By Alan on Apr 25 in Blog tagged Aaronic, author, baptism, celestial, confusion, coovenants, day, dead, destiny, eternal families, eternal marriage, eternal plan, faith, Family, God, great and dreadful, heavenly parents, Holy Ghost, hope, if only knew, Jesus, marriage, Melchizedek, missing, origin, peace, power, premortal existence, priesthood, prophet, Redeemer, religions, resurrection, struggle, suffer, terresterial telestial, The World, to choose, truth, truths, Where Am I Going, Who Am I, Why am I here, word | 1 Comment

If The World Only Knew What They Were Missing

Here we are living in ‘a great and dreadful day’ with higher learning and so many comforts of life.  We have access to so much information and can advance so fast in society.  Yet, there are still so many who struggle and suffer, especially for knowledge and truth about their origin and destiny.  One of the most important needs we have is the knowledge of  who we are, why we are here and where we came from; religion.

If people would just stop and think about life and see those that are truly happy, they will find it is because they have searched their hearts with prayer and in their minds with studying and reading good books, have found peace within knowing that God is there; realizing He has provided the way to return as His children with with an eternal plan where marriages and families can be together forever!  May I share?

Over the history of this world, there have been many religious leaders who felt inspired and caused many people to follow.  Each of us has the right to learn with the freedom and power to choose ’The Way’ we wish to live our lives and believe.  That’s why we came here.  They also become set and immoveable and will not hear or listen to many truths that have come forth.  If the world only knew what they were missing!

Here are 10 facts about 12 major religions.

These pages summarise the main features of the 12 largest world religions, which together are followed by almost 80% of the world’s population. These beliefs are described without passing any judgment on their truth or otherwise. Not included here are so-called “tribal” and African religions (6%), spiritism, the Eastern religions Cao Dai and Juche (less than 1% in total) and non religious (16%). Source for numbers is www.adherents.com.

Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism and Islam

Jainism, Judaism, Parsees/Zoroastrianism, Shinto, Sikhism & Taoism

For more information on the terms “monotheistic”, “darmic” and “taoic”, see the different types of religions.

With all of this confusion in the world and deciding what to believe, is there any wonder why there are so many religions today?  It is not God’s fault but man’s.

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”  
1 Corinthians 14:33

At some point in each of our lives we will each ask these questions:

Who am I?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?

Many ‘Plain and precious truths and  doctrines’ of the gospel have been restored:

The Physical nature of the Godhead

Our creation is in God’s image

Apostles and Prophets

Melchizedek Priesthood

Aaronic Priesthood

Mode of baptism

The gift of the Holy Ghost

Premortal existence

Baptism for the dead

Resurrection

The three Kingdoms of Heaven
(Celestial, Telestial, Terresterial)

Eternal marriage and families

Our potential to become like our Heavenly Parents 

By Alan on Mar 20 in Blog tagged Achieving, actors, America, American culture, apostles, athletes, authors, B, Brigham Young, children, church, David O. McKay, Donny & Marie Osmond, endowment, faith, Family, fourteen million, George Romney, Gladys Knight, Glenn Beck, government, Jimmer Fredette, Latter-day Saints, LDS, leadership, learning, marriage, Marriott, missionaries, Mitt Romney, Momonizing, Mormon, Mormonism, musicians, national stage, newscasters, NFL, Olympics, organizing, Osmonds, politicians, Presidential candidate, priesthood, progressing, prophet, religious value, religious vision, Revelator, sacrament, seer, sports, Stephen Mansfield, Steven Covey, successful, temple, Temples, The Book of Mormon, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, The Osmonds, Thomas S. Monson, upward motion, well educated, well spoken patriotic, willing to serve, worldwide | 1 Comment

The Mormonizing Of America

New York Times best selling author Stephen Mansfield

There are nearly seven million Mormons in America . This is the number the Mormons themselves use. It’s not huge. Seven million is barely 2 percent of the country’s population. It is the number of people who subscribe to Better Homes and Gardens magazine. London boasts seven million people. So does San Francisco . It’s a million more people than live in the state of Washington ; a million less than in the state of Virginia . It’s so few, it’s the same number as were watching the January 24, 2012, Republican debate.

