that's being pushed through the media and politicians, and all those who subscribe to that message. Since about March 2020 we've heard how COVID-19 can show symptoms up to 14 days after exposure, so this particular statement seems to be in line with that: "For the purpose of this surveillance, a vaccine breakthrough infection is defined as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen in a respiratory specimen collected from a person ≥14 days after they have completed all recommended doses of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-authorized COVID-19 vaccine." Basically, to the CDC, you're not fully vaccinated until it's been at least 14 days since you've received your final administration of the vaccine, which in most cases is the second vaccination. So, if you get COVID, and it...

Fear is one of the most powerful controlling forces. Frank Herbert was right when he wrote in Dune, "Fear is the mind-killer." Certainly fear has it's place. But we need to be mind-full not mind-less with our fear. Most of the time fear is used by those in power and positions of influence to push some agenda. And most of the people who listen allow their minds to be effectively killed (or at least numbed) to what is actually happening. The lose mindfulness as they let fear manipulate them. Watching and listening to some news is what inspired this post. Has anyone else noticed "news" changes over the summer? In the spring and early summer, s COVID cases decreased, reports of mass shootings increased. Then as summer progressed and COVID cases started to increase the reporting started shifting back to COVID.  I haven't heard of a mass shooting in weeks.  Fear is a way to move people in a desired direction.  Fear is used to mold and shape your perception, opinio...

The speakers at Church yesterday talked about following the prophet. Thankfully neither brought up the vaccination subject. A letter from the First Presidency doesn't mean the letter's content is doctrinal or revelatory.  Back on 7 June 2021 the First Presidency announced changes to general conference that discontinued the Saturday evening sessions . That stirred things up. Was it revelation? Some thought it was because it came from the First Presidency.  However, on July 27, Saturday evening sessions were reinstated . For those who thought the first announcement was prophetic revelation this reversal seems contradictory. Every year there are other letters from the First Presidency which are not revelation. Often they are general counsel, such as to exercise your right to vote, or stating some policy update or change. In August the First Presidency issued a statement ( see the statemen at the end of this article ) that included the following  "To limit exposure to these v...

The phrase "easiness and willingness" really jumped out at me as I was reading Helaman 6:36. "And thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words." Contrast that to the previous verse:  "And thus we see that the Spirit of the Lord began to withdraw from the Nephites, because of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts." Choosing to disobey commandments, to accept sin, to not try to be and do better (repent) every day leads us to dwindling in unbelief and growing in wickedness and abominations (verse 34). A few verses earlier (verse 31) we learn more about what the Nephites choose to do (or not do). They Turned out of the way of righteousness Trampled under their feet the commandments of God Turned to their own ways Built up to themselves idols of their gold and their silver The wording "did build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver...

 I hear the argument from vaccinated individuals that they don't think it's right for the unvaccinated to pose a health risk to the public. Well, that is the price of a free country. People make choices all the time that affect others. What you think is right doesn't mean it gives you the right to force it on others. Long before any of us came to this earth there was a council in Heaven. A plan was presented that countered God's plan. God's plan allowed for personal choice and accountability. It gave man agency to act. An atonement would be made that would open the doors of mercy which would satisfy the demands of justice on those who would accept the terms of mercy. The opposing plan was aimed at those who were fearful of making bad choices. It was focused on those wanting an easy life, a life that would be guaranteed safe and protected from the bad choices of others. The plan was presented as idyllic because everyone would do what they were supposed to do and ever...

 The world went from "we're going to shut things down for a few weeks to flatten the curve" to what will likely be a vaccine requirement if you want the freedom of a normal life. Forget the fact that it's extremely unethical to require people to have a vaccine that has no long-term studies. Not to mention there will be no long term studies because there is no control group to compare the study to. All of those who believed the lockdowns would only last a few weeks were proven wrong as it lasted months. And there were/are politicians and health department directors who loved the extra power and authority. They didn't care what effect lockdowns have on mental or emotional health. All they cared about was the power they felt, power that came with the ability to lock people out of normal life, and power that came with the continuous fear-mongering. Then came the promise of vaccines that were being developed. Surprisingly some of the vaccines started being developed wi...

 Here's something to keep in mind. Worse illness will be coming. If you read the scriptures you can find plenty of references for plagues that are coming before the Lord returns. And, no, I don't think COVID (at least none of it's current variants) qualifies as a scriptural plague. But I do believe it's supposed to wake us up and get better prepared. I love science. But I'm not one to fall down and worship the latest and greatest discovery or "proof" that is being pushed.  If it's not clear from previous posts, I'm not a big proponent of getting the COVID vaccine. I completely respect anyone's choice to receive it, just as I expect them to respect my choice to not get it. I've had COVID. I believe natural resistance is better and more adaptable than science-created (i.e. man created) immunity. And everyone needs to seek for personal revelation about what is best for their bodies. My concern is there is not enough push and awareness for real...

 "Follow the science" is a loaded phrase. People use that to justify just about everything. "Science" used to say smoking wasn't harmful and DDT didn't cause problems. There are scientific studies that "prove" fats are bad, and that high-cholesterol foods are bad. The phrase is used for pushing climate change, LGBTQ+, and other agendas. And it's used by the opposing side to show how much the one side doesn't follow science. The point is science changes. It evolves. But it's evolution is often slow and tedious, unless there's something that's discovered to be so blatantly false that the evidence can't be ignored any more (like smoking being bad for health). It's not hard to find new and/or unexpected discoveries in various scientific fields on a weekly basis.  The truth is most "proven" science is still just theory, which only means they have only found proof that supports the theory. It doesn't mean there i...