A Convenient Biden Stroke is Coming

The Democrats need to engineer an equivalent polarizing event to counteract the political "bump" produced by the Trump assassination attempt, and get a complementary "bump" on the Democratic side.

I believe this will be a staged Biden "stroke". Already, all the scripts read how Joe has been a wonderful servant of the people for over 50 years. If he were to be incapacitated in the next few days or weeks, there would be a very satisfying outpouring of sympathy for the dutiful civil servant who nearly died in office, hopefully to overcome the gushing of patriotism that the botched Trump assassination elicited.

A "stroke" might even the polling score somewhat for the Democrats.

Of course, such an event (authentic or not) would trigger the 25th amendment to the Constitution and Kamala Harris could take up the flag most dramatically especially if Biden publicly topples and doesn't get up with the Vice president ready at his side. Keep an eye out if Joe keeps Kamala very close in public - they are staging a photogenic transition of power!

Given two horrible incidents very close to each other and election day, a "solemn" President Harris might choose to call for a delay of the election, especially to allow stretched emotions on both sides to subside. The Supreme Court may go along. I wouldn't be surprised if it was delayed by a year or more, not so much to quell political divisions, but allow Kamala to run as both the successor to the felled yet noble Biden and on her own presidential deeds.

Of course there is the thought of why Joe Biden would play along with a fake "stroke" and invoking the 25th. I can think of one compelling situation - a President Harris could pardon Hunter Biden and perhaps preemptively pardon Joe himself from future prosecution when more evidence of his abuses in office, in relation to securing foreign influence for enriching Hunter and others, surface. If this could be kept out of the press (easy matter for a sycophantic media), everything can be successfully and quietly swept under the rug.

At the end of the day, Joe Biden will be a glorified public servant and Kamala Harris will graciously take up the mantle of the presidency, a mantle to wield toward a much more-left-leaning socialistic/communistic agenda than previous administrations could manage.  "Progressive" leaders could move their agendas far more easily under a Harris administration and scoop up many young voters eager to punish the old and wealthy and transfer massive funds and power to themselves at the expense of liberty.

I write this in an effort to prevent such contrived events from occurring, if only by speaking the possible secret plans. May evil fail! 

Joe is more Corrupt than he is Old

If the biggest issue with Joe Biden was his verbal gaffs and physical degeneration, that can be forgiven with his age. Personally, I want him and his ilk gone for their devotion to turning America into a weak dependency state that obeys the dictums of the government without resistance and destroys the economy to enrich the ruling class and guarantee permanent power to the current global elites.

In spite of what is said of Joe Biden's competency, his behavior is most likely upsetting the apple-cart of the powerful that he has served so faithfully for so many years, the people who made and maintain that "swamp" that Donald Trump speaks of. The current hysteria about Biden's fitness has more to do with his ability to sustain the practical enslavement of most of the American people to a dependency on government handouts and favors meant to buy votes. We need to convince more Americans that their votes and devotions cannot be bought with inflation-deflated counterfeit dollars deposited in their bank accounts by government agencies.

Enemies of Donald Trump scream that he is a evil man that will 'destroy democracy'. More likely, it is a selfish expression of fear among the powerful that the un-corrupted Trump will tear down the playhouse of their power elite masters, end their kick-back-profitable wars, and drain their human-weed-infested swamp as he tried to do in the past. Bureaucratic and judiciary attempts to eliminate the threat of what Trump may do to the existing deceit have largely failed to stop him and his comments that it would be much easier for him just to give up and go away ring all too true.  I thank God often that Donald Trump continues to fight his battle at great personal expense and prosecutions, which more than wins him my vote and support!

 

Joe Biden is, conversely, the proven defender of the corrupt government that has grown up over decades and the pandering less-than-champion of the 'green' communism that appeals so much to the younger narcissistic set. Unfortunately for them, he is less than able to produce the votes that was really his part of the evil pact with the elite rulers of the world to deliver American military might and riches into their hands. The agenda of global domination requires a steadier, more sure hand at the reins of American manipulation that the Democrats are scrambling wildly in these last few days to continue to hold. Joe's weak grip might lose his masters their demanded spoils.

