SILENCE ENCOURAGES THE OPPRESSOR

Believe it or not, people like to push me around.

Usually, they the BPD or psychotic crowd that I have mostly encountered in the form of women that I have bumped into at work or have heard stories of others being pushed around by this type of woman.  They are usually survivors of some sort of traumatic event and are often man-haters who struggle with any normal form of relationship with men, or endure their own form of bullying at the hands of abusive (verbal and physical) men in their lives.

Occasionally, I push back.  I generally take it, take it, take some more - and then let it go.  I had to do so today on someone who is a triggered, Millennial snowflake who does not like my religion nor my politics.  Of course, I let this individual know how I feel in no uncertain terms.

Here is what it all comes down to:

DANCING WITH THE DEVIL

I just got off the phone with my wife talking the current events of today.  One of them deals with my wife's friend who is our neighbor, (a hefty stone's throw just down the road), and the daughter of Cliven Bundy.

She has had to deal with having her father in prison for well over a year - pushing two years.  And two of her brothers.  That tears at a person.  I can only imagine the relief in that family's home.

Man, if they do not love Trump and the draining of the swamp on this detail, then who could??

Had hitlery won the election, this would have gone to life sentences for all Bundy folk (while letting their fellow pedos/rapists/child traffickers off with slaps on the hands, if that).

The trial to convict the murderous FBI snipers would have gone nowhere.

With Trump, there is all likelihood that the opposite will be the case; but just say a prayer where ever you are right now, that he and those who protect him and his family, will be safe and that the ways of those who seek to hedge up his way and dig a pit for him, will fall and be buried forever in the very pit that they have digged to entrap him and other good people who are fighting for the truth.

This has been the prayer of my heart for my entire life against those who love and make a lie and who despise the truth.

When leaders of this nation or Church cover for the likes of Reid and do NOT take action, I can promise you in the name of the God of Israel, that they are part of the problem.  In a position of power to do so, I would have Reid (and likely one son of his) thrown to the curb.  I am sure many Stake Presidents (who are not drunk on power), have made moves to do so (based on Reid's stances on abortion or based on outright corruption and other blatantly anti-LDS statements).  I am sure they have been shut down in their attempts to do so by others in power positions because of the effect it would have on the Church (bad publicity, ally in Congress, favorable press for the Church, etc..... all laughable and pitiable excuses to not throw the bum out).

It gets to a point, that if you do not excise that particular cancerous growth, it will end up taking the body out.  As a Church, I have felt for years, we are collectively under condemnation because we do not excise that particular piece of human fecal matter.  I get that the mission of the Church is to spread the message of the Bible in its purest form, the affirming message of the Book of Mormon and all other true and correct doctrines.

At what point, however on that slippery slope of "acceptance by the world", do you quit bending to Babylon?  When there are women Bishops?  What an openly practicing gay man is now your Stake President?  When you decide to throw Brigham Young and Joseph Smith and Abraham and Jesus under the bus because they had more than one wife, as commanded and then seek to perform historical revisionism and make it almost as if Section 132 never existed and that polygamy was almost a fiction within our collective history??



I am on a tear today - so I will just put it out there.  There will be just a shell of a Church left (...."will there be faith on the earth when I come again?") if we do not stand up as a leadership in the Church and do the right thing from the top down?  If the voices within the Church clamor to "do the right thing" and let gays run the show (can you imagine them officiating in our Temples??), and the leadership caves, just as happened in 1890, will I have to listen to a man with a lisp and who is making eyes at me from across the altar, officiate in the most sacred places on this fallen telestial orb??

Dear God of Heaven and Earth, pray it never be so.  But, if we continue our 130 year slide, it may just be so.  I pray that the crisis spoken of (where we are told to go with the Prophet and a majority of the Brethren) does not come down to some scenario like this.  I trust the old guard - but worry about the new guard.....  I do not trust business men and official administrators (bureaucrats) who call the likes of Iohanni Wolfgramm and other greats (who exercise their gifts perfectly), on the carpet instead of learning about what has made them great warriors of God.  I trust those who are/were ministers, who live pure religion (visiting the fatherless and the widow) and who have made the focus less on programs and rigid top-down messages, who have turned it over to common people who are simply following the Spirit.  Is this not what the Savior taught?  Thankfully, that is what we have come to before we are correlated to death.  This is one of the great course corrections in the Church since the Teach My Gospel concept came out.  Imagine, teaching Investigators by the Spirit - instead of some rigid lesson plan that a monkey could regurgitate?  I would have gone made in the rote teaching the missionaries performed in the 1960's and 70's.  Far worse than orange corduroy bell-bottoms.....

It is sad to see the end of an era in President Monson.  He was not direct like President Benson or Kimball - but he was among the greats when it came to ministering and inspiring with gentle messages of love.

