Given recent world events and the Prophet’s words concerning preparedness, I was not surprised to find myself in a combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting yesterday discussing emergencies and 72 hour kits. It was a general rehash of things we have all heard before and I was drowsing comfortably on the back row until one comment woke me from my navel contemplation. The comment is paraphrased as: “We all saw what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Rita. In times of crisis, the first thing that goes is law and order. I think we should include a sidearm and plenty of ammunition in our 72 hour kits.” (more…)

As I study security issues, a collegue of mine forwarded this press release to me. I seems to be an interesting opportunity and responsibility for those of us that served foreign language missions.

Subject: FW: SENATE DEFENSE BILL WOULD CREATE RESERVE CORPS OF LANGUAGE EXPERTS

Lawmakers demand national strategy
SENATE DEFENSE BILL WOULD CREATE RESERVE CORPS OF LANGUAGE EXPERTS
Inside the Pentagon
Date: November 17, 2005

Senators last week approved legislation to establish a reserve corps of civilian foreign language experts for national security missions and demanded a comprehensive strategy to promote language training at all levels of government. (more…)

Among the recent attempts at reconciling our eternal nature with the concept of spirit birth and eternal progression has been a resurgence of spiritual atomism. This concept was first championed by Orson Pratt who outlined the concept in The Seer. There are many problems with this position, not least of which is a lack of evidence and reason for its veracity. Orson Pratt also disavowed the work which stands as a foundation for the theory. (more…)

Armistice. While less than 90 years ago, perhaps more ages have come and gone since than did before it. 1918. Women could not vote. A railroad carriage. Joseph F. Smith, Hyrum’s son, had one week left to live. The beginnings of peace. Gordon Hinkley was eight years old. (more…)

This is guest-post by my friend Matt.

A comment in the director’s commentary of the movie The Mission got me thinking about the gift of killing. I don’t mean gift in the spiritual gift kind of way, but rather in the ability or talent kind of way. I wonder if this talent could in part be God-given. (more…)

My brother-in-Law recently re-upped in the Marine Corps. Of the many people I have known, he is the one I would have least expected to have joined the Marines. He is gentle, mild and without guile. Nevertheless, after September 11th, he felt he could contribute and joined the Marines. Naturally, the Marine Corps were glad to have him—he speaks Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic—a Middle Eastern Studies Graduate from the “Y”. (more…)

NOTE: This post was a quick review of Baptism for Health. In the years subsequent to this write-up, I with my co-author Kris Wright researched and published a complete history of the practice, which appeared in the fall 2008 issue of Journal of Mormon History, entitled, “‘They Shall Be Made Whole’: A History of Baptism for Health.” I refer that article to anyone interested in topic.

In our history there are stories of miraculous healings that occur upon baptism. Moreover, healing by immersion can be traced to the pool of Bethesda and the River Jordan. Interestingly, for close to a century, baptizing for health (and not for a remission of sins) was not uncommon in Mormon praxis. (more…)