Banks want more money?

Do banks want money or is it something else they want?

What does a bank get when it lends money?
1. Principle and Interest on the money they lend, plus they can lend 10 times the money they actually have.
2. They put chains of bondage on the people who owe them money. They become the master and the borrower becomes their slave.

We saw a movie where the banks want to lend money to a group that will cause a civil war. The group’s leader says his group has no way to repay the bank for the money it needs to arm his soldiers. The banker replies by saying something like this: The money isn’t what we want; it is the control and power that we will gain by the debt that the people and nation will incur when they come to us for money to purchase items to protect themselves. We will take away their freedoms and put them in bondage to us.

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! (Not all Whoa’s are created equal!)

Consider this:

If banks are given money by their customers, the Federal Reserve allows them to lend out ten times what they are given. Example: You give a bank $1,000 by putting it in a savings account. The Fed allows the banks to lend $10,000. Where does the other $9,000 come from? It really doesn’t exist. It comes from the power of the Fed to allow the bank to lend out ten times what they actually have. It also comes from the faith of the people who are borrowing, that the money they borrow can actually be use to buy something. The borrower also knows the bank has the right to collect their money, repossess the item you used their money to buy, take you to court in order to get it, brand you as a bad risk, and/or to put you in jail.

So let’s say they are given $1,000 by a rich man. They will want to lend it out immediately. How much do they get back, if the charge 5% yearly interest? Remembering they can lend ten times what the rich man gave them.
10 X 1,000 = $10,000
.05 X 10,000 = $500
Where do they make the most money? Not from the interest!
Their return from the $1,000 dollars given to them by the rich man, if they lend it out to others is $10,500. That is, if everyone they lent the money to, pays them back in one year. They now have $10,500 to lend out. But now, we times that by 10 = $105,000 to lend out. And on it goes.
Are they hurt if one of the ten people fails to pay them back? A little bit. The bank takes the borrower to court, repossesses the item, marks the borrower as a bad credit risk, so that person can’t get any more loans from any bank. And the bank makes “Only” 9.5 % instead of 10.5% on their money. They claim in court they “Lost” $1,000. Did they really loose money? No, they just didn’t make as much as their greedy little minds wanted to or expected to.

If we want in on part of the action and we have some extra money we want to put into the bank to collect interest, what rate of return do they give us? .03% is the going rate today. How does that compare to what the banks are getting? (Banks get) 10.5 divide that by .03 (what they give us) = 350. In other words they get 350 times as much as they are willing to give us, who actually have the money. No wonder they come up with slogans such as, “We haven’t forgot who keeps us in business”!

This sounds like greed to me, or maybe even a conspiracy! And now they turn around and want us to bail them out? The bank had no mercy on the borrower that failed to pay them back. The bank wouldn’t bail the borrower out in any way, shape or form. It would seem anyone that is so stupid that they can’t make a living earning 350 times the rate they are willing to pay, doesn’t even deserve a bucket! If they won’t help themselves bail out of their mess, should we feel sorry for them or should we just start over with a new bank that has smarter people?

Just stop and think what they are asking the tax payers to do. They want $250,000,000,000, (250 Billion Dollars), from you and me. They turn around and lend out ten times that amount, (7 Trillion dollars). I’m sure they are laughing their heads off. Laughing “All the way to their Bank”!

Just take a minute and Google “bank bail out list”. Take note of the last name on the list. Not that the list stops there. The list is so long my finger got cramps scrolling down it!

Bank bailout: Who's getting the money
The Treasury Department is in the midst of doling out $250 billion to financial institutions nationwide as part of the $700 billion bailout plan. Here's a list of the banks that have received checks so far.

Date of Capital Injection
Financial Institution
City
State
Amount

10/28/2008
Wells Fargo & Co.
San Francisco
Calif.
$25,000,000,000

10/28/2008
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
New York
N.Y.
$25,000,000,000

10/28/2008
Citigroup Inc.
New York
N.Y.
$25,000,000,000

10/28/2008
Bank of America Corp.1
Charlotte
N.C.
$15,000,000,000

10/28/2008
Morgan Stanley
New York
N.Y.
$10,000,000,000

10/28/2008
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
New York
N.Y.
$10,000,000,000

10/28/2008
Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
New York
N.Y.
$3,000,000,000