He drove up in an open convertible to dedicate our Chapel in 1966 when it was brand new.  That was a 13 hour drive, when roads were a lot less than they are today.  Truly remarkable life filled with energy and enthusiasm.  Truly it must have been sad, as a great proponent of Scouting as I grew up, to see it degrade into the mess it is today.  Truly despicable sellout.....  His years at the helm were some of the most turbulent since the 1870's-1890's.

I find it ironic that President Nelson is a heart surgeon - at a time when I believe that that hearts of many men will fail them.... 

Just some ramblings and feelings..... but the funeral is at 12noon tomorrow (Mountain Time).  If you go to a Stake Center, they ask that you be in your seats by 11:30am.

JESUS CHRIST AS THE GENETICALLY PERFECT COPY OF THE FATHER

I am not a biologist - and I have no background other than a strong interest in this stuff from a doctrinal standpoint.  As usual, this piece will hit a few nerves - and I do not mean to do so (I am sensitive to victims of sexual abuse).  It merely is to point out facts and data - and strongly held personal opinions as I see them.

I was talking with our OA the other day, who is from England.  She is an identical twin and is part of a landmark study by Oxford, that deals with the "nature vs nurture" debate.  The study is tracking ways that environs, which differ between the two siblings, may affect their genetic make-up.  I told her of this story and that the research from Australia may show that she is more affected by DNA than she may realize (she currently has a boyfriend - and that now-a-days usually means she is sexually active when in the mid-20's, unless the person has a value set to govern that kind of thing.....),

She looked shocked when I implied what I was implying and said she could not believe it.  I firmly stated that, aside from what snopes and other politically-motivated outlets would have her believe, it was likely true.  I base part of my belief on what I have gleaned from scripture.

Here is what I know, and in talking to my wife about this subject, she encouraged me to lay it out there with enough information that I did not just give an opinion and sound like a kook out on a limb with some wild hair-brained theory:

http://time.com/3461485/how-previous-sexual-partners-affect-offspring/

I have always known that Mary, the mother of Jesus was sequestered in the equivalent of a convent to serve in the Temple in Jerusalem until she was ready to serve her role as the Mother of God.  In this setting, she would have been sheltered from sexual impurity and/or potential rape that would have rendered her "less than up to her role".  For rape victims, the forced act of something imposed upon them, does NOT make them impure - except for one technical exception here.  There are reasons that willful sexual impurity would not be desirable in the Mother of God (the Son).  I get that - but I have always had whisperings that there was more to the equation than just this fact alone.  Mary provided one half of the impulses (behavioral and physical tendencies that were manifest in the Son of God).  In order to perform His mission, these genetic predispositions needed to be of the highest order.  I believe she fit that bill.  I have no doubt that she was in order with Enoch/Abraham/Melchizedek/Abel/Joseph Smith.  On par with Eve and so many other great women of history.  When you need to make a "critical play", you bring out the best you have held in reserve from the spectrum of women who are available to be used on the stage of life.  Mary, no doubt, was among the best of the best.  Or, more simply put, the best of the best; most "blessed among women".

However the conception actually occurred, I will not get into that (my wife and I heartily disagree as to the specifics) - but an egg from Mary was fertilized by genetic material of The Father to start the physical process of the gestation of the Son, a natural process.  I feel that the entire process was likely natural in it's entirety - my wife, as a sexual abuse survivor, feels that this would be "dirty" and below someone like Mary.  With no proof on either side of that debate, it likely may remain shrouded in mystery and the mists of time, as likely the quite private, sacred and graphic details of the moments of conception of my five children will remain so, along with details of intimate moments at the veil of the Temple and other sublime experiences will, as well.  Some things simply are not meant for public consumption - even on the Wood Zone.....

Here is where the rubber meets the road of details.  In scripture (Matthew 1:24-25), Joseph (Jesus' Stepfather), is asked to not be with Mary (in a sexual manner) during her pregnancy,

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

though I believe that Jewish law of the day would have allowed for it.  No physical consummation of that marriage until after the delivery and after her days of purification were over.  First of all - why was that detail even mentioned in scripture.  There is lots that could have been recorded that was much more significant - but this detail was kept in as part of the record.  Without modern prophylactic devices (not phylactery devices - to be sure....), there would have been a transmission of genetic material from the step-father and into the mother - and likely the baby.  Joseph has amazing lineage and was a good man, from every description of him that we have - but this was not good enough.  I believe everything about Jesus had to be SPOT ON.