 

I will be voting for Donald Trump again this November. Though I really like RFK Jr., he would make a far better Attorney General like his dad in a Trump administration, overseeing the swamp-draining which couldn't be accomplish last time. Dis-empowering the filthy slavers and their Biden-ist task-masters that have a choke-hold on this country may need to take first place in the next Trump administration, even above securing our borders.

A Court that Tears down Kings

With the overruling of the "Chevron Deference" doctrine by the Supreme Court, the USA has a fighting chance to return to the proper federal governance established by our founding fathers and the necessary bickering among the three branches that allows greater freedom that comes from a severely limited federal government.

The ruling media is absolutely livid about this decision and portrays the now-curtailed bureaucracy (executive branch) from being less able to "protect" (lord over, in my mind) the "people" who can't seem to stand up for themselves as far as leftist reporters and commentators are concerned. I never needed some bureaucrat to fight battles for me - it is MY job to do that!

This was a wonderful judicial club to punish Congress more than any other branch. It is the vague legislation (often only half-written) that gets voted "yea" that created Chevron Deference in the first place. A giddy President signs stupid bills into laws and the bureaucratic machine goes into action creating a blizzard of rules and policies that service any number of needs, but mostly its own.  Ask any leftist if they agree that a bigger and more empowered bureaucracy is the best situation and you will hear an emphatic "yes!" Of course, a hulking Executive agency gets its power to control from the vaunted "people" they take that power from and a Congress that doesn't want to exercise any legislative control over anything they are responsible for. As an example, the President can only act as the "Commander-in-Chief" over the military when the Congress declares a war. Look at how many war-like things we have done, including invading and controlling Iraq for years, without even a peep about a war declaration from our flaccid Congress. Every President since World War Two (our last properly declared war) has strutted about with a puffed up chest and worn the shiny badge of "Commander-in-Chief" and been cheered by their supporters as such without any legislative authority to do so. Our military has swollen to huge proportions and budgets without either Congress or the Courts doing anything about their Constitutional roles to check such Executive audacity. The bureaucracy (much of it in uniform) loves their unrestrained power and Congress can tut-tut to placate their constituents and shovel money to their districts military bases instead of exercising any real restraint. What President doesn't revel in the God-like power Congress has gradually handed over to them, all in service to appeasing the desires of political parties to enjoy King-like executive "rule" with a sycophantic legislature doing their bidding in their turn.

My Leftist friends were very happy with a revisionist Court that worked arm-in-arm with a controlling bureaucracy, left to its own devices by blusterous Presidents who didn't really challenge them and fed money by a sniveling Congress in service to themselves rather than a populace the were supposed to at least nominally represent. All of this government playground fun is of course in service, by hook or by crook, to the shadowy power elites that control both business and government to suit their own ends.i

If there is only one thing for which Donald Trump should be praised and remembered, it should be for the use of his three opportunities to appoint new Supreme Court Justices, which was his constitutional duty to do.  He appointed justices that had records of defending the Constitution, which is their stated duty, rather than running cover for the united bureaucratic/Presidential/Congressional cabal that does Elite bidding, as previous justices seemed willing to do. The newest jurists have worked to reduce government to its proper size and power. With that limited scope, the people of the United States are free to be as our Founding Fathers envisioned, not controlled by some King and forced to do that King's whim, much as we have been under the thumb of American Bureaucratic controllers that dole out money and favors as we dance for them.

So, for this and other bench overrulings, I am grateful for a more originalist Supreme Court!

Sackcloth and Ashes in a Land of Plenty

One overarching element of the Book of Mormon record is something that many people call "the pride cycle", which is readily seen in the graphic of this post. A studied approach toward good is necessary from a large majority of a nation or people to get out the pride cycle once it has taken hold of a society.

If the current American people were on the cycle, I predict we would be somewhere between "Righteousness and prosperity" and "Pride and wickedness", leading to "Destruction and suffering".  In most measures, we have enjoyed a very long period of prosperity that was largely due to the righteousness and industry of previous generations. As we have largely abandoned the ways of our parents and grandparents, we are already beginning to pay the price in a fading prosperity. Few people deny that the children of today will have lives less pleasant than we have enjoyed. All of the economic indicators are going in the wrong direction and the "Pax Americana" that the world has largely enjoyed in decades past is replaced with the drumbeat of war on several fronts.

