Celebrating Independence in Southern Utah

Its been a good weekend, visiting family in Southern Utah. The weather has been nice - sunny and about 100 or so degrees every day with thunder storms just about every evening that produce spectacular lightning.

On Saturday, we went to a park downtown and the kids and I participated in a watermelon seed spitting contest, ate shaved ice and visited vendor booths. We stopped and listened to the "tea party" that we didn't know was taking place there. There were people selling t-shirts, signs and bumper stickers with various 'patriotic' slogans. I found myself thinking that while getting people together for public discourse on this topic is a good thing, the things that were being said and the slogans on the goods being sold didn't even begin to approach the depth of feeling I've had recently over the direction that our country has turned in the past 6 months. Irreparable harm is being perpetrated on our nation and the Constitution (from forces within and without) that are occurring at lightning speed. What we're seeing is ominously reminiscent of the events that led to the collapse of the Wiemar Republic, except that today its occurring with greater speed and intensity. If we are to follow the trail that was blazed which ended the Wiemar period in 1933, our collapse will be far more widespread and the bondage that follows will be much more severe. More than anything at this point, I'm grieving the loss of liberty of my people... and contrary to what some people say, this didn't start with President Obama. The trail to misery and bondage which we are on dates back to the time that Lucifer was cast out of heaven (see Revelations). Most recently, our path to tyranny, despotism and slavery began in 1913 with the election of Woodrow Wilson... read up on your history and you will see that this was when we left the reservation. This was the first "accepted" derailing from the Constitution since the founding and we've never been able to get back on the track in the 96 years that have followed. Instead, we've drifted further and further from our founding... If you're not already familiar with the Wiemar period, some reading is in order for we are destined to repeat history unless we do something about it and that begins with education. Google it ("Wiemar republic") and read what happened.

In other, more happy news, I've been able to spend a fair amount of time this weekend writing my book. As part of this, I've been pondering and searching out what the Savior meant with his description of "Men's hearts failing them for fear..." (Luke 21:26). I've found some deep, profound understanding that I'm excited to share on this topic... not sure if I will address it here on the blog or only in the book. I'm still working on this as a gospel study topic but what I've found so far is fascinating, to me at least. The book is coming along and developing quickly. I really appreciate Tiff for her input, insight and understanding of various doctrines that have really been the glue that has brought this together. I love and appreciate her for all of her encouragement, support and suggestions.

Finally, I started reading The 5000 Year Leap yesterday. I was surprised to find it fairly fast reading and utterly fascinating. I suppose I expected it to read more like a college text, dry and stiff, but its quite the opposite. Skousen has a way of writing that is captivating and compelling. If you haven't already, add it to your to-do list... I can already tell you that its a MUST READ. More updates on this reading later.

That's all for now... I plan to update this blog often on topics such as these. Thanks for visiting.