I want to take a run down a bunny trail on a topic that is causing tens of thousands of people to go astray in the Church right now in our feigned Victorian and PC world (I say feigned - because most people who actually have an issue with this stuff are putting on fronts of indignation, while likely being "whores and jigalos" of Babylon themselves......  IE - they have secret unrepented sin - but are excusing it by pointing the finger at someone else to deflect possible attention away from their own poor behavior.  It is a principle, you know:

Anyway, people are really struggling with Joseph Smith having either more than one wife or can accept that - but struggle with him being married to another married woman.  First of all, if you struggle with that, you have ZERO concept of doctrinal history (Abraham, Jesus and all the other Greats who were commanded in this thing).  Secondly, you have NO concept of Consecration - the idea that we simply are stewards over those we have been given a portion to take care of in this life and even in the eternities.  Thirdly, you need to grow a pair and get a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  After this is all done, you will have no problem whatsoever.....

I will not go into Jesus having a minimum of three wives - which caused him MAJOR grief in this life, just as it did Joseph and others in this dispensation.  Victorianism in the 1800's is a cover and a sham for those who are deeply mired in dual lives and intrigue between the sheets (feigning purity, while being children of hell on the actual topics du jour).  I have read enough journals and accounts to know that stuff was going on back then, that would make people blush today.  Except, now it is openly accepted as normal - and back then, it was swept under the rug.  If you want to know more on Jesus' three wives, read the historical stuff in the blog.

As far as Consecration, I will tell you, that as any guy with normal testosterone levels, I used to be mildly jealous of other males (of interest to her) around her.  I think this is a normal telestial response of the natural man.  We sold our second house to a guy who was ripped.  I know the thing that attracted my wife to me is my brought shoulders and enough muscles to get the job done.  I have no problem with my wife having attraction to other males who are specimens, just as I do not expect her to be psycho jealous of me if I find another female to be beautiful in any way (form, mind, spirit, talents, etc).  However, I did have a twinge of jealousy of this Asian male who was ripped.  At that point, I had the typical desk jockey gut and was not in good shape.  He was.  This tendency to jealousy abruptly ended when we lost our kid and the concept that we simply are here to take care of one another dawned on me.  This further came to point when my wife ended up in the hospital after no sleep after losing our third child and trying to have two other "back-up" copies in quick succession.  Due to a series of cascading events, she was in counseling with a younger Bishop who listened to her on many topics related to these and other issues related to her sexual abuse, and she kind of bonded with him.  I really do not want to go into further details, other than to state that my wife is nearly as pure sexually as Mary herself - so you need not question her nor her motives, just that her state of mind was not what it could have been at the time.

At that point, probably the greatest life lesson I have come away with, was cemented in.  We simply are STEWARDS over those we are assigned to.  All contracts and obligations in this life that we enter into, are dependent upon our performance in keeping the commandments and covenants associated with the contract and obligation.  My child, that I felt (for a time), was wrenched out of my "control" was just a gift for the short 9 months we had him (in that go around).  My wife and remaining "gifts" are simply a fleeting - yet eternal - gift that I am to do my best by while I have that association.  In relation to polygamy or my relationship to my wife or any woman, I am simply to take the talent that I was given (yes, I only have one and may only have one through the eternities) and do the best by that "investment" that I was given.  If I prove a true and loyal servant of her, I may be given another talent at some point.  But NEVER would that gift ever be given to me unless I have done perfectly with the one that I have been blessed with.  To balance that equation, if Jesus, the ripped Asian or any other being could do better than I in my individual circumstances, then she has the option to "trade up", as well.  Marriage is a lot more fluid than we think - it simply is based on contractual obligations - and, as with anything else, we mostly breach contracts and agreements in this life.

So, do your absolute best in the Spirit of the Lord.  But, as Alabama said in one of their songs, do not hold too tightly.  There is no place for jealousy (as we know it in this telestial world), in God's economy.  It is about love and the right thing - not about "possession".  This is the key to terrestrial living - which is a springboard to Celestial living that we all seek in the presence of our Father.

Back to Joseph, I do not believe he ever sexually consummated his marriage to other women who were married (and, in many instances, those who were not).  There is NOTHING to back this up.  If I knew of something, I would put it on the blog.  It is about unrestrained honesty - as this article likely shows.....  I think the greatest harm done is when things are covered up because it might offend some snowflake who can't handle the truth.  When some hidden detail comes out, it appears as if the hider is a liar.  This is where many have had doubts - and then gone off the deep end of apostasy.

To be sealed to another married woman, I have ZERO problem with.  People simply need to get things figured out from the perspective that I have gained over time.

As it stands, if there is a better man to raise my children than I, I would rather see that, than have them raised by second best.  I also know it is hard for another man to love another's children.  It can be done - and is done all the time, but the person who best understands his kids is the one who sired them and gave them part of him.  As far as my wife in the eternities, or on this earth, I want her to be with whom she will be happiest and with whom she will gain her greatest potential.  I believe that happens to be me (we bumped into each other for a reason) - but if it is another, I love her enough that I would want her to be with that man.  To many, that will sound twisted and backward.  Go ahead and think that - and then let wisdom, time and perspective set in and you will see it God's way.

