What's in a Name

Months ago my big brother June posted a question that went along the lines of, “what belongs to you that is used by others more often than you use it”? The answer is your name. This is the question to which I wish to raise, what is in a name? The answer has stayed with me and has made me think about the question.

It is purported that ancient Jewish culture believed the naming of their children is a sacred act and that the names come from revelation. Today the Lord has continued in that manner. We come unto Him, invited into His house, once prepared to receive counsel, and He first issues you a new name. A name endowed with both symbolism and power. You are encouraged to find the meaning.

 

As there was no need for the peoples during the black plague to know and believe of microbial life (though knowing so surely would have brought salvation) for them to see its power, so is the reality of Jesus Christ. His existence is sure and there is time appointed for us all to come to Him. As He has consistently stated, His “hands are stretched out still.” He stands there at the gate like unto a sentential every ready to receive those who come unto Him. So this is not so much directed at those who may not believe, but I call on you to at least come and see for yourself. This is a plea to those who already know Him. 

 

So many of us worry the way the world seemingly is heading. I see so much possibility, surely as the words are fulfilled, many will seek refuge. For we have been told, “the field is white, already to harvest.” This is how I see things.  What I am asking is for you too to see the possibilities. Those of us who claim to believe in Him have woefully fallen short of the power in which that name carries. The name Jehovah means the “Eternal One”. One who has all power and has great care and concern of the events unfolding on Earth. We are His family! It’s no wonder He so frankly told the boy Joseph, “they draw near unto me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…” This was a sharp rebuke to us all who so openly profess but secretly we are afraid for Him to shape and mold us. This shaping and molding though painful, prepares us for a greater blessing and this stretching makes room for greater power.

 

I am not suggesting that you are not good enough, on the contrary, you are much more, capable of leading many to peace in this world. So often are we blaming the Lord for the issues we face when so clearly in 1833 when He said, “In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you and forewarn you, by giving you this word of wisdom by revelation…” He has already given us a way to weather the storms of this life, His Church!

 

Rightly so the words church and religion have such a negative connotation with all its institutionalized misogyny and the many abuses of power and money, I do not blame so many of the unaffiliated who seek to just live according to their own conscience, hoping to leave the world a little better than how they found it too. I salute your efforts also. My argument and invitation is that the Lord will indeed reveal Himself fully to us all one day. His hope is that He will find a people who have been prepared to inherit the Life that They, the Gods enjoy. Our whole reason for having a mortal experience is to grow into that life, and too because of the extreme sorrows and feelings of hopeless and helplessness, we will never ever take that enjoyment for granted!

 

Again let the Lord’s own words pierce our souls, “they draw near unto me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…” Hear the sweet whisperings of the Spirit quietly urging you on, not in a harsh or demeaning, but loving and patient way. Let us exercise real faith in our Lord, for we have been promised by Him that, “if two of you shall agree on EARTH as touching ANY THING that they shall ASK, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” or when He promises that where two are gathered in His name He would surely be there with them. He is capable of this by the power of His Spirit. A power that can and will endow those who wish, with strength to do good in this world and to help others find peace where hopelessness prevails.

So here I am asking you to join me in finding your lane, to find your passion and use it to further the cause of love and peace. Your part matters in your sphere of influence, One well fed less fortunate family means a great deal to them, though to you it is only one family or one soul. The promise is, “How great shall be your joy” It is left to this my friends, either there is no god and we are left on our own or Jesus will indeed come and enlighten us. Whichever shall be, we must find ways to build bridges and love. If we are left on are own, we must then continue to grow as a species and promote knowledge and scientific endeavors so that we might then become the very beings we hope already exist. We ought to then seek to become a species in which have reached the panicle of truth and have found the way of eternal youth, laid aside war, equal in all things, sharing in the beauty of the universe and peopling the planets already there. I say we seek for that and when He comes He will have found a people prepared to receive the things of which they seek. He will endow all of those prepared with all truth and knowledge. He will invite all those who wish to share in the life and glory which He and our Heavenly Father enjoy a place at His table as equals, joint heirs according to the Apostle Paul, never again to leave Their presence forever with our kin.  We can indeed be prepared for His coming by exercising faith on His name. He has asked that we try Him and see if He is not able to deliver, I say try Him! #FINDYOURLANE

"Wherefore, men are free..."