10/28/2008
State Street Corp.
Boston
Mass.
$2,000,000,000

11/17/2008
U.S. Bancorp
Minneapolis
Minn.
$6,599,000,000

11/17/2008
Capital One Financial Corp.
McLean
Va.
$3,555,199,000

11/17/2008
Regions Financial Corp.
Birmingham
Ala.
$3,500,000,000

11/17/2008
SunTrust Banks Inc.
Atlanta
Ga.
$3,500,000,000

11/17/2008
BB&T Corp.
Winston-Salem
N.C.
$3,133,640,000

11/17/2008
KeyCorp
Cleveland
Ohio
$2,500,000,000

11/17/2008
Comerica Inc.
Dallas
Texas
$2,250,000,000

11/17/2008
Marshall & Ilsley Corp.
Milwaukee
Wis.
$1,715,000,000

11/17/2008
Northern Trust Corp.
Chicago
Ill.
$1,576,000,000

11/17/2008
Zions Bancorporation
Salt Lake City
Utah
$1,400,000,000

Follow-up on my LOST Post

I hope you didn’t take my last post about LOST the wrong way. I love LOST. I just think the writers and producer of LOST want to keep us LOST enough so that we don’t figure out that the plot of LOST is to keep us LOST. Not so LOST that we quit watching LOST, but LOST enough to keep LOST a number one show. We are the ones they want to keep LOST. That is why they called the show LOST.

Have I LOST you? If so, read that again. We are right where the writers of LOST want us. Still LOST, but still watching LOST, because we love LOST. Maybe we just love being LOST? What would be the fun of not being LOST? We wouldn’t have anything to figure out!

Did you ever talk to someone that was reported on the news to be LOST? When we finally find them and they hear the news report for the first time saying, “The LOST” (hunters or whatever) have been found, the ones that were “Lost” will say, “LOST? LOST? We weren’t LOST! We knew where we were the whole time! We just couldn’t get home! We weren’t LOST!”

So it is with LOST. The characters can’t get home, but they know where they are the whole time. We that watch the show and try to figure out where they are, are the only ones that are LOST. Thank heaven, God knows where we are all the time!

LOST

Are any of you addicted, like I am, to the TV show called Lost? What is the show all about anyway? I think I have it all figured out! It’s all in the name, Lost.

It started out as a story about 71 people who survived the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 onto a mysterious island somewhere in the South Pacific. At first hey didn’t know where they were. They were LOST. Then we find out none of their friends or loved ones can find them, . . . They are just plain LOST, they disappeared, gone, poof! LOST.

Then the show flashes back and shows us some of the character’s “pre-existant” lives and what they did before the plane crash. Jack was bringing his dad back from Australia because his dad had died. Jack and his dad were working in the same hospital, but didn’t know much about each other. They had, hummmm, LOST their connection to each another. For example Jack didn’t know his dad had had an affair with another woman and Jack had sister, which he never knew about.

What about Jack’s sister? Claire was pregnant, she went to a soothsayer to find out what to do with the baby she was about to give birth to. Who would do that? Why did she do it? To find herself because she was LOST!

Hurly won the lottery and everything he spent it on blew up or died. He ended up in a mental institution playing bored games, (yes I meant to spell it that way), with a ghost. Why? Yeah, he was LOST.

Kate lived in a home where her father abused her and Kate’s mother. In desperation to find herself, she robbed banks, killed people and then to top it all off, she blew up her mother,s house with her no good, abusing father still in it. Why did she do that? Ah ha, because she was LOST! Kate told her mother what she had done and her mother told the police. They locked her up for murder. Amazingly, she escaped and married a policeman. Did she live happily-ever-after? NO! She went from town to town because she was….let’s say it all together…she was LOST.

Sawyer certainly was a LOST soul.

John wandered around the country trying to find himself. Yes, he was LOST until.
John Locke’s dad squeezed a kidney out of him and pushed him out the window.

That brings us to Jin, Sun, Daniel, Walt, (and his dad, I cant remember his name) Sayid, Charlie, Aaron and Desmond. What about them? LOST, LOST, LOST!

The only character that knew where he was is Ben!

Then everything changes.

Ben, out of the goodness of his heart, (if there is such a place in his heart), meets all the survivors and helps them find themselves. Kate, Jack, Sayid, Sun, Aaron, Hurly, Walt and Desmond, all know they are back home in the good old USA. (And so does Ben, bless his bulging eyes!)

