"Grandpa, What Does The War In Iran Mean To Us?"

All my grandchildren have a stake in the answer to this question, so I will attempt it here. 

On February 28, 2026, the world as we know it changed forever. A coalition of U.S. and Israeli forces dropped a deluge of smart bombs targeted at the Islamic leadership. For forty-seven years their reign of terror in the Middle East had been allowed to perpetuate itself, virtually unopposed in pursuit of nuclear weapon technology aimed specifically at the United States and Israel. There were attempts at appeasement along the way, but their intent was to buy time and never to make peace. Instead, the annihilation of these superpowers was their ideology, and under the guise of “religion” they claimed Allah had sanctioned it. 

Well, the world has seen religious zealots before, but they never seem to resemble peacemakers. True religion, however, TRUE religion has at its core the pursuit of peace. As I write today, I am remembering all the recent addresses by General Authorities in the last six months that proclaimed peace, peacemakers and the gospel of Jesus Christ as the antidote for wars worldwide. 

Netanyahu and Trump

We live in the days of President Donald J. Trump, the POTUS who has been going about the business of stopping wars worldwide by the elimination of dictators, despots and hellions the world over since he took office for the second time in his life. 

He and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, perceived the threat from Iran was escalating. They took action without giving any advance warning, wiping out the internal leadership of 49 key Islamists who had been the core command structure. The intelligence gathering was fostered by internal sources that pinpointed their secret gathering place and time where the first bombs struck with unerring accuracy. 

From there the campaign expanded to include other strategic targets nationwide and continues today. Iran is home to some 90 million people, and this development was so stunning that residents took to the streets throughout the country. They would have sought safety in bomb shelters typically, but this time they were celebrating in the streets, once the news of what was happening spread quickly. They invested immediately their confidence in the overwhelming force that had been imposed against their hated dictators. 

This is indeed a striking development in the future not only of Iran, but in my judgment signals the opening of the major gathering of the lost tribes of Israel who will now be introduced in this new generation to the fullness of the gospel. There was a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that was forced to close after the overthrow of the Shah of Iran all those years ago. Our missionaries were withdrawn. 

Now in all likelihood that mission will reopen when hostilities settle and the freedom of the people is restored. They have been starved for the truth, and will welcome our missionaries and the message of the restored gospel, if it is allowed to proceed under a new Iranian government in the days ahead. I am impressed as I write these words today that we may very well see members of our family deployed there as part of that effort. 

Do I believe this hastens the day of the Second Coming? Well, certainly, we are a day closer, but I can tell you this much whenever I am asked this question (as recently as yesterday by my old partner Steve Harris): Keep your eye on Jerusalem and Jackson County, Missouri, as temples continue to be built worldwide. Those two centers of influence will one day have temples built prior to the Second Coming of the Savior. 

I saw a quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley that has been making rounds on social media this week that seems apropos: 

President Hinckley was a key player in the leadership of the Church for his entire life. He often showed up in the Parleys Sixth Ward, when I was in the bishopric and he was visiting his daughter Virginia and her husband Jim Pearce, and their children. He was Grandfather Lee’s traveling companion along with their wives, when they visited the Holy Land together. I considered him a dear friend, and he spoke at my mother’s funeral in 2000. I commend his counsel to each of you. 

There is no need to feel any anxiety among yourselves, my dearest posterity. I am undertaking my estate planning process these days, and I am proceeding as if life in Pine Valley will go on long after I am dead and buried beside my dear companion Patsy. 

Live your lives as though you are prepared to stand before your Savior in a coming day, sooner or later. That is how you prepare yourselves for the Second Coming. I believe all those people who once stood in my wedding reception line in 1969, have already had their own personal Second Coming, and in the due course of time so will I. 

Events on the earth will continue to unfold in sometimes shocking and eventual developments that may appear to be jarring and unsettling on their surface, but take heart - these are mere preparatory steps in the gradual unfolding of the promised day when the Savior will return trailing clouds of glory. 

Second Coming of Jesus Christ

I will continue to prepare by living my covenants I have made in the temple. Those covenants are capped with my sacred sealing covenants with Patsy. I know she lives on in the spirit world, and is there waiting to greet me with open arms once again. That reality guides me and prompts me in all that I am doing today to prepare myself for her company. I know she will be anxious to give me the guided tour when we are reunited. 

