PRIORITIES OF PREPAREDNESS

The big questions on everyone’s mind are where do I start, what do I do first, what is the most important?

Here are some top priorities as I see it.

Food including Wheat and grains, Water, Wheat Grinder (Electric and a Hand), Heavy Duty Dough Mixer, Medications and medical supplies, clothing, blankets, fuel if you are allowed or an All American Sun Oven.  

Weapons.  Some think that this is not needed, but if we get to the point where the dollar crashes and the economy goes down, those will be important.  You may have to protect your family and what you have in storage.  If things break down there may be mobs roaming the streets.  This is not wild.  Look at Europe.  It is coming here.  When? Unknown but possibly soon and that is not the time to try and prepare for the wolf will already be in the hen house.

Read what the Lord said through a prophet of the Lord:

ALMA 43: 45-47

45 Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.

46 And they were doing that which they felt was the duty which they owed to their God; for the Lord had said unto them, and also unto their fathers, that: Inasmuch as ye are not guilty of the first offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies.

47 And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.

If you pick up the book “Making the Best of Basics 12.5 Edition” handbook.  It will take you into much more detail in all areas of being self-reliant.  

FOOD:  No matter what else you have, if you do not have this, the rest will be useless.  Start by getting an extra weeks supply, then two, then a months, then two, then three, then do that 3 more times to accumulate a year supply.

If you can afford it, WITHOUT GOING INTO DEBT, you can buy a complete unit for a year for about $900.00.  This is a Basic Unit for one person.  There are more expensive ones with a better selection, but to sustain life, the basic unit will work.  These units are dehydrated food in cans or Freeze dried.  Freeze dried is lighter in weight but a little more expensive.

A note on Wheat.  This is the staff of life according to the Lord.

Red wheat, after ground up become darker wheat flour and becomes darker wheat bread (which I like the best).

White wheat grinds into white flour for white bread.

Wheat lasts for years.  Wheat has been taken out of the pyramids that are over 3000 years old and it is perfectly good today.  Why?  They were stored in a cool dark place as far as I could see.  Once you crack it to make flour, then it starts to deteriorate in nutritional value.  Don’t start eating a strict whole wheat diet.  Help your system to switch by using some white flour in it and gradually go to straight wheat.  You can make cracked wheat cereal.  Try to get use to your food storage, little by little BEFORE you have to use it strictly.  Be sure to replenish what you use.  Use a black marker for marking dates on items.

I cannot over emphasize the importance of the book I mentioned.

You don’t necessarily have to rotate these items.  They are usually good for 20 to 25 years, in sealed #10 cans and some bulk items in buckets.

GRINDERS AND MIXERS:  If wheat is involved, which is used for making bread, you will need a grinder and a heavy duty mixer for the dough.  These will be mostly electric, but if you hunt around you may come across some that can work on electric and by crank, if the electricity goes out.  If you cannot find one, you can buy Hand Grinders separately but you may have to make the dough by hand.  I was lucky; I found both grinder and mixer that can work both ways.  Look around. Some may be used.

Pick up other items to vary the diet and to make it enjoyable like peanut butter, jellies, spices, and other items that your family like and usually eat.  Those will have to be rotated, eating the oldest first so they won’t go bad.

WATER:  Water should be kept cool and covered over to keep it in the dark.  You can also use DARK containers.  Blue or Black, not clear. Bacteria grow in light.  If gotten from a good water source, it will keep for a year or two.  It can be disinfected by boiling if needed, or by using Clorox Regular, unscented bleach without soap additives or phosphates.  An example is 2 drops per quart if the water is clear, 4 drops if it is cloudy. For a gallon, 8 drops clear, 16 cloudy.  Use only the liquid, not powdered bleach.  Stir and let stand for an hour or more.  Bleach more than one year old, double the amount, more than two years old; it has lost its effectiveness.  Keep it rotated.

How much do you need?  About 1 gallon per day per each family member for two weeks.  With dehydrated items to reconstitute, you will need more.  Then there is washing, cleaning, etc.  A couple of plastic, dark, 55 gallon drums would do OK.  Just don’t use water like you would in normal times.

I just cannot stress the above mentioned book enough.  Get it from the source you want but get it.  It will teach you much of what you need to know to be ready for things that are coming.  Be sure to get the 12.5 Edition.  It is the newest edition. 

