tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58732798872009138402023-07-17T21:55:11.610-07:00Choose True LibertyKeeping God in Politics Where He BelongsDeenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11897824371467377975noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873279887200913840.post-23399924315992584392018-07-09T10:38:00.000-07:002019-07-13T19:52:16.126-07:00The Miracle that is America: A Land Which is Choice Above All Other LandsNote: This is the "director's cut" (i.e. longer) version of a talk I gave in church July 8, 2018. It was updated slightly on July 13, 2019.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Background
on “The Miracle”</span> </h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Last year I read a book by
one of my favorite commentators about some troubling trends that are affecting
America today.<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this book, he called America “The Miracle”
and went on to comment (over and over) how grateful we need to be for this
miracle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he also said “The Miracle”
was some kind of happy accident—that it was created by people who really did
not know what they were doing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just
happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints know
that this is not the case—not at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because
of modern revelation, we know “The Miracle” that is America was no accident!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is God’s “promised land.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In fact,
we know the area in Missouri known as Adam-ondi-Ahman was the home of Adam and
Eve from the very beginnings of this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">After the flood, when
God moved civilization to what is now the Middle East, the Americas were hidden from the rest of the world because if anyone knew about them “many nations would overrun the land”</span>(2 Nephi 1:8).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When the
time was right, around 2200 BC—over 4000 years ago—God brought Jared, his
brother, and their families here. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
Ether 2, the Lord told the brother of Jared …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">…that they should come forth even unto the land of promise,
which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God
had preserved for a righteous people….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">… wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall
be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God (Ether 2:7, 10). </span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The next of the
ancient prophecies is found in Genesis 49. In a father’s blessing given from
Jacob to his son Joseph, Jacob prophesied that God would separate Joseph’s
descendants from the descendants of his other sons (Genesis 49:22).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We learn in the
Book of Mormon that the first descendants of Joseph to be separated—to leave
the Old World and come to the New World—were Lehi and his family, who were
descended from Joseph’s son, Manasseh. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Upon their arrival, Lehi
learned, in 2 Nephi 1, that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>every</u></b>
group of people that was brought to America would be brought by God AND would
be under the command to follow Him (2 Nephi 1:6, 7).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Why
is America so Special?</span> </h1>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What makes America so special? So promised? Why was the
founding of America and the formation of the Unites States so important?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>N. Eldon Tanner, former member of the first
presidency, said in October 1976: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We believe that
the Constitution was brought about by God to ensure a nation where liberty could
abound and where his gospel could flourish. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">We believe that
both freedom and the continuing reformation that flourished here [in America] occurred
in preparation for a restoration from heaven of the full gospel of Jesus
Christ…</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;" title="">[ii]</a></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For the remainder of this
essay I’d like to share a few stories about the faith of three key players in
what Elder Mark E. Petersen, former member of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles
called “the great prologue”—the events that needed to happen in the world for
the gospel to be restored here in America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These events did not just happen because God wanted them to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God required human hands—faithful human
hands—to listen and obey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Many of us may not be aware of some of these events primarily
because our schools have become so secular. Elder Oaks once decried the
omission from history textbooks of references to religion and its “significant
role in American history.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
But, such events did occur. They are facts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They happened. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In addition, secular, modern historians are fond of<span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"> pointing out some of the flaws of
these men. But Elder Jeffrey R. Holland reminded us a few years ago that, “imperfect people are all God has ever had to
work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So
should we.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Latter-day Saints have it on
good authority – – living prophets and apostles – – that despite their human
failings, these men were called of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So—here are a few stories
about three great men that show their great faith in God. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Men who
were faithful enough to allow themselves to be “made instruments in the hands
of God to bring about this great work” (Alma 26:3).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Christopher
Columbus</span> </h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Early in the Book of Mormon,
Nephi had a vision:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And
I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed
of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came
down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many
waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land (1
Nephi 13:12).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Latter-day Saints know that
this verse is referring to Christopher Columbus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Clark Hinckley, author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christopher Columbus: “A Man among the
Gentiles”</i> writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One
of the best-known facts of history is that Columbus did exactly what Nephi saw
him do: he sailed across the ocean that separated the Gentiles of the Old World
from the land of Lehi’s seed in the New World, ushering in a new era in world
history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But Nephi also tells us why Columbus did this: “I beheld the Spirit of
God, that it came down and wrought upon the man.” Columbus himself knew exactly
why he was compelled, against all odds, to do what he did. He described his motivation
in these remarkable words: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">With a hand that could be felt, the Lord opened my mind to the fact that
it would be possible to sail and he opened my will to desire to accomplish the
project . . . This was the fire that burned within me . . .
