Fulness of Times

 There's a big problem in that bad laws are difficult to change. Laws supposed grounded in the scientific knowledge of that time they were made should be modified or even removed if new scientific data--evidence and facts--prove the old reasons for the law to be invalid. The problem is people get used to something and then don't want to change. For some the law gives them a justification, even if that justification is grounded in falsehood or even lies. Nearly 50 years ago some of the arguments that were used to justify the Roe V. Wade decision, to legalize abortion, have been proven to be wrong. Much of the scientific justification used was that fetuses didn't feel and couldn't be considered viable, "facts" that today are easily proven wrong through medical equipment that was science fiction in the 1970s but which is science fact today. But the argument now is that a woman should have the choice to end the life growing in her womb. Of course, liberals won...

There's a quote that goes around--  "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it.” The quote is sometimes attributed to the Savior, and it's often on a picture of the Lord. It's good if people feel inspired or motivated by the quote, but I bristle inside when people believe it's scripture.  The quote is NOT from scripture. It's attributed to Mae West, who was an actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol who lived from August 17, 1893 to October 22, 1980. There is truth in the quote. Things that are worthwhile require effort. They require us to do something. We cannot acquire that which is worthwhile simply be sitting around wishing for it. We have to do, to act in faith. However, despite what some variations of the quote state--"God never said it would be easy, he just promised it would be worth it"--I have yet to find anywhere in any Christian book of scripture where God said that. In fact, I've read the opposite. In t...

 For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there's a well-known story in the book of 1 Nephi chapter 3.  Just prior to this, the prophet Lehi left Jerusalem with his family because the wicked people in the city were going to kill him. In chapter 3, Lehi tells his four sons that God has instructed them to return to the city to get their family history and scriptures (which were engraved on brass plates) from a powerful man named Laban. The scriptures are needed because the Lord is going to lead the group to a new land. Nephi's two oldest brothers, Laman and Lemuel, don't want to go. We don't know all the reasons why, only that they said it as a "hard thing" that they're being asked to do. My guess is they know the reputation of Laban and don't know how they'll be able to convince him to give them the brass plates. We don't really know what the third son's (his name was Sam) response was. But it probably wasn't like ...

 Most of my scripture study over the past few months has been centered around faith. I've re-read certain chapters dozens of times, gleaning new insights and understanding as I've written my thoughts down in a thought-journal. I don't write in the journal as frequently as I should, but I still have over 20 full-size pages. Here's one day's entry.

 The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly added to the divisiveness in the US as well as in other parts of the world. Not just the virus but the vaccines have added fuel to the fire. As mentioned in other posts, I am not anti-vax.  Isn't it interesting how much money vaccine manufacturers are making where as only a few years ago vaccine manufacturing (supposedly) did not make a company much of a profit, if any. Now a coronavirus has transformed the vaccine manufacturing into a billion-dollar industry. But that money isn't (directly) from consumers. The money is tax money (from citizens) given to vaccine manufacturers directly from the government. Doesn't that raise red flags? And without any long term, double-blind, control group based studies I am hesitant to believe the hype of the COVID-19 vaccines. Especially when their effectiveness seems to drop much quicker than natural immunity (obtained by someone actually getting ill with the virus), and especially when vaccine manufac...

 I don't buy into the big conspiracy theories about COVID and everyone in government trying to take power and control over the people. I believe most people are sincerely trying to do what they believe and feel is best. Unfortunately most people also listen to prevailing advice and opinions blasted into the public's ears. I received this email today, and took out the identifying information. It seems honest enough, but it follows the narrative of medical "experts" most of whom don't even practice medicine in the "trenches" (so to speak) but are into the research and lab analysis. Hello,  You are receiving this email as during routine contact tracing we were notified you may have been in contact with an individual who has recently tested positive for COVID-19. Currently the [organization] does not require any information from you, we are letting you know for transparency/informational purposes only. If you are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 then there is n...

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...