Follow Up

Just days after I wrote the post below the world was hit with yet another terror attack. 84 people were killed in Nice, France by a terrorist in a truck. He plowed 3 miles through a crowd, killing 10 children and 74 others in the process. The scenes of bodies lying in the street under blankets was one I don't know if I'll be able to get out of my head. We are so desensitized to this now though. It won't take more than a few days for the world to move on. Nothing will change. Then another attack will occur and the world will express outrage until they forget again. Of course we'll still have politicians trying to take advantage of the horror to push their agendas. But other than that the world will get bored and move on. There is no regard for human life. There is no consolation for the families of the victims. At best somebody will set up a memorial fund and put a few dollars in to make themselves feel better. Although I don't mean to disparage those who donate to or set up these funds, my point is that nothing changes. We as a society grow callouses so these terror acts don't blister our daily lives when they happen. I am as guilty of this as anybody. Unless we are directly affected it's just hard to have this hit home. Unfortunately I believe these acts are simply part of the scenery until the Lord comes again in all his glory. I only expect them to increase in frequency. The rising generation is being taught that human life is not valued. Video games where mostly boys spend literally hours a day killing thousands of digital people, coupled with the utter rejection of God and his commandments, adding in the pornography epidemic and the utter lack of our media and leaders to accept their warped roles all lead to the horror we are now seeing played out on our screens almost nightly. As I mentioned in the post below, we simply ask where and how many and who did it before shaking our heads and maybe saying a small prayer for the victims and their families. The problem is, I don't know what else we can do. How can I affect the larger world around me from my little duplex in St. George? If I live a better life how will that help? I'm not sure we as Latter-Day Saints can change the course the world is on. I believe the bearings are set. The world has chosen its heading and with Lucifer at the helm, the voyage to destruction is sure. I guess the best we can do is to try to get as many people in life vests as possible.

Decent Into Darkness

I wrote this post on Facebook and thought I would also share it here. It has some of the same themes as the last post I wrote but for the most part is new.

By my count there have been 62 mass shootings with 106 dead and 274 injured in just the past 30 days and that is just in the U.S.. There is something broken in our country, in our world and it isn't guns. Never in history has a gun walked itself into a restaurant and opened fire without a person behind it. People have lost their respect for life and humanity. We as a nation are becoming desensitized to it. It's like some morbid sports score now.

"Where was it?" we ask.

"How many dead and wounded?" we ask.

"That is so tragic," we exclaim, unsure of what we can do to change anything in our ever increasingly wicked world.

The feeling of hopelessness and loss of control of our lives pervades. I find myself scoping public places, watching for crazies. I have played out in my head many times what I would do in such a situation. Unfortunately the chances are ever increasing that I will find myself in such a place. Our country is no longer safe. And what does our government do to prevent this growing trend? Fight the other party. Vote themselves raises and exemptions from the very laws they pass. Is there really a choice this election? The only choice we have is more of the same.

Yet government is not the answer. The reason people are increasingly violent is because we as a nation have turned from God's laws. The natural consequence of this is what we see today. Men have become lovers of themselves, without natural affections, striving to do evil. The cure for what ails our country is a return to values that were prevalent just a few short decades ago when we celebrated our victory in a world war and reaped the benefits of an entire generation that grew up not just hearing, but living the words sacrifice, duty and honor. That is what we have lost, and I fear we will never get it back again.

Wedding

My wedding was awesome! Thanks to all of you for helping out and being part of it! Here is a picture of our family (which Dad needed to change the cover of the blog). You all look so great! More pictures are coming, we are waiting on Aunt Trisha to send me hers and then I will be posting the albums and such.
Love, Elizabeth Hutchings :)