Who can doubt that this fire was not merely mine, but also of the Holy Spirit
. . . urging me to press forward?</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Upon returning to Spain from his first voyage to the America’s, Columbus
wrote in his journal:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">In the circumstances of this voyage, [God] has miraculously made [his
power] . . . manifest… through the … miracles that He has performed
during the voyage and for me . . . I hope in Our Lord that it will be
the greatest honor to Christianity that, unexpectedly, has ever come about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the reasons Columbus was so anxious to make this voyage
was missionary work—to spread Christianity. Columbus’ hope is now a reality
beyond what even he imagined!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Americas are profoundly Christian—77% of North Americans and 92% of South
Americans profess themselves Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over
800 million Christians live in the Americas!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bro. Hinckley writes that
Columbus was aware of many of his imperfections. However, “In the end,
Columbus’s achievements and his universal fame are a reflection of his personal
faith.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Again, Columbus himself wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Peter stepped out upon the water
and to the extent that his faith remained firm, he walked upon it. … No one
should be afraid to undertake any project in the name of our Savior, if it is a
just cause and if he has the pure intention of his holy service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To that Bro. Hinckley comments: “Columbus’s faith remained
sufficiently firm to enable him, like Peter, to step out upon the water.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Christopher Columbus—discoverer—one
of God’s humble instruments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">George
Washington</span> </h1>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Again in 1 Nephi 13 we read of a group of
Gentiles that came to the promised land, that their mother Gentiles came to
battle against them, but that the power of God was with </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">these
people. In verse 19 we read:</span><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And
I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by
the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Again, prophets and apostles
have taught us that t</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">his
passage refers to the American Colonies and their fight for independence from
their “mother Gentiles,” the British Empire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And we
know that the majority of people who emigrated from Europe to North America were
also descended from Joseph, through his son, Ephraim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thus, as
prophesied, in Genesis 49, the posterities of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, were
reunited in the America’s—God’s “promised land!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We could
focus on many, many leaders who played a role in this migration and the eventual
establishment of a “nation under God.” But, to me, one of the most important of
these leaders was George Washington.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are literally
hundreds of examples of the faith of George Washington, but I only have time to
share a few.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">As a young man
Washington’s parents strictly taught him the Bible and regularly chided him to
pray and obey God’s commandments.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">However, I am going to fast-forward
to the day Washington attended the First Continental Congress in 1774 as a
delegate from Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Secular
histories do not discuss the “opening prayer” of that Congress. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This task was given to an Episcopalian
clergyman by the name of Duche </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">(Dushay) and he actually
delivered a sermon and a prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of
the scriptures he read during his presentation was the 23<sup>rd</sup>
Psalm—The Lord is my Shepherd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">According to John Adams, after several
scripture readings:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Mr.
Duche struck out into an extemporary prayer which filled the bosom of every man
present. I must confess I never heard a better prayer…[I never heard anyone
pray] with such fervor, such earnestness and pathos, and in language so elegant
and sublime—for America, for the Congress, for [Massachusetts], and especially
for the town of Boston.<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">John Adams also said that the
prayer was one that “heaven had ordained” and that it brought tears to the eyes
of the delegates. “It was,” he said, “enough to melt a heart of stone.”</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Most of the delegates
stood during this remarkable prayer. But on their knees were a handful of
delegates, including George Washington.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">On July 4, 1775, one of Washington’s
first acts as commander in chief of the newly formed Continental army was to issue
a General Order to ban all “profane cursing, swearing and drunkenness” and to
encourage “a punctual attendance on divine Service, to implore the blessings of
heaven upon the means used for our safety and defense.” Translation: Don’t
drink and swear ; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>do</u></b> go to
church and pray.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">According to author
Timothy Ballard, Washington regularly issued orders that requested these
behaviors from his troops—“He did not just ask for prayers, ... He asked for
righteous living. He asked for repentance.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Fast forward again to Pres.