In fact, worldwide, there are only about fourteen million Mormons. That’s fourteen million among a global population just reaching seven billion. Fourteen million is the population of Cairo or Mali or Guatemala . It’s approximately the number of people who tune in for the latest hit show on network television every week. Fourteen million Americans ate Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant in 2011. That’s how few fourteen million is.

Yet in the first decade or so of the new millennium, some members of the American media discovered the Mormons and began covering them as though the Latter-day Saints had just landed from Mars. It was as though Utah was about to invade the rest of the country. It was all because of politics and pop culture, of course. Mitt Romney and John Huntsman were in pursuit of the White House. Glenn Beck was among the nation’s most controversial news commentators. Stephenie Meyer had written the astonishingly popular Twilight series about vampires. Matt Stone and Trey Parker had created the edgy South Park cartoon series–which included a much- discussed episode about Mormons–and then went on to create the blatantly blasphemous and Saint-bashing Broadway play The Book of Mormon. It has become one of the most successful productions in American theater history.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen Mormons sat in the US Congress, among them Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader. Mormons led JetBlue, American Express, Marriott, Novell, Deloitte and Touche, Diebold, and Eastman Kodak. Management guru Stephen Covey made millions telling them how to lead even better. There were Mormons commanding battalions of US troops and Mormons running major US universities. There were so many famous Mormons, in fact, that huge websites were launched just to keep up with it all. Notables ranged from movie stars like Katherine Heigl to professional athletes to country music stars like Gary Allan to reality television contestants and even to serial killers like Glenn Helzer, whose attorney argued that the Saints made him the monster he was. The media graciously reminded the public that Mormon criminals were nothing new, though: Butch Cassidy of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fame was also a Mormon, they reported.

Most media coverage treated this “Mormon Moment” as though it was just that: the surprising and unrelated appearance of dozens of Mormons on the national stage–for a moment. More than a few commentators predicted it would all pass quickly.

What most commentators did not understand was that their “Mormon Moment” was more than a moment, more than an accident, and more than a matter of pop culture and fame alone. The reality was–and is–that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has reached critical mass. It is not simply that a startling number of Mormons have found their way onto America’s flat-screen TVs and so brought visibility to their religion. It is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints has reached sufficient numbers–and has so permeated every level of American society on the strength of its religious value–that prominent politicians, authors, athletes, actors, newscasters, and even murderers are the natural result, in some cases even the intended result. Visible, influential Mormons aren’t outliers or exceptions. They are fruit of the organic growth of their religion.

In 1950, there were just over a million Mormons in the world. Most of these were located in the Intermountain West of the United States, a region of almost lunar landscape between the Rocky Mountains to the East and the Cascades and Sierra Nevada Mountains to the West. The religion was still thought of as odd by most Americans. There had been famous Mormons like the occasional US Senator or war hero, but these were few and far between. There had even been a 1940 Hollywood movie entitled Brigham Young that told the story of the Saints’ mid-1800s trek from Illinois to the region of the Great Salt Lake. Its producers worked hard to strain out nearly every possible religious theme, a nod to the increasingly secular American public. Though it starred heavyweights like Vincent Price and Tyrone Power, the movie failed miserably, even in Utah. Especially in Utah.

Then, in 1951, a man named David O. McKay became the “First President” of the Latter-day Saints and inaugurated a new era. He was the Colonel Harlan Sanders of Mormonism. He often wore white suits, had an infectious laugh, and under- stood the need to appeal to the world outside the Church. It was refreshing. Most LDS presidents had either been polygamist oddballs or stodgy old men in the eyes of the American public. McKay was more savvy, more media aware. He became so popular that film legend Cecil B. DeMille asked him to consult on the now classic movie The Ten Commandments.

Empowered by his personal popularity and by his sense that an opportune moment had come, McKay began refashioning the Church’s image. He also began sharpening its focus. His famous challenge to his followers was, “Every Member a Missionary!” And the faithful got busy. It only helped that Ezra Taft Benson, a future Church president, was serving as the nation’s secretary of agriculture under President Eisehower. This brought respectability. It also helped that George Romney was the revered CEO of American Motors Corporation and that he would go on to be the governor of Michigan, a candidate for president of the United States, and finally a member of Richard Nixon’s cabinet. This hinted at increasing power. The 1950s were good for Mormons.

