This past week we vacationed in Virginia, taking in Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. Why mention this on a blog dedicated to celebration of the Church of Jesus Christ? It is because the Church’s history is inextricably related to the larger national setting in which the Church emerged.

I remember going to these sites as a kid, when it was not yet popular to talk about any but the heroic white men who had settled a new land and birthed a nation. As a person of mixed race, born when it was still illegal for my parents to marry in the state of their residence, I accepted this white-centric, male-centric narrative. But I did feel marginalized by this world where I was not the “right” gender or race.

Going to Jamestown and Williamsburg now, however, is very different. The tour guides and docents are open about the many different peoples involved in the founding of first a settlement, a colony, and then a nation. They explain how Virginia’s red clay soil wasn’t filled with the gold and silver the Virginia Company expected. Attempts to profit from the expedition failed time and time again.

Until they happened on tobacco.

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My blog post on Come Follow Me: D&C 46-48

Excerpt:This section discusses the importance of allowing people into most of our meetings. There were some who felt that only members should attend the Sacrament meeting. In this, the Lord clarified that peaceable people should be invited and welcomed into our open meetings.
“But ye are commanded in all things to ask of God, who giveth liberally; and that which the Spirit testifies unto you even so I would that ye should do in all holiness of heart, walking uprightly before me, considering the end of your salvation, doing all things with prayer and thanksgiving, that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils, or the commandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils.” (vs 7)

Note that there are doctrines of God, men and devils. (see also 3 Ne 27:11). Only the doctrines and commandments of God can bring us eternal life and joy. As Jesus notes in 3 Ne 27, the doctrines and commandments of men and devils will bring temporary happiness, but eventually bring us down into misery. The world is swirling today with various beliefs. Whether they be political, social, emotional, or intellectual, if they are not based on the teachings of Christ, they will fail.

https://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2021/05/come-follow-me-d-46-48.html

The most astonishing thing about this video to me is how lacking in self-awareness Mitt Romney is. He really seemed to think he would be universally cheered by Utah Republicans after voting twice to impeach a Republican president.

Romney’s point that Trump’s personal behavior is often worth condemning is certainly true, but what Mitt Romney fails to realize is 1)by historical standards, there is nothing unusual about Trump’s often negative personal behavior and 2)Romney’s failure to equally criticize Antifa and the progressive left make him seem like a rube who just got off the turnip truck. Mitt Romney sees himself as a hero (and of course the establishment sees him that way), but many Utah Republicans and others see him as filled with spite and jealousy for a man who won the presidency when Mitt Romney could not.

Romney mouths pieties about uniting the Utah Republican party, but in reality his actions indicate he wants to be cheered by the left, the Democrats and establishment Republicans while directing nothing but vitriol at Republicans who want to reject the establishment. Romney is the one causing division.

By contrast, Mike Lee, the senior senator from Utah, is nothing but class. He often criticized Trump’s behavior while doing it in a way that did not bring attention to himself. Mike Lee votes like a conservative and represents the will of Utah voters. Mike Lee shows how to unify Republicans — Mitt Romney has only succeeded in embarrassing himself. He will go down as one of the most feckless and self-serving Utah politicians ever. And members of the Utah GOP are beginning to see this.

My blog post for Come Follow Me: D&C 45

Excerpt: This section is a powerful revelation containing much information about the destructions and blessings of the Last Days. When studied along with Matthew 24 (JST), D&C 87, 88, and 133, we get a lot of information regarding the events preceding the Second Coming.
Verses 1-15 are a clarion call from Jesus Christ to the Saints, telling them again and again to hearken unto his words. In this portion, we see many of the names by which the Lord is called: Advocate, Creator, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, Light and Life of the world, etc.

Jesus goes through the history of the world briefly in these verses: the Creation, the Atonement of Christ, Enoch’s people, the Restoration, and the Second Coming. All of these periods and events are interconnected. Each is a powerful event in and of itself, but together they become the true epic story of the world and how it is saved by Christ, one soul at a time.

https://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2021/04/come-follow-me-d-45.html