 

I don't really worry too much about the children. In spite of our world of mechanized compulsory schooling, depressing economics, and over-socialized, over-sexualized peer worship, these young people are amazingly resilient and resourceful and totally capable of overcoming the stupidity that my older generation has pandered to and pushed our children into. They have an obvious strength and ability to swing themselves into a permanent state of "Righteousness and prosperity" and to avoid our decadent "Pride and wickedness" before they are stuck with the "Destruction and suffering" that our foolishness will bring on.

Myself and my cohort seem the lot to be most concerned about. We ruined our society with LGBTQ+++ and DEI idiocy and we gave fuel to the fire of "climate" hysteria, among thousands of other lunatic ideas that we fat and lazy cretins are easily brought to think. We gave our disposable incomes and our largely disposable existences toward the missions of enriching oligarchs and worshiping ideologues, both promising much but rarely delivering anything worthwhile. This is at the root of our "Pride and wickedness", raising mere mortals to being our gods.

 

Even for us, there remains hope if we recognize our peril and spin ourselves about toward the state of "Humility and repentance", a recipe for joy provided by the likes of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.  The way for us to avoid getting stuck in the "pride cycle" is well preached by mounds of scriptural affirmations and the words of modern prophets and apostles. We need to access these saving resources and Christ's redemptive power (grace) and "shake off the dust" of this corrupt world we have helped to ruin and turn to the better living and example that the Divine has told us time and again to embrace.  God will readily forgive us our silliness as we change and turn to him!

I implore us all to get out of the "cycle" toward "Destruction and suffering" and return to the "Righteousness and prosperity" that God and his Christ have in store for us!

The Cruel Threat that is DEI

The recasting of LGBT pandering and race-baiting into Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a labor of cruelty and hatred and destruction against those who follow God and support the Natural Family.

Among the many adages that I try to follow, an apt one is to "Quit your job before you get fired". This means that I tend to leave employment if I feel that I can't make a good go of it. This also applies as I would eventually be fired for my "unacceptable" stance on DEI, no matter if I was doing good work or not, so I would need to quit before that firing can happen.

I have been feeling out recent job interviews for DEI leanings and ending the interviews early if it seems like my old-fashioned "color-blind" "treat everyone the same" sensibilities are not sufficiently compatible with potential positions. This often means that educational institutions and military contractors are off the table as employers, even though these have been my bread and butter for many years. I have gone from a trusted and respected employee to a potential lawsuit or HR nightmare in the face of DEI mandates.

It appears that I will need to work for myself or live off my pension (until they find some way to take that away) to remain true to my principles of supporting natural families.

Matthew 6:24-25

24 ¶ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  

These scriptures say one cant serve God and mammon such as DEI, so I am going to serve God rather than clinging to jobs that demand my ascent to DEI loyalty and forces destroying faith in God and the natural family. It assures that one shouldn't worry about life, food, drink, and clothing as God will take care of these things as you remain true to him.

I see DEI mandates as a beginning step toward the mark of the beast, threatening permanent loss of employment to those like me who choose not to genuflect before the "special" demands of supposedly "aggrieved" groups. It is easy to foresee the day when a "rainbow card" or displaying some DEI mark will be necessary to buy food or get necessary government services - these are the next logical step in the cultural take-over of the West.

I am checking out of this madness and putting my fate in God's hands to provide for myself and my family. You might consider doing this as well, unless you have already embraced the DEI way. 

Stand As A Testimony Against The World

 

Here is the very practical purpose of the testimony of The Three Witnesses.

And in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be established; and the testimony of three, and this work, in the which shall be shown forth the power of God and also his word, of which the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost bear record—and all this shall StandAsaTestimonyAgainstTheWorld at the last day.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/5?lang=eng&id=p4#p4

I'm not saying that a few people may have chosen to believe the Book of Mormon record due to the testimony of these three men, but Moroni is showing this for the purpose of indicting those who reject the record (it is not a story so it is called a record) in our times for whatever reason.

