Mannkind Perspectives

100 Years Ahead of His Time – William George Jordan and “The House of Governors”

2012-02-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

William George Jordan (1864-1928) was a noted author and editor but he was perhaps best known in the early 1900s for his contribution to national politics which began with the publication of The House of Governors in 1907. In the document is identifies a problem, the growth of the Federal government beyond its Constitutional bounds and proposes a solution to prevent further encroachment

In the latter part of 1906 and in January of 1907 President Roosevelt and his Secretary of State Elihu Root advanced the notion that the Federal governments power needed to be given more power to deal with issues of national concern that the states were unable to resolve.[1] It was this threat that prompted Jordan’s thought processes.

He came up with the idea of creating an entity composed of the governors of the states that would provide a forum for the states to resolve issues between themselves and push back on the Federal government. He shared this in February of 1907 with President Theodore Roosevelt and sent copies of the pamphlet not only to the President but also to his Cabinet and the governors of the all 46 states. By May of 1908 30 governors had endorsed Jordan’s plan.

Jordan told a Times reporter that “There are three basic weaknesses to our present system of government. The first is the menace of centralization, the Federal Government usurping the rights of the people; second, the uncertain shifting, undignified status of State rights, and, third the lack of uniform legislation on vital questions throughout the union.”[2]

In 1908 President Roosevelt called for and presided over a 3-day conference with most of the governors of the states and territories. The purpose of the conference was to begin discussion on determining the best methods for developing and conserving the nation’s natural resources. This was the first time a president had met with all the governors.[3]

This was not the conference envisioned by Jordan as its agenda was set by the President and presided over by him. Nor was it what the governors themselves wanted. If fact, 10 minutes after the conference’s conclusion, they appointed a committee to set a time and place for the next meeting of the governors “with the President and White House totally eliminated.”[4]

The first formal meeting of the “House of Governors” or Governors Conference as it came to be known was not held until January 1910. At the conclusion of the conference the governors voted unanimously to give “Mr. Jordan its thanks for his enterprise in initiating the movement and carrying it to an organization.”[5] Later in the year he was appointed the groups permanent secretary. However, by September of 1911 they governors determined that they no longer needed a permanent secretary and released him from this role with their thanks.

The most likely reason for the termination of his role as secretary was that while he pushed for the organization to fulfill the mission he originally envisioned many of the governors wanted to use it as a platform for promoting their presidential aspirations. They were interested in form while Jordan was always about substance.

William George Jordan’s role in establishing the Governors Conference, now known as the National Governors Association, was the subject of many newspaper articles in the early 1900’s. Today, Jordan’s influence has been largely lost to history. The organization he hoped would be a bulwark against Federal expansion did not fulfill that role.

You’ll find the same words he used to establish the need for a “House of Governors” and his closing comments were seemly written for today. Clearly the states need to refurbish “the dingy armor of States rights in preparation for battle” while the citizens need to need to scourge “the money changers out of the temple of legislation—State and national.” We need to elect good men to office who are more motivated by a desire to restore the sovereignty of the states and the liberty of the people than personal power; men and women who are of strong moral character and will resist, with our help, the siren’s lure of fame and fortune.

You can view a scanned copy of Jordan’s 1907 publication or a transcription of it by clicking on one of the two following links: Scanned, Transcription.

[1] “Suggested Meeting to the President”, New York Times, 13 May 1908
[2] “Suggested Meeting to the President”, New York Times, 13 May 1908
[3] “Governors to Meet at the White House”, New York Times, 10 May 1908
[4] “Governors to Meet by Themselves”, New York Times, 16 May 1908
[5] “Governors to Meet Annually”, New York Times, 21 Jan 1910

William George Jordan and Education

2012-02-08T22:36:00.001-07:00

William George Jordan, was a strong advocate of changing the focus of education. In an article entitled “What’s the Matter with Education”, published in the March 1923 issue of The Forum, he argues that “there is not one single power, faculty, process or quality of the mind that is trained and developed by our present system of education. Our powers are not merely untrained—they are positively mistrained.” He continues “the theory of education, not as we get it from the ideals of educators but as it is evidenced in every detail of the system as it actually exists today, can be given in a single sentence: Education believes that by forcing a certain amount of knowledge, principally by means of textbooks, into the minds of children, that somehow in the divine mystery of mental processes this knowledge will not only be retained, but the mind of the individual will be exercised, trained and developed.” He advocated for a system whose “final aim … is to teach thinking, exercising the individual not in what to think, but in how to think … .”

Jordan began lecturing on his philosophy of education at least as early as Feb 1890 as per the following note that appeared in the Feb 8th, 1890 issue of The Critic:

“A series of ten Lenten [definition: suggesting Lent, as in austerity, frugality, or rigorousness; meager] on the simplicity of the mind and its workings is announced by Mr. William George Jordan, editor of Current Literature.”

During July of 1891 he visited with a newspaper writer in Chicago and discussed his thoughts on education. A summary of this discussion was published in the Sunday, July 26, 1891 issue of the Chicago Inter-Ocean. The following is a short excerpt from this two and a half column article.

“In explaining this theory Mr. Jordan says that the present system of education is a failure, because it does not strengthen the mind and develop the individuality. He adds: ‘The common school system of to-day gives the child but an accumulation of facts. For years it feeds the minds of the child with learning that the mind is not trained to digest.’”

On September 15^th of 1891 the Chicago Inter-Ocean ran an article that said Mr. Jordan would be coming to Chicago in October to lecture on education and mental training. Two weeks later (Sept 24th) the same paper ran a story that said because of the significant interest in his educational theories Jordan would be resigning from his post as managing editor of Current Literature to relocate to Chicago. As a parting note Current Literature included the following in its Nov 1891 issue:

“Mr. William George Jordan, associate editor of this magazine from its inception almost, has resigned his editorial position and gone to Chicago to establish there, through lectures and classes in Analysis and Analogy, his system of Mental Training. Chicago has taken most kindly to the new idea of a gymnasium for the mind, and given Mr. Jordan the most substantial sort of support in the way of promised classes and lecture patronage in the development of his plan. Discussing Mr. Jordan's determination to locate in Chicago the Inter-Ocean says: “It is an assured fact that mental training will be the rage here this winter. Unlike most fads, it has a solid basis and will live as a system. Never before has the mind been presented in all its workings with the clearness, the simplicity, and the practical treatment it will receive in these lectures.” Mr. Jordan is a young man—but twenty-seven—a graduate of the College of the City of New York, a student and a scholar, a clever writer, an editor of taste and judgment, and, in his special line of educational thought, possessed of the widest sort of ability. While regretting his loss to Current Literature, we congratulate him on his emancipation from the drudgery and the general thanklessness of editorial work, and heartily commend him to the Western people in the restful assurance that, be his proposition ‘fad or philosophy,’ its demonstrator is thoroughly in earnest as to its usefulness, and honest as to its practical worth.”

The evening of October 20^th found Jordan at the monthly dinner of the The Forty Club where he was one of several speakers, including well-known humorist Bill Nye, who provided light-hearted entertainment.

By November he had arranged with two society groups to hold classes for their members and was planning more public lectures for later in the the “season” (see The Chicago Inter-Ocean, Nov 9, 1891). He initially held a series of 10 lectures with the following titles:

The Indescribable and Analysis
Genius, Education and Habit
Simplicity and Uniformity of Nature
Memory and the Simplicity of Mind
Reading, Observation, and Conversation
Paradox: A Study in Polarity
Inequality in Nature and Life
Character—How best to Study It
Trifles in Life and Mind
Reserve Power in Nature and Life

Although, these lectures garnered some critical acclaim he was drawn back to the publishing word in 1894 and once again became the managing editor of Current Literature. From there he joined The Ladies Home Journal as managing editor and subsequently was asked to be the editor of The Saturday Evening Post after it was purchased by Curtis Publishing. He went on to write, in what my opinion are, five of the all-time best self-help/motivation books. While he was involved in political, civic and business organizations, and had his own publishing company, his endeavors were always centered on improving the lives of others.

William George Jordan maintained a interest in educational reform throughout the remainder of his life. In 1907 he published a second edition of Mental Training: A Remedy for “Education.” By then he had updated his lectures to consist of following:

Analysis: The Revealer of Law
Genius, Education, and Habit
Memory and the Simplicity of Mind
The Senses and their Training
Observation and Reading
Conversation: Its Laws and its Powers
Paradox: A Study in Polarity
Simplicity and Uniformity of Nature
Individuality
Character: How Best to Study It.
Trifles in Life and Mind
Reserve Power in Nature and Mind

As far as I can tell his last written remarks on education were published in 1923 by The Forum in a four part series of articles; What’s the Matter with Education, Educating for Seven Lives, Modeling Education on Genius, and Mental Training a Remedy for “Education.” Jordan, aspired to write a book that thoroughly covered his thoughts on this subject but he never had the time to do it. I suspect that each time he lectured on the topic he learned more and thus he was never able to encapsulate his ideas as they kept expanding. These final four articles are probably the best representation of his views.

He concludes the series with the following statement:

“In closing this series of articles two questions are of supreme importance: ‘Is preparing and training the individual for the seven lives he must live [physical, mental, moral, social, civic, emotional, spiritual] a sufficiently broad, practical conception of what education should accomplish?’ ‘Is there a possible higher ideal or a more basic foundation for such training than making genius the revelation and the model for true education?’ If the answer of the thinking public be one of approval, then the co-operation of educators can transform this vision of what might be into an actuality, this dream into a reality.”

As you review his thoughts you may find, as I did, that many of his critiques of the education system of his day and his proposed solutions are applicable in today’s world. Below are some of my favorite quotes from William George Jordan on education / mental training:

“From a few laws or facts eternal, have come billions of facts historical. The aims of my system of mental training is to train the mind to see law, the fact eternal, in the fact historical.”
—“Analysis and Analogy: William G. Jordan Explains the Simplicity of the Mind’s Workings”, The Chicago Inter-Ocean, Jul 26, 1891
“The failure of education is not limited to America; it extends over the whole civilized world. The most vital problem before humanity today is a true system of education, for it is only as we train individuals and peoples to think, to use their minds and all their other powers to their highest efficiency that we shall find any adequate solution of our other problems, mental, moral, social, political, economic and industrial. We are failing miserably to solve them today because we have not been able to bring the trained minds of a trained people to bear upon them. We have been relying on the trained minds of a few leaders to carry and control the mass.”
—“What’s the Matter with Education”, The Forum, Mar 1923
“We have ever assumed that if we cut out the cramming, secured a higher grade of teachers, divorced it from politics, lengthened or shortened the course, changed the method of teaching this or that study, by introducing new studies or curtailing old ones, by some patching, tinkering or modifying, we could make the machine run beautifully. We have had countless wise and sane educational suggestions, excellent in themselves, yet they have failed to produce expected results. It has been as hopeless as trying to graft a living shoot on an artificial plant.”
—“What’s the Matter with Education”, The Forum, Mar 1923
“Suppose a gardener were to take a plot of ground, and, without turning up the soil, preparing it or fertilizing it or doing anything to put it in good condition he were to plant it with seed of all kinds, covering every inch of the plot. Suppose that he then said: ‘This process will of itself enrich the soil and will produce beautiful flowers,’ we should think he had suddenly lost his reason. Because he did not first care for the soil and prepare it for the seed we would know that because of his wrong method he would accomplish neither of his claims, he would neither enrich the soil nor produce fine flowers, the soil would be unimproved and the plants poor, stunted, scrawny failures. Such a theory is not a whit more senseless and imbecile than the theory of our educational system.”
—“What’s the Matter with Education”, The Forum, Mar 1923
“We decry forced feeding in our prisons, why do we tolerate it in our schools? What would we think of setting a child at a table and forcing him under fear of punishment to ‘eat everything on its plate’ for four or five hours of continuous feeding a day, day after day for years? It would seem inhuman cruelty. Nature would revolt. Society and the law would suppress it. It would in reality however be no worse than the enforced mental feeding of our schools. Children are today over-fed and under-nourished. They may grow mentally fat but not mentally strong.”
—“What’s the Matter with Education”, The Forum, Mar 1923
“Man is not put into the world as a finished product, of a predetermined limitation of capacity and development. He is not branded or stamped like a jug with its limit, as ‘one-gallon’ or ‘five-gallon.’ There are no men thus predetermined as ‘one-talent’ men or ‘two-talent” or ‘five-talent.’ If man wishes to thus limit himself it is he who does it, not Nature. We know the potentialities of no child that was ever born. We arrogate much to our own ignorance when we thus seek to fix individual limits.”
—“Educating for Seven Lives”, The Forum, Apr 1923
“A child under two years of age had been given by Dr. Gates a six months’ training in the discrimination of temperature and touch differences. The child later died of scarlet fever and in the brain areas of these senses were found over twenty-four times the number of large and fully developed cells, as compared with small, immature and mere beginnings of cells. He further says: ‘I have trained four generations of guinea-pigs in the extraordinary use of the visual faculty and their offspring of the fifth generation were born with a greater number of well-developed cells in the seeing areas of the cortex than other guinea-pigs not thus trained.’”
—“Educating for Seven Lives”, The Forum, Apr 1923
“We need men and women trained to think, not merely to think they think.”
—“Modeling Education on Genius”, The Forum, May 1923
“Education fails with the average human being; it fails even more with the exceptional. The geniuses and the men of talent or of signal ability, have a strength of mind, a fineness and an individuality that refuses to be pressed, like soft pulp, into an artificial mould. A whole book could be written on the great ones who were failures, dolts, dunces, or rebels at school. Among them may be mentioned: Milton, Wordsworth, Hawthorne, Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Newton, Dryden, Byron, Thackeray, Heine, Balzac, Keats, Shelley, Napoleon, Lowell, Wellington, Longfellow, Voltaire, Mark Twain, Scott, James Fennimore Cooper, Henry Ward Beecher, Bacon, Locke, Hobbes, Gray, Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson, Gibbon, George Bernard Shaw, Stevenson and a host of others.”
—“Modeling Education on Genius”, The Forum, May 1923
“Genius, like the average man, has two creators—his God and himself. The second creator develops and perfects what the first has begun.”
—“Modeling Education on Genius”, The Forum, May 1923
“What holds back most of us from fuller development is our resignation to ourselves as we are, our belief that because we do not possess a certain power that we cannot acquire it. We are under the spell of the old belief that we are born into the world with fixed limited powers with a limitation as to possibility. The biggest, finest, sanest view of life and science prove this to be false.”
—“Modeling Education on Genius”, The Forum, May 1923

As an interesting footnote to this post, The New York Times ran a brief article in its June 17, 1907 issue regarding a debate that was held between a Dr. Hervey and Mr. Jordan regarding the value of college training. You can guess which side Jordan took.

Below are links to articles and publications related to William George Jordan and “Mental Training or “Education” most of which I used as sources for this post. The last four articles, published as a series in The Forum, were his final written thoughts on education (he died in 1928 at the age of 64). I’ve combined these into a single document entitled, “Education: Problems and Possibilities”.

“Notes”, The Critic, Feb 8, 1890, p. 73
“Analysis and Analogy: William G. Jordan Explains the Simplicity of the Mind’s Workings”, The Chicago Inter-Ocean, Jul 26, 1891, p. 23
“Brief Mention”, The Chicago Inter-Ocean, Sep 15, 1891, p. 7
“Mental Training: W. G. Jordan, The Editor and Scholar, Will Come to Chicago”, The Chicago Inter-Ocean, Sep 24, 1891, p. 7
“The Forty Club”, The Chicago Inter-Ocean, Oct 21, 1891, p3.
“All Things are Possible”, The Chicago Tribune, Oct 25, 1891
“Gossip of Authors and Writers”, Current Literature, Nov 1891.
“Analysis---Analogy”, The Chicago Inter-Ocean, Nov 9, 1891
“Mental Training—A Remedy for ‘Education’”, Appleton’s Popular Science Monthly, Oct 1894, p 140-157 – HTML, PDF
“Genius: The Model for Education”, Current Literature, Jun 1895
“Individuality and Education”, Current Literature, Aug 1896 – PDF
Mental Training: A Remedy for “Education”, 1907 – HTML, PDF, Scanned
“The Value of College Training – Debated by Dr. Herver and W. G. Jordan Before Y.M.C.A”, New York Times, June 17, 1907
“The Individuality of Children”, The Child Welfare Manual, The University Society, 1915, p 164.
“What’s the Matter with Education”, The Forum, Mar 1923 – PDF
“Educating for Seven Lives”, The Forum, April 1923 – PDF
“Modeling Education on Genius”, The Forum, May 1923 – PDF
“Mental Training: A Remedy for Education”, The Forum, June 1923 – PDF

Note, I will update this post from time to time as I incorporate more information from the research I have gathered. So if you have an interest please check back from time to time.

“A Christmas Gift of Snow for Colonel Knox” by Ron Mann

2012-01-18T01:34:00.001-07:00

My father sent this story to family members as a Christmas gift and invited us to share it with others. It is the tale of a pivotal event early in the Revolutionary War performed by a man, Colonel Knox, whose faith and indomitable spirit made this journey possible. Similar faith and determination will be needed to return our nation to the federated republic established by its founding fathers.

Note, a PDF version is available if you want to print a copy of this story. Enjoy …

“With respect to General Knox, I can say with truth, there is no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy; no one who I have loved more sincerely, nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship.”—G. Washington.

As a result of the battles at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, the Continental Congress decided it was necessary to put a general in charge, one that represented all of the colonies. George Washington was unanimously selected and immediately sent to Boston. On arrival he discovered 20,000 colonial forces, not organized, equipped or trained. Confronting this force were 10,000 well trained and equipped British troops stationed in Boston. They were protected by a small fleet of British frigates. His first efforts were dedicated to organizing and equipping his troops. This proved difficult since most of the colonies were not prepared to support his forces to the extent needed. After a thorough inventory, Washington discovered what he needed to launch an attack or to defend against an attack from the British; 10,000 muskets, flints, powder horns, black powder, swords, cannons and many personal items(i). The British also lacked sufficient troops to launch an all out attack on the Americans.

The British's experience at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill had taught King George III, that he would have to substantially increase the number of his troops if he wanted to end to the insurrection of the American Colonies, as he called it. General Washington recognized that he needed to prepare quickly or face a sure defeat. What he needed most were cannons, large enough to threaten the British warships. One option was to encourage the citizens to become privateers – experienced seamen who equipped their fishing boats with cannons and armed men. Washington agreed to allow the privateers to keep half of all the contraband they captured – a great incentive for men who were out of work. Almost immediately the privateer ships started producing results.

In Mid-November Washington held his regular General Staff meeting. The agenda of the meeting was how to get the equipment needed before the British re-enforcements arrived. The most critical items large bore cannons. Almost a week earlier, he had appointed a new Artillery Commander, a young 25 year old book seller – Henry Knox who had already demonstrated his abilities by building a fort. Knox's immediate challenge was artillery, he had been made commander of the artillery without any artillery. Since the day of his appointment, Colonel Knox had worried about how and where to get cannons and the other material he needed. Finally he developed a plan. However, his concern was now whether or not he would be authorized to use it. He was now about to get his answer as he had been invited to attend the general's staff meeting and present his plan.

The first item on Knox's plan was to go to Fort Ticonderoga. It had been captured last spring, and supposedly had many cannons that were available for taking. The response to his proposal was not what he had expected. The attendees were unanimous in their opinions: “Impractical, absurd, and foolhardy. Don't waste time, effort and money on this crazy and impossible scheme. You have obviously overlooked certain facts, you would be traveling in mid-winter, in area where there are few roads and trails, snow covered mountain ranges, dense forests, rivers and lakes that would have to be crossed. You would need wagons, sleds, boats, oxen, horses and men willing to risk their lives in sub-zero temperatures. Impossible!”

