Religious Expressions Hogue Family

In the summer of nineteen ninety two I went on an amazing adventure to New Mexico with my scout troop . We had all sorts of adventures and perils . I climbed a mountain visited the beautiful pure white sand beaches . When inside a bat cave . Camped out with the wild animals and had a raccoon still some of our food . And to see that raccoon up close and personal was quiet amazing . Another thing that we did is that we visited the Rio Grande river . The border between New Mexico and Mexico . In that river . I decided to swim across . So that I could stand on Mexican soil . After I made it across the river . It wasn't long until I was ready to return to America . As I swam the current was very strong . And completely unexpectedly and suddenly . I lost my strength I didn't have the ability to swim and fight the current but instead began to be carried away in the current . I was moving so fast that I was quickly far away from my group . I call for help . In the scout leaders were trying to get me . But I was moving so quickly that it seemed that there was no hope they would be able to get me and I wondered if this would be my last day on the earth . I had a tiny but urgent suggestion . That came to me at that time . I thought was . Put your foot down put your foot down right now . I put my foot down . At that precise moment . My foot landed . On a tiny plot of ground . That was . So high . That was able to stand almost waist high on this platform . In this huge river with its strong current . I rejoiced inside . Because I was standing on solid ground . And could no longer be carried away . By this powerful current . My scout master eventually was able to reach me . And swimming back to safety . Modern life . Is actually . A little bit like swimming in the Rio Grande river . A great man once said . That . We can handle . Poverty . And trials and afflictions . And stay faithful to our God . But something . That we can not handle very well . Is affluence and wealth . And riches and abundance . Of course another great man said if riches is an affliction. Then . Please God afflict me with that affliction . But why would abundance and affluence . Be a curse and an affliction. Why would it be that way . Actually . When we have ready access . To anything that is pleasureful to us . Our brains convince us . That we need more and more and more of it . In fact our brains seem to be programmed . To tell us or convince us . That if we don't get more and more of these . Comforts and pleasures in our life . That . It's actually going to affect our ability to survive . And so it causes within us . These deep . And powerful urges . And over desire . For that which we really don't need . It causes us to do things . And we don't even really know why we're doing it . It causes us to . Have a lack of discipline . To go against some decisions that we've made for ourselves . In fact . We're swimming in the river of life . And the current is stronger than we realized . And we lose our strength and unexpectedly . With lose our will power . And then we get carried away . And can't seem to find a way for help . There's an amazing prophetic . Document . Called The Family a Proclamation to the World put out by the prophets and apostles in 1995 when Gordon B. Hinckley was the prophet . This inspired document . Describes . The currents . Of our modern day . And it also explains what happens to society . When . We fail to resist these currents and instead get carried away . When we put our foot down . On to solid ground . We are in reality . Coming to our Savior, Jesus Christ . To save us . Bonnie Oscarson a few years ago said . The Family a Proclamation to the World . Which at the time was about twenty years old . Is just as relevant today . As it was back then . She said . That it has become a standard for her to use discern. All the things that come from the wiles of the world . So that she can understand . What way is the right and what way is wrong ....

