Why Is the Doctrine of Christ Central to God’s Plan of Salvation?

            My Come, Follow Me studies for this week took me deep into the book of Moses. This week’s studies covered Genesis 5 and Moses 6. In Genesis 5, Moses wrote all the generations between Adam and Eve and Noah. There are a lot of names but not much information on the individuals. Enoch came six generations from Adam, and he was described as follows: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).

This sounds like an interesting story, but Moses continued the list of generations without any further explanation. We are blessed because the Lord revealed details of Enoch’s story in Moses 6. The following information is from Come, Follow Me – For Individuals and Families.

Thankfully, Moses 6 reveals the details of Enoch’s story – and it’s quite a story. We learn of Enoch’s humility, his insecurities, the potential God saw in him, and the great work he performed as God’s prophet. We also get a clearer picture of the family of Adam and Eve as it progressed through the generations. We read of Satan’s “great dominion” but also of parents who taught children “the ways of God” and of “preachers of righteousness” who “spake and prophesied” (Moses 6:15, 21, 23). Especially precious is what we learn about the doctrine these parents and preachers taught: faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost (see Moses 6:50-52). That doctrine, like the priesthood that accompanies it, “was in the beginning [and] shall be in the end of the world also” (Moses 6:7).

            Like most chapters in the scriptures, Moses 6 contains numerous principles. The principle that I have chosen to discuss tonight is “The doctrine of Christ is central to God’s plan of salvation.” Through the book of Moses, “we know that God has been teaching His children how to find forgiveness and redemption ever since the beginning.” In 2 Nephi 31:13-21, these teachings are called the “doctrine of Christ.” What are the specifics of the doctrine of Christ?

            The first doctrine that we must understand is that the Fall of Adam and Eve was part of Heavenly Father’s plan from the beginning. Because of the Fall, all mankind will suffer two kinds of death. Physical death is the separation of the immortal spirit from the mortal body. Spiritual death is the separation from the presence of God.

In addition, Lucifer (Satan) was cast down to earth without a body. Because of his rebellion against God, he will never receive a physical body. Therefore, he tempts mortals in an attempt to take over their bodies. Because we are mere mortals, we yield to the temptations of Satan and become “carnal, sensual, and devilish, and are shut out from the presence of God” until we repent (Moses 6:49).

The second doctrine that we must understand is that the Atonement of Jesus Christ was part of Heavenly Father’s plan from the beginning also. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ all mankind will overcome physical death and can overcome spiritual death (see Romans 3:23; Mosiah 16:3-4; Alma 11:42-43; Helaman 14:14-18; Moses 6:52).

A third doctrine that we must understand is the great gift of agency given to each of us in our pre-mortal life (see Moses 7:32). Moral agency allows us to choose between good and evil and to experience the consequences of our choices (see 2 Nephi 2:14-16, 25-29; Doctrine and Covenants 101:78). God will do all that He can do to help us qualify to return to His presence, but He will never force anyone. He honors our agency and allows us to choose where we want to spend eternity.

This doctrine includes the principles of faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by emersion for the remission of sins, and laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Moses 6:57-68 tells us that Enoch saw that Adam and Eve were baptized. We know that they had faith in Jesus Christ because they knew Him from the Garden of Eden. We know that they repented of their sins, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism. Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained how birth and baptism are similar and essential.

Two births are essential to salvation. Man cannot be saved without birth into mortality, nor can he return to his heavenly home without a birth into the realm of the Spirit…. The elements present in a mortal birth and in a spiritual birth are the same. They are water, blood, and spirit. Thus every mortal birth is a heaven-given reminder to prepare for the second birth….

In every mortal birth the child is immersed in water in the mother’s womb. At the appointed time the spirit enters the body, and blood always flows in the veins of the new person. Otherwise, without each of these, there is no life, no birth, no mortality.

In every birth into the kingdom of heaven, the newborn babe in Christ is immersed in water, he receives the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and the blood of Christ cleanses him from all sin. Otherwise, without each of these, there is no Spirit-birth, no newness of life, no hope of eternal life….