Washington’s First Inauguration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
requested a Bible to use when he took the oath of office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to one eyewitness, the Bible was
opened to Genesis 49 during the swearing in ceremony.<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One final fast-forward to Pres. Washington’s Farewell address,
published in Philadelphia’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American
Daily Advertiser </i>on September 19, 1796. Below are two excerpts:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Of all the
dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span style="background: white;">religion and morality are indispensable supports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In vain would that man claim</span> <span style="background: white;">the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert
these great pillars of</span> <span style="background: white;">human happiness…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…Cultivate peace
and</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
<span style="background: white;">harmony<span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> with all.
Religion and morality enjoin this conduct. And can it be that</span></span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> <span style="background: white;">good policy does not
equally enjoin it? … Can it be that Providence [God] has not</span> <span style="background: white;">connected the permanent felicity [happiness] of a
nation with its virtue?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I think this sounds a lot like </span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ether 2:9<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land,
that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall
serve God.</span><span style="background: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">I personally believe that not only did our Founders fight
and debate this country into existence—they prayed it into existence!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">George Washington, father of our nation and one of God’s
humble instruments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<h1>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Abraham
Lincoln</span> </h1>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Abraham Lincoln
became a political celebrity in the late 1850’s in part due to his famous
debates with Stephen Douglas, commonly referred to as the Lincoln-Douglas
debates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He became president on
March 4, 1861.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the statements
he made in his first inaugural address was this, “</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Intelligence,
patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet
forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all
our present difficulty.” Translation: If we rely on God, he will help our favored country through this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has done it
before. He will do it again.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For the first 2 years
of the war, things did not go well for the Union, which created a lot of stress
for the new president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition, sadly,
about one year into Lincoln’s presidency, his sweet son Willie passed away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">One scholar wrote: “The great responsibility he faced as
President and the tragedy in his personal and professional life caused him to
undergo what he called a “process of crystallization” starting around 1860…in
which… [he] began to look to faith for comfort.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[viii]</span></span></a></span></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Elder Mark E. Petersen, former member
of the Quorum of the Twelve, said in October 1976 GC:</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">President Lincoln was one of the great men of all time, and the
reason for his greatness was his willingness to acknowledge and obey the Lord.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">He believed in God; he
lived near to God; he prayed most earnestly and knew for a fact that he was
guided by divine inspiration in his important work.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Lincoln was a devout believer in the
Bible and read it often…</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Lincoln guided the
destinies of the United States during the Civil War period by using the Bible
and applying its principles.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[ix]</span></span></a></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">There is also physical evidence that Abraham Lincoln may have
also read all or parts of the Book of Mormon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>According to an entry in the Library of Congress ledger, President
Lincoln checked out a copy of the Book of Mormon on November 18, 1861 and did
not return it until July 29, 1862. Seven days later he submitted the first
draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[x]</span></span></a></span></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the spring of 1863, with the
help of the Senate, Lincoln realized that he needed to do what presidents,
governors, and congresses had done hundreds of times before—ask the nation to
drop to its knees. He needed to ask America </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">to fast and pray.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Again, due to the secular nature of modern
education, it is not well known that beginning from its earliest days, leaders
in the United States regularly invited citizens to fast and pray using
proclamations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One source states that
since 1775, there have been 1,526 state and federal calls for national prayer.<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn11" name="_ednref11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another source states that prior to 1815,
there were 1,400 official government-issued calls to prayer by presidents,
governors, and congresses and there have been thousands more since.<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn12" name="_ednref12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Congress, in the very beginnings of the
Revolutionary War, issued one of the first national proclamations. They asked
Americans to pray for its leaders and for God’s protection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Thus, on March 30, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation for
a Day of Humiliation [their word for humility], Fasting and Prayer. Here are a few excerpts:</span><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly
recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God, in all
the affairs of men and nations, has …requested the President to designate and
set apart a day for National prayer…</span><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">We have been recipients of the
choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace
and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation
has ever grown. But we have forgotten God, we have forgotten the gracious hand
which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us;
and …we have become … too proud to pray to the God that made us!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It behooves us, then, to humble
ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray
for clemency and forgiveness.…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 15pt 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The day designated for this fast was April 30, 1863. Approximately
2 months after this day of national prayer, the tide of the war turned in favor
of the North with the victory at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Less than 2 years later the war was over.</span><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Union was preserved.</span><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Elder Reed Smoot,
former member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke about Lincoln to the
U.S. Senate on February 12, 1927. He said, “It was [Lincoln’s] faith in God
that made him a guide, a prophet, and a seer.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn13" name="_ednref13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">President Heber J.