Lessons from Ammonihah

I have continued to watch with alarm the degradation of our society and specifically our country over the last few decades of my life. I suppose every generation has felt thus, believing that theirs was the better and the newer was worse. In some cases this was certainly not the case. I believe the greatest generation received its name rightfully. The 1920's and 30's were defined by the depression and the lead up to war. But the 20's especially were known for an introduction of debauchery and celebrating criminals that was never seen in American history. At the outset of the war America was on a downturn, thanks in part to the ultra liberal policies of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt who never saw a government program they didn't like. But on December 7th, 1941 that all changed. America was attacked in a brutal and cowardly manner. The righteous anger of a nation sanctified them. No calling was turned down, no sacrifice was too great. Some young men, denied entry into the military, killed themselves to hide their shame. Women went to work in factories, making tanks and jeeps and artillery to win the war. Many more sewed parachutes together, agreed to rations of sugar, meat and other foodstuffs, all for the cause. When the war was won the men came home, they married their sweethearts and a baby boom occurred. America was on the up and up. Confidence was high, people were happy. People valued the traditions of their fathers, people embraced faith. Why were things so much better? Because an entire generation had sacrificed, many of them their very lives, for freedom and their country. Flying the flag was not controversial, it was an honor, it was a reminder of those who had given everything so we could enjoy everything.

What then has happened to us now? How do we find ourselves in the position we are? I look no further than the examples in the Book of Mormon. In the land of Zarahemla Alma the younger saw his people beginning to grow in pride and envy. He saw that their years of plenty had corrupted what their years of war had birthed, sanctification. So he began a mission to his own people, checking their growing wickedness with the good word of God. This worked in Zarahemla and in Gideon and Shimlon, but not in Ammonihah. In that most wicked of cities I believe we find our parallel for today. Ammonihah sat amongst the righteous nation of Nephites and yet was one of the most wicked cities on earth. Today I believe that dynamic is changing. Today we have cities and on a smaller scale, homes where righteousness rules while all around them wickedness rages. So what was different about Ammonihah? I believe it was their rulers. It says that they were after the order of Nehor. Remember that Nehor's primary teachings were that although there is a God, you can act however you want and God will justify it as long as you acknowledge him with your mouth. This was never more evident than when Zeezrom is questioning Amulek and asks him point blank, "Will Christ save us in our sins?" Amulek of course answered that he would not, which Zeezrom then tried to use against him. Ammonihah was ruled by corrupt judges and lawyers who went about telling the people that whatever they did was okay so long as they, the judges and lawyers, got paid. This doctrine is no more than an offshoot of Satan's original plan, which basically took all agency, or consequence of agency from man. Satan is the author of both.

Today we see the corruption brought about because of our lawyers and judges. In 1963 JFK was assassinated by what I believe was a conspiracy to take over rule of our country. Lyndon B Johnson took over and our country has never been the same. The real decadence of the 60's happened after LBJ took over. The great society programs of 1965 were his baby, and began the true downfall of our nation, turning us from free market capitalism and personal responsibility to the welfare state. Teaching Americans that they had no need to be self sufficient, that the government would be their savior. Ronald Reagan tried to stem the tide and reverse the trend but by then all he could do was merely stick his finger in the dam while hole after hole appeared in too many places to plug. Since Reagan this country has followed the example of Ammonihah, following 1 corrupt leader after another, jettisoning the values that made us what we are today in favor of a more progressive way of thinking. Things that would have horrified our grandparents are now accepted as the American way. We once lead the world in the fight against fascism and communism, today we lead the world in decadence, exploitation and simply put, evil. Yet the lonely voices who stand to fight against the machine are thrown into the metaphorical fire and burned in public opinion the same as the believers in Ammonihah. Eventually, with the believers murdered or cast out, the servants of the Lord departed. The city was left unto itself, and a little more than a year later, was wiped completely out of existence, destroyed by other non-believers. The wicked, at war with the wicked. This lesson is both past and future. Today we stand, watching the few believers as they are cast into the fires of public opinion, as they are cast from their homes, their families, from jobs and livelihood. All for their belief in the traditions of their fathers, the traditions of their nation, all because they would not embrace the new belief, the new religion, the new God. When the fires dim and the servants of the Lord are called home, the citizens of this world who embraced the order of Nehor will be left unto themselves, and they will suffer the same fate as Ammonihah.