Here's My Debate Tactic.

It used to be that I would allow Anti-Mormon Fish-heads and other Mormon-bashers sucker me into debates and scripture bashes, and I would end up wasting my valuable time with these losers.

Now my basic response to these people is that I really don't CARE whether some church leader (allegedly_ said "thisandthat" or "soandso". I know by the power of God the church is true, and no amount of "God Makers" movies will convince me otherwise, so quit wasting my time. (Yes, I've seen the movie, and it is a scurrilous piece of brain-dead kindergarten level manipulative propaganda. Any Mormon who allows himself to be suckered by that film into leaving the church, has my sincere blessing that the door not hit him in the backside on his way out.)

The reason why I feel that way is that after I got home from my mission I spent time studying psychology, hypnosis, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Communist indoctrination tactics, and cult brainwashing tactics. Every technique that I noticed being used by evangelical Christians and anti-Mormons had its counterpart in those other brainwashing disciplines, I discovered.

After my discovery, I compiled a list of criticisms of the Bible and modern Christians, using material provided to me by a good friend who is atheist. Every time a Fish-head starts in on my Mormon beliefs, I pull out my atheist material, sidetrack their witnessing and let them have it with both barrels.

The looks I have seen on the faces of some of these born-again psychos when they realize they've bitten off more than they can chew is absolutely hysterical. They get downright frightened. They're used to being faith-killers upon Mormon testimonies, but not having their own poorly studied testimonies ripped to shreds.

Other church members sharply rebuke me for doing this, but folks...read the scriptures. Jesus asked plenty of trick questions to trip up the Pharisees. Elisha sarcastically mocked the priests of Baal. If it's in the bible, it's fair game. I am the descendant of pioneers who died as a result of intolerant bigot goons like the born-agains. I have no sympathy for them.

I Just Don't Get It.

Every LDS ward has its share of families who like to brag about how the father worked three jobs, went to school full time, graduated suma cum laude with a law degree, after he spent time saving Ethiopian kids in The Peace Corps after he served his mission and before he got married.

Me -- well, let's just say that in my Sophomore year I had worked myself to such exhaustion that I contracted walking Pneumonia and had to drop out. For those of you who haven't had it, imagine yourself spending six to eight months in bed, struggling to drag in every breath as if you had smoked all your life and somebody tied steel bands around your chest and your lungs were burning on the inside. I'd give anything to actually be an educated professional, like doctor, lawyer, or whatever. The truth is, I'm just not Super-Mormon-Dad from the planet Krypton. I am officially classified as a slacker-weenie.

There's a certain Elder in our Stake who decided that he doubts Joseph Smith is a Prophet, because somebody showed to him some little detail about the Book of Mormon that "seems" to be an inconsistency. This man has a law practice, a cute wife, and a nice house on the North side of town. THAT is really pisses me off.

If it meant saving the life of Joseph Smith so he could go on to teach the saints greater light and truth, I gladly would have stood in his place and taken the bullets that the mobs pumped into him. I've seen enough anti-Mormon propaganda to fill libraries, but I will still testify to my dying day that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God.

What I don't get is that God blesses that other elder bozo with the things that he has, and only one little speck trips up his testimony. I'd give anything to have what this guy has, and I'm willing to lay down my life for The Prophet. Yet I live in a trailer, with a wife and four kids all crammed into it for good measure.

Don't get me wrong -- I am deeply grateful that God has blessed me with many blessings. He has protected me from harm many times, He has provided for us in lack many times, and He has guided me with the spirit many times, all throughout my life. It's just that there are quite a lot of incongruities in life that really bother me.

President Kimball once remarked that on the morning of The First Resurrection when worthy Saints enter The Celestial Kingdom, you'll be surprised to see who made it there -- and who actually didn't.

Yo, Pilgrim...

This last week the wife, kids, and I went to my parent's place for thanksgiving.

Miracle of miracles, we actually managed to get through the event without somebody trying to grand-stand for attention, using major dramatics designed to totally provoke me or my wife and disturb the peace of the gathering.

Catch-22

Now is the time when things are down to the test. I'm out of work, and after weeks of searching and several fruitless interviews, I have no leads or possibilities.

The Bishopric in our ward chastised us for not having paid a full tithe. It's OK though, because I deserve it. Of all people, I should know better -- I have a strong testimony of tithing, but I allowed myself to get lax and neglected the principle. As a result, I am in my current dire straits.

I've committed myself to begin paying my tithes again, and stay tithing-worthy from here on out. The problem is that I have absolutely no income with which I can pay my tithing. I'm plumb broke -- I have absolutely nothing, except the food stamps we get from the state.

How does one obey the law of tithing, when he has absolutely nothing to pay it with?

That's the rub.

These Are Days of Fulfilment.

"...I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth" Isaiah 43:5-6

There is a group of people from a remote corner of India who claim they descend from the Lost Tribe of Manasseh. The Isreali government has recognized them and has allowed them to emmigrate to the Holy Land. See the article at Yahoo News. [link]

It is really wonderful to be able to live in these last days, where we see before our eyes the fulfilment of ancient prophecies. It can't be too long now before The Lord makes His return.

New Beginnings.

Tomorrow I start a new job. I'm as nervous as all get-out.

I have a special attachment to The Nauvoo Temple.

My forefathers (in five different families) labored long and hard to assist the church to varying degrees in building Nauvoo and the temple. I can only imagine their heartbreak when religious mobs drove them out of Nauvoo to freeze miserably on the high plains of Iowa and Nebraska at Winter Quarters, and watch from a distance as it burned.

I have set a goal for myself. I want to travel back to Nauvoo and perform ordinances in the rebuilt temple there. I want the long-ago departed souls of the mobs-men to observe from the spirit world how a child of the people they drove out performs ordinances of the Holy Priesthood of God in that house, and live eternally with knowledge of their failure to defeat God's Kingdom here on earth.

I'm going to do ordinances in the St. Louis, MO. temple as well, as a testimony to the world that a child of the people they tried to kill with an extermination order issued by Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs stands within the precincts of God's House, in the center place of Zion. I want Governor Boggs to see from the spirit world his failure to defeat God's Kingdom.

I may or may not be able to get to the Chicago, Illinois temple, as a witness against The State of Illinois of their betrayal of my ancestors when Illinois Militiamen bore down upon the Carthage Jail to assassinate Joseph Smith.

I want to make sure to attend sessions at the Winter Quarters, Nebraska temple, to honor my forefather Nathaniel who died of exposure to the cold along with many other Saints in the camp, leaving his wife and her children to walk all the way across the plains by themselves.

The journey will take a decent amount of funds and time, neither of which I have an abundance of. I'm going to save up over time as best I can, and someday for sure I will go.

Hello, And Welcome.

I am switching from another blog to this one. More material is forthcoming. Peace.