Making Peace in a War-Torn World

 Because we live in the United States of America, we can be forgiven if we do not fully appreciate the agony of those who are living in war-torn countries around the world. I will not undertake a complete listing of those countries, but suffice it to say there are many right now.

Perhaps top of the list might be the 3½ year-old conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The principal leaders are Putin and Zelenskyy, neither of which has shown a willingness to consider peace. In the meantime, lives have been lost on the battlefield.

The Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, escalating a conflict that had been simmering since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Initially, Russia aimed for a swift takeover, but Ukrainian resistance, supported by Western military aid, halted major advances. Over time, the war has evolved into a prolonged and grinding conflict, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. Russia has captured some territory in eastern Ukraine, while Ukraine has conducted counteroffensives with mixed results. Diplomatic efforts have stalled, and recent reports indicate that the U.S. and Russia have discussed potential resolutions to the war without Ukraine’s direct involvement. Meanwhile, military aid and financial support from Western allies, particularly the U.S., continued to play a crucial role in sustaining Ukraine’s war effort.

And then Trump said, “Enough,” and foreign aid from the U.S. ceased. Europe has stepped up to some degree to assist in opposition to Russia’s naked aggression, but now Putin and Trump have concluded a private meeting in Alaska on Friday, to be followed by a meeting tomorrow in Washington between European leaders and Trump. The rhetoric is extreme, and truthfully none of us can decipher what is really happening. Trump is positioning himself solely as the mediator, because as he said, “This isn’t my war.”

The loss of over a million lives needlessly is what is most troubling in my heart and mind. All of this high-stakes drama on the world stage is causing uncertainty and a high degree of speculation, depending upon where one turns for news.

We have almost become numb, I believe, to the rumors of wars and the actual wars. It has become a commonplace piece of our existence. The closest I ever came to war was the Vietnam War during my era as a young man. In those days I read D&C 87:2:

And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place. (Kirtland, Ohio).

That was not comforting news to me as a young man who had hoped to establish a temple marriage and a family. It disrupted my plans. I was not assured of anything, but my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ sustained me through that period of doubt, as it will for all of you.

Now a new generation faces similar challenges. Will Donald Trump be successful in mediating between the warring factions yet again? The pundits and the talking heads on all the media platforms continue their diatribes in full force. I frankly cannot tune in for all the commentary. I am reveling instead in the knowledge of my faithful posterity, many of whom are enlisting in the service of the Lord as missionaries in their far-flung assignments.

The latest to join the ranks is Jonny, who received his endowment yesterday in the Payson Temple. I was told he selected that temple because it was the first temple open house he attended and he said he would one day return to engage in temple work himself when he was older. And so he did!

With Elder Jonny Bayles Yesterday

The world may be in turmoil all around us, it is true, but in the House of the Lord there is peace and solemnity of soul.

I pray for all the peacemakers in the world, including Donald J. Trump. He seems to be transcending politics as usual. I pray others may follow his example in seeking peaceful resolutions to their conflicts. I say all of this knowing full well that the world will continue to pursue war on a widespread scale as prophesied. Nevertheless, we can CHOOSE peaceful resolutions whenever we can.

While I waited briefly for the session to begin yesterday, my pages in the Book of Mormon landed on these verses:

And now it came to pass in this year, yea, in the two hundred and thirty and first year, there was a great division among the people.

And it came to pass that in this year there arose a people who were called the Nephites, and they were true believers in Christ; and among them there were those who were called by the Lamanites—Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites;

Therefore the true believers in Christ, and the true worshipers of Christ, (among whom were the three disciples of Jesus who should tarry) were called Nephites, and Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites.

And it came to pass that they who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites, and Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites; and they did not dwindle in unbelief, but they did wilfully rebel against the gospel of Christ; and they did teach their children that they should not believe, even as their fathers, from the beginning, did dwindle.

And it was because of the wickedness and abomination of their fathers, even as it was in the beginning. And they were taught to hate the children of God, even as the Lamanites were taught to hate the children of Nephi from the beginning.

And it came to pass that two hundred and forty and four years had passed away, and thus were the affairs of the people. And the more wicked part of the people did wax strong, and became exceedingly more numerous than were the people of God.

And they did still continue to build up churches unto themselves, and adorn them with all manner of precious things. And thus did two hundred and fifty years pass away, and also two hundred and sixty years.

And it came to pass that the wicked part of the people began again to build up the secret oaths and combinations of Gadianton.