Note: Audo Transcribed by IBM Cloud and may contain inaccuracies.
This is Michael Hogan you're listening to religious expressions episode number 3. Social data is so complex in this day and age. In fact. Some advocates for social change. I'm not only able to indicate that they will be able to successfully make a change but they're even able to identify the time frame of how long it will take for a common social change to take place. This of course is not in violation of anyone's individual agency or personal ability to make choice. Their understanding of what drives change in the mind. And their understanding of what they've been able to do in the past. And how they were able to use that in order to drive what they want to make change in the future. This is very powerful and also. Very concerning. There's many forms of this but they do have a common formula that has been in use over the last 30 years or so at least. First you take a social norm which historically have stayed within time honored values with some exceptions and of course societies that have for cirque these time honored values have stopped existing. So the first thing that they do they take a common belief and they're perf portray a group of people living within that notion of their common belief and embracing it. But then the creators of this media entertainment are able to come up with the most innocent way in which the the belief could be placed into question. And then they show the characters experimenting with. A new idea. About. What could be considered. The normal or right or reasonable thing to do in this new but. Extremely unlikely lease circumstance. And so what they've done is at this point they've created. In the mind. The idea. That perhaps there are some. Rare circumstances in which a highly honored value. Perhaps. Could be disregarded. And just for one example imagine this scenario in which a man. Is stranded on a desert island with a woman or. Some choice of things on a woman. And of course the obvious assumption here. Is that if you're gonna be. Stock on an island. With just you and a woman for the rest of your life as you know at. Maybe that some justification to break your marital valves. Now what we commonly used to call this type of thinking is rationalization it's coming up with an excuse or a reason a situation a circumstance. In which we could feel justified in going against what we previously believed to be right and strongly identified with. But let's go back to the deserted island the scenario if you are stranded on an island and it's just you if you're a guy and and a woman do you have to break your marital vowels do you have no choice in this matter of course you have a choice and you can stick to the higher standard. And not use that circumstance as an excuse to break your. Covenants. That you've made. With yourself and with your wife. Now. If there is a god a great creator of the universe and the earth and everything in the air. Which. There is life has a purpose. And the plan and the things that really matter in life are not those things that give us pleasure or those possessions that we gain that we can't take with us after we die. And if you think deeply about it. Specially when a loved one passes away or a tragic circumstances happy circumstance happens. Most people will admit that they now there's something more to life and. We were created after the image of god in this world was formed by god with his matchless power. And if there was a great creator of all things as there is. Shouldn't he be able to tell us. A road map as to how we can be. Most successful in this life. N. meeting. The purpose of it. And finding the truest joy and happiness. As we live. And in exodus chapter 20 we have some guidelines about some of these roles that our creator has given us. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The upshot not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything in heaven the shot not bow themselves down to them

Key to Continuation of Civilization
Your listening to Religious Expressions with Michael Hogue. This is podcast number 2.


Hello friends.


Joseph Wirthlin once shared an experience from his military fighter pilot training...


Decades ago Dr. Kenneth McFarland summarized the opinions of noted historians Edward Gibbon, Arnold Toynbee, and Will Durant. Even though each historian lived in a different century, their conclusions were in unanimous agreement with one another, in their conclusions about what led to the fall of every great civilization of the world, in all recorded history.


McFarland noted six social/cultural shifts that always take place:
They lost their religious convictions and flouted basic morality.
They became obsessed with sex.
They debased their money of its intrinsic value and let inflation run rampant.
Honest work ceased to be a virtue.
Respect for law disintegrated and violence became an accepted method of achieving individual and group desires.
Finally, citizens were no longer willing to be soldiers and fight for the defense of their nation and heritage
Dr. Kenneth McFarland speech, “Bicentennial America’s Opportunity”. Given at Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, at the National Convention of the Independent Petroleum Association of America.






Do we see any signs that America, as a whole, has lost religious convictions?


In recent news was noted numerous lawsuits in which churches sued government entities for unfairly restricting citizens’ rights to attend worship services while placing no similar restriction on other types of civil activities – most severely the right to protest.


To this, David Bednar responded: “While believers and their religious organizations must be good citizens in a time of crisis, never again can we allow government officials to treat the exercise of religion as simply nonessential. Never again must the fundamental right to worship God be trivialized below the ability to buy gasoline” https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/bednar-covid-19-pandemic-religious-freedom (https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/bednar-covid-19-pandemic-religious-freedom).




Do we see any signs that Americans have become obsessed with sex?


In short, the answer is indisputably “yes”.


Do we see excessive inflation with money losing it’s value?