Grant said: “We honor Abraham Lincoln because we believe absolutely that God
honored him and raised him to be the instrument in His hands of saving the
Constitution and the Union” (<i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Improvement Era<em><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">,</span></em></span></i> Feb.
1940).<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn14" name="_ednref14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Abraham Lincoln, freer of
slaves, preserver of the Union, and one of God’s humble instruments.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Summation</span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I think one of the
things we learn from each of these three great men is that certain conditions
are required to be “instruments in the hands of God.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of them was perfect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, each of these men were faithful to
his </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">religious tradition and to the knowledge and light
they had in their time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Columbus was a
faithful Catholic, Washington a faithful Episcopalian, and Lincoln a faithful
Protestant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Each of these men
were prayerful; they were humble; they felt the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
and they listened and obeyed; and each of these men encouraged others—and our
nation—to look to God for guidance and support.<br />
<br />
And I think each, in his own way, understood that America was a promised land
and knew that they had a role in its discovery, founding, and preservation and they
magnified their callings.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Our Imperative Duty</span></span> </h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Pres. Ezra Taft
Benson, all this happened for one reason:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Our
Father in Heaven planned the coming forth of the Founding Fathers and their
form of government as the necessary great prologue leading to the restoration
of the gospel…</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.[Christ himself spoke of it] <span style="background: white;">when He visited this promised land…America, the land
of liberty, was to be the Lord’s latter-day base of operations for His restored
church.<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn15" name="_ednref15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We also know from 3 Nephi 20 that this land will be our Savior Jesus Christ's millennial base of operations after His Second Coming.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">So what does that mean for us? What is our duty?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are a few ways I think we can be “</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">instruments in the hands of God</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">” in preserving and
protecting the Lord’s “latter-day base of operations:”</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Emulate the good qualities of each of these leaders.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Pray, study our scriptures, be in tune with the spirit,
and follow righteous promptings.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Vote for leaders who are like these great men.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In D&C 98:10 we are <u>clearly</u> told:</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> “<span style="color: #333333;">Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be
sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; ….”</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We need to strive to vote for men and women of character
because character matters!!!</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Run for office yourself.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In a recent GC, Elder Ballard said: “Church members—both
men and women—should not hesitate, if they desire, to run for public office at
any level of government wherever they live. Our voices are essential today and
important in our schools, our cities, and </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">our countries. Where democracy exists,
it is our duty as members to vote for honorable men and women who are willing
to serve” (April 2018 GC).</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Support religious liberty.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Go to churchofjesuschrist.org and in the little search box, type
“religious liberty.” Several articles, talks, and other resources will pop up. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is just one example:</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">President M. Russell Ballard spoke at an event last month in the
Washington DC area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said:</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">“Without religious freedom and without an ability to express faith in
the public square, our ability to influence the world to be better is
diminished; it limits our opportunities to strengthen and nudge one another
toward kindness, goodness, duty, and civility.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">“Fittingly, however, perhaps the best way to preserve our first freedom
is to live our faith—let others know what we believe and be examples of that
belief in word and deed.”</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are also talks and comments by Elder Quentin L.
