Mike

Happy Birthday America- Land of the Free, where Christ is King

@mholt6 @jaredadairbell Source, official newsroom of the church newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/sunday…

Interesting new change.

@VVenerabilis How so? I'd rather he fire Bondi who's been worse that completely useless & incompetent. Noem's biggest problem is not going far enough.

This is a good move. While I generally like Noem, she was becoming a liability at DHS. Good move.

@VVenerabilis @Careerflex Thank you.

All of this is general advice. Commentary on the 4 items listed: 1. Good advuce, but at least in my case, not required. I wasnt overweight when courting my wife, but nor was I some jacked gymbro. I was (and remain) deeply funny however. If you aren't witty, be pretty. 2. Eye contact. No notes. 10/10. 3. Absolutely. And dont just eradicate downer music, eradicate downer EVERYRHING. Don't be a poor, picked on, crybaby. Don't constantly bring everyone down with doomer talk and outlook. Nobody wants to be around that all the time. 4. Absolutely. Become multifaceted. Become interesting. Its fine to have a hobby (you're talking to THE Star Wars guy of LDX), but be *more* than your hobby. I've studied 7 languages, lived abroad, I've studied history and politics, from ancient to modern. I've gone to rock concerts and art museums, movie theaters and library special collections. Become multifaceted and interesting. Now for my own additions: 1a. You. Must. Deal. In. Reality. You simply must. Be real with what you bring to the table; looks, ability to provide, testimony, hopes and dreams, personality, and problems. Be honest with yourself about ALL of that. I brought up looks first because its the numebr 1 thing people lie about. The reality is, you probably are not a Ryan Gosling or a Henry Caville. Which means you probably aren't going to pull an Anne Hathaway or a Sydney Sweeney. So calibrate your expectations accordingly. Same goes for everything else. Be relatively with yourself. Do you lack a testimony? Well, you're probably not gonna pull some spiritual Stacy. 2a. Act like a man. Fake it if you have to, but you MUST present yourself in as manly a manner as possible. I dont mean be a muscle bound meathead who can't string a sentence together and cares only about tits and the gym. I mean, present yourself as an ideal man. Check the Family Proclamation for what that looks like. You must be, or at least seem to be, to be able to provide and protect a woman. You must be a source of stability, because Lord knows women are not. Volatile creatures are women. So practice a little stoicism. For heaven's sake, dont cry and dont post about your emotional breakdowns. You do that and you are just broadcasting that you are not a source of stability, that ypu cannot provide nor protect. Feel free to open up a little after marriage, but before that? Shut up about your feelings and shove them way down. Its like on U-571, the captain always knows what to do, even if he doesnt. He doesnt let the crew know he doesn't have the answer. That will sink a ship, dead as a depth charge. And it will sink a man just as sure. 3a. Be confident. Don't be cocky or arrogant, but be confident. Have a plan. Shoot your shot. Take the lead. This is also part of what it means to be a man. I'll use Twin2 as an example. Boy1, likes her very much, but is deeply indecisive. He is quite literally polite to a fault. He will ask her out and then ask what she would like to do. She finds it very frustrating that he will not just take the lead. Boy1 is so concerned with respecting boundaries and desires, that it has left him paralyzed. And it is a turn off for Twin2. Compare that to The Challenger, who let Twin2 know that he'd had his eye on her for some time. He asked her out and told her what they were doing for it. He took charge. He is taking the initiative and is the one doing the pursuing. And the result? Twin2 has been swept off her feet a little bit by the boy who is acting like a man. Poor Boy2 doesnt know it yet, but he is losing the battle for her heart. Badly. Because he is *so* concerned with being a gentleman and never doing anything ever for any reason, that he has paralyzed himself and lost the prize in doing so. 4a. Understand that you can change your personality. And you might have to. If what you're doing hasn't worked for years and years and years, you need to understand that if you dont change, you will continue to fail for years and years and years to come. When I was younger, I observed that a particular type of personality and behavior seemed to attract the ladies. It was NOT what I was starting with We moved, and I decided that at this new school, I would force myself to behave differently, to emulate those whom I'd seen be successful. Was it difficult? Yeah, sometimes? Was I faking it? Yeah, at first. Did it work? Absolutely. You can do it to. You can change the aspects of who you are that arent working and become a new, better you. 5a. Some movie recommendations: Just pay attention to the main character. Observe the traits they share in common. Observe what metaphysical traits make them successful. - Patton - U-571 - Master & Commander - Shane - The Cowboys