Then came the 1960s. Like most religions, the LDS took a beating from the counterculture movement, but by the 1970s they were again on the rise. There was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a symbol of Americana when Americana was under siege. There was Mormon Donny Osmond’s smile and Mormon Marie Osmond’s everything and the three-year run of network television’s Donny and Marie in the late 1970s that made words like family, clean, talented, patriotic, and even cute outshine some of the less-endearing labels laid upon the Saints through the years. New labels joined new symbols. A massive, otherworldly, 160,000-square-foot Temple just north of Washington, DC, was dedicated in the 1970s, a symbol of LDS power and permanence for the nation to behold. Always there was the “Every Member a Missionary!” vision beating in each Saintly heart.

By 1984, the dynamics of LDS growth were so fine-tuned that influential sociologist Rodney Stark made the mind- blowing prediction that the Latter-day Saints would have no fewer than 64 million members and perhaps as many as 267 million by 2080.3 It must have seemed possible in those days. In the following ten years, LDS membership exploded from 4.4 million to 11 million. This may be why in 1998 the Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting in Salt Lake City. The Mormons–a misguided cult in the view of most traditional Christians, most Baptists in particular–had to be stopped.

They weren’t. Four years after the Baptists besieged Temple Square, the Winter Olympic Games came to Salt Lake City. This was in 2002 and it is hard to exaggerate what this meant to the Latter-day Saints. A gifted Mormon leader, Mitt Romney, rescued the games after a disastrous bidding scandal. A sparkling Mormon city hosted the games. Happy, handsome all-American Mormons attended each event, waving constantly to the cameras and appearing to be–in the word repeatedly used by the press at the time–”normal.”

The LDS Church capitalized on it all. It sent volunteers, missionaries, and publicists scurrying to every venue. It hosted grand events for the world press. It made sure that every visitor received a brochure offering an LDS guided tour of the city. Visitors from around the world read these words: “No other place in America has a story to tell like that of Salt Lake City–a sanctuary founded by religious refugees from within the United States’ own borders. And none can tell that story better than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Largely unchallenged, the Mormon narrative prevailed.

What followed was the decade of the new millennium we have already surveyed. Mormons seemed to be everywhere, seemed to be exceptional in nearly every arena, seemed to have moved beyond acceptance by American culture to domination of American culture. At least this was what some feared at the time.

But Mormons did not dominate the country. Far from it. Remember that they were not even 2 percent of the nation’s population as of 2012. True, they were visible and successful, well educated and well spoken, patriotic and ever willing to serve. Yet what they had achieved was not domination. It was not a conspiracy either, as some alleged. It was not anything approaching a takeover or even the hope for a takeover.

Few observers seemed to be able to explain how this new level of LDS prominence in American society came about. They reached for the usual answers trotted out to account for such occurrences: birth rates, Ronald Reagan’s deification of traditional values, the economic boom of the late twentieth century, a more liberal and broadminded society, even the dumbing down of America through television and failing schools. Each of these explanations was found wanting.

The Mormon Machine

The truth lay within Mormonism itself. What the Saints had achieved in the United States was what Mormonism, unfettered and well led, will nearly always produce. This was the real story behind the much-touted “Mormon Moment.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had risen to unexpected heights in American society because the Mormon religion creates what can benevolently be called a Mormon Machine– a system of individual empowerment, family investment, local church (ward and stake level) leadership, priesthood government, prophetic enduement, Temple sacraments, and sacrificial financial endowment of the holy Mormon cause.

Plant Mormonism in any country on earth and pretty much the same results will occur. If successful, it will produce deeply moral individuals who serve a religious vision centered upon achievement in this life. They will aggressively pursue the most advanced education possible, understand their lives in terms of overcoming obstacles, and eagerly serve the surrounding society. The family will be of supernatural importance to them, as will planning and investing for future generations. They will be devoted to community, store and save as a hedge against future hardship, and they will esteem work as a religious calling. They will submit to civil government and hope to take positions within it. They will have advantages in this. Their beliefs and their lives in all-encompassing community will condition them to thrive in administrative systems and hierarchies–a critical key to success in the modern world. Ever oriented to a corporate life and destiny, they will prize belonging and unity over individuality and conflict every time.

