Posts by JamesEKerns
Our Purposes on Earth
Our purposes in coming to earth were to get a body, to make and keep covenants, and to form an eternal family.
Read MoreThe Kingdom of Heaven Is…
An exercise inspired by Matthew chapter 13: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a sunrise filled with glorious colors and promise.
Read MoreWriting is a Pleasure
As a teenage boy I recall experiencing a moonlit night in our high fields that we called “the Mountain Place.”
Read MoreWhat Can I Do?
I have a terror that often enters my mind. It’s a gnawing worry that someday I will no longer be useful, and that I’ll have nothing to do.
Read MoreIs the Resurrection Reasonable?
Just before the birth of Christ the people of the Book of Mormon became very stirred up about prophecy and religion and the supposed coming of the Son of God…
Read MoreVenus and the New Day
October 9, 2017, 6:30, and the entire eastern horizon is a brilliant rainbow. Venus is bright and shining. It rises higher and higher, doing its best…
Read MoreOctober Morning
It’s 5:50 on the 6th of October. Time to put on my shoes and walk down the road to my sister’s house. Why do we do this?
Read MoreSequel to Malachi
Years ago I read a novel written by a popular author of adventure stories. The story was improbable, but very riveting and hugely exciting.
Read MoreTo Become a World-class Expert
Elder Quentin L. Cook mentioned in general conference what is called “the 10,000-hour rule.” Research experts assert “that ten thousand hours of practice is required…
Read MoreSalvation
People of other faiths spend much time and energy talking about “being saved.” They promote being saved as the object, goal, and ultimate condition to which we should seek.
Read MoreCoincidences
As an eighteen-year-old boy Don Crompton got a summer job working for the U.S. Forest Service outside Buhl, Idaho