Alright, therapy boys and girls... Here we have a young bruiser who wants to work on his social skills, internal dialogue, and abilities to both attract and retain healthy female relationships. ***I would like to retain advice only from those who know how to be successful in relationships. Doomer and blackpill advice will be shamed and shunned. *** What are the best tactics, techniques, and procedures a young 20-ish fellow can learn to create social flow states? 1- GYM. Lift heavy and lift often. Women and men both unconsciously judge you and find you delightful if you have a strong deltoid, trap, chest, bicep, and forearm chain. But the boys will ultimately judge you by your hams, quads, and calves. 2- Eye contact. Eye contact communicates too much to be misused. The Tiktok therapy trend of "normalize" neurodivergent people to not make eye contact only sets them back. You can make love with you eyes. 3- Eradicate downer, doomer music. Synth wave, European power metal, or classical. We don't do angry or emo in Hyperborea. Or Wakanda 4- Read smart things. If it is younger than 10 years old, avoid it. If it still matters after 10 years, read it. You might start with "Civilization and its Discontents" by Freud or "King Warrior Magician Lover" by Moore and Gillette. People will be able to tell if you are considered or not. @SystemicTexism @ryanMcRogers @AlobhaPatrick @DoctorPerin @VVenerabilis

That's the power of conversion. There's joy in the labor of the Lord. Joy in forgetting yourself and putting others first. In both the New testament & the book of Mormon, I'd hope I'd be like John or the 3 nephites, so I can be in the service of the Lord for as long as possible. Christ died and sacrificed for me. Least I can do is give my life in return.

In the LDS Church, we reward leaders who do a good job with the opportunity to never retire and work every day of their life until they die. But don't worry, if the calling disrupted the most lucrative years of their career, we will give them a modest stipend.

When I am stumped, I often ask myself, “What would Grond do?” Then I set myself on fire and slam my head against the problem.

@moroni_memer Love this. Thank you for sharing.

In my temple recommend interview on Sunday, the First Counselor in our new Bishopric spent time to discuss every single question, the doctrine around them, and backing it them scripture. It was the best temple recommend interview I've ever had. When we began discussing the Word of Wisdom, I especially liked how he said we should emulate Adam's outlook, when an Angel appeared to him and asked why he was doing animal sacrifices. "I know not, save that the Lord commanded me." That is something I've always felt in my bones about the WoW. People love finding all the health justifications. But none of it matters. Following it because God commanded it is what matters. If He told us to avoid onions, it would be not different. But this inspired man gave me two insights on this and other commandments that I never thought of. 1. The only interpretation of the Word of Wisdom that matters is what the current Prophet declares. So it only matters what President Oaks says about it, if it is different from the previous Prophet. That is why we see changes in how each Prophet has interpreted it. Many years ago, caffeine was considered restricted, but since 2012, that has been done away with and updated for example. 2. One of the blessings of the WoW is that the Destroying Angel would pass over us. We never talk about this. What he said that was new for me is this: When the Children of Israel painted their doorframes with lamb's blood, there was no way to tell who did it begrudgingly and who did it with a more consecrated attitude. BUT you immediately could see as you walked down the street who was following the Prophet. And the Lord expects that of us today. Therefore, God today, just as in times of old, has provided ways for us to physically see with our eyes who is following His Prophet. He said that both the WoW and the wearing of the Garment of the Holy Priesthood are two such ways we OUTWARDLY express that we follow the Prophet, and thus God. Things like this are intentional and meant to be seen by others. They mark us as covenant people and not as people of Babylon. He invited me to find more ways to mark myself as a covenant follower of God and His Prophet. I extend this invitation to you. Stop looking for the WoW to be lessened or changed. Stop looking for reasons to look like Babylon and remove the Garment. In the interview questions, the interviewer reads a paragraph about the wearing of the Garment from the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 that clearly tells us to almost never remove it. He additionally told me that the best place to gain a strong testimony of the importance of properly wearing the Garment is by doing more Initiatory in the temple. If you do not yet have a testimony about this, study that paragraph from the temple recommend interview and go do lots of Initiatories. I have a testimony that these things are inspired and true.

