Saturday, October 31, 2020

41,456 Extra Dead Americans (and Counting)

There has been a lot of criticism of Sweden's supposedly lax approach to Covid-19. While the vast majority of the planet has been employing lockdowns out of fear, Sweden has not. Initially the Swedes had lots of cases of Covid and apparently a lot of deaths relating to it. Just ask CNN.

As of October 31. 2020 the death rate per one million people in Sweden is 587.

The death rate in the United States is 712. 

If you subtract 587 from 712 you get 125.

If you multiply 125 times 331.65 (there are 331,653.000 people in the US) you get 41,456.

That number is only going to go up. Sweden's death rate will go up a little and the US's will go up a lot. 

Apparently Sweden cares more about their people than the media portrays.

We may all need to move to Sweden in order to avoid tyranny and literal death.



Monday, October 26, 2020

JESUS the Messiah

Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics, Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Protestants, Atheists, and Agnostics have only one critical thing in common...

Each group needs JESUS or they will go to Hell and suffer for their own sins.

You do not need to read the Bible to find JESUS, but it helps. As CHRIST pointed out to the Jewish experts on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) there is no salvation in scripture study. The scriptures point to JESUS.

You do not need to read the Book of Mormon, but it helps immensely. There is no salvation in reading it, but it is filled with people being saved by relying on "one Jesus Christ, a son of God."

You do not need to accept that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but he did assist in bringing forth a lot of information that points to CHRIST. There is no saving power in Joseph Smith. He was a man almost infinitely more righteous than I am, but he cannot save you. Joseph knew better than most that JESUS is the center of salvation and everything else a mere appendage.

You do not need to join a church, and religion probably is a hindrance on the path to GOD. You can find CHRIST while religious, but it makes it harder. 

JESUS was not just a being who did some awe-inspiring miracles. He brought people back from the physical grave, to show He had power to bring people back from a spiritual death.

JESUS was not just the smartest person that ever lived with dozens of great stories that even a child could understand. He is way, the truth, and the life.

JESUS was not just the best teacher in history, He is the model of a saved person.

JESUS is not just the son of GOD, He is a GOD.

JESUS is the only way to salvation. 


To take a quote from The Shawshank Redemption and modify it for our purposes here:

"Get busy repenting and finding CHRIST, 

or get ready to spend some time with Satan."


Friday, October 23, 2020

Tricking a Virus: Refer to previous post for an update

 I added some ideas to the end of my previous post. You can decide if it is better or worse.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Combination = Alliance Part 2: Fear can fool a virus

Just in case there is someone even lazier than I am that reads this blog, I submit the following discovery.

After waiting 45 years to look up the word "combination", as in "secret combination" from the BOM, I caved and used dictionary.com.

Just as the title explains a combination can be an alliance. I always guessed it was something like that, but now I am sure Gadiaton and Kishkumen and company had a covert alliance. Their goal was power, kind of like all the fools running this world right now...with the exception of those sensible Swedes.

That last sentence is NOT ironic. Sweden understands that a global virus is a "you can pay me now, or you can pay me later" conundrum. The Swedes have wisely opted to not destroy their country in a misguided attempt to trick a virus into not infecting anyone. The foolish leaders of the rest of the world are now dealing with crippled economies and the continued rise in Covid cases. Most importantly the death rate goes up in the land of wishful thinking (US) and the death rate has flat-lined in Sweden. There are vastly fewer hospitalizations in Sweden than the US. 

This is kind of like the gospel. We can repent now and avoid having to pay for our sins later. JESUS has already paid for those sins, and it would be eternally tragic to waste his infinite efforts to save us. 

That would be dumber than trying to think a virus will go away if everyone stays inside.


Friday, October 9, 2020

A Desolating Scourge

desolate (verb) desolated, desolating

1. to lay waste, devastate

2. to deprive of inhabitants, depopulate

There has been too much talk about Covid-19, and I am sorry to add to the total tonnage about this touchy subject. Some people are scared because their cousin died from it, and so they live in fear. Others do not know anyone who has succumbed to this virus, and so they party like it is 1999. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. 

I feel this is serious illness, but not serious enough to suspend common sense. I am an out of shape 55 year old, and I have not yet gotten it, and if I do, I might die. That would put me in the minority of humans. Most people who get it, do not die. I feel for those who suffered from this even if they did not die. I feel for the families of those left behind. 

I also feel for those who have lost loved ones to any other tragic end.  I had a sister die of complications from Celiac disease. I miss her, but I do not expect governments to take drastic measures to protect us from wheat. 

There has been some talk in the Mormon world that this virus is part of the calamities of the last days. I would agree that the power grabs by every country on the planet (except Sweden) might be a sign of things to come. I would disagree that the virus is a "desolating scourge."

Desolating does not mean killing part of a population, it means you eliminate everyone. The Jews were supposed to make the Land of Canaan desolate, and when they did not finish the job, they triggered their own eventual demise. 

I have never met GOD, and I obviously do not speak for Him. I am fairly certain that if there is a desolating scourge to come, it will kill everyone GOD targets. Not just old people, and not just 1 or 2 or 3 out of every 100 people would get it. Lots of people.

When GOD unleashes a scourge that makes desolate, there will be no doubt in anyone's mind what is happening. There will be no debate. 

GOD is patient, until He isn't. Covid is serious, but it is not the end of the world. Stop worrying about something you cannot control like a virus, and start focusing on repenting and finding GOD.

