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...