“This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trials that await them.”   So spoke the Prophet Joseph Smith as he surveyed the residential area of the Nauvoo Flats, as well as the Nauvoo Temple (still under construction), from the bluff on Mulholland Street.  It was about 6:30 AM on 24 June 1844, perhaps a hundred yards from where I write now.   “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter;... Read more

    Joseph Smith’s sincerity appears in the incidental glimpses of him that we obtain from many of his contemporaries.  Here, for example, is the account given by Joseph’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, of the baptism of her husband: On the morning of the sixth day of [April], my husband and Martin Harris were baptized. When Mr. Smith came out of the water, Joseph stood upon the shore, and taking his father by the hand, he exclaimed, with tears of... Read more

    It’s science!   https://blogs.chapman.edu/press-room/2015/09/16/chapman-university-publishes-research-on-attractiveness-and-mating-in-national-study-of-americans/   Posted from Liberty, Missouri     Read more

    Ben Carson is a very good man, by all accounts.  This, however, was not his finest hour:   http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/muslim-shouldnt-elected-president-says-gop-candidate-carson/   I understand his concerns.   But I absolutely don’t believe that there should be a religious litmus test for the American presidency.   (It would be rather difficult for me to do that, given that, very recently, some were insisting that people of my faith deserve second-class status in American public life.  And, until very recently, I’ve always... Read more

    Renee Contreras De Loach kindly called the item above to my notice.  (I haven’t located the ultimate source.)  Very interesting, particularly in view of where I’m sitting right now.   She appended this comment:   Population center of the U.S. Wouldn’t it be interesting if Independence MO literally becomes the center place?For 4 decades the “center” has been in Missouri. In 2010 the census named Plato MO, located 213 miles SE of Independence.   Posted from Liberty, Missouri  ... Read more

    Liberty Jail [was], for a time, a center of instruction. The eyes of the saints were turned to it as the place whence would come encouragement, counsel—the word of the Lord. It was more temple than prison, so long as the Prophet was there. It was a place of meditation and prayer. A temple, first of all, is a place of prayer; and prayer is communion with God. It is the “infinite in man seeking the infinite in God.”... Read more

    Every time I come here, I find myself thinking about the remarkable way the history of this part of Illinois has unfolded.   Thomas Sharp and his conspirators down in Warsaw to the south, and the mob that did the deed in Carthage to the east, thought that, by murdering Joseph and Hyrum Smith, they had put an end to Mormonism.   Now, though, Thomas Sharp and his cronies are completely forgotten — except as evil footnotes in... Read more

      Just in case you missed it:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865637035/Former-Ordain-Women-leader-now-rallying-support-for-Utahs-Planned-Parenthood.html   Nobody, I expect, wants to shortchange legitimate healthcare for women.  But does that healthcare need to be funneled through Planned Parenthood?   Posted from Nauvoo, Illinois     Read more

    http://universe.byu.edu/2015/09/17/a-muslim-goes-to-church/   Posted from Nauvoo, Illinois     Read more

    Incarcerated by the Missouri militia at Independence on 4 November 1838, having escaped execution a few days earlier only because General Alexander Doniphan had refused to carry out the order, Joseph wrote to his wife Emma.  The letter concludes with a thoughts of his children and a heartfelt plea to Emma: Tell them that Father is yet alive, God grant that he may see them again Oh Emma for God sake do not forsake me nor the truth... Read more