I’ve been working on a family history project revolving around my great-grandmother, Zetta Curtis. The catalyst behind the project was some letters my Aunt Bertha lent me about 25 years ago between Zetta and two of her sisters, Lottie and Alice, written from about 1894 to 1901. I’ve worked on the project from time to […]
Balaam of Pethor was one of the few non-Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament. His story is in some ways convoluted but the lessons to be learned from it are quite simple. A prophet to be a prophet must strive diligently to speak the word the Lord gives him to speak, not the words that […]
I’ve been wanting to write for a while a missive on why I call myself a Christian. There was a time in my life when I would have found even the idea of calling myself a Christian distasteful, much less stating it publicly. But we all grow and evolve in time. I am not trying […]
I have in the past written and posted when I was disappointed with something that was said or not said during the bi-annual General Conference of my Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In light of that, I thought it would be right to express my general gratitude for a General Conference […]
I am not a historian although I received a bachelor’s degree in history prior to going to law school. My approach to historical topics is more similar to a lawyer’s than a historian’s. As a lawyer when I’m researching an area of the law I often do so by reading case law. Case law is […]
When my kids where quite young I became friends with a man I will call Oskar. Oskar was older, probably in his early 60’s, and after spending a short time with Oskar it became clear he had some serious mental health issues. Oskar was likely bi-polar. My understanding was that at one point Oskar had […]
The term “The Anti-Christ” has had many different meanings for many different peoples from the time of Jesus of Nazareth’s crucifixion two millennia ago to today. The word has been used at times by various Christian groupings against fellow Christian religionists, non-Christian religionists, and secular or atheistic groupings. Some non-Christians and former Christians have embraced […]
For each of us, the path that leads back to Our Heavenly Father is uniquely our own. Our Heavenly Father is aware of our unique individual circumstances, our strengths and weakness, the tools at our disposal and those things that we lack. By way of analogy, imagine if tomorrow every person now living was inspired […]
The history of the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well known to most adherents. As the founder of the Church, Joseph Smith, Jr., recalls, when he was about 15 years old he was troubled because there were various churches in the early 1800’s in the frontier area he lived […]
(I wrote a little while ago a short summary of the Book of Jonah and I copied that at the end of this missive.) If most Christians were asked to name a prophet, I think they likely would mention men like Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, or Elijah. Some of the Old Testament prophets, like Moses, were […]