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.

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.