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LARAMIE - Forty years ago, 14 black University of Wyoming football players were kicked off the team for wanting to wear black armbands to protest The Jesus Christ Church of Latter-day Saints' policy of not calling black men into its priesthood. But on Tuesday, members of the "Black 14," as well as others involved in the situation, returned to Laramie for a panel discussion to both remember and teach about an incident that's little known among young people and is still a sore subject among many who lived through it. On Oct. 17, 1969, on the eve of the Cowboys'...

Writings of the Fathers of the Church  Alexander of Alexandria (Saint)   - Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius Alexander of Lycopolis   - Of the Manicheans Ambrose (340-397) (Saint) (Doctor)   - On the Christian Faith (De fide)   - On the Holy Spirit   - On the Mysteries   - On Repentance   - On the Duties of the Clergy   - Concerning Virgins   - Concerning Widows   - On the Death of Satyrus   - Memorial of Symmachus   - Sermon against Auxentius   - Letters Aphrahat/Aphraates (c. 280-367)   - Demonstrations Archelaus   - Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes Aristides the Philosopher   - The Apology Arnobius   - Against the Heathen Athanasius (Saint) (Doctor)   - Against the Heathen   - On the Incarnation...

A recent convert recounted a conversation he had in his shop. It went something like this: A friend came in and said, "Hey, I hear you're a Mormon now." "Yep." "So, you worship Joseph Smith?" "Nope." "But other Mormons do, right?" "Nope. Not a one of 'em." The convert explained that Joseph needed a Savior like the rest of us do. He was "just a prophet." "Just a prophet?" "Yep. But a really great one." "How so?" "Had a big job on hand, putting things back that were lost for, like, centuries. Had to do it all before he died...

Forty years ago, BYU and Wyoming met at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyo., for a football game that turned out to be much more than a game. It was October, 1969 -- a turbulent time in American history, with demonstrations and protests abounding around the country, sparked by the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. So when 14 black Wyoming football players decided to wear black armbands for the game against BYU -- to protest what they considered to be "racist practices" of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns and operates BYU -- and...

Christ, Lunatic or God? If reason alone were all we had to establish the existence and essence of God, we might feel curiously dissatisfied. If God is a Supreme Spirit, omnipotent and of total benevolence, the origin and end of us all, why does He not speak and re-assure us? The Christian claim is that, in fact, God has spoken to mankind first in the prophets of the Old Testament and last of all through His Son made man. The historical existence of Christ is what we are now concerned with and also with His claim to be the Son...

Eldorado, Texas » Attorneys will hear closing arguments Thursday in the trial of a polygamous sect member whom the state alleges sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 2004. Fifty-first District Judge Barbara Walther told jurors Wednesday that "we are getting very close" to the final stage of Raymond Merril Jessop's trial and asked them to bring a packed suitcase in case lengthy deliberations require them to be sequestered. The state is expected to recall at least one witness -- a Texas Ranger who was the lead investigator in April 2008 when authorities raided the Yearning For Zion Ranch and uncovered...

Five Hard Truths That Will Set You FreeBy: Msgr. Charles Pope Some years ago I read an essay by the Franciscan Theologian Richard Rohr. I will say that I do not share a lot of agreement with Richard Rohr (no need to detail that here) but I found this particular essay compelling. I do not recall the exact title of that essay but in my mind the title “Five Hard Truths that Will Set You Free� seems the best title. The following five truths from that essay are indeed hard truths. They tend to rock our world and stab...

MARSHFIELD, Mo. — Prosecutors have charged four Amish bishops in southwest Missouri with failing to report suspected child sex abuse. The four men were charged Tuesday with one misdemeanor count each. Missouri law requires people with "responsibility for the care of children" to report suspected child abuse. Examples of mandatory reporters are doctors, nurses, social workers and teachers and ministers who are not engaged in a "privileged communication." A lawyer for the four men questioned whether the law applies.

PROVO — Mormons are a peculiar people — not only in their religious beliefs, but in the political arena as well... SNIP BYU assistant political science Chris Karpowitz...unique findings were...Mormons are still peculiar... The study surveyed 35,000 Americans, including 250 Latter-day Saints, and the rough data showed that Mormons are more conservative than self-proclaimed, born-again Christians in some areas and less conservative in other areas. "The finding is … Mormons and evangelicals may appear to be politically sympathetic, but it's wrong to infer that these two groups are always in sync," Karpowitz said. For example, it's evangelicals, not Mormons, who...