Everyone in your comments seems to have read *progression between kingdoms* not 'progressiom within kingdoms'. The first is absolutely not possible. That's doctrine. But I don't think I've seen much on the 2nd. Progression within kingdoms? I don't know. Doesn't look like it's a possibility in the 3 degrees of the celestial kingdom though. So it may be a model for the rest.

Holy crap are there a lot of members who do not understand the post-mortality part of the Plan of Salvation.

I've been experiencing this for the past month and it's driving me nuts. Feels like other platforms now. Give me a variety, not just things I've interacted with recently. I constantly need to search for people and interact with their stuff to remind the algorithm I want to see it.

My problem with my "For you" tab is that it way too quickly becomes one subject. Just because I engage for a day or two with a topic does not mean I've lost all interest in everything else. Right now the ONLY thing I'm being shown is the debacle in Minnesota. Every single post.

@VVenerabilis This is such a great response to any complaint from the left. Shuts down those retards after 2020.

I don't know why the Left is freaking out. It was a mostly peaceful protest.

@VVenerabilis Who knew that following the example of Jesus Christ and being direct with people for their good and the good of others is actually better than being 'nice' and sweeping everything under the rug....

Reminds me of a funny story. When I lived in Michigan, I was the EQ 1st councilor. There was one brother who would constantly play on his phone in class. Sound on, everything. Super distracting. The first week, it just floored me that he was doing that. I mean, you wanna not pay attention, fine, but at least turn the sound off, then I don't care. The second week. As soon as I heard the sound, I told him to put it away. He did. Third week, I saw the flip phone come out before class started. I quietly asked him to at least make sure the sound was off. He said okay. Halfway through the lesson, game sounds start blaring. Fourth week, same thing. I ask nicely to make sure the sound is off completely. He agrees, as soon as the lesson starts, *****GAME NOISES*****!!!!! I just turn to him and sternly and somewhat loudly say, "[NAME] if that phone makes another noise during these lessons, I'm going to take your phone and break it in half. You got it?" He just sat there. I said, "[Name], do you understand me?" He nodded, "Yes. Sorry." We didn't have any more problems and nearly every member of the quorum thanked me individually after.

@VVenerabilis Good to know BYU is trying to fight it. My older brother went there and it shocked both of us how liberal it was.

Just ran into Pres. Reese of BYU at the grocery store. Me: Hey! I know that guy! Reese: Hey! How are ya? Me: Good, President. How are you? R: Good, good. Me: How is it fighting the Communists and Leffists and Progmos over there? R: *chuckles* It's good. It's good. *sigh* It's.... it's what we *do*. Me: Well, keep fighting the good fight. R: Oh, we are. Me: I hope it gets better cuz.... R: Oh, we're working on it.

@Manhattva Heck yeah. What a reverent and sacred place.

The Garden of Gethsemane A minute alone at dawn. Listen.

@Manhattva Thank you for sharing pictures & videos of your trip. I've been loving them. Hope to go to the holy land myself someday.

The Southern Steps The steps seen here are not stone blocks, But rather carved directly out of the mountain itself. These steps used to lead directly to the temple, and it is extremely likely that Jesus Christ walked here. This entrance is closest to Siloam, and would logically be the place where John 9 took place. If you look carefully, you can see where the entrance has been bricked shut. It is also very possible that Abraham may have walked on this stone before the steps were carved in to the mountain. John 9: 1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man⁠, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifestin him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day⁠: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam⁠, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing

@VVenerabilis Welp- I'm about as awkward as both of these guys put together. Great to see I'm not the only one.