Do not fault Joseph for his actions.  You will find that you are on the wrong side of the fight.  He had/has Godly perspective.  If you struggle with anything - it likely is because you do not.  Pray about it.  Over time, your perspective will correct itself.

If you struggle with other married women being sealed to Joseph Smith during his lifetime, please consider that Mary was espoused to Joseph (considered married by Jewish Law) and it is entirely likely that she conceived Jesus in a normal and natural way - just as that life which was forming inside her, had to grow and then finally leave her body.  So, to boil it down for you, God saw fit to - by whatever form you want to imagine - cause a married woman to become pregnant with His child for His reasons and His reasons alone.  If you struggle with Joseph Smith doing what I believe he was commanded to do, precisely because he understands the true nature of eternal marriage and stewardship and he will have those women through the eternities because he has more fully kept his covenants in this life and achieved amazing and great stature in a short time of mortal probation - and because they NO DOUBT will want to be with him, hitched to his wagon over the other pitiful (compared) mortals.  If you struggle with all that - then you will SURELY struggle with the FACT that Jesus was conceived to an already married woman by one who has power to bring worlds into existence and who has unimaginable power and glory. 

Folks, it is not God, nor Jesus who has the problem - nor Joseph Smith - it is you and your pitiable and shrunken point of view and perspective.  You are likely spiritually anemic and need to hit the cosmic gym.....  In the end, it is survival of the spiritual fittest in this life.  If you fall short, then you will end up a loser to the true things that matter.  If you are angry with me for what I have said above, then you have no place in a terrestrial world.  I have only come to the conclusions I have above precisely because I want to at least have a taste of that diminutive glory that is just around the corner - let alone the indescribable glory of living with the Being who condescended to a mere mortal who was overshadowed by the Spirit to protect her from the glory of the Father of her Spirit, in order to make a Savior who was capable of rescuing the rest of us from our wretched and fall state.  One who had to be mortal - yet divine in nature in order to complete His mission.  Was there any other way?  Apparently not.  This was THE path.  It involved a few details that are hard for telestial mortals to comprehend.  We need to get over it.  Our views on marriage are distorted by the craftiness of men and the devil himself (who will never know any joy that comes from wholesome marriage and the resulting children).  Whether it be the gross distortion that males are not to marry, that it is a higher order to remain celibate (and then largely gay....), or the idea that one should zealously disregard the commands given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - and the Savior - and Joseph, and throw the entire lot under the bus because we are likely doing acts in secret, while on the outside were whited sepulchres full of dead mens' bones.  Brigham Young and Jesus both ripped on the establishment of their days for being just that.  Both scourged for their beliefs and practices - until in both instances, those practices were extinguished by popular opinion and public outcry.

Folks, we live far below our privilege.  Those who choose to live in a Millennial Glory will choose the higher road - or at least not be hostile to the principles of Stewardship and Consecration.  There are two options.  We have the choice to go down one path, or the other at least in our thinking.

Read the Book of Mormon - get a testimony of it's truthfulness.  All else will fall into place.  It is so simple that it is almost stunningly painful.

SISTER SPECHT

This is interesting.  I am going to double check this with my wife, who served in Austria around the time this doctor of religion died.  The fame of this woman will have been legend in her mission, as well.  Like anything that is gleaned off the internet, it could be susSpecht:

Some of you will perhaps be familiar with this Testimony. I first heard this account from a Missionary in Sacrament meeting and it so impressed me that I inquired where he had gotten this most inspirational story? He told me that it was in a book by a Brother Scott Anderson. I ordered several copies of the book and I have shared this account over the years, as it TOUCHED ME PROFOUNDLY and I believe that every Single word of it is indeed True! :-) It's been circulating for years and is on the internet. If you haven't yet read it, then I highly recommend it and I think that you will also then agree that this is a true story and an exceptionally inspirational and motivational Missionary experience of Brother Anderson's that REALLY DID HAPPEN. :-) After the Written account is a rare AUDIO presentation from the BYU- Idaho Lecture archives that I found for you! :-) This is a WONDERFUL MISSIONARY TOOL to help spread the truthfulness of the Gospel of our Savior with those who do not yet have it! :-)

"Do We Really Know What We Have?"

As written by Scott Anderson in his journal.
We had an unexpected moment in the mission field. We knocked on a door and a lady said something to us we had never heard, “Come in”. Now remember, I was a German missionary. This never happened to us, not even the members would say that to us. At this point suddenly this dear lady invited us in. My companion said, “Do you know who we are?” “You want to talk religion, don’t you?” she said. “Yes we do” explained my companion.
“Oh, come in. I’ve watching you walk around the neighbourhood. I’m so excited to have you here. Please come into my study.” We went in and seated ourselves and she sat down behind the desk.