Most Swedenborgians I know hesitate tackling a end times topic. Growing up, I was taught that the second coming of the Lord commenced on June 19th, 1771 and beginning then, many commenced building His New Church here on earth. From Johnny Appleseed and Helen Keller, we have inspiring stories of Swedenborgians who went out in novel ways into the world to spread the message. I joined Free Republic at the end of 2003 interested in the election and found the religious forum full of committed folks that I respect talking about end times topics... lots of things on prophecy was...

The announcement that the First Unitarian Church will celebrate its 225th anniversary next year is a reminder of the long and contentious epic of religion in this community. First Unitarian started in 1785 as the Second Parish Church. It split off that year from the First Parish, the established Congregational Church located on the Common. It is remarkable that Worcester’s two oldest churches still survive and flourish whereas dozens of others have since blossomed and faded away. The First Parish Church is now located in Tatnuck, where it proudly displays its Paul Revere bell on its lawn. The Second Parish...

Orders are coming now for my chosen ones that have been waiting for the timing of my will . The sweeping of the penduluum's timing is poised before my throne as a gravitational pull holds you to earth , so the hearts of my children are laid before me and as no other time before my humble servants are about to enter into an opened door revealed only to the few( obedient) , the Chosen(overcomers) and this door is an entryway into not only the all of me but the paradise of my love abiding ,eternal , flowing yet existing...

Throughout the ages, many have obtained guidance helpful to resolve challenges in their lives by following the example of respected individuals who resolved similar problems. Today, world conditions change so rapidly that such a course of action is often not available to us. Personally, I rejoice in that reality because it creates a condition where we, of necessity, are more dependent upon the Spirit to guide us through the vicissitudes of life. Therefore, we are led to seek personal inspiration in life’s important decisions. What can you do to enhance your capacity to be led to correct decisions in your...

Larry David found comedy fodder in piety on the latest episode of his series, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ On the show’s most recent installment, which aired Sunday, David urinates on a painting of Jesus Christ, causing a woman to believe the painting depicts Jesus crying. … During Sunday’s episode, David, who created, wrote and produced “Seinfeld,” visits a bathroom in his assistant’s home and splatters urine on a picture of Jesus. Instead of wiping it off, David leaves the restroom. Minutes later, David’s assistant enters the bathroom and concludes that Jesus is crying. She then summons her mother to the bathroom,...

The following message (though not this picture) was posted yesterday on the Mormon Church's public affairs blog. It explains the group's unhappiness with recent news reports that refer to "splinter groups" which hive off from the Salt Lake City-based "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (AKA "the Mormon Church") as "Mormons." These splinter groups (AKA "Mormon Fundamentalists") assiduously devote themselves to the practice of the doctrine of polygamy (which was renounced by THE Mormon Church in 1890) and around whichever Viagra-addled alpha male has set himself up as the prophet, seer, and revelator for that particular harem.

Mormon Apostle Dallin Oaks chose a friendly audience deep within the Book-of-Mormon-belt for his now controversial October 13 speech in defense of the Mormons’ ongoing fight against same-sex civil marriage. Speaking to students at Brigham Young University-Idaho, Oaks decried the continuing erosion of religious freedom and the declining influence of religion in the public sphere, before mounting a strongly-worded defense of “the ancient order” of marriage against the “alleged ‘civil right’ of same-gender couples to enjoy the privileges of marriage.” Elder Oaks recalled expressions of outrage directed at Mormons and acts of vandalism against Mormon temples and wardhouses committed after...

Washington » Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid keeps a copy of the Book of Mormon in his office just off the chamber floor. There's a second copy handy to give away to someone in need of spiritual guidance. "I've had more than that," says the Nevada Democrat, pulling the extra edition from his desk drawer. "I have one left." The Temple-recommend-carrying Reid is very active in his church, say fellow members in the Washington area. But that may come as a shock to some Mormon critics who contend that the Senate leader's political stands put him at odds with The...

My beloved brothers and sisters, I extend my greetings to all of you as we commence this, the 179th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. How grateful I am for the age in which we live—an age of such advanced technology that we are able to address you across the world. As the General Authorities and auxiliary leaders stand here in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, our voices will be reaching you by various means, including radio, television, satellite transmission, and the Internet. Although we will be speaking to you in English,...