Cook, Elder Robert D. Hales, Elder Oaks, </span><u><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Elder </span></u><u><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="https://speeches.byu.edu/speakers/d-todd-christofferson/"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">D. Todd Christofferson</span></a></span></u><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">, and many others.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Conclusion</span> </h1>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">God has promised—very clearly—that the wicked will be
swept off this land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has done it many
times before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He will do it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But,” as we learn in Moses 7:61, “my people
will I preserve.”</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">How will we be preserved? Just this past April (2018),
President Russell M. Nelson promised, “Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ,
will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_edn16" name="_ednref16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, he went on to say that, “…in coming
days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding,
directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In addition, I testify that we must also do the following:</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Be grateful for "The Miracle" that is America—“a land </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">which was
choice above all other lands</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">.”</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Keep the commandments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Be prepared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Elect righteous leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Follow the prophet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And pray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pray for
America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pray for our leaders. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pray for our prophets, seers and revelators—and
ask for God to bless the truly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God-given</i>
“Miracle” that is America.</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">I would like to conclude with one of my favorite quotes from Joseph Smith. I totally agree with this declaration:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.97333335876465px;">..</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "\"georgia\""; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.97333335876465px;">the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (</span><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.97333335876465px;">History of the Church</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "\"georgia\""; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.97333335876465px;">, 4:540).</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.97333335876465px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[endif]-->
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<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Jonah Goldberg, Suicide of the West, 2018.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> N.
Eldon Tanner, If They Will But Serve the God of the Land, April 1976 General
Conference.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Elder Oaks Defends Religious Liberty, https://www.lds.org/ensign/1990/01/news-of-the-church/elder-oaks-defends-religious-liberty?lang=eng<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland, “Lord I Believe,” April 2013 General Conference.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Peter
A. Lillback<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span>&
Jerry Newcombe, George Washington’s Sacred Fire, 2006.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Timothy Ballard, The Washington Hypothesis, 2016<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Ibid.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://www.quora.com/profile/MaryBeth-Donnelly"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">MaryBeth
Donnelly</span></a>, Close Reading Post on “Meditation on the Divine Will” (circa
1862), https://abrahamlincoln.quora.com/Close-Reading-Post-on-“Meditation-on-the-Divine-Will”-circa-1862<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Elder Mark E. Petersen, The Savor of Men , October 1976 General Conference<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Timothy Ballard, The Lincoln Hypothesis, 2014.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> http://www.nationaldayofprayer.org/about<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://wallbuilders.com/library-2/">https://wallbuilders.com/library-2/</a>
(hover mouse over Proclamations)<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref13" name="_edn13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ron L. Andersen, Abraham Lincoln’s Efforts to Save Constitution Helped
Restoration, Says Education Week Speaker, https://www.lds.org/church/news/abraham-lincolns-efforts-to-save-constitution-helped-restoration-says-education-week-speaker?lang=eng<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ibid.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref15" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Pres.
Ezra Taft Benson, Our Divine Constitution, October 1987 General Conference.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/DKing16/Documents/Personal/Church/Talks/July%208%20Talk%20Final%20Written%20Footnoted.docx#_ednref16" name="_edn16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[xvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Pres.