Jin, Sawyer, Juliet, John, Claire and newcomers, Daniel, Miles and Charlotte, all know they are still on the Island. (Oops, Charlotte died last week.)

Danielle, Alex, Charlie, Anna Lucia, Eko, Libby and several others are dead, but they know they are and they know where they are! They even appear to the people who are alive from time to time and tell them what they should do. They aren’t LOST!

John Locke is both Dead and Alive. It doesn’t bother him any more. He knows where he is either place. None of them are Lost anymore!

Now I need to wrap this all up. With all the flashbacks, flash forwards, and time shifts, all the characters figure out where they are. They are no longer LOST.

Do they need to change the name of the show to “LOST and FOUND”? Oh no, because WE, who have watched the show for 5 years now, WE, are sill L O S T!

Isaiah Insight #1

I thought I would share an insight we learned from our Isaiah class a couple of weeks ago. This verse is one we are all familiar with. In fact as you read it you can even put it to music!

Isaiah 9:
6 For unto us a child (Jesus Christ) is born, unto us a son is given: and the government (the ruling power of God, the priesthood) shall be upon his shoulder: (The right shoulder, think of the temple) and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, (“Messenger of the Great Counsel”) The mighty God, (The Redeemer) The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew, translates wonderful counselor as, “Messenger of (the) Great Counsel”.

This is significant for us in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who believe in a pre-mortal life, where we were taught by Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother and Jesus Christ. We are taught that while we were in the Pre-existence, there was a "Great Counsel" held. We all attended. There, Christ was chosen and foreordained, by the Father, to come to earth and redeem all who would accept Christ and the message that He would bring from the Father. So Isaiah tell us in this verse that Christ is the "Messenger of (the) great Counsel".

Nephi quoted verse 6 word for word. - 2 Nephi 19:6

The Plan of Happiness, not Hopelessness

While we were at the temple with Garrett and Hayley, the officiator made a statement, something to the effect that once a seal is place on a marriage, it will ensure that the children in that marriage will be saved. Latter outside, in front of the temple, my sister and brother-in-law remarked how neat it was that all of our children were able to be in the temple with Garrett and Hayley and wished they could see the same thing happen with all of their children or at least know that they would be saved from the torments of Hell.

I asked them if they have heard what the officiator, Bro. Day, had said about how once the seal had been place on the marriage, it saved the children. They said they had heard that, but didn’t think it would ever happen to them and some of their children. I assured them that it would.

What Brother Day said, reminded me of what Joseph Smith had said, “When a seal is put upon the father and mother, it secures their posterity, so that they cannot be lost, but will be saved by virtue of the covenant of their father and mother.” (History of Church, vol. 5, page 530.)

So, how does it work? How are children that have chosen not to abide by the standards of the church, and are rebellious to the teachings of their parents and the church, ever going to be saved?

My understanding is this:

The Kolob Years!

We lived with and were taught by our Heavenly Father and Mother.
We saw God Create at least one world. We saw how was it done. It was done by faith and the priesthood.

We all started our preparation for our return to Heavenly Father and Mother in the Pre-mortal life. We chose to accept the Father’s “Plan of Happiness” that was presented to us in the Pre-existence. There was a war in heaven. Imagine that! There was actually war in Heaven, and it continues on earth to this day. It was a war of words.

We and our children bore testimony to our friends in the Pre-existence, who were considering following Lucifer and his lies. We tried to save and convince everyone we could, that Heavenly Father’s plan was the only way to progress and become like Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. Our children didn’t just accept Heavenly Father’s plan, but they also accepted Christ as their savior and they were valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ!

How do we know that? Well if they hadn’t had done that, they wouldn’t have earned the blessings of their second estate. They wouldn’t be here on earth with a mortal body, if they had followed Lucifer and his lies.

We were taught more details of our Fathers’ plan after Satan had been defeated and kicked out of God’s presence. We know this because Satan did not know the mind of God when he tempted Eve. (Moses 4:6)

We saw God, pre-ordain and bless his children. I’m sure he blessed them that they would return safely back home to Heavenly Father and Mother. (We do the same thing when we send our kids off to college.)

We were all given a second estate. We were told what would happen while we were here on earth and what to expect! We made the choice to come to earth with our eyes open.

While here on earth, while we are away from Heavenly Father and Mother, we need to gain experience and learn knowledge. It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance. (D&C 131:6)

“There is a greater key—a key that each one of us earnestly seeks to obtain and that will open the locks to the treasure houses of knowledge we desire to acquire. That key is the key of faith. In this work, no lock will open without it.” (Thomas S. Monson, Pathways to Perfection 1976, page 49-49.

