A Letter to My Brother

   Steven, Bless us both and bless the world we live in, as we near the end of time. What a blessing to be alive during these times. 

   What I offer, I offer as my own thoughts. Whether these things are true, we are taught to ponder. Sometimes our ponderings are correct, and sometimes they are not. Sometimes we are wise, and sometimes we are fools.

   Having been jarred to wondering what the secret combinations are as we came to the end of the Come Follow Me study last year, I have been mindful this year in my Book of Mormon study each time secret combinations are referred to. I've ran across those two words just two or three times, so far, including in the reading I just finished, moments before I sat down to write this. I reflect on what it meant in that passage, and what I could learn. 

   "And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old . . . For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, that the Lord worketh not in darkness." 2 Nephi 26:22-23

  Fresh on my mind was your Facebook post last night. I had responded that we should listen to the fact-checkers, we should seek to know the truth. But, there are those who would tell you not to listen, not to read what the fact-checkers say. 

   In other words, they would leave you in the dark. They urge you to not listen to the fact-checkers and not to listen to the mass media. And, they would leave their own works in the dark, not being subject to the light of day provided by the fact-checkers. 

   But, these are the last days, and we are told to stand up against the works of darkness. If someone would to be free of being questioned by the fact-checkers, we should wonder why they fear the light of day. 

   I came to another verse in my scripture reading this morning,  "Their works are in the dark," it said, and my ears perked up as I thought how the works of the dark are connected with secret combinations. This verse too, then, might help me understand what the secret combinations of our day are. "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay," it says in 2 Nephi 27:27. 

   I've been studying the charges of election fraud Trump used to stir up the rioters Jan. 6. In Wisconsin, he said, "corrupt-run cities" collecting more than 91,000 illegal votes one way and 17,000 another way. If not for the fact-checkers we would be left to be outraged. But, once studied, and put under the light of day, it turns out those 91,000 and 17,000 votes should have been counted. 

   So, when I came to the passage of scripture speaking of "turning of things upside down," I made a connection. It was Trump, not Biden, trying to steal the election. Trump turned things upside down. And, I think of all the times, whenever ill is said of Trump, his supporters counter, Well, what of Kamala Harris, or Nancy Pelosi, or Maxine Waters? They turn things on their head, upside down, seeking to escape Trump's flaws by citing the supposed flaws of others. 

   This scripture, 2 Nephi 27:27, also speaks of their saying, "Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?" Their deceit depends on the truth never coming out. No one will see the truth, no one will know it. They are safe. The story behind those 91,000 votes and those 17,000 votes needs to be told, and not left in the dark.