General Washington had just sat quietly listening to the arguments, when his staff was finished, he addressed himself to Col Knox he said: “I believe you can do it, go and get the cannons. I will provide you with whatever you need.” That said, the meeting adjourned. Those opposed to it filed out, as silent as an open tomb.

On December 4th, barely two weeks after they had left Cambridge, Col Knox, his brother Will and a friend were standing in Fort Ticonderoga starring at a large inventory of cannons. There were Large and small, iron and brass ones, barrels of powder and flints. He was right! There were indeed cannons here. Although it had taken considerable time and effort to get here, they had proved it was possible and there were cannons here - for the taking! Admittedly the return trip would be more difficult, but he believed it could be done. Fifty eight of the best cannons were selected, they weighed more than 160,000 lbs. Next they had to find oxen, horses, boats and men to remove them from the fort, transport them to the waters edge and then load them on 42 boats. It proved difficult, but they did it. They loaded the ships and then started their 36 mile trip down Lake George to Fort Edwards. Complicating their task of traveling down Lake George were contrary winds, rain, sleet and snow and in addition the lake was in the process of freezing over. At present there was only a narrow channel between the ice. Concerned that the open water was closing fast, Col Knox encourage the men to constantly move faster. Failure to do so could jeopardize the mission, once the lake was frozen over travel on the lake would be impossible.

It wasn't too long after Colonel Knox's troops pushed off that the large scow (see illustration above) got high centered. Since it contained the most cannons it was extremely critical to the mission – it had to be saved! Luckily they were close to shore, making it somewhat easier to re-float. Nevertheless several men were required to get in the cold icy water and work. First they had to transfer all the cannons to other ships, then hook several boats on to the scow and have men row, while the men in the water pushed. Finally after considerable effort the scow floated off the rocks. Now they had to repair any damage done by the rocks. Several hours later they had repaired, re-floated and reloaded the cannons. Exhausted, they built a large bonfire and were finally able to get warm and rest (ii). This entire endeavor was executed during a rain/snow storm.

After their brief rest they again shoved off, however, the contrary winds continued to pummel them,again forcing them to row most of the way. As the rain and wind increased the old scow started taking on water. As the wind and rain became more violent the scow started to fill with water, eventually causing it to sink. Once more all the boats had to halt while men worked in the icy cold water bailing out the scow. As luck would have it, it was close to the shore, making it possible to save it and its cargo. Since the men were chilled to the bone, from standing up to their thighs in the icy water, it was decided to take a rest. In order to get to the shore it was necessary to bust a path through the ice. As they approached the shore they were startled by a group of Indians watching them. Concerned that they were about to attack they began prepare for a fight. To their surprise the Indians were friendly and invited them to their camp to get warm and eat a warm meal of venison. After a pleasant dinner and rest they decided it was time to leave for Fort Edwards. They thanked the Indians for the hospitality, and reluctantly returned to their boats. As they rowed down the lake they couldn’t help thinking about the experiences of the past several days. They were impressed with the miracles they had witnessed. The scow had sunk twice and each time it had gone down in shallow water, where they were able to quickly repair it or bail it out. And it just happened that where the scow had sunk, the last time, friendly Indians had invited them to share the warmth of their homes and warm meal. In addition to all these serendipitous events not a single man had been injured or frozen. Which was indeed Incredible.

The crews had spent nearly a miserable week rowing in extremely cold weather, but finally arrived safely at Fort Edwards, exhausted but cheerful about their accomplishments. Their journey had been an incredible experience, one, that none of them would soon forget. They were happy that they had helped to provide George Washington with the cannons he badly needed. Once at Fort Edwards they could now eat a warm meal and get some badly needed rest, discussed their recent experiences and prepare to return home for Christmas. Rested, they helped their replacements move the cannons into the safety of the fort.

In order to make the necessary arrangements for the rest of the trip, Colonel Knox had left his brother, Will, in charge several days out of Fort Ticonderoga. He had then rushed ahead to Fort Edwards were he had started making the necessary arrangements for the rest of the trip. What he needed was sleds, wagons, (more than forty), 200 oxen and horses, 3,000 feet of three inch rope and teamsters to the drive them. After several days at Fort Edwards, Col Knox became concerned that the fleet had not arrived on schedule. So that morning he sent out a search party, just a few before the fleet arrived – exhausted by safe.

Early the next morning the new team left for Glenn Falls, about 10 miles distant. They were forced to use mostly wagons because there was little snow on the ground for the sleds. It had taken an inordinate amount time to travel the ten miles to Glenn Falls. The men and animals were extremely exhausted by the time they finally arrived Glenn Falls. Because of this Colonel Knox decided to stay at Glenn Falls and and wait for the snow. A man of incredible faith, Knox had total faith that it would snow – and soon. Several days passed, then it was Christmas Eve. Many hoped because it was Christmas Eve, they would get snow by morning - as a Christmas present. That night as they fell asleep, many of their thoughts were focused on General Washington's need of the cannons. If they didn't arrive on time it could cause Washington's forces to be defeated by the British and they would loose their freedoms. Early the next morning snow began to quietly fall, so by the time they awoke there was already two feet, and it was still snowing. They were like excited as children on Christmas morning when the saw the snow – two Feet of it. Their prayers had been answered! There was hardly a dry eye on that Christmas morning. Thank heavens they could now resume their journey. By the time they were all dressed and the sled ready to leave it had already snowed another foot. Perhaps they had prayed just a little too hard! They had received their Christmas present, and now they would attempt to bring Washington his.

At Glens Falls, the exhausted team was replaced with a new crews, and they still had more than 250 miles to travel. To succeed they would be challenged every mile, by cold, snow and rain, thawing, rivers, dense forests, steep hills and roads to be cleared and made. In spite of these challenges, they succeed. As a result of this success, they walked right into our history as one of the truly greatest achievements in the revolutionary war. On January 25th the “Noble Train”, as it was then called, arrived in Cambridge, having taken 56 days. Colonel Knox and his men's dedication made it possible for Washington to force the British to evacuate Boston. They had conquered what most men thought was impossible. It was this type of indomitable spirit that made possible the winning of the Revolutionary War and the freedoms we now enjoy. Their success was in part made possible by the constant interposition of Providence, as had been prophesied in the scriptures (III Nephi 21 and I Nephi 13:17-19.) Note: I have counted more than a dozen times during this event when Providence's interposition made their success possible.

This experience in addition to many others, made it possible for George Washington to express in his inaugural address, on April 30, 1789 the following:

“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency …”

After many years of research I too can bear my testimony that God did in fact make possible the freedoms we now enjoy, even as His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ had prophesied (III Nephi 21:4).

Ronald M. Mann, December 2011

Footnotes:

i. Shortly after Washington's had made this inventory of his needs, and “Finding we were not likely to do much in the land way, I fitted out several privateers, or rather armed vessels, in behalf of the continent.” (GW to Benedict Arnold, December 5, 1775, NDAR, Vol. II, page 1283) Then on the 29th of November a British ordinance ship, the Nancy was captured off Cape Ann, by the privateer Lee. The captured Nancy was immediately taken to Cape Ann were it was discovered that they had hit it the jackpot. To Washington’s utter amazement the Nancy contained almost 100% of the items he badly needed. It included some of the types of cannon balls, used by the cannons being carried to Washington by Col Knox’s Noble Train. “... The brig Nancy an ordinance vessel from Woolwich, containing a large brass mortar, several pieces of brass cannon, a large quantity of arms and ammunition, with all manner of tools, utensils and machines, necessary for camps and artillery. Had Congress sent an order for supplies they could not have made out a list of articles more suitable to Washington's situation than what was thus providentially thrown into his hands.” (Life & Times of Washington, Schroeder-Lossing,1903, Vol II, page 830) To any reasonable minded person this represent a miracle and an answer to Washington's prayers, which he himself quickly acknowledged.

ii. According to all the research done on this incredible journey, there is no record of any person dying, being serious injured, frost bitten, or seriously sick. When it is remembered the trials; constant freezing weather, the number of times men were required to work in icy water and the constant wind and rain, as well as having to row their boats in these weather extremes, it is truly miraculous.

Cultivating Charity

2012-01-01T18:38:00.001-07:00

As I contemplated the upcoming year today I reviewed a talk I gave in church on December 29, 2002. Its’ challenge was to develop a charitable attitude during the course of the next year. For me this is as important a goal for the coming year as it was then. Perhaps even more as there seems to be a never ending series of crisis where charity can make a difference; war is ever present, economic woes seem never ending; natural disasters of one form or another; the almost uncountable lives impacted in the wake of substance abuse … . Of course one of the biggest blessings associated with true charity is the impact on the individual practicing it. You’ll find the talk below.

Let me start by reading the lyrics from of the beautiful hymn, “Lord, I Would Follow Thee” (music and lyrics, video).

Savior may I learn to love thee, walk the path that thou hast shown.
Pause to help and lift another, finding strength beyond my own.
Who am I to judge another, when I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden, sorrow that the eye can’t see.
I would be my brothers’ keeper; I would learn the healer’s art.
To the wounded and the weary I would show a gentle heart.
Savior may I love my brother, as I know thou lovest me.
Find in thee my strength, my beacon, for thy servant I would be.

What a wonderful message! These words express the desire of a heart in tune with the Spirit. A message which, if internalized by a relative few, could truly change the world. I am reminded of King Benjamin’s sermon from which this song could well have been distilled:

“And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God …, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you…, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, … .
“And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.
“And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.
“And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; … But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
“And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.” — Mosiah 4:11-16

How can we be become this person; who is filled with the strength of the Lord and is his brothers’ keeper?

One way is to cultivate a desire to serve others and incorporate this into our lives. Elder Derek A. Cuthbert of the Quorum of the Seventy said this in a General Conference address April of 1990:

“Service changes people. It refines, purifies, gives a finer perspective, and brings out the best in each one of us. It gets us looking outward instead of inward. It prompts us to consider others’ needs ahead of our own. Righteous service is the expression of true charity, such as the Savior showed.” — Derek A. Cuthbert, “The Spirituality of Service,” Ensign, May 1990

Elder Ezra Taft Benson made these remarks in April 1979 General Conference:

“One of Satan’s greatest tools is pride: to cause a man or a woman to center so much attention on self that he or she becomes insensitive to their Creator or fellow beings. It’s a cause for discontent, divorce, teenage rebellion, family indebtedness, and most other problems we face.

“If you would find yourself, learn to deny yourself for the blessing of others. Forget yourself and find someone who needs your service, and you will discover the secret to the happy, fulfilled life.” — Ezra Taft Benson, “This Is a Day of Sacrifice,” Ensign, May 1979

I’d like to like share with you four thoughts regarding an attitude of service, which I gleaned from scriptures and conference addresses that can motivate us towards this end.

I. Establish a Tradition of Service in our Homes

First, to parents, we need to establish a tradition of service in our homes. I found the following remarks by A. Theodore Tuttle of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy in General Conference, April 1984 to be instructive:

“I have served in past years as both a mission president and as a temple president. I have watched the young people as they have come to the missions in South America and come to the temple for their endowments and sealings.
'”I have seen those who were well prepared, and those who were not so well prepared for these blessings. But, most of all, I watched anxiously for those who were not prepared—those who did not come at all—and wondered why.
“A few of them were from families where every effort had been made to prepare them for missionary service and for the blessings of the temple. Most of them, however, were from homes where they did not receive what was required to qualify them and to give them a desire to serve.
“In order to prepare youth for missionary service and for the temple blessings, parents must have more in mind than schooling. They must have more in mind than preparing for a career. They must have more in mind, really, than just to be a missionary—as though attendance was all that was required.
“There are three words that must be kept in mind: covenants, ordinances, and service.
“The training for covenants, for ordinances, and for service belongs in the home. If these are paramount in the minds of the parents, the youth will be prepared. And they will not, because of this, miss any essential training for their careers.” — A. Theodore Tuttle, “Covenants, Ordinances, and Service,” Ensign, May 1984, 23

This is a powerful admonition! How much more critical is it for us to give heed to it today than it was twenty plus years ago when it was given?

When I was a young boy my father taught me about the joy of serving. I was not always a willing pupil but in the end I gained a testimony of service as I saw how other lives were blessed and felt my heart swell with joy.

I remember each Christmas as we would go out into the forest to cut down our Christmas tree we would always cut an extra two or three and then deliver the nicest ones to those who were less fortunate than us. In the Seattle area where I grew up, it was usually cold and rainy on tree cutting day. I just wanted to get our tree and go but that was not to be. However, when I saw the excitement in other children’s eyes as they saw their tree and noticed the unspoken gratitude in the eyes of their parents it made next year’s chore a little easier.

Opportunities for service abound we just need to open our eyes. I’d like to recount another experience with my father. This is one of my most poignant memories. We were grocery shopping and my father noticed a young mother with a baby and toddler digging through her purse, counting and recounting her change as she put each new item in her shopping basket. When she turned the corner my father handed me a twenty-dollar bill (this was over forty years ago when bread was $0.25 a loaf). He asked me to take this to her and tell her that I saw it fall out of her purse. When I did she said a puzzled thanks and not much else. However we got to watch her as she filled her basket no longer pausing to look for more pennies in her purse.

Sister Barbara B. Smith then Relief Society General President told the following story at the October 1977 General Conference.

“I recently heard of a ward in which there were seventy sisters over seventy years of age. Their wise Relief Society president felt that even those who were homebound could serve, and so she gave each of the seventy sisters either a visiting teaching assignment or a compassionate service assignment. Even a sister stricken with a terminal disease was assigned to write a monthly letter to each of three sisters who were homebound. Some sisters were assigned to call other sisters each day to make sure they were all right.
“One sister continued to serve as a visiting teacher supervisor when she was ill and homebound. Her Relief Society president reported that, with much effort, this sister put on one of her prettiest dresses before doing the telephoning each month, feeling that this act gave her service importance and dignity as she filled this assignment for the Lord.” —Barbara B. Smith, “She Stretcheth Out Her Hand to the Poor,” Ensign, Nov. 1977, 89]

In an address to the Nephites, King Benjamin made the following statement:

“And behold I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” — Mosiah 2:17

Weaving service into the fabric of our children’s lives keeps all of us serving God.

II. Service Teaches Us to be Unselfish

Second, service teaches us to be unselfish and thus helps keep us from sin. I cannot think of any sin that does not involve selfishness; stealing, lying, immorality, idleness, substance abuse, … . Sin is always for our own gratification – not others. If we cultivate an attitude of service then these will not be apart of our lives. Additionally, service actually helps recompense for sin. The Apostle Peter counseled his flock:

“And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover a multitude of sins.” — I Peter 4:8

William R. Bradford taught us in a General Conference address in October of 1987:

“Selflessness is righteousness. It embraces the true spirit of companionship. It is the very essence of friendship. It is the portrayer of true love and oneness in humanity. Its reward is the freeing of the soul, a nearness to divinity, a worthiness for the companionship of the Spirit. Every requirement that God’s plan for our salvation places upon us is based on the giving of one’s self.
“The only way under the heavens whereby a person can be sanctified is in selfless service.
Where the proper focus on gospel-centered, selfless service is not developed, selfishness takes over. Of all influences that cause men to choose wrong, selfishness is undoubtedly the strongest. Where it is, the Spirit is not. Talents go unshared, the needs of the poor unrequited, the weak unstrengthened, the ignorant untaught, and the lost unrecovered.
“Selfishness, viewed in its true sense, is the absence of empathy and compassion, the abandonment of brotherhood, the rejection of God’s plan, the isolation of one’s soul.” — William R. Bradford, “Selfless Service,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 75

Thus we see that when we serve others unselfishly we are following God’s plan but when selfishness enters our lives it has the power to remove us from our pathway home.

III. Service Builds Faith and Knowledge

Third, service builds faith and knowledge. The Lord gives us the following counsel:

“Let thy bowels also be full of charity toward all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.” —D&C 121:45

What a wonderful blessing, confidence before God and knowledge bestowed on us, all predicated on being full of charity – which is evidenced by service.

I am reminded of an acquaintance of ours who felt prompted to help a young family. They went to the bank and withdrew some cash to put into an envelope and give to the family. Then before giving it felt prompted to put more cash in the envelope. Finally, just before the envelope was delivered, they again felt prompted to add to the amount. A surprisingly appreciative mother (surprisingly because she was very self-sufficient and did not seem the type to accept help) accepted the gift. Later in a thank-you letter she shared the following:

“We had recently spoken with the Bishop because our financial circumstances were very difficult. He asked us to review our situation, determine exactly how much was needed and to take the matter before the Lord. When we got home I made a list of only what we really needed and tallied the amount. We never went back to the Bishop but we did make this a matter a prayer. The amount you gave was within a single dollar of the amount I had written down. “

Imagine the increase of faith gained by both parties. The Lord had heard the righteous prayer of a family and answered. Two parties were blessed; the receiver and the givers who received the knowledge that they helped answer a prayer. Most of us do not receive such an explicit understanding that we are serving the Lord when we serve others but I testify to you that service always in the end builds faith and increases our knowledge of the Lord!

While on my mission in Denmark my companion and I were knocking on doors in an apartment building when an older lady opened the door (she most have been in her mid-forties or so J). We revived a strong impression that we needed to speak with her. We tried but to no avail as she shut the door on us.

Later that week we felt prompted again to visit her. Again, as soon as she opened we again felt the prompting that she needed us. We were quite explicit about the Lord wanting her to hear our message but again the door shut; this time with the threat that if you come again I will call the police.

The following week, I was in the same area with another missionary, and again felt the Spirit tugging at me and telling me to knock on her door. I tussled with the Spirit. There was the obvious lack of desire on the part of the woman to listen to us coupled by the threat of the police. Nonetheless the Spirit persisted and I relented. We cautiously knocked on the door. It opened and before I could open my mouth she welcomed us into her apartment. She said that had not been feeling well before but really wanted to speak to us. We subsequently had many wonderful discussions with her and she began to attend church just prior to the conclusion of my mission.

IV. Service is Essential

Fourth, developing an attitude of service is an essential part of our mission on earth. Let me just briefly share a couple of scriptures:

“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
“Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
“Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
“When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
“Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” — Matthew 25:34-40

“And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
“He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
“And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
“And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
“But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
“And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
“And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

“And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

“And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

“And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

“Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

“And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” — Luke 10:25-37

I leave you with this testimony from King Benjamin, which I know to be true.

“I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
“And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.” — Mosiah 2:21-22

I hope that as we begin the New Year we will cultivate a spirit of service in our lives. We will not only bless the lives of others but bring joy into ours.

Christmas 2011 Thoughts …

2011-12-26T01:18:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite Christmas songs is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. For me the lyrics capture life’s bittersweet moments and the hope we all carry for a better tomorrow. The words were written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Christmas Day 1864 and later set to music by John Baptiste Calkin.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

No one that I know well, even those who are outwardly successful, have not experienced the feelings captured by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as he writes “And in despair I bowed my head … .” On the eve of his crucifixion Christ made this statement to his disciples “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” —John 14:27.

In spite of whatever misfortunes we face and whatever difficult circumstances we find ourselves in we can partake of this peace if we recognize that just as “the world revolves from night to day” life’s difficulties will dissipate and darkness will disburse in the light of the Son.

