A Native American Easter: How the Ancient American Calendar
Testifies of Christ
by John P. Pratt

God commanded Moses to celebrate certain holy days on the Hebrew Calendar, and when Christ came, key events in his life occurred on those holy days. Similarly, Native American traditions claim that God created a calendar with symbolic days called the Sacred Round. The same dates in the Savior’s life also coincided with appropriate days on that calendar, so the calendars of two nations witness to his divinity. Moreover, the planets Mercury and Venus add their witness to each of these dates. In a rare calendrical alignment, this coming Easter Sunday is not only the day Venus resurrects, it is also the Savior’s birthday on the Sacred Round.

A Venus calendar was discussed in last month’s article, which tracks the evening and morning star cycles of that planet. The reader is encouraged to read

The Brethren and the Lord: A Letter to My Children
by Duane Boyce

Editors’ Note: This is Part I of a three-part article that will appear this week in Meridian Magazine.

Read also:
The Brethren and the Lord: A Letter to My Children, Part II
The Brethren and the Lord: A Letter to My Children, Part III

The First Presidency

The abrasive sound literally jolted me:

“I don’t care about old Elder [name deleted] Whatsisname,” the voice sneered. “I can be a good member of the Church regardless of what he says.”

It was 1974 and the speaker was being interviewed on radio in Utah about a recent statement by a member of the Twelve. I was jarred. I had heard murmurs about the Brethren from time to time before, but this brazen lack of respect was new to me–and shocking.

It wasn’t the last time. Over the years the

The Brethren and the Lord: A Letter to My Children
by Duane Boyce

Editors’ Note: This is Part I of a three-part article that will appear this week in Meridian Magazine.

Read also:
The Brethren and the Lord: A Letter to My Children, Part II
The Brethren and the Lord: A Letter to My Children, Part III

The First Presidency

The abrasive sound literally jolted me:

“I don’t care about old Elder [name deleted] Whatsisname,” the voice sneered. “I can be a good member of the Church regardless of what he says.”

It was 1974 and the speaker was being interviewed on radio in Utah about a recent statement by a member of the Twelve. I was jarred. I had heard murmurs about the Brethren from time to time before, but this brazen lack of respect was new to me–and shocking.

It wasn’t the last time. Over the years the

Creation of a Masterpiece
by Robb Cundick

On April 13^th and 14^th in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square will celebrate Easter by performing a unique musical work, The Redeemer. While not widely known, it has been quietly enfolding the hearts of all partakers since 1978.

This is the story of a masterpiece, a life’s work; the culmination of training and experience in a single creation of transcendent beauty. I cannot claim to be objective in the telling, but will write with feeling and reverence. For this work was brought to pass by one of the people I love most – my father, Robert Cundick, Tabernacle Organist Emeritus; a man whose name I share. The Redeemer, a sacred musical work, is his masterpiece.

Each of us, at some time in life, should create a masterpiece; something that represents the very best

Family Research Council Offers Broad Critique of UN Social Policies

A collection of essays edited by the Washington DC-based Family Research Council offers a menu of sharp criticism of UN bodies and UN social policy. “Fifty Years After the Declaration: The United Nations’ Record on Human Rights,” presents the views of twenty experts from nine countries on a broad range of UN topics. From children’s rights and feminism to abortion and homosexuality, these authors find recent UN social policy to be not only lacking but also seriously harmful.

Teresa Wagner, who edited the collection, writes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “has become a tool for those who would reduce man to a material, autonomous self, necessarily preoccupied with his own wants. It has been invoked, for example, not so much to protect ‘life, liberty and security of person’ (Article 3) as to advance abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia and other

Editors’ note: In the fall of 1830 it was clear to the early Saints that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must by taken to the Indian nations. Four intrepid missionaries were called by prophecy, namely: Ziba Petersen, Peter Whitmer, Jr., Oliver Cowdery and one Parley Parker Pratt. Their journey from Western New York would take them along the old Erie Canal to Buffalo, through the frontiers of the Connecticut Reserve (Northern Ohio) and on through a trackless wilderness to the far reaches of the United States-Western Missouri. Their work in the Ohio would change the course of the history of the Church and bring about moving the headquarters from Fayette, Seneca County, New York to Kirtland, Ohio.

In this excerpt Parley documents an experience he had being arrested and detained because of his work as a missionary in an area west of Cleveland, Ohio.

“Fifty miles west of Kirtland, we …

REXBURG, ID – Ricks College, which is in the process of changing to Brigham Young University-Idaho, received notice this week that it is now a candidate for full-scale accreditation of its proposed bachelor’s degree programs. Candidacy status was granted to Ricks College by the Commission on Colleges and Universities of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.

The commission thoroughly reviewed the college’s plan to introduce 46 bachelor’s degree programs during the next five years. It strongly recommended Ricks officials hire professionally qualified faculty with primary commitment to the institution and representative of each field or program in which it offers major work as it fills 100 new teaching positions during the coming few years.

As part of the scheduled accreditation progress report in 2002, the commission will address all five general recommendations made in the fall 1999 evaluation report along with review how BYU-Idaho is doing on the selection …

A Possibly Fanatic But Really Useful Journal Idea
by Marvin Payne

Still on the diet, but my mind has adjusted and works really great! Read the column–this will become obvious to you. Leaner prose, sentences much more spare and sinewy. Sentences that could, if they wished, wear just about anything in their closets. (I’m thinking about printing up some little rectangular signs to stick up on phone poles by freeway offramps that will say “I lost 20 pounds in a month. So THERE!” Do you have these signs in Georgia and the Yukon, out there in Meridianland? Perhaps it is only in Utah that we take literally Nephi’s exhortation, “Let your soul delight in fatness.”) So I’m almost ready to play J. Golden Kimball. Now I just have to figure out how to get taller. It certainly can’t be much harder than memorizing fifty-five pages.

Okay, I promised you A

Conference Center and parking services officials for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have announced arrangements for those attending the Church’s annual general conference on Saturday and Sunday, 31 March and 1 April.

Tickets and admission to the conference All reserved tickets, standby tickets and parking permits for the five conference sessions have been distributed through local church leaders. Members interested in attending the conference should contact their local leaders.

Conference Center doors will open 90 minutes prior to each meeting. Admission is available to anyone eight years and older holding a ticket. Reserved ticket holders must be in their seats 30 minutes before the meeting starts. At that time, standby ticket holders may be admitted if seats are available, followed by those in waiting lines.

Cameras, recording devices, backpacks, food and packages are not allowed in the building. Photography is not allowed during the meetings, except by …

NEW FILM FROM DIRECTOR OF GOD’S ARMY PREMIERES APRIL 4 IN GALA BENEFIT CELEBRATION

Salt Lake City, UT, April 4 2001 – In a gala celebration complete with red carpet, limos and celebrities signing autographs, the new film from the director of GOD’S ARMY will premiere on Wednesday, April 4 at Jordan Commons.

All proceeds from tickets sales at the premiere of BRIGHAM CITY will go directly to benefit the Utah Foster Care Foundation. Representatives of the foundation will be present at the premiere to help raise awareness of the need for more foster care families in Utah.

Free events open to the public surrounding the premiere include a free concert from bluegrass sensations RYAN SHUPE & THE RUBBERBAND (who make cameo appearances in BRIGHAM CITY), a prize drawing, and appearances from the stars of the film, including writer / producer / director / co-star RICHARD DUTCHER and MATTHEW A.