In light of my daughter's upcoming baptism I've been thinking about choice. I have often heard it said that parents force their children to obey the religions in which they themselves subscribe . While this may be the case in many instances I deliberately chose long before my children were born not to parent this way when it came to my beliefs. I remember writing in my journal to them 14 years ago explaining why I believe the way I do, hoping they would one day pick it up and know too. My wife also felt this way. We have attempted to read with them often (though at times this can be difficult to do).  And we agreed that when the time came when they reached the appropriate age we would sit them down and teach them just as we did as missionaries and go through the plan of salvation.

While Nathan did not have an older sibling to look up to who had already made that decision, Aliyah has. It has been much easier for her to make that leap of faith. For two years now she has constantly asked, "When is my baptism?" or "When I am married in the temple..." I've even taken those times to really seek if this was her idea or mine when I would reply jokingly, "no way, you are never getting married, I'm going to keep you at age 7." Her reply often was, "well what about me getting baptized, I want to be baptized when I turn 8."  This is heart warming as a parent when your children find faith in Christ. For as the scripture says, "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:26)

 Just last night I was out running errands and was getting home later than normal. I received a text asking how long I would be because the "kids are begging to read 'Preach My Gospel'."  This is the new missionary guide use by the missionaries called to serve. Needless to say that added to my thoughts that we do not force but encourage our children and step back to allow them to exercise their agency.

Now in some instances it is clear that we must force them to do some things like eat vegetables and brush their teeth, but in the thing that matters most, Eternal Life, we must allow them to find their own witness, we must give them opportunities to exercise agency. After all this is how our Father allows us to progress. Look all around, there are many examples of agency gone awry, and that's when that most famous question is asked, "if there is a God, how could he let this happen?" Because of agency!

In my writing here I do not do so to boast but to explain for any who may wonder, no this is entirely Aliyah's choice a choice in which I rejoice greatly along with the angels, Jesus and her Heavenly Father.

Rebirth

This was actually titled back in October 2012. I knew it would one day be written but the day of I just didn't know what to say. I'm still lacking but feeling like Lehi, "I know I am a visionary man", I must go on. In the face of so much opposition but with the silent majority pressing me on. I will move on. That silent majority includes Jesus Christ whom I feel is leading me along to do better and be better.

This morning I listened to a conference address by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, October 2002. He states, "Recall the new star that announced the birth at Bethlehem? It was in its precise orbit long before it so shone. We are likewise placed in human orbits to illuminate. Divine correlation functions not only in the cosmos but on this planet, too. After all, the Book of Mormon plates were not buried in Belgium, only to have Joseph Smith born centuries later in distant Bombay."

This is profound in that at times we fail to realize just how precise the Lord is with us His children and that He has placed us in orbits of influence to bless the lives of His other children who may, in many instances be so spiritually tone deaf that they cannot hear His voice. Therefore He sends us that are in tune to the rescue.

His analogy also made me think of just how in awe we are when on a clear night we see a universe so vast with its hundreds of billons of stars and we reverence the scene. But we then forget that those stars will one day die out (some already gone long ago) whilst we humans we will live forever, yet when we look around us, many of us see others who are indeed immortal in disdain. We must begin right now to see others as our Father does we must be reborn with a new heart and a new mind, to fully repent and fully immerse ourselves in this great cause of salvation.

I know He lives and loves every person you will ever meet. Begin to see them for who they really are, be reborn!

Common Ground

This night sleep alludes me due to my continuing anxieties of the direction of my life and the direction of the lives of the people that I love, which includes all of you. As mentioned so many times before I have this dream of changing the whole world, literally. I have had a few discussions with some of you and you have expressed the same ideas and ideals but we all admit we like the "how" right now. I believe though in the act of doing, the "how" reveals itself. So I say unto you let us just go about doing something, doing good as was said of Jesus.

