Upward Thought

God is a warrior. He rides towards the sound of battle. He is relentless. He never gives up on what is right. He will never, ever stop trying to help all who will receive help. He is a rock. He is unwavering and unmovable. The more the darkness presses into him, the harder he pushes back.  His love is never ending. Nothing that can be done can decrease it or cause it to cease.  God is good. He is loving, merciful, and true. No amount of trust in him will ever be betrayed. No amount of darkness can extinguish or dim his light.  Invite him into your life. Seek him in all things. Be relentlessly faithful and obedient to him. To the extent you have obtained his goodness inside of yourself through learning and living his character, you will feel his strength and project his goodness. When the waves of life crash upon you, glorify him by standing up to them. Lean into your faith in him, and let them break against you.  The faithful will shine as lights as they maintain their trust in God at

I haven't been blogging much. I haven't had much to say that is bite-sized. I have found that with the world going the way it is, I need to put in the time to put together stronger weapons. I've been focusing on books. I don't expect to spend much time on this blog in the future, though I think I might spend time on videos once I have a chance to get some of the bigger topics published in books. But who knows. I have finished a book on faith. It's being proofed now. I expect it will be out sometime next month. One reason these books are taking so long is that I'm not writing any from start to finish. For example, I started a book on the character of God before I wrote "Seek Ye This Jesus." I have to follow the flow of what God teaches me, and there are a lot of laterals off of the topic of his character. Those threads have to be traced out before coming back to what is a summary of a lot of material.  As of this morning, I have 3,565 unpublished pages

I received a question from someone today. I've stripped the details out of their question and posted a modified version of my answer to them below in case it is helpful to others. Q: Over the last few years or so I have known several individuals who have stopped believing in God as the result of faith crises.  I have tried to help them see the evidence for God in spite of the bad examples by many religious people and institutions. What do you do with people like this? How do you reach them? Is there anything that can be done besides "be patient"? A: If by being patient you mean doing nothing, that's always a terrible idea. Religions tend to teach that righteousness is a binary attribute. It isn't. It's continuous. We don't have to worry about people being 100% or 0%. Hardly anyone is either. Instead, we ought to think in terms of shades of improvement, or improvement as a series of contiguous, successive steps.  Everything is connected to everything. Peopl

 Someone asked me: "[What do you] do on the sabbath day that make it meaningful to you?" It is my present understanding that we ought to be constantly occupied in whatever leads to the greatest benefit, all the time. What that is, exactly, is obviously specific to a person, due to variance in capability and understanding. Sundays are no different in purpose, but for most people, the things they do that day may be different in practice because of relaxation of day-to-day requirements. The sabbath is a gift from God because we get to focus for more time on the things that the necessity of earning one's daily bread forces us to limit during the week. Each day, from when I get up until when I go to sleep, I prioritize my actions to do the greatest good I know of, subject to the limits of my mortal body.  Every day I wake up as early as I can. I spend the time until 6:30 writing, studying, praying, and lifting weights inasmuch as it helps me focus my mind. At 6:30, I spend thi

Someone asked me: Why do we worship God? Why not the gospel, or the power of God? Isn't God using the power to create us and everything else? If that's the case, why worship Him and not the power? Our understanding is something that is capable of eternal progression. It is capable of reaching the understanding of God, but it does not start developed to that degree. The truth scales infinitely. God presents it in an individually adapted way. He reveals truth to the degree the individual is prepared to perceive, accurately value, and live according to it. To reveal more than that would cause harm rather than benefit.  In what might be the clearest description of ideal human behavior in scripture, we read: 13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. 15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know goo

I know a man in his latter years who has searched for companionship his whole life.  Companionship is a myth. Those who think they have it are sure to be violently surprised at some future date when they are accosted with incontrovertible evidence that the person they thought was their companion is either vastly better or vastly worse than they thought. Why is companionship a myth? Well, let's first make our language more accurate. When most people say "companionship," they mean parity. They mean a reciprocal relationship, where they receive from someone exactly what they give to them.  God's definition of companionship is different. When the Holy Ghost is referred to as your companion, do you think you give it what it gives you? Of course not. You are nothing--completely insignificant--compared to the gift of the Holy Ghost. The relationship is of the same form between any two people, though the degree of difference varies. Whenever there are two people, one is great

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. 4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. 6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. 9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. 10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the