Russell M. Nelson, Revelation for the Church, Revelation four our Lives, April
2018 General Conference.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
<br />Deenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11897824371467377975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873279887200913840.post-56140395545743940662016-07-10T17:04:00.006-07:002023-04-06T19:42:58.962-07:00"But we have forgotten God"<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">The week of July 4 was fabulous, then awful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">I grew up in Dallas, Texas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For almost 20 years my dad worked less than 2 miles from
where the shootings took place on July 7, 2016.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because a lot of my personal history was lived in Dallas,
that event weighed heavy on my heart and soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">But as tragedies often do, these events brought something front
and center for me—something I have come to realize personally over the past
several weeks, and I hope that others are starting to realize, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">That something is that these problems are not political anymore
and have not been for years, maybe even decades. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is going on in America, with all due respect, has
nothing to do with politics—with #NeverTrump, #NeverHillary, Saul Alinsky, the left, the right, or
anything else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">It has to do with God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">To explain what I mean by that, I must share what I have learned
over the past few years about Abraham Lincoln.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lincoln was probably one of our most beloved
presidents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am one of those people who believes that it was his courage and leadership that saved this country </span><span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times";"><span style="font-size: 19px;">over 150 years ago</span></span><span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: medium;">.</span><span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">Well, it turns out that early in his career Pres. Lincoln
believed in political solutions, too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
actually pretty good at politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In truth, his political instincts helped him become president in 1860.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #16191f;">An example of his political approach was on full display in his speeches
and debates pre-1861.</span><span style="color: #16191f;"> </span><span style="color: #16191f;">They were
principled, yes, but also full of compromise and conciliation.</span><span style="color: #16191f;"> </span><span style="color: #16191f;">A great summary of his political
philosophy can be found in his first inaugural address (</span><a href="http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/1inaug.htm"><span style="color: blue;">March 4,
1861</span></a><span style="color: #16191f;">). </span><span style="color: #16191f;"> </span><span style="color: #16191f;">In short, his proposed
solution to the problems at hand was a political compromise. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">Then Lincoln learned, after two years of painful war, that what
was going on in America was not political. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">It had to do with God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">Beginning in 1862/63 Lincoln <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">knew</i></b>, after watching
America pay a very, very heavy price, that this was a country who had forgotten
God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">[May] we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which
now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our
presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole
People?</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;"> We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God (<a href="http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/fast.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Proclamation, March 1863</span></a>).</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">Lincoln knew that what America needed more than anything wasn't
a better Republican Party, wasn't "the rule of law," but a return to
GOD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At Gettysburg he said:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">…we here highly resolve that these dead shall
not have died in vain -- that this nation, <u>under God</u>, shall have a new
birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth (<a href="http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Gettysburg,
November 1863</span></a>, emphasis added).<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">“This nation, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Under</i> God.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #16191f;">I invite you to read </span><a href="http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/inaug2.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Lincoln’s
2nd inaugural address</span></a><span style="color: #16191f;">—it is not very long and it is totally different in tone from his 1st. While reading, count how
many times he references Heaven and the Almighty. </span><span style="color: #16191f;"> </span><span style="color: #16191f;">Just one example:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">With malice toward none; with charity for all;
with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">I believe that
all conservatives, not only as individuals, but also National Review, RedState, The
Resurgent, Conservative Review, Heritage, FreedomWorks, Rush, Hannity, Beck, Levin,
Shapiro, (Mike) Lee, Cruz, Sasse, Romney, etc etc etc—need to understand this one
point—that the REAL "bottom line" is that what America (and the
world) needs now, more than anything else, is a return to GOD. Until then, all
anyone's political pontificating will be is just wasted breath (and film and print).
