skalenfehl Posted August 24, 2013 Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 Oh, how I wish that we could embed videos in these posts!!! PLEASE take some time this weekend to watch this. Yes, it's just over an hour long, but is WORTH your time. I plan to buy this book and devour it. My list of books to read keeps growing (add to the fact that I'm working on my own books), and there's just not enough time in the day. Tim Ballard presents "The American Covenant" - YouTubeI would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skalenfehl Posted August 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 Not one reply? Who can tell me what book Abraham Lincoln read for eight months before receiving inspiration to write the Emancipation Proclamation? Coincidence? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finrock Posted August 24, 2013 Report Share Posted August 24, 2013 Only saw now. I will watch and share thoughts. Regards, Finrock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classylady Posted August 25, 2013 Report Share Posted August 25, 2013 Skalenfehl, I haven't had a chance to watch it all the way through. Do we as America have a Covenant with God? I believe we do. I want to read the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skalenfehl Posted August 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2013 Mine's on its way. Really looking forward to reading it. This guy has put so much research into this work, which is what excites me. In the meantime, I'm reading other books such as The History of Mexico, which chronicles the history from its roots (Aztecs) and the natives who were themselves conquerors. Their empire ranged from Central America (conquering the later Mayans) to farther north approaching what is today Texas. When Brigham Young took the saints to Rockies, the place they settled was still Mexico. Understanding these parallel histories has begun to shed a new light on Isaiah's prophecies about Manasseh and also Nephi's prophecy about the Gentiles in America (North and South). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skalenfehl Posted August 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2013 To answer the question I posed above, here is a screen grab. Abraham Lincoln went through a period of "crystallization" where he was converted to upholding the new covenant. As a result, he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation just days after reading this book:He spent eight months reading the Book of Mormon before returning it to the Library of Congress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dravin Posted August 25, 2013 Report Share Posted August 25, 2013 He spent eight months reading the Book of Mormon before returning it to the Library of Congress.That someone possessed a book for eight months does not mean they spent eight months reading it. I've checked out plenty of books for far longer than I actually spent reading them. It may just be a connotation mix-up and you aren't intending to imply he spent eight months going over the Book of Mormon, but I'm inclined to agree with the screen capture if the evidence boils down to check-out and check-in dates, he kept the Book of Mormon for eight months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skalenfehl Posted August 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2013 (edited) I apologize. Of course you are correct. He kept it for eight months. At this juncture of research and study, I have not ascertained the amount of time spent actually reading the book. What I have read and researched so far, however, points to facts that Lincoln spent considerable amounts of time in seclusion/scripture study. Dravin, have your read the book or watched the video? I invite you to conduct your own research, of course. Edited August 26, 2013 by skalenfehl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mordorbund Posted August 27, 2013 Report Share Posted August 27, 2013 Utah was also a bit of a hot-button issue at the time as well. What, with the Utah War some years previous, and the Morrisite War and the Morrill Anti-bigamy Act of 1862. You can see that as Divine Providence guiding the President to drafting the Proclamation, or a savvy leader fully trying to understand a situation that has little bearing on the national war, or anything in between. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finrock Posted August 27, 2013 Report Share Posted August 27, 2013 I have some other thoughts but for starters, one thing that this video helped me to see with greater clarity is the fact that our God is not a distant God. He is actively and intimately engaged in the affairs of this earth. He has not other work than to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life. We tend to think of the earth in terms of what we have learned from science and the history books. I am not saying that this is bad and wrong. It is useful. However, we also need to see the history of the earth with eyes and ears that recognize God's hand in bringing about his covenants. I can't remember right now if this was in the video or not or where I got this thought from, but God is constantly working to fulfill His words. It is a constant process of fulfilling. The idea of bringing to fulness all of His words to me has many applications. This earth truly is a testing place. It is not a random globe brought about through random chance. God is moving His work forward and He is fulfilling His promises. The truth is that there are truly just two sides. Satan and his followers or God and His followers. Regards, Finrock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skalenfehl Posted August 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 +1 Finrock. Fully agree. The Lord isn't idle. He is truly laboring in the vineyard with very few servants (Jacob 5). But as you say, he is fully engaged and working to fulfill all covenants. Then comes the end. He declared these things very specifically to the people at Bountiful in 3 Nephi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
applepansy Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 Watching now :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_Small_Voice Posted October 29, 2013 Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 I've watched this video several times and found it very intriguing. It leaves me to wonder the future of America because we have strayed so far from what this nation was intended to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skalenfehl Posted October 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 I bought both books (parts 1 and 2) and will begin reading them soon. I have a lot of books I'm getting through now. Finishing up one about the Hopi Indians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetorian_Brow Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 (edited) Nationalism in the guise of religious speculative hindsight is a dangerous thing. Mr. Ballard is not the first, nor will he be the last, to look for proof, coincidence or anecdotal evidence to suggest his country is divinely inspired. Every country on earth has invoked God's name as rationalization, regardless of their understanding of the contemporary thought of freedom. I think its ironic that the reason given for the American Civil War was for the sake of releasing slaves, when emancipation only happened mid way through the war, not before. That war, like so many others was simply started because of economics. I admire Lincoln, but lets be honest, freeing slaves was an afterthought and a bid for votes, as well as economic warfare, considering the south was dependent on slavery for its economic base. If Lincoln is credited with being divinely directed, why is that Britain, the superpower of the time, abolished it in 1833. Did America somehow miss the divine inspiration? I think its a mistake to believe all powers in "opposition" to the origins and development of a country, are somehow under the direction of the antithesis of personal choice. Edited October 30, 2013 by Praetorian_Brow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still_Small_Voice Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 I believe that the nation of America was established mainly for the purpose of restoring the Gospel of Jesus Christ in it's fullness to the earth. Many of the prophets have taught this as well. This does not mean the America of present days is better than other nations. The American people as a whole along with other nations are not obeying God commandments and have forsook the covenant that George Washington and many others made with God in the past. It is not nationalism I seek. It is awaking people to awful state that we are in as we have forsaken God. Many people who claim to be Christians are as the Apostle Paul said: "They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work [worthless]." Titus 1:16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetorian_Brow Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 I could say that the Earth was established mainly for the purpose of restoring the gospel. If America was to return to whatever you think its supposed to be, by believing simply in your understanding of what God is then how would that be religious freedom for all? I just see patriotism, a belief that America needs to teach the world, in the guise of religion, which means that the rest of the world must somehow be lacking in whatever it is that America has or did have. I can credit the origins of the restoration as being from the United States of America and your belief is fine, but I don't really see every American soldier knocking on the door with a Book of Mormon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vort Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 I think its ironic that the reason given for the American Civil War was for the sake of releasing slaves, when emancipation only happened mid way through the war, not before. That war, like so many others was simply started because of economics.The early Latter-day Saints considered the Civil War as divine punishment for the country that raped, murdered, and rejected them. I'm not so sure I disagree with their assessment. I am quite sure that Joseph Smith's plan to free the slaves would have been vastly less expensive, in terms of both money and human life, than were the actual results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finrock Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Hi Vort. I hope you've been well! :)The early Latter-day Saints considered the Civil War as divine punishment for the country that raped, murdered, and rejected them. I'm not so sure I disagree with their assessment. I am quite sure that Joseph Smith's plan to free the slaves would have been vastly less expensive, in terms of both money and human life, than were the actual results.The video goes to great lengths to demonstrate this point.One point the video makes is that Jackson County, Missuori was destroyed by the Union soldiers which fulfilled prophecy given in D&C because of the persecution of the saints there.15 Behold, the destroyer I have sent forth to destroy and lay waste mine enemies; and not many years hence they shall not be left to pollute mine heritage, and to blaspheme my name upon the lands which I have consecrated for the gathering together of my saints.It is interesting in 105 God also promises to fight our battles for us for Zion.Union General Order No. 11-Finrock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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