They first came out years ago with only about 250 pages, then 500 pages; now this 12.5 Edition is 750 pages.  There are loads of websites and information sites in it.  This is a great way to learn. 

You do not have to get it from this website but so far as I have found it, this is the cheapest site.

I will touch lightly on the other items in the upcoming articles and give you some web sites to look at and my opinion on each. 

Here is one good website.

http://providentliving.org/?lang=eng   

Comments are welcome.

HOW TO START BEING SELF-RELIANT

Looking ahead.

Many people recognize the way the world is going and feel uneasy.  They think of their family and look ahead and see problems.  World war, natural disasters, losing their job, sickness in the family and many other possibilities. 

They ask themselves, how can I prepare for the future? 

In the following articles I will give you some ideas, some references on how to begin.  It is up to you to take those ideas and research them and then decide to do it for yourself and your family. 

Some even think of extended family, friends and neighbors.  You know that some of them are not looking ahead and you want to be able to help them.  You should strive to get a year supply.

Remember: To eat an elephant, you eat a bite at a time. 

So, start to get a week’s supply, then a month, then two, then three.  Do that 3 more times as you go.  If you can do it faster, Great.  But, DO NOT go into debt to do it.

Getting Started.

Go to this website and click on all the links and make notes.  Employment, Food storage, Finances.

A main goal is to have a good job that will provide you with what you need to live on.  To have sufficient food to exist on for a period of time needed.  To have your finances in order, out of debt as much as possible and some money set aside to live on until things get straightened out. 

NOTE

At this very moment, while I am talking to you, my power went out in my home.  I had looked ahead for possibilities like this and prepared ahead. 

Yes, my laptop can go for a while, but another source of power would be helpful.  I know this is not an EMP (look that up on Google and learn) because everything would have been fried, burnt out, computers, wiring in homes, cars made after 1972 with computers in them. 

I am Lucky this is a regular power outage, BUT I was prepared.  My laptop is charging and I am typing to you now.  I have some small portable solar generators.  It is a great test of my being self-reliant.  Even though I got bumped off the Internet, I can send this later.  This is a good, unexpected example of being prepared.

If this was an EMP, I would still be OK.  I have FARADAY cages for protecting all of my electronics, except this computer and my I-pad that I am currently using would have been fried, but everything I had in the cages would be OK. 

My regular phone connection is out so it is just my area.  This computer went down to 87 percent but it has only been a few minutes since I plugged into my solar rechargeable battery, the computer is now at 100 percent.  GREAT. 

My cell is working so I just called my solar company, and told them how great their portable power items are and soon I will have the link on my site for them. 

Getting started – Continued.

What an advertisement for preparedness. 

Look over some of the websites I will give and make your plans.

For a great reference and learning manual, pick up (in paper form in case your computer goes out) “MAKING THE BEST OF BASICS” by James Talmage Stevens, 12TH edition 2012.  It may cost about $20.00 or so, but to have the paper form is in itself, preparing for all problems.

In a nutshell, here are the basics that most people can get together to sustain life.  Once you have this amount for each member of your family, you could live for a year.  Once you have this, build on it by adding extra things to it so you don’t have to eat the same things over and over.

Store what you eat and eat what you store.  Rotate it.

Here are the basics to sustain life.

Wheat, powdered milk, salt, sugar or honey, water and sprouting seeds.

If you have this, you need a grinder, electric and/or a hand grinder if your electric goes out, and a mixer tough enough for bread, though you can do it by hand. 

You can live without food for a while longer if you have at least water. 

Sprouting seeds can be grown in a window, out of sight of people and this will give you what you need in place of a regular garden.  It is live when you eat it so your body gets what it needs for good health.  This has live ingredients.  If you had a year’s supply of sprouting seeds, and water, you could live a year but the diet would be sickening without having other different items for change.

Keep all Water and foods in a cool dark place for longer life.  Water grows bacteria in light.  The book mentioned above, covers all of this in detail.

For cooking it would be wise to get an All American Sun Oven, (not a Sport Sun Oven).  Most days it can be used.  It can get up to 400 degrees on a winter day too.  Just needs sun. 

Wood, propane and charcoal would be good to have as another source.  If you run out, there is always the Solar. 

Try to store food that does not need to be cold or frozen.  Can goods, Dehydrated and Freeze dried is the best.  They last 20 to 30 years but the way things are going in the world right now, you may not have to wait that long.