Okay, here it goes. So, my mother is an insanely talented woman, and was for a time a professional chocolatier. Every year my mother, father, and our family make a lot of chocolate candies. Like, A LOT. Cream centers, truffles, turtles, almond rocca, peanut brittle, caramels. It's mostly for our enormous family, extended and immediate, and then a few others - employees, very close family friends, and maybe someone special if you're single. So, the twins made up a box of chocolates for Boy1 and Boy2. Last night, we went to take them their chocolates. Boy1 was the first stop. Twin1 was SO nervous. She doesn't feel like she has a lot of game (which is kinda true - kids these days!), but she was invited inside and happily greeted by Boy1's mom. She gave Boy1 the chocolates, the talked for a moment, and she gave him a hug. We then went to Boy2's house, and while Twin2 was gone, Boy1 texted Twin1. He thanked her for the chocolates and said that seeing her totally made his night. He said that he really likes her, but doesn't want to come across as over the top. THANKFULLY, Twin1 listened to me and replied that she'd be okay with him being a little more expressive of his feelings towards her. Okay, while all that was happening, Twin2 was on her own derpy adventure. She was invited inside by Boy2's father (both Twins have pretty thoroughly won over the parents of their respective boys). She went downstairs where Boy2 was playing some game online with a friend. He was shocked to see her there, but very excited. Boy2, God bless hi, has zero game or skills whatsoever. Absolutely no clue how the game is played. He's so head over heels for Twin2, he'd slit his own wrists if she asked him to, but he just has no clue how to advance his position. He's also terminally polite and earnest. He's a good kid. So after giving him his chocolates, Twin2 gave him a hug and then kissed him on the cheek. He stood there in shock. She was so nervous, that she decided to bail. Abort! Abort! Turns around to go and trips over the couch. Their front door closes and she just sprints back to the car. Twin1 squealed in excitement when Twin2 told her she kissed his cheek. Having teenagers is hilarious.

@SandyofCthulhu Hadn't considered this- as someone who's dating a lot, thank you.

Pro Tip: if you are at a restaurant, and your date asks what you're getting, she's trying to see your price point before picking her item. This is a green flag.

@sister_slay Words have lost their meaning. The normal words don't have the impact they want so they resort to more extreme language, therefore making the extreme language useless. Same thing happened in social politics. Racist, fascist, rape, supremicist- all meaningless.

My biggest pet peeve lately: “I’m an empath” ok congrats on having basic human emotions

@Manhattva @AgroNationalism Question for you- say a biker follows the law, stays in the biking lane (even if the bike lane is in the road), and isnt retarded- are you ok with those bikers? Assuming they exist (I'd like to claim to be one)......

@AgroNationalism We are totally fine with people riding their bikes off of roads, which are made for cars.

right wingers need to get around the bike-hating thing. bicycles are in the top ten best inventions of mankind. they are super family friendly, your wife and kids would love the cycle-based agro-nationalist village life.

@VVenerabilis Crazy & unfortunate that this has to be said... You would think that this perspective is a default for people. But then again, plenty of people are gonna claim that social benefits that don't and can't exist right now are gonna be human\constitutional rights in the future.

Here's a little thought experiment for the sophisticated, educated, rational, "half the scriptures didn't happen, they're just nice, made up stories" crowd of LDS: To argue that unless something has "proof", it didn't happen, is pure silliness. Let's take the Book of Ether, for example. The Jaredites were a thing. They were a real people that existed, grew, prospered, declined, rinse and repeat for generations, and then destroyed themselves. But we only know about them through an accident (or direction from the Lord, but whatever). What if the people of Limhi had never accidentally wandered over to where Ether deposited the plates? What if those plates had remained, as of 2025, undiscovered? Would that mean that the Jaredite civilization never existed? Would that mean that the Jaredites were all a myth? No, of course not. It would simply mean that the Jaredites existed, grew, and were destroyed just as the Book of Ether describes, but that you and I in 2025 were ignorant of its happenings. Had the Jaredite record not yet been discovered in 2025, that would not change the reality of the events it describes. They still would have happened as described, you and I just wouldn't know about it. Simply put: Just because you and I live in 2025, that does not mean that you and I have access to ALL the information that exists on a thing that happened. To act as if because something cannot be "proven" in 2025 means that it did not happen is the absolute pinnacle of intellectual arrogance.

@ZubyMusic @AJA_Cortes What would you say the criteria would\shoukd be for the last 10% to be over 200lbs? I'm 6'1", currently 210lbs, and I'd say it's mostly muscle. Body fat percentage is around 15-20%.

@AJA_Cortes People really overcomplicate basic things. 90% of men have no business being over 200lbs.

You're obese. That's why your blood pressure is high It's obfuscation to pretend it's anything else. You need to unfat yourself

If in the course of an intellectual dispute, one person is substantiated by the scriptures, prophets, and apostles and the other is supported by news articles and popular theories which contridict the scriptures, I will not find that second argument very convincing.