This night though as I lay on my back trying to find sleep I found myself in front of a congregation. Not necessarily a religious one but a mixed one. I saw myself leading a conversation about a particular community, you choose the setting. I was the host and at my back was a Muslim, a Baptist Minister, a Methodist and others awaiting their turn to address the concerns we came there for. My message consisted of "Common Ground."

We were there to discuss how to remake the community, to have a couple of speeches and then a breakout session where we would hash out ideas and goals on how to change the ways and lift the hearts of those that live there. My words were to the people that though we differ in many ways let us set that aside for the common ground that we share. First and foremost we are all kin. In every way we are brothers and sisters, whether you believe in a higher power or simply nature we all come from two original parents. My words were, that we all are here now and that we posses the power of change and hold the future in our hands here tonight. That we begin with cleaning up our streets. I said to them literally, "let's begin by cleaning the very streets!" We would begin by monthly calling on volunteers and cleaning the trash out of our neighborhoods. I warned them that this would take time to take hold but that soon people would no longer tolerate a littered neighborhood. But that the residents would rise up to a level of pride.

I then explained that we would knock on the doors and ask our neighbors what type of change they would like to see in the area, and that we would ask them to join us in the cause to bring it to pass. We would help dispel their doubt with the new look of the neighborhood, they would see that change is indeed possible and more hope would rise. I said unto them, we would begin there!

I then likened this work unto a small sapling rising out of the earth that would grow ever so slowly but that would rise to a great oak where the birds would flock and that it would give shade to the weary traveler and become a symbol of hope to many. "This is why we must do this", I said unto them.

I then told the ancient story of the Sons of Mosiah. How Ammon and his brethren traveled to live among the people who hated them most, and how Ammon through real service that lasted many years changed a whole society, not because he preached but because he came among them only to serve them. I said unto them, "this must be us, we are here to serve!"

I then introduced Reverend Morgan from the Southside Church of Christ to address the congregation.


All I am saying is that we have more common than differences, right down to our DNA, but yet why do we so easily allow the adversary to divide us? This reality was made ever more evident in a dream (as many of you know I am a dreamer) I had last night that I may relate later, but it made me more aware of the direction that we must take to survive the coming storm. I say there is a storm coming, promised so long ago and that it will be so severe that if we as a people our not united and prepared many will perish. Let us unite in common ground and let our roots grow together so that there wont just be one but many mighty oaks the world over. We can do this, together.

Radical Thoughts 3

A couple days ago my wife and I were joking around and I thought of how my Mom taught me to NEVER lay hands on a woman no matter what.You should know I was really young when told this but it has always stuck with me. I only bring this up because that while I was praying recently I was reminded of how blessed I was with really strong women in my life. I have 5 Aunts and 1 Uncle by birth. They introduced unto me friends too that were strong. Of course Bertha Lee the matriarch whom I miss dearly. I know she watches me and at times is dismayed at my actions. I also cannot forget my cousins, some who I must admit for the past many years I have not had the privilege of being around. This is for me a great sacrifice, but again I am liking myself unto a Moses figure attempting to gain strength so that when I return I do so with power and authority. With wisdom and with a way to completely alter the future.

It is amazing and a little funny when I think of Brigham Young standing on Ensign Peak shortly after entering the territory now known as Utah and stating, "Attention, the whole world..." or something along those lines.  Very few people heard him physically but what he said afterwards surely came true. He commanded them to help build up this place. To send resources, man and brain power to establish the foundation. They came and did so. This is what I am doing here saying they same thing, Attention the whole world! Yeah its audacious and to some may seem like a power trip. But many of you know me personally and you know I don't seek power. I am a little like father Lehi and admitting I am a "visionary man" and gladly accept this title. But look at what he did, he willfully left his riches and took his family to a greater land of promise. He left us a legacy and that legacy explained what we could expect in our times.