She looked at us with a smile, then pointed to three PhD’s hanging over her head. one in theology, the study of religion, one in Philosophy, the study of ideas, and one in European History specializing in Christianity. She then kind of rubbed her hands together and said, “Do you see this row of books here?” We looked at a well arranged row of books. She then said, “I wrote them all. I’m the Theology professor at the University of Munich. I’ve been doing this for 41 years. I love to talk about religion. What would you like to discuss?” My inspired companion said, ” we’d like to talk about the Book of Mormon.” She said,

“I don’t know anything about the Book of Mormon.” He said, “I know”. Twenty minutes later we walked out of the room. We had handed her a Book of Mormon and this trade off that we had been on was over. I didn’t see this lady for another 8 1/2 weeks.

It was a small room filled with people, {when I saw her again}, as she was standing in the front dressed in white. This Theology professor at the University of Munich was well known throughout Southern Germany. She stood up in front of this small congregation of people and said, “Before I’m baptized I’d like to tell you of my feelings. In Amos 8:11 it says, there will be a famine in the work of God. I’ve been in that famine for 76 years. Why do you think I have three PhD’s? I’ve been hungering for the truth and have been unable to find it. Then 8 1/2 weeks ago, two boys walked into my home. I want you to know these boys are very nice and wonderful young men, but they didn’t convert me. They couldn’t; they don’t know enough.” And then she smiled and said, “but since the day they walked in my door I have read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, all of Talmage’s great writings, Evidence and Reconciliations by John A. Widtsoe and 22 other volumes of Church Doctrine.” She then said something which I think is a challenge for everyone of us here. She said, ‘I don’t think you members know what you have.”

Then in her quiet, powerful way, she said, “After those years of studying philosophy, I picked up the D & C and read a few little verses that answered some of the greatest questions of Aristotle and Socrates! When I read those verses, I wept for 4 hours.” Then she said again, “I don’t think you members know what you have. Don’t you understand the world is in a famine? Don’t you know we are starving for what you have? I am like a starving person being led to a feast. And over these 8 1/2 weeks I have been able to feast in a way I have never known possible.”

Her powerful message and her challenging question was then ended with her favourite scripture, “For you don’t see the truth can make you free.”

She said, “these missionaries don’t just carry membership in the church in their hands, they carry within their hands the power to make the atonement of Jesus Christ full force in my life. Today I’m going into the water and I’m going to make a covenant with Christ for the first time with proper authority. I’ve wanted to do this all my life.” None of us will forget the day she was baptized. When she got finished being baptized, she got back out and before she received the Holy Ghost , she stood and said, “Now I would like to talk about the Holy Ghost for awhile.” She then gave a wonderful talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost.

{Later in Elder Anderson’s journal}

Two young missionaries, both relatively new, {one had been out about 5 months, the other 3 weeks}, accidentally knocked of the door of the seminary in Regensburg. 125 wonderful men were studying to become priests inside. They didn’t realize this was the door they had knocked on because it looked like any other door. They were invited in. In somewhat of a panic, the man said, “I am sorry we just don’t have time right now.” The 2 missionaries were relieved, but then he said, “Would you come back next Tuesday and spend 2 hours addressing all 125 of us and answer questions about your church?” They agreed that they would, and ran down the road screaming. They made a phone call to their mission president and cried for help. The mission president called us and said, “Do you think that dear lady that you have just brought into the church would like to come help these 2 missionaries with this assignment?” I called her to explain what was to happen, and she said, “more than I would like to eat, more than I would like to sleep, more than…” I said, “Fine, you don’t have to explain.”

We drove her to the seminary, and as we went in, she grabbed the 2 missionaries that had originally been invited, put her arms around them and said, “you are wonderful young men. Would each of you spend about 2 minutes bearing your testimony and then sit down and be quiet please?”

They were grateful for their assignment. they bore their testimony and then seated themselves. Then she got up and said, “For the next 30 minutes I would like to talk to you about historical apostasy.” She knew every date and fact. She had a PhD in this. She talked abut everything that had been taken away from the great teachings the Saviour had given, mostly organizational, in the first part of her talk. the next 45 minutes were doctrinal.

She gave every point of doctrinal changes, when it happened and what had changed. By the time she was done, she looked at them and said, “In 1820 a boy walked into a grove of trees. He had been in a famine just like I have been. He knelt to pray, because he was hungry just like I have been. He saw God the Father and His Son. I know this is hard for you to believe that they could be two separate beings, but I know they are.” she shared scriptures that showed that they were and then said, “I would like to talk about historical restoration of truth.” she then, point by point, date by date, from the Doctrine and Covenants, put back the organizational structure of Christ’s church. The last 20 minutes of her talk were absolutely brilliant. For the first time we realized that she had been their Theology professor. She continued by saying, “Last year when I was teaching you, I told you that I was still in a famine.