My wife and I attended the Christmas performance from which the following video was taken. The story behind the song is told by Ed Herrman backed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I’m stilled moved by Ed Hermann’s words and the choir’s performance. It is a pick-me-up regardless of the time of year and well worth the few minutes it takes to watch.

At the close of this year’s Christmas my best wishes are with you all.

“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

James Allen – Inspired Author, Gentle Soul

2011-12-18T21:08:00.001-07:00

James Allen (1864-1912) was a gifted writer and philosopher who lived the type of life he wrote about (a complete list of his works and links to them are are the end of this post). His wife said he was “a good man who lived every word he wrote” (preface to Book of Meditations) and that “he never wrote theories, or for the sake of writing, or to add another to his many books; but he wrote when he had a message, and it became a message only when he had lived it out in his own life, and knew that it was good. Thus he wrote facts, which he had proven by practice.” (preface to Foundation Stones to Happiness and Success).

James was born in Leicester, England on November 28, 1864. His father went to America in 1879 to improve the family’s financial circumstances. Shortly after his arrival in New York and before he could send for his family he was robbed and murdered. Thus at the age of 15 James had to leave school to work and help support the family.

He married Lily Louisa Oram in 1895 at the age of 29 and they had their only child Nohra in 1896.There are various descriptions regarding what inspired him to write but all agree that he “retired” from regular work to devote his time to writing in 1902. He published his own magazine The Light of Reason which was later renamed The Epoch.

Like my other favorite author, William George Jordan (who was born the same year as James), James Allen’s works are replete with profound thoughts such as, “Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.” He often used analogies from gardening, a favorite pastime.

He died January 24th, 1912 at the relative young age of 47 having written material that would be published in 20 books. Today nearly 100 years following his death his words are still cherished by many and have a positive impact on mankind. I believe he is still accomplishing the mission he set for himself as described in the foreword of his first book From Poverty to Power; or, the Realization of Prosperity and Peace.

I looked around upon the world, and saw that it was shadowed by sorrow and scorched by the fierce fires of suffering. And I looked for the cause. I looked around, but could not find it; I looked in books, but could not find it; I looked within, and found there both the cause and the self-made nature of that cause. I looked again, and deeper, and found the remedy.
I found one Law, the Law of Love; one Life, the Life of adjustment to that Law; one Truth, the truth of a conquered mind and a quiet and obedient heart. And I dreamed of writing a book which should help men and women, whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned, worldly or unworldly, to find within themselves the source of all success, all happiness, all accomplishment, all truth. And the dream remained with me, and at last became substantial; and now I send it forth into the world on its mission of healing and blessedness, knowing that it cannot fail to reach the homes and hearts of those who are waiting and ready to receive it.

This book is both inspiring and challenging to read. You’ll more than likely find that reading it causes some personal discomfort as you identify areas in your life that can be improved and begin to realize that only you stand in the way of a positive change. However, when you take that first step you’ll find a loving God who will support you on your journey.

The following are some of my favorite quotes from As a Man Thinketh (HTML, PDF), his most well known book.

A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts.

Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace.

Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage or opportunity and circumstance.

Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.

Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.

Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.

… what, then, is the meaning of “fighting against circumstances?” It means that a man is continually revolting against an effect without, while all the time he is nourishing and preserving its cause in his heart.

Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.

… man has but to right himself to find that the universe is right; and during the process of putting himself right he will find that as he alters his thoughts towards things and other people, thing and other people will alter towards him.

… there is no comforter to compare with goodwill for dispersing the shadows of grief and sorrow.

Thoughts of doubt doubt and fear never accomplished anything, and never can. Purpose, energy, power to do, and all strong thoughts cease when doubt and fear creep in.

A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another.

Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

… you … will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be it base or beautiful, or a mixture of both, for you will always gravitate toward that which you secretly, most love.

Below are are list of his works with links to online versions, some of which were published after his death by his wife. Note, with the exception of As a Man Thinketh, for which I’ve created PDF and HTML versions, all HTML links are from The James Allen Free Library.

Books

From Poverty to Power; or, the Realization of Prosperity and Peace, 1901 (Google, HTML)
Contemporary reviews: Harmony, Municipal Journal and Engineer, Practical Ideals. Note, this was published later as two separate books The Path to Prosperity and The Way of Peace.
As a Man Thinketh,1902 (HTML, PDF)
Contemporary reviews: The Advance, Buddhism: An Illustrated Review, Camera Craft, Electric Traction Weekly, The Four-Track News, Unity.
All These Things Added, 1903 (HTML)
Contemporary reviews: Association Men, The Metaphysical Magazine, Now, The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health, The Theosophical Review. Note, this was later published as two separate books, Entering the Kingdom and The Heavenly Life.
Through the Gates of Good; or, Christ and Conduct, 1903 (HTML)
Contemporary reviews: Camera Craft
Byways of Blessedness, 1904 (HTML)
Contemporary reviews: Buddhism: An Illustrated Review
Out from the Heart, 1904 (Google, HTML)
Contemporary reviews: Common Sense, Tomorrow Magazine, Unity.
Poems of Peace, including the Lyrical-dramatic Poem Eolaus, 1907 (Google, HTML)
The Life Triumphant: Mastering the Heart and Mind, 1908 (HTML)
Contemporary reviews: Association Men, Unity
Morning and Evening Thoughts, 1909 (Google, HTML)
The Mastery of Destiny, 1909 (Google, HTML)
Contemporary reviews: Book Review Digest
Above Life’s Turmoil, 1910 (HTML)
Contemporary reviews: Book Review Digest, New-York Observer
From Passion to Peace or The Pathway of the Pure, 1910 (Google, HTML)
Contemporary reviews: The Humanitarian Review, New-York Observer, St. Andrew’s Cross, Unity, The Word.
Eight Pillars of Prosperity, 1911 (HTML)
Contemporary reviews: The Bookseller, The Humanitarian Review, The Independent, The Living Age, Unity
Man: King of Mind, Body and Circumstance, 1911 (HTML)
Contemporary reviews: The Advance, The Humanitarian Review, The New York Observer, Unity.
Light on Life’s Difficulties, 1912 (HTML)
Contemporary reviews: The American Review of Reviews, Journal of Genetic Psychology, The Living Age, Unity
James Allen’s Book of Meditations for Every Day in the Year or Meditations, A Year Book, a compilation of earlier text, compiled by his wife, Lilly L. Allen, after his death, 1913 (HTML)
Contemporary reviews: The Bookseller, The Business Philosopher, The Christian Register, The Living Age
Foundation Stones to Happiness and Success, 1913 (Google, HTML)
Contemporary reviews: The Book News Monthly, The Bookseller, The Business Philosopher, The Christian Register
Men and Systems, 1914 (HTML)
The Shining Gateway, 1915 (HTML)
The Divine Companion, 1919 (HTML)

Biographical Highlights

1864: Born in Leicester, England on November 24th.
1879: his father died in America.
1895: Married Lily Louisa Oram.
1896: Birth of his daughter Nohra.
1902: “Retired” to Ilfracombe,England (southwest coast) to be a full-time writer.
1902: Founded and edited “Light of Reason” which was later renamed “The Epoch”.
1912: Died on January 24th.

Other Resources:

A Tribute to James Allen, Ancient Wisdom Publications
Google Books
James Allen – Unrewarded Genius
Project Gutenberg
Sunbooks
The James Allen Free Library (my favorite )
The James Allen Library
Who was James Allen?
Wikipedia

The Coloured Picture Bible for Children – Part 4 of 4

2011-12-11T00:57:00.001-07:00

The “Coloured Picture Bible for Children” is divided into into 4 sections (I. “Creation of the World to the Death of Moses”, II. “Judges, Ruth & Kings”, III. “Hezekiah to the end of the Old Testament”, and IV. “The Holy Gospels”). The table below contains artwork from Section IV The Holy Gospels.

At the end of the post I’ve included links to download all pictures and a scanned version of the children's Bible.

Section IV
The Holy Gospels

Half Title The Gospel	The Annunciation	Title Page Emblems of the Evangelists	List of Pictures

St. John the Baptist	The Angel’s Message	The Star in the East	The Temptation In the Wilderness

Christ Preaching from the Boat	The Parable of the Sower	Christ Walking on the Sea	The Parable of the good Samaritan

The Parable of the lost Sheep	The Parable of the Prodigal Son	The Parable of Lazarus	The Parable of the Pharisee and Publican

The Parable of the Buried Talent	The Parable of the Widow’s Mite	The Parable of the Ten Virgins	The Garden of Gethsemane

St. Peter’s Denial of Christ	The Angels at the Sepulchre	Christ appearing to Mary	“Abide with us”

Each JPEG image’s properties contain the name of the picture, associated scripture reference, text of the scripture and the name of the illustrator. The filenames match the title of the picture as found in the book. Note, while the illustrations are great the text could be better.

Downloads:

All Section I pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 11.5 MB)
All Section II pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 12.5 MB)
All Section III pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 10.5 MB)
All Section IV pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 10.5 MB)
Scanned copy of the entire children's Bible (pdf 14 MB)

“The Coloured Picture Bible for Children” Part 3 of 4

2011-12-09T00:23:00.001-07:00

At the end of the post I’ve included links to download all pictures and a scanned version of the children's Bible.

Section III
Hezekiah to the end of the Old Testament

Half Title Hezekiah to Malachi	Jeremiah in the Dungeon	Title Page Hezekiah to Malachi	The Ark of the Lord List of Pictures

Hezekiah in the Temple	The Angel of the Lord in the Camp of the Assyrians	Zedekiah taken Captive	By the Waters of Babylon

The flight of Jonah to Joppa	Jonah cast in the Sea	Jonah saved from the Fish	Esther and Ahasuerus

Mordecai honored	The Golden Image	The fiery Furnace	The Handwriting on the wall

The Den of Lions	Ezekiel’s Vision	Ezekiel’s Vision of the Angel about to measure the Temple	Nehemiah before King Artaxerxes

The ruined Walls of Jerusalem	Rebuilding the Walls of Jerusalem	The Scape-goat	The Angel of Prophecy

Downloads:

All Section I pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 11.5 MB)
All Section II pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 12.5 MB)
All Section III pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 10.5 MB)
All Section IV pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 10.5 MB)
Scanned copy of the entire children's Bible (pdf 14 MB)

“The Coloured Picture Bible for Children” Part 2 of 4

2011-12-05T21:36:00.001-07:00

At the end of the post I’ve included links to download all the pictures and a a scanned version of the children's Bible.

Section II
Judges, Ruth & Kings

Half Title Judges, Ruth & Kings	The Return of the Spies	Title Page The High Priest	The 12 Stones in Gilgal – Index

Balaams Ass	Joshua in Ajalon	Gideons Fleece	Samson Carrying off the Gates of Gaza

Samson in the Prison House	Ruth in the Cornfield	Naomi and Obed	The Image of Dagon Shattered

The Return of the Ark	The Call of Samuel	The Anointing of Saul	David the Psalmist

The Watchman on the Gate	The Glory of King Solomon	The Prophet Ahija	Elijah Fed by Ravens

Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath	The Chariot of Fire	The Little Maid and the Wife of Naaman	Finis

Downloads:

All Section I pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 11.5 MB)
All Section II pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 12.5 MB)

All Section III pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 10.5 MB)
All Section IV pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 10.5 MB)

Scanned copy of the entire children's Bible (pdf 14 MB)

“The Road to Emmaus”

2011-12-04T20:37:00.001-07:00

In Luke 24:13-32 we read of two of Christ’s disciples who journeyed from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus on the third day following the crucifixion of Christ. As they walked and talked of all that had recently transpired a fellow traveler joined in their conversation. He asked what they were talking about and if they were sad.

They recounted to him all that had occurred. When they related that had expected Christ to redeem Israel and that although it was the third day they had not seen him, the stranger chastened them a bit for their unbelief and then clarified the scriptures for them.

As the disciples approached their destination the stranger “made as though he would have gone further.” However, they insisted that since it was late in the day that he stay with them. Later as “he took bread, and blessed it” they realized that it was Christ whom they had journeyed with.

It is interesting that although Christ joined his disciples on the road He would not have stayed with them without their invitation. This is an analogy for how He operates today. So the question for the day is what have we done to invite Him to be with us. Have we sought after His views, have we followed His advice? Have we visited the sick or fed the hungry (Matthew 25:34-40). If we’ve lost sight of Him, this is the season for renewing our commitment to follow the two great commandments “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and “love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 25:34-40). In these difficult times there are many opportunities to serve others and bring the spirit of Christmas into our lives.

"The Coloured Picture Bible for Children" Part 1 of 4

2011-11-30T07:33:00.001-07:00

My Christmas gift this year to you, dear readers, are scanned copies of pictures from The Coloured Picture Bible for Children [1] which was published in London in 1884. These can be used for family home evening lessons or other teaching opportunities.

I first found these online when I was looking for images to use in earlier blog posts that covered biblical topics [2]. I recently purchased my own copy of the children’s Bible. It’s a small book (6”x7”x1”) and while the illustrations are great the writing could be better.

The picture bible is divided into into 4 sections. I’ve create a blog entry for each one (“I. Creation of the World to the Death of Moses”, II. “Judges, Ruth & Kings”, III. “Hezekiah to the end of the Old Testament”, and IV. “The Holy Gospels”) where the illustrations are shown in the order they appear.

Note, At the end of the post I’ve included links to download all pictures for each section and a scanned version of the entire children's Bible.

Section I
From the Creation of the World to the Death of Moses

Section Title	Let there be Light	Expulsion from Eden	The Garden of Eden

The Death of Abel	Building of the Ark	The Bow in the Cloud	The Sacrifice of Isaac

Rebekah at the Well	Esau’s Birthright	Jacob’s Servitude	Joseph’s Dream

Joseph sold into Egypt	Joseph makes himself Known	Israel in Bondage	Moses in the Bulrushes

The Burning Bush	The Passover	Moses Striking the Rock	The Brazen Serpent

Miriam the Prophetess	The Golden Calf	The Death of Moses

Each JPEG image’s properties contain the name of the picture, associated scripture reference, text of the scripture and the name of the illustrator. The file names match the title of the picture as found in the book.

Downloads:

All Section I pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 11.5 MB)
All Section II pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 12.5 MB)
All Section III pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 10.5 MB)
All Section IV pictures plus a single pdf file containing 5x7 versions of all pictures (zipfile 10.5 MB)
Scanned copy of the entire children's Bible (pdf 14 MB)

Footnotes:

The Coloured Children’s Bible (illustrated by Richard Andre), London: The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884.
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00053437/00001?search=coloured+=picture+=bible
http://associate.com/photos/The-Coloured-Picture-Bible-for-Children/

Ron Mann's "Freedom" Reading List

2011-11-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

Below are a list of great books, recommended by my father (Ron Mann), and me that will help you discover your American heritage and how to protect it. They are organized by category.

Some of these books can be downloaded or viewed online. I've added links to connect you to the appropriate sites. For most books I've linked the title to its entry in books.google.com which has links to where the book can be purchased and often has a description and reviews. Should you be looking for additional information on American History, The Constitution, or current events contact Ron at sweetshellygrapes@gmail.com. He has one of the most extensive libraries on George Washington around and loves to share his thoughts about the Constitution and our Founding Fathers. While working for President Reagan he helped formulate the legislation to create a The Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution and was later named Deputy Director of the Commission. In his Challenge to the readers of The 5,000 Year Leap he says:

“It was Patrick Henry that said: ‘I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.’ Recent experience should be a serious warning that we have lost our way and need to drink from the well of knowledge provided by our Founders. Unless the people of this nation take seriously the storm flags waving, we are doomed to repeat the past mistakes of those who refused to pay attention to history and end up in the graveyard of fallen nations. We have the knowledge and time to make a course correction if we will.”

We need to start by becoming familiar with the Constitution and the principles contained therein. We need to understand its words as the founders intended them to be understood. The list of books below can point you in the right direction. Those with bold titles are highly recommended and easy to read and understand..

Foundations for Liberty

Admiral Of The Ocean Sea – A Life of Christopher Columbus, Samuel Eliot Morison, 1942.
Christopher Columbus, His Life and Discovery in the Light of his Prophecies, Kay Brigham, 1990.
Christopher Columbus, The Voyage of Discovery 1492", Samuel Eliot Morison, 1991.
Saints and Strangers, George F. Wilson, Kingsport Press, 1945
The Bradford History of Plimoth Plantation, 1899, original history of Plymouth Colony, written by Governor Bradford. More recent copies are available.
Timothy Hatherly and the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims, Stephen R. Valdespino, Scituate Historical Society, 1987
The Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in New England, in 1620., William Bradford and Edward Winslow, various copies available.

The French & Indian Wars

The French and Indian War 1754-1763, Seymour I. Schwartz, Simon & Schuster, 1994.
The Winning of American Series by Allan W. Eckert, The Frontiersmen, Wilderness Empire, The Conquerors, The Wilderness War, Gateway to Empire, Twilight of Empire, Little Brown & Co. This is a must set for anyone interested in American history – One of my personal favorites.

The Revolutionary War

1776, David McCullough, Simon Schuster, 2006
Saratoga, Richard M. Ketchum, Henry Holt & Company, LLC, 1997
The Day is Ours, William M. Dwyer, The Viking Press, 1983.
The Winter Soldiers, Richard M. Ketchum, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1973.

The Constitution & Declaration of Independence

Four Days in July, Cornel Lengyel, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1958 - A must!
Journal of Constitutional Convention, James Madison, any unabridged version.
Miracle at Philadelphia, Catherine Drinker Bowen, Atlantic Monthly Press Book, 1966.
The 5,000 Year Leap, Cleon Skousen – A must read for anyone who wants to understand the principles behind the Constitution.
The American Ideal of 1776, Hamilton Abert Long, 1976 – online version
The Anti-Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers, any unabridged copy
The Founders’ Constitution, Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, University of Chicago Press, 1987 – online version
The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution, Brion McClanahan, 2012 – A very well written book with excellent sources that provides insight into the perspective of the founders on the Constitution. Another must read.
The Making of America, W. Cleon Skousen, 1985
The Proper Role of Government, Ezra Taft Benson, 1968 – online version
We Hold These Truths: A Reverent Review of the U.S. Constitution, Lawrence Patton McDonald, ‘76 Press., 1979. Larry McDonald, a member of the US Congress, was killed in 1983 when Soviet Interceptors shot down KAL 007.

The Founding Fathers

Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow
Greatness To Spare, T. R. Fehrenbacb, D. Van Nostrand Co., 1968.
John Adams, David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, 2005
The Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, G P Putnam (Either the 3 or 5 volume sets)
The Real George Washington, Jay A. Perry and Andrew M. Allison, NCCS, 1991.
The Bulletproof George Washington, David Barton, 1990.
They Signed For Us, Merle Sinclair and Annabel D. McArthur, Duel, Sloan & Pearce, 1957. PDF
Real Benjamin Franklin: The True Story of America's Greatest Diplomat Andrew M. Allison, Willard Cleon Skousen, M. Richard Maxfield, Benjamin Franklin, 1982
The Real Thomas Jefferson, Andrew M Allison, 1983

Other Great Books

History

Mao: The Unknown Story, Jung Chang & Jon Halliday, 2007 – This is the story of an individual with unbridled self-interest and will show the absolute horror that such an individual can wreak on a society and the world. Makes you wonder about anyone who looks up to Mao in any way. Perhaps Hilter had he lived would have ruined or destroyed more lives. However, Mao is in my view the reigning poster boy of evil. No sacrifice was too great for anyone to make for Mao’s sake.
The Candy Bombers, Andrei Cherny, G.P. Putnam’s Son, 2008 – This is an interesting read in general but pay special attention to the sacrifices the Berliners were willing to make to keep their freedom as the cold war began. Would we be willing to do the same today? I wonder.
When Nations Die, Jim Nelson Black, Tyndale House Publishers, 1995

Understanding Liberty

Christianity and the State, Rousas John Rushdoony, 1986
Slouching Towards Gomorrah, Robert H. Bork, Harper Collins, 1996
The Nature of the American System, Rousas John Rushdoony, 2002
The Law, Frederick Bastiat, 1850 – PDF This is an absolute must read for everyone.