From my personal observations, this seems to be the case. In my short lifetime I have seen the value of the average home raise by a factor of 10 to 15 times the cost of homes when I was a child. In the area where I live, I have seen in just a few years, the cost of the average home literally double.


Paper money used to be backed by precious metals, but this has not been the case for a very long time.


Any time there is a financial need, our country increases its debt.


The percentage of people who maintain savings is very low across the board, with only a small portion of the population saving more than 15% of their income.


People live on debt more than they ever have, turning yesterday’s luxuries into today’s necessities.


Do we see any signs that honest work is no longer a virtue?


I see this problem all around.


Have we seen any evidence that respect for law is disintegrating, and that has started to become an accepted method for achieving individual and group desires?


With the incidence still ongoing, following George Floyd’s death, it is quite clear that a growing group of people favor anarchy, and that even currently-acting major political leaders support violent protests as a right, even though in these cases the violence always seems to be aimed at innocent people, many of whom belong to minority groups, and it is devastating to report that some of the victims have been small children, toddlers, and even babies.


There is a time and place for war, as was required to secure individual freedoms for the inhabitants of the United States of...

Hello. I am Michael Hogue. I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time, and am now officially beginning this podcast in which I will discuss my faith.
As a high school student years ago, I took a career assessment, the name of which I do not recall. It contained approximately 200 multiple-choice questions. Weeks later, all the students received reports containing 6 or 7 highly compatible professions we should consider, with details about each profession.
Unlike most of my classmates, my report contained only two recommended career options, with the number one ranked choice as: pastor or minister for a church.
Both recommended career paths would have been enjoyable and fulfilling for me, but there was just one problem with the top recommendation: my church does not have a paid clergy. In order to have pursued that career path, I would have needed to turn away from that which I love and know to be true. Doing so would have been a serious betrayal of my conscience and convictions.
Since that time I have felt an ever-growing wish to share my thoughts and feelings about my faith. It works like this for me: As I study or meditate on a principle, I seem to gain deeper insights and appreciation for that principle. The whole process is exciting for me. It fills me with joy, peace, gratitude, and enthusiasm.
But what dampens my joy in these experiences: even though I have attempted as often as possible, to share what I consider to be extremely meaningful and impactful and important; I’ve had relatively few opportunities to do so, with the essence of what drives me regarding these choice and precious principles.
Regardless of which religion you embrace – or no religion at all – I hope that my words will work within you to bring you closer to God; that something within you will resonate to help you more fully understand and appreciate that you and I are created in His image; that our Creator has designed an important purpose for your life and mine.
As you come to more fully realize God’s love, the purposes for which he has outlined your life, and as you step into that role which he has designed for you; your satisfaction with life will become immeasurable; you will find unending peace, joy, success, and happiness – and all of this will be in spite of the great commotions and contentions in our world today; it will be peace and happiness in your life regardless of setbacks, potential losses, and adversities.
You may wonder how I can be so confident of these truths, but even when the Jews marveled that our Savior, Jesus Christ, knew letters, He didn’t expect people to take His teachings at face value. He said that anyone who does His will “shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17).
There are so many lessons that can be derived from this simple verse. Among all those lessons emerges the powerful theme that religious assurances require that we be “doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22).
So when questions of religious doctrine confront you, which is likely to happen at least once if you continue to listen to me, you have the opportunity to find out for yourselves the truthfulness of any message – by humble meditation, submissive prayer, and obedient action.
The first absolute requirement for the kind of faith that we all need to obtain, is to have an assurance in God’s personal attributes – most importantly that He is perfect, all powerful, all knowing, and that He loves us with a perfect love.
Why would this be such an important requirement?
I look at it this way:
If we come to know for sure that God wants something for us, but we do not have an assurance that He loves us, then we might consider His will for us to be irrelevant and possibly harmful.
If we know what God wants, but do not have an assurance of His perfect knowledge, wisdom, foresight, and power, then we might consider His will for us to be irrelevant because of its