My motives are not political in nature though they may sound that way, but that they are humanitarian and spiritual. I have had placed in my mind by my mother and my God that things have to change. My focus is on the people of my race because that this is my experience. I do realize that there are wrongs that must be addresses among all people thus the reason I asked for help. It was made more evident to me by a sister of mine that she relates because her upbringing was similar but slightly different due to her skin color and surroundings. She too has a message that must be heard and a future that must be altered. My brothers and sisters we can take control of our destiny. What will the future say of us? "They saw the wrongs but no one acted to change." I refuse! I am lighting the fuse on a revolution that will alter all that we believe we can accomplish. Its bold.

The reason for my actions came to a head as of Sunday April 27, 2014. Along with the dream from a few days ago. I saw Jesus and he said that "what we are doing here today will affect everyone and everything..." He said many other things which I may address later. That along with hearing what Gordon B. Hinckley said shortly after my birth in Oct 1978 and the many others who have said that there is something special that I needed to do has set me on fire.

I have a co-worker that I was speaking with today about this and she mentioned that peopled don't like to rock the boat even though they believe the same. I know this to be true, but someone has to rock the boat before we utterly sink. I know there is a silent majority who would like for someone to say something to get the conversation started so that we can enact real change and real progress. Again our children deserve for us to leave them a better word if there be one at all to leave them. At our pace we will destroy everything.

It was recently made aware to me that the United States has been at war for 7 decades. I'm not sure why I never realized it. We entered WW2 in 1941, when that war ended the Cold War began forcing us to stockpile nuclear weapons, two nations holding the entire planet hostage. In the midst of the cold war we fought the spread of communism in Vietnam and we had a hot war in Korea. We had all types of secret proxy wars in the southern hemisphere of the Americas. When the Berlin wall finally fell we found another enemy in the middle east and fought a war there. The turn of the century we began a war that will never end, the "War on Terror", which lets face it cannot be won on a battlefield. This must be fought in hearts and minds.  We have been at war for 70 plus years! Does that not make you sick? I bet it will shock our children. I see the future generations as more tolerant and smarter with life then we are. You can already tell this will be the case because that they don't understand their racist grandparents. They don't get hate because of skin complexion it perplexes most teens in our time. Imagine what they pass on to their kids.

All the spent lives and treasure for a no better future. I understand what we fought for in WW2 there was a real threat there that had to be confronted but the others? Who knows what great men we sent to early graves and what of the resources we spent? What could we have built in those factories? What of the treasure? Could we not have really focused on eradicating poverty and hate in our own country? We are a powerful nation amongst weaker states do we really face imminent threat from Europe or Asia? We are under no threat of invasion from any of them. Why do we have a pact to go to WW3 for a country like Latvia? No disrespect to the Latvians but may of us have no idea where it is. If it wasn't for Seinfeld I wouldn't know it existed. I say bring our people home and lets start fixing our own problems. We know the politicians and the military industrial complex is not willing to stand down. I say if they want us to go to war they ought to do as the Romans did their politicians were the generals in the heat of the battles, they must go to!

We spend over $600,000,000,000.00 yearly in just defense not including healthcare and pensions for our troops. Just Defense! While we have men and women who gave everything in past wars walk our streets in any major city homeless, or begging for food on street corners. You've seen them, the majority of them are veterans a residual cost of war. What could we do if we just cut that back a little? Give us the people $100,000,000,000 and let s show you what we could do with that. Could we not end poverty?

Here's my idea: you could have people submit proposals for businesses and if the proposal looks viable and workable you give them a 1-2 million dollar endowment. They can never touch the money only the interest. They have two years to get the idea up and running using the interest. If they fail they fail but if it prospers you have just created another middle to upper class citizen who feels self worth. You never loose your initial investment so there's no risk, only upside. You do this for everyone who has a dream and an idea and watch them create jobs and wealth for us all. We could build better schools with that money. We can repair failing bridges and dams and advance culture with that money.

I rest my case.... For now.

Radical Thougts Part 2

I've been thinking about this often, how that when I needed one there were no role models. There was a void of men who had ideals and vision. There was a desert landscape, a wasteland! The "housing projects" the country over are a perfect symbol for what I mean when I say government is not the answer.


