Re-editing Posts in the Wake of Orlando

You might think that I am here to tone down some of my previous words about LGBT(Q) "harlots" in the wake of the recent rampage at an Orlando gay bar. If anything, I went back to re-edit old posts to sharpen up my point that such attitudes and activities spend our cultural strength, run everyone down a cultural rat-hole, and waste resources and time we should be using to solve more deserving problems.

On an individual level, the shooting of so many people in Orlando is very tragic. No one deserves to die for simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. My heart goes out to families and friends that were truly touched by this despicable act.

I don't think we could have predicted a mass-shooting at a gay bar (never happened before), but what will happen next? Will LGBT(Q) cheerleaders demand larger gatherings that are better policed with more public funds? I daresay they will, if their craving for attention and their need to dominate conversation holds steady. They are loving partners with the anti-gun lobby, forces that would have everyone strip-searched at multiple opportunities each day, and those who use fear to oppress and subject everyone to the will of powerful interest groups. When the LGBT(Q) "prostitutes" come around, you must look about for their political "pimps" and the goals of these spin-doctors that profit off of the terror that incidents like Orlando create.

Orlando has become a wonderful opportunity for profiteers as professional "mourners".  I would look for more attention being demanded from excited LGBT(Q) leaders and their convenient friends. The anti-gun lobby and anti-family forces are secretly cheering the carnage as they first weep and then get indignant on-camera. You and I are being manipulated and forced down the convenient rat-holes once again by media-hogging harlots.  Thanks to the interest groups, Orlando has been cast as another battle in a handful of larger culture wars - why are we surprised when some professed cultural warrior decides to bring guns to the battle?

Becoming an Authorized Priesthood Holder

I have written a few times (here and here) about the duties of priesthood holders and some might be feeling a bit left out.

Some people get hung up about Christian rites they have done in the past that God and his authorized priesthood don't recognize.  "Why do I need to be baptized again?"  It is simple - if you don't fulfill God's prerequisites, you don't get the priesthood. It is like wanting to make a fine wine but getting weird about crushing grapes in a certain way - You want the results? You have to do what is required!

Any man can qualify to be considered for priesthood ordination. I have not heard of any qualified man being rejected, only those not who choose not to meet the qualifications.

Please understand that I don't slight the role of women in God's plan:  they have the higher calling of motherhood that is built into their very bodies. Priesthood is something given to men as one compensation for their basic lack of in-born child-bearing and nurturing ability. I also won't go into it - you can read about the subject here if you like.

The priesthood is the power of God. An ordination gives this power to men to act in God's name and do what God would do. Scripture is replete with instruction on how the priesthood should be used and what sort of man you need to be to exercise priesthood power. It is the pursuit and study of a lifetime (and longer) to develop yourself into a worthy and powerful priesthood holder.  This is neither a casual nor a easy road to travel - God also puts those who accept priesthood responsibilities under covenant to rise to the challenge of it, proscribing great rewards for your efforts and punishments for a man's neglect of it. It is a very serious undertaking.

The whole purpose of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in relation to men is to imbue them with increasing priesthood responsibility and a greater call to service, leading to the ultimate goal of become like God. All men are welcome to worship with us, but one must understand that we are about the goal: if a man is not interested in taking on priesthood duties and becoming like God ultimately, the LDS Church may be an uncomfortable place for that man. Though every man has the opportunity of taking on himself the priesthood, rejection of it is indicative of a man unwilling to fundamentally better himself, to walk a higher road, and to perform more meaningful and efficacious service to others as a life-long commitment.

Don't get me wrong - I honor all service performed by everyone in any capacity. However, to have the added spiritual ability afforded by having and honoring the priesthood is like having a hammer at a roofing "party": there is plenty of good work to do when putting on a roof if you don't have a hammer with you, but you could perform the central work of roofing better if you had that hammer and were experienced in wielding it! Likewise, having the priesthood and experience in using it effectively makes you so much more useful in God's larger work. Wouldn't you like to be such a man?

So, what are the steps for men to become authorized priesthood holders?