It happened again this week. Call it the Helen Radkey Game. Radkey, a vocal critic of the LDS Church's proxy baptism, finds the infamous or famous in the vast genealogical database of the church. SNIP Just read some of Radkey's quotes: * "It's blatantly wrong to seal a person who took a vow of celibacy as a Catholic priest and is so revered in his Catholic religion," said Radkey, a former Catholic. "It's insulting to perform such an action posthumously. It's very disrespectful..." Radkey tends to heap blame on the institutional church, when most of the blame rests with misguided...

Church members from Utah and abroad gathered on Friday to hear some Book of Mormon stories their teachers have never told them. The lessons centered around Mesoamerica, including Mexico and Guatemala, as the most likely setting for Book of Mormon peoples and events at the 7th annual Book of Mormon Lands Conference at the Red Lion Hotel in Salt Lake City. The conference drew 280 attendees — the conference’s biggest crowd ever — as a result of key speakers such as Dr. John L. Lund, Joseph Allen and Jerry L. Ainsworth, said Stephen L. Carr, senior vice president of the...

First the atheists began an ad campaign in London, and now atheists are getting ready to advertise that they are “Good without God”. Starting next Monday, a coalition of local groups will run a monthlong advertising campaign in a dozen Manhattan subway stations with the slogan “A Million New Yorkers Are Good Without God. Are You?” The posters also advertise the Web site BigAppleCoR.org, which provides a listing of local groups affiliated with the Coalition of Reason, the umbrella organization that coordinated the campaign.The campaign — which is being paid for by $25,000 from an anonymous donor — follows a...

This past week, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church raised a strong voice of warning in defense of religious freedom... Those who see his talk solely, or even primarily, as a reaction to the Proposition 8 battle in California and its aftermath either have not read the talk or willingly wish to minimize its importance. SNIP It is fair to say that no other religious group in the history of the America has greater standing to rise to the defense of religious liberty than do the Latter-day Saints. SNIP Without meaning...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has proclaimed to the world consistently since its beginning that there was an apostasy of the church founded by Jesus during his Palestinian ministry and led by his Apostles following his ascension. This is a fundamental belief of the Latter-day Saints. If there had not been an apostasy, there would have been no need for a restoration. Latter-day Saint theology asserts that the church of the Savior and his Apostles in the Old World came to an end within a century after its formation. The doctrines which its inspired leaders taught were...

Prayers are requested for Mrs Clamper. The good Lord took her this morning at 3:50 to rejoin the angels

LONDON – The head of the World Council of Churches has called upon Christians to live out the core message in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and treat others as their neighbors. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia was speaking at the opening of the WCC’s conference on the response of churches to racism and other forms of discrimination and exclusion. Pointing to the unprecedented gains of anti-immigration parties in the recent European Parliament election, Kobia warned that racism was “still alive” in the world. He urged some 50 church leaders and theologians convening in Utrecht, in the Netherlands, to...

Two stories published in The Salt Lake Tribune this week, as a British friend of mine would say, put the cat among the pigeons. The first story reported that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints baptized a recently canonized Roman Catholic saint by proxy and sealed him to a wife for eternity. "Father Damien, the Roman Catholic priest who cared for lepers in Hawaii in the 19th century, apparently is a saint twice over," Kristen Moulton wrote. " ... There is no evidence Damien ever married, which would have been a violation of his vow of...

Are Mormons Christians? That's one of the biggest issues members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say they encounter in today's society. "To us, to be Christians is to be followers and disciples of Christ," said Steve Stanfill, president of the church's Evansville stake, a group of 12 congregations in Southwestern Indiana, southeastern Illinois and Western Kentucky. Some groups insist Mormons are not Christians. One reason is differences over the nature of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. As "Christianity Today" once explained it, Mormons teach that God began as a finite being who achieved his exalted...

A manifold witness I have placed in you , All that is faithful and true , A oneness of The Father and I in one breath , Can you imagine this depth , For what once rested upon me , Was the one and the three in complete harmony , And so it is even now My fullness with you , For as you witness me all 3 come through ~ ~ ~ John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father,...

Nobody could prove them wrong. They said that Joseph Smith had a faulty revelation in 1830. They said the revelation proclaimed that the copyright to the Book of Mormon would be sold in Canada. They said the revelation was a failure and that Joseph was a fallen prophet. And, best of all, there was no copy of the revelation for anybody to check against their story. This all changed on Sept. 22 with the publication of the latest volume of the Joseph Smith Papers: "Revelations and Translations: Manuscript Revelation Books." For more than 160 years, there was only one side...