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">Politics is not
going to save us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Politics is not
the answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">Lincoln knew this,
and he knew it very, very well:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten
the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and
strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our
hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and
virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too
self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too
proud to pray to the God that made us!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">It behooves us then, to humble ourselves
before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for
clemency and forgiveness (<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/fast.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Proclamation,
March 1863</span></a>).</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">President Lincoln’s solution was to declare a national day of prayer. This day turned out to be a vital turning point in the great Civil War. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;">Have we as a nation forgotten God? Do we need to humble ourselves before God and pray for forgiveness?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16191f; font-family: "times"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/godblessamerica?hc_location=ufi"><span style="color: #7e818a; font-family: "helvetica"; text-decoration: none;"></span><span style="color: #7e818a; text-decoration: none;">#</span><span style="color: #294387; text-decoration: none;">GodBlessAmerica</span></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/godsaveamerica?hc_location=ufi"><span style="color: #7e818a; font-family: "helvetica"; text-decoration: none;"></span><span style="color: #7e818a; text-decoration: none;">#</span><span style="color: #294387; text-decoration: none;">GodSaveAmerica</span></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/prayforamerica?hc_location=ufi"><span style="color: #7e818a; font-family: "helvetica"; text-decoration: none;"></span><span style="color: #7e818a; text-decoration: none;">#</span><span style="color: #294387; text-decoration: none;">PrayForAmerica</span></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/godwillprovide?hc_location=ufi"><span style="color: #7e818a; font-family: "helvetica"; text-decoration: none;"></span><span style="color: #7e818a; text-decoration: none;">#</span><span style="color: #294387; text-decoration: none;">GodWillProvide</span></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/thankyou?hc_location=ufi"><span style="color: #7e818a; font-family: "helvetica"; text-decoration: none;"></span><span style="color: #7e818a; text-decoration: none;">#</span></a><span style="color: #294387; text-decoration: none;">ThankGodForAmerica #LookingForLincoln</span></span></div>
Deenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11897824371467377975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873279887200913840.post-35076221122041583012016-07-04T07:02:00.002-07:002016-07-04T07:13:44.354-07:00Firework or Sunbeam? (2016)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">This is the almost-annual update and reprint of a blog that was
first published 7/21/11.</span></i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">For a lot of reasons I do not stay up-to-date on the pop music
scene and only occasionally listen to pop radio stations. I prefer gospel
music, talk radio (when in the mood), light jazz (when I can find it), and
sometimes I’m a little bit country (I grew up in Texas, what can I say?) and
sometimes a little bit rock and roll.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">However, even though pop music is not a #1 priority with me,
because it often permeates society (clips of popular songs often show up in
commercials and at ball games, etc.) I learn about songs I otherwise would not
know about. </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">One such song is <i>Firework</i> sung by Katy
Perry. Even though it first hit the charts in 2010, I finally paid
attention to it a year or so later at <a href="http://www.freedomfestival.org/"><span style="color: #0000e4; text-decoration: none;">Stadium of Fire</span></a> in Provo,
Utah. (That is kind of an appropriate place for a firework song to show up
since "Stadium of Fire" is one of the biggest stadium fireworks show
in the country, if not the world.) Appropriately, that year a clip of the song
was played during the fireworks display.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Eventually my naturally curious mind went into full gear and I
decided I needed to learn more about the song <i>Firework</i>. That
led me to YouTube for the actual <i>Firework</i> music video by Katy
Perry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">That was an interesting experience. I will admit that it is
a fun, energetic song that appears to have a positive message. However, I
shut the video off before it even finished because it endorsed homosexual behavior,
“parties,” and immodesty.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">What “Firework” Taught Me<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">I eventually learned two things from the song <i>Firework</i>.
The first came when I compared it to a document published by my church
called <a href="https://lds.org/youth/for-the-strength-of-youth/entertainment-and-the-media?lang=eng"><i><span style="color: #c91427; text-decoration: none;">For the Strength
of Youth</span></i></a></span><i><span style="color: #0000e4; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">.</span></i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;"> Here we read:</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">While much entertainment is good, some of it can lead you away
from righteous living. Offensive material is often found in web sites,
concerts, movies, music, videocassettes, DVDs, books, magazines, pictures, and
other media. Satan uses such entertainment to deceive you by making what is
wrong and evil look normal and exciting. It can mislead you into thinking that
everyone is doing things that are wrong.</span></i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is
vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in
entertainment that in any way presents immorality or violent behavior as
acceptable.</span></i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">While the words of the song <i>Firework</i> are not,
on their own, immoral or deceptive, the music video was full of
deception. It was clearly making what is wrong and evil look normal,
exciting, and good (see <a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/isa/5.20?lang=eng#19">Isaiah 5:20</a>).