1. Contact missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - chances are you see the familiar white-shirt-and-tie wearing bicycle riders that are Mormon missionaries.  Flag them down and invite them to your home.  If an on-line "flag-down" is more to your liking, you can click here and chat with someone who will set up a visit for you!
2. Qualify to be baptized by an LDS priest - you will need to be a part of several lessons regarding Latter-Day Saint doctrine and practice, read parts of the Book of Mormon, and act on spiritual challenges to embrace a handful of good practices and eliminate certain unholy ones.  If you still desire baptism and meet the requirements, the ordinance will be arranged for you by missionaries and local priesthood leaders.
3. Receive the Aaronic Priesthood and fulfill its duties - Shortly after baptism and the additional ordinance of receiving "the gift of the Holy Ghost", men are typically ordained as priests in the preparatory Priesthood of Aaron and given responsibilities during sacrament meeting (the LDS worship service) and to help with "home teaching" (priesthood visits to families in their homes), among other assignments.
4. Receive the Melchizedek Priesthood - After some months, your dedication to fulfilling the duties of a priest are reviewed by priesthood leadership and, if satisfactory, you will be offered an ordination to the office of an Elder in the higher Melchizedek Priesthood. Elders fulfill several functions in the LDS Church, conduct meetings where assigned, may be assigned local priesthood leadership roles, and provide priesthood leadership within their families and other assigned families through home teaching.

For those of you who desire to serve God and your fellow man with the enhanced authority and power that the authorized priesthood provides, I hope you use those desires to qualify yourselves for it and join our ranks!

Pointers to Some Interesting Things

Every once in a while, I point people to some of the interesting things available on the Internet that I have either produced or enjoy.

There are a handful of podcasts that I listen to and get inspiration from.  Maybe you will like them as well.

http://www.econtalk.org/ - Econtalk is hosted by Russ Roberts, a libertarian-leaning economist, who interviews other intellectuals on a variety of topics, not just economics.

http://www.dancarlin.com/ - Both of these podcasts, Hardcore History and Common Sense, are absolute gems on History and current events.  Both end up being occasional recordings, but always worth it.

http://3950.net/3950-and-the-liberty-net/ - This is actually the recording of a weekly ham radio net that has been going on for over four decades. Hard-core conservatism (way beyond me) and just wacky news and commentary from regular ham operators.  The absolute opposite of "production quality" broadcasting.

http://longnow.org/seminars/ - Just when you think you have me pegged, I also listen to the podcast straight from one of the Merry Pranksters and folks that made Berkeley and San Francisco libertine - hippies all grown up.  No more LSD (maybe), but hard-core neo-liberalism just the same.

I write other things besides silly blog posts.  I used to style myself a fiction writer.

The Miracle of the Quilt - Still my most popular and published short story, available for free and on Amazon.

Rachel and Her Knight in Shining Armor - My wife Lisa's favorite novella, the pinnacle of my Great Writing Year of 1998.

Navigiary: Escape is my first novel-length fiction story, actually the first part of a trilogy that I haven't further worked on in a while.  Maybe a few sales will give my initiative to finish Part Two and Three!

Feel free to enjoy one or all of the these!

"May We Bless Your Home?" - Matthew 10:13

I hope I don't alienate too many of my readers in addressing some thoughts that came out of The Things that Constitute A Good (Religious) Visit blog post and various scripture "jags" posts. I am a priesthood leader in the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, so I blog about insights that come from my work there alongside more quasi-secular things like The Psychic Proximity Principle. There is significant value in perspectives gained in one area of endeavor that can be applied to another, so I always hope my non-Mormon readers can find these posts of some value.

In chapter 10 of the book of Matthew in the Bible, Jesus gave his twelve apostles priesthood authority and sent them out to preach and do the miracles that they had seen him perform.  As part of his instructions, he told these disciples to do the following as they visited the homes of believers as they traveled:

Matthew 10:13

And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

I am a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses, who was ordained, along with his male progeny called the kohenim, to lead the Levitical and Aaronic priesthoods. My resulting family heritage includes the reciting of the priestly blessing in certain settings.  At its conclusion, this blessing states this:  "May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace..."  I personally connect these "peace" references together - if you are in a worthy house, or are visiting a worthy family (I interpret this as being welcomed in the home and the family being accepting of your spiritual message), you should leave "your peace" (or your priesthood blessing) with them.

As a home teacher, priesthood holders are commissioned by the local bishop and the quorum leader to serve their assigned families. This service is meant to keep each family diligent to their covenants, help them to progress toward exaltation, and to bring the power of the priesthood into their lives. As part of that service, bearers of the priesthood should leave their blessing ("your peace") wherever they visit. You holders of the priesthood should always offer to leave a blessing on the home and the family before you leave a visit.  As a bearer of the Melchizedek Priesthood, it is your duty to bless the homes you enter as permitted by the head of the household.