The community ought to be the place where we should be able to go to in order to seek help. This is where our community leaders indeed failed us. The Pastors and Preachers of our community churches failed us too! I know that in this rant some will more than likely be offended but at times truth indeed hurts and I want to speak truth here. All the monies donated to churches the country over and when an individual falls on hard times they are turned away and forced to rely on a government program that does not promote a sense of self esteem.


This is where I think we fell back into a form of slavery. All rounded up in two or three city blocks of steel and concrete and given free bread to stay there never progressing. Where were the voices of those like we heard in the 50's and 60's? They were sorely missed. I don't believe that there was some grand conspiracy to enslave a population but that the politicians were attempting to deal with poverty. Unfortunately the program was flawed. Instead of approaching a couple together and siting them down to plan a way that they could rise out of their dire situation, they invited a mother in and told her the only way she could get help was to evict her man. According to the program if a man was in the home then no real help could be granted because in theory he could work and should be able to support the family. Not realizing that at times things happen and people just need to get by for a little while. Now we who grew up in the 80's looked around and saw no fathers. Which pushed us to the streets to sell dope to help our mothers pay rent. My only recollection of a full time father at that time was my childhood best friend "Ratt's" dad. He commanded our respect and was great to be round. I learned lessons from him and saw the father-son dynamic is his home.


The tragedy continued because that we were forced to the streets. We saw the job prospects which were bleak. The only people who would escape would do so mainly through bouncing or throwing a ball. The rest of us who lacked talent used it to sell drugs which led so many of us to jail i.e. another form of slavery. I think of all that MLK and Malcolm and Rosa fought for we had just thrown it away. Christian Rap Artist "Lecrae" says it best in his song "Sacrifice", "Some of these rapper's reputations should be in dispute
Cause real recognize real and you do not compute
Good as layin your life down, sacrifice for a worthy cause
Not for a buncha green paper stacks, overpriced clothes and shiny cars, no.
This is sacrifice, it's givin' your all.
Even when they don't understand you, you still answer your calling
And when the world is falling and they back is turned,
You reach your hand out and pull them out that fiery furnace.
I learned that from the old heads, you know the ones that never turned back
Martin Luther King got shot for it, that's priceless you can't earn that.
Then tell me what do you think he died for? A peace prize? A holiday?
So I can rap a whole bunch of weak lines about how I'm a make my choppers spray (Huh!?)"

Which brings me to the power vacuum left when no one really rose up for us. We were left with gangsters and thugs who then took their message to the whole country via Hip-Hop. There was a complete coup on what started as house party music and a way to express the conditions we found ourselves in. I was caught up in the "ride or die" mentality.

Now we do have self proclaimed leaders like the Reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, but they don't represent me. I have a problem with the way that the only time I ever hear from them is when they are looking to sensor someone's racist rants. It's like they want us to believe that because we got a black man in the Whitehouse we are to believe that there is no racism and when we see that there is we got to stamp out by shaming. But I say we ought to look inside, we have bigger problems. Why don't I see Al or Jesses using their celebrity to walk the streets of Compton and shame those OG's and BG's  who are killing each other? Where's the outrage? I can't see MLK and Malcolm not addressing these issues daily. The Black Panthers are in my mind misunderstood, but we needed a strong willed Bobby Seale or Huey Newton. Organize us to respect ourselves and fight for a worthy cause.

I am calling you all to arms. I'm not talking about militancy we don't need weapons, we need big ideas and courage because when all the bullets are spent our ideas will live on. The future will call us blessed! I am calling all religions, we have more in common than you think. I am a Christian and my God has commanded that I allow all to worship as they wish. I am calling Muslims, to you Jesus is a Prophet, to me He is too. You call Abraham your father as do I. Jews I too worship Jehovah. Like Hindu's we build Temples to worship. Confucianism asks us to do no harm and to love one another, sounds like something Jesus once said too. What I am saying is that we all have common ground. The most important is the we are brothers and sisters.