Oracles of my servants are true and report what I am doing today for as my word forget the former things behold I do a new thing and I shall speak it through whom I choose without man's approval or their vain imaginations rooted in pride and knowledge of the flesh and not the kingdom for they know not of my ways as long as they seek to admire their flesh . So "my" chosen and few shall speak of new things and things to come and the shallow minded shall not conceive the things of the Spirit of The...

The filmmakers want to crack open your heart. So that even if you've heard -- or you think you've heard -- everything you need to hear about being Christian and being gay, about feeling unwelcome in a church pew, you will be willing to open your heart. To listen again. "We're deep believers in the power of hearing someone's story," Daneen Akers says. Daneen is a new mom and a former English teacher. Now she makes documentaries with her husband, Stephen Eyer. The California couple made a movie about fibromyalgia a few years ago. Now they're traveling the country for...

LDS apostle Dallin H. Oaks on Tuesday likened the post-Proposition 8 backlash against Mormons to the persecution blacks endured during the civil-rights struggle. Now Oaks faces a backlash himself. "Were four little Mormon girls blown up in the church at Sunday school? Were there burning crosses planted on local bishops' lawns? Were people lynched and their genitals stuffed in their mouths?" asked University of Utah historian Colleen McDannell. "By comparing these two things, it diminishes the real violence that African-Americans experienced in the '60s, when they were struggling for equal rights. There is no equivalence between the two." Oaks, in...

My dear young friends, I am pleased to speak to this BYU-Idaho audience. I am conscious that I am also speaking to many in other places. In this time of the Internet, what we say in one place is instantly put before a wider audience, including many to whom we do not intend to speak. SNIP And now, in conclusion, I offer five points of counsel on how Latter-day Saints should conduct themselves to enhance religious freedom in this period of turmoil and challenge. SNIP Fifth...Latter-day Saints must be careful never to support or act upon the idea that a...

Jealousy is not a condition but a choice and though some may seem as though they are deserving truly this is reproach before my spirit and my altar “ strange fire “ , so as to keep with the findings of their fleshly worship “true paganism “ , for to craft your own belief into existence as a god is truly blasphemy and reckless abandonment to the true foundation of my love . So vanity and this hideous nature create a stench to my nostrils and ways (Isaiah 30) for it is truly an empty sounding gong before my (...

Prayers are requested for Mrs Clamper who is in the hospital after a sudden illness. Outlook is not encouraging.

Father Damien, the Roman Catholic priest who cared for lepers in Hawaii in the 19th century, apparently is a saint twice over. Damien, who was born Joseph De Veuster in Belgium, was canonized a saint by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday in Rome. But Helen Radkey, a critic of the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Monday that research shows Mormons have both baptized Damien by proxy and "sealed" him for eternity to a wife named Marie Damien. There is no evidence Damien ever married, which would have been a violation of his vow of...

More than a hundred years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) outlawed the practice of polygamy. LDS records, however, indicate that early Mormon leaders, Joseph Smith Jr. and Brigham Young, have both been “sealed” (married) for eternity to hundreds of wives. Despite its current temporal ban on polygamy, the LDS Church promotes polygamy on a perpetual basis. Polygamous unions, mainly on behalf of the dead, using living Mormons as proxies, are routinely performed in LDS temples. Mormon fundamentalists — representing the sects of Mormonism which embrace early Mormon teachings that made polygamy a central part of...

There is a storm brewing and this storm shall not stop or deviate from its path and the name of this storm is " Righteousness " " for my name's sake " ! My name is on my priests as a placard upon their foreheads and I shall not be defamed ! Therefore now I shall work my outstretched arm over the nations to perform this " My Will ", for The Father has said "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased !" . So watch now as I " well up " in my children yeah...

I am calling you into a oneness of abundance and grace can you see it ?! For the children "know" ! This is not a work but a surrender \o/ \o/ \o/ Allow me alone to be and become your shepherd . Through times of darkness I am your light , Through times of division and hardship I AM The Love that brings " all " together . You see ?! See me in all things for I am your eyes and your submission to me must be complete that I may be resurrected in you ! Psalm 23 1The...

Numbers 13:30 30Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; we are well able to conquer it. These are not "men" talities you are up against as the walls and Ezekiel but these are the strongholds I speak of to uproot and tear down ! So do not waiver or falter , do not feign awa y but stand ! Proceed ! and wipe off the dust of the earth for my will shall be done and my glory shall show and fall ! I AM with you , my angels...

