Why is that when I google topics, I often get LDS posts on the first page? (chuckling)

On Wednesday evening, our church family is tackling Jeremiah 34.  Verse seven in the chapter triggered for me memories of Lachish ostraca that I remember discussing in seminary.  It is a fascinating archaeological study.  (When in England, go to the British Museum to get a glimpse of some of the potsherds.  And when you are combing Israeli Tells, try to discover some new artifacts.)

So in desiring to know what is on the first page of a google search for ‘lachish letter 4 ‘, I get deceased professor Hugh Nibley, Jeff Lindsay (his blog is here), and the famous Backyard Professor, Kerry Shirts (his blog is here).

(And Kerry, it looks like a 20-year-old Catholic (Dei Verbum777) has been busy chatting at/with you?)

We are digging for God’s truths in our Dino Detectives Vacation Bible School this week.

Monday-Thursday, 10:00am-noon, kindergarten through 6th grade:  Come join us!

In my 6th grade class, there our 15 of us packed in my church office.  I see so much potential in these young people being used for the glory of God.

Creation ex nihilo – all the way!!!!

Praise ye the Lord!  Praise God in the sanctuary!  Praise Him in the firmament of His power!  Praise Him for His mighty acts!  Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

Will polyamory emerge within your local ward boundaries? (HT: SI)

Graham could.

But how can people believing different gospels stand together?

Doran is right.

During July, the Title of Liberty Flag is a big thing in Idaho Falls.

See here and here.

But in this Sunday’s Idaho Falls paper, Corey Taule (Opinions Page Editor) takes the Idaho Falls mayor to task for signing a proclamation and declaring July Title of Liberty Month in Idaho Falls.

Corey writes,

The Book of Mormon tells the story of Captain Moroni, a central figure in LDS theology, tearing off his coat and writing on it the following words: “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children.”

Moroni fastened his message on the end of a pole and called it the Title of Liberty.  Believers flocked to Moroni’s banner, which was eventually “hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land.” 

Some think a new group of believers will flock around the Title of Liberty banner in order to save the United States Consitution.  LDS writer Michael J. Snider says this would fulfill a prophecy from Mormon church founder Joseph Smith.

The modern symbol is an almost exact replica of Moroni’s coat. . . .

. . . . By issuing his proclamation, Fuhriman [our town mayor] gave the city’s official seal of approval to a group specifically rooted in one religion.

This is more than one person giving a speech.  It’s an entire community’s endorsement of a symbol that unquestionably derives from one religion’s primary text.

Corey goes on in his post, “Separating religion and politics”, to encourage elected officials to “leave the official seal at home.”

I would disagree with Corey.  But to my LDS friends, I have completely different foundational premises on “God, Family, Faith, Peace and Freedom.”

1.  Feeling very refreshed in God.

2.  A dump truck unloaded a big pile of S.E. Idaho Snake River lava rock in my backyard.  This week, I placed a 9 foot rugged cross (two thick cross beams) in the middle of the lava rock.  Backyard barbecues will never be the same again.

3.  In the future months ahead: to God be the Glory!

4.  For only God can get the glory for such conversions as BYU professor Lynn Wilder (HT: Tim).  John 6:44 is real.

Next week, I will be a teen speaker at a Bible camp in Wyoming.

And the weeks after, I will be swamped, too.

So I am taking a break on HI4LDS.

But I will be back.  There is much to share.  Many heart issues to talk about.  Thanks for reading, LDS friends.

Philip Yancey writes,

“Christian historian Mark Noll remarks that the song ‘Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus’ plainly errs when it says, ‘And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.’  No, he says, the rest of the world grows clearer, not dimmer, in the light of Christ.  God created matter; in Jesus, God joined it.”

– Christianity Today, July 2009 (p. 64)

“When we are reminded on every page of our theology texts, and in every  breath of preaching, that there is no God but Father, Son, and Spirit, we can see idols for what they are — vanity and vapor.”

– Peter Leithart’s Trinity Paper for Nick (concluding statement)

Upon a life I did not live

Upon a death I did not die-

Another’s life, Another’s death

I stake my whole eternity.