The kindness and love bunch tend to look away at these recorded justifications for God's justice. God is often portrayed as the tough judge rather than the merciful forgiver of sins in scripture. It must be hard for "sweetness and light" types to hear the "warning voice" that says God spends time and effort on justifying his judgements and wrath.

It must be remembered that God has faced and stood against whole-sale rebellion from his own ungrateful children. One third of them were cast off and never entered mortality. What we have here on earth is a hodgepodge of God's children that run the gamut from those not stridently rebelling against God and to those who embraced the Father's plan and Jesus' role as the Savior.

The mercy and love of God provided that less than zealous people were sent to mortality alongside those who had proven themselves loyal to God during the "War in Heaven" rebellion. One facet of mortality is the "winnowing" of people much like grain, giving them an additional chance to prove their loyalty, as indicated in this verse. I would say many souls have lived and are living today that were greatly motivated to avoid the punishment of the rebellious rather than any real loyalty toward God and his Christ.

The phrasing here is pointed at those who are likely to say that God didn't put forth enough effort to redeem them from punishment and damnation. God prepares his answer to the questions of "Why am I not glorified? Am I not also one of thy children? Am I not entitled to your inheritance?"

Ready for Righteousness

It might be tiring to be reminded again and again the wonderful resource of God that we have in the Book of Mormon!  There is more to learn from it.

Ether 2:7-8

7 And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would 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.

8 And he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them

The American hemisphere is a "land of promise" to the righteous followers of Jesus Christ. In an associated way, the unrighteous who live in this land will be "swept off" then Christ comes again. 

I don't think anyone should move across the sea in response to these verses. Rather, make the changes needed in your life and become righteous and ready for the blessings of living on Christ's "land of promise"!

Deflecting Blame

Many people today don't like ideas to be challenged. If it is a strongly-held idea, a challenge may be see as if it were a personal attack and that the person making the challenge must be a bad person by nature. Too often, the principle of "love" is invoked as an accusation against any who would dare challenge an idea, especially those espoused by easily-offended people - "you aren't showing love."

The Book of Mormon contains many warnings that are unpleasant to hear. Its prophetic writers foretold many of the abominations of our day and the wicked who God will punish for their violations of commandments. Many people become angry at such words and writing, feeling that they should not be punished for much enjoyed and celebrated sins.

Everyone can act in whatever way they please. However, they cannot alter the just result of their actions, either good and bad. God through his prophets and their warnings work to make plain the mortal and eternal consequences for our works so that we cannot claim either ignorance or abandonment.

In other words, prophets and apostles work to rid themselves of the blame for the sins of others. They have warned us of this:

Mormon 9:35

And these things are written that we may rid our garments of the blood of our brethren, who have dwindled in unbelief.

I am writing this right now. People will be punished for the sins as written in holy writ and the fleshy pages of our conscious. I am often pointed, to the chagrin of the guilty. I do this so that those facing the fires of hell cannot turn back on me with the accusation "You didn't warn me!"  Here I am - warning you.  We must all turn to better ways!

The Love of the Golden Rule

I think we conflate “love” into something resembling an emotional cudgel. My definition of “love thy neighbor” currently reads as the Golden Rule as my effort at self-preservation.

This is an interesting time when the concept of love is shifting and ill-defined. I thought I knew what it meant to love someone as God commands, but I am floundering in some unfamiliar territory. Recently, I have begun to reflect on my relationship with my “neighbors” and how the use of the term love might apply to such relationships.

As an example, some years ago, my daughter informed me that she would feel more authentic being a man. She knew that I adhere to biblical teachings on these things, so I thought I was being diplomatic in saying that I couldn't go to such places with her. I learned in the few subsequent interactions that this child allowed us to have that she rejected holy writ, no longer believed in my judeo-christian God (if she ever did), that I had always been an abusive father, and that my “misgendering” references were deeply offensive to her and evil-spirited. At the root of these attitudes was the revelation that my “sin” was that I did not really love this child, not only in her eyes, but in the eyes of many others, including those who I thought shared my religious stance. In a matter of five years of decent moral consistency, I went from being an upright family man to being a hateful trans-phobe, mostly over the shifting sands of “love”.