I have been led to a feast. I invite you to come.” she finished with her testimony and sat down. What happened next was hard for me to understand. These 125 sincere, wonderful men stood and for the next 7 minutes, gave her a standing ovation. By the time 4 minutes had gone by I was crying. I remember standing and looking into their eyes and seeing the tears in their eyes too. I wondered why they were applauding after the message she had given. I asked many of them later. They said, “to hear someone so unashamed of the truth, to hear someone teaching with such power, to hear someone who finally has conviction.”

The truth is what can set us free…Do we really know what we have?

The sister in this story is Gertrude Specht and she was a real person. She was baptized at the age of 75. She also spent a lot of time and effort doing missionary work. A 1973 Ensign article mentioned her efforts in creating a large conference to help introduce people to the LDS Church. The following is taken from this article:

As a young woman Gertrud Specht attended the University of Munich from which she obtained a doctorate degree in economics. Later, while doing historical research, she became interested in genealogical work and spent a great deal of time collecting information concerning her ancestors without knowing why it was so important. She has always had a burning desire to learn. She speaks six languages and is currently, at the age of 78, enrolled in philosophy classes at the university. Because a doctorate degree is so respected in German society, she has been able to open many doors to the Church since her baptism. She was set apart as a district missionary and has helped many people gain testimonies of the gospel. She always attends their baptisms.

Sister Specht remarked that three years ago her life seemed all but over, but then came her conversion to the true church. She has been a member less than three years, having been baptized shortly before her 75th birthday. Now, she says, her life has “expanded to tremendous proportions.”

Working with the press relations, she spent countless hours preparing for the conference. When she is asked where she gets her energy and how she keeps going the way she does, she answers that she can only stay healthy when she has a pressing reason for living and that there is nothing more worthwhile than living to serve the Lord.

Because of her efforts many favorable articles concerning the Church have appeared in German newspapers. Typical of these was an article that appeared in the Munchner Merkur on Friday, August 24. The article was headed “What Joseph Smith Saw Through Prophetic Glasses,” and went into some detail about the Church, the conference, and the Tabernacle Choir, but it began with two paragraphs about Sister Specht:

“She is resolved, full of grandmotherly grace, and when she speaks of her religion, her enthusiasm is that of a young girl’s. Mrs. Doctor Gertrud Specht (‘In my youth I studied political science, then history, and now I am studying philosophical theory and logic at the university.’) is 77 years old and is public relations director of the Munich Branch of the Mormon Church.

“ ‘I was a good Catholic,’ Mrs. Doctor Specht said, ‘but I found myself in a crisis. I just couldn’t accept certain doctrines. Then I heard about the Mormons. They showed me what I felt, to be right, so I was baptized.’

In the year 2000, Professor Daniel Peterson, the Director of FARMS (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies at BYU) received this email and asked Marc A. Schindler (who once was Gertrude Specht’s home teacher) to verify the story. Although he was not there when Sister Specht was converted and could not authenticate the story, he said that the journal enrty from Elder Anderson is close to the story he remembers Sister Specht telling him about her conversion. Some facts may have been embellished, but he felt the majority of the story was accurate.

Gertrude Specht died in 1986.

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestmail
← The 17 points of the true churchBook of Mormon translator converted →
One thought on “Gertrude Specht – Do we really know what we have?”

CHER NOTE;
LINK TO THIS ARTICLE;
http://holyfetch.com/gertrude-specht-really-know/

Donald
August 9, 2016 at 8:18 am

This is a true account, that is if you believe Scott L. Anderson telling it himself. I don’t know about his journal, but this account (almost word for word) was shared by Scott L. Anderson during a devotional address he gave at Ricks College, January 21, 1992. It is titled “Accept and Overcome Challenges”. This has been my favorite talk on the Atonement for years, but I have never been able to find a full transcript of it, which I am sure has led to the question of its validity simply because you cannot search for it based on what is said in the talk. However, the BYU-Idaho website has an audio recording of the entire 45 minute talk in their archives (which includes the account in question starting at the time stamp of 7:15). You can listen to the talk by going to the following link:
https://byui-media.ldscdn.org/…/devo_audio/1992_01_21_ADV_A…
And you can find the BYU-Idaho devotional archives at this next link (change the year in the drop down menu to 1992 and Scott L. Anderson’s talk will be close to the bottom of the page):
https://web.byui.edu/DevotionalsandSpeeches/
You will see that none of the devotionals from 1992 have been transcribed, nor do they have video recordings, only audio recordings.
Thank you for the information on Gertrude Specht. I have long wondered who that lady was and I have wanted to learn more about her.