You can go to www.foodinsurance.com 

and download the FREE 2013 PREPAREDNESS GUIDE.  This is a good checklist.   You don’t have to do everything on the list so pray about it as a family or if you are single, yourself, and do what you feel is right for your circumstance. 

 

Listen to the Still Small Voice of the Spirit when it talks to you inside and most of all – OBEY IT. 

The company is a little higher in price compared to Emergency Essentials but it depends on what you get.

I consider Utah the Preparedness Capital of the World because of the thinking ahead of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its people. 

That is my personal opinion.

I will be blogging about different topics of self-reliance and will post information from time to time under this title on this blog.

For more information, search www.lds.org

Comments and questions are welcome.

 

 

 



EMERGENCY PREPARDNESS - INTRODUCTION

THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH GO ALONG THEIR MERRY WAY.

Many ask themselves, who is God and why does He even care about us? 

WHO ARE WE?

Since we are His sons and daughters, we have a spark of Deity in us and He wants us to be like Him.  He knows we will not get there in this life, but after this life, depending how we choose.

Most of the world does not realize that they are all sons and daughters of God, the Father.  He has sent our spirits here to obtain a body and be tested in all things and to learn how to take care of this body.  He has given us Free Agency to choose between Good and Evil. 

This shows Him who we really are and how much we can be trusted with responsibility when we return. 

It also teaches ourselves who we are also.  He shows us our strengths and our weaknesses so we can correct the weaknesses and make them strengths and to improve on our strengths.

The coming, as a spirit, into a body for this test was just as scary for us, as much as we are now scared of dying.  

He has made it that way so that we will try to stay alive as long as we can to postpone dying and accomplish the mission he sent us to do. 

We all have experiences to go through and things to learn.  He has also given each of us a mission or responsibility to accomplish the things we promised Him we would do.  

We are not here by chance.

THIS EARTH LIFE EXPERIENCE.

We are taught by our earthly parents to be honest, kind and be hard workers.  They tell us how to survive after they are gone back to Heaven. 

We live alone at first, then marry and have children and we teach them what we were taught. 

The Lord knows we will have trials and challengers, and bad times.  This is especially true for those of us who now live in the Last Days before the Second Coming of his Son, Jesus Christ.

He has given His children on the earth prophets at different time in history to guide us and teach us. 

In these Last Days it has not changed, no matter what anyone else says.  He has not left us alone.

Jesus Christ has Restored His church and also Restored the Fullness of His Gospel.   He has given us prophets again.  We have not had a prophet since 421 A.D. 

PREPARING FOR WHAT IS COMING. 

Because He knows what is coming in cleansing the earth of the wicked, He has told His prophets to tell us to prepare.

The Prophet Heber J. Grant in 1936 was inspired by the Lord to institute and teach the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to become self sufficient. 

Forty four years later in 1980, Apostle Ezra Taft Benson of the church and former Secretary of Agriculture under President Dwight D. Eisenhower,  told us to Prepare for the Last Days of Tribulation.  

He became the Prophet of the Church in 1985.  He knew what was coming and stressed strongly to be prepared.

Do not expect prophets in this day to look like or dress like prophets in ancient days.  Prophets act and dress like those in their day.

Listen to or read this talk.  Click here. 

Even if you are NOT a member, this is important for you to hear. 

When this Church was Restored by the Lord, and He chose a prophet, the prophet was to be for the Whole World, not just the church.  

If they would listen.  

He knew many would not.

Articles on Preparedness will be entered under this category.

For more information on this church see www.lds.org

Comment are welcome.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY - PART 10

TENTH COMMANDMENT:  Thou shalt not covet.

This is the last commandment and if you covet, you are open to breaking any one of the other nine commandments. 

All of the commandments work together and complement each other and go side by side with the scriptures, and all of them come from God.

When we ignore the Ten Commandments or the Scriptures we are open to Satan’s influences because he seeks to destroy the Plan of Salvation and he is determined to gain control of the sons and daughters of God and bring each under his power.   Do not take them lightly.

When it says “Thou shalt not covet” does not mean that we should not try to improve our situation and have a righteous desire for obtaining a better life. 

We are here to enjoy life and family and to make life better for them also.

We may see our neighbor have some better things in life but it does not mean we cannot have an honest ambition to have some of those things and not to covet the things he has. 