The commonly referenced commandments regarding love are here for your consideration:

Matthew 22

34 ¶ But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

I have written on other occasions on what it means to love God, so I will only say that obedience to his commandments is how God recognizes one's love according to other scriptures. It seems pragmatic to me with no smiles or hugs or such - he likes those who obey.

Since these two commandments are so proximate to each other, I am prepared to say that the very short quip “love thy neighbor as thyself” meaningfully doesn't include “with all thy heart” or soul or mind. It looks like God wants to reserve this sort of multi-faceted and “all”-consuming love to himself, to the exclusion of all others. To put love of anyone on a equal footing to your devotion to God, much less before it, would constitute a sin, for the mass of believers that seem practically ready to elevate spouse or child or random stranger above God. I only bring this up as it so that we don't seek to project our demanded love of God onto others.

In reference to the example of my daughter above, I put my “love the Lord thy God” above the love for my child. It seems that is unacceptable for most, who would tell us to jettison a belief in (much less obedience to) God any time it might jeopardize my child's selfish desire of all-embracing love toward them - “Love me more than God or you don't really love me, so you are a terrible father.”

So, how should we show love for our neighbors that is consistent with Christ's command?

The fragment “as thyself” isn't very useful at first blush. My first thought is that we should be humble, as opposed to the more current self-loving narcissism that we see on such flagrant display in social media and increasingly everywhere else. It would seem nearly impossible to love others the same as the modern person loves themselves, often to the exclusion of all else. Needed self-sacrifice is a dirty word these days, but this love for neighbor seems to require at least putting others on equal footing with ourselves.

I choose to add the following verse to the fray, something you may have read before as “the golden rule”:

Matthew 7

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

As “the law and the prophets” are mentioned in both references, it seems that the Lord is talking about basically the same thing. If we want a standard by which we put ourselves and others on the same status, it works very well that one will do to a neighbor the same things that we would want done to us - kindness and consideration.

I recall to myself that this is not an expectation for particularly good treatment from others. This is not “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” sort of “I'll do to you what you did to me” turn-about. The Lord's statement isn't a call for social reciprocity - one must treat the neighbor well, likely better than you would treat yourself if you are anything close to as self-effacing as I can be.

At the end of the day, the Lord's desire in “love thy neighbor” seems to be to treat everyone well, which doesn't match up with a modern definition of love that often wants the lion's-share for oneself. In a world of demands and “fairness”, Christ demands that we put God and his interests first and others ahead of ourselves with a humility that many folks choose not to have.

Still Liberal and Utopia-Chasing

Before it even begins, I'm not some radicalized leftist rabble-rouser. The term “liberal” has been co-opted by the evil and the lazy and if you want to see me mad, bring it up. My liberalism is primarily in service to the terrestrial world that is coming, the world that comes when lower motivations and actions and (frankly) people are swept away.

Even the crazy social justice types think that the world would work a lot better if we just had the right people running things, and in a way, I think they're right - it will work much better, but only when the “wrong” people are gone and those who are left are “running” their own things. It won't work the way they envision it today and everyone will have to be far more responsible than anyone would prefer, but the vision of a kinder and less anxious world is actually on the way.

The key ingredient for the better world is the one least considered - Jesus Christ.

I believe it has to do with standards. Christ has some pretty high standards compared to society right now and most people are all aglow in either violating such standards or deciding they shouldn't exist at all, hoping that the glorious day that rids us of guilt and pain for our actions will dawn. However, the avoidance of consequences doesn't work, we find ourselves in a constant existential morning-after hang-over, and we seem stuck forever in the dark night of the soul, our hearts empty and vaguely aching.

I watched the 80s movie “Footloose” recently and I sympathized with the poor preacher man, watching his congregants, his own daughter, and even himself sliding down into depravity, all over the enforcement of standards. I didn't care so much about the music or the dancing (sorry fans), I saw a good person getting torn apart because he was working so hard to force other people to not do potentially harmful things. As a result, kids were going absolutely batty and becoming destructive, to themselves and everything else. From my perspective forty years in the future, the allowance of something like dancing seems to pale in the face of the ruin so many have made of their lives and the movie itself becomes excruciatingly dated.