And also the people who were called the people of Nephi began to be proud in their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, and become vain like unto their brethren, the Lamanites.

And from this time the disciples began to sorrow for the sins of the world.

And it came to pass that when three hundred years had passed away, both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked one like unto another.

And it came to pass that the robbers of Gadianton did spread over all the face of the land; and there were none that were righteous save it were the disciples of Jesus. And gold and silver did they lay up in store in abundance, and did traffic in all manner of traffic. (4 Nephi 1:35-46, emphasis mine).

Many churches, many “ites” - most stunning was that they TAUGHT THEIR CHILDREN WICKEDNESS AND HATRED. The story of the people in those days is a cautionary tale for our day. The book was written, compiled and translated to come forth in this last dispensation of the fulness of times.

Contrast that with what you are all trying to do, and that is to teach your children righteousness instead. You are disciples of Jesus, and you are in the minority, always have been, always will be. I give you my assurances that you are in the right path. Your children will one day rise up and call you blessed because of what you have taught them in your homes.

This is the generation who will prepare the way for the Savior’s Second Coming, even as we witness more wickedness than we have ever seen before. I love you all for your steadfastness.

Do You Favor Politicians or Business People?

It's no secret, I am certain, to those who follow this page that I have increasingly eschewed politicians in general. I have mostly lost interest in the copious and omnipresent onslaught of reporting on political intrigues and the back and forth verbal battles that play out every day. Frankly, it's exhausting.

What has become painfully obvious to me and perhaps to you too is that the career politicians historically have not been interested in seeking solutions for the American people. Why? Their own self-interest was always at the forefront of their endeavors. 

Some career politicians like former President Joe Biden, who was re-elected for a lifetime in politics, finished as a multi-millionaire, and he is just one among many who amassed a personal fortune in ways that are only now becoming apparent. 

Term limits on the members of the House and the Senate cannot be far behind if it ever came to a vote that could be put on a ballot. Also, surprisingly to many, American citizenship at birth is currently not a requirement, and that fact should also be addressed in coming days.

President Donald J. Trump

It cannot have escaped your notice that President Donald J. Trump is only six months into his administration, and the list of substantive achievements for the benefit of the American people is staggering by anyone's calculations. The thin margins in both the House and the Senate with the whole House up for re-election each two years, perhaps explains the urgency we have witnessed.

Securing the borders was first and foremost on the Trump agenda. The speed and the sweeping success of accomplishing that goal was simply stunning to observe. Deportations mounted as illegal immigrants were rounded up and sent packing back to their countries of origin. Self-deportations have increased, no doubt because those who were here illegally got the message that America was transforming quickly into a law and order posture.

On other fronts, the first six months of Donald Trump's second presidency have been the most "successful" of any American president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, according to an analysis conducted by Newsweek.

The legislative efforts paid off in passage of his flagship "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," a tax and spending package. It narrowly passed along strictly party lines illustrating once again we are a narrowly divided nation politically. The reductions in taxes and spending were staggering, and makes one wonder how any right-thinking politician from the other party could oppose it.

Newsweek asked "ChatGPT" to rank the accomplishments of 20th and 21st century U.S. presidents in their first six months, taking account of the level of support they enjoyed in Congress.

The model gave Trump an overall score of "very high," thanks to legislation such as the One Big Beautiful Bill and Laken Riley Acts.

On July 4, 2025, Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law after it narrowly passed both the House and Senate. The legislation slashed certain taxes, including extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts; raised the U.S. debt ceiling; increased spending on the military and border control; and cut some funding from Medicare and other welfare programs. According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the package will add $3.3 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade.

Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law on January 29, with the bill taking its name from a Georgia college student who was murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant in February 2024. The legislation requires noncitizens charged or convicted of a range of offenses, including theft and assaulting a police officer, to be held without bond. It also gives states more freedom to sue the Department of Homeland Security over immigration enforcement.

The analysis cited above concluded that the first six months of Trump's second term were the most productive since Roosevelt's first term in 1933. In his first 100 days, Roosevelt passed 15 New Deal statutes, including the Emergency Banking Act.

Third in the calculation was Biden's first 100 days, which saw the package of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan designed to combat the economic effects of coronavirus, along with the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act and a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday. This package was passed despite the Democrats and Republicans being tied in terms of 50 affiliated Senators each, giving then-Vice President Kamala Harris a tiebreaking vote.