The Mortal Years:

“The veil makes us forget events, but that forgetfulness does not cover-up our attributes, our understanding, our talents, our knowledge or our spiritual gifts or spiritual understanding that have been developed in the pre-mortal life. We didn’t come to this earth to gain a testimony. We already had a testimony in the previous world. That is why we chose God’s plan instead of Lucifer’s.” Jack Marshall, BYU Education week. See also D&C 138:50-53. (Notice, there were “’Other Choice spirits’ who received their first lessons”. These spirits are you and me, our children, grandchildren, and on and on.)

We need to teach the gospel to our children every chance we get, especially when they are young. We need to bear our testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel and of Jesus Christ to our children every chance we get, if we want to save them.
“There are several reasons for bearing testimony. One is that when you declare the truth, it will bring an echo, a memory, even if it is an unconscious memory to the investigator, (and your children) that they have heard this truth before—and of course they have. A missionary’s (Parent’s) testimony invokes a great legacy of testimony dating back to the councils in heaven before this world was. There, in an earlier place, these same people heard this same plan outlined and heard there the role that Jesus Christ would play in their salvation.”
“So the fact of the matter is investigators (and our children) are not only hearing our testimony of Christ, but they are hearing echoes of other, earlier testimonies, including their own testimony of Him, for they were on the side of the faithful who kept their first estate and earned the privilege of a second estate. We must always remember that these investigators, every man, woman, and child, were among the valiant who once overcame Satan by the power of their testimony of Christ! So when they hear others bear that witness of Christ’s saving mission, it has a familiar feeling; it brings an echo of truth they themselves already know.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Missionary Work and the Atonement,” Ensign, Mar 2001, from a talk given at the Provo, Utah - Missionary Training Center on 20 June 2000.)

What is the purpose of us coming to the earth?

To gain knowledge and experience opposites.

Suffer the 2nd death for the first time = spiritual death.

Receive a physical Body. The spirit is pure, when it comes into the tabernacle, (body). The tabernacle is subject to sin, but the spirit is not…Satan can only contaminate the bodies. (President Brigham Young, February 17, 1856, JD, Vol. 3:206-207.)

Receive the Holy Ghost. (He will burn the “H” out of you!)

Get all of our earthly ordinances done.

The gate to the Celestial Kingdom is Celestial Marriage. Not necessarily Temple marriage.
D&C 131: 1-3
1 In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
2 And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage];
3 And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.

We also need to look at our children and see them as God sees them.

D&C 76:94-95
94 They who dwell in his presence are the church of the Firstborn; and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace;
95 And he makes them equal in power, and in might, and in dominion.

We should understand and teach our children that they were fore-ordained by God and He has great confidence in them and their power and strength. They are choice spirit children of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. As we teach our children, God blesses them and shows them that he has confidence in them.

President Henry B. Eyring, April 5, 2008, Conference Priesthood Session said, “First, the very fact that you have been offered the oath and covenant, (of the priesthood), (and Celestial marriage) is evidence that God has chosen you, knowing your power and capacity. He has known you since you were with Him in the spirit world. With His foreknowledge of your strength, He has allowed you to find the true Church of Jesus Christ and to be offered the priesthood. You can feel confidence because you have evidence of His confidence in you.”

Teach your children that!

The Millennial Years

Live your life so that you are eligible to come forth at the beginning of the Millennium, which is the morning of the first resurrection. You will get a lot more done if you start earlier in the morning!

What is the purpose of the millennium? What is the purpose of the Spirit World?
1. To save our forefathers by doing their temple work.
2. To save God’s Children and ours!
We will spend the millennium helping our kids get back to Father. We sometimes go through hell with our children in this life and if we need to, we will go to hell, (the spirit prison), to find them and bring them out. We will plead, along with Jesus Christ, to the Father for their salvation. We will help them pay the price.
This is not a second chance, but rather continuation of the plan Heavenly Father created to save his children.

Satan will be bound during the millennium and have no way to distract them, but we will be able continue to act as ambassadors for Christ. Unabated by the influence of Satan, there will be very few who will not recognize their mistakes and have desire to repent. Our testimonies will have “a familiar feeling; and bring an echo of truth they themselves already know.”
Alma, while he was bound, remembered the words of his father about one, Jesus Christ, who could save him. So will those who are in spirit prison. Our children will remember Christ because we taught them of Christ while they were on earth. They will remember Christ because God taught them in the pre-existence.

