Mormon Musings

“The difference between God and the devil is that God creates and organizes, while the whole study of the devil is to destroy."                        Brigham Young ( Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1954], 69. )

"Let them repent of all of their sins, and their covetous desires, before me, saith the Lord; for what is property unto me, saith the Lord...Have I not made the earth? Do I not hold the destinies of all the armies of the nations of the earth? " (emphasis added) Doctrine and Covenants 117:4, 6

So, as a new year starts and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that  faith is always pointed toward the future.  Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will  yet  be efficacious in our lives. So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had. Apparently she thought—fatally, as it turned out—that nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as those moments she was leaving behind. "Remember Lot's Wife"...

"...be ye as wise as serpents and yet without sin; and I will order all things for your good, as fast as ye are able to receive them..." Doctrine and Covenants 111:11

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more  a death , neither  b sorrow , nor crying, neither shall there be any more  c pain : for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21:4

"Teach yourself and teach your families about the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. You will do no greater eternal work than within the walls of your own home." —Boyd K. Packer, " These Things I Know "

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.  Revelation  3:20 Elder Spencer W. Kimball, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, told the following story about Revelation  3:20 : “Holman Hunt, the artist, felt inspired to capture this stirring scripture on canvas. One day he was showing his picture of ‘Christ Knocking at the Door’ to a friend when the friend suddenly exclaimed: ‘There is one thing wrong about your picture.’ “‘What is it?’ inquired the artist. “‘The door on which Jesus knocks has no handle,’ replied his friend. “‘Ah,’ responded Mr. Hunt, ‘that is not a mistake. You see, this is the door to the human heart. It can only be opened from the inside.’ “And thus it is. Jesus may stand and knock, but each of us decides whether to open. The Spirit is powerless to compel a man to move. The man himself must take the initiative (Th...