Luckily, the answer to the '80s problems of dancing and the 2020s problems of unfulfilling sensuality or warmongering or any number of other perplexities is quite simple: Jesus Christ and his standards, as expressed in his commandments.

It may seem that I am working at cross-purposes. Wasn't the “Footloose” preacher establishing Christian standards and they didn't work? How can Christ be the answer then? In my mind, it is all about how the standards are applied and how people feel about that application. I know, after a statement like that, I'd better explain myself before I lose you readers completely!

I am an old-school liberal, all about liberty of action. I actually don't believe that you can successfully legislate morality. If you notice above, I highlighted references to the idea of force - that something powerful can compel the less powerful to obey. The “Footloose” kids were playing chicken with tractors, listening to “demon” music, and sneaking into the next county to get drunk, keeping the local police too busy to force everyone to obey the local morality laws.

There is never enough force necessary to get people to stop doing what they really want to do.

Actually, I have seen that force ends up encouraging disobedience and rebellion more than anything else. People are far more interested in exercising their liberty than being pushed into something, even if the result will be something good in the end. Not only do “the means not justify the ends”, often draconian “means” don't bring about anything like the “ends”.

Even God understands this and sets up post-mortal “rewards” for people who really don't want to be good and keep his rules. These rewards keep trouble-makers far from him and his followers! The one being who should be able to force everyone to behave doesn't choose to do so. If I were God (pesky mormonisms), I wouldn't want to spend all of my glorious eternity crushing rebelliousness either - I like lounging on the beach way more!

So, I still haven't described a workable system that will usher in the socialist utopia that my left-leaning tub-thumping friends crave. How can not enforcing standards compliance possibly be part of the solution?

The secret is in the other part of the solution: the trouble-makers are gone! I mean “gone” as in “not around”, vanished, somewhere else. If you read about the end times as described in the Bible, one of the elements is the separation of the “righteous” from the “wicked”. Earth life, mortality, whatever you want to call it, is really effective at revealing whether you really are a righteous person or if you just act virtuous when others are looking - a lifetime is too long to keep up pretenses and your true self will reveal itself. The wicked are the people who choose to disobey the standards/rules/commandments and never get around to correcting themselves. Sometime very soon, the wicked will not be living among the good folks, by whatever method God chooses to employ - war works well, so does famine, prison continents are effective, and pestilence is always a trusty tool. Regardless, the disobedient are out of the picture and everything that depends on people keeping the rules begins to work the way we always dreamed!

My liberal self understands one more very important part of the secret to the better world: we have to really make the daily choice to be among Christ's “righteous” by learning to be obedient and correcting ourselves when we come up short. Also, please don't get weird about “screwing up” - Christ created repentance so righteous people don't end up in the “wicked” camp through our present shortcomings - righteous people get around to personal change and obedience sooner than later and God takes note of it. It is not just about NOT being demonstrably wicked, righteousness is about actively doing good by helping those in need, for one example.

When everyone is good and obedient to God's laws, we are generous and kind and no one takes advantage of anyone else. People like that don't defraud the healthcare system, or insurance companies, or the government, and don't dig metaphorical pits to trip up others. In the coming Terrestrial world, everyone here will have proven themselves obedient to the standards that Christ has set for us, which makes everything work better all-around!

I'm still not a left-winger and I remain a bad enforcement-socialist. Marching around with signs and screaming in people's faces won't get us to the blessed utopian place - God and the people who obey him will make it happen. I want to be part of Christ's group and if you want to be a part of the millennial wonders to come, you should obey and join his group as well. It's the best investment for the future that you can make!

The Love of the Golden Rule

I think we conflate “love” into something resembling an emotional cudgel. My definition of “love thy neighbor” currently reads as the Golden Rule as my effort at self-preservation.

This is an interesting time when the concept of love is shifting and ill-defined. I thought I knew what it meant to love someone as God commands, but I am floundering in some unfamiliar territory. Recently, I have begun to reflect on my relationship with my “neighbors” and how the use of the term love might apply to such relationships.