… These elements were again present in [Christ’s] death. He sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane as he took upon himself the sins of all men on conditions of repentance. This same agony and suffering recurred on the cross. It was then that he permitted his spirit to leave his body, and it was then that blood and water gushed from his riven side (A New Witness, 288-89).

            There are numerous names for the plan of salvation. Sometimes it is called the plan of happiness or the plan of redemption. Other times it is called the plan of restoration, the plan of mercy, the plan of deliverance, or the everlasting gospel. According to President Russell M. Nelson, the designation is not as important as the fact that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the “enabling essence of the plan” (“Constancy and Change,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 33).

            The Creation of the earth, the Fall of Adam and Eve, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ (including His death and resurrection) are the three pillars of eternity upon which rests Heavenly Father’s plan for the eternal happiness of His children. We are blessed that Heavenly Father saw fit to reveal the book of Moses to Joseph Smith in these latter days. This book contains many doctrines and principles necessary for us to know and live to prepare us to return to the presence of God.

Why Should Parents Be Engaged in the Education of their Children?

            Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when parents participate in the education process for their children. Glenn Youngkin, the incoming Governor of Virginia, won the election because he championed parental involvement. The new governor was sworn into office last Saturday.

Brad Wilcox is the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and a senior fellow of the Institute for Family Studies. He led a discussion on “Family Matters” about Youngkin’s “come-from-behind victory” and the role played by “empowered parents” in his victory. He was joined in the discussion by Ian Rowe (cofounder of Vertex Partnership Academies), Max Eden (research fellow at AEI), and Kim Richey (Distinguished Education Fellow at Parents Defending Education). You can hear the discussion at this site. In an article introducing the discussion, Wilcox wrote the following: 

Concerns about lockdowns, the intersectional turn in Virginia’s schools, the status of gifted and talented programs, and school safety were all key elements in being able to wrest the executive mansion from the incumbent party.

The nation saw this play out in the center of Virginia, as parents in one local school were bewildered and disturbed by a new curriculum that encouraged their children to view themselves through the prisms of race, gender, sexuality and class, as well as injected phrases like “white privilege” and “non-Christian folx” into the classroom.

Parents were additionally turbocharged with Democratic challenger Terry McAuliffe said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Youngkin’s popularity surged among voters who said education was their biggest issue. The rest is history.

            The question that Wilcox wants to answer through the discussion is “what should Gov. Youngkin and Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears do to make good on their mandate from parents?” The discussion is interesting and discusses what is best for children and teens. Governor Youngkin restored the voice of parents in the schools of Virginia. By involving parents in the education of their children, government can strengthen families, communities, and nations.

Are Congressional Democrats Stupid or Liars?

            President Joe Biden commemorated his first year in office by giving a two-hour press conference. I did not watch the presser due to the fact that watching Biden speak is painful. The Democrat Party committed elder abuse by running him for president, and Democrats continue to abuse this elderly, senile man.

            In addition to the old, senile man acting as President, Democrats in Congress continue to damage America. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was determined to force a vote on nationalizing election laws, but the Senators voted 52-48 against it – thanks to the two Democrat Senators who have not drunk the punch of socialism.

The same two Democrat Senators stopped the Democrats from tossing the filibuster rule in the Senate, meaning that sixty votes are required from the one hundred Senators to end debate and proceed to a vote on legislation. Democrats in the Senate tried to force Democrat rule on Americans but failed.

Now Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are claiming that Republicans are suppressing voters. Fred Lucas explained what is happening. 

Democrats sought to change the Senate rules to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, a scaled-down version of a bill known as HR 1. The legislation would create national laws for automatic voter registration, universal mail-in voting, new redistricting laws, and campaign finance laws.

A companion bill in the Senate, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would increase the federal government’s veto power over many changes to state election laws. Here’s a look at three claims made during the hearing held by the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties.

1. Conflating Two Laws

At several points, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., seemed to try to conflate an existing law, in place since 1965, with a legislative proposal that never has passed the Senate.

“It’s impossible to think of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 without thinking of our colleague John Lewis,” Cohen said of the famed civil rights leader-turned-congressman from Georgia, who died in 2020.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act prevents states from discriminating in elections on the basis of race….