These hallmark values and behaviors–the habits that distinguish Mormons in the minds of millions of Americans– grow naturally from Mormon doctrine. They are also the values and behaviors of successful people. Observers who think of the religion as a cult–in the Jim Jones sense that a single, dynamic leader controls a larger body of devotees through fear, lies, and manipulation–usually fail to see this. Mormon doctrine is inviting, the community it produces enveloping and elevating, the lifestyle it encourages empowering in nearly every sense. Success, visibility, prosperity, and influence follow. This is the engine of the Mormon ascent. It is what has attracted so many millions, and it is the mechanism of the Latter-day Saints’ impact upon American society and the world.

Mormons make achievement through organizational management a religious virtue. It leads to prosperity, visibility, and power. It should come as no surprise, then, that an American can turn on the evening news after a day of work and find one report about two Mormon presidential candidates, another story about a Mormon finalist on American Idol, an examination of the controversial views of a leading Mormon news commentator, a sports story about what a Mormon lineman does with his “Temple garments” in the NFL, and a celebration of how Mormons respond to crises like Katrina and the BP oil spill, all by a “Where Are They Now?” segment about Gladys Knight, minus the Pips, who has become–of course–a Mormon.

Mormons rise in this life because it is what their religion calls for. Achieving. Progressing. Learning. Forward, upward motion. This is the lifeblood of earthly Mormonism. Management, leadership, and organizing are the essential skills of the faith. It is no wonder that Mormons have grown so rapidly and reached such stellar heights in American culture. And there is much more to come.

President Thomas S. Monson
Prophet, Seer, and Revelator
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For The Family

THE MORMONIZING OF AMERICA by Stephen Mansfield, © 2012. Published by Worthy Publishing, a division of Worthy Media, Inc., Brentwood, TN. 11/06/2012

By Alan on Feb 17 in Blog tagged angels, armour of God, Christ, darkness, devil, dragon, evil, evil day, faith, flesh and blood, fought, God's kingdom, gospel preparation, high places, history, John the Revelator, last days, of God, peace, powers, Premortal life, principalities, righteousness, rulers, salvation, serpent, spirit, stand, the war, the whole, the whole armour, war, warriors, wickedness, Winning, world | Comments Off

You were entrusted to come to the earth in these last days to do again what you did before—to once again choose good over evil.

JAMES J. HAMULA
For The Family

Go To: http://pinterest.com/alandsuz/

By Alan on Jan 03 in Blog tagged America, beliefs, faith, founding fathers, government, Jesus Christ, Lord, morality, promised land, religious, United States | 1 Comment

The United States Is The Promised Land

Foretold In The Book of Mormon

The Lord prepared a new land to attract the peoples of the world who sought liberty and religious freedom. This new land was blessed with strong leaders who felt duty bound to establish a government that allowed individuals to worship according to their own conscience.

The Founding Fathers of the United States believed that religious faith was fundamental to the establishment of strong government. Many people in the world, however, have forgotten the central importance of religious beliefs in the formation of the policies, laws, and rules of government. Many Americans, for example, do not understand that the founders believed the role of religion would be as important in our day as it was in their day. The founders did not consider religion and morality an intellectual exercise—they forcefully declared it an essential ingredient of good government and the happiness of humankind.

This position was set forth by the first U.S. president, George Washington, in his Farewell Address. He said:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. … Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. … Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

“It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”¹

The United States is the promised land foretold in the Book of Mormon—a place where divine guidance directed inspired men to create the conditions necessary for the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was the birth of the United States of America that ushered out the Great Apostasy, when the earth was darkened by the absence of prophets and revealed light. It was no coincidence that the lovely morning of the First Vision occurred just a few decades after the establishment of the United States.

The First Vision precipitated a flood of revealed truth. Knowledge was restored about the nature of the Godhead. A new translated scripture gave a second witness and testament of Jesus Christ. The restoration of the priesthood reendowed mankind with the power and authority to act for and on behalf of God in conducting priesthood ordinances and in reestablishing the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth. We are blessed to be members of the restored Church.

Elder L. Tom Perry
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Book of Mormon Evidence

For The Family

By Alan on Jan 01 in Blog tagged children, choice, choose, Christ, evil, faith, Family, God, good, hope charity, Jesus, judgment, light, publisher, spirit, spouse, truth | Comments Off

How To Choose Between Good And Evil

As we begin this new year of 2013, I found myself reading the scriptures and was impressed with how God has spoken to us and told us how we can make correct choices and know what is good or evil; that there are opposites in all things and everything can fit into one or the other categories.