I, therefore, without fully knowing it at the time, took the advice of <i>For
the Strength of Youth</i>—I stopped watching it.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Are we Fireworks?<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">But then I got to thinking
about the message of the song—that we are "fireworks."</span></i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;"> The idea that each of us has a spark of light within us
and that we should let that light shine “across the sky.” On the surface, that
seems like a <i>fantastic</i> message. However, after a while the philosopher
in me kicked in. This led me to my second lesson. </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Think about a firework for just a moment. How long does
that light shine? Hours? Minutes? Seconds? Yes, fireworks are exciting and
powerful and colorful (and I <b><i><u>love</u></i></b> fireworks). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">But fireworks are also short-lived. Even the most beautiful
firework fizzles out in just seconds. The light created by a firework will
not even last a full minute. And, in order to keep the excitement
going once the light from one firework fizzles out, another must be fired
and then another and then another. Usually, the best fireworks
shows last about 30 minutes, go through a few hundred fireworks, and
then they are over. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The light is gone</i>.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Fireworks are exciting and colorful, yes. But they are also
temporary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Is that what our Heavenly Father wants for us, really? Temporary
light? To be a burst of excitement and then we are over?</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">I believe the answer to that question is resounding
“No.” Heavenly Father wants much more for us—much, much more. He
wants permanent light. He wants sunshine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">…Or are We Sunbeams?<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">That is when the words to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ll_Be_a_Sunbeam">Christian children’s
hymn</a> came to my mind:</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><a href="http://lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=60&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=60&searchsubseqend=ZZZ"><i><span style="color: #0000e4; text-decoration: none;">Jesus wants me for a sunbeam,</span></i></a></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><a href="http://lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=60&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=60&searchsubseqend=ZZZ"><i><span style="color: #0000e4; font-family: "times"; text-decoration: none;">To shine for him each
day…</span></i></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">These words may seem trite or even childish next to an exciting
song by Katy Perry, but think about it just for a moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Sunshine. What are its characteristics? It is
warm. It is life-giving and life-sustaining. Most importantly, it is
more permanent than a firework—<i><u>much</u></i> more permanent. In fact,
according to scientists, our sun has been in existence for about 4.57 <i>billion</i> years.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">The sun is also more powerful than a firework. In fact,
there is no question that the sun is the most powerful force in our solar
system.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">We also know that even the stars are actually suns from other
solar systems whose light has reached our planet after many light-years of
travel. Imagine the power of a sun that emits a light that lasts
24,000-26,000 <i>years</i>—the distance our solar system is from the
center of the Milky Way galaxy. And that is just our galaxy—there are a
multitude of other galaxies beyond the Milky Way!</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Does all of this give a deeper, broader meaning to the phrase,
“Jesus wants me for a sunbeam?” I say “Yes!” We can be suns! We can be
a true light in the lives of everyone around us. We can warm their
lives. We can give them <i>lasting</i> life. All we have to
do to be this kind of light is be obedient to God’s commandments. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Truth, Obedience, and the Holy Spirit<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">As the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints also taught in <a href="https://lds.org/youth/for-the-strength-of-youth?lang=eng"><i><span style="color: #0000e4; text-decoration: none;">For the Strength
of Youth</span></i></a>:</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Because the Lord loves you, He has given you commandments and
the words of prophets to guide you on your journey. Some of the most important
guidelines for your life are found in this pamphlet. We testify that these
principles are true.</span></i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">We promise that as you keep these standards and live by the
truths in the scriptures, you will be able to do your life’s work with greater
wisdom and skill and bear trials with greater courage. <u>You will have the
help of the Holy Ghost. You will feel good about yourself and will be a
positive influence in the lives of others.</u> You will be worthy to go to the
temple to receive holy ordinances. These blessings and many more can be yours
(emphasis added).</span></i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">I truly believe our Father in Heaven wants us to be more than
fireworks, which are exciting for a few seconds, but then disappear. Our
Father in Heaven wants us to be sunbeams—real, powerful, lasting, life-giving
sunbeams. And to have this permanent light in our life, all we need to do
is follow Him.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Happy 4th of July everyone! Let
<i>true</i> freedom ring!!</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Acknowledgement: A special
thanks goes to my friend <a href="http://valeriedimick.com/"><span style="color: #0000e4; text-decoration: none;">Valerie Dimick</span></a> who’s
lecture on the subject of “sun” versus “light bulbs” helped to inspire this
message.</span></span></i></div>
</div>
Deenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11897824371467377975noreply@blogger.com0