Re-valu-ing the Family, Part Seventeen: The Cure and Recommitment
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(www.valuesparenting.com)

Note: In this twenty-six part column, Richard and Linda Eyre explore the recent revolution of the family from the honored centerpiece of society to a disrespected and seemingly redundant appendage to the larger corporate and cultural institutions of our new world. Re-valu-ing the family, the Eyres believe, is the only alternative to America’s demise. The sequence of the column is: A. Re-valu-ing the family (part I); B. The “crux” (parts 2 and 3 — why family is the foundation for everything, including happiness); C. The “curse” (parts 4 and 5 — the social problems that plague our society today); D. The “crisis” (parts 6 and 7 — the breakdown and breakup of families that allows and leads to the social problems); E. The “cause” (parts 8, 9, 10, 11 — the reasons our

Celestial Witnesses of Christ Breaking the Bands of Death
by John P. Pratt

Celestial witnesses testify of the accuracy of the New Testament account that Christ broke the bands of death on Easter Sunday, 3 April, A.D. 33. The two morning stars, Venus and Mercury, appeared to be cutting one of the bands in the “Bands of Death” constellation, while the other was being severed by the slowest moving hand on the great Celestial Clock.

The scriptures teach that all things in the heavens testify of Jesus Christ (Moses 6:63). The last two articles in this series have shown how the Venus calendar and the Native American Sacred Round calendars witness to his divinity. This article completes the series by discussing how even the stars themselves act as celestial witnesses to the Resurrection, and even of the New Testament date for that glorious event on Sunday, April 3, A.D. 33.

The Silas Marner Miracle
by Marilyn Green Faulkner

Have you had a life-changing miracle? Share your experience with Meridian’s Best Books Club.

Silas Marner, the lonely miser, returns to his shack one day to find that his precious gold has been stolen from under the hearth of his home. Since the betrayal of his friends and the decline of his faith, the hoarding of gold has become Silas’s reason for being, and the loss of his treasure literally paralyzes him. Standing at the door of his cabin pondering the theft he is seized with a fit of epilepsy and for a crucial moment remains frozen in the “chasm of his consciousnessholding open his door, powerless to resist either the good or evil that might enter there.” (110) In the moment that the door of his home, and his soul, stand wide open, the miracle enters that changes his life

Staying Spotless in a Sea of Slime – Part 4
by Clark L and Kathryn H. Kidd

Just as you do in other areas, it is important that you trust family members to follow your computer rules until they have proven they cannot. Let them know what the rules are, remind them of the rules when appropriate, and then expect them to follow the guidelines. As we mentioned in our last column, we strongly encourage you to draw up a contact of behavior that family members are expected to abide by – and then have each family member sign that contract as an agreement to live by the rules.

Once the contract is signed, give family members the benefit of the doubt, but keep your eyes open at the same time. Human beings – even your family members – are subject to temptation. Your family members may run into Internet

The Truman Show
by Karl Bowman and Jonathan Walker

Ever had the feeling that someone was watching you? Like 5 billion people?

At birth, an entertainment company adopts Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) to “star” in a television show documenting every moment of his life. The show’s producer, Christof (Ed Harris), fabricates a whole world in an effort to evoke honest human behavior from the unwitting Truman. A series of suspicious events cause Truman to suspect that life is not what it seems and he embarks on a quest for the truth.

Certainly one of the best films of the last few years, The Truman Show has the additional distinction of a powerful, affirming theme. In some ways, it even works as a spiritual allegory for our own lives.

Christof: “Cue the sun!“

As creator of Truman’s world, Christof controls the sun, the weather, the water, and even

Editor’s Note: Maurine Proctor had two grandmothers in her mother’s line who died and are buried in Winter Quarters. She will always remember the sacrifice of Eveline Golden Conover and Lydia Owen.

Trees, grass and grave markers of Pioneer Cemetery on the hill at Winter Quarters adjoining the new Temple. Though there are many old headstones here, there is poignancy in the fact that all of the graves of the more than 600 Saints who died here are unmarked.

Winter Quarters was a city put up by a people too ill, too spent, whose supplies were too limited with a season too short to make it to the Salt Lake Valley. Here is a glimpse of what happened there:

Like Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah before it, Winter Quarters was another instant city. Brigham noted with some satisfaction, “I went through the city-where nine weeks ago there was not a …

The Guys at Mad Mac’s Repair Bay May Be Reading Your Mail (Or Is That My Mail?)
by Marvin Payne

First I want to tell you that I am delighted nearly to distraction by your comments, suggestions, and encouragements. I will include a number of them here in this month’s column. The number is zero. This is because they’re all on my main computer which this afternoon was admitted to the hospital for computers, and right now your letters are being read by the guys in the repair bay at Mad Mac’s. Not by me. More’s the pity. Sorry.

So instead, I’m going to impose upon you a technique that is fresh on my mind because of what happened at a rehearsal tonight for the fast-approaching run of the one-man show “J. Golden.” I’m playing him at age eighty, and I’m having difficulty capturing the feeling of debility that was

Prophet Joseph Smith Subject of Next Richard Dutcher Film

Salt Lake City, UT-In a press conference earlier today, filmmaker Richard Dutcher announced that the subject of his next film will be the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.

With a working title of THE PROPHET: The Story of Joseph Smith, Jr., this will be Dutcher’s first big- budget film, with a projected budget of $10 million. Funding for the film is still being arranged.

Pre-production on the film begins immediately, and principle photography is expected to begin this fall at locations in Canada, New York and the Mid-West.

Dutcher has already begun assembling his production team for the film. Renowned author and professor of American history Richard Bushman will act as historical advisor for the film. Bushman has authored or co-authored 6 books on Mormonism and religion in nineteenth century America, including the recently acclaimed Mormons in America.

Dutcher,

SALT LAKE CITY, Tuesday, April 17 – A new searchable database of 22 million immigrants to America who came through Ellis Island is now available to visitors at the American Family Immigration History Center and on the Internet.

Today’s (Tuesday’s) grand opening of the Center at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum concludes a seven-year partnership between the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation, the National Park Service and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Some 12,000 volunteers from the Church spent years electronically transcribing data from ships’ manifests on passengers and crew members who entered the Port of New …

Radical Theorists and Policy Makers Promote Idea of “Five Genders”

Most people assume the word “gender” is directly interchangeable with the word “sex,” and that there are only two “genders”, male and female. Most people will be very surprised to hear that some say there are more than two “genders.” Five years ago at the UN Habitat Conference (Istanbul, 1996), radical non-governmental organizations aggressively promoted “five genders.” Though hotly debated at Istanbul, the “five genders” lost. Even so, the attempt to stretch the definition of “gender” continues unabated within the halls of the UN, on college campuses and even in city governments.

Radical theorists decided long ago that the word “sex” was too confining. “Sex” is based in nature, determined by the chromosomes and almost always confirmed by bodily characteristics. [In rare instances some children are born with indeterminate sexual characteristics. This condition is frequently called “hermaphrodism.”] Because “sex” is