Vanity, Vanity, All Is Vanity.

I was rooting around YouTube this evening. I found quite a few music videos from my youth. More than one of the songs among those I watched have yearning memories tied to them, often involving one young lady or another.

As I was watching these videos, it struck me just how old I am. All of this music was considered the absolute height of cool-ness in its day. Any kid who was even remotely "with it" had to have seen these bands in concert at least once in their lives. Now....well, let's just say my own kids get a good laugh out of the clothes and hairstyles worn by these musicians. I sat back and realized that my children have never, ever seen a vinyl LP or an 8-track tape. (Yes, I'm revealing how old I am.)

All of this brings me to that one scripture in the Old Testament "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity, there is nothing new under the sun." All of these stars rose to the heights of fame and fortune. Now, a couple of decades later, they are quite literally history. Nobody younger than I am has even heard the names of these groups. Even people my own age have forgotten who they are.

It reminds me of the scene in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" where Bill and Ted went back through time and conversed with Socrates. Bill motioned with his hands trying to communicate a line from that song by Kansas "All We Are Is Dust In The Wind." After a moment a light goes on in Socrates' mind. He turns and excitedly tells his students in Greek "Ah! Like sands in the hourglass, these are the days of our lives!" (alluding to the soap opera of the same name.)

The brethren have often told us not to use pop culture to illustrate Gospel Principles, but sometimes things are so apropos, it can't be helped. What can illustrate just how temporary and ever changing mortal life is, better than the music industry?

It is still nice to reminisce, though. As I sat and watched a video by the group Journey, I couldn't help but think of someone special I knew, a long time ago, as I sing the line "send her my love, memories remain...."

Here's a video of the song "Dust In The Wind."

("It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy...."

The Spirit Cannot Draw From An Empty Well.

In the July 2008 issue of The Ensign, there is an article by Elder M. Russel Ballard discussing the need for members of The Church to spread the gospel through the Internet. I most certainly agree with him, the time has come for The Saints to arise and let their testimonies be heard.

What concerns me is the enormous amounts of misinformation about the church out on the internet. There are enemies of the church out there who will do everything they can to wreck the testimonies and kill the faith of loyal church members. Many of these enemies are very sophisticated and highly skilled in religious and philosophical sophistry. These enemies are sharp, fork tongued snakes in the grass, who serve only that Father of Serpents who spoke the first lies to Mother Eve.

My only wish is that the church would provide us with knowledge tools that address *specifics* in the worldly sophistries used to attack us. When they tell members to go out and testify on the internet, that's like sending lambs to face the wolves. Sure, I can stand there and bear my testimony all day long, but if the church desires that we correct misconceptions, I really wish they would provide us with the relevant tools needed to do so.

I am glad that organizations like F.A.I.R. and F.A.R.M.S. exist -- they have been invaluable to me in finding answers I can express to my friends about criticisms which trouble them. What puzzles me is that The Church has always been reluctant to provide an officially sanctioned source of knowledge from which The Saints can draw in order to successfully defend The Church. My only hope is that this need can be addressed, or at least that the The Church can explain to us why they do not.

I'm perfectly willing to bear testimony of The Gospel in the face of opposition -- I only wish that I had more specific tools with which to work.