The accounts in Alma 30–31 clearly demonstrate the power of words—for evil and for good. The “flattering” and “great swelling words” of a false teacher named Korihor threatened to bring “many souls down to destruction” (Alma 30:31, 47). – “The Virtue of the Word of God,” Come, Follow Me, Book of Mormon 2024, July 15-21. The … Read more
I want you to do a brief thought exercise. It consists of three questions. The purpose of a thought exercise is to help you see something that may be familiar from a different perspective. The three questions are about your beliefs – your personal convictions. For the purposes of this exercise, let’s include ALL types … Read more
One of the Book of Mormon’s many cautionary tales for our day is contained in Alma chapter 1. This chapter tells the story of the demagogue Nehor. Nehor went about preaching that every priest and teacher should become popular and be supported financially by the people. Nehor quickly became very popular because he taught that … Read more
The culture war is not fundamentally between left and right, liberal and conservative, progressive and reactionary, tolerant and intolerant.Fundamentally it has nothing to do with ideals, values or visions of the future. It’s a fight between decent people and sociopaths. Jeremy Sherman I have been perplexed for years how supposedly decent, good-hearted, moral, people – … Read more
An essential component of populist rhetoric is telling the people what they want to hear. Many politicians throughout history have attracted mass followings by simply reinforcing people’s selfish beliefs and prejudices – including their misconceptions. Donald J. Trump, along with his supportive right-wing media, is a master at this type of manipulation. Creating an enemy … Read more
And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, … Read more
Thirty percent of American adults suffer abusive conduct at work. This affects 76.3 million workers. According to ongoing surveys taken by the Workplace Bullying Institute, bullying in the American workplace is up 11% since 2017. The 2017 survey was taken during Donald Trump’s first year in the presidency. At that time leadership experts coined the … Read more
The Book of Mormon Prophet Lehi is perhaps best known for his vision of the Tree of Life and the Great and Spacious building. Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of … Read more