Morality

George Washington said the following:

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion, and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens.

Daniel Webster made this remark in a speech at an event celebrating the life of Washington:

But, gentlemen, let us hope for better things. Let us trust in that gracious Being who has hitherto held our country as in the hollow of his hand. Let us trust to the virtue and the intelligence of the people, and to the efficacy of religious obligation. Let us trust to the influence of Washington's example. Let us hope that that fear of Heaven which expels all other fear, and that regard to duty which transcends all other regard, may influence public men and private citizens, and lead our country still onward in her happy career.

Dr. Benjamin Rush made the following statement:

Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families. The Amor Patriae [love of one's country] is both a moral and a religious duty. It comprehends not only the love of our neighbors but of millions of our fellow creatures, not only of the present but of future generations. This virtue we find constitutes a part of the first characters of history.

Many of the founders expressed similar sentiments regarding morality and religion and their indispensible role in maintaining a free society. As William George Jordan said in 1907,

We need in our country today less politics and more statesmanship, less party and more patriotism. We need an awakening to higher ideals. We need a higher conception of America's place and destiny in the evolution of the world. We need something nobler as a purpose than our self-satisfied complacency at the material prosperity of the nation, for there is a moral and ethical success that is never rung up on a cash-register. We need the scourging of the money changers out of the temple of legislation ― State and national. We need purifying and ennobling of the body politic. We need the clear clarion voice of a great inspiration to rouse the States to their duty ― not the gilded phrases of mere rhetoric, but the honest eloquence of a high and exalted purpose

With this in mind below are several of what I think are the best books on morality, human nature and overcoming the “natural man”. Coupling a strong moral base with an understanding of the principles of liberty we may become a people who can re-establish and maintain the freedom our Constitution intended to provide.

As a Man Thinketh, James Allen, 1902. (HTML, PDF)
“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.”
Burgess books for children. Refer to my post on Thornton W. Burgess.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach, 1970
The Kingship of Self-Control, The Majesty of Calmness, The Power of Truth, The Crownship of Individuality, The Trusteeship of Life, William George Jordan, 1898 to 1921 – Please refer to my post entitled Books by William George Jordan for links to HTML and PDF versions of each of these.
The Greatest Thing in the World, Roger J. Williams, 1890
The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery, 1942
The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale, 1952
The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis, 1942
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven R. Covey, Simon & Schuster, 1992

LDS Specific

Prophets, Principles, and National Survival, Jerry Newquist, 1964
Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen, H. Verlan Andersen, 1967

Organizations Dedicated to Promoting Liberty

Please let me know if you have additional suggestions.

The First “Thanksgiving Day Proclamation”

2011-11-24T16:03:00.001-07:00

Below is the first national Thanksgiving Day proclamation written by President George Washington. It affirms that those who participated in the founding of America acknowledged the hand of Providence, both in winning the Revolutionary War and establishing the Constitution. You’ll find humility grace and a recognition of the hand of God along with a sense of our obligation to serve others and promote “the knowledge and practice of true religion”. Contrast these words with those emanating from Washington today and you’ll see why a change is needed. Unfortunately, the words from our political leaders usually reflect what we want to hear. The change we need to make starts with ourselves and for that I’m grateful. Grateful that we live in a country where that is still possible.

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor — and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be — That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks — for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation — for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war — for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed — for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted — for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions — to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually — to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed — to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord — To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us — and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

GO. WASHINGTON.

Reform Utah Politics?

2011-11-20T19:56:00.001-07:00

Over the last 18 months I’ve seen a growing number of articles in newspapers promoting the idea that Utah’s caucus system is flawed and must be revised to prevent a variety of ills. I read another such article Saturday morning in editorial section of the Deseret News.

Before I go over the assertions made in this article let’s quickly review how the caucus system functions in Utah. The state is divided into ~2,200 precincts. In March of each election year precinct meetings are held throughout the state for each political party in which precinct officers (chair, vice-chair, secretary and treasurer) and delegates (county and state) are elected for 2 year terms.

County and state delegates attend party nominating conventions where they have the opportunity to elect candidates to represent them in a general election. For any office if no candidate receives 60% or more of the vote then then the top 2 candidates compete in a primary election to be the party’s nominee.

Between the time delegates are elected and the nominating convention (about 2 months) they are wooed by those seeking nomination for office. They receive phone calls, are invited to small meetings and get lots of mail (electronic and physical). In short they are given many opportunities to interact with candidates, often in small groups or even one on one. Delegates end up spending hours of their own time to become informed about candidates.

Because of the limited number of voters (even for state office there are only about 3,500 delegates) the amount of money a candidate needs to spend to reach them is nominal compared to the costs involved in a primary election. Thus the pool of candidates with a legitimate chance of winning is broadened.

With that “brief” introduction let’s review the assertions made in Saturdays editorial (Deseret News, Nov 20, pg. A13) regarding the current system.

it discourages people from participating in the political process
it “may” contribute to a disturbingly low vote turnout
it make is hard for candidates to qualify for a primary election.
caucus (precinct) meetings are vulnerable to manipulation
caucus meetings are loosely controlled
it empowers extremists
it is too easily manipulated to exclude people

Quite frankly this piece like others I have read are heavy on innuendo but light on facts to back them up. Weasel words like “may” are used to provide cover for unsubstantiated claims but the the assertions are nonetheless expressed. Let’s talk about each in turn.

Discourages people from participating

Voters have a chance to meet in small neighborhood groups to elect people they trust to do a thorough evaluation of the candidates for county and state offices. We live in a representative democracy. Caucus meetings seem to me to be epitomize this.

Candidates for office don’t have do spend and arm and a leg and in most cases their biggest investment is time. I can’t for the life of me understand the assertion that people are discouraged from participating.

May contribute to a lower voter turnout

Utah participation in presidential elections has declined 8 out of the last 11 times, starting in 1964. It has gone from 78.5% of voting age population to 50.5%. Nationally the decline over the same period of time was from 61.9% to 56.8%. So why attribute the decline to a system that generated 78% turnout in 1964? Good question. I don’t have an answer for that.

A better guess would be to look at other activities reflective of public morals that declined or increased over the same period of time and try to draw a correlation. This could include church attendance, charitable contributions … .

Hard to qualify for primary

Is the goal to have a primary? Is it bad if we don’t have one? The caucus/convention system makes it easier for candidates to enter a race. It is less costly than a primary system and they have a chance to tell their full story to delegates. Thus the people casting votes are generally better informed about the candidates. If the delegates select a party’s candidate for any office during the convention by a super-majority (60%) then in my mind this is a better informed selection than a primary election where candidates are forced to spend money to get attention from an electorate that is largely disinterested in the first place (e.g. the highest percentage turnout in terms of registered voters in a primary election in Utah county since 1998 is 18%).

Caucuses are vulnerable to manipulation

So let’s see someone thinks that it is easy to manipulate the outcome of ~2,200 meetings all held the same night and run by individuals selected by their friends and neighbors? If it was so easy then how did Senator Bennett lose his party’s nomination. He spent a lot of money (~$2M), more money than any candidate in the nomination process and still lost. Enough said!

Caucus meetings are loosely controlled

Caucus meetings are subject to party rules and are managed well as far as I can tell. There are likely exceptions to this, after all everyone is a volunteer. However, what is the alternative? Have the meetings run by paid professionals? Now there is an opportunity for mass manipulation. We could eliminate the system entirely? I wonder if that is the objective?

The system empowers extremists

To back up this claim the paper cites that fact the although women represent 55% of Republican voters they only represent 25% of the delegates elected. Additionally they noted that 81% of the delegates had lived in Utah for 20 years. I’m at a loss to explain how these two statistics demonstrate that caucus meetings are overly influenced by extremists. Could it be that fewer women attend caucus meetings for a variety of factors? Could it be that those elected are those deemed to be more informed about local issues and therefore tend to be longer term residents.? Don’t know. Just asking.

The numbers came from a Dan Jones/Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll. Dan Jones conducted an Oct 18, 2010 election poll that showed Matheson leading Philpot 57% to 31%. The actual results were 51% to 46%. Dan Jones also had Tim Bridgewater leading Mike Lee in the primary elections 42% to 33%. Results? Mike Lee 51% Tim Bridgewater 49%. Hmmm … not that it matters but given the source do I really trust the numbers.

Bottom line on this issue is that the system favors those who are interested and want to participate. The meetings are open to all and anyone can attend. I was elected precinct chair the first time I ran and I had only lived here 7 years.

It is too easily manipulated to exclude people

I don’t understand how a system that invites people to be involved and allows them to select representatives at a neighborhood level is exclusionary. Nor do I understand how a system that reduces the cost of running for office narrows the field of candidates. Yes, the ability for the media to influence results are diminished and the advantage a rich candidate has over one with less money is reduced. Perhaps it is exclusionary in that the number of voices outside of the candidate that can influence the election is reduced. Is that bad?

Utah has been lauded as being the best managed state by Pew Center and yet Deseret News makes the claim that our current system is flawed and they have “deep concerns” about it. Why change something that is working for us today. Do we want to be more like California?

Changing the current system benefits incumbents, candidates with money and those who wish to be able to influence voters en masse through media sound-bites rather than substance. I cherish the current system and see it as one of the few tools that enables citizens to fight entrenched power and big money (whatever the source). I hope we have the courage to maintain it.

Answers from Candidates – Dan Liljenquist

2011-11-12T02:40:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted a set of questions I would seek to answer for candidates looking for my vote. Thursday evening I attended an event where state Senator Dan Liljenquist spoke about fiscal responsibility. From what I understand there is a good chance that Dan will run against Hatch to be the Republican nominee for the US Senate. I’d like to share with you what I was able to glean from this event and some time spent afterwards relative to my list of questions.

Now, I actually didn’t ask a single question of Dan during the meeting but I spoke with him briefly afterwards and spent a lot of time talking with people I know and trust, who know Dan well.

Character Questions:

Tell me about circumstances where you chose to do what you thought was right but which had the possibility of negative personal consequences.

Dan worked to reform Utah’s pension system which was very, very unpopular. 4,500 people demonstrated at the capital after the proposal was unveiled. Reform was needed and it passed – barely. He then worked to reform Utah’s Medicaid program, another socially unpopular activity.
Can you site examples where you have quietly served others without regard to recognition?

Dan didn’t talk about this directly but I did some research and learned that a company he started worked with CHOICE-Humanitarian to build a school in Guatemala. Note, in 2008 Dan was one of 3 survivors of a plane crash on a CHOICE-Humanitarian trip to a village in Guatemala.
Tell me about a mistake you made and how you went about rectifying it.

Don’t have anything on this.
What do you do to keep yourself morally grounded?

Focuses on his family. While I spoke with him afterwards regarding the difficulty of maintaining your principles in politics he mentioned that this is something he worries about and scares him. He said something like what a shame it would be if his life was spared (see reference to plane crash in #2) only to lose his way in politics.
What is the source of your values?

God … from what I learned he is a grounded individual who quietly practices his faith.

Role of Government:

Where do our basic rights come from (and what are they)?

Dan mentioned more the once that our rights come from God but I need to know more specifics about what he believes those basic rights are.
What is the role of government relative to those rights?

Need more info … but in discussion pension reform he did say that we need to live up to commitments that we’ve made but we also need to understand that reality is non-negotiable.
Is the Constitution a “living document”?

Didn’t hear anything to inform me of his view point on that.
Is it relevant today?

Didn’t hear anything to inform me of his view point on that.
How do we best interpret its meaning?

Didn’t hear anything to inform me of his view point on that.

Experience and Leadership

What positions of leadership have you held (government, industry or charitable organizations).

Founder and CEO of successful startup, Utah State Senator
Tell me about the people you picked to help support you in that role?

I know some of the people that are helping him now who will be part of his campaign staff and I respect them. However, I don’t know anything else the people he surrounds himself with.
What criteria did you use in selecting them?

I don’t have an answer except those that I know have integrity.
What challenges was your group able to overcome and how did you make them successful?

Did not hear anything that would allow me to form an opinion on this.
Tell me what you think the job description is of the position for which you are running and prioritize the associated responsibilities.

I liked how he handled his state Senate role. He asked to be involved in how money is spent (given his training and background this is something he was qualified to participate in). I don’t know but would suspect he would look for similar opportunities to contribute as a US Senator. Need more info however.

Summary

My initial thoughts on Dan are very positive although there is more I need to learn. He seems to me to be someone who is serving for the right reasons – he is doing things to benefit Utah for the long term without regardless of personal impact.

He’s demonstrated that he can effectively work in a legislative body to make positive changes on significant issues. Of added import is that he has succeeded where others have tried and failed or not even really tried at all.

Dan looks to be a well grounded individual – I don’t get the “all-about-me” vibe that I get from other politicians. His fear of being corrupted gives me some hope that he could weather a term or two (perhaps longer) in Washington as a Senator.

He’s bright, energetic, has real business experience and was able to leverage this in crafting and passing needed but unpopular financial reform legislation. Given the current ills our nation is facing Dan looks like the kind medicine we need to send to DC.

Note, my father was involved in over 1,200 appointments to senior level positions in the state, defense, and justice departments during the Reagan years. He told me that he tracked the appointees and that within 18 to 24 months all but around 200 lost their compass in that they cared more about what the elite in DC thought than the objectives they had when they took their positions.

Everyday Miracles

2011-11-06T21:31:00.001-07:00

Of late my life seems full of happy coincidences (miracles as I choose to view them). For example, today at church as we began to sing one of the hymns I wished that we would sing more than the first four verses of this particular hymn (99.9% of the time we only sing those verses that are written between the lines of music – typically 4 verses – and not the additional verses written out at the end of the music).

Well guess what? The chorister had us sing one of the two extra verses. Not a big deal. Well maybe but for me it was important as the additional verse carried for me extra import and I really thought about the words we sang. Then I took the time to read and ponder the last verse which I would normally not do. This last verse stayed with me throughout the day.

How great, how glorious, how complete
Redemption’ grand design,
where justice love and mercy meet
In harmony divine!

How Great the Wisdom and the Love, Eliza R. Snow, verse 6.

You can listen to this hymn by playing the following YouTube video. Probably sounds better than we did at church :).

Happy coincidence or miracle. Here’s the definition of miracle:

an event that is contrary to the established laws of nature and attributed to a supernatural cause
any amazing or wonderful event
a person or thing that is a marvellous example of something: the bridge was a miracle of engineering

For me #2 fits the bill. Let me list a few of the other minor miracles I’ve seen lately.

My wife had a great product idea this summer and has been working to turn the idea into a reality. In September she had reached the point where she needed to file a patent. At that exact point in time I had someone comment on a blog post. For some reason I chose to try and find out more about this person. His Facebook page mentioned that he was a patent attorney and that he lived in my town. After I reached out to him it turned out he lived about 200 yards from our home. Definitely an “amazing or wonderful event”. More amazing still was that he had done work recently in the specific area that my wife’s patent application would require.
My wife and I volunteer on Saturday mornings at a nearby temple. Not long ago I was walking down a hall and literally bumped into a friend who was on his way to the room in which he was to be married. I had been invited to the wedding but had forgotten. As it happened, I had a break between assignments (which rarely happens) and was able to attend the ceremony.
My mom is from Germany and she, along with my wife, recently there for 3 weeks to try and get some estate issues settled. My mom’s only sister passed away last year and among other things the house my mom was born and raised in was left to her. It is too expensive to keep and so it really needed to be sold. Well within a week a buyer was found (without a real estate agent) and two days before the flight home my mom was in a notary’s office signing the paperwork to close the deal (at the price my mother wanted). Lest you think the real-estate market in Germany is hot, it is not! Pretty much the same as here … in other words very much a buyers market.

For me life is not always the way I want it to be but I’m sure it is the way it should be. These happy coincidences let me know that there is a God and He is aware. The more minor the miracle the more I realize that He cares, even about something a trivial as singing an extra verse.

Hope you had a great Sabbath.

Family Faith - A Road Trip to Louisville

2011-10-15T23:21:00.001-06:00

The following story is illustrative of stories that get lost over time unless they become part of a family’s history by recording it in family journal and it is shared from time to time. I was recently asked to share a story about our family that no one would know. Sadly I don’t think our most of our children would remember hearing it and they certainly couldn’t have read about it (as it hadn’t been written down).

We had been married about a year when we left Provo for Louisville, KY in August of 1981. I had gotten an 8 month internship with GE at their Appliance Park facility. Our car was a 1973 Toyota Corolla hatchback (similar to the one on the right) that I was somehow able to keep running in spite of my mechanical ineptitude. When it comes to trying to fix mechanical items I instinctively do the wrong thing . I finally gave up trying to work on cars around 1988 after I figured out that it was costing me more money to fix it myself than to take it to a shop. Now, refilling the washer fluid, checking the oil and changing wiper blades is the extent of my repertoire. But I digress so let’s get back to the story.

Earlier that summer I was selected to participate in GE’s internship program. Actually, to be honest, my wife actually gets most of the credit for my being picked. Jim Trafton, the engineering manager who visited BYU to interview candidates held a meeting the night before the interviews to do a presentation on what GE was doing with computer-aided design systems at the Appliance Park facility and what someone could expect to be doing as an intern. Unfortunately, I had to work that evening (I was the night janitor at the admin building) and so Suzanne attended the it for me. On her way to the meeting she was stopped by a man who asked how to get to a classroom in the engineering building. As it turned out the gentleman was Jim Trafton and so she became his escort. For those of you who know Suzanne you can pretty much guess what happened. They had a great conversation and I think he decided that he wanted to have her come to Kentucky. When I had my interview the next day we spent several minutes talking about Suzanne and a lot shorter time on me after which he told me that he wanted me to come to GE.

Now it was late August, the car was packed and we were ready to go. We weren’t sure the car could make the 1,600 mile journey and so when we said a prayer to start our journey we asked the Lord to bless the car so that it would get us safely to our final destination. After two long days we arrived in Louisville. We spent the night in a motel and in the morning went to where I would be working. Human resources gave me a list of local apartments and after calling around we found one. It was a one bedroom apartment and was located about 3 miles from my office. We drove to apartment, went to the managers office, signed the papers and then got in the car to drive to our new apartment (a big step up from our tiny Provo, residence). As we turned the corner and headed slightly downhill towards our new apartment the engine stopped. We had enough momentum to coast into a parking stall in front of the apartment building and so our prayer was answered but we had a problem.

As we got out of the car another young couple (Lisa & Gary) who had watched us coast in came over and introduced themselves. As it turned out they were also from BYU and were in Louisville on an internship with GE. They had seen our license plate and assumed we might be the same in the same situation. Wow, instant new friends! They helped us unpack and drove us to an auto parts store so that I could buy the right parts to fix the car. All was well. The Lord gave us exactly what we asked for then sent angels, in the form of our new friends, to immediately help us out of a jam.