As an example, some years ago, my daughter informed me that she would feel more authentic being a man. She knew that I adhere to biblical teachings on these things, so I thought I was being diplomatic in saying that I couldn't go to such places with her. I learned in the few subsequent interactions that this child allowed us to have that she rejected holy writ, no longer believed in my judeo-christian God (if she ever did), that I had always been an abusive father, and that my “misgendering” references were deeply offensive to her and evil-spirited. At the root of these attitudes was the revelation that my “sin” was that I did not really love this child, not only in her eyes, but in the eyes of many others, including those who I thought shared my religious stance. In a matter of five years of decent moral consistency, I went from being an upright family man to being a hateful trans-phobe, mostly over the shifting sands of “love”.

The commonly referenced commandments regarding love are here for your consideration:

Matthew 22

34 ¶ But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

I have written on other occasions on what it means to love God, so I will only say that obedience to his commandments is how God recognizes one's love according to other scriptures. It seems pragmatic to me with no smiles or hugs or such - he likes those who obey.

Since these two commandments are so proximate to each other, I am prepared to say that the very short quip “love thy neighbor as thyself” meaningfully doesn't include “with all thy heart” or soul or mind. It looks like God wants to reserve this sort of multi-faceted and “all”-consuming love to himself, to the exclusion of all others. To put love of anyone on a equal footing to your devotion to God, much less before it, would constitute a sin, for the mass of believers that seem practically ready to elevate spouse or child or random stranger above God. I only bring this up so that we don't seek to project our demanded love of God onto others.

In reference to the example of my daughter above, I put my “love the Lord thy God” above the love for my child. It seems that is unacceptable for most, who would tell us to jettison a belief in (much less obedience to) God any time it might jeopardize my child's selfish desire of all-embracing love toward them - “Love me more than God or you don't really love me, so you are a terrible father.”

So, how should we show love for our neighbors that is consistent with Christ's command?

The fragment “as thyself” isn't very useful at first blush. My first thought is that we should be humble, as opposed to the more current self-loving narcissism that we see on such flagrant display in social media and increasingly everywhere else. It would seem nearly impossible to love others the same as the modern person loves themselves, often to the exclusion of all else. Needed self-sacrifice is a dirty word these days, but this love for neighbor seems to require at least putting others on equal footing with ourselves.

I choose to add the following verse to the fray, something you may have read before as “the golden rule”:

Matthew 7

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

As “the law and the prophets” are mentioned in both references, it seems that the Lord is talking about basically the same thing. If we want a standard by which we put ourselves and others on the same status, it works very well that one will do to a neighbor the same things that we would want done to us - kindness and consideration.

I recall to myself that this is not an expectation for particularly good treatment from others. This is not “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” sort of “I'll do to you what you did to me” turn-about. The Lord's statement isn't a call for social reciprocity - one must treat the neighbor well, likely better than you would treat yourself if you are anything close to as self-effacing as I can be.

At the end of the day, the Lord's desire in “love thy neighbor” seems to be to treat everyone well, which doesn't match up with a modern definition of love that often wants the lion's-share for oneself. In a world of demands and “fairness”, Christ demands that we put God and his interests first and others ahead of ourselves with a humility that many folks choose not to have.

"Ye Know Me Not" and the Lord's Judgement

I have been drawn to Christ's teachings as found in Matthew 25. Not that there aren't other things to learn in the writings of prophets and apostles, but the concepts written here are so central to how we must conduct ourselves if we truly desire heaven and God's praise.

In verses 1 and 14, variations on "...the kingdom of heaven be likened unto..." let us know that the Savior is teaching who will get the celestial reward - This is how things will work in Heaven.  If you don't like the workings of the Lord's precincts, then you will not like a celestial glory and will be placed in one of the lower glories.

Two very well-known parables are contained in this chapter. I will be taking what may seem a very unorthodox examination of what these parables are trying to tell us. I don't want to discount the other interpretations, but I hope to teach principles that are important but often go unnoticed.

Don't Be Late to the Feast (versus 1-13)

Many people focus on numbers and oil and perhaps even the rudeness of some of the virgins in not sharing their oil with the others. I'm more interested in the fact that the Lord gives this as a comparison with the kingdom of heaven and how our readiness will be treated there.