At the other end of the spectrum, the analysis gave the worst score for the first six months to Theodore Roosevelt, who became president in 1901, arguing that he passed "no major statue before March 1902."

Bill Clinton was also ranked poorly, with the conclusion his only major legislative reform during his first six months was the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act.

Here's some insight from a foreigner, Dafydd Townley, an American politics expert at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., who told Newsweek: "While Donald Trump has achieved some legislative successes, they are more reflective of the partisan support in Congress. Not every president in the modern era has had such a one-dimensional party to support his legislative agenda. The Democratic Party has long been a coalition of diverse voices, making it difficult to appease every member of Congress. Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama found this out during their first term in office.

"Until the George W. Bush era, Republicans failed to hold both House and Senate majorities in the modern era, apart from two years in the first Eisenhower administration. Even during the Bush years, control of the Senate shifted back and forth on several occasions, making legislative efforts difficult, if not impossible. Reagan's ability to bridge the partisan divide and work with congressional Democrats on specific bills, such as Social Security reform and immigration policies, suggests a White House capable of achieving ideological success despite congressional barriers. The same applies to Richard Nixon, who gained considerable legislative success despite having a Democrat-controlled House and Senate when he entered office.

"Democrat presidents of the early Cold War had to contend with conservative Southern Democrats in Congress, despite Democrat majorities in the House and Senate. These long-serving members dominated congressional committees, thereby limiting the legislative success of John F. Kennedy, for example. The successful passage of a huge number of bills as part of his Great Society program is a testimony to Lyndon Johnson's management of Congress.

"Trump has been much more reliant on the use of executive orders to implement Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for Trump's second term in office. The Trump-inspired legislation in this Congress is more likely to consolidate power within the executive branch and lead to less congressional interference in the president's management of the White House and its agencies."

Left unstated in this analysis by Newsweek, and in my mind more substantive, is Trump's experience as a deal maker among the nations of the world. He imposed tariffs, thought my many "experts" to be disastrous. Instead, the heads of nations have been making historic trade deals with America that have the potential to increase revenues we haven't seen for decades, reduce the deficit spending, and provide American jobs. Those results have already been witnessed, with more to come.

My conclusion: I would much rather have a Donald J. Trump in the White House today than any other politician you can name who would undermine these achievements we have witnessed to date.

If Republicans lose control of either the Senate or House in the 2026 midterm elections, it will make it significantly harder to get the party's bills approved by Congress.

I believe the American people are "woke" now to the possibilities of what may yet be done.

I hope I am right.

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ vs. Fear of the World and Its Minions

I wrote the following entry to my family on Monday morning of this week. I include it here for your consideration as my wider audience:

President Donald J. Trump ordered a bombing run on the nuclear development facilities in Iran this last weekend. The strike was targeted solely with the purpose of eliminating the threat of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, which for years it has threatened to use against Israel.

The Stealth Bomber

The repercussions have been deemed a great military victory that achieved its objectives beyond doubt. But detractors have been condemning the action as an act of war that is unconstitutional because the consent of the Senate and the House was not sought nor obtained before the stunning action was taken by the President.

The political debate rages on about our involvement as a fully invested partner of Israel. Are we at WAR with Iran? How could we not be? Will this be the escalation to World War III? How will this play out in the weeks and months ahead? Will Iran retaliate or capitulate? Will the Iranian regime governed by their religious clerics prevail, or will they be overthrown by the voice of the majority of the citizens who have been compelled to live under a de facto dictatorship? What will this mean for the future of the political landscape of the Middle East? Does this action by the United States signal the beginning of the end before the Second Coming of the Savior?

These are just a sampling of the questions I have heard over the weekend and into this morning as I write this chapter. Clearly at the forefront to all the speculation about what it all means for me is the abiding question: Do I believe in the future as outlined by the Savior and His prophets, or am I inclined to be tossed about with every wind of doctrine that blows in my face, no matter the source?

It comes down to a simple question for me: Am I filled with FAITH in the Savior Jesus Christ, or filled with those who would promote FEAR?