What I am proposing is to seek to bring about Zion. I have learned more about what happened to Enoch. The Bible is a little vague on him, but I've learned that this man actually achieved something that all the Prophets have tried, to have a society that completely eradicated evil. The text states that the Lord called them Zion because they "were of one heart and there was no poor among." These people were spared the flood. The Lord took them unto Himself, the whole society! The very land in which they inhabited too.

I don't know where to start other than with myself, and family and hopefully a few of you might catch the vision and might join me first in conversation and to set a plan in motion then going about making it happen. As I said it would take courage mainly because the thing I'm discussing has gotten peopled killed. MLK, Malcolm, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, Robert and John Kennedy, Gandhi, and of course Jesus. The world struggles with change but it has to be done.

I invite you to pray unto your god and ask what you can do to bring about hope and change. I Invite you to join me in setting in motion change. I'm am going to do this! We can do this! I need help, let us set forth a new vision for our children. They deserve it. If you don't feel you can do you know someone who can? Invite them, share this.

I rest my case... For now

Radical Thoughts

It's been a while! I have so much to say, my mind is full and I need to release the tension. Over the past month I have been unable to get a full night's rest and when awake I have so many ideas running through my brain. I cant get it to shut off, even while asleep. My wife has said maybe its best that I write down it all so that I can settle it. So here I go!

Yesterday I listened to a conference address by Gordon B Hinckley from October 1978 entitled "Behold Your Little Ones" he quoted E T Sullivan, “When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home out of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.”  This stirred my soul. I want to right a wrong and do a great work. For a very long time, in fact as long as I can remember, I have felt that I would like to do a great work, I have even been promised, "The powers of heaven will open to you that you might be able to perform a work in this mortal life that  will surpass your greatest dreams..." My greatest dream is to completely change the world!

I'm not delusional in my desire but am very aware of just how difficult a goal this is. My desire is not to convert everyone, besides according to the scriptures this will not be the case. The wish is to fundamentally change the way we treat each other. I mean listen, we are all stuck on what I like to call a spaceship hurdling through space approaching a ball of gas heated to 10 million degrees, a constant danger. With debris all around barely missing us and for some reason we cant all band together and find common ground. The biggest thing we have in common is the fact that we are all here, stuck.

When it comes to real change we can rest assure that government isn't the way to achieve this, politicians are too busy trying to stay in power than to enact real change. Real change must come from grassroots efforts. From knocking on doors and sharing ideas. The government should only be there to protect our freedom to express our ideas.

My ideas are radical! I say we stand down. Disband every military in the world right now this very moment. They are a danger to our very existence. What kind of world will we leave our progenitors? There's an old Native American saying, "We do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." Something along those lines.

When you look back at war the main goal was to conquer territory and to exploit the natural resources. Now as we see with what's going on in Ukraine the rest of the world does not tolerate another nation stepping on the toes and taking land from another sovereign nation, so if this is no longer a reason for war then why not everyone disband? There is no reason we need to come to blows to settle our differences. Can we really no talk it out? The scripture states "And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."  Micah 4:3 Why do we have to wait till He shows up before we do this?

I think of the great power that came from Gandhi who by laying in a bed and fasting repelled the greatest power on earth at that time out of his land. He never lifted a weapon to do this. Nonviolence! Then I think of MLK who modeled his ideals after the same nonviolent protests and changed the minds and hearts of the majority of a racist nation who needed to repent. You had Jesus Christ who while being nailed to a cross exclaimed, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Who also rebuked His chief apostle for lifting a sword in His defense "for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword".

You see this is just the beginning of what I would like to discuss... I want to talk to and about my people. Here I am liking myself unto Moses who for a while had to leave his people, find Jehovah and then come back in a dramatic way with great power and authority to act on Jehovah's behalf in freeing his people. I told you I have BIG dreams. For we have so much potential and are loved by a God who wants us too to see our potential and to rise up and be men and women of peace and love and faith. I want to talk about what I think happened to us. When I think of the people of the 20's through the 60's I see a strong and resilient people, a people of honor even amidst oppression and then something happened... Slavery, again... To Be Continued...