The blessings continued to come when we found out the next day that GE’s insurance would cover the costs related to our upcoming baby (due in February). We had been saving up money to pay for the delivery and had a low cost catastrophic insurance plan to deal with problems should there be any. Now, could take those savings and use them to build up our tuition fund.

We’ve all had experiences where difficult circumstances “magically” resolved themselves but if you’re like me they are easy to forgot as time moves on and newer more challenging circumstances arise that try our faith. In this case the car breaking down was both a direct answer to a prayer (we got exactly what we asked for) and a blessing in that enabled us to immediately interact with new acquaintances and thus begin a friendship that would last for years. What are the odds that we picked the same apartment complex as Gary and Lisa and what are the odds that they would walking by us at the exact moment our car broke?

Keeping stories like this alive by retelling them and making them part of our family culture is one way to reinforce our personal faith as well as our family’s and friend’s.

Questions for Candidates

2011-10-12T00:00:00.001-06:00

Election season is fast approaching and as we begin to decide who to support for various offices I’d like to share some of my thoughts on that topic.

When we elect someone to public office we are entrusting them to make decisions on our behalf using information to which we often don’t have access. That being the case I’m more interested in the quality of their character than a specific policy position that may change as an office holder gets access to additional information.

Here are 5 questions that will not be asked of candidates in public debate, but which I seek answers to when evaluating candidates. Some of these are best answered (e.g. #2) by people who know the candidate rather than the candidate:

Tell me about circumstances where you chose to do what you thought was right but which had the possibility of negative personal consequences.
Can you site examples where you have quietly served others without regard to recognition?
Tell me about a mistake you made and how you went about rectifying it.
What do you do to keep yourself morally grounded?
What is the source of your values?

If a candidate is not a person of character then I’m reluctant to trust him (or her) with the power that comes with any political office regardless of party or positions of the moment on the issues of the day.

The next set of questions I seek answers to are related to a candidates view on the role of government. They include the following:

Where do our basic rights come from (and what are they)?
What is the role of government relative to those rights?
Is the Constitution a “living document”?
Is it relevant today?
How do we best interpret its meaning?

Although individuals may be of strong moral character if their view of the role of government tends towards socialism vs. individual responsibility that creates a bridge I cannot cross. If they consider the Constitution to be a living document subject to loose interpretation depending on the whims of society rather than a standard that should be protected and only adjusted after careful consideration I would not be able to support them.

Lastly, I look for answers to questions that cover their qualifications for the particular office. For example, for an executive position such as mayor, governor or president, questions I would seek answers to include:

What positions of leadership have you held (government, industry or charitable organizations).
Tell me about the people you picked to help support you in that role?
What criteria did you use in selecting them?
What challenges was your group able to overcome and how did you make them successful?
Tell me what you think the job description is of the position for which you are running and prioritize the associated responsibilities.

While these three areas are all important I value the answer to the first (moral character) over a candidate’s view on the role of government or qualifications for office. I also could not support a highly qualified individual whose view on the role of government did not align with mine. Why would I want a person to win who would be very effective at implementing policies and programs that run counter to my views?

Three-Fifths Clause–Did it institutionalize the notion that slaves were less than fully human?

2011-09-11T18:22:00.001-06:00

Last week I had a spirited discussion with friends at work regarding the three-fifths clause and whether or not it was written to devalue the humanity of slaves (thanks D.S. for providing a great topic for my blog).

Here’s the text from Article I section 2 paragraph 3 of the Constitution.

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within the Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”

Notice that the formula was applied to representation and taxes. This context (representation and taxation) from my perspective sets up an interesting debate. Do you diminish the power of slave holding states by not counting slaves when apportioning congressional representation while at the same time reducing their burden with respect to direct taxes or do you maximize their representation and increase their tax burden (thus imposing a financial penalty on them). The three-fifths compromise was just that a compromise that diminished the potential representation of slave holding states and yet did not eliminate the direct tax burden associated with slaves. The clause was not about the humanity of slaves nor in any way intended as an affront to them.

This clause has been used to support the notion that the Constitution promoted slavery. Frederic Douglass, who was born a slave, escaped and became a leading abolitionist, initially subscribed to the view that the Constitution was pro-slavery. However, after much study he later changed his view as he describes in the following quote from a lecture entitled “Unconstitutionality of Slavery” given in Glasgow, Scotland on March 26, 1860.

“Although I cannot accuse myself of being remarkably unstable, I cannot pretend that I have never altered my opinion both in respect to men and things.

“Indeed I have been very much modified both in feeling and opinion within the last fourteen years, and he would be a queer man who could have lived fourteen years without having his opinions and feelings considerably modified by experience in that length of time.

“When I escaped from slavery, twenty-two years ago [1838], the world was all new to me, and if I had been in a hogshead with the bung in, I could not have been much more ignorant of many things then I was then. I came out running. All I knew was that I had two elbows and a good appetite, and that I was a human being—a sort of nondescript creature, but still struggling for life.

The first I met were the Garrisonian abolitionists of Massachusetts. They had their views, opinions, platform, and eloquence, and were earnestly labouring for the abolition of slavery: They were my friends, the friends of my people, and nothing was more natural than that I should receive as gospel all they told me [including 'slavery is constitutional', so the Union that is perpetuated by enslaving people is a ‘covenant with death and an agreement with hell’].
‘When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man’ [I Cor. 13:11]. —that is, after I went over to Great Britain and came back again—-I undertook the herculean task, without a day's schooling, to edit and publish a paper—to unite myself to the literary profession.

I could hardly spell two words correctly; still I thought I could ‘join’ as we say, and when I had to write three or four columns a week, it became necessary to re-examine some of the opinions I had formed in my baby days; and when I came to examine for myself [the previously unknown-to-him 'slavery is unconstitutional' position] my opinions were greatly modified, and I had the temerity to state to the parties [Garrisonians] from whom I received them my change of opinions; and from that day to this—whether in the east or the west, in or out of America, in Ireland, Scotland, or England—I have been pursued and persecuted by that class of persons on account of my change of opinions.

But I am quite well satisfied, very well satisfied with my [new 'slavery is unconstitutional'] position.”

By educating himself Frederic Douglass came to the conclusion that the Constitution not only did not support slavery but it inherently prohibited it (Read his full speech to understand why he switched his opinion) .

Attempts have also been made to use the three-fifths clause to support the viewpoint that the Founders supported slavery or viewed slaves as less than human. That a large number of the Founders were strong opponents of slavery cannot be denied in the light of their own words and actions (not the revisionist history taught in most public schools and universities today). David Barton’s note on the Founding Father’s and Slavery provides a good sampling of the Founders views in their own words.

As a side note I find it interesting that many “enlightened” academicians spend so much time trying to undermine the Constitution by denigrating the Founders. Often they are lauded by fellow elites for these efforts. However, let me flip the circumstances (taking something bad and trying to make it look good) and see what happens. Suppose someone tried to show that there was some good in Nazism by promoting the positive aspects of Adolf Hitler’s personality and life. Would that effort be lauded or condemned? I wonder. Or would most feel the same revulsion to that idea as I do.

See also:

The Founders’ Constitution, Volume 2, Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, p 86-145. Note, the Founders’ Constitution is an excellent reference that should be a part of every Constitutional library. It is a 5 volume set that provides for every clause of the Constitution extracts from contemporary discussions (journals, autobiographies, letters, minutes …) and later commentaries. It can be purchased at the website of the National Center for Constitutional Studies as well as Amazon and other bookstores.

Jonah – A Positive Example?

2011-09-02T21:57:00.001-06:00

A while back I was asked to substitute for a Sunday school teacher at church. The lesson was on Jonah. While I try to look for the positive in most situations and look for hidden lessons I wasn’t sure that I would be able to find much in the way of either. Jonah’s story provided me with more than I would have originally thought. The more reading I did the more questions I had about what I thought was a pretty simple subject. It started with, where in the heck is Nineveh anyways. The answer: Across the river from Mosul, Iraq and about 560 miles as the crow flies from the port of Joppa (now surrounded by Tel Aviv), which is where he departed from. Then other questions followed:

Why would a prophet defy a request from the Lord?

After Jonah successfully converted the entire city of Nineveh he complained to the Lord that he knew they would not be destroyed if he came (Jonah 3:10, 4:1). He must have harbored a strong resentment against the Assyrians (Nineveh at the time was their capital city). The following quote comes from, Jerusalem, The Eternal City (Galbraith, Ogden, and Skinner, 1996, p 83). By the way this is a very interesting read. It covers the founding of Jerusalem through today and then discusses some of the prophecies regarding its future.

Assyrians were infamous for their barbarous conquests and treatment of captured enemies. They forced captives to parade through the streets of Nineveh with the severed heads of other captives around their necks. The Assyrians were masters of torture, cutting off noses and ears and yanking out tongues of live enemies. They flayed prisoners -- skinned them while they were still alive. The reliefs commemorating the siege at Lachish show Judahites impaled outside the walls of that city of Judah.

Perhaps, Jonah had a friend or relative who suffered at the hands of the Assyrians or perhaps hatred (with cause) of the Assyrians was just part of the local culture.

Would a coward ask to be thrown off a ship during a storm?

Jonah asked his shipmates to throw him overboard in the middle of a storm (see Jonah 1:12-14). This they reluctantly did. I've been out on a sailboat in somewhat stormy weather. It was scary for me. I can't imagine asking to be thrown into the water. That is not the act of a coward.

Why didn't Jonah change his mind after reaching land?

Jonah had a good long walk or ride ahead of him (at least a 2 or 3 month journey), assuming he was dropped off somewhere in the vicinity of his departure point. Why didn't he go home instead of completing the journey to Nineveh? The journey could not have been entirely safe. I think about the times I've walked back on an agreement I made with Heavenly Father under much less trying circumstances. Jonah must have had a great internal commitment to make the long journey and then teach a group of people that he really, really, really did not like. As mentioned even after he had converted them he still wanted the Lord to destroy them.

Conclusions:

Jonah was not a coward, he was a courageous, committed servant of God.
He held an understandable grudge against the Assyrians.
One of the lessons we can take away from his story is that the Lord does not want us to harbor ill will towards others, even if justified by past behavior. While we do need to teach right from wrong we need to be a forgiving people; something that is central to the teachings of Christ and his disciples both in word and in deed (Matt 5:43-44, Luke 23:34, Acts 7:55-60 …). We should apply this in all facets of our life: family, work, church, politics … .

Clearly the story of Jonah is not just about a prophet who ran away from an assignment and was encouraged to reconsider his decision. He can be used as a positive example on a number of levels. That, in an of itself, is an example of finding the positive instead of looking for the negative.

Of Freedom, God, and Christ #2

2011-08-29T01:31:00.001-06:00

In his letter to the Galatians Paul tries to dissuade Jewish members of the Church from following the strict practices of their former faith (the Mosaic Law) and insisting that other gentile (non-Jewish) members do the same. Towards the end of his letter he makes a very bold statement “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). The Mosaic law with its emphasis on obedience and sacrifice was a preparatory law that laid the foundation for the higher law and pointed to Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

The higher law was articulated by Christ in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-6 especially 5 verses 17-18, 21-48) where He teaches us that rather than simply obeying the commandment “thou shalt not kill” we should avoid being angry with our brother; that rather than not committing adultery we should not look at a woman to lust after her.

Yes, Christ’s sacrifice freed us from the necessity of following the old law; no longer were we required to offer physical sacrifices. However, we are asked to provide the sacrifice of “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Ne 9:20) as we follow a higher law. Rather than simply adhering to a checklist we are asked to continually improve ourselves in ways that are not necessarily apparent from the outside (who on earth but ourselves knows our thoughts). This requires an ongoing concerted effort.

For most of us it is often easier to follow a checklist than to exercise our free will. I see this in the work environment all the time. There are those who when given an assignment give up after they hit the first or second roadblock and return and report that they were not able to complete the assignment because … . They use the obstacle as a means of absolving themselves of the responsibility to finish a task. Others find a way around roadblocks and get the job done even if it requires that they learn a new skill. My experience tells me that more of us fall into the first category than in the latter. Each time we fail to try to overcome a roadblock we lose an the opportunity to better ourselves. Over time the problems solvers gain experience and in general are given broader responsibilities.

Christ is telling us not just to obey the Ten Commandments but to go beyond them and use our initiative to find ways to do good to mankind; that we may over time (clearly not in this life time) become “perfect even as your Father which is heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48).

Perhaps we don’t always take the time to work around obstacles because we are a bit lazy or because rather than take a risk in doing something different we find it easier to do nothing. This may also be why we find it easier to say the government should resolve our problem or our neighbors problem rather than for us to spend some of our own time and resources helping ourselves or others.

If we give to the ownership of our problems to someone else then we lose the opportunity for personal growth, diminish our freedom, and implicitly grant them more control over our lives. Pushing a problem on someone else (the government) is the seemingly easier route to take and is often positioned as the morally correct thing but in end is usually not the right course of action.

My mind wanders to one of my favorite contemporary political quotes by Robert A. Heinlein: “Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.” Going back to the church members in Galatia, many of them were finding it easier to revert to a proscriptive law than to follow the higher law which asked them to use their own initiative. If we want to follow checklists and listen to those whose seductive message is that we (the government) can solve your problems, do we not run the risk of allowing those who want to control us to do just that?

Notes:

Thanks H.L. for the great Sunday school lesson that prompted this post.
See also “Of Freedom God and Christ”

If God had a Computer …

2011-08-13T19:06:00.001-06:00

I have traveled quite a bit over the last 25 years as a part of the various jobs I’ve held in the high tech/software industry. Before there were iPods or iPads to occupy my mind while in the air I would occasionally let my imagination run wild as I pictured how today’s technology might be applied or have been applied to managing all of creation. I’ve kept these thoughts largely to myself but will risk sharing some of them with you today.

For example, imagine the pained look on the face of the angel in training charged with managing the climate control computers as he told his supervisor that he had accidently reset the system. His boss, after informing the big guy makes a quick call to Noah letting him know what is going down. You know the rest of the story.

I wonder how the dinosaurs felt after they elected not to renew their maintenance contract on their planetary protection system. They were perturbed by the high pressure sales tactics of the angels sent to renew the contract and decided that they just didn’t want to pay the price required (abstain from fresh meat). Can you say asteroid strike of biblical proportions?

I hope the same holy wars we have today Mac v. PC, Android v. iPhone/iPad, Oracle v. IBM DB2, MS Office v. OpenOffice … are not prevalent in the hereafter.

Can you see the competing database salesmen each claiming to have the highest SPS rating when selling to the CSO overseeing earth (SPS: Sins per Second, CSO: Chief Sin Officer – mortal analogy TPS: Transactions per Second, CIO; Chief Information Officer). Could Satan be a database/hardware vendor and therefore the reason he tempts us is to create demand for higher performing systems within the sin tracking market? I’m sure business is booming today in that space.

I suppose I should stop before I cross the line into sacrilege, if I haven’t already. I’ll wait a few days or weeks and if I haven’t been struck down I’ll share a few more items for your consideration in the event that technology plays a role in the eternities :-)

Little Problems of Married Life by William George Jordan

2011-07-12T23:39:00.001-06:00

I recently finished reading an excellent treatise on the issues and problems common to most marriages by William George Jordan. He applies the keen insight on human nature he demonstrated in his earlier books (The Kingship of Self-Control, The Majesty of Calmness, The Power of Truth and The Crownship of Individuality) to the challenges of marriage. I now have two favorite books on marriage, this one and Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, by John Gray.

Although this book was published in 1910 and some of the societal norms were different than today, his discussion on the kinds of issues that arise in marriage and how they can be remedied are as a valid today as they were yesterday.

The book contains 23 chapters, each of which discuss a specific issue. They are relatively short can be read 5 to 10 minutes but you will likely want to think about them for much longer. Reading a chapter a night with your spouse would be an excellent way to spend quality time with your loved one and can’t help but spark discussions that will improve the quality of your marriage.

Below is a list of the quotes from some of the chapters which give you a sense of the content:

I. The Spring-Time of Married Life
Courtship is the joyous, sunshine launching of the craft of hope; marriage is the long cruise across uncharted seas.

II. Respect for Each Other’s Individuality
The husband can find no help in the counsel of his wife in an emergency if he has stifled her power of individual thinking, or permitted it to become dulled and deadened through disuse.

III. Plea for More Courtship after Marriage
There are more people on this great, big, rolling earth hungering for sweetness, tenderness, and words of gentle appreciation, genial confidence and generous affection than are starving for bread.

V. The Wife’s Settled Income
It is true that “perfect love casteth out fear”; it is equally true that perfect fear finally casteth out love.

VIII. Little Compromises for Happiness
If the spirit of compromise be ever on the part of the husband only or the wife only, it is unjust. It then means absolute selfishness on the part of one, stimulated and intensified by the unselfishness of the other. It makes a Dead Sea of love wherein the waters of affection flow without issuance— constant assessments with no dividends.

IX. Providing for the Future
Those who wisely live within an income rarely have to face the problem of trying to live without one.

X. Pulling Together Through a Crisis
Plants grow most in the darkest hours preceding dawn; so do human souls. Nature always pays for a brave fight. Sometimes she pays in strengthened moral muscle, sometimes in deepened spiritual insight, sometimes in a broadening, mellowing, sweetening of the fibres of character,—but she always pays.

XIII. Talking Home Matters Outside
If there is a little sand in the sugar of home happiness, it really seems better to concentrate on the sweetness that remains than to carry around samples of the grit in envelopes of conversational confidence.

XVI. The Spectre of Constant Jealousy
Jealousy stifles faith, which is the soul of love. It is emotional suicide. It is a peculiar form of fear which seeks constantly to discover what it does not want to find. Jealousy is the chloroform of confidence. It requires faith to keep faith, trust to retain trust, love to cherish love.

XVII. When the Family Interferes
We may sometimes be privileged to help others to live their lives; it is arrogant assumption for us to attempt to live their lives for them.

XX. The Ebb-Tide of Love
Love rarely dies a sudden death. It is usually ailing a long time before its decease. Little ills that could readily be cured in their early stages are permitted to run into more serious conditions; complications set in and love, with its vitality exhausted through long suffering, finally dies.

XXIII. Comradeship in Married Life
The opening words of the world’s greatest book are “In the beginning,” and they are the most important words of married life; they open its chapters of greatest joy and keenest sorrows. All its problems are most easily mastered “in the beginning”

Newlyweds will find reading this a great way to resolve issues before they arise but even those of us who have been married for a while (30+ years in my case) will find gems that can be applied to their life. I plan on making a gift of this book a standard practice for future wedding receptions.

Online versions: HTML, PDF

Of Freedom, God and Christ

2011-07-04T13:22:00.001-06:00

A couple of months ago I participated in a conversation on religion with some business colleagues. One of my co-workers made the statement that he cannot believe in a God because of the tragedies he had personally witnessed in Africa. If there was a god how could he allow such things to happen. This is not an original concept but when we are the personal witnesses to tragic events and injustice, as was my friend, the point becomes very real.

For arguments sake let’s expand my friends comments in include the Khmer Rouge genocide of 1.7M Cambodians, Hitler’s 12M, Stalin’s 23M and Mao’s 70M (read Mao The Unknown Story by Jung Chang & Jon Halliday). What kind of a god would allow such horror? My answer; the same God who granted all men freedom of thought and action.

Let us think of the aforementioned events not as single events resulting in the deaths of millions but as millions of individual murders. In that context a “just” God would not only have to stop the Stalins and Maos of the world but the murderer of any single human being. One could argue that there are many things worse than death. So where do we draw line for the injustices we want God to prevent? If He were to stop all injustice then wouldn’t He need to control the behavior of all human beings?