We are at a critical path in time of this world when correct choices are most important as they will deternine our lives success and destiny.  We are being bombarded and marketed by forces from both sides of truth as we live in these “great and dreadful days”.

As a husband, a father and grandfather, and one who has been most blessed to have see the world and meet so many people of all nationalities, colors and creeds, and to have many of them become my friends, I feel the need to “open my mouth”. (D&C 60:2)  Also as a publisher of truth for the family, which is the basic unit of society and of God’s children which we all are, I feel the need to speak out that it might cause you to ponder about the course of life that we each are taking and to help us all realize whether we are being led towards light and truth or towards darkness and misery.  God told us how we can tell!

As recorded in the scriptures, God is speaking to those “that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven.”

We must remember “the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also. For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.  For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.  For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.  And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.  Wherefore, a man being evil cannot do that which is good; neither will he give a good gift.

For behold, a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water; neither can a good fountain bring forth bitter water; wherefore, a man being a servant of the devil cannot follow Christ; and if he follow Christ he cannot be a servant of the devil.

Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.  But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.”

This has been the case since the beginning of time and it is the same today! Now, here is a warning!

“Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.  For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.  For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.”

This is the way!

“Whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.

And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged. Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.”

As we make our New Year’s resolutions, may we look deeper into our lives and see if there are things that should be removed or things that should be included in our daily pursuit of happiness.  Let’s ask of ourselves:

• Am I spending more time with those that I love?
• Is my home like a house of God, and is love spoken here?
• Is my mind being filled with violent media and crude entertainment, or is it being uplifted with knowledge of truth and reighteousness?
• Do I have faith, hope and charity and do unto others as I would want them to do unto me?
• Have I told my spouse and children how much I love them?
• Do I fill my body with stimulants and garbage instead of whole and healthy foods with excercise to making it stronger?
• Do I know who I am, why I am here, and where I am going after this life?  
• Do I pray and give thanks for the blessings I receive and reach out to others with a charitable heart and time?

The only things that we take with us after this life is our knowledge, experiences, our works, and the family with those we love.

I know that God lives and that Jesus is The Way; The One who will bring us together to live in peace and harmony.

I extend my prayers and blessings upon all those who follow us here at TheFamily.com and though we gift it freely, we make many friends and pray that we may touch some lives and hearts for good.

You are always welcome here and we hope that you will feel like a second home for you.  We will be here for you and will always leave the light on, for good.

In closing, I leave you with what God has said to us:

“How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?  And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.  Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.  And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.  If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—  But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”

Alan Osmond
For The Family

By Alan on Nov 20 in Blog tagged abortion, aligning, child-killing, Christian, citizen, covetousness, defend, Democrat, election, faith, God, Jesus, liberal, marriage, Mitt Romney, morals, Obama, politics, Poverty, pray, principles, Providence Crowder, rejected God, Republican, sin, sodomy, The Family, values, vote, wealth, word | Comments Off

Providence Crowder

Aligning Her Voting With Her Christian Faith

A couple of days ago, God gave the people what they wanted.  This heated election season is over.  We have our president.  The people passed over Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate, and overwhelming lent their support for Obama and the Democrat agenda.

I can understand the peoples support for the Democrat Party.  Much of what they say they stand for sounds moral and compassionate, especially concerning the poor and minority populations.  Yet, my convictions and research eventually led me to reject the Democrat ideology, preferring to side with people and political parties more aligned with the morals and values consistent with my Christian faith.

I used to be a Democrat, but I am no longer.  I am a registered Republican.  Not because I thought the Republican Party was so righteous, but because there came a time in my life as a Democrat, that I could no longer reconcile my politics and my faith.

Since my faith supersedes everything else for me, I find that it is pure madness for me to vote for politicians who uphold policies that are in a direct conflict with my faith.  It is foolishness for me to vote against my own values and interests.  Christianity is more than a title for me, it is who I am and determines how I live and how I view the world.