Pastor Benny Hinn: Charlatan or Man of God? October 09, 2009 Lauren Green. Pastor Benny Hinn is being investigated by the Senate Finance Committee and was recently denied entry into the United Kingdom. The press has been bad, he says, because the media doesn't understand him. But the Texas-based faith healer, whose "Holy Spirit Miracle Crusades" pack sports arenas across the United States, is fielding questions about his controversies nonetheless. He says he needs to voice his concerns over the land of his birth, Israel, and the threat to it posed by a nuclear Iran — which he talks about...

As Sampson moved the pillars I will shake man's false hopes , The counterfeits of Me and my fruit shall fall from the heights and the slopes , Those things man has stored shall be removed in one day , Buy from me gold and silver before your time fades away , I am shaking " all " the foundations of earth , You ask me why ? To bring direction and rebirth , The fool hearty do not know who I am , Yet in this breaking they shall learn to call me friend , For a great awakening...

Glenn Beck leans forward on his elbows. His voice hushes. His eyes grow red at the corners. He presses his lips together and clears his throat. He cannot speak. The tears fall, and just for a moment the brashest voice in American conservatism today falls silent. This is what happens when Beck tells the story of his 1999 conversion to Mormonism. “I was friendless, working in the smallest radio market I had ever worked in... a hopeless alcoholic, abusing drugs every day,” Beck said in an interview taped last fall. “I was trying to find a job and nobody would...

In an occasional column, The Mormon Media Observer will look at the times when Mormons and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have made news in the New York Times. Here's a sample of front page headlines and stories since the 1970s: SNIP Mormon church strikes down ban against blacks in priesthood, June 10, 1978 (one of the few stories that have led the Times' front page) "The 148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon priesthood was struck down by the church's leaders yesterday. "Spencer W. Kimball, president of the 4.2 million members of the worldwide...

Wondering what that billboard on U.S. Highway 93 in Jerome County that reads "You are not alone" is all about? Jeff Ricks will tell you it's an invitation. Ricks, 54, was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... That changed in 1993 when a business venture in Idaho Falls went under and he lost faith in the church's teachings about tithing. He expected blessings from paying a full tithe, not the hardship that came from losing his home and business. "Everybody who leaves the church leaves for different reasons," Ricks said..."Everyone has a trigger that brings them...

While much has been said about the heartache of plural wives living in 19th-century Mormonism, these unions could also bring happiness and unusual independence, according to a prominent religious scholar. During a lecture Thursday before a packed house at the LDS Tabernacle, Kathleen Flake said that often only the negative side of polygamy is emphasized. “I am always suspicious when I only hear one side of an argument,” added Flake, who teaches religious history at Vanderbilt University. This suspicion lead her to research polygamy in Utah during the pioneer era, a time when about 25 percent of Latter-day Saints were...

Holladay » Barbara Whipperman was a pious teenager, a defender of the faith. When her parents bought a can of coffee, before they even could brew a pot, she saved them from themselves. "I tossed the whole can," the 76-year-old recalls, laughing raucously. "I was a good little Mormon girl. Oh, they were mad!" How that good little Mormon girl from Sugar House came to be Sister Mary Joseph, a Catholic -- and a nun, no less -- is a story she tells with relish. A member of the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a cloistered monastery that...

Or any other “-ism” for that matter Folks, after the recent interactions with Gnosticism triggered by the posts The Teachings of Jesus according to the Catholics and to the Gnostics Compared and Greetings, Gnostics from the Palm Tree, I was engaged in dialogue by a scholar who has studied Gnosticism in an advanced academic setting who offered several valuable nuances and clarifications which I welcomed. I now feel I have to offer a clarification of my own and to accomplish it I want to share with you five ways or modes in which to approach Gnosticism. These five ways are...

Church members were encouraged to reach out and help others each day during the Sunday morning session of the 179th semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and, figuratively, lose their life, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish — and in effect save their life," President Thomas S. Monson, president of the church, said during Sunday's morning conference session. He stressed that church members should step back from the "busy-ness" of their lives and take a good look at their...

Eternal life is a divine promise that is possible to achieve, said Elder Jorge F. Zeballos of the Seventy during the Saturday afternoon session of conference. "From a purely human point of view at first, this seems to be an impossible task; however, it begins to appear possible upon understanding that in order to achieve it, we are not alone." Recognizing that eternal life is made possible by a forgiving Eternal Father and the selfless sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, Elder Zeballos spoke of the rewards and possibilities available for all who work, sacrifice and give the best of...