The Lord said the earth is full and has enough for all. 

If we want those things, it is good for us acquire them by honest effort and lawful means.

When men set their hearts too much on obtaining the things of the world and his ambition gets to the point that to obtain them he places his allegiance to the Lord and the principles of the Gospel second in his life or discards them altogether, he has gone astray.

When the material things of the world become that important to that person where it is placed in the place of God, those things are being worshiped and that is idolatry in the eyes of God.

In modern revelation the Lord said this about Idol worship:

Doctrine and Covenants 1: 16

16 They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.

In the Old Testament, Samuel told King Saul that sin was also idolatry and the Lord has rejected Saul in being king because he had rejected Him:

1 Samuel 15: 23

23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

IN SUMMARY:

The Ten Commandments were in operation before we left the spirit world.  The prophets have taught that civilizations needed to use these laws as a foundation to build on. 

Peace and happiness would come from obeying the Lord.  These laws would help each individual to develop and live their lives in a peaceful and fulfilling way.

The first prophet of this, the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times and the Restoration of the Gospel, the Prophet Joseph Smith stated:

“Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God. But we cannot keep all the commandments without first knowing them, and we cannot expect to know all, or more than we now know unless we comply with or keep those we have already received. That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another.” (Teachings, pp. 255–56.)

This sacred law has been reiterated though out the scriptures and the modern revelations we have received from the prophets the Lord has placed back on the earth in our day, to guide us to peace and happiness. 

The Lord is not silent in our affairs today.  Have Faith and Trust in Him.

For more research on the scriptures, go to www.lds.org

Comments are welcome.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY - PART 9

NINTH COMMANDMENT:  Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Even though people keep their distance from the commandments concerning stealing, adultery and murder, they consider these more serious or important than bearing false witness, but they are not. 

When we listen to, testify to, or pass on, either consciously or unconsciously, rumors or reports, speculations, or things that someone said that someone else said, we are bearing false witness.  We may not know what the truth is but we pass it on anyways. 

We may misunderstand what someone is saying or do not fully understand the reason this information is coming to us but we take it in and pass it on, maybe only to be noticed or to feel we are contributing to a common cause; it still does not make it right, even if it is true.

Sometimes we pass on information, true or not, to get back at someone who we dislike or for revenge.  We may not be killing someone but what we are doing is destroying their character or reputation.  The old adage comes into play here.  “If you cannot say something good about someone, do not say anything at all.” 

Once something comes out of your mouth, it cannot be taken back.

Those who knowingly speak or act out things that are untrue are considered liars. 

False witness has been done many times in court, even after swearing on a bible.  Each person on earth will be held accountable for their actions at the Judgment Bar of God and it will not be treated as a small thing.

According to the scriptures, anything that, in its nature is untrue or is meant to deceive is a lie.  Those who believe in false doctrines believe a lie and if they pass that on they are also guilty of lying.  In other words, to teach true doctrine is to tell the truth and to teach false doctrine is to lie.

1 John 2: 4, 21-22

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

If you belong to the true church and you say you believe in Jesus Christ and His commandments, and then in your actions and your life, you do not reflect or live it, you are lying and bearing false witness.

Do not bear false witness because you are here on earth, in this body, to work out your own salvation.  Every decision you make does not go unrecorded or unnoticed.  It is a requisite to be honest in your thoughts, actions and dealing with your fellow men. 

Those who are honest in heart will readily accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and its truths.

When talking about civil law, the Lord has given us instructions about finding honest people who do not bear false witness and act true in judging, or making laws for the benefit and freedom of all people.  They must have integrity and truth in them.

Doctrine and Covenants 98: 10 

10 Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.

For more information go to www.lds.org

Comments are welcome.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY - PART 8

EIGHTH COMMANDMENT:  Thou shalt not steal.

If you are trying to become a righteous person, the Ten Commandments are a great foundation on which to build your life around.  They are a moral code and help you build correct principles to live your life by.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, where Adam was told to labor by the sweat of his brow to have bread, many began trying to reap from someone else’s labor without giving something in return.  This is called stealing or theft.

Those in public office as well as in private life, stealing is done in ways that look like it is the normal thing and that it is justified or accepted.

Our criminal court records are filled with accounts of juvenile delinquencies happening in our time. 

Because of shoplifting, employee theft, our insurance rates go up, costs of courts and penal institutions become a burden on all of us. 

