Manaus Brazil Open House and Dedication

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that the public Open House for the Manaus Brazil Temple are from Friday 18 May 2012 through Saturday 2 June 2012, excluding Sundays.

Manaus Brazil Temple

The Temple will be formally Dedicated on Sunday 10 June 2012 in three sessions.  The dedicatory sessions will be broadcast throughout Brazil.

An Apostle's 3 days in Africa

While visiting the African nation of Ghana, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met with missionaries, both young and old, at the Accra Ghana Missionary Training Center.  Among many things he said, he prophesied, "Little by little, we’re going to see this continent covered by temples."  This is what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is built on - prophecy and direct revelation - and what The Mormon Eagle wishes to emphasize.

On Valentine's Day 2012, Elder Holland met with Ghana-area office employees in which he remarked that - and note that this is because of prophecy and revelation, and not in spite of it - the Church during 2012 will create the 3,000th Stake in the Church, and also that there will be 7 or 8 new mission created on the African continent.

On 16 February 2012, Elder Holland met with members at a fireside in Sierra Leon.  During the standing-room-only meeting, Elder Holland "had the impression to invite two children - a brother and sister - to come up.  He had on a white shirt and tie.  She wore a beautiful, colorful dress."  He then prophesied, "Their future - and the future of the Church - is bright, filled with possibility.  I don't know what their lives might have promised 200 years ago, or 500 years ago, or 2,000 years ago, but in this day, with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church established in this land, I can promise and see in great detail what their future will be.  What hope, and faith and possibility they have."  Elder Holland gave an Apostolic Blessing over the land, nation, and people while in Sierra Leon.  "I was to [sic] able to pray for and bless the land, the people at large, government officials and for peace among warring fractions that might put an end to such horrific history [Africa has had in the past]" (Church News, week ending 25 February 2012, 4).

The Mormon Eagle knows that revelation leads The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that President Monson is a Prophet of the Lord, even as Moses and Peter were.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mormon Theology no. 47 - Love

As it is Valentine's Day on Tuesday, The Mormon Eagle will expound on the true meaning of love.

Meaning of Love
Let us firstly define the word "love".  Dictionary.com's first definition for "love" reads as "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person".  This is true.  Passionate in this case doesn't necessarily mean romantic or sexual love.  For our purposes, the "passionate affection" we're talking about can be termed in another word - friendship - true, genuine, heartfelt friendship.  Now, this love speaking of friendship is defined by the Prophet Joseph Smith in a letter he wrote to James A. Bennett on 13 November 1843.  The Prophet wrote, "That friendship which intelligent beings would accept as sincere must arise from love, and that love grow out of virtue, which is as much a part of religion as light is a part of Jehovah.  Hence the saying of Jesus, 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends'" (History of the Church 6:73).

Perfect Representative of Love

Owing to the above words of President Smith, it follows that the best example of love is Jesus Christ Himself.  It is written, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:34-35).  The question must now be asked, how did the Savior love us?  How did He show that love?  The answer is found in the words of the Master through His Prophet Joseph Smith.  Said the Redeemer, "But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men" (D&C 19:17-19).  Christ the Lord showed His love to all mankind - both the wicked and the righteous - by suffering for their sins on conditions of repentance.  In other words, He did for others what they could not do for themselves.  We must also, as He did, do for others what they cannot do for themselves, whatever that may be, as led by the Holy Ghost.

How to obtain love

The Prophet Joseph Smith was once asked, "'Why is it this babbler gains so many followers, and retains them?'  I answer, It is because I possess the principle of love" (HC 5:498).  How can we gain the "principle of love"?  The scriptures teach of the Love of God, even Jesus Christ Himself.  As Jesus Christ is the Exemplar of all good things, it is through Him - and Him only - that love is obtained.  As we read the New Testament and the Book of Mormon, we are taught what Christ personally did in His ministry to His sheep in Israel, and also taught His doctrine as taught by Prophets and Apostles as well. 

I know the scriptures are true, and through a study of them, we can gain the Love of God, even Jesus, and learn through the Spirit to treat others a He would.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

A warning voice to the United States

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that California's Proposition 8 (the voter-approved measure that outlawed gay-marriage there in 2008) was unconstitutional on the grounds that it "lessen[ed] the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California" (Michael De Groote, "Reaction swift to latest Prop. 8 ruling", Deseret News, Wednesday 8 February 2012, A1).  In view of the above statement made by Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th Circuit, The Mormon Eagle feels to raise a warning voice to the people of the United States at large concerning the decrees of God on the subject of homosexual activity, and the fate of the United States of America if she does not keep the commandments of God as revealed through ancient and modern Prophets and Apostles.

Homosexual Activity Wrong

The Eagle must first here state that God views all individuals as His children, and has an infinite love for them.  However, He has given commandments through His Prophets against certain actions, homosexual activity being one of them.


The Lord said through His servant Moses, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination" (Lev. 18:22).  1,500 years later, the Apostle Paul taught, "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet" (Romans 1:26-27).  The Apostle Jude taught, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 1:7).  Lastly, President Boyd K. Packer explained that "there are those today who not only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that would legalize immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God’s laws and nature. . . . To legalize that which is basically wrong or evil will not prevent the pain and penalties that will follow as surely as night follows day" ("Cleansing the Inner Vessel", October 2010 General Conference).

Now, before one calls me a bigot, I must here state that I am not a bigot.  I try to love all people, no matter their sexual orientation, for that is what the Savior Jesus Christ did.  However, my stating what Prophets and Apostles in both past and current dispensations have said does not make me a bigot.  One is free to do as he will, but neither he nor the United States can escape the consequences, both here and in the hereafter.

Fate of the United States on her present course

The United States of America faces a dreadful fate if she continues rejecting the words of God's Prophets and Apostles.  The Prophet Moroni taught, "And thus the Lord did pour out his blessings upon this land, which was choice above all other lands; and he commanded that whoso should possess the land should possess it unto the Lord, or they should be destroyed when they were ripened in iniquity; for upon such, saith the Lord: I will pour out the fulness of my wrath" (Ether 9:20).  Elder Mark E. Petersen warned that "no people can fight God and live!  Every nation will feel a chastening hand if it turns its back upon the Ruler of Heaven and violates his eternal precepts" ("O America, America", October 1979 General Conference).  President George A. Smith gave the most stern warning of all.  Said he, "When God has a Prophet on the earth, and that Prophet tells the people what to do, and they neglect to do it, they must suffer for it.  I bear witness before you, this day, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, that no people can treat lightly the sayings of a Prophet of God, whom He places on the earth to direct His people, and prosper. I know it is impossible" (Journal of Discourses 1:193).  President Brigham Young said of America and the Civil War, "If [the United States] had hearkened to the counsel of [the Prophet Joseph Smith], this nation would have had no wars; there would have been no division in the Government, but it would have gone on in harmony and prosperity" (JD 12:120-121).

The actions of the people of the United States will turn to her destruction unless the people repent and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed through Joseph Smith the Prophet and currently taught by President Thomas S. Monson, the Lord's representative on Earth today.  I know this is hard to hear, but it is true.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.