Upward Thought

 This morning I wrote the following as a part of a book on faith I've been writing for some time: "We are steeped, within and without, by incessant invitations for improvement. From without, we are surrounded by evidences that something better than what we have and are exists. We hear songs of deep love that we recognize is beyond what we possess or give. We see movies that portray heroism and sacrifice beyond what we would give. We see and smell and feel beauty in nature that exceeds what we create and enjoy in our daily lives. From within, an echoing message is provided by a still, small voice that paradoxically whispers with the strength to shake us, suggesting to our deepest core that we can live up to and become whatever good we become aware of. These ubiquitous signals can easily be ignored, but never silenced. They are the voice of God, relentlessly calling us towards improvement. This voice is deliberately woven into the very fabric of our lives, being in and through a

 Recently, someone asked me what it meant to keep the commandments. He basically said, "which of them?"  I said: "There are two dimensions to the question. The first is grades of commandments. Rules < Principles < Character. The second dimension is one of completion and correctness. You can have a subset of all the rules, principles, or character, and for each aspect of whichever one you seek, you can have varying levels of accuracy. The chiefest of all is to be like Christ in every way, at all times." There are a lot of ideas in this short quote. I will elaborate on them in books to be released, but for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, you can act on these things now and move forward.

And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. (2 Nephi 28:21) Do you know what "carnal security" is? It is trust derived from anything else except God's perfect justice. If you are hoping that God's promises will be some sort of cheat code for you to avoid what you yet lack, you are in for a rude surprise. If you want to be preserved against the tribulations that will come, I will give you the recipe, if you dare to follow it: You must exercise the law decreed before the foundation of the world that says that you can only have eternally what you are willing to eternally be without. This is the law that, for example, resulted in Abraham preserving the life of Isaac. If you want to walk through the fire that is upon us, you will have to get to the point where you trust God so much that you

A lot of people are praying for God to bring peace to this country. You are asking for what is contrary to God's will, because it violates his laws. He will not give you peace in exchange for wickedness. There have been times past when the prayers of the righteous have preserved an otherwise wicked land. In our days--the last days--the situation is slightly different. God is preserving this land while the people he has sent here at this time prepare and preach his word in greater completeness and simplicity than has ever been given since the foundation of the world.  As is always the case, the more concentrated God's word, the less likely people are to notice. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness perceives it not.  The light begins like a sunrise does--imperceptibly. It gradually increases both in intensity and speed of increase. Those who recognize it earliest will gain the most. Due to immutable eternal law, the greater degree of truth and the more plainly it is

Why is it that Christians in America are so complacent? How is it that those who profess belief in God can be so smug--even across all denominations? Why do they almost uniformly react to the gospel by pretending they know everything there is to know about it, that they are magically specially people for claiming to believe in God, and that they have something of value to share with others?  God will never teach you anything you think you already know. God will never teach you more while you believe you have all there is. You can dance around like an idiot when someone gives you a quarter, thinking you are the richest person alive, but that won't pay the bills when they come due.  The gateway to more knowledge is the admission of the limits of your present knowledge. This is included in what the scriptures call "diligence."  The other key is obedience to what you know already. A broken heart and a contrite spirit requires you to actually obey what you already know and act

All-of-the-sudden-itis: Don't make the mistake of thinking all changes must come all of the sudden and therefore doing something stupid, or being apathetic when they don't and therefore doing nothing at all. Have the sense to project your present understanding back to what you thought 6 months, one year, or three years ago. If someone came to you describing present day circumstances, and somehow you could believe them, you would certainly feel great trepidation at the awful situation of our present day.  Don't succumb to apathy or minimization of what you see before you. It will get much, much worse. Don't succumb to the temptation to blow out of proportion what has already happened. This is nothing compared to what is coming, but there will be relative lulls in between the waves. What is true of your comparison to things in the past vs. today is nothing compared to the extremity of what is coming vs. today.  Weep and wail for what is to come. It has been decreed in hea

You will see people from wealthy areas continue to flood into poorer areas. They will radically increase property prices and bring their politics with them. Property prices will increase so much that the average person in these locations will no longer be able to afford traditional housing.  Very small homes and multi-generational households will increase, in addition to younger people having roommates for a lot longer than their college years.  The number of places that have affordable housing will decrease. Taxes on homes will increase, both in the amount taxed and the number of taxes. Look for new property taxes and subsidy programs that claim to assist in creating affordable housing. There will be disproportional taxes on larger homes, especially as fewer and fewer people buy traditional homes. None of this will solve the underlying problem, and you will see tent cities rise across the country, even while a great many people continue the appearance of normal life.  A similar situat