God Bless America

Our dear friends, Ross & Karen Taylor, just e-mailed this to us.

A forward worth reading
Meg.

From: Ed Lauritsen [mailto:edlauritsen@msn.com]

Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2012 2:50 AM
Subject: A post-election epiphany: The real winner in campaign 2012

It is Election Night 2012, and I'm sitting here at my computer listening to Governor Romney's 

concession speech, trying to come to grips with his defeat---our defeat. And into my mind comes

three interesting thoughts. The first comes with a scripture:    

"Behold, I will hasten my work in its time." (D&C 88:73).

If the Lord's "work" is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39),

and if that process begins by hearing about the Church andseeing its members, then the sooner and 

the faster the greatest number of people can see andhear about the Latter-day Saints---especially about

exemplary Saints like the Romneys---the more the work is hastened. And though the Church has 55,000+ 

missionaries who are quietly and patiently roaming the world knocking on doors, the Lord has brought the

LDS Governor and his LDS family into the very homes ofmillions of people around the U.S. and the world 

via TV, radio, and Internet for more than a year now---people who might never have received or accepted the 

missionaries or LDS neighbors, let alone have learned about the LDS way of life. But now they have listened, 

watched, and learned, and many of them will likely be more curious and receptive to the missionaries in the 

future. And that also goes for many of the Evangelicals, Protestants, and Catholics who locked arms with the 

Latter-Day Saints (thanks to Glenn Beck) during this long presidential campaign. Bottom line: the Romneys 

lost a hard-fought political battle, but they---and the Church---won a decisive, long-awaited cultural and 

spiritual victory in opening the minds and hearts of millions.

Another post-election thought: "Be careful what you pray for."

Had Romney won, it is highly doubtful that he and his team would have been able to rescue the nation's

wounded economy from the purposeful destruction that Obama has intentionally inflicted upon it, Obama

having done so in order to "fundamentally transform" our free enterprise system into a Socialist state. Had

Romney won, the only possible way to have saved the nation and its economy would have been to make

deep cuts in the welfare and entitlement programs---cuts that would have been branded "murderous, 

discriminatory and racist" at every turn by the Liberal mainstream media. And the ever-increasing drumbeat 

of these accusations over the next four years would have given license to thousands---perhaps millions---

of malcontents to take to the streets in "civil unrest" (aka anarchy). As such, Romney's never-ending vilification

in print and in the electronic media would have soon painted him---and his fellow Mormons---as the enemies

of America, with all the resulting antagonism, stress, and persecution of the Church, both at home and abroad. 

As is, over the next four years, right-wing zealots---notChristian Conservatives--- will likely become increasingly 

resistant, confrontational, and possibly violent in response to the creeping Socialism. Thus, "social unrest" may

begin at the other end of the political spectrum, likely precipitating equally violent responses from the pro-Socialist

masses. 

And this foregoing scenario brings me to the third and final thought tonight, one which also was accompanied by the

written word, this time in the form of a powerful metaphor by Hugh Nibley. I close with it:

“On the last night of a play, the whole cast and stage crew stay in the theater until the small, or not so small, hours of 

the morning striking the old set.  If there is to be a new opening soon, as the economy of the theater requires, it is 

important that the new set should be in place and ready for the opening night; all the while the old set was finishing 

its usefulness and then being taken down, the new set was rising in splendor to be ready for the drama that would 

immediately follow. So it is with this world. It is not our business to tear down the old set---the agencies that do that 

are already hard at work and very efficient---the set is coming down all around us with spectacular effect. Our business

is to see to it that the new set is well on the way for what is to come---and that means a different kind of politics, beyond

the scope of the tragedy that is now playing its closing night. We are preparing for the establishment of Zion.”

Nibley, Hugh. Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless:Classic Essays of Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Brigham Young 

University Religious Studies Center, 1978, p. 302  

We voted absentee.  We believe that the Lord is in charge.
Someday we will understand the whys and wherefores.
   The United States of America is the Promised Land.
Nate Petersen shared a quote from President Harold B. Lee, Prophet and President of the Church in 1972 and 1973, and many years an Apostle before that.
    I'll share it tomorrow.
            We did feel the 7.4 earthquake that happened on the coast of Guatemala today.  We were in the temple president's office in the weekly planning meeting with the presidency and temple matron (directora) and my assistants (we three Hermanas meet with them once a month).  The room moved back and forth for a minute.  I thought the beautiful stained glass window was going to come out, but it didn't.
         ...and life goes on.