Here are my suggestions on pronouncing a blessing on a family and their home:

• Seek inspiration in what words of blessing to give.
• Respect the head of the household. Offer to give a blessing and accept their choice regarding this. If they request specific blessings, honor that request within the inspiration you receive.
• Personalize the blessing to those you bless and their circumstances.
• State that this is a blessing and state your priesthood authority, similar to the way you would do so in an ordination.
• State that all blessings are contingent on faith and worthiness.

As I have personally done this, I have found my power in the exercise of the priesthood has increased and I have be inspired with the words of blessing that the LORD desires to be said. I have also found that the families that I bless are strengthened in their desire and ability to obey the commandments of God and grow more worthy of further blessings. I know that you will also have needed inspiration as you prepare yourself to receive it and share it more often in the form of a home teacher's blessing to those you serve.

Personal Radio and Randomized Inspiration

For those of you seeking to apply the Psychic Proximity Principle, I provided the example of long and quiet walks that help a person feel "weak magnetism" and listen to the heart.  Today, I provide a more interesting way to open yourself to inspiration:  personal radio.

Many years ago, I set up a server at my house to publish web pages and sites for myself and some friends. I didn't feel like the server was well utilized, so I rigged up a small FM transmitter to the server's sound output and create some scripts to play sound files that could be heard through the various radios in the house and out in the yard.  Nothing fancy at all.

I "broadcast" old radio shows, Celtic folk music, news and philosophy podcast episodes, and "talks" from the general conferences of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS).  Before I got fiber internet, I had service that was spotty at best, always living on the fringes of Internet coverage.  Therefore, it was often necessary to actually download my radio content and store it locally so that there weren't breaks in the broadcasting schedule due to bad connectivity.

Late at night and on weekends, the schedule turns predominately to the LDS Church general conference talks, which are kept in a folder on my server and played randomly.  If you don't know, many of the speakers at LDS general conferences are prophets of God and apostles of Jesus Christ, men who give their lives in connecting people to the divine and sharing what God wants them to say.  Like the Psychic Proximity Principle, you don't necessarily have to apply a religious spin to listening to such men, but the effect will be there: these are men of experience and insight with very inspired things to say. During the quiet hours of the late night and early morning and on weekends, my radio puts out speeches from these men, again, randomly. In the process, I have noticed something very interesting.

It seems that themes begin to emerge from the random sorting of these talks. For instance, I often get "music jags" where several hymns, usually interspersed between talks in the original broadcasts, come out the radio in bunches! It is almost as if "someone" is scheduling the programming for me.

We don't have the radio on all the time, but it always seems that when I am listening, there is some insight being talked about that applies to my life or helps me with some challenge I'm facing. Of course, inspiration is everywhere if you look for it, just like the Psychic Proximity Principle says, but it is just another example of that weak magnetism between us and where we need to be. It just seems uncanny how a random playlist can produce what I need in the occasional moments that I access it!

As usual, I figure that it is God pulling the strings as I permit it. As I leave more opportunities open for him to take the driver's seat in my life, I find that the most amazing things happen for my good.

You can do something similar to my radio station to give inspiration a chance to reach you better and more often:

Put a folder or inspiration talks or music on your phone or mp3 player. I choose those conference talks, but you may have other sources. For uplifting things to come to you, however, you need a folder of uplifting things - weak magnetism doesn't attend low entertainment. That done, you set up your player to present things to you randomly. Then, you listen.

If you have an experience like mine, from day to day, you will hear words that you need, presented to you in the times when you need them.  Sometimes, they will be words that make you think or indite you.  Other times, they will buoy you up during difficulties.

The point is to give God, your heart, the wisdom of others, or whatever you choose to call it, better opportunities to communicate with you.  Whether it is long, quiet walks or listening to a "radio" that can be influenced by the Psychic Proximity Principle, either will open you up to the weak magnetism that will lead you to your best potential!

Happy Journey!

Spending our Strength and Losing a War

As a culture, America has turned a very sad corner and seems hell-bent on destroying itself in the name of unfettered selfishness. I hope to provide a few examples of this and what needs to be done to bring ourselves as a people back from the brink of irrelevance.

For all of its terror and brutality, I think groups like the Islamic State embrace a few social traits that strengthen their chances for survival and success beyond our own:

• They marry women to their most loyal men permanently.
• They get these women pregnant by their husbands early and often.
• They indoctrinate their children into their worldview and religious convictions.
• They demand that their members sacrifice many of their personal desires to serve the requirements of their culture and its success.

I am not any sort of fanboy of ISIS nor do I approve of their methods, so don't turn me in as some traitor in our current hysterical climate! I am also not comparing any religious dogma in particular here, say between Islam and Christianity.  Everything I am talking about is sociological in nature and points to the fact that a group that inspires as ISIS seems able to do is going to outlast the possible collapse of Western civilization.