Cohen later noted that Dirksen “and all of the Republicans did then, when it was still the party of Lincoln.”

The Tennessee Democrat’s implication was that Republicans have reversed their stance on the Voting Rights Act.

However, in 2006, the law was renewed with unanimous support in the Republican-controlled Senate and near unanimous support in the Republican-controlled House. No lawmaker has proposed repealing the 1965 law.

2. Georgia’s ID Requirements

Testifying at the hearing, Helen Butler, executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, cast Georgia’s new election law in an ominous light.

“They are making it more difficult for people to exercise their right to vote by mail. They are requiring photo ID be submitted with [voters’] absentee ballot application,” Butler told the House panel….

The Georgia law actually allows a voter to provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of his Social Security number as a stand-in for photo identification.

Specifically, the law says:

If the elector does not have a Georgia driver’s license or state identification card issued pursuant to Article 5 of Chapter 5 of Title 40, the elector shall so affirm in the space provided on the outer oath envelope and print the last four digits of his or her Social Security number in the space provided on the outer oath envelope.

3. Texas Continues to ‘Silence’ Minority Voters

Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, ripped into her own state at the hearing. The Texas Legislature last year passed an election reform bill that Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed into law.

“States like my home state of Texas are imposing laws that are already limiting that sacred right” to vote, Garcia told the House subcommittee. “Texas and many other states continue to pass laws to suppress, silence, and dilute minority voters, especially Latinos. We cannot let this stand. We must take action.”

The Georgia Democrat went on to say: “Suppression is alive and well in Texas, whether or not you want to admit it.”

In fact, the new Texas election law extended voter ID requirements to absentee ballots. It provides that the Texas secretary of state’s office will use Texas Department of Motor Vehicles records and jury selection information to verify a registered voter’s citizenship, whether he is still alive, or if he has moved out of the jurisdiction.

The Texas law also says that election observers “may not be denied free movement where election activity is occurring,” but that observers may be ejected if they “commit a breach of the peace or a violation of law.”

Rep. Steve Cohen, Helen Butler, or Rep. Sylvia Garcia either lack enough intelligence to know what the laws actually say, or they are lying. In either case, the Democrat Party would be acting in its own interest to replace them. Liars can be cured by being forced to accept the consequences of their lying. There is no fix for stupidity.

 

Has Biden Kept Any Campaign Promises?

            Joseph Biden has been President of the United States for one year – much longer than I expected him to last. Biden promised many things, but he is now known in some circles as “America’s promise breaker in chief.”

            In his inaugural address, Biden promised to unify Americans. “With unity we can do important things.” His words brought hope until his actions became apparent. Biden has done more to divide Americans than to unite them. Deroy Murdock reminded us of Biden’s actions.

Biden has split blacks and whites by embracing critical race theory. He has cleaved “domestic terrorist” parents and local school boards that they have challenged. Biden has pitted the vaccinated against the unvaccinated.

And last week, he equated roughly half of all Americans with Confederate President Jefferson Davis because they favor election integrity and oppose his calls for junking the Senate filibuster and for nationalizing state and local voting systems.

            Biden made other promises that he has failed to fulfill. He promised to return American to “normal” after the Trump years. Murdock asked what many Americans are asking, “what’s so normal about 7% inflation, soaring energy prices, broken supply chains, scores of cargo ships marooned off the coast of Southern California’s ports, and ‘Wild West”-style freight train robberies in Los Angeles?” What is so normal about empty shelves in grocery stores? What is normal about a wide-open southern border and 1.776 illegal aliens crossing it? What is normal about the record number of homicides in Democrat-run cities?

            Biden claimed that he would “shut down the virus” if he were elected President. “Judging by the stunning 1,483,656 new COVID-19 cases that emerged on Janu. 10 alone, Biden clearly blew it.” Murdock showed mercy to Biden for the exploding numbers because “Viruses do not obey executive orders…. COVID-19 is a tiny, invisible monster that does whatever it wants.”