Often the same people who rail against a god who would allow injustice to occur are also those who resist the notion that anyone can tell them what to do. They generally bridle at the idea of “commandments or rules” from God. And therein lies the hidden inconsistency of their argument against God. On the one hand they claim He cannot exist because there is injustice in the world. Yet on the other hand they value their own freedom of thought and action and resist all who would seek to abridge it.

While I am always saddened by injustice it only strengthens my faith in God to know that it is but a natural consequence of the freedom which He has granted all men. I would not want to live in a world where injustice was “prevented” because of the restraints that would be necessary to ensure such a condition.

Those of us who have children recognize the joy felt when they face a challenge and do the “right” thing without being compelled. Would we have the same reverence for Mother Theresa had she been forced to serve the poor and indigent. Moreover are we not strengthened through trials, is our character not forged in the furnace of “injustice”. How many of the genuine heroes of yesterday (Ghandi, Churchill, Lincoln, Washington …) would have become such if they had not struggled in life.

Paul said it well when he stated in Romans 5:3-4 that “we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.” Without the trials of life we would not rise to our true potential but would be stunted figures, mere shadows of what we could have been.

On this 4th of July 2011 how glad I am that I live in a country whose constitution was established to reflect the freedom of thought and action that God would have everyone enjoy. How thankful I am that there were men of courage and knowledge who allowed themselves to be used as a tool God’s hand in establishing this great nation.

On a day when we celebrate the birth of this nation we should also carry in our hearts gratitude for the birth of the Savior and His atoning sacrifice. A gift to everyone from God that allows us obtain forgiveness for the mistakes we all make with our God given freedoms.

Now is the Time to Make a Difference by Ron Mann

2011-06-30T01:18:00.001-06:00

The following are excerpts from a speech my father gave on April 19, 2008 at a political event near Salt Lake City, UT. It is rather lengthy but is filled with excellent quotes and reminds me of the civic responsibilities that each of us carry. It concludes with one of my favorite quotes that highlights the importance of maintaining the Constitution. Enjoy!

It is a pleasure to be you this morning, especially with people with a like mind. This is the largest gathering of real constitutionalist I have been with since I attended my last staff meeting in the White House with President Reagan. It shouldn't take you long to recognize that I am not the most articulate or entertaining speaker, but I can assure you that you could not have selected anyone that holds our Founding Fathers and Constitution in higher esteem.

Charles Dickens expressed well the situation that faced our nation in the 1770's and today when he wrote in "A tale of Two Cities:" It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way."

Truly we appear to live in the best of times, we have some of the greatest writers, painters, musicians, inventors, actors and most of them live in Washington DC, scientists, medical doctors and dentist that have ever lived. We can travel anywhere in the world in a few hours and will soon have commercial aircraft that can fly across the United States in one hour, we can talk to people around the world and actually see them while doing so, we can buy products from any place in the world from our office via the Internet. We can even find a wife or husband there as well. Life has been extended nearly a decade in the last fifty years. The Internet, as you all know was invented by one our past candidates for president, allows us to do research at home that not too many years ago would have required a visit to some of the greatest libraries in the world. It allows us to take classes on just about any subject from some of the greatest teachers in the world. And the list goes on and on.

On the other hand it could be said we live in the worst of times. There are at least 23 wars and revolutions going on throughout the world, people are starving to death all across the globe, freedom is being lost to dictatorships, things have become more important than people, love is waning, millions of people are out of work, famine is a real possibility, government has become more pervasive ruthless and powerful while the rights of man are being trampled on. Millions of people are still dying from cancer and other diseases, Christianity is being replaced and persecuted. At the same time that the church is being replaced by sports stadiums, the family, the foundation of nations is being destroyed. Medical care is getting so expansive that many can no longer afford it. Drugs and alcohol addiction is increasing and at younger and younger ages. We live in a time of increased terrorism, youth gangs and dishonest politicians at all levels. People in general no longer feel safe in their homes and do not trust government. Government coercion has replaced freedom of action. The cost of living is rising faster than wages.

Today we are thrown in a battle for the soul of our nation and the people who live here. However, it is the same old battle that man has faced since Adam and Eve, the battle for freedom – free agency. During the Revolutionary War a person – under the pen name of: “The Freeman” wrote a message to the people of the colonies, which is applicable today perhaps even more so.

“Never was a cause more important or glorious than that which you are engaged in; not only your wives, your children, and distant posterity, but humanity a large, the world of mankind, are interested in it; for if tyranny should prevail in this great country, we may expect liberty will expire throughout the world. Therefore, more human glory and happiness may depend upon your exertions than ever yet depended upon any of the sons of men.” (Frank Moore, Diary of the American Revolution, New York, Scribner, 1860, p 172.)

We truly live in challenging times not too dissimilar to his – in spite of the fact we have been the most blessed people and nation in the world. Millions from around the world would love to live here and demonstrated their resolve by waiting years to be granted that privilege. Sadly a few greedy, power hungry and godless people have placed our nation in a precarious position. Our nation is in bondage because or our great debt and at the same time we are close to loosing our sovereignty, all because of few ruthless individuals. We have no leaders that I believe can and are willing to correct the terrible direction our nation is heading.

We appear to be in the same position as a young naval officer that had just been made a commander of a new destroyer. One of his new responsibilities was to take the destroyer out on sea trials. All went well until they ran into a heavy fog. Confident of his instruments he continued on his course, when he was apprised there appeared to be another ship directly in his path. He immediately told his radioman to send the ship a message: “Change your course immediately”, Commander so and so. Within a few minutes the radioman return with a message: “You must change course”, Ensign Smith (an ensign is several grades below a commander). Somewhat angered the Commander told the radioman: “Send another message: This is commander so and so, change your directions immediately.” By this time the commander was concerned, as it appeared his ship was about to collide with the other. Again the radioman returned somewhat shocked and handed the pompous Commander another message. “Sir change your direction immediately or expect a collision” – signed Ensign Smith of the Green Point lighthouse. It seems like most of our leaders have lost their course and like the arrogant Commander refuse to change courses.

There are a few issues that I would like to call to your attention. You need to address these issues with your state and national representatives and suggest they start doing something about them now - under no conditions accept rhetoric are verbiage that does not answer your questions.

The increasing cost of fuel and the resulting impact on everything we buy — we are present importing approximately 70% of the fuel consumed
The growth and increase in power of the federal government while at the same time destroying the state governments and the individual, contrary to our constitution.
The destruction of our Constitutional Republic based on a government of check and balances and limited power to a rule by man. The Supreme Court now legislates from the bench as well as making constitution amendments contrary to Article IV of the constitution. The Legislation branch has become a rubber stamp for the Executive and gives largess to all its friends and lobbyist, while the Executive branch has become the imperial president who believes he is above the law.
An educational system that graduates students from high school that can neither read, write or do arithmetic.
The loss of our industrial base requiring us to buy essential products from some our enemies.
A foreign policy that has created more enemies than friends, in spite of the billions of dollars of foreign aid given out annually.
The loss of our moral value system and the creation of a humanist secular state.
The loss of our dollar's value in market where the Euro now trades at $1.52 and countries are now using it as their base.
Our Balance of Trade and Balance of Payment are now the worst in our history.
We have now become a debtor nation.
Our housing market is presently tumbling and will probably result in 40 – 60 percent drop in value, just as the Japanese's did fifteen years ago, which has not improved much since.
Unknown to most Americans is that our strategic deterrent force is far inadequate for the times in which we live. We have no, repeat no defensive capability, which could subject us the nuclear blackmail in the future.
We used to be the breadbasket of the world, whereas today we are now importing up 25% of our foods. It should be noted that we have no idea of what they are putting on their crops.
Our social security system is broke and we presently running a $9 trillion debt and yet our politicians keep promising more of everything to everybody, at the same when we cannot afford what we are presently committed to fund.
Our nation's economic system appears to being close to collapsing, which could make the 1929 depression look like a Sunday picnic. Yet our federal government officials and economic whiz kids insist all is well.

You might ask how could this have happened? James Madison warned: "Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." – The Debates Resolutions and other Proceedings in Convention, on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution Vol II, Jonathan Elliot, 1828, p 90. And this is exactly what they have done. Thomas Jefferson also warned: “It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties, we hold this prudent jealousy to the first duty of citizens.” I believe had we been taught and followed this sage advice we would not be in the situation we are now. The question now is how do we get out of this situation? Again going back to the advice of our founding fathers we read: “A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.” – The Statesman’s Manual, Edwin Williams and Benson J. Lossing, “Madison’s Second Annual Address”, p 377.

Perhaps the most important part of my message this morning relates to the importance of our Constitution in the solution of these matters. The opposition would have you believe the constitution was written for an agrarian society and no longer applicable. I want to point out some of the thoughts of others on this subject:

It was honorable William Gladstone who made the definitive statement on our constitution: “it is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose man.” Thomas Jefferson expressed his feeling on it: “The constitution ... is unquestionably the wisest ever yet present to men,” – The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Vol V: 1788-1792, Thomas Jefferson, p 89. Perhaps the most impressive statement relative to the men responsible for our constitution was made by Senator Albert J. Beveridge (1862-1927): “The American system was devised by the ablest group of men who ever appeared at the same in the same country throughout the history of the world. Just as former times produced masterpieces of literature, philosophy, and art, just as our own period is producing masterpieces in science and commercial organization, so the architects of the American plan of self-disciplined liberty produced a masterpiece of free government.” – The Constitution of the U.S. of American and Bulwark of Liberty, Everett P. Wilson.

The key to successfully bringing forth the creation of any great human endeavor is the selection of the persons required to accomplish it. In this regard the bringing forth of a new nation is unlike anything before or since and considered by many, including those that were involved in it as a miracle. Few men are capable of accomplishing such a horrendous task in such a short time and fewer yet would be willing to tackle it. The men responsible for this impressive work represented some of the great minds of all time. If one were looking for signs of providential care in the creation of America – and the framers often did – it would be found in the gathering of these men with these particular qualities, at this juncture of our history. It was not an accident that virtually every doctrine, value, institutional development and painful lesson gleaned through all the centuries since Magna Carta converged on the State House in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. Here we have combined the notions of the law above the king, the need to impose restraints on power, the wisdom of diffusing authority instead of having it focused in one center, that were the chief political doctrines of the free society, annealed and tested in the fires of battle.

To those involved in this Herculean task it was evident that it was indeed a fact – Providence had indeed been involved, from the beginning to the end. No less than George Washington had said so himself in his First Inaugural Address of 1789: “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conduct the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of Providential agency...” He also said: “It appears to me … little short of a miracle that the delegates from so many different states ... should unite in forming a system of national government so little liable to well-found objections.” – The Writings of George Washington, 29:409. Even James Madison noted in the Federalist #37: “It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty Hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.”

The point being that we had a gathering of the greatest men conceivable who believed strongly that providence had been involved in their efforts in creating a constitution, as John Adams said: “… they were building a constitution and a system of government which would one day serve a population of 200 to 300 million freemen.” In other words it was created to last indefinitely. However, Ben Franklin warned: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” – 1787, Writing of Ben Franklin, Vol. 9:569. James Madison also warned us: “To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea.” – James Madison (1788), Elliot's Debates 3:537. An additional consideration that is necessary if we are to keep our Constitution was expressed by Thomas Jefferson: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, … it expects what never was and never will be.” The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 1816, 14:384. He further warned: “Education is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” – Ibid. Vol. 10: 161.

I have often asked myself if ignorance and disobedience of the advice of our Founding Fathers were the reason for the problems confronting us today? We are in a life and death struggle. Never before have we as a nation been confronted with so many different and very serious dilemmas, which if not resolved could soon result in the demise of our nation.

I am pleased that there are so many of you who are involved and want to learn and do something about it. The opposition wants you to believe it is hopeless and that we should just submit to their oppression. I for one won't do that. There is hope for us and with Providential assistance we make a majority which makes every worthy cause doable. I would like to close by illustrating what can be done, by telling several of my favorite stories which show in spite of the darkness of the day and the lateness of the hour success is still possible. It is the story of the invasion of Long Island by the British in 1776.

On the night of August 28, 1776, the British and Hessian troops received a first-had experience that convinced many of them that Providence was on the side of General Washington:

“There had been an incident that deeply troubled the German soldiers. On a hot August night, just before they went into action, hundreds of British and Germans had sat around an enormous bonfire, laughing and cheering while four rebel leaders were burned in effigy. The figures of John Witherspoon, President of the College at Princeton, and Generals Washington, Israel Putnam, and Charles Lee had just been set afire when a wild thunderstorm suddenly interrupted the fun.

“The soldiers dashed for whatever shelter they could find, and after the rain had passed, some of the men returned to the vicinity of the bonfire to discover that three of the dummies had been consumed by the flames but the effigy of George Washington remained intact. As good as it ever was. The symbolism was not lost on the foreigners; as a British deserter relayed the story, the incident caused a great deal of fear among the Hessian troops, most of whom are very superstitious.”(9)

Within twenty-four hours of the bonfire incident, an attack was launched against Washington and his troops on Long Island. The results of which gave the Hessians and British addition things to ponder about the American Cause. The British naval forces planned to sail up the Long Island Sound where they could unload some of their forces on the north end while another group would attacked from the south, placing Washington troops in a pincer - the result would be the demise of the rebel forces. However things didn’t go as planned. When the fleet started up the Sound they were unable to enter it because of the terrible wind and waves. After twenty-four hours they gave up on sending their ships up the sound and launched there attack from the south and started their advance up Long Island, by dusk they had driven the Americans and beaten them to the point that the British Commander felt that “on the morrow he would quickly and decisively end the conflict.”

Since the winds were in their favor that evening the British could hear the Americans digging their trenches and setting up their camps. However, later in the evening the winds reversed and now the Americans could hear the British. Then it started to rain and later that evening a dense fog settled over Long Island. Washington had earlier recognized the possibility that he might have to retreat and had positioned boats to ferry his troops to New York should it be necessary. Necessity required that he implement that contingency and so all night Washington’s troops, animals, and hardware were ferried across the sound to New York. This was all done under the shroud of fog and with prevailing winds without being detected by the British or Hessians. This was done even though they were within shouting and listening range of the British. Early the next morning, the British started their advance, only to discover that the rebels had moved out under the cover of fog and darkness. They arrived just in time to the last boat, carrying Washington move across the sound. It is difficult to imagine a more visible demonstration of Providence’s hand in the protection of Washington and his troops than this incident.

These two stories represent only two of over fifty such stories of Providence Hand in our history. I truly believe it is available to us, if we start now, to live as He would have us do. With that assistance we can change the direction of nation.

I believe You represent the future. The Democrats and Republicans have lost their way and represent the past. They are guilty of corrupting the greatest form of government ever trusted to man and replacing it with a form of government we fought the Revolutionary War against, one that rejected the rights of man and was based on the mistaken belief that all rights come from the state.

We are on the right side of the issues and the vast majority of Americans agree with us. Now is time to get out and let the people know where we stand; That we truly support the constitution and intend to restore it to the position of the Supreme Law of The Land; That we believe in our sovereignty and will demand the borders be closed and the every department of the government live by and support their oath of office. We need to remind the people that when they vote for the lesser of two evils they still end up with evil. We provide a better option. Today we are few in number, but over time we will increase and make a difference — now is the time to begin.

In closing I would to read two of my favorite quotes. The first is from Daniel Webster, given in Washington DC on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Washington’s birthday.

“Other misfortunes may be borne, or their effects overcome. If disastrous war should sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may renew it: if it exhaust our treasury, future industry may replenish it, if it desolates and lay waste our fields, still, under a new cultivation they will grow green again, and ripen to future harvest. It were but a trifle if the walls of yonder capital [pointing to the US Capital Building] were to crumble, if its lofty pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered y the dust of the valley. All of these might be rebuilt. But who shall reconstruct the fabric of a demolished government? Who shall rear again the well-proportioned columns of constitutional liberty? Who shall frame together the skillful architecture, which unites national sovereignty with the state rights, individual security and public prosperity? No gentlemen, if these columns fall they will be raised not again. Like the Coliseum and the Parthenon they will be destined to a mournful, a melancholy immortality. Bitterer tears, however, will flow over them than were ever shed over the monuments of Roman or Grecian art; for they will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Rome ever saw – the edifice of constitutional American Liberty.”

In his great book: “The Theme Is Freedom.” M. Stanton Evans concludes his remarkably book by saying:

“None of the foregoing, be it said, would be sufficient in itself to restore our freedoms—even assuming that such a platform could be adopted. In every sense, the spiritual and intellectual vision must be foremost. Recovery of our religious faith and its teachings should e our first and main concern. Without it, nothing much by way of practical improvement can be accomplished. With it, all the rest might readily be added.” (Page 323, op., site.)

In the Absence of Religion, Morality and God by Ron Mann

2011-06-23T23:06:00.001-06:00

Below is an excellent discourse by my father on the necessity of religion to sustain our republic. Enjoy RWM.

The Founders of our Republic repeatedly warned of the need to uphold morality, religion and God in our society or suffer the loss of our freedom. During the formation and early years of our republic the leaders and citizens in general read from a well spring of knowledge; scriptures and writing of the founders, in the process ensuring that their freedom would remain.

During the early portion of the 20th Century the writings of our founding fathers and the scriptures were vanquished from the schools, government and the media. Our history has been rewritten by the revisionist and mention of God and his involvement in our founding has been excised from history books and our constitution is either ignored or ridiculed. The wisdom of our founding fathers has been gradually replaced with the teachings of socialism and secular humanism. One of the things which has made this possible is philosophy of the press/media being extremely liberal and hostile to anything religious or conservative! The results – our society is in a self-destruct mode. Particularly during the past decade we have seen a rapid decline in the morality of our nation. The last vestiges of God and religion are being driven out of government and the schools. Good and honest men have absented themselves from the councils of government, the wise and religious are ridiculed and ignored.

The American people have been corrupted and have exchanged their birth-right of freedom for a bowl of socialist pottage. They have replaced self reliance for government support, frugality for debt, morality for animal behavior, hedonism for responsibility, crass materialism for charity and pride for humility. One must ask where is this anti-god/morality revolution taking us? History (which is not accurately taught in schools) is replete with the answer – the graveyard of nations that followed the clarion of voices of immoral leaders promising false peace and security.

Our founders understood history and human nature, then coupled with inspiration wrote our constitution thus forming the greatest system of government in the world. Nevertheless, it is dependent on a moral and righteous people. It is most befitting to ponder the founders sage advice relative to our nation and government.

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let us simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. ‘Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government – President George Washington, Farewell Address – HTML, PDF.

“… I fully agree in Opinion with a very celebrated Author, that ‘Freedom or Slavery will prevail in a (City or) Country according as the Disposition & Manners of the people render them fit for the one or the other’; and I have long been convinced that our Enemies have made it an Object, to eradicate from the Minds of the People in general a Sense of true Religion & Virtue, in hopes thereby the more easily to carry their Point of enslaving them. Indeed my Friend, this is a Subject so important in my Mind, that I know not how to leave it. Revelation assures us the ‘righteousness exalteth a Nation’—Communities are dealt with in this World by the wise and just Ruler of the Universe. He rewards or punishes them according to their general Character. The diminution of publick Virtue is usually attended with that of publick Happiness, and the public Liberty will not long survive the total Extinction of Morals.” – Samuel Adams, Letter to John Scollay, 1776.