If we "Westerners" don't re-discover the traits that build and perpetuate a society, we will continue to become culturally weaker. At some point, we will be unable to withstand groups that simply out-breed and out-"culture" us. Ultimately, I see Americans either being supplanted by, or more likely assimilated (as an underclass) into, cultural groups who better know and embrace "social success traits" that we have chosen to abandon.

How are we accomplishing our own decline?

• Women are in a hateful competition with men that denigrates both genders and ruins marriage and family - those who don't want to fight it out with the opposite sex in our current climate are presented with the now lauded societal option of avoiding the battle by choosing to be "gay".
• Children are either unborn or birthed outside of natural families. Many are forced into circumstances riddled with developmental disadvantages like systemic poverty and missing parents, robbing them of things needed to thrive and succeed.
• Our public "education" of youth has become a huge social laboratory for any will-o'-the-wisp cultural re-definition scheme that happens along in the name of "non-discrimination" and "inclusion".
• Fewer and fewer people are taught or choose to sacrifice momentary personal pleasures and a single-minded quest for material wealth in favor of the propagation of some higher cultural standard.

Spending Our Strength with "Harlots"

As you have observed in our own society, we are setting aside all the culture-promulgating bullet points above as antiquated foolishness. As an example, let me shine a little light on the current Western "love affair" with LGBT(Q) practitioners.

Judeo-Christian/Islamic tradition has the concept of the "harlot". This is a person who traffics in sexual distractions, often for money. One can always find a market for this because sex and things like it are very physically pleasurable. The LGBT(Q) movement can be viewed most basically as an "open-source" avenue to a cornucopia of such pleasuring "harlots" - you can get your sexual distractions without spending much money on it! If prostitution was a taxi service, the LGBT(Q) movement would be like Uber.

Sadly, at the behest of LBGT(Q) types, every young person now has to struggle with questions about their gender and its role in their lives. They are encouraged to do this by profiteering harlots in media and popular culture by spending vast amounts of time and energy exploring the rat-hole of their personal sexuality. LGBT converts spend themselves on "pride" marches and politicizing their supposed "discrimination" to gain wider acceptance. They often co-op the natural love of parents, siblings, and friends, getting them to support their "cause" as well by marching beside them, all in the service of a libertine sexuality that discourages natural marriage, encourages divorce, produces no children, and "spends" our cultural strength.  If you don't support the LGBT(Q) community and their purposes, you will angrily be branded as a bigot by those who say they just want to be loved and accepted. All of this harlotry is fought for in courtrooms and legislatures, ignoring far more important and challenging matters, because some people want "respect" for their open desires for unfettered sexualized pleasuring.

If people gave as much concentration to, say, financial help to family and friends as they do to such navel-staring, its public promotion, and other rat-holes of societal time and energy, there would be far less poverty and we would have more resources of all sorts available to contribute to solutions to far more deserving issues. Unfortunately, the LGBT(Q) "harlots" demand our strength and attention and we have becoming very willing to forgo things like family and society to appease them.

Losing the "War"

Let me be frank, I think we are totally losing this "war on terror" with our willingness to use our amazing weaponry at the slightest provocation and our willingness to throw away our few remaining values in the process. We are using the wrong tactics and weapons. Our enemies, possessed of little more than their devotion to a God that asks for a higher standard, will easily dominate us at some point unless we come to our senses! Groups like ISIS will not win because Islam is necessarily superior. Such a people will win because they have chosen to embrace the pillars of societal strength like family and childbearing and child-rearing that we are spending our strength to banish from among us.

Your "Religion" as "Devotion" to Your "God"

As you know, I take issue with people who profess to be "atheists". I know it is very trendy and "intellectual" to disbelieve in God or, more likely, to consider oneself above the need for something like God. It brings to mind a quote from Star Trek: First Contact where Jean-Luc Picard evokes his supposed "evolved sensibilities" that didn't include things as low as enjoying murder or revenge. Many people, hoping to look sophisticated, claim to have likewise "evolved" beyond a low belief in and devotion to things like God or religion, but I see this as a terrible self-delusion.

I hope you have learned that I acknowledge a God in my life. If you hadn't yet noticed, The Psychic Proximity Principle, as expressed in my Feeding the Soul of Steve Jobs booklet, is simply a way of accessing the wisdom of God in relation to yourself and your relations with others. Such things work because I have found that my loving God will always share his farsightedness with those willing to act upon it. For me, facing someone who militantly decries the existence of God is like listening to someone who preaches that they don't require oxygen to live - it's hard to hear such arguments when both my God and air have been such active participants in my on-going life!

