Alma chapter 2 introduces us to Amlici. This alarming story is so close to what has happened, and is happening, in America today it should be seen as a prophetic warning. If you believe the Book of Mormon to be a true book of scripture, then these events happened approximately 2,100 years ago. If you … 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
I don’t really see how you can have it both ways, to claim to be the party of law and order and then to denounce trials that don’t come out the way you want them to. William Galston The United States of America was created was created as a nation of laws based upon our … 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
The Sunday School lesson I taught on the third Sunday of May was on Mosiah chapters 11 through 17. These chapters tell of a wicked king (Noah) and a prophet (Abinadi) who was sent to call the king and his people to repentance. This story is alarmingly relevant to our lives today. (As you will … Read more
I must admit that the Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthi/Syria/Iraq/Iran axis is very good at propaganda. They seem to have fooled a large number of, otherwise progressive, college students and Democrats that the state of Israel is the bad guy and Hamas is the good guy in the current war in Gaza. Oh, they will say that they are … 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
The area now called Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan has a long history of being ruled by many different kingdoms – including ancient Israel and Judah. The area was ruled by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire from 1516 until the end of World War 1. (The Turks had sided with the Germans). The entire … Read more