Like

Like

Love

Haha

Wow

Sad

Angry

Comment

WHICH GROUP FROM FRANCE IS COMING TO MY BLOG EN-MASSE??

I noticed a major up-tick in visits from France.  Like double my normal readership.

Leave a comment - and tell me about yourself, si vous plait?

INTERESTING FOREBODING BY WILFORD WOODRUFF

"Great calamities and disasters caused by nature are predicted to come upon the earth beginning at the time when the missionaries are called home and the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. It appears that these disasters have already begun but will be sent by God with greatly increased intensity at that time. These judgments can be classed under three general headings:

1. Pestilences.
A. A desolating sickness is to cover the United States.
B. It will come rapidly and will cause people to lie by the hundreds and thousands unburied.
C. The sickness will come mainly upon the wicked, but some of the saints who are righteous will also suffer and die.
D. Pestilence will continue to be poured out, from time to time "until the earth is empty."

2. Famines
A. The Lord has said that a great hail storm will destroy the crops of the earth. Famines may also be caused by the changing of seasons (which will affect growing periods), and by lack of water.
B. A serious lack of water already exists in the United States. Government specialists predict that by 1970 the problem of water shortage will be of disaster proportions in many areas.
C. Water pollution is also a serious problem and is increasing in intensity. The purification processes in use today do not remove all dangerous elements from the water supply and some diseases have already been found to have been transported through the culinary water supply.

3. Earthquakes, Floods, Tidal Waves, Storms, etc.
A. Prophecies say that New York will be destroyed by earthquake, Albany by fire, Boston by tidal wave, and that many other cities on the American continent will be destroyed or left desolate.
B. Earthquakes are increasing in number and intensity. They are happening frequently in the United States. They are far more destructive than atomic bombs.
C. Although the manner of its destruction has not been revealed, Jackson County, Missouri, the site for the New Jerusalem, is to be swept clean of its inhabitants.

The Saints will suffer from these calamities to a degree, but will, in general, escape the worst of these disasters to the extent that they are righteous." (Prophecy, Key to the Future, Duane S. Crowther)

Attributed to "Awaken" on FB

TRUMP JUST PULLED THE CARD ON THE ESTATE TAX!

My father died penniless, so it does not affect me - but so glad this wealth-transfer and power grab is now over:



I have a policy to not pass on wealth to individual children.  All I have seen with the transfer of wealth, is a destruction of family relationships by typically greedy people.

I have a story here that is worth relating for posterity. 

Back in 2000 or 2001 or so, my parents (having seen both sets of their siblings implode over fights over the ranch, etc), decided to divide up the assets while they were alive.  All 8 of my parents' folks showed up for the melee....  My mother had many nice antiques and some really cool heirlooms and art from her own hand and from her travels.  That was a smart move by my mother to instigate this.  To this day, one sibling that inherited her father's ranch, still does not have open communication with the remaining two living siblings in their 70's and 80's.  Sad.  Truly sad.  Bloody mammon!

My folks had worked hard to build 11 acres with three homes in the Seattle area.  It was thru pure grit and determination that my folks did it on my father's meager and sometimes spotty income.  I learned so much about sacrifice and frugality from the both of them.   At one point, I determined that I really liked the back 5 acres which were across a deep ravine and no way to easily access it.  The fir trees on that piece were in the 4-6' diameter range.  Beautiful things that made for a setting with views to the mountains that was one of the best I knew of.

My mom offered that piece to me if I agreed to pay the taxes on it and developed it.  As a freshman in college, I hatched a plan to move an 80' flat car onto concrete abutments and get power/gas onto the piece as well as access that could handle a cement truck, etc.  Around the time of the family meeting to split the assets, I mentioned the back five plan to my eldest brother and he cut me down at the knees and announced that, as the eldest, he had rights to the whole thing and all three houses on the front piece.  I was not going to have any part of it.

I was pretty hurt at his reaction - it was harsh and cutting.  There was no question in his mind.  Most of my siblings love the things of the world.  They are good people - but many family get-togethers in the past would be solely focused on who had what and how much - instead of relationships and more important things like gospel topics.  I would leave them feeling pretty empty.  I like things that are a little more substantive.  I think it has changed in recent years as wisdom has been acquired - but the old days were not fun.  Anyway, as my eldest brother said this, the Spirit whispered that "no one will have anything". 

