Upward Thought

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/15/business/global-food-crisis-davos/index.html "the world is still in the grips of the worst food crisis in modern history" "a senior nutrition manager at a clinic run by the International Rescue Committee in Mogadishu told CNN that its caseload had spiked 80% in one month, and that it was seeing a staggering 265% increase in severe malnutrition in children under the age of five." https://www.reuters.com/graphics/AFRICA-HUNGER/lgpdkknwlvo/ "Staff at the Benadir maternity and paediatric hospital said admissions of malnourished children have more than doubled their patient numbers over the past year. "Across Africa, from east to west, people are experiencing a food crisis that is bigger and more complex than the continent has ever seen, say diplomats and humanitarian workers."

I have been saying for many years that the foundations of modern society had been quietly obliterated, and that you would see many apparent changes in human behavior as circumstances arise to reveal it. I've mentioned how these shifts would surprise you. This article notes how retailers are locking up many different products that would have been unheard of, say, five to ten years ago. Like ice cream. I am still waiting for pharmacy counters to look like bank counters (bulletproof glass), but I fully expect it. I'm not writing this article to say, "I told you so," but to tell you more. You are going to shortly see products, services, and even businesses going off the market without anything comparable to replace them. I've probably said this before. I'm saying it again. It is going to happen. The underlying principle is that, contrary to what people are led to believe today, products and services do not spring forth out of thin air. They exist only because the...

The degree of faith is determined by the degree to which the obedience is justified by God himself (his character) versus anything else.  The world defines faith incorrectly as believing without having a reason. Those with more light than most define it as doing what you have reason to do. The purest of faith—the one that opens the door to the greatest of God’s blessings, which can be had in no other way—is found in those feelings and actions whose reason is God himself.

The kingdom of God requires flowing contemporary revelation What constitutes the kingdom of God? Where there is a prophet, a priest, or a righteous man unto whom God gives His oracles, there is the kingdom of God; and where the oracles of God are not, there the kingdom of God is not.... but if we do not get revelations, we do not have the oracles of God.... (T.P.J.S., p. 272) When the people are wicked, God withholds his spirit For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. (Isaiah 29:10) Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God. (Micah 3:7) Churches that do not have flowing contemporary revelation are in rebellion against God "Communication never ceased when the people were faithful....an unbroken stillness reigned between the heavens and the earth until the people again repented...." (Ge...

[Reposted from 3/20/17] Recently, the Lord has shown me more about the topic of how humans are used to attack those who attempt to follow the Lord, how to wisely conquer them, and how quickly Satan is taking over the people on this earth. For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire. (2 Nephi 30:10) 1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so ...

[Repost, unmodified, from 7/14/17] Joseph Smith wrote the following in "Lectures on Faith": Q. What testimony have men, in the first instance, that there is a God? A. Human testimony, and human testimony only (see Lecture 2:56). Q. What excited the ancient saints to seek diligently after a knowledge of the glory of God, his perfections, and attributes? A. The credence they gave to the testimony of their fathers (see Lecture 2:56). Q. How do men obtain a knowledge of the glory of God, his perfections, and attributes? A. By devoting themselves to his service, through prayer and supplication incessantly, strengthening their faith in him, until like Enoch, the Brother of Jared, and Moses, they obtain a manifestation of God to themselves (see Lecture 2:55). Q. Is the knowledge of the existence of God a matter of mere tradition, founded upon human testimony alone, until persons receive a manifestation of God to themselves? A. It is. Joseph described how mankind from Adam to Noah...

13 And it came to pass that when they had all been brought, and Jesus stood in the midst, he commanded the multitude that they should kneel down upon the ground. 14 And it came to pass that when they had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel. 15 And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written , and the multitude did bear record who heard him. 16 And after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before , so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father ; 17 And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak ; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time...

So many hunger for a glimpse of God, but God offers us much more than that. God offers you a fullness, to know him as he knows you. The only way to grow towards this is for you to experience more of what he has. This requires you to become like he is. The more you set your heart to learn from and live like him, the more you will comprehend him when he appears. God can appear to anyone at anytime, but different people will get very different things out of his appearance based on how much like him they have become.  To make his appearance more of what it can be to you, steadfastly learn all you can about how he is, and live everything he teaches you about himself.

[Repost unchanged from 6/26/20] I am going to try to boil down what could be volumes into one short post. Civilization is not the default state of human society. The default state of humans is small, family-based tribes that are constantly at war, starving, and generally miserable. The default life span of humans is about 40 years, and much less for women, who tend to die in child birth without the modern technology that fuels modern medicine, abundant nutrition, and physical ease. Almost all of human history has been bound by the amount of food one able-bodied man can produce in about 10 hours per day on relative fertile land in areas with adequate rainfall and temperate climate. Throughout history there have always been blips where, due to some highly unusual circumstances, humans were able to amass more production capital than normally available. This could include: an unusually fertile patch of land (fertile crescent, United States), an unusual break in uneven weather (Anasaz...

Want to see the face of God? First, turn to face God. Forsake your sins, look to him in every thought, and act according to his will in everything. Reach for him as frequently and readily as you reach for your cellphone. Think about him in every thought, and do what he would want in every situation. Draw near to him, and he will draw near to you.

I know it can be hard to herd the cats together for family scripture study. Many times, it probably seems that what you are doing isn't working. Maybe it isn't, but whether a tweak is needed or not, I am a major, major believer in the value this time can impart. I've shared this before, but our current program in my house is that my wife takes on morning scripture study before school and oversees self-study (meaning policing to make sure the kids aren't goofing off) from around 9 till around noon on Sundays. Each Sunday, each child chooses their own question and spends the morning researching the answer from the scriptures. Part of the task is that they have to write up their answer and email it to me. Sunday nights after dinner, we read the questions and answers, and we all talk about them. When we first started doing scripture study, it was in the evenings, and everyone was cranky and in a hurry. Then, my wife integrated it into the school day, but honestly it wasn...

