ThoL Week 1

Can God Work Without a Church?

The Hand of God

Liberty

Restoration

Who is Bro C?

Care and Feeding of BroC

chrisjones@liahonaed.com

Code of Hammurabi

Hammurabi

When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.

Solon the Lawgiver

Solon

Praise is given also to that law of Solon which forbids speaking ill of the dead. For it is piety to regard the deceased as sacred, justice to spare the absent, and good policy to rob hatred of its perpetuity. He also forbade speaking ill of the living in temples, courts-of‑law, public offices, and at festivals; the transgressor must pay three drachmas to the person injured, and two more into the public treasury. For never to master one's anger is a mark of intemperance and lack of training; but always to do so is difficult, and for some, impossible.

Where does this law come from?

When you attack a city, don't cut down the fruit and nut trees. Use the other trees to make your battering rams instead.

?

When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege:

Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.

And what does it mean?

God Uses Everything for His Purposes

In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.--Isaiah 7:20

In War

Too late to be known as John the first...

In Government

Magna Carta Libertatum

Ah, yes. "The Founders".

Alexander Hamilton

George Washington

Yes, Even Here

I presume that Thomas Jefferson, who penned the [Declaration] would claim no special heavenly inspiration in its preparation...nor would the signers of the Declaration acknowledge that they were influenced by any particular heavenly inspiration...Neither did King Nebuchadnezzar know...that God had declared by the voice of the Prophet Jeremiah that all nations should serve this wicked King, whom god called his "servant"...Many others, and even wicked men, all unconscious to themselves, have been employed as agents to accomplish certain purposes of our Father.--Elder Joseph Taylor, July 1904

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Paine

The Bible

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Bible

Romans 8:28

Even when things look bleak...

Restoration

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

Joseph Smith, Jr. "The Wentworth Letter" 1 March 1842

Where do you see the Hand of God today?

Your turn.

Where is the Hand of God?