In the end, I see the argument of atheists as a rationalization to embrace some "evolved sensibility" against a "devotion" to the predominate Judeo-Christian/Islamic God. Humorously, to "embrace" atheism is simply another example of devotion, which such people waste their time trying to convince themselves and others that they have "out-evolved"!

I'm sorry to break it to you, but human beings are hard-wired toward devotion. It can be a positive thing directed toward spouse, friends, a military "band of brothers", or other worthy causes. It can also be directed to various rat-holes, such as a favorite television show, the collecting of possessions, the navel-staring of sexual perversion or "gender confusion", or the single-minded acquisition of wealth or fame. The real "evolved" path is not the (impossible) effort to rise above devotion, but to make sure that our inescapable devotion is well placed.

There is also another truth about devotion - you can only really have one. You can like a lot of things and do a lot of things, but only one thing can command your true devotion.  Christians can read the pronouncement of Jesus on the subject in Matthew 6:24. This one devotion and your efforts to honor it constitute your "religion". I know that is a hateful word to a lot of people, but they need to get over their hatred - we all practice a religion, whether we call it that or not.

For instance, if you are devoted to the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, Islam is your religion. If you are devoted to quasi-sexual pleasuring with someone of your same gender, "homosexuality" is your religion. If, like me, you are devoted to the Christ as revealed through the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, Mormonism is your religion. If you are devoted to all-terrain quasi-military vehicles, either Jeep or Hummer is your religion. Hopefully, I get the point across - your religion is defined by your devotion.  Since we are all hard-wired for devotion, we are likewise all practicing a religion as we support our devotions and spend our time with similar devotees.

Do you have a problem with God, hate the God of those around you, or choose to believe there is no God? Again, you are being a bit self-delusional. The thing that you put your devotion into, the object of your devotion, is your "God". Be it Allah, Money, a Vehicle, Christ, a Gun, a Person; just as much as you are hard-wired for devotion, you are similarly attached to the object of that devotion, like it or not. You have a God of your own choosing, every second of your life.

Are you confused about what your devotion and God might be?  Here is a little quiz to help you realize where your devotion is, what religion you practice, and what God you worship:

• What do you spend the bulk of your free time doing?
• What do you spend the most effort coercing your family and friends into doing to share time with them?
• If you are facing a great loss, what things would you be most concerned for?
• Leaving aside short-term infatuations, what things have motivated your actions long-term?

Take your answers and analyse them.  If you are honest with yourself (a tricky pursuit) and dig deep, you will end up with one thing that best answers all these questions. It may very well be a devotion/religion/God that you had really hoped would be more impressive or more aligned to a group to which you really want to belong.  If your devotion/religion/God turns out to be a bit embarrassing to you, I suggest a dose of The Psychic Proximity Principle, its inherent soul-searching, and perhaps a course change!

Just like you really can't have two devotions (God and mammon, for example), you also can't honestly practice two religions or serve two Gods. One will always take precedence and the other will be eventually tossed aside in a crisis. Again, it is simply the way we are wired.

Let me give an example.

Mormon missionaries are an interesting lot, known throughout the world. I was once such a missionary, as was my wife. One of my children has served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) and another is doing so right now. We have a constant procession of missionaries over to the house for meals. I know a thing or two about these folks!

On occasion, one of these (typically very young) people will come for lunch or dinner and make some pronouncement over what is being served like "I am a vegetarian", which just bothers me. I don't want to be a bigot, but I have to question the devotion of such people to what they are meant to be preaching when such things are said.

I usually reply with something along the lines of "so, what is your real religion?" and they often become confused or offended.  These young people think they can follow the tenets of two religions, Vegetarianism and Mormonism, and get away with it! You don't think that vegetarianism qualifies as a religion? If someone comes to my house to partake of free food and then turns their nose up at what is served, barring allergies, they are preaching more of eschewing meat than they are of embracing a Christ. They can't effectively follow both, so which one is honored (talked about) and which will eventually be cast aside?

Let's wrap up.

We will all have a passion (our devotion), embodied in some object or person (our God), which we will pursue with vigor (our religion). You have all three: a devotion, a God, and a religion. If you think you don't, you need to stop deluding yourself. If you don't like your current version of the three, you have the power to redirect your devotion to a God and religion that is more to your tastes. Personally, I have found a God that I find worthy of my devotion and I am striving to follow the associated religion. I hope you find your own "three" worthy of your devotion and acknowledge your own God and religion.