Hi all, It's taken about four years, but we're finally launching a YouTube channel with videos about our huskies.  If you like huskies, or you know anyone who does, check it out and share. I promise we will be putting lots of videos of cute puppies up in the forthcoming days. We hope to post about every two days with a new video.

There is a large pile of topics I would discuss if I had the time. Many of these things would push past the importance threshold if it weren't for the fact that others are openly discussing them. I hope your eyes and ears are open, because what these people are saying is vitally important to you and I, and will absolutely effect critical aspects of our lives. About a week ago, I watched a video by Matt Walsh challenging young men to marry. I have something to say about it, but many others have already posted videos on YouTube reacting to it and saying similar things that I would say about it. We all ought to be engaged in sharing the most valuable truth we have access to. In my case, this means focusing on what others have not yet said. Besides, when it comes to truths about marriage today, if you need it said again, you must be hiding under a rock. The stats are readily available, and they present a very different picture than what Matt Walsh suggests. This morning (1/13/23) I mad...

I've been reading "Feasting Upon the Words of Christ" by James Thatcher. It's a valuable book on studying the scriptures. It is written to an LDS audience. I'm on page 85, and so far it seems to provide significant value to LDS folks without having anything they would find offensive or controversial (as far as it seems to me). You might find it an extremely accessible way to share greater gospel truth with people you know who are LDS. You can order it at print cost on Amazon or download a free pdf on his blog . There are typos in the book, and I asked James if he would like me to post an invitation to anyone who would like to help him proofread it. He is pretty busy and would really appreciate the help. His email is jthatcher07 at gmail.

[EDIT: Not long after sending this response, I got an email from someone else with a pretty convincing counterargument to my reluctance to convert the materials. That counterargument didn't reduce the need for new cascading materials, but it did convince me of value I did not previously see in making things more available. Stay tuned.] I get that the world is quite used to channels of narrowing bandwidth, but I think with youtube we are already beyond the threshold of the minimal required bandwidth for what needs saying. You've read a few of the books, so I bet you can see that.  There is a way of looking at all of this like a tree (in the programming sense). The problem with creating more and more accessible materials is that you can't do it without losing information. The stuff I write needs to be propagated down the tree, and doing that with lossy compression at lower nodes is probably not an effective way.  I think there is definitely a space for people creating content...

Each day, I frequently exercise all the self-control I have not to write or record material for this blog or my YouTube channel. God shows me daily why I need to focus on the books he has instructed me to write, and why it would do more harm than good to spend more time providing much lesser things--even though they are urgently needed--compared to the much more important things he has commanded me to write, and teaches me about each day. Still, sometimes when my heart overflows with the love of God, and I see nowhere to put it, I glorify him publicly. One of my favorite musical pieces is "On Earth As It Is In Heaven" by Ennio Morricone . There are many reasons why this musical number deeply impacts me.  One reason is because it reminds me of the movie it was used in. "The Mission" is a movie that not all will appreciate. I won't ruin it for you if you have not seen it, but I feel deep meaning in seeing two devout men worshipping God according to the dictates o...

Facts about women Until the early 70s, women in the US tended to have their first child at 21. Now, it's over 30. ( source ) Way back when, the average age of first period was around 17 years old. Now, it is 12. ( source ) Facts about men Testosterone in men is dropping at 1% per year, and has been for many decades. "The average 22 year old man today, has an average testosterone level roughly equal to that of a 67 year old man in 2000." ( source ) Effects Low fertility rates, birth defects, miscarriages. Increases in female cancer. Decreases in female happiness. Significant decreases in male productivity and employment. ( source ) More working age men living with parents than ever. ( More than half of 18-29 year olds are living with parents ) ED in men under 40 is skyrocketing (<2% historically, as high as 40% now). Causes There are many factors that influence sex hormones in men and women. These include (unranked): - Type and amount of food consumed - Time spent playi...

Two themes I have previously addressed over years: 1) Every aspect of modern life is a snare that is binding you into behavior that does or will violate your conscience. (I am sure I've never put it quite like that). The longer you wait to escape, the more it will cost you to do so. 2) The foundations of our way of life have been removed, no one seemed to notice, and the consequences of their removal will only be apparent as situations arise that expose their absence. Every pillar of society is now a hollow tree whose rotten core will only be noticed by normal people when a wind gust knocks it onto their house. Each day I see these themes playing out, and while some people are waking somewhat to their reality, most are walking towards greater blindness. One thing I like doing is reading comments, either on YouTube or news sites. It gives you a usually scary insight into what people are thinking. I was listening to a snippet of Joe Rogan on YouTube this morning on the topic of Jord...

I drafted the following this morning for an upcoming book. I don't see any reason to delay an initial share. Forgive typos and grammar, I don't have time to proofread it right now. Many of life’s most valuable benefits are only available at certain times Many of life’s greatest offerings stem from choices made early in life. Time matters, and the more significant the consequences of a decision, the more likely it must be made at a young age.  For example, your available options for marriage will never be better than they are at 22 for almost all women and around 30 for most men. Other choices are still possible but excessively more difficult later in life than sooner. For example, the longer you wait to lose weight, the harder it will be and the less difference it will make to your health and appearance. It is much, much easier to avoid gaining weight than it is to lose it. As another example, consider the comparative sacrifice required to prepare for a worthwhile car...