I was not sure what that actually meant at the time.  A few years later, my mother passed on and left my dad in a state where he was not thinking straight.  A business partner (former Stake President) convinced him to invest in some scam.  Some bankster took the title to the place from my dad (was totally paid off on the 11 acres) for a SECURED loan for 1/3 the value of the property at a whopping 24% interest with monthly payments of $5,000.  My dad, on retirement income, of course could not make the payments and was too embarrassed that he had been swindled out of the family "farm" and he lost it all over three missed payments.  I came away from that with three life lessons:

1.  People will stab their own mothers over money.  It cankers the soul.  Never covet anything.  It will only lead to a bad end.  Whether money, other peoples' wives, or talents of others.....
2.  Banksters are just evil money-grubbers like lawyers and most other parasites who rely by deception and subterfuge, on their income.  The more they can deceive, the more they make.  There is a point where making an absurd profit at the expense of someone else who is desperate (or not thinking straight - as in the case of my father) is simply wrong.  There is a cosmic state of "fair" that needs to be adhered to.  In the Millennial world, interest will no longer exist.
3.  Do not mess with people who keep good principle because the Law of the Harvest is in effect.  When you bless the lives of those who do keep good principle, you will reap dividends.  I am quite interested to know what happened to the Stake President from Florida who ended up with my dad's $230,000.  White collar crime in the Church is at an all time, raging epidemic.

Anyway - the Trump card is in effect.  Great news for those who like to allocate that which they work for, where they want to allocate it.  Instead of supporting more inner city crack-babies and terrorist states.

MY TAKE ON MILITARY SERVICE

I cannot sum it up any better than this:

Make no mistake, real patriots support non-interventionism and THE CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC!
Only traitors support imperial actions/deployments and sticking our nose in everywhere it doesn't belong.
AND, the "war on terror" is BOGUS. What resistance there is to American overseas adventurism is BLOW BACK for illegal, immoral and unjustified American interventions going back as far as the Spanish-American War.
REAL PATRIOTS QUESTION THERE GOVERNMENT and keep it accountable. Both parties are now made up of GLOBALIST TRAITORS who put you overseas to help make the USA more and more hated by the rest of the world.
YOU ARE MAKING US LESS AND LESS SAFE BY OBEYING INTERVENTIONIST LIES.

 And I know that I will make many people angry.  Those in the military whom I respect feel the same as I do:  they felt like meat in the NWO meat grinder.  I support and sustain the Constitution which never had ANYthing to do with building Empire.

I hold no ill will towards those who were duped into entering military service due to cunning and lies of the recruiters and the media that pushes an agenda (my wife's biological father died under these circumstances).  The last legitimate war we have fought was likely the Revolutionary War.  Most others, including the Civil War were built up on false principles.  The wars to defeat the American Indian were also mostly shams and contrived.  They were defending their way of life, every bit as much as the average Afghani is defending theirs.  Do I agree with either of those two ways of life?  Not on most points - but it does not give us the right to go onto their land, manufacture a reason to be there and then go subjugate them.  God will NEVER sustain it.  President Kimball was right - and I used to kind of think he was too dove-ish for his stance.  He was spot on.

Folks - when we pray for our success in our military endeavors, we are praying to the wrong god.....

I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO BRUCE JENNER....

Now we have the smoking gun for that wild-card changeout:

Looking around a little bit, it's not limited to Ibuprofen. It seems to be all NSAIDs, but also not limited to NSAIDs. This includes Claritin, Zyrtek and most if not all other antihistamines.
In addition SSIRs (antidepressants) have an antagonistic effect on testosterone as well as Spironolactone, and corticosteroids (Asthma inhalers).
I thought maybe acetaminophen would be safe since it's not a NSAID but it also has a negative effect on testosterone.
I looked up opioids, yep... they lower testosterone too.
So basically, don't take pain killers or at least limit their use as much as possible.

Too many ibuprofen after doing the decathlon back in 1978!  I am kind of kidding - and kind of serious here.  I feel that there may be something to this - and it is possible that there is some form of collusion.  When crazy stuff goes down that curtails populations (reproductive issues), including plasticizers in water bottles, etc., BE SUSPICIOUS.  It is a NWO agenda item to radically reduce populations and to do so with no major resistances.  Fluouride in is just one of the pieces of that tangled puzzle.

ALL CHARGES AGAINST CLIVEN BUNDY AND FAMILY DROPPED

Harry-you-know-what is going to get his.  Man, can I NOT wait!!!  One does not need to Reid between the lines to know that there was outlandish corruption going on in that whole mess.

To see him behind bars for the corrupt Chinese solar deal/ranch steal and then the hitlery Oregon uranium deal with the Russians....  I think I would die and go to heaven for happiness.

To see the FBI chumps in jail for the murder of LaVoy Finicum and all peoples compensated for loss of life, income and damages for distress in the tens of millions of dollars??  Priceless!

To see Harry R. stripped of Church membership after thrown away for felony corruption - now that would call for a celebration bigger than New Years.  Maybe even a few illegal fireworks in Canada....