Murdock did not show mercy to Biden “for the shortages in COVID-19 testing kits and infrastructure…. [particularly because] Biden foolishly rejected offers last fall to increase test supplies.” Murdock also noted that Biden “has been so obsessed with vaccine mandates, mask orders, and related heavy-handedness that he is presiding over a shortage of lifesaving monoclonal antibody therapies.”

In addition, Biden messed up with Afghanistan. He promised in his inaugural speech, “We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again.” However, he surrendered “U.S. citizens, green card holders, and loyal Afghans to the bloodthirsty Taliban.” This was “bad enough,” but he failed to “coordinate with British commanders in Kabul and his days-long refusal to answer Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s urgent phone calls trashed America’s ‘special relationship’ with London.”

Biden also messed up America’s relationship with France when he failed “to inform France about a subsequent U.S.-U.K.-Australia pact, which cost Paris a submarine contract. [This] led the Quai d’Orsay to recall its ambassador to Washington for the first time since 1776.”

Murdock concluded that Biden has kept only one promise: he is not Donald Trump. However, Trump is known by both his friends and foes as fulfilling many campaign promises.

During [Trump’s] first year in office, he signed a $1.5 trillion tax rate cut, killed some 1,500 meddlesome regulations, greenlighted the Keystone XL pipeline, scrapped Obamacare’s individual mandate (but not the entire program), curbed southern border crossings, erased the ISIS caliphate, and much more.

            Biden is a failed President who has not accomplished anything good for America. However, his policies have heavily damaged the United States. His foreign policies have divided us from our allies and caused our enemies to laugh at us. His domestic policies have brough nearly two million illegal aliens into our nation. His economic policies have left us with empty shelves in our grocery stores and supply lines stopped. The worst action of all is that he has further divided our nation. He is the worst President in my lifetime and maybe the worst in the history of our nation.

What Would Martin Luther King Jr. Say about Critical Race Theory?

            Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that he shared with America on August 28, 1963, nearly sixty years ago. Some of the most quoted lines of his speech are, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” 

            Those words still sound across the nation even though 54 years have passed since the death of King. We know how he felt then about judging each other by color. The question is, what would he say about the racial tensions in America today? Would he support critical race theory, or would he condemn it?

            Alveda King, one of MLK’s nieces, believes that he would oppose critical race theory because it “was socially engineered by Marxists and socialists, by people who don’t believe in God.” She said that King’s message to America center on the gospel of Jesus Christ because he wanted Americans to “serve God [and] serve others.” In a podcast with Virginia Allen, Alveda King made the following statement. 

I believe that if the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were here right now, he would encourage us to continue to learn to live together as brothers – and I’ll add in sisters – or perish together as fools….

Now, what many people do not understand is that, first, Martin Luther King Jr. loved God. He wasn’t perfect, and no human beings are. He loved God.

So I believe if he were here today, he would say to us, in the face of everything that we are encountering – whether it be COVID, or race wars, or horrible things happening to the weather, calamities, and disaster – I believe he would ask us to look forward in this new year with faith, with hope, with love….

I believe I don’t even have to speculate on what Martin Luther King Jr. would say, because he said it during his lifetime. He wrote it, he said it, he spoke it. And he talked about a day when there would be no white power, no black power, only God power working in human power.

            According to Alveda King, MLK would be against abortion as well as critical race theory. Those people who profess to follow MLK in their demands of America do not know what he taught. King wanted all people to live together as brothers and sisters – no matter their race or religion – and to protect the unborn and vulnerable. King had a good dream, one that all Americans should adopt. 

Who Is Charles McGee?

            My VIP for this week is Charles McGee, a veteran pilot who was a Tuskegee Airman during World War II. He later flew missions in the Korean and Vietnam wars. In his thirty-year military career, he flew 409 fighter combat missions.  He passed away Sunday at the age of 102 years. 

According to [Tuskegee Airmen Inc,], McGee had said that the Tuskegee Airmen “proved wrong those that believed Blacks were not able to master sophisticated equipment, that Blacks lacked courage, or that Blacks did not have the wherewithal to fight a determined enemy. It was the Tuskegee Airmen that ended up with a stellar WWII aviation war record and thereby edged the military toward integration and America away from segregation.”