President Kevin W. Pearson

Elder Kevin W. Pearson, Utah Area President and a frequent visitor to our little Woodland Ward (he owns a summer home nearby), has offered this observation back in 2009:

“Faith and fear cannot coexist. One gives way to the other. The simple fact is we all need to constantly build faith and overcome sources of destructive disbelief. The Savior’s teaching comparing faith to a grain of mustard seed recognizes this reality (see Matthew 13:31–32). Consider it this way: our net usable faith is what we have left to exercise after we subtract our sources of doubt and disbelief. You might ask yourself this question: ‘Is my own net faith positive or negative?’ If your faith exceeds your doubt and disbelief, the answer is likely positive. If you allow doubt and disbelief to control you, the answer might be negative.

“We do have a choice. We get what we focus on consistently. Because there is an opposition in all things, there are forces that erode our faith. Some are the result of Satan’s direct influence. But for others, we have no one but ourselves to blame. These stem from personal tendencies, attitudes, and habits we can learn to change…

“Challenging times require greater spiritual power. Consider carefully the Savior’s promise: ‘If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me’ (Moroni 7:33).

“I humbly declare that God, our Heavenly Father, lives and loves each of us, His children. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He lives and personally leads His Church through President Monson, His anointed prophet. Because He lives, there is always hope smiling brightly before us. In a household of faith, there is no need to fear or doubt. Choose to live by faith and not fear.” (Emphasis mine).

Let me add my witness. We will see the ongoing development of a complete separation between the righteous and the wicked parts of human family in the years ahead. We will be compelled by the events ahead in the world to choose our own path. There will be no coercion whatsoever that would violate our agency. We will respond to the impressions of the spirit of the Holy Ghost freely and without compulsion of any kind. Fence straddling will no longer be possible. The gap will simply become too wide.

I coincidentally was teaching the Elders Quorum lesson yesterday. We touched briefly on the events of Saturday, but that was not the main focus of the lesson. We were reviewing the General Conference talk of Sister Tamara W. Runia about our need for daily repentance. I commend her thoughts to all of us.

As we turn our thoughts to our Savior and accept that He is our Redeemer in all things temporal and spiritual, we are inclined to put our trust in Him and reject all the machinations of those who would discount His role in our lives.

I made a tangential reference to my compilation of all the scriptures that mentioned the word “ZION” back in 2008. I had worked on it many years prior to that. I had three brethren in the meeting yesterday ask me for a copy of the pdf file that resulted after I had completed the manuscript. I thought, well, there’s nothing like a few bunker busting bombs falling in Iran to stir up the soul to action, I guess.

That’s all well and good, you might say, but what about the REALITIES of war that are now more prevalent than they might have been before the events of the weekend? Are we to accept the military superiority of the United States of America as the arm of strength that will produce peace, or should we be taking defensive steps like building up our food storage, etc.?

“For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion.” (D&C 1:35).

Let me add my perspective as an old (and hopefully wiser) man. I have seen these geopolitical upheavals and worldwide events play out before during my lifetime. At the time they seemed catastrophic, and as subsequent years unfold we see them as mere steppingstones all leading to the culmination foreseen and foretold by the prophets who left their witnesses for us in the compiled scriptures.

As you fill your hearts and minds with the written words of scripture, you will be assured time and again of the majesty of the impeccable foreknowledge of our Father in Heaven. He has the times and the seasons of our mortal lives in His hands. He has given assurances through all the ages that we are His children, and our ultimate destiny is in His hands. We are free to choose to be fearful about all that, or we can accept the peace and the comfort He offers through His prophets.

The choice is clearly ours to make:

FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

OR FEAR IN THE WAYS OF MAN

I am confident in your ability to choose the better part, for I have seen you grow and develop spiritually. I know you have been held in reserve to come forward in these troubled last days as the chosen generation of our Father in Heaven’s children.

I encourage you to set aside the tendency to fear that which you do not fully understand. Embrace the path of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Stay on the covenant path and encourage others to join you there.

That is the way of truth and light. 

*****

The “ink” on this post wasn’t even dry before President Trump announced that a ceasefire agreement had been reached between Iran and Israel to end this twelve-day war.

Now it remains to be proven that both countries will abide by the terms they have hammered out together. These events are being played out so quickly and decisively that it takes one’s breath away.

Beware of all the predictions being made by the political pundits. Events on the ground in the Middle East have forever befuddled all the false prophets.

I pray peace may break out, and be lasting.

It's a New Year!!

We have turned the page in our calendars and we have welcomed 2025. The election results were certified by Congress this week in the Electoral College, setting up the January 20th inauguration of our 47th POTUS, Donald J. Trump. He returns after a four-year exile, and already the surge in energy politically is resounding throughout the world.