Since I am not only a Christian, but a citizen of this nation, I have the right to share and debate my values and ideas, as does everyone else.  I am so proud that I can, with my vote, influence this nation in upholding godly principles and values.  I will continue to vote with the party and/or persons that supports what I interpret to be godly and biblical values—the Judeo Christian values that were engrafted into our constitution and laws—the values that made this nation the greatest nation on earth and have afforded people of EVERY faith, and people who claim to have NO faith, to live free and prosperous lives here.

Great nations have fallen because of grievous sins and ungodliness and America is not exempt.  In Scripture, when Israel was prosperous, it was not because of her own economic ingenious.  Israel was blessed when she obeyed God—when she as a nation loved what God loved, and hated what God hated.

The primary reasons why I reject the Democrat platform is because it has within it the most immoral and ungodly principles to guide this nation.  Our preference for this course for our nation is a sure sign that we as a nation have not rejected the Republican Party, per se, but we have rejected God.  Just like in the days of Samuel, when the Israelites demanded that Samuel “appoint them a king,” God told Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me.”

Rejecting God will be, as our enemies would say, death to America.  It is our flat out refusal to love what God loves and detest what He detests that will drive this nation over a moral and economic cliff.

Even though I adamantly reject the Democrats historic racist position concerning black Americans, racism is but one sin.  As a Christian, I cannot reconcile my faith with the Democrat’s support of socialism, re-defining marriage, and abortion.

President Obama “impressively” won 93% of the black vote!  I am black, but I am among the 7% who did not lend Obama my support.  What may be perplexing to some is that blacks are overwhelmingly conservative in their moral values and convictions, so their support of the Democrat Party seems inconsistent.  Yet, for these black Christians, they believe that the Republican Party perpetuates the “unforgivable” sins of racism and oppression of the poor.  Jesus, they say, admonishes us to care for the “least of these” in society.  Never mind what history confirms about the Democrats, these Christians believe that it is the Republicans that are perpetuating hatred and discrimination against so many that have less pigment and/or estrogen than they do.  I understand the argument.  I lived the argument.  I believed the accusations that are waged against Republicans; accusations that Republicans have done so poorly to defend themselves against.

To the “black liberation theology” prodigies, it is the “black man” that must receive it’s just dues from its evil white oppressors that have kept blacks trapped in failing schools, in crime ridden neighborhoods, and without job skills and an education that would make them employable.  These evil white oppressors may once have been Southern Democrats and the Ku Klux Klan, but now they are Republicans.

This is what many blacks believe about Republicans.  And though you show them proof of otherwise, they will find you tons of revisionist historical literature to defend their past oppressors, the Democrats.

I have been told by a few of my black Christian friends concerning this election that God has upheld the “black man” in righteousness and protected him from the “haters.”  I want people to really get this and understand. Obama is not president because he is righteous. There is NOTHING righteous about Obama’s support for child killing, sodomy, covetousness, and idolatry.  His black skin does not make him right for black people.  Obama does not share the values of most blacks and his policies hurt the people he claims he wants to help.

BUT, what God has said in his Word is coming to pass. Christians are aligning themselves with lawlessness and ungodliness.  And because Obama is black, many blacks and others choose not to acknowledge how far into abomination that Obama has taken them.  They choose to overlook and ignore what God says in his Word concerning the moral and economic issues we face as a nation, choosing instead to side with Obama’s words over God’s Word:

“Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

God has PROMISED to judge in righteousness and has often used ungodly rulers to execute his judgment. Surely America will be judged for her grievous sins that go up daily as a stench in the nostrils of a holy God. I just pray that God has mercy upon this nation and upon us all.

I have also been told to “get over it” and not be a sore loser.  I am told to pray for our president because that is what we as Christians are suppose to do, because everything is in God’s hand anyways.  True, God is in control.  Obama is president by God’s permissive will.

But I am not so convinced that if Mitt Romney had won the presidency, black Christians would be praying for him as they tell me to do for Obama.  Instead I believe that we would continue to hear from the leftist liberals the same old tirade of rants about racism that we have been hearing for the past few months; and hearing blacks call Mitt Romney out for being the “racist that he is” and fearing that he will bring back Jim Crow.

In fact, I don’t remember the black Christian community praying for Bush or any other president the way they do for Obama.  In fact, I remember some pretty fancy and ungodly words and terms used to describe President George W. Bush.  I won’t repeat them here.

Regardless of this, I WILL pray for our president.  I will pray that he repents and turns to God, and leads this nation in the path of righteousness.  I pray that he surrounds himself with godly counsel and does not shun and mock the Word of God.