We will help Christ bring our children and grand children to the highest degree of salvation possible.

D&C 138: 57-59
57 I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, (you) when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead.
58 The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God,
59 And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation.

Some may not receive the hightest degree of the Celestial Kingdom, if they choose not to marry, but they will be servants of the gods.

D&C 132: 16-17
16 Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.
17 For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.

You will have great respect and love for those ministering angels and servants. Some of them will be your children, grand children or other posterity. They will help you in everything you do in your new kingdom. They will still be sealed to you and they will be saved.

If we can’t exalt them, we can still save them to some degree of glory.

D&C 76:
112 And they shall be servants of the Most High;

Congratulations to Garrett and Hayley!

Congratulations to Garrett and Hayley! They are finally married to each other and have created their very own eternal family. What a wonderful day Saturday was. It was great to meet all of Hayley’s family! I was amazed at how many people came to support Garrett and Hayley at the reception. There were tons of teachers that work with Hayley that came, and lots and lots of people that work with Garrett came to support him. They also had many friends and roommates from their college days that came. There were also friends from their wards and some friends of both sets of their parents and extended family that came. It just shows how many people love and respect them. It was great to meet them all.

The best part was in the temple where both Garrett and Hailey had their parents, grand parents, all of their siblings and all of their sibling’s spouses, along with their friends, to share that special moment with them. They were legally and lawfully married as husband and wife for all eternity, and then blessings were sealed upon them that will help them build their family and their relationship to one another throughout all the eternities.

Congrats you two! You are now one!

Christmas Traditions

It is early Christmas Morning and I can't sleep. Santa is in the living room leaving gifts of love with his immeasurable service.

We had all our children (except for Garrett and Hayley - and they called from Washington State), over to our home last night for Christmas Eve, one of our families oldest Christmas Traditions. I just want to say "thank you" to my children for coming over to our house and giving of your time and sharing our Christmas tradition with De Anne and I. We want you to know how important this tradition is to us, and thank you for allowing us to keep this 35 year tradition going in our home. For De Anne it is a 57 year old tradition. It is one that we really want to keep because it means so much to us.

We had the traditional cheese soup for dinner and a few goodies afterwards.

Then came the traditional skit of the first Christmas Eve. The grand kids all did a great job with all of their parts. Most of them played multiple parts. It really helps to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.

I listened to the First Presidency's Christmas message and was touched by their understanding and testimonies. If you didn't see it, and even if you did, I am going to repeat part of President Eyring's message with this blog. I was pleased that President Eyring told of the Christmas pageant he started with his family. The first year it was just he and his wife. He played the role of Joseph and she was Mary. The next year they added a baby Jesus. As their family grew, they decided to add the part of Samuel the Lamanite, standing boldly, as he prophesied of the birth of Christ. Latter, they added an angry crowd, armed with balls of tin foil to throw at Samuel as he stood above them and prophesied. As the angry crowd became older and stronger . . . and their aim more accurate. . .President Eyring had to give a stern reminder that Samuel could not be hit, because he was protected by God. Still it took great courage for someone to play the part of Samuel! As time went on their group is growing smaller, as their family moved away and they started their own Christmas play.

I know that might someday happen to us as well, but for now, I want you to know how much it means to us to have you all together for this great event. Especially, as we start our new life in our new, smaller surroundings!

We also did the presents. My family is awesome. There were some great gifts given. What amazed and impressed me most was the excitement of those giving the gifts, watched with anticipation, the reactions of those receiving their gifts. The giver was often more excited than the receiver. That grings great joy to our heats. DeAnne and I received some great gifts last night, and we thank you again for them. DeAnne also thanked everyone for their gift of time and energy for all the help our children gave us with our move to our new home. We could never have survived your help. Thank You!

The pajama's, nightgowns and robes, handmade by Nana, is always a highlight for us. DeAnne spends many hours getting them all ready and it is so rewarding to see the excitement of the grand kids as they open that present and then put their pajama's on and pose for pictures.

How thankful we are to all of our children, for bringing your young families and coming to our home, to share your families and their joy with us on this special night. We are so pleased that we are able to feel the spirit of Christmas and keep this simple tradition alive.

Have a Merry Christmas!