God commanded “Thou shalt not steal,” knowing that we have a fundamental right of own property and stealing is against our best interest.

The Lord said not to steal nor do anything like unto it.  Many people rationalize the way they steal but that does not change the commandment.  Those people still think they are honorable and decent people.  They are just fooling themselves but not God.

There are many ways we are dishonest.  Out and out thefts like robbing money from tills or stealing from our employers, falsifying the books to get gain, making false claims and misusing food stamps, claiming false exemptions on tax forms, getting loans we do not plan to repay or getting them under false pretenses, claiming bankruptcies so we don’t have to pay bills that we incurred, stealing from people on the street or robbing homes.

A person who goes to work for his employer and avoids putting in an honest day’s work and still expecting the employer to pay for a full day’s work is being dishonest and is stealing from his employer.

Books can be written on the many ways to steal but I will not go into that here. 

The simple words of the Lord “Thou shalt not steal,” should say it all.

For further information, go to www.lds.org

Comments are welcome.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY - PART 7

SEVENTH COMMANDMENT:  Thou shalt not commit adultery.

We, men and women, are children of God the Father.  He is our Heavenly Father and He loves us. 

Being His children, we have a spark of divinity within us that most do not understand. 

As a child of God, man was given powers not granted to any other form of life. Being of the divine race, we have many of the privileges and powers related to divinity.

Spirit World knowledge.

When we lived in the spirit world before coming to the earth, we had much knowledge we had obtained during our existence there. 

We knew that we had spirit bodies.  We knew that our Heavenly Father and Mother had physical, but Immortal bodies and to eventually grow and be like them, we had to come to earth and obtain a physical body for our spirit.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is what gives us Immortality after this life.  Immortality is a free gift to all, good or evil.

It does not give us Eternal life or Exaltation, we have to earn that. 

We earn it by accepting the Atonement of Jesus Christ by repenting of our sins and keeping the commandments.

We all knew our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation and we were part of the two thirds of His children who accepted it and did not rebel.

Now you would say, I don't remember any plan or even the spirit world.  That is the way it is suppose to be, while in this test on earth.  We are here to make our choices as we feel it inside of us.

Satan and one third of Heavenly Fathers’ children, our brothers and sisters, followed Satan. 

They were cast out of Heaven to the earth and are being used to tempt and test us while we are here.

They never received a mortal body and never will. 

They will not be forgiven for their rebellion because they committed sin with full knowledge in the presence of God. 

They  are the sons of perdition.

We have always had our Free Agency to choose between right and wrong there and we also have it here on earth.

Use of these physical bodies. 

As we each come down here and obtain a body, we grow and fall in love, get married. 

We have been given, for the first time in our existence, the power to procreate. 

Man must reproduce himself and in doing so, we make physical bodies for our brothers and sisters waiting in the spirit world to come here to earth for their tests. 

This is the final testing ground to see how we treat and take care of these bodies and how we choose in all other things.

Eternal Marriage and the procreative process.

Our Heavenly father instituted Eternal Marriage with Adam and Eve. 

They were still in the Garden of Eden and were both in an immortal state. 

When Eve was given to Adam, that was the first Eternal marriage, and they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth. 

At that time they were innocent in mind. 

They were also told not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil but He knew that they would and thereby discovering the procreative process as husband and wife.

Marriage that is “until death do us part” or “as long as we both shall live,” are for this life only. 

In the eternities, after they are dead, they are single again; individual spirits, like they were before coming here.

Adam and Eve were Eternally married.  Intimate relations between persons who are married to each other is sanctioned by the Lord. 

The Lord regards sexual sins next to murder. 

Murder is when you take innocent life and stop a person’s life test too early.  War is different and is another subject by itself. 

Sexual sins outside of marriage is the misuse of procreative powers, which is a divine gift to man and shows the Lord that you are not worthy to have that power in the next life. 

Sex between two people who are not married is considered fornication. 

Sex between two married persons who are not each other's spouse is Adultery for each. 

If one is married and one is not, the one married is committing Adultery and the other Fornication.

While in this earth test, anything is allowed. 

Living together unmarried, and all the diver ways of using the body will not be allowed after this life. 

All that was allowed for this testing period to see how each will choose. 

After this life the urge of the power of creation will be removed from those who could not handle that gift.

The bodies will be changed to facilitate that removal of that urge.