I pray for his success.

BUT, his success should not be measured in how many people he can put on foodstamps, but how many people his policies free from foodstamps.  His success should not be measured in how many poverty programs he enacts, but in how many poverty programs he needs to eliminate because Americans are working and successful.  His success should be measured not by how many women he gives access and money to have abortions, but how many abortion clinics need to be shut down because their services are no longer needed.  His success should be measured not in how much wealth he can redistribute, but how much wealth he can help individuals and businesses generate; thereby keeping America the most prosperous and generous nation on earth.   I want Obama to have success because his success is America’s success.

And for the record, I don’t hate Democrats, but I do hate the policies and ideas they have aligned themselves with.  I really have a problem with the way the Democrats “pimp” the poor.  Yeah, I said it!  They are poverty pimps and they use the poor as pawns.  They stir up envy and hatred among the poor and pit them against the rich, causing the poor to covet and vote for politicians who will steal from the wealthy and give it to them.  They vote for politicians that will “punish” big business, but in the end, it is these job creators that have to lay-off workers, raise prices, send jobs overseas, or shut their doors–ultimately hurting the poor and increasing the poverty base.

I won’t go on much more, but “redistribution of wealth” and “paying your fair share,” are rooted in covetousness and there is no biblical foundation to justify our government stealing from one family to give to another.  Unless under your immediate or parental care, no one should be forced to pay for another’s health insurance, home, car, education, food, clothing or anything else.  Redistribution of wealth eventually leads to redistribution of poverty because ultimately everyone will be equal, but they will be equally poor.

Some of the current issues in the forefront of the divisions between Democrats and Republicans are non-negotiable for me.  Though they are far from perfect and in need of some soul searching themselves, I admire the historic position and legacy of the Republican Party for championing the rights of women, blacks, and the poor.  This is part of the reason they still have my support.  We as a party have some work to do.  But the reason I choose not to vote Democrat has little to do with the fact that they are the party of Jim Crow and the KKK, but that today they are on the wrong side of the EVERY ISSUE that matters to me most.  “Choice,” “Reproductive Rights,” “Marriage Equality,” “Fair Share,” are all repackaged code names for the same age old sins: “child-killing,” “sodomy,” and “covetousness.”  Nothing new under the sun.

Providence Crowder

John Greenhaigh
For The Family

By Alan on Nov 09 in Blog tagged America, challenges, earthquakes, faith, favored nation, forefathers, gospel, greatest country, Harold B. Lee, His Temple, Jesus Christ, men fail, New Jerusalem, not pessimism, savior, seas, The World, whatever trials, will stand, won't fail | Comments Off

This Is The Greatest Country In All The World

“Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail.

This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won’t fail.

I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.

“I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through.”

Harold B. Lee

This Is The Place

Marlon Snow
For The Family

By Alan on Nov 03 in Blog tagged 3 days, election, faith, hope, The Family | Comments Off

HOPE FOR THE FAMILY – THREE DAYS TO ELECTION!!!

“Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope;
for without faith there cannot be any hope.”
Moroni 7:42

By Alan on Oct 05 in Daily Inspiration tagged charity, donations, faith, giving, Jesus, Keystone, sacrifice, strength, substance, talent, testimonies, time, tithing | Comments Off

“Sacrifice is the very essence of religion; it is the keystone of happy home life, the basis of true friendship, the foundation of peaceful community living, of sound relations among people and nations. . .

“Without sacrifice there is no true

worship of God.”

I become increasingly convinced of that every day. ‘The Father gave his Son, and the Son gave his life,’ and we do not worship unless we give—give of our substance, give of our time, give of our strength, give of our talent, give of our faith, give of our testimonies.”   Gordon B. Hinckley

“And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of oneheart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.”  Moses 7:18

For The Family

By Alan on Sep 15 in Blog tagged among us, angels, authority, faith, healing, hope, Jesus, miracles, prayer, priesthood, raise the dead, say nothing | Comments Off

How Many Miracles Go On Today That We Never Hear Anything About?

There Are Angels Among Us

“Miracles are everywhere to be found when the priesthood is understood,
its power is honored and used properly, and faith is exerted.”

President Thomas S. Monson

For The Family