Supreme Power

Of all the books I've read this year, I might have learned the most from Ted Stewart's book Supreme Power. In this book, Stewart examines seven decisions made by the Supreme Court of the United States and how those decisions changed the course of our country. He also discusses how each of those decisions granted more and more power to the Supreme Court, or more appropriately, to five members of the Supreme Court. Such power was never intended by the original founders of the nation.

I learned that there are two main ways for a Supreme Justice to interpret the Constitution. The first is to interpret it according to the original intent of its writers (which the author acknowledges is not always an easy feat). Such an approach will examine not only the text of the document, but also the writings and commentary of its Framers. This approach coincides with the Rule of Law. The other approach is to interpret the text according to the current social trends of society or views of the Justice. This approach is a slippery path to tyranny.

The saddest chapter in the book focuses on the Plessy v. Ferguson case, in which the Supreme Court sanctioned racism and paved the way for the infamous Jim Crow laws. The author does an excellent job of immersing the reader in the time period and all that was going on. He doesn't just talk about the case, but talks about everything leading up to it. Because of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a state's "separate but equal" law, African Americans have suffered a second slavery. The effects of this decision did not end with the Civil Rights movement, but continue to be felt today.

Another crazy case was Wickard v. Filburn, in which a man was forbidden by law to grow more than 12 acres of wheat. Despite the fact that most of this wheat was for the man's personal consumption, and that of his animals, it was ruled that he was jeopardizing interstate commerce because he would not be buying from other farmers. Because of this precedent, the author argues that the government can limit the number of cookies a family is allowed to bake, because they won't be buying cookies from the store and will be hurting the economy that way. As outrageous as this might sound, there were many examples of the Supreme Court making a decision, people warning about the possible outcomes, and those very outcomes coming true.

I can't talk about the whole book, but I haven't even addressed how the Supreme Court has usurped power in many cases, taking control of things that were never intended to be controlled by the Supreme Court. It is partially responsible for the moral decay of our society. The people who hold this power are not elected by the people, serve no term limits, and it is very difficult to remove them from office. Thus, our country is ultimately being controlled by five people, a majority of nine, who can interpret the Constitution any way they would like in order to fit their personal views and biases. In all truthfulness, they have untethered themselves from the Constitution altogether.

Interestingly enough, not all the cases had an easy "good guy v. bad guy" side. In some cases, both sides had a valid argument, and the ruling by the court may not have necessarily been a "wrong" ruling. The real issue is that through the ruling in each of these seven cases, the Supreme Court claimed more power for itself. That is the real threat. Overall the book was a fascinating read, and I would encourage anybody interested in the subject to pick it up.

Almighty

If you are looking for an easy-to-read book about Heavenly Father and your relationship to Him, look no further than the book Almighty by David Butler. This book, written primarily to a teen audience, is simple to read, but full of an engaging writing style. Fun doodles fill the book, giving the reader the feeling that this is meant to be read as a friendly conversation.

The author talks about lessons he has learned. For example, once while serving as a missionary a man he was teaching asked why God sent us to earth. If our whole purpose is to make it back to live with Him someday again, why did He ever make us leave in the first place? This stumped the author. He imagined a parent driving his young children to a park in another state, dropping them off, and then telling them he'll be waiting back at home for them. This doesn't sound like a loving father!

After a lot of study and reflection, he realized this isn't the way it was at all. It is more similar to someone being sent off to a prestigious university. The parents cheer for the student. They know it will be hard, full of stressful days and sleepless nights, living on hardly anything, dealing with tough assignments and professors and more. But the parents know how much the experience will enrich their child's life. That is more how Heavenly Father thinks of our mortal journey.

There is a lot about the book I could talk about, but I will just touch on one more thing. The author relabels the parable of the Prodigal Son to be the parable of the Prodigal Father (he also points out Jesus didn't give most of His parables titles--other people did). I always thought the word "prodigal" meant wasteful, but it literally means "spending money or resources freely and recklessly" or "having or giving something on a lavish scale."

Yes, the son in the parable is prodigal. He demands his inheritance early (something that would have been highly offensive), and then wastes it all rapidly in riotous living. That is why we always think he is the prodigal. But then notice what the father does when the son returns home.

The father is watching for him. He runs up to him, falls on his neck and kisses him--all before the son even tries to make an apology. When the son does try to apologize, the father calls for his servants to put a robe upon him and put a ring on his finger. He kills the fatted calf--something that would have only been done on the most special of occasions (a daughter's engagement party didn't even necessarily warrant the fatted calf). He throws a party. Doesn't this treatment of the wayward son seem prodigal?

