I feel to write a few thoughts about the recent general conference, appropriately held near Zion National Park, east of St. George, UT. The gathering was as close to an actual Zion community as could be had in our current society. Hearts were glad and hopeful.

[Update: June 23rd, 2024. A year has passed and we've moved from Mesa to Snowflake, AZ. It's been an amazing journey I'll chronicle later. Suffice it to say that my heart is broken, yet again, at the thought of what happened to Joseph at the hands of those he trusted.] Lingering on my mind today, as been the death of dear Joseph.

The strong-man behavioral model suggests a mild to extreme condition based on a self-centric world-view. The goal is to take a position as a social focal point. It is not so much about ruling, as it is about being honored and adored.

It is late on Christmas Eve, 2021. I’ve been thinking about this all day. Tomorrow we commemorate the birth of the Savior. I know, He was born in the Spring. No matter. We have Easter in the Spring. I’m okay with Christmas in December. I join my voice with others in celebration of the birth of our dear prophet of not so long ago.

MP3 Audio File  PDF Transcript
This is an essay addressing the scope of our fellowship discussions. Those of us who gather with one of the many Remnant groups on Sundays sometimes bring into the discussions a facet of secular life that may be contentious to some. This essay addresses the issue from a perspective that, hopefully, will be helpful.

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool..." —Richard Feynman

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron..." (RE 1 Tim 1:10; LDS 1 Tim 4:1-2)

On Sunday morning, December 20, 2020, the Mesa Fellowship met to celebrate our Savior's birth in music and narration. The following is my review and a link to the program video. The video is about 25 minutes long. I edited all but one verse of the carols we all sang. With the exception of a couple of bloopers, everything else is there. Enjoy!

With apologies to Elijah and 1st Kings 19. I have always enjoyed Elijah's adventure in the mountains, and the cave, after the "priests of Baal" experience. Valuable lessons taught. I used one of them to pen this Christmas prose. Enjoy!

The modern LDS organization has a formidable legal team, and could have been heroic this past year. (This is a follow-up to a short essay I wrote in May titled, Stupidity Virus.)

This is Part 2 and the final installment. Part 2 builds upon Part 1 which would be profitable to read first. Success in mortality requires us to walk with Christ and defeat evil. Mortality is messy and "...the miscreants have mis-identified a lighthouse, they thought was a mythical rowboat. The degree to which modern society underestimates God is, by orders of magnitude, astounding." Enjoy! 

My understanding of the last days time period, (since the Spring of 1820), includes an increasingly significant influence of evil. No surprise there. This is not a subject deserving of much dwelling, but the evils that relentlessly bombard us, demand at least, some attention. 

Today is a day of mourning for those who loved Joseph and Hyrum. Few men in all the earth's history equal them in spiritual stature and perseverance. On June 27th, 1844 their lives were savagely taken. We ought to remember.