“While ambition, wild and lawless, seizes on the citizen entrusted with the government; when licentiousness diffuses itself through the community and corrupts the sources of power, that Republic is doomed to destruction. Mounds of paper and parchment cannot arrest its progress; the voice of reason will be drowned and Liberty expire. Over men void of principle laws have no force, when they can be transgressed with impunity. If you can stay the current of ocean by a bulrush, then may you impede the course of an aspiring, triumphing demagogue by throwing in his way the laws of his Country. A power of restraining the tumultuous passion of the human heart is found only in the dictates of solid morality; this therefore is as necessary to Republican Governments as blood to the Constitution of man.” – Daniel Webster, The Letters of Daniel Webster, p 11.

“A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the advantages of a free government.”
– Massachusetts’s Bill of Rights, Article XVIII, 1780.

“But I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks—no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be excised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.” James Madison, Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788)

“… The powers reserved by the people [under the Constitution] render them secure, and until they themselves become corrupt, they will always have upright and able rulers. I give my assent to the Constitution.” – John Hancock, Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 6 Feb 1788

The Book of Mormon, which is a largely religious history of some of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas (~2000 BC – ~400 AD), contains a number of promises / decrees from the Lord relative to this land. They include the following:

“And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land.” — Mosiah 29:27, read whole chapter to better understand the role righteousness plays in government.

Two grand civilizations, and perhaps more, violated these decrees and are no more; they were wiped off the face of this continent when they were ripe in iniquity. During this time on two separate occasions two great leaders resigned their positions of leadership because of their peoples wickedness.

About thirty years before the coming of Christ to the Americas, Nephi a righteous leader resigned his political position to focus on his role as a spiritual leader. “And it came to pass that in this same year, behold, Nephi delivered up the judgment-seat to a man whose name was Cezoram. For as their laws and their government were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become corrupted. Yea, and this was not all; they were a stiffnecked people, insomuch that they could not be governed by the law nor justice, save it were to their destruction. And it came to pass that Nephi had become weary because of their iniquity; and he yielded up the judgment-seat, and took it upon him to preach the word of God all the remainder of his days, and his brother Lehi also, all the remainder of his days;” — Helaman 5:1-4.

About 53 years earlier another righteous man, Alma also resigned his position as chief judge and turned it over to another: “And he did that he himself might go forth among the people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them.” — Alma 4: 15-20

The solution to our problems today are spiritual in nature; not political! Not until or unless we address them will they be resolved; otherwise our nation will continue to deteriorate until it will be necessary for God to do as he has done before – invoke the decrees long ago pronounced upon this nation. We too must bear down in pure testimony. Testimony that our constitution and therefore our form of government was divinely inspired. That our rights derive from God not Washington DC. And lastly in order to preserve our rights and framework of God-given government we must abide by the principles enunciated and lived by Christ.

On the 19th of February 1795, in Commemoration of the day that George Washington had set apart for general Thanksgiving and Prayer, Bishop James Madison (a cousin of President James Madison), delivered a sermon on “Manifestations of the Beneficence of Divine Providence Towards America, in Richmond, Virginia. I have selected his concluding remarks as mine also.

“Ye then who love your country if you expect or wish, that real virtue and social happiness should be preserved among us, or, that genuine patriotism and a dignified obedience to law, instead of that spirit of disorganizing anarchy, and those false and hollow pretences to patriotism, which are so pregnant with contentions, insurrections and misery, should be the distinguishing characteristics of Americans; or, that, the same Almighty arm which hath hitherto protected your country, and conducted her to this day of glory, should still continue to shield and defend her, remember, that your first and last duty is ‘to fear the Lord and to serve him’ (Joshua 24:14, Deuteronomy 10:20); remember, that in the same proportion as irreligion advances, virtue retires; remember, that in her stead, will succeed factions, ever ready to prostitute public good to the most nefarious private ends, whilst unbounded licentiousness, and a total disregard to the sacred names of liberty and of patriotism will here once more, realize that fatal catastrophe, which so many free states have already experienced. Remember, the law of the Almighty is, they shall expire, with their expiring virtue. – Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730-1805, edited by Ellis Sandoz, Liberty Fund, 1991, page 1320

Liberty Lost by Ron Mann

2011-06-19T19:06:00.000-06:00

My father, Ron Mann, wrote this a number of years ago. It is somewhat long but well worth the read as it is still pertinent today, perhaps even more than when he wrote it.

Liberty Lost

Several years ago a young naval officer was promoted to captain and given command of a new destroyer. He was awed with his promotion and his new assignment. One day during initial sea trials of his ship he ran into a dense fog. While standing on the bridge of his ship his communications officer, a young Lt. Commander came running in and said: “Sir there is a ship’s light heading directly in our path.” “Signal him to change his course five degrees!” The new caption said. In a few minutes the young officer returned with another message from the other commander. “You change your course!” Signed Lt. Smith. The hair of the back of the captain’s neck bristled. “Send him another message to change his course immediately!”

Anxiously the young communications officer rushed off to send the captain’s message. Shortly after sending the captain’s message he received yet another message. “You change your course immediately!” Signed Lt. Smith. Realizing they were closing in on the other ship and that they were running out of time he flew to the bridge and reported the message. In a rage the captian said send that idiot this message: “This is Captain Jones of the US Destroyer Arizona and I have the right of way, now by D--- you change your course immediately!” In a few minutes the young Lt. Commander, somewhat sheepishly returned with yet another message. It read: “This is Lt. Smith of the Green Point Lighthouse, I recommend you change your course or prepare to be grounded!” Well you can guess who changed course.

The last message sent to the brash young naval captain by the lighthouse keeper is very appropriate for us. As a nation we have lost our course and need to make an immediate course correction or prepare to end up in the graveyard of nations, nations that likewise ignored the Lighthouse Keeper! Over 150 years ago Daniel Webster one of the greatest articulators of our constitutional form of government warned the people:

“Other misfortunes may be borne, or their effects overcome. If disastrous war should sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may renew it: if it exhaust our treasury, future industry may replenish it, if it desolates and lay waste our fields, still, under a new cultivation they will grow green again, and ripen to future harvest. It were but a trifle if the walls of yonder capital (pointing to the US Capital Building) were to crumble, if its lofty pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered y the dust of the valley. All of these might be rebuilt. But who shall reconstruct the fabric of a demolished government? Who shall rear again the well proportioned columns of constitutional liberty? Who shall frame together the skillful architecture which unites national sovereignty with the state rights, individual security and public prosperity? No gentlemen, if these columns fall they will be raised not again. Like the Coliseum and the Parthenon they will be destined to a mournful, a melancholy immortality. Bitterer tears, however, will flow over them than were ever shed over the monuments of Roman or Grecian art; for they will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Rome ever saw – the edifice of constitutional American Liberty.”

In 1837, Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, entitled: “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions.” (This society was formed by Lincoln and other young men in the fall of 1836) In his speech he reminded his audience of their priceless heritage. Some of his message is appropriate for us this evening.

“We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty than any of which the history of former times tells us. We when mounting the stage of existence found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them; they are a legacy bequeathed us by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors. Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves us, of this goodly land, and to uprear upon it hills and valleys a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; ‘tis ours only to transmit these –the former unprofaned by the foot of an invader, the later undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation—to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.”

“How then shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with Bonaparte for a commander, could not force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reaches us it must spring upon amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author an finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.” (“Early Speeches 1832-1865”, The current Literature Publishing Co. New York,, 1907, pages 14-15)

I believe Lincoln had it right. The Huns are not at our door but fellow occupants of our house. The termites of tyrants have been busy gnawing at our constitutional form of government for decades. Our republic, like the mighty oak has survived storms, lightening, wars and fires of passions, but also like the mighty oak may be quietly destroyed by those ubiquitous, covert and determined insects. Not content with individual personal liberty it is their desire to force their will upon all and do so by installing a new form of government that will allegedly provide peace and security. The results of such wishful thinkers is always the same – a tyrannical system that doesn’t provide peace or security, but rather destroys individual freedom and sends the society back to the dark ages. The same approach used by the termites on the oak tree are being used on our republic. They always attack the vulnerable areas first and then spread their work of carnage until they undermine the whole fabricate of society, causing it to eventually collapse. Frances Grund fired a warning shot on this when he wrote:

“The American Constitution is remarkable for its simplicity; but it can only suffice a people habitually correct in their actions, and would be utterly inadequate to the wants of a different nation. Change the domestic habits of the Americans, their religious devotion, and their high respect for morality, and it will not be necessary to change a single letter in the Constitution in order to vary the whole form of government.”

The changing of our domestic habits, religious devotions and high respect for morality have in fact been responsible for what has happened to our republic. All the above have been changed and for the worst.

John Adams said that: “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality an religion.” Add to this the pursuit of material goods and pleasure to exclusion of most everything else, they have accomplished what Grund warned us about. So long as most have money to spend and the time to spend it they are oblivious to growth of government and the gradual erosion of respect for the constitution and the growth of the rule of man over the rule of law. The Socratic maxim that the recognition of our ignorance is the beginning of wisdom has a profound significance for our understanding of where our society is presently heading. Our inspired constitution form of government and therefore our freedom is gravely at risk and may be in jeopardy.

It is difficult to make the case for reform or a return to an old standard if by their own choice, people remain ignorant of that standard and believe all is well in Zion. “For behold, at that day shall he rage in hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good. An others will be pacify, and lull then away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion, yea Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls , and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.” “. . .Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!” (II Nephi 28: 20-21 & 24)

It was George Washington who said: “Let the people persevere in their affectionate vigilance over the precious depository of American happiness, the Constitution of the United States. Let them cherish it. . .” I believe like many of those who were involved in the writing of our constitution that we are the recipients of the greatest government on earth and that it was inspired of God. George Washington in his Circular Letter written to all the governors of the thirteen colonies in 1783 reminded them:

“The Citizens of ‘America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the sole Lords and Proprietors of a vast Tract of Continent, comprehending all the various soils and climates of the World, and abounding with all the necessaries and conveniences of life, are now by the late satisfactory pacification, acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom and Independence; They are, from this period, to be considered as the Actors on a most conspicuous Theatre, which seems to be peculiarly designated by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity; Here, they are not only surrounded with every thing which can contribute to the completion of private and domestic enjoyment, but Heaven has crowned all its other blessings by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness than any other Nation has ever been favored with.” (Writings of George Washington, Vol. 26 pp. 484-485)

A roll call of those who attended the Constitution Convention and believed that God had inspired them reads like the “Whose Who” of the Convention:

Often considered as the Father of The Constitution, James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers (Paper #37): “It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not perceive in it a finger of that Almighty Hand which has been so frequent and signally extend to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution ….” Alexander Hamilton the genius behind the Federalist Papers and the author of a majority of them wrote: “For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interest.” Charles Pinckney, author of the Pinckney plan and a major participant in the convention wrote: “When the great work was done and published, I was struck with amazement. Nothing less than the superintending Hand of Providence, that so miraculously carried us through the war could have brought it about so complete, upon the whole.” (Essay on the Constitution. P.L. Ford, Editor. P. 412) The Sage of the convention, Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1788: “I have so much faith in the general government of the world of Providence, that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance to the welfare of millions now existing, and to exist in the posterity of a great nations, should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent and beneficent Ruler, in whom all inferior spirits live and move and have their being.” And the President of the Convention and he who had the greatest influence over the members of the convention, George Washington said: “The Hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.” – George Washington's letter of August 20, 1778 to Brig. General Thomas Nelson

Other “Founding Fathers” who did not attend the constitution convention also held the same belief: Patrick Henry said: “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!” John Jay, First Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court said: “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty ... of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

Today there are many religious organizations that believe God inspired our Founding Fathers. The church to which I belong, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints believes this very strongly. The genesis of this belief comes from the Doctrine and Covenants 101: 77-80: “According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I are given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment. Therefore it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose I established the Constitution of this land by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.”

With this brief background I would like to spend a few minutes reviewing some the recent Supreme Courts decisions, the results, implications and the direction this nation is being pushed by those who are unalterably opposed to our constitutional republic.

The recent supreme court ruling in the case of Stenberg vs. Carhart provides an example of how far we have strayed from our founders belief in Providence’s involvement in the founding of our nations and the writing of our constitution and their deep respect of Him and His creations. Recall what I read from D&C 101, that one of the reasons for our constitution was “… for the protection of all flesh …” The 5 to 4 decision of the Supreme Court invalidated the Nebraska statute in the case of Stenberg vs. Carhart that prohibited partial-birth abortion, treating abortion as a “right” of such majesty and force that no state can limit its use -- no matter how barbaric the method. In the process gravely diminishing the sanctity of life and the United States Constitution. This is what the supreme court now sanctifies: It allows a doctor to dilate a pregnant woman’s cervix, initiate the delivery of the baby and then reach inside the uterus so the child will enter the birth canal feet-first, coaxes the feet and torso into the world – then; lunges scissors into the base of the child’s skull, opens the cranial cavity, insert a tube, sucks out the brains, collapses the skull and yanks out the limp corpse.

“A shaken nurse told Congress about her experience with the procedure: ‘The baby’s little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his little feet were kicking. Then the doctor stuck the scissors in he back of his head, and the baby’s arms jerked out, like a startled reaction, like finch, like a baby does when he thinks he is going to fall. The doctor opened the scissors, stuck a high-powered suction tube into the opening sucked the baby’s brains out. Now the baby went completely limp.” (A grim place in judicial history, Washington Times National Weekly Edition, Commentary, July 10-16, 2000)

If God inspired the Constitution, and I believe he did, can you believe he would have provided within that document the justification for such butchery as this? He constantly showered his love on the children. Never, never would He have allowed such a provision! I believe if He does not do something soon to punish this nation for such government approved atrocity, he will have to apologize to Sodom & Gomorrah and the wicked destroyed by the flood – which I don’t think will ever happen! I believe that God requires individual accountability for our acts as well as a national accountability. The difference between individual and national accountability is that a nation does not have an after life in which to answer for its actions; the only time is the present. Therefore it must be recompensed for it actions whether good or bad now. James Mason a delegate from Virginia explained this principle: “As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.”( “The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787,”Max Farrand, ed., Yale University Press, Vol. II, p.370, 27 August 1787)

Moreover if our silence in this ruling is considered as approbation by those who oppose it what should we expect next? Euthanasia, limitation on number of children in our families etc. Our apparent silence in Supreme Court rulings like this is not golden but cowardice! The initial justification for abortion was that it would only be used to save the life of the mother or if she had been raped. I know, I was involved in the initial debates against abortion. Repeatedly we were told it would never be used for anything else. Since the Roe—Wade decision over 40 million abortions have taken place in the United States. Abortions are encouraged with or without parental approval for twelve year olds and up as well as for any woman as a method of birth control. This is something the proponents told me in 1971-72 would never happen!

I believe one of the most destructive and profound decisions made by the supreme court was the 1947 Everson v. Board of Education decision. It declared there to be a separation of church and state in the First Amendment. In this case the court took the Fourteenth Amendment as a tool to apply against the states. The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 to guarantee the recently emancipated slaves would have civil rights in all states. It is incredible that the court would use this to prohibit religious activity in the schools or public affairs. Up to that time (79 years) the 14th Amendment had never been so interpreted. What had changed that would allow such an interpretation? Since this decision the court has torn to shreds the very fabric of American life and constantly expands their effort of removing God from every segment of American life. Our Founding Fathers must be rolling over in their graves in this strange turn of events. Each new ruling pertaining to this subject has moved us closer to a total secular society. Although the Court announced its doctrine of separation in 1947, it was not until 1962 that prayers were held to violate the Establishment Clause! The litany of legal abuses of the constitution since then are dumbfounding, to wit:

Offering verbal prayer in school is unconstitutional!
Freedom of speech and press is guaranteed to students unless the topic is religious!
Unconstitutional to offer verbal prayer over lunch at school!
Unconstitutional for students to arrive early at school to hear a student volunteer to read prayers which have been offered in Congress!
Unconstitutional for a Board of Education to use or refer to the word God in any of its publications!
Unconstitutional for the Ten Commandments to hang on the walls of classrooms!
Unconstitutional for a school graduation ceremony to contain an opening or closing prayer.
Alaska public schools (1987) students were told that they could not use the word “Christmas” in school because it had the word Christ in it!
Recently public schools were prohibited from showing a film about the settlement of Jamestown because it depicted the erection of a cross!
In December 1988, an elementary school principal in Denver removed the Bible from the school library!
School teacher in Colorado Springs was stopped from teaching Christmas carols because of alleged violations of the separation of church and state!
A boy in Omaha, Nebraska was prohibited from reading his Bible silently during free time – told it was against the law.

I believe it is significant and not by accident that the 1947 Everson case which first introduced the phrase separation of church and state had to do with education. Abraham Lincoln put his finger on it precisely when he said: “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” (“American Providential History, McDowell and Beliles, Providence Press, Charlottesville, VA., 1989, p. 95) One look at our present elected officials, including judges – our government -- and one has to conclude Lincoln was right! (Much of the material for the above three paragraphs came from the book “The Myth of Separation, by David Barton, Wall Builder Press, Aledo, Texas, 1992)

I do not think it is an accident that the courts have tightened their interpretation on the religious portion of the First Amendment and expanded the portion dealing with freedom of speech which allows a deluge of filth and pornography material to blanket our nation.

Perhaps one of the most egregious examples of how far we have strayed is the recent decision made by Federal District Judge Jennifer Coffman, who ruled in May, 2000 that displays of historic American documents in eastern Kentucky schools and courthouses were unconstitutional and had to be removed! In her justification she said they had the effect of “conveying a very specific government endorsement of religion.” And what were these terrible documents that were so blatant in endorsing religion? An excerpt from the Declaration of Independence - “... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the preamble to the Constitution of Kentucky, which states: “We the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy, and invoking the continuance of these blessing, do ordain and establish this Constitution,” The American national motto, “In God We Trust”, A proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln, a proclamation by President Ronald Reagan and The Mayflower Compact. If we carry this convoluted logic to its logical conclusion they will soon outlaw our Declaration of Independence and declare it to be unconstitutional and all state constitutions that use the words “God or Providence” to be likewise unconstitutional and force the states to rewrite them.

To understand what has happened that has allowed the first amendment to be so badly misconstrued we need to learn how this body of tangled case law came about. It was not until 1925, in Gitlow v. New York, (268 US 652 (1925), that any provision of the of the Bill of Rights was applied to the states. Further it was not until 1947 that the Establishment Clause was made applicable to the states through the 14th Amendment. At the time the Bill of Rights was debated and ratified it was intended to apply only to the national government.

The Bill of Rights came about largely as the result of the demands of the Anti-Federalist who were against the new Constitution. They feared, as George Mason of Virginia put in, that in time the national authority would “devour” the states. They felt since each state had a bill of rights, it was only appropriate that new federal government should have one as well. Many at the convention thought a Bill of Rights was not necessary and even destructive. Madsion (at least at first) thought a Bill of Rights to be but a “parchment barrier” to political power, nevertheless the Federalists agreed to add a Bill of Rights.