This is how we are tested to see what choices we make on our own. 

According to how we choose here, we will be assigned to a kingdom that we merit.  There is not just one kingdom where everyone goes. 

The power of reproduction was given also to lower forms of life to perpetuate their species by the power of instinct within each species. 

They cannot misuse it like humans do.

With man and women it is different.  They have the power of Choice. 

With the Free Agency and power of choice, humans can choose good or bad.  It is not just instinct with them. 

Animals cannot corrupt their reproductive powers but man can.

This question came to the very heart of the purpose for which man was sent here, to try him, and prove whether he was worthy to come back into God’s presence. 

With man's right of choice, he would be at liberty to select his own course.

He could do that which would be ennobling, or he could do that which would debase.

Laws were the solution, so Heavenly Father could deal with an intelligent child who had the right to choose while being tested on earth.

Children born to man and woman under divinely appointed marriage which is Eternal Marriage, are to remain as their children forever.

Families would continue as a family unit even into eternity. Children can grow up here and enter Eternal marriage on their own and still be children of their parents. 

The relationships of home established in earth life would last forever.

There is only one church on the earth with the Priesthood Authority to perform marriages for Time (earth life) and for Eternity (marriage after this life). 

That church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

The only church on earth with Temples for those higher ordinances designated by the God of Heaven.

Keep it Sacred.

For more information go to www.lds.org.

Comments are welcome.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY - PART 6

SIXTH COMMANDMENT:  Thou shalt not kill.

Why does the Lord tell us not to kill?  Because it will stop their progression and their learning experience here on earth.  We all come for at least three reasons.

Reason One:  All of His children need to come to the earth and obtain a physical body for their spirit.  We are to learn how to have our spirit, who we really are, to control and train the body we have, to be subject to us and not the spirit being controlled by the body.  We (the spirit) are what gives the body life, like a hand gives a glove life.  That is happening now and has since Adam and Eve, who were real people and not a myth as some think.

Reason Two:  We have come here to gain the experiences that Heavenly Father knows we need that we did not learn during our life in the spirit world.   

Reason Three:  We are here, with our memory of our former spirit life blocked by a veil of forgetfulness so that this life would be our Final Test.  We would be tested in all things with the gift of Free Agency to choose, which all of us were given in the spirit world.  Now, here on earth, our Father in Heaven will see how we will choose between good and evil, right and wrong.

All of Heavenly Father’s children need to go through this test. 

If someone is killed, that would stop that person from being tested and it would cut short his experience or test here on earth, which would determine his eternal state in the next life.  That is why murder is so bad in the sight of God. 

When the Lord said that we should not kill, He was talking about taking innocent life for no reason.  Once a spirit is born and obtains a body, that is their body and their time. 

There is not a second chance to be re-born and start again.  There is no such thing as re-incarnation.  That is a doctrine of Satan telling you that you can do what you want in this life and that you will have another chance later.

The Lord told us in the Book of Mormon:

Alma 43: 45-47

45 Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.

46 And they were doing that which they felt was the duty which they owed to their God; for the Lord had said unto them, and also unto their fathers, that: Inasmuch as ye are not guilty of the first offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies.

47 And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.

The Lord has inspired His Prophet Joseph Smith to write the Articles of Faith of this worldwide church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

In the twelfth Article of Faith he told us how we should treat the government which each of us live under:

Article of Faith 12

12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

When it has to do with war, there is a big difference in destroying life while acting under the orders of national sovereign which we are commanded to obey. 

Just wantonly killing someone on our own is our own responsibility and we will individually be judged on that act. 

When we are ordered by the government, which we are powerless to resist, to kill our enemy, whatever may be wrong will be on the heads of that government.

We have brethren all over the world and under the control of different governments that hold the Melchizedek priesthood that pray to the same God and neither side cannot be completely right or wrong. 

God will work it out in His own sovereign way what was right or wrong in the conflict and He will not hold our brothers in arms, which are innocent, responsible for the conflict.

God is in control of everything and only He will be able to judge right and wrong perfectly.

For more information, go to www.lds.org

Comments are welcome.

THE TEN COMMANDMANTS TODAY - PART 5

FIFTH COMMANDMENT:  Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

This is an important commandment in the sight of God, the Father.  Good family relationships are one of the fundamental principles of the Ten Commandments which pertain to this world and in eternity. 