Monday, October 5, 2020

LDS goal is to have a temple in every suburb in Utah?

I am always interested in where the Mormon leaders have decided by fiat to put some more money-wasting temples. By fiat, I mean that men decided and JESUS was not part of the process.

This October conference has been no different.

First, Utah gets its 25 temple to go with a population of 3.4 million people. 1.4 million of whom are not LDS. Of the remaining 2 million people only a third of them go to church every week. Of that 666,666 only half are old enough to possess a temple recommend. Of that 333,333, only 250,000 have a temple recommend (owing to the fact that at least 90.000 of them lied).

That leaves us with one temple per 10,000 card-holding members (liars included).

Second, Bolivia gets a second temple in a curious locale. I served a mission to Bolivia when there was only one mission in a country geographically the size of California and Texas put together. The first Mormon temple was put in Cochabamba which makes sense because of its central location. The second LDS temple will be in Santa Cruz (technically Santa Cruz de la Sierra). 

The LDS press release stated that this city in the southeast region of Bolivia is home to 3 million people. A quick check of the internet gives us a real population of 1.5 million. So the church did double the number of people in this city, the way they double the number of members of the church worldwide every spring.

La Paz is the de facto capital of the country, with numerous stakes and thousands of faithful members. It has now been passed over twice, and I believe I know the reason. Mammon. If you do not know Aramaic, then you can just call it Money. Here are the factors that put a temple in a far less deserving spot.

1. Santa Cruz is wealthier than La Paz. 

2. Any tithing coming from La Paz members and the outlying Altiplano and other mountain close by like Oruro would be negligible. Why? Because the very few rich people in Bolivia are not Mormon, and the many poor people pay ten percent of basically nothing.

3. Russel M. Nelson is an idiot.

Finally, for the 110th straight conference in my lifetime there was no mention of any homeless shelters.

It is astounding that people still waste two weekends a year believing they have the golden ticket to Heaven. Even more astounding is a church with CHRIST's name in the title, and hundreds of billions of dollars in the bank, that refuses to help poor people.

"And upon my house shall it begin..."

JESUS


Friday, October 2, 2020

Why BYU football gets to break the law

As a former BYU football player during the 1980s I participated in 3 Friday night home games in Provo, Utah. My sophomore year (1986) we lost to Colorado State in Provo, and my junior and senior years we beat Utah State in Provo. Why is this important? Because BYU received special dispensation from the NCAA to play these 3 Friday night home games. These games ordinarily would not be allowed because they violate laws that protect high school football. If every college was playing on Fridays, there would be far fewer people in attendance at local high school games. 

To this very day (at the time I write this BYU is playing Louisiana Tech in Provo on a Friday night), the NCAA grants BYU this ridiculous exemption under the guise that this is a special religous weekend. What is so special? LDS General Conference, aka the most boring weekend in the history of religion.

I totally respect BYU for still not allowing their teams to violate the Sabbath and play on Sundays. I laugh at the reasoning behind having to play every other year at home on the first weekend in October. Why does the LDS church make its flagship school play on Friday night? To avoid a conflict with one or both of the 2 insipid meetings on Saturday.

If the LDS church were getting information from JESUS and relaying it every 6 months in General Conference I would walk the 750 miles to Salt Lake if I had to. Unfortunately,  as most clinically sane people know, the Mormon church is not getting revelation anymore, and so the entire weekend is a chance for sycophants to quote their superiors who are higher up the hierarchy. 

If JESUS had something He wanted Mormon leaders to say in conference, leadership would not have to worry about a football game being played at the same time. Any sincere truth seeker would either be in attendance or be tuning in to hear what GOD had to say. No threat of that every happening. 

Now all Utahns have to do to avoid intense boredom is watch Alabama or Clemson or Ohio State play during conference. Or they can do something more important like weeding or napping. If it weren't for the Tabernacle Choir singing a few hymns of praise, the whole thing would be grounds for lawsuits involving religious torture.

My freshmen year (1983) Steve Young and company beat PAC 10 champion UCLA in Los Angeles 38-37 on "conference saturday." Because the game was in California, we were "forced" to play on Saturday. I am sure the tabernacle was full of fools that day, but most of the TV sets in Utah were tuned to ESPN. UCLA was the PAC 10 champ that year because the league had not yet allowed in 2 weak athletic schools (Utah and Colorado). With those two lesser schools the league became the PAC 12 in a ploy to get a conference championship game (and millions of dollars) for football.

BYU ended up ranked 7th in the country in 1983. I did not play very much as a back up, but I got to watch the greatest season of quarterbacking in college history. I know Steve Young was robbed by not winning the Heisman trophy that year. 

The 1984 National Championship team did not include me, because I was serving a mission in Bolivia. Based on JESUS's promise in Matthew 19:29, (with no inspired change by Joseph Smith)

"And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren,

or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands

for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold,

and shall inherit everlasting life."

I would not trade that time talking to people about JESUS and the Book of Mormon for anything. I do regret helping 84 people join a false church.

By the way, it is BYU 28-LA Tech 7 at halftime on Friday. 

Tomorrow, Saturday, the old guys devoid of priesthood, but full of priestcraft get their chance. A chance to blather on twice without having to worry about something else more interesting happening nearby. And with absolutely no chance of anything interesting happening in the conference center either.