Trump is no minimalist thinker. He is proposing buying Greenland (yes, the country), taking back control of the Panama Canal from China, annexing Canada as the 51st state (yes, the whole country apparently), putting an end to the unnecessary war between Ukraine and Russia, downsizing the Washington D.C. swamp of excessive governmental agencies, and oh yes, shutting down the borders and exporting the criminals that have been allowed to enter America illegally. Did I miss anything? Probably, because no matter how you describe it "Make America Great Again" is going to involve a lot of agenda items. 

There are razor-thin majorities in both the House and the Senate this year, and it appears that majority is ready to take on the world at the jump when Trump officially is sworn in. No matter whether you believe the MAGA hype or not, it has the feel of a BIG DEAL about to be unleashed. If even a small percentage of his agenda gets enacted it will no doubt affect the lives of Americans here at home and potentially the lives of nations elsewhere.

The gloating over the election victory is getting a little tiresome, if you ask me. I am weary to the point of exhaustion over all the hyperbole on display. The partisanship is frankly disturbing. It has extended in the extremity to Trump roundly and squarely placing ALL the blame on Governor Newsom (D-CA) for the raging wildfires exploding in Los Angeles County. Trump says he warned Newsom repeatedly about his ill-conceived policies that shrunk the water supplies, and now California is suffering because of the unheeded cautions Trump raised. Politicizing EVERYTHING must end, I pray.

It appears Trump has selected a team of cabinet members from among the ranks of the best and brightest to kick off his last hurrah. This slate of party faithful will be turned loose to tackle some big issues, and one can only hope they will be successful, regardless of your leanings politically. Can we really unite behind this new leader? He is signaling early his proclivity to speak his mind. He has no further political aspirations - this is his final shot to fulfill his MAGA promise, and so far he is withholding nothing in his verbal arsenal. He's already held more news conferences than his predecessor did for four years. My counsel to my family recently was "Buckle Up." Change is coming.

I was reminded the other day about something Joseph Smith said. Lorenzo Snow reported a day when someone came and asked Joseph Smith, “Who are you?” To which he replied, “Noah came before the flood. I have come before the fire.” (See this report of President Snow under entry of January 1, 1892, in diary of Abraham H. Cannon, vol. 16, p. 30). What could he have meant by that answer? 

Truman Madsen offers this: 

That leads to a probing question: How much did Joseph Smith know about himself and his own calling? Clearly his knowledge grew and expanded from the initial encounters of the Sacred Grove. But what really was implicated in that tantalizing phrase picked up by enemies and friends, “You do not know me”? Or, in his turning to people on the stand (this happened at least three times in Nauvoo) and saying, “If I revealed all that has been made known to me, scarcely a man on this stand would stay with me”? (“The Prophet said to me [Brigham Young] about sixteen years ago [at Kirtland], ‘If I was to show the Latter-day Saints all the revelations that the Lord has shown unto me, there is scarce a man that would stay with me, they could not bear it’” (MS 13 [September 1, 1851]: 257). 

In another case he said, “If the Church knew all the commandments, one-half they would condemn through prejudice and ignorance.” (HC 2:477. Compare George Q. Cannon, in Conference Report, April 6, 1900, p. 57).

Some readers of this page may not know about Joseph Smith. Search deeper into this blog and others to resolve your curiosity. Suffice it to say he opened this last dispensation of the fulness of times. He sought guidance from his Father in Heaven in a humble prayer in the spring of 1820, and was answered in a glorious vision from both the Father and the Beloved Son Jesus Christ. He organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 1830, in Palmyra, New York. I revere him as a mighty prophet of God, who was followed in succession until the 17th President Russell M. Nelson, who now presides in his 101st year in mortality.

We have seen "the fire" now in Los Angeles County with no end in sight. Legion are the Biblical prophecies about fire in the latter days that will threaten to consume the whole earth before the Second Coming of our Lord. 

We will yet see many horrific scenes before that day comes, and we can do all that we can do to forestall it through all the political machinations the mind of man can conceive. However, the building of modern-day temples will predominate our work as Latter-day Saints to ensure the gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil. Those sacred ordinances performed within the temples will seal our progenitors to their families as fervently as we know how to do that work. 