Though the first ten amendments that were ultimately ratified fell far short of what the Anti-Federalist desired, both Federalist and Anti-Federalist agreed that the amendments were a curb on national power. When this view was questioned before the Supreme Court in Baron v. Baltimore, (32 U.S. 243 (1833) Chief Justice Marshal wholeheartedly agreed. The Constitution said what it meant and meant what it said. Neither political expediency nor judicial desire was sufficient to change the clear import of the language of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights did not apply to the states—and, he said, that was that. Until 1925, that is. Since then a good portion of constitution adjudication has been aimed at extending the scope of the doctrine of incorporation. As a result of this the states have lost most of their sovereignty and the power of the federal government has grown as feared it would. We need not review each of the first 10 amendments, to see how the theory of incorporation has had negative affect on the nation as a whole and the states in particular. Sadly, the basic document that divided the powers of the federal government and assigned specific limitations to each department has been ignored and/or badly twisted beyond the founders intent. (Much of the three paragraphs above came from “The Great Debate: Interpreting Our Written Constitution”, published by the The Federal Society, Wash. DC, 1986, speech by Attorney General Edwin Meese III., Pg. 8 & 9 )

We must reverse the trend away from our constitution as given to us by our Founding Fathers. If not reversed, the constitutional liberty, which we have enjoyed for over 200 years, will be lost. I believe it is possible but it will require dedication and an in depth understanding of the constitution and its history. That mandates frequent visits to the well spring of knowledge on the subject – the writings of our Founding Fathers and the Scriptures. Since God was the inspiration for the constitution, it seems only logical that He will assist us in our efforts; provided we ask.

The Hand of Providence: Boston Freed and Other Miracles

2011-06-19T19:01:00.000-06:00

On July 4, 2010 Ron Mann (my father) was the keynote speaker at the Milestones of Freedom event in Orem, Utah. He discusses the Hand of God in the founding of our nation with a focus on the battle of Boston which concluded in March of 1776. The video below is 53 minutes long but well worth watching.

Prior to his speech the Freedom Choir sang "Amazing Grace". The story my dad told can be found in a separate post on my blog entitled "Amazing Grace: The Rest of the Story".

Note, if you are interested in a DVD version please contact me at mannrw@gmail.com. The video or audio only can also be downloaded from the Internet Archive.

Also, if you like the stories in the speech, I've written about another one in a post (If God be with us who can be against us) and provided a skit that can be used in a family setting.

I've posted my father's recommended reading list on my blog. It's a long list so don't be overwhelmed. Find a couple that sound interesting and jump in ... the water is fine :)

"When in the Course ..." Part I by Ron Mann

2011-06-19T19:00:00.000-06:00

Here's another excellent article by my father on our nation's founding.

“When in the Course …" Part I
by Ron Mann

The book of Joshua in the Old Testament provides a wonderful introduction for this article on the Declaration of Independence. As you will recall Joshua was allowed to lead the Israelites into Israel and one of the first obstacles was the crossing of the river Jordan. “And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priest bearing the ark of the covenant before the people. And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priest that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvests).” But then the Lord caused the Jordan to be divided even as he had the Red Sea for Moses:

“And the priest that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the people were passed clean over Jordan. And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man. And command ye them, saying, take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night. Then Joshua called twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: And Joshua said unto them pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according into the number of the twelve of the children of Israel: That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters Jordan were cut off before the ark of covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off; and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.”

And it was done even as Joshua had commanded and the Lord again spoke to Joshua and said: “When your children shall ask their father in time to come, saying, What mean these stone? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone; That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.” -- Joshua 3 & 4

The reason for selecting 12 stones and displaying them was to be a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. Today we Americans also have a memorial that should constantly remind us what God has done for us. The Liberty Bell! It truly represents the liberty that God made possible for us.

There is a fable on how the Liberty Bell became the symbol of our liberty. It is contained in the story of an old bellman who had been in the steeple of Independence Hall awaiting the announcement of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Two days earlier, July 2nd, 1776 a resolution of political independence had been adopted and this day, July 4th it was expected to be signed. The bellman had been in the steeple since early morning awaiting a signal from a boy stationed at the door below. A declaration of liberty was expected from the patriots who were gathered there, and the old man would hastened to proclaim it when the boy below clapped his hands and shouted, ‘Ring! Ring!’. This was to be the signal of the birth of the Republic dedicated to the freedom of the human spirit. It was destined to unleash the creative power and free agency of man. How appropriate that inscribed on the bell were the words from the old testament: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” (Leviticus ) That evening the charter of freedom was finally and formally approved and the signal was sent to the bell tower where the great bell, the liberty bell gave voice to the birth of liberty. It rang clear and echoed throughout the city, the states and eventually the world. The birth of Liberty and been sounded and thus a new symbol given mankind, even as the twelve rocks, to be memorized for ever - the Liberty Bell, which represents our Declaration of Independence!

John Adams who, because of his involvement in getting the Declaration of Independence passed, was referred to as the “The Atlas of Independence,“ said of the deliberations on the Declaration of Independence:

“Objects of the most stupendous magnitude, and measures in which the lives and liberties of million yet unborn are intimately interested, are before us. We are involved in the midst of a revolution, the most complete, unexpected, and remarkable of any in the history of nations.

"This immortal declaration of the 4th of July,1776 … was not the effect of any sudden passion or enthusiasm, but a measure which had been long in deliberation among the people, maturely discussed in some hundreds of popular assemblies, and by public writings in all he States; it was a measure which congress [continental] did not adopt, until they had received the positive instructions of their constituents in all the States; it was then unanimously adopted by congress, subscribed by all its members, transmitted to the assemblies in the several states, and by them respectably accepted, ratified and recorded among their archives; so that no decree, edict, statute, placard or fundamental law of any nation, was ever made with more solemnity, or with more unanimity or cordiality adopted, as the act and consent of the whole people, than this; and it has been held sacred to this day by every State, with such unshaken firmness, that not even the smallest has ever been induced to depart from it, although the English have wasted many millions and vast fleets and armies in he vain attempt to invalidate it.” (John Adams 1781)

The seeds of Independence were sown long before the Continental Congress of 1776, when the colonies declared their independence, but most likely when the first colonist arrived in America. Necessity had bred self-reliance and thence love of freedom and independence. With each succeeding generation the oak tree of freedom grew and flourished even though attached to the English crown. The steel umbilical cord between Mother England and her child - the colonies, was strong and fast until the 1760’s.

In 1760 King George the III ascended the throne and almost immediately implemented polices that resulted in the severance of the umbilical cord strand by strand, eventually resulting in the Declaration of Independence. He first attempted to gain better enforcement of the existing trade laws. Then directly and indirectly he sought to increase the colonies taxes. The French Indian war was repeatedly used as the justification for increased taxes. The war had cost the Crown considerable and it was felt the colonies should help pay for it, although England had been the major beneficiary of the victory over the French. The colonies repeatedly countered the British proposals but the British statesmanship of the era was incapable of rising to the occasion. Because of the stubbornness of King George III and the stupidity of his officials the issue finally developed into a battle between freedom and coercion. In the name of political liberty and personal rights the Americans took up arms.

What it really amounted to was a protest of human beings against enslavement, powers that sought to govern without consulting the governed. Each act of the king increased the number in the choir chanting “taxation without representation.” The port bill served to unite the colonies in a common cause which resulted in the First Continental Congress. Delegates came to Philadelphia from thirteen colonies in September of 1774 to discuss their common problems. They met again in 1775 and selected George Washington to head the American armies against the British. In January Thomas Paine published Common Sense, which sold over 120,000 copies in three months. In view of the small population of the country at that time, these figures were phenomenal. He asserted in Common Sense that a “thirst for absolute power is the natural disease of monarchy” and that “A government of our own is a natural right.” “The sun never shined on a cause more just. The cause of America was that of all mankind” he said. No one until that time had so clearly perceived or so strikingly described the historic mission of America as the hope and asylum of free people.”

By the time the third Continental Congress began the population in general and a majority of the delegates in particular had changed. They were now ready to listen to arguments for independence. On June 7, 1776 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution. “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved…” It was immediately seconded by John Adams. Although discussed for several days it was finally decided to postpone a vote on it until the first of July. Since several delegations were still not in favor of the resolution and since it was supremely important to present a united front the postponement was a wise decision. During this time John Adams labored night and day on those opposed to it. At that time a committee of five was appointed to draft a declaration, in case the Lee Resolution should pass. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston were appointed. Thomas Jefferson was selected to write the draft because of his gift of writing. Jefferson finished his document and gave it to Franklin and Adams to preview, after their review it was submitted to congress on June 28th, 1776, the Friday before the Lee Resolution was to be considered.

On Monday the Lee Resolution was taken up again and John Dickinson representing those opposed to it spoke against it for several hours. John Adams and few of the supporters argued for its passage. After nine hours of debate it was decided to postpone the vote until the next day, July 2nd. The next day Benjamin Franklin made the comment to Benjamin Rush that: “... We have a great task before us assigned to us by Providence... .” Indeed they did, the fate of a nation hinged on the outcome!

Any Declaration of Independence was in fact, an act of treason, and those who dared sign it stood a good chance to incur the penalty meted out to traitors – a hideous death. According to Blackstone, in English law the traitor was first hanged, then taken down while alive. Next his entrails were removed and burned while he was still living. Then his head was lopped off and his body cut into four parts. Not a pleasant thought, but a reality! Affixing their names to it immediately made them a traitor and placed their families in jeopardy. Many of their families were in hostile territory and were subject to capture by the British. They had literally staked their lives, their families and property on the colonies defeating the British – even though most felt at this time victory would be difficult at best and most likely impossible. Even should they win the price, to thousands it would be death, injury and the destruction of their personal property. Indeed, the price of liberty is never cheap as those involved would soon discover.

Since April 1775 the colonies had wagged war against Mother England. Many of the colonist had argued that it was insanity do so, since England was the most powerful nation in the world and the colonies were 13 separate colonies ill equipped to wage war. They were three million disparate people different in many ways and spread along a two thousands mile coastline. Unorganized with a multitude of religions, customs, and with only a third of them willing to support the war for independence - could they ever expect to win this conflict? Already angered by the American rabble throwing his troops out of Boston and the discovery that his colonies were planning to declare independence, turned King George’s anger into a white rage. He would do whatever was required to quell this colonial rebellion. Accordingly by the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence dark, very dark clouds were forming. The King’s plan was to launch a three-pronged assault which would divide the colonies and quickly bring the rebels to heel. New York would be attacked by 45,000 British and Hessian troops. In the north General Burgoyne’s royal grenadiers, Hessians and hordes of Mohawks were driving Benedict Arnold’s ragged troops to the lower Hudson River Valley. In the south a flotilla of warships under Sir Peter Parker were attacking Charleston with troops commanded by Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis - with orders to subjugate the rest of the region. These great battles would make an indelible imprint on the cost of liberty. They would determine the young nations resolve.

By July 2nd there were but three delegations in doubt and ten in favor. Because two delegates from Pennsylvania took a walk, Pennsylvania was able vote yea for the resolution. The number in favor now increased to eleven, New York still abstained. The 12th colony of little Delaware provided a dramatic episode which resulted in a favorable vote. Casear Rodney had returned home from the convention earlier to deal with a Loyalist uprising, leaving the two delegates at the convention, one for and one against. An express rider was sent to get him. Casear Rodney left on Monday and rode eighty miles by night and day in the rain and thunder. He arrived the next day in time to break the tie. The vote was now unanimous for all the 12 colonies that were present. New York gave their support on July 9th and on July 15 word of this reached Congress making it unanimous for all 13 colonies.

During the convention John Adams had written to his beloved Abigal: (July 3rd 1776) “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epochal in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend theses States. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph in the day’s transaction, even though we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.” (The Works of John Adams, Vol. IX, Pages 417-420)

On July 3rd the Declaration of Independence was introduced and debated. That morning Secretary Thomson had found on the Speakers table a threatening note to the speaker: “You have gone too far. Take care. A plot is framed for your destruction and all of you shall be destroyed.” Less than a week before another plot had been discovered to assassinated General Washington and betray his troops. The traitors of Washington and his troops had been discovered and dealt with. They proved to be loyalist, could it be the local loyalist were trying to stop the independence movement? If so their attempt was in vain for the delegates held their ground and voted for independence. For the next two days they refined the Declaration of Independence and approved it on July the 4th.

Under a cloud of uncertainly the 55 men signed their names to the Declaration of Independence. It represented the promise of freedom – but only if they were successful in winning the war, which at that time seemed remote.

In signing the Declaration of Independence they had endorsed these words; “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Years later John Q. Adams, son of John Adams, a signer had written: “Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedoms. I hope you will make good use of it.”

To emphasize the reality of these words I would like to detail what happened to few of those that signed the Declaration of Independence: In early September 1776, the British burned the home of Francis Lewis and seized his wife. Held in a prison with no bed and no changes of clothing, she was finally released after two years of suffering, her health gone. She died soon after her release. Philip Livingston’s 150,000 acre estate was seized by the British, but he continued to contribute his dwindling fortune to Congress for the war effort. The strain of the revolutionary struggle also depleted his health, and he died less that two year after signing. Lewis Morris’ Westchester estate was ransacked by the British and nearly 1,000 acres were burned. His home was destroyed, his cattle butchered, and his family driven from their home. John Hart’s New Jersey home was looted and burned, his grist mills destroyed. While he eluded capture by sleeping in caves and forest, his ailing wife died and his 13 children were scattered. His failing health forced him to leave the New Jersey legislature in 1779, and he died less that three years after the Declaration was signed. Joseph Hewes of North Carolina gave tirelessly of himself to create a Navy and help General Washington. Working long hours without adequate food and rest, he lost his health and died in 1779 at age 49. Richard Stockton rushed home to Princeton, New Jersey, in 1776 to rescue his family from approaching British troops. He was captured and thrown into prison, where he was repeatedly beaten and kept near starvation. The British also destroyed his home and burned his papers. As a result of mistreatment, he became an invalid and died in 1781. William Floyd’s estate in New York was overrun and ruined by the British. He was not able to return home after the war. Francis Hopkinson’s home was twice ransacked. Abraham Clark had two sons in the Continental Army, both of whom received harsh treatment from the British after they were captured. George Clymers’s home in Chester was taken over by the British and he lost more than 100 of his ships during the war. Robert Morris issued over a million dollars of personal credit to finance the war effort, and raised $200,000 from to defeat the British at Yorktown. In 1798, his personal finances collapsed. Never reimbursed by the country, he spent three years in debtors prison. John Morton was criticized bitterly by many of his Pennsylvania neighbors for breaking the tie vote of the Pennsylvania delegation in favor of independence. The criticism depressed him deeply. Early in 177 he became ill and died. William Ellery’s Newport home was burned during the invasion of Rhode Island. William Williams of Connecticut sacrificed his fortune for the cause, financing a number of enterprises, including the Ticonderoga offensive. Carter Braxton saw virtually every merchant ship he owned sunk or captured by the British. Although he lost his wealth and was forced to sell his land, he continued to serve in the Virginia legislature. Lyman Hall (of Georgia), had his rice plantation destroyed by the British. George Walton also of Georgia, was wounded and captured. Thomas Heyward, Jr., served in the army and was taken prisoner. The British raided his plantation while he was in prison and burned his buildings. His wife became ill and died before he was released. Arthur Middleton of South Carolina was captured and imprisoned after the British ravaged his plantation. Williams Hooper of North Carolina was hunted by the British. He fled, and they burned his home and lands. Thomas Nelson, Jr., served as governor of Virginia and distributed large sums of his money to the families of his soldiers. At the Battle of Yorktown, he led 3,000 Virginia militia against the British. Although the British took refuge in homes belonging to Virginians, Nelson troops shelled them anyway. During the engagement, Nelson turned one cannon on his own home and lit the fuse, killing he two British officers inside.

Part II of this series will cover the contents, meaning and significance of the Declaration of Independence.

Mannkind Perspectives

100 Years Ahead of His Time – William George Jordan and “The House of Governors”

William George Jordan and Education

“A Christmas Gift of Snow for Colonel Knox” by Ron Mann

Cultivating Charity

I. Establish a Tradition of Service in our Homes

II. Service Teaches Us to be Unselfish

III. Service Builds Faith and Knowledge

IV. Service is Essential

Christmas 2011 Thoughts …

James Allen – Inspired Author, Gentle Soul

Books

Biographical Highlights

Other Resources:

The Coloured Picture Bible for Children – Part 4 of 4

Section IVThe Holy Gospels

Half TitleThe Gospel

The Annunciation

Title PageEmblems ofthe Evangelists

List of Pictures

St. John the Baptist

The Angel’s Message

The Star in the East

The TemptationIn the Wilderness

Christ Preachingfrom the Boat

The Parableof the Sower

Christ Walkingon the Sea

The Parable of the good Samaritan

The Parable ofthe lost Sheep

The Parable ofthe Prodigal Son

The Parableof Lazarus

The Parable of the Pharisee and Publican

The Parable ofthe Buried Talent

The Parable ofthe Widow’s Mite

The Parable ofthe Ten Virgins

The Garden of Gethsemane

St. Peter’sDenial of Christ

The Angels atthe Sepulchre

Christ appearingto Mary

“Abide with us”

“The Coloured Picture Bible for Children” Part 3 of 4

Half TitleHezekiah to Malachi

Jeremiah inthe Dungeon

Title PageHezekiah to Malachi

The Ark of the LordList of Pictures

Hezekiah inthe Temple

The Angel of the Lordin the Campof the Assyrians

Zedekiahtaken Captive

By the Watersof Babylon

The flight ofJonah to Joppa

Jonah cast in the Sea

Jonah savedfrom the Fish

Esther and Ahasuerus

Mordecai honored

The Golden Image

The fiery Furnace

The Handwritingon the wall

The Den of Lions

Ezekiel’s Vision

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Angel about to measure the Temple

Nehemiah before King Artaxerxes

The ruined Wallsof Jerusalem

Rebuilding theWalls of Jerusalem

The Scape-goat

The Angelof Prophecy

“The Coloured Picture Bible for Children” Part 2 of 4

Half TitleJudges, Ruth & Kings

The Returnof the Spies

Title PageThe High Priest

The 12 Stonesin Gilgal – Index

Balaams Ass

Joshua in Ajalon

Gideons Fleece

Samson Carrying off the Gates of Gaza

Samson in thePrison House

Ruth in the Cornfield

Naomi and Obed

The Image ofDagon Shattered

The Returnof the Ark

The Call of Samuel

Section IV
The Holy Gospels

Half Title
The Gospel

Title Page
Emblems of
the Evangelists

The Temptation
In the Wilderness

Christ Preaching
from the Boat

The Parable
of the Sower

Christ Walking
on the Sea

The Parable of
the lost Sheep

The Parable of
the Prodigal Son

The Parable
of Lazarus

The Parable of
the Buried Talent

The Parable of
the Widow’s Mite

The Parable of
the Ten Virgins

St. Peter’s
Denial of Christ

The Angels at
the Sepulchre

Christ appearing
to Mary

Half Title
Hezekiah to Malachi

Jeremiah in
the Dungeon

Title Page
Hezekiah to Malachi

The Ark of the Lord
List of Pictures

Hezekiah in
the Temple

The Angel of the Lord
in the Camp
of the Assyrians

Zedekiah
taken Captive

By the Waters
of Babylon

The flight of
Jonah to Joppa

Jonah saved
from the Fish

The Handwriting
on the wall

The ruined Walls
of Jerusalem

Rebuilding the
Walls of Jerusalem

The Angel
of Prophecy

Half Title
Judges, Ruth & Kings

The Return
of the Spies

Title Page
The High Priest

The 12 Stones
in Gilgal – Index

Samson in the
Prison House

The Image of
Dagon Shattered

The Return
of the Ark

The Anointing
of Saul

The Watchman
on the Gate

The Glory of
King Solomon

Elijah and the Widow
of Zarephath

Joseph sold
into Egypt

Moses Striking
the Rock