Upward Thought

A while back I printed a copy of the so-called books of wisdom from the Bible. I actually did this just for myself. I enjoy ending my day by reading scriptures, and at that time of the day, I prefer to read paper copies. I wanted a copy of Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon, two books that were in the original King James Bible, but are missing in today's versions. I find great value in these books, so I decided to couple them to Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, and Job. The edition has no footnotes or commentary. My only contribution was the preamble of the book, which I am reprinting here:  "This book is a compilation of books containing proverbs and other wisdom-related literature from the King James translation of the Bible.  Modern readers of the Bible will notice the inclusion of Sirach, otherwise called Ecclesiasticus, and The Wisdom of Solomon, books that were well-known and well-read in earlier times, but absent from modern Protestant Bibles. Both Sirach and The Wisdom of Sol...

Recently there has been a coalescing of events related to the idea of writing down exactly what you believe and why. For scripture study on Sundays, I ask each of my children to come up with a gospel question, then do their best to search out the answer in the scriptures, and write it up as if they were trying to persuade someone who didn't believe their answer. At dinnertime, we discuss their submitted answers, and I add any insights I might have on the topics. Recently, I was describing to my kids the idea of a study journal. This can be done on paper with a 3 ring binder, which allows you to organize things topically and add more pages when needed. With access to computers, it probably makes more sense to do this electronically.  I received an email recently from a reader who has made just this sort of thing: a document that has a topical index of all his beliefs, complete with scripture references supporting each bullet. When you do this, God will respond to your efforts by giv...

A reader wrote and mentioned two books (pamphlets really) that I wrote that are no longer available, except through internet sleuthing.  If I pull content, it is for one or more of these reasons: There is more/better available from myself or others, so your time is better spent on the superior materials. For example, the two pamphlets mentioned are circumscribed by other things I've published, and those later writings do a much better job and contain other related important ideas. What was conveyed is true and valuable, but it has become apparent that people need it in a different format to actually understand or be more willing to obey it. It is harmful to give people things they are not ready for, unless there are people who really do need it, those who will be harmed had and opted against the opportunity to prepare for it, or unless things are coming carrying more severe consequences for which those teachings are needed. I would advise against looking for and spending time on th...

He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by him, and of him, even God, forever and ever. (D&C 88:41) God has seeded his creation with reflections of who and how he is, and to us alone he has gifted the ability to discover them. 

Hi readers, For a while now, the Lord has made very clear to me that: There is more that can be done to share the truths contained in the Book of Mormon with the world--outside of the context of the LDS church. The best way to do that is NOT to hand people copies of the LDS-published Book of Mormon. A while back, I became aware of at least one project which published a no-footnotes, at-cost, non-denominational Book of Mormon , which I was happy to see. We need to do more.  Handing a person a book that requires them to read it diligently more than once presents a high bar for delivery of the truths contained inside. Meanwhile, the world is flooded with references to the Book of Mormon that either come from people who don't believe it or tie to people who teach many things that will keep a person from Christ (and who also don't believe it, even though they pretend to). The project I linked above contains a shorter selection of chapters from the Book of Mormon that contain what th...

For the 130 or so people who read this post : The Lord told me this morning that I made a glaring omission, which I've fixed by adding footnote 2. I'm posting this here because you probably aren't going to go back and read that, and I really should have included it originally. It's important to be clear. Sorry. -Rob

It's Sunday, so let's celebrate by freeing some captives. For some time now, the woke mob has been after Matt Walsh. He responded to a recent new attempt to cancel him launched by people who diligently scoured everything he's ever published and putting together select quotes out of context.  In his response, where he refused to apologize and had other choice words for his would-be accusers, Matt said the secret to fighting back against the woke mob is to know that "No one is truly cancelled unless they consent to it." While I applaud Matt for remaining consistent to his views, refusing to apologize when he feels he has done nothing wrong, and doing what he can to fight back, I have to disagree with this particular point. We don't have free speech, but at least we still have people saying things most people don't want said. People like Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, Matt Walsh, and many lesser-know people, such as Father Ed Meeks, a catholic pries...