I was asked recently what I do when my loneliness overtakes me from time to time since the death of my beloved wife Patsy. My simple response was, "I don't stay at home; instead I go to a nearby temple and perform an ordinance." It's never been easier to do temple work than it is right now, and I pray I may be independent enough to go and accomplish that angelic mission for as along as I am able.

I look forward with great anticipation for the events of 2025 yet to unfold. I am a born optimist by nature. In saying that, I recognize the gravity of the Machiavellian contrivances in which the world finds itself today. Those who seek for power to work their plots through subtlety and deception always seem to come to a deadly end, however. Eventually the truth will out.

So what is my prediction for 2025? That the day will come in the not too distant future when Joseph Smith and his successors will yet shine forth when all other solutions fail on the grand stage of political intrigues. President Russell M. Nelson has unleashed an era of temple building worldwide that will continue to accelerate around the world. That eternal work of providing ordinances to our kindred dead who now reside in the spirit world will go forward without ceasing from this year onward.

I claim no special gift of prophecy here, but that's about as safe a bet on the future as I can conceive of making. 

Oh, and I AM NOT given to hyperbole.

Well, One Out of Three Ain't Bad, Is It?

This Autumn season has featured prominently in my life this year: First, the World Series, followed by the Presidential Election, then the now-annual reintroduction of the local “Holy War” between the Utes and the Cougars. In all, they comprise three major events for my little household that I fully embraced.

                                                                             

Only problem for me was the Yankees lost to the Dodgers in five games, and last night the Utes fell in a dramatic comeback win to the Cougars 22-21 in the final seconds. 

President Donald J. Trump

However surprising as it was to half the country, President Donald J. Trump was re-elected to a second non-consecutive term in an Electoral College “landslide” as it was described by the pundits, coupled with a convincing popular vote total. I loved his choice of J.D. Vance as Vice-President. It was not even a close election.

So, Yankees and Utes fan that I am, two of those major events went down in flames. Now, mind you, I’m not describing myself as a Trumpster by any means, but I have to admit his victory salvaged a .333 batting average for me, and in baseball that’s good enough to get you into the Hall of Fame.

So I will claim a victory for America in Trump’s sweeping victory. I believe his forthcoming administration will prove providential for America in the coming four  years, especially when compared to the alternative of what might have been with a Harris/Walz ticket winning. 

Stunning to me was the fact that Kamala Harris did not out-poll Biden’s last election totals in 2020 in ONE SINGLE COUNTY in America. It was a complete refutation and rejection of her "candidacy." The much-ballyhooed so-called “Blue Wall” (seven historically Democratic states) ALL voted for Trump. She simply flunked the job interview with Americans who were voting against her. 

She has a radiant smile and the giggle to go with it, I’ll give her that, but seriously, she was little more than a tool of the party she represented and that was woefully inadequate this time around. Stunningly, she was an appointed surrogate for a badly declining Joe Biden whose mental acuity was displayed for all to see in the first debate against Trump, and she didn’t even have to seek votes among her party faithful to replace Biden on the ballots of all fifty states, as Trump did. It was an attempted “palace coup” and it failed miserably. 

Trump, on the other hand, is many questionable and dastardly things too but all his faults notwithstanding, America embraced their once-former leader with open arms given the obviously defective alternative. 

He answers literally to no one but himself. He’s a genuine all-American bad a**, and you can quote me on that. 

Even before the dust had settled on the election and before he has taken office, the leaders of the terrorist Hamas organization have signaled their desire for settling the war they started with Israel. Hopefully, that will prove a harbinger for other bad actors on the world stage to get in line with America’s wishes. 

One wonders if, and one hopes, Putin and Russia might follow suit in their ill-conceived incursion into Ukraine and seek for a cessation of those hostilities. Trump’s election will change the calculus of the war mongers in the world, but don’t be deceived into thinking war will suddenly go away. We’ll have war continually until the Savior comes again, for so it has been prophesied.

I have been a silent observer this time around in the national election, not signaling my intentions on my voting preferences, and I have joked when asked about it by saying I would write in Abraham Lincoln. 

Well, I can truthfully disclose now and forever on this page today that I voted (for the first time in my life) for a straight Republican ticket. I returned my ballot by mail to Wasatch County on the day I received it in the mail, and I can now claim my .333 batting average.

I didn’t strike out, and I can stoutly maintain as I did in my title that “one out of three ain’t bad, is it?”