Doctrinal Essays

When a government building or edifice is so important that it requires military protection, there is often a ceremonious changing of the guard that takes place. This procedure, like the one at Arlington National Cemetery, or Buckingham Palace, provides relief to the first crew as the next crew comes on duty.  The scriptures tell a story of a similar changing of the guard [i] . The full story is best realized by studying at least three books of scripture, which include Nephi's vision, the Savior's ministry among the Ancient Americans, and a sermon Joseph Smith gave to the early saints, now known as Section 45 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Applying the metaphor of the military guard to the scriptural example, the special edifice that requires protection is the gospel, or God's kingdom on the earth. The most ceremonious and formal guard to care for her was called to duty about the time of Moses. The manner of guardianship in the kingdom was given by him and others of...

I love being a teacher at BYU Idaho. One of my favorite parts of teaching, is when my students teach me. There is one particular assignment where I tell my students to take whatever interests you and tell the class how GIS relates to it . It's a broad directive, but I'm always impressed at how well they respond, and the kinds of subjects they come up with. Yesterday, one student gave a presentation on the amazing migration of fish from the time they hatch in mountainous streams, who then migrate to the ocean, and eventually swim back again to the precise location of their hatching. Along the journey, some fish have been recorded to jump 12 feet in the air over small obstacles. But some of the larger dams we build create an impossible barrier to their hopeful migration back to their spawning ground. For this reason,  fish elevators have been constructed . These systems provide pools where fish can jump from one to the next, and gradually increase in elevation, and continue t...

Principle Scriptures Doctrine and Covenants 46 1 Corinthians 12 1 Corinthians 14 Moroni 10 Mormon 9 What They Are They are many ( Moroni 10:8 ; Doctrine and Covenants 46:11 ; 1 Corinthians 12:4 ; ) Teach the word of wisdom ( Moroni 10:9 ; Doctrine and Covenants 46:17 ; 1 Corinthians 12:8 ) Teach the word of knowledge: Moroni 10:10 ; Doctrine and Covenants 46:18 ; 1 Corinthians 12:8 Exceedingly great faith Moroni 10:11 ; 1 Corinthians 12:9 The gift of healing Moroni 10:11 ; Doctrine and Covenants 46:20 ; 1 Corinthians 12:9 Faith to be healed: Doctrine and Covenants 46:19 Working of Miracles: Moroni 10:12 ; Doctrine and Covenants 46:21 ; 1 Corinthians 12:10 Gift of prophecy: Jacob 4:6,13 ;  Moroni 10:13 ; Doctrine and Covenants 46:22 ; 1 Corinthians 12:10 ; 1 Corinthians 14: 1 (a preferred gift according to Paul); 1 Corinthians 14: 39 ; Num. 11:29 (Moses wanted all to be prophets); Discerning of spirits/administering spirits...

In my profession as a GIS Analyst, I often take multiple datasets and overlay them on a map in order to extract meaning that would otherwise be unnoticed when looking at a single dataset. It recently occurred to me that I could do the same thing with many of the prophecies concerning the Last Days. I've done this research for my own benefit, but am posting it here with the hope that scriptural enthusiasts will benefit from it. My approach has been to set up a spreadsheet with six key prophetic accounts on the left, and significant repeated events along the top. Then, I just put a marker any time a prophecy mentioned one of those events. All scriptures are provided on the second page, and take the reader to LDS.org and highlight the respective verses. It creates an interesting way to observe who prophesied what. Looking at my final chart clearly indicated some interesting occurrences that would be practically impossible to spot without some sort of visual aid. As a quick caveat,...

A talk delivered in Sacrament Meeting Good morning Brothers and Sisters. Today It is my privilege to combine my interests in Ancient Israelite worship with this year's theme of keeping the Sabbath day holy. While we do not practice our religion in the same way as they did, there are a number of similarities that have deepened my understanding of the Sabbath day, sacred ordinances, and my attitudes toward worship in general. My hope is that we can all be uplifted and edified together as I share some of the lessons I've learned about Sabbath day observance with you. SIN If you think of the Law of Moses as a complex and ancient system of worship, you're not alone. There are a lot of rituals and procedures that are easy to get confused about, but its overall purpose is really pretty simple. It outlined certain things that made one unclean, and a process by which they could become clean again. At its core, the Law of Moses was to point the Israelites to the future Mess...

Through the years I've learned a lot about a particular weakness of mine. This weakness is multi-faceted and becomes clearer to me with each passing year. I don't learn the way most people do. 1) I process information slowly - efficiently - but slowly. I liken my brain to an old computer with lots of memory, but a slow processor. 2) I am often blatantly ignorant of completely obvious facts. This one embarrasses me the most and is the reason I tend to prefer taking a back seat in group conversations, for fear I will expose this weakness. 3) The previous two weaknesses combine into the third weakness of being unable to speak my mind clearly when put on the spot. My mind is full of deep interwoven thoughts, but to get them out orally is extremely frustrating to me. Fortunately, the Lord has provided a way for me to do so through writing. I was recently reminded of these 'disabilities' when I was in my Biblical Hebrew class and had an awkward moment from category 2 abo...

Throughout the history of good and evil on earth there have been many key moments when evil might have prevailed over righteous had the Lord not intervened. Such times demonstrate the Lord's tender mercy to the righteous, along with his vengeance upon the wicked. But despite his miraculous ability to protect and preserve he has always used practical means of separating the righteous from the wicked before exercising judgment. Such will be the case again in a future event. "The Callout", as it has come to be known in some circles, will offer protection during the  Days of Tribulation  to those who hear the Lord's voice, and it will safely lead many of the elect who harden not their hearts into the Millennium (see  Doctrine and Covenants 43:29 ). The Callout is not widely discussed or understood. Just enough has been revealed to start conversation and  lead to speculation. Those who have not studied this subject may think of it as a future event when the saints...