Glory to the Most-High

My cup is overflowing, it is neither half full or half empty; and we can only hope for a larger cup. We answer this hope with work, this is the true purpose of work. All of our efforts should be so focused but we are distracted by the need to eat and other neccessities of life. If the growth of the vessel depends upon the size of our brains, then we all know very well that the brain stops growing. But the human spirit may not be defined by our physicality, and it may not be judged by appearances. Its a very hard thing to love all people equally, without considering deeds. Perhaps it's too much to expect from one man, but God is constantly pouring out his strength.

Either we are men and women and belong to the human-species, or else we do not belong here at all. How many men are there in the world today whom we will refuse the hand of brotherhood? If we choose to discriminate between men for any reason at all, its makes the case that we are not Saints.

Joseph Smith claimed to be a prophet and founded a church in North America, these people have become known as the Mormons. Whatever Joseph was in life, its clear that he was a brilliant young man and very charismatic. He may have been an honest man as well, but we do not know for certain. Of course we may choose to believe that he was honest, or to believe that he was dishonest; and there are shades of grey inbetween of course. Even an honest man can at times be misstaken about some things, and a dishonest man may be motivated with the best intentions. Its unfortunate that Joeseph didn't live long enough to become an old man like myself. He was murdered by an angry mob, and perhaps those people even had a good reason to feel angry. Despite the fact that he claimed to be informed by the One-True-And-Most-High-God; at the time there was no clear successor to the presidency of the new church. Owing to this fact the membership split at that time, and since that time many men have claimed to be prophets and successors to Joseph. The larger church is called "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."

Officially I became a member of that church many years ago, I was babtised and confered with a priesthood. Therfor I am a preisthood holder in the Aaronic Priesthood of that Church, it is the lesser of two priesthoods. At the time that I received the priesthood, there were no vows made, in fact I was not told that I was a priest. I only learned more about the priesthood over the course of my membership, until finally I had to ask the Bishop if i was in fact a priest of Aaron. I don't think I actually heard the news until several years after the fact.

The Aaronic Priesthood is primarily concered for the worldly welfare of Humanity in general. But under normal cicumstances our responsibilities are considered to extend only to the members of our immediate family. It may also extend to other church members within our ward if we are in attendance. The Aaronic Priesthood blesses the sacrement for the membership, I have done this myself on at least one occassion. The church wards are very well defined regions, and each one has a Bishop presiding over it. The responsibilities of a Bishop in the church are primarily the responsibilities of the Aaronic priesthood, and those responsibilities may extend to non-members who reside within the ward. But normally if you want the Bishop's help you have to ask for it, and most non-members will not know that they can ask. The church sends missionaires all over the world to recruit new members, they've even run ads on televison. But the fact that non-members might get help from this church is not well publicised. The Church leaders want us to make a commitment, and I've heard a few stories of them refusing to help. And for the most part we have to accept the help that's available even if its not exactly what we want.

The good members pay a full tithe, 10% of their worldly income; and because of this the church has become exceedingly wealthy and powerful. The church owns a great deal of land, and has made improvements on the land including the construction of several Temples. Recently a temple was built here in Saint Louis, Missouri and briefly it was open to the general public before being consecrated. Normally the temple is closed to non-members, and to members who are not in good-standing with the church. A long time smoking habit had prevented me from gaining the good-standing status, but I did tour the Saint Louis temple, and even helped out with a little work there.

When I married, I was not married in the Mormon temple as is the custom. My wife and I were married in a non-denominational Christian church; and we exchanged vows that included the words, "til death do us part." Whenever church members marry in the temple they make vows for eternity, and yet divorce is not uncommon. My wife and I have become seperated, a judge signed a settlement agreement between us, and she has since remarried. She even has a daughter with this other man, who was also previously divorced, and has a couple daughters from that marriage. However I never gave my consent to the divorce, I was never given the opportunity to speak with the judge who signed papers. I was not present in the court room when the papers were signed and I had no legal representative present at that time. And of course I do believe in a higher court, I think that the matter is relevant even if it's not relevant within a court of law. A judge of the Law can only decide these cases if both parties agree to be bound by his decision, he has no authority to annul marrital vows that were made in a church before God. That is my opinion, which only leads me to wondering how we so often fail to make lasting commitments.

It would be one of the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that as members we should be bound by the laws and customs of the land. They can propose the doctrine but they can't make me agree to it, it will always be subject to personal choice. And I choose not to be bound by artifical limitations and restrictions that men may impose upon one another. Of course I'm not entirely free to do as I please, national borders are enforced, my freedom of travel is restrained.
And if I am judged to have commited a crime in this country, my freedom of travel may be further restrained, or I may be subject to other kinds of penalties. Of course I am not strong enough to oppose the strength of the American people, they can do as they please without my consultation. But I am not a patriot of theirs, its my right and privledge to claim seperate interests, and to claim that my interests are disserved. Perhaps the federal authorities should consider me to be a resident alien, but I doubt they would be willing to consider soverignty.

If they would agree to soverignty they would be forced to exercise diplomacy at the risk of conflict. But of course I pose no threat to this or any other Nation of people that would be believeable. I have no army of the world's young men and women standing behind me who would be willing to fight and to kill for my cause. I do not employ assassination to eliminate the people who I do not like; and I have no desire for such an army. Nor will I commit the violent crime myself, because I beleive that it is a crime against Humanity. I will merely wish and wait patiently to gain the upper-hand, such has been the way of my life for the most part. And it may be a very long wait, watching the world, but I do have eternity if not eternal life. Besides it would be wrong of me to hope for dominion instead of equality. But one thing is abundantly clear, we must work and we are interdependent.

No-one is depending on me, i'm retired from the production of material goods and services. I make nothing but poo, on deposit in our septic tank. I don't have to worry too much about food, my life is fairly comfortable and think thats a good thing. It's good for all men to feel comfortable in life, and simply to enjoy spending time. But I think that some men would agree that it takes Hard-Work to be well-informed and to make good decisions. And for the most part I still do this kind of work, if only for my own gratification. We can only hope that we continue to grow, gain wisdom, knowledge, understanding; we can only pray that the vessel is enlarged by the process. And then we might hold more of this stuff that the One-True-And-Most-High-God is constantly pouring out. Is this Wealth, so easily available to one and all? It is only an indication of what we can become, if not Gods at least more than we have been. With greater ability comes the power to do more, and by growing God get's his glory.