            The Associated Press reported that McGee retired as an Air Force colonel in 1973, but he received an “honorary commission” four decades later that promoted him “to the one-star rank of brigadier general.”

            In addition, then-President Donald Trump recognized McGee during his 2020 State of the Union address. McGee was also called “an American hero” by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

 

How Do You Remember MLK on Civil Rights Day?

            Tomorrow is Constitution Day, and it is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Therefore, this post will be a commemoration of Dr. King’s life and legacy. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is described as being “remarkable, conscience-searing and life-transforming” but contained “much suffering, sacrifice and surrendering.” This speech is often quoted, but few people understand the sacrifices King made for the civil rights movement. These are the words of The Reverend Theresa A. Dear, a national board member of the NAACP. 

For years, Dr. King traveled the world delivering messages of non-violence, protesting against injustice and advocating for civil rights laws. In so doing, he was often away from his wife, Coretta, and their four children. Dr. King and the King family made significant, countless and untold sacrifices for generations unborn.

It was primarily because of Dr. King’s selfless and courageous leadership that the civil rights movement was imagined, advanced and sustained. He was n original influencer who, without social media or the internet, was able to motivate and mobilize hundreds of thousands of Black and white people to attend the March on Washington in August 1963.

He was an original influencer who, without social media or the internet, was able to motivate and mobilize hundreds of thousands of Black and white people to attend the March on Washington in August 1963.

The March on Washington and Dr. King’s incessant drumbeat of justice and desegregation influenced the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Dr. King referred to this law as nothing less than a “second emancipation.” From this law, many rights and protections were extended to various groups in America, including women, veterans, the disabled and LGBTQ.

            Dear wrote that it was King’s “intellectual capacity, effectual tenacity and spiritual audacity that intrigued and inspired the masses.” However, King also experienced “death threats, ominous calls to his homes at all hours of the night, being abandoned by some fellow clergy members while incarcerated in Birmingham, police profiling, the bombing of his home, being stabbed by a mentally ill Black woman and living under a cloud of crippling and constant fear.”

            According to Dear, King and his family “endured a life of danger without laws or law enforcement to protect them.” Dear claims that we are indebted to King because he forfeited safety “for the greater good of the country.” We commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. because he was willing to make sacrifices for the rest of us.

            Dear compared the words and actions of revisionist leaders to those of King. They “whitewash Black history, academic institutions deny tenure to professors who write about slavery and critical race theory is used as a political lightning rode.” However, the actions of revisionist leaders “are antithetical to Dr. King’s dream.”

Dear wrote, “The denial or attempted erasure of Black history cannot extract, extricate or expunge the indelible sacrifices, contributions and legislation made by Black people. Thus, we are indebted to Dr. King to be guardians of our history.”

When protests erode into the destruction of property, violence against humanity becomes random and crime within Black communities surges, this is contrary to the principles for which Dr. King advocated. The increased violence within the Black community dishonors the legacy of Dr. King, who went to jail more than 20 times for our freedom, rights and protection. Thus, we are indebted to Dr. King to be gatekeepers of our communities and adopt non-violent practices to resolve conflict and hold one another accountable.

When politicians go shamelessly rogue to suppress the right to vote, gentrify communities and promote false propaganda, this defies the tenets of Dr. King’s relentless endeavors of equality and access. Thus, we are indebted to Dr. King to resist, rally and work to repeal agendas that are not fair for all.

Dr. King was a minister, scholar, moral philosopher, follower of Mahatma Gandhi, civil rights leader, legislative advocate, hypnotic orator and brilliant thought leader, strategist and visionary. With his many accomplishments, his masterstroke may have been combining his vulnerability, humanity and faith to effectively serve mankind. For these offerings and many more, his unfinished work is now ours. Continuing his redemptive work is how we pay our debt to the Dreamer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

            Dear decries the actions of some Black people and some politicians who seem to forget King’s desire for peaceful protests. I wonder what she would say about the plans of President Joe Biden to use the advent of Black History Month to issue executive orders that would include parts of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Such orders would work against law enforcement and increase chaos, crime, and danger in communities.