When we are honoring our earthly parents, we are also honoring God, the Father of our spirits.

If people obey this law, it affects all other parts of society for the better.

Paul knew this and he talked about what would happen in the last days, the days we are living in now.

2 Timothy 3: 1-5

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

To honor your father and mother will bring peace in the family.  A peaceful obedience to parents will be reflected in those around you.

When parents are righteous and good, believe in God and keep His commandments, it is easier for children to obey this commandment to honor them.  Sometimes it may not be easy but they will, for the most part, do it.

There are also times that the parents are not good and ignore God and His commandments.  Should the children disobey them if they are asked to do something that is not right?

The Apostle Paul talks about this also.

Ephesians 6: 1-4

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

2 Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)

3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

If a child grows up and lives his life righteously, whether his parents were righteous or unrighteous, he still brings honor to his parents.  When the child lives a wicked lifestyle, it does not matter if the parents were righteous or wicked, the shame still comes upon the parents.

Each child of Heavenly Father, born into mortality through Adam and Eve, has it within himself or herself, that inner knowledge what is right and wrong.  If, by some encouragement by their parents, the children are told to do things that are not good, and they do them, he or she still brings dishonor to them.

Some parents may fail in their calling to bring up their children righteously. 

When the children recognize and decide not to follow them in their lifestyle, those children have to recognize also, that their parents were chosen by God to be His representative on earth to train and care for them. 


The children still have the obligation to honor their parents.

For further information, go to www.lds.org

Comments are welcome.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY - PART 4

FOURTH COMMANDMENT:  Remember The Sabbath Day, To Keep It Holy.

The Lord has given us the Sabbath Day to be a covenant between Him and us while we are in mortality.  We are His children and He expects us to worship Him and show our gratitude for what He has given us.

He has given us this day to rest from our labors.  He tells us to work six days for or living and existence on the earth, but then to stop and remember Him. 

He wants us to be humble before Him and to praise Him, and if we do, we will be moving towards exaltation and to be more like Him.

He does not want us to do the things we regularly do, but to prepare simple meals and to allow those who labor for us to be free from work also.  Even the animals that work for us like on a farm, we are to turn them out to graze and rest also. 

It is a day we leave our businesses and be released from the trials that normally trouble us daily.  We are even relieved one day a week from His word to Adam when He told Adam:

Genesis 3: 19

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
It is a day to go to church and worship and partake of the Sacrament and ask forgiveness of our sins.  We are to rest our spirit, minds and body. 

It is a day of singing, hearing and giving sermons and prayers and bearing our testimonies.  It is a time to bring our Heavenly Father closer to us and to feel His love and for us to show our love for Him.

It is a day in which we are to analyze our life here, to see what we need to change and what weaknesses we have and how to strengthen them.

It is also a day to study the scriptures, read a good book, visit the sick, preach the Gospel, to visit quietly with our family, to nap and relax, a day to contemplate the glories of the gospel and of the eternal realms.

Instead, we find many people doing their daily work or playing.  Stores and restaurants are open, factories are continuously running.  Fun parks and beaches are open and sometimes crowded.  Movie theaters have long lines for tickets, the canyons and state parks are busy. 

Ballgames like football and baseball are played drawing record crowds.  Farmers do their regular daily routine of plowing and harvesting and all have pushed out of their mind what the day is and why it is important. 

Many go fishing, mountain climbing, boating and the highways are busy, and people are doing their own thing.  People are out cutting their lawn when it could have been done on Saturday. 

Shopping could have been done on Saturday if they had thought of the Sabbath day and prepared ahead.

Week after week they do the same thing and do not obey the Forth Commandment.

Sometimes many do not have a choice.  Their employer compels them to work on Sunday or be fired.   Some lucky people can compromise with the employer to be allowed to go to church and still put in some time at work.  When employment is hard to find and that is the only job they can find, they find themselves like an ‘Ox in the mire.’ 

They cannot do much about it, but don’t be the one looking for the ‘mire’ as an excuse from worship.

Change of employment and a financial sacrifice can sometimes be done.  Remember, the Lord has promised that He would bless those who live His laws and keep His commandments.

You are in the process of sanctification if you observe the Sabbath Day and strive to keep His commandments.

Alma 13: 12

12 Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God. 

Do not give up.  Put the Lord first in your life.

For more information, go to www.lds.org

Comments are welcome.