• In heaven, there are no loans or borrowing or gifting outside of Christ's atonement. We cannot give ourselves to make up for the shortcomings of others - only the Savior can do that and he has already established the conditions (commandments) that motivate him in this way. Each person must come under their own efforts through the Lord's atonement ("buy [oil] for yourselves") before judgement's "door was shut."
  
• In heaven, there will be no entry for the unproven. Many want a lack of sufficient preparation for judgement and celestial glory to be basically excused ("Lord, Lord, open to us"). Rather, one must present themselves as a faithful and dutiful follower of the Savior when called to account. 
• The propet Joseph Smith corrected the bridegroom's statement to the latecomers at the door:  "I know you not." becomes "ye know me not", or you don't know the nature of God. Christ knows you and he sees into your very soul. Your final judgement is an appointment that you will keep, ready or not. Once "the door [is] shut", the Lord becomes the dutiful judge - not letting the unproven into celestial glory and also not excusing the laggard.
• "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." We are constantly warned that death and judgement and reckoning are God's realities and that these will happen. There is no excuse for the procrastinator.

Making Best Use of Your Opportunity (14-30)

"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." (Alma 32:34)

Although weighing the value of talents and the actions of the Lord's servants in this parable is interesting, I will focus on the Lord's actions and sayings, as we continue to investigate "the kingdom of heaven".

The two parables in this chapter were taught together by Christ to inform us on the coming judgement. Just as the virgins didn't know when the bridegroom would come to the wedding feast and some were judged unprepared, the servants in the story of the talents didn't know when their Lord would return to make an accounting for his goods.

• The Lord left "his goods" in the hands of his servants and upon his return, he "reckoneth with them". We learn that God gives us this earth and our mortal bodies and will judge us based on our use (or misuse or disuse) of the things he has provided for us.
• The profitable servants were rewarded very handsomely. "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." 
• It is interesting that the same reward was given to the servants that doubled the goods, no matter what how much they were entrusted with. We should not concern ourselves with the foolish idea of "fairness". People come to earth with more or less, but what you do with whatever you get seems to be what matters in the economy of heaven. 
• The "slothful servant" knew about his lord, often better than we seem to do: "thou art a hard man". Christ sets the criteria of his rewards and we must meet the requirements to get them. The Lord in the parable confirms to the "wicked" servant that "thou knewst that I..." 
• There is something to notice about the Lord.  It sure sounds like the Lord is very black and white; there seems no middle ground with him. "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:16).
  

This story is about trust: we (the servants) are entrusted with relatively small things (our lives on earth) and based upon our ability to make better of what we have been given, we will either be rewarded ("I will make thee ruler over many things") or punished ("cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness").

A theme is developing with the two parables - Christ is very firm when the moment comes for judgement, probably more firm than many people would prefer. This time of our mortal lives is the opportunity to take advantage of the Savior's generosity and power for repentance and change.

"Right-hand" Sheep and "Left-hand" Goats (31-46)

After teaching us about the limited time that we have to prove ourselves worthy of the Lord's trust and rewards, he immediately provides the central works that we need to do to prove ourselves "his sheep" and to "be on his right hand". This is the final judgement of our lives.

The Savior gives strict instructions how to treat others in order to get on the Lord's right hand - if you find them...

• hungry? give meat (which could be food or knowledge).
  
• thirsty? give drink (which could be water or knowledge).
• stranger? take them in (don't "other" people).
  
• naked? clothe them. (don't leave others exposed to evil)
• sick or in prison? visit them.
  

If we attend to these needs in others, these are the descriptors of our nature and reward - "sheep", "right hand", "righteous", "life eternal". 

If we fail to do these things, our nature and reward are these - "goats", "left hand", "cursed", "everlasting fire", "everlasting punishment".

"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened..."

Christ is a very straight-forward and "hard man". There are things we need to do during our mortal lives that make us into what we may become. Our mortal lives are finite and we don't know when they will end. We will be judged on how we care for others in need while in life. We will receive either rewards for our ultimate righteousness or punishment for our ultimate wickedness. As prophets and apostles continually tell us, we need to prepare for our reckoning with God now.