But that is how our Heavenly Father is. He is just. He expects a lot from us. But He is so merciful and so eager to shower blessings upon us. We deserve so little because we are all so imperfect in our obedience to Him. But He loves us so much that He blesses us with far more than what we could ever deserve, or ever hope to earn.

This book is great for people working on building their testimony of God, but really, it's a great book for anybody.

Because of the Messiah in a Manger

I love Brad Wilcox. I love the person he is, and I love what he writes. According to one of my fellow managers, Because of the Messiah in a Manger is the author's favorite of all the books he's written so far. Knowing this beforehand, I was eager to dive in and see what he had to share.

First, I think I need to talk about the author's humor. Anybody who has heard Brad speak knows he has a great sense of humor. He is candid about his own faults and weaknesses, but he writes about them in a way that is not demeaning to himself, but rather humorous. I think my favorite story he told was a time he got on a line at the last minute, full of packages for Christmas. He happened to sit down next to Gene R. Cook of the Seventy. He informed Brad he had passed right by the prophet, who was sitting up front. Brad's reaction was concern that he had probably whacked the prophet with his many bags. Just read the book. The way he tells it is hysterical.

But the best part of this book were the messages that Brad shares regarding parts of the Christmas story, or symbols of Christmas. For example, he talks about Christmas trees, and how they remind him of four other trees important to the Savior's mission: the trees of the Garden of Eden, the trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, the cross, and the trees in the Sacred Grove.

Another thought he shared that I found really interesting was the star that the wisemen followed to find the Christ Child. The sign of a star does not appear anywhere in the Old Testament, and yet the wisemen clearly understood this to be a sign of the Savior's birth. This alone proves there is more scripture than what is in the Bible. We don't know who these wisemen were, but we know they had access to scriptures which are not available to us.

 I enjoyed every chapter of this book, and it is rightfully selling out quickly. I'm grateful that the author was willing to share so many personal experiences and insights. This book can only enrich a person's Christmas.

The Gateway We Call Death

Having read several books about death and the spirit world, I wasn't actively looking for another book on the subject to read. But The Gateway We Call Death was available and is by the current prophet, so I thought I ought to read it. I am so grateful I did! I wonderful feeling accompanies this book. Russell M. Nelson was an apostle when he wrote this book, but he also had decades of experience as a surgeon. Using these two important aspects of his life, he was able to share some wonderful insights and truths.

First he talks about the purposes of life, death, and mourning. He talks about the difference between healthy mourning, which is ordained of God, and unhealthy mourning. The example he used was comparing it to the bounds in sports games. If there were no boundaries in a sports game, the game would get out of hand, confusing, and hard to follow. Likewise, we need to set boundaries on our mourning. Although mourning is therapeutic, it can become toxic if left unchecked, much like helpful medicines become fatal when overdosed.

He then talks about the different ages that people may die, such as young children, young adults and teenagers, and adults. He boldly talks about Euthanasia and strongly condemns it, supporting the Church's position on the subject wholeheartedly. His exact wording on the subject is, "I mention it here only to condemn it."

But my absolute favorite chapter was chapter 10: The Veil is Sometimes Thin. At the beginning of the chapter, President Nelson declares that there is communication between this world and the next. He also states that prophets and apostles treat these communications as sacred and rarely speak open about them. That being said, we do have some published experiences, which he then proceeds to share.

One of them was new to me. While accompanying Hugh B. Brown to the dedication of the Washington D.C. temple, one morning President Brown informed President Nelson that he had been visited the night before by Harold B. Lee, the previous prophet who had passed away a year earlier. He described it as a glorious visit, and was able to later share it with President Lee's wife.

Although not included in this book, there is another account from President Nelson that he shared once in General Conference. He told of operating on two young sisters in the early days of his career. Despite his best efforts to save them, both girls died. Embittered, their family stopped attending church. Recently, just a couple years ago, President Nelson awoke in the night. He felt a spiritual presence in the room, and discovered it was these two girls. They wanted him to know they were not sealed to their parents and asked for his help.

President Nelson found the girls' father (their mother had already passed away). He shared with the father the message from his daughters. He helped the father return to church, along with his son. He was present for the vicarious sealings of the father to his wife, and then of the girls to their parents.

Truly, President Nelson knows of these sacred communications from the other side of the veil.

I am glad I got to read this book, despite it not being originally on my reading list. It was worth my time. I felt the Spirit several times throughout the book. I felt closer to my Heavenly Father and more gratitude for his plan. This, again, will be a book I keep on my shelf.

Slave Stealers

I am a fan of Tim Ballard's work and his past books. The Lincoln Hypothesis was probably my favorite book I read that year. So when I found out he was coming out with a new book called Slave Stealers, I knew I had to read it as well. This book was intense, gut-wrenching, and inspiring all at once.

Timothy Ballard, in case you don't know, is the founder of O.U.R. (Operation Underground Railroad). He has dedicated his life to freeing modern-day slaves from human and sex trafficking. I got to read a little about his experiences in his other books, but this new book dives even deeper into the material. He talks about how he got started as a CIA agent assigned to a new division to fight human trafficking. It was torment to him. As he had to examine evidence of children the same age as his own children being abused, molested, etc. it made him sick to his stomach to the point where he would be dry heaving into his trash can at work. He had to learn to create an emotional barrier in order to pursue this line of work.

But all that changed when he met Guesno Mardy. Guesno's three-year-old son was kidnapped taken to a false orphanage that was really in the business of human trafficking. Tim Ballard met with Guesno and during their conversation, Guesno asked him, "Could you get in bed and sleep at night, knowing one of your children's beds was empty?" Here was Guesno, asking Tim Ballard to tear down that emotional barrier--to make the mission personal. And to his credit, Ballard did just that.

Unfortunately, the author soon learned that there was no angle he could use to get involved with the case. As a government agent, he could only get involved if an American citizen were involved, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not make a connection. There was only one thing to do: quit his secure job and paycheck, and start his own organization. Thus was born Operation Underground Railroad.

The book continues with gripping accounts of the search for Gardy, Guesno's son, and the rescue of dozens of children as a result of that search. The book exposes some of the darkest and most heinous crimes happening in our day, even at this very minute. These dark and heinous crimes have centuries-old roots in the evil of slavery.

Told along side this story is the true story of Harriet Jacobs, a black slave in Edenton, North Carolina in the 1800's. Much is learned from the courage and sacrifice of Harriet to escape slavery and secure freedom. But her escape and freedom would have been impossible were it not for the many people, even white people, who stood against the evil of slavery and made many sacrifices of their own to help her. Her history is not just an inspirational story; it is a pattern that we need to follow in order to work together to eradicate slavery in our own day.

Tim Ballard will be the first to say that he is not the hero. He will point to others like Guesno Mardy, Harriet Jacobs, and many others. But to me, he is a hero--a real hero! I was privileged to listen to the audio book, read by Tim Ballard. His passion could not be mistaken. His passion has moved me to make a difference as well. I don't need to go into the darkest infernal pits that exist in our society, but I do need to serve. I need to love. I need to set aside petty differences, disagreements, prejudice, and more. This is something everybody can do. And working together in this way is what will change the world.

The Blueprint of Christ's Church

My first exposure to Tad R. Callister was his book The Infinite Atonement, which is probably the best book on the atonement I had ever read. Because I loved that book so much, I am embarrassed to say that I just now finished his book The Blueprint of Christ's Church. I am glad I finally read it, though.

The main premise of the book is that Christ's church in New Testament times serves as a blueprint to help the modern-day seeker of truth identify the true church today. Any alteration to these blueprints needs to come by revelation. We see this happen in the New Testament itself. One such example is the Savior's instruction to His disciples to only preach the Gospel to the children of Israel, followed by a later revelation to Peter to take the Gospel to the gentiles as well.

Callister focuses on organization and doctrine to lay out a blueprint for Christ's church, then carefully demonstrates how the only church that follows this blueprint is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Towards the end of the book, he tells of an experience where he was talking with someone who was considering leaving the church because of some issues he had with its history. The author asked him if he believed in a pre-mortal life, in three degrees of glory, in salvation for the dead, and many more things. The man declared that he did believe all these things firmly. The author then explained that the only church that teaches all these doctrines is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Was he willing to give all that up because of some issues he had with the Church's history?

Callister not only opens the scriptures to highlight key doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ, but he also provides many examples from the first century or two of Christianity from surviving records. These records sometimes reinforce doctrines unique to the restored Church of Jesus Christ, and at other times they provide insight to the beginning of false doctrines prevalent in other churches today. It was so neat to me to be able to learn from these additional witnesses.

One of my favorite quotes in the whole book comes from the chapter on faith. He says, "Every time we are negative, it is like throwing water on the fire of faith; every time we are positive, it is like adding fuel to the flames of faith. Negativism is Satan's tool; optimism is God's" (page 135).

I borrowed this book from our store library, but I liked it so much that I will be purchasing my own copy to have in my personal library.