Author Archives: Millennial Star Editors

Guest Post: A Life of Crime Doesn’t Suit Me

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M* is pleased to share the following guest post from Marsha Ward.

Marsha is a multi-published freelance writer, editor, workshop presenter, mentor, and consultant, and the author of three novels as well as a contributor to two non-fiction books on writing and publishing. She is the Sacrament Meeting organist and Relief Society pianist in her small Central Arizona branch.

Recently I attended the LDStorymakers’ Writers Conference in Provo, at which I had a marvelous time hobnobbing with my fellow writers and associates. I live in Central Arizona, so going to Utah by car is a bit of a trip there and back. I got home about 10:15 on Sunday night after driving most of the day. (All right, I did take a lunch break where I could check my email.) I didn’t know I was about to have a new adventure.
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Guest Post: Salvation in This Life

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Another fine guest post from Ray, who blogs at Things of My Soul.

The Jewish leaders who facilitated the crucifixion of Jesus did so in part because they could not accept Him as the one who had led them (Jehovah) and/or would pay for their sins (Jesus). They said, in essence, “We don’t need you. We are children of Abraham. We are fine. We’ll do it on our own.”

We decry deathbed repentance, particularly for those who consciously choose to procrastinate repentance until the end – to do what they want to do until they are facing death and the possibility of judgment, largely because we see repentance as a process rather than an event. At the same time, too many members view grace, faith and works as follows: Continue reading →

M* Welcomes JA Benson!

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M* is proud to welcome frequent Bloggerncle commenter JA Benson as our newest permablogger.

Joanna entered the world as a BYU baby. Continuing family tradition, she graduated BYU with a degree in Elementary Education and taught for several years. Growing up in Salt Lake County, her favorite childhood hobbies were visiting cemeteries and eavesdropping on adult conversations. Her ancestral DNA is multi-ethnic and she is Mormon pioneer stock on every familial line.

Joanna resides in the Southeastern USA with her long-suffering husband and five children ranging in age from 4 to 20. She is an avid reader and a student of history. Her current intellectual obsession is Sephardic Jewish history, influence and genealogy. She serves as a board member for her local chapter of Families with Children from China. She is the author of “DNA Mormons?” Summer Sunstone 2007 and “Becoming Hong Mei`s Mother” in the upcoming Winter Sunstone 2009 .

After receiving the invitation to join M*, JA remarked, “This must be destiny. Millennial Star was the first blog I ever commented on. ”

We couldn’t agree more. 🙂 Welcome to M*, JA!

Guest Post: We Wouldn’t Be in This Mess, If… We had been True to the Constitution

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M* is pleased to present a guest post from Brother Earl Taylor, Jr., President of the National Center for Constitutional Studies.

About Brother Taylor:

 Earl Taylor, Jr.  has taught The Making of America Constitutional Study course to thousands of people over the past twenty years throughout the nation.  He has developed other study courses for a wide range of participants, from high school students to state legislators.

 Educated in Washington State and Arizona, Mr. Taylor graduated from Arizona State University and received his Masters Degree in Political Science from George Wythe College and Coral Ridge Baptist University.  He has had the privilege of being privately tutored by Dr. W. Cleon Skousen over the course of many years.  He became President of the National Center for Constitutional Studies in 1995, an organization founded by Dr. Skousen in 1971 as the Freemen Institute.  The purpose of the NCCS is to teach Americans the exciting message of the Founding Fathers – where they got their great ideas and how they put them all together into a Constitution for the establishment of the first free people in modern times.  In 1998, Mr. Taylor was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from George Wythe College and Coral Ridge Baptist University.  He also serves as a member of the adjunct faculty of George Wythe College.

 Mr. Taylor served as coordinator in 1985 of the Winter Conference for State Legislators where nearly 400 elected officials from 30 states met to study The Making of America.  He has written a special study guide for Boy Scouts to help them earn their Citizenship Merit Badges.   He also helped structure courses on the U. S. Constitution for college re-certification of public school teachers.
 
 In his desire to begin to train young people in this most important area, Mr. Taylor established one of the first charter high schools in Arizona, Heritage Academy,  where he has developed a special curriculum for the teaching of hundreds of students the exciting message of the Founding Fathers.

 Mr. Taylor has also been instrumental in encouraging the celebration of Constitution Week in many cities and schools throughout the nation.

 Mr. Taylor and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of ten children and reside in Mesa, Arizona. Continue reading →

Guest Post: And Re-Introducing: The Flawed Doctrine of Universalism

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The Millennial Star is pleased to present the following guest post from Chris Heimerdinger. Chris is the author of the well know “Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites” adventure series of books. He’s written a total of sixteen adult and young adult novels and has released a film, Passage to Zarahemla in October 2007.

Chris has five children and presently lives in Draper, UT.

I felt I like blogging on on a subject of a more doctrinal/philosophical nature. Maybe I’m overemphasizing the resurgence of this problem, but since some guy brought it up in Sunday School last week, and since I read where someone tried to push this doctrine on an AML blog, and since some might misconstrue that this doctrine is also supported by a new book by Alonzo Gaskill called, Odds Are You’re Going to Be Exhalted, I felt it was worth bringing up.

“Universalism” is the doctrine that eventually, whether it may take billions of years, ALL of our Heavenly Father’s children will be exalted in the Celestial Kingdom. The idea is that even though many on earth will inherit the telestial kingdom, or the lowest of the three degrees of glory, over time they will have the opportunity to progress to higher kingdoms. Usually this doctrine is couched with the emotional philosophy that a loving Heavenly Father could NEVER introduce a plan of salvation wherein only a portion of His children would receive exaltation and be permanently reunited into His presence.

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