I have had strangers come up to me at various times in my life and ask me about what I was doing. If asked, why they wanted to know, the answer was simply, “I was just curious.” I have often started saying or writing a word and thought, ‘that is an odd looking or sounding…
Tag: Joseph Smith
On Our Challenge
Family history research, for most people, has always been difficult to begin, primarily, I believe, because a person knows that it is not a project that will take only a few minutes or even a few hours. Neither is it a ‘one time’ project but rather an ongoing and fairly time consuming effort. It takes…
On Mercy
I was contemplating the word mercy the other day, a term we commonly use in a Christian society. The subject came to mind because it struck me that it is primarily an attribute we ascribe to God, when in reality, we should view it as an attribute that had better belong to each of us. Christ is…
On The Vision
In the Ogden Regional Family History Center foyer we have a painting hanging that was donated to the center. It was painted by a local artist, now deceased, and it depicts the sacred grove with the young Joseph Smith kneeling and looking up at the vision of the Father and the Son. Interestingly, the Father…
On Revelation
There is a saying that, ‘It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness’. Yet mankind, generally, has cursed the darkness for centuries, refusing to seek light and inspiration as the scriptures have been instructing them from the very beginning. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth…
On We Are Christians
In a recent Associated Press release, a prominent protestant church declared, as policy, that the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by self-definition, do notfit within the bounds of the historic, apostolic traditions of the Christian faith. As a result they declared that LDS who convert to that particular church (and…
On Elijah-Destined to Turn Hearts?
Who was Elijah, the Prophet that was destined to turn hearts? What manner of man was he? Elijah was a Tishbite denoting that his birthplace was Tishbe, a place in Upper Galilee. He is described as an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. who lived during the reign of…
On Prophetic Glimpses
I am thrilled and amazed at the spiritual insights of the Prophets of old and even of some enlightened men who are generally considered outside the conduit of light from on high. Daniel Rona, an LDS member of Jewish descent, currently resides in Israel. He writes a weekly article, “Insights,” which is avail- able on…
On Balaam
The story is told in the Old Testament in Numbers, Chapter 22, about a prophet named Balaam. The Children of Israel were nearing the land of Moab to take it from the Moabites, as part of their inheritance, as promised by the Lord. Balak, the King of Moab, was sore afraid as the Israelites “covered the face…
On Importance of Birthdays
December is the month that we celebrate two important births, one traditionally and one in fact. We celebrate the birth of the Savior on the 25th of December because that is when early church authorities assumed His birth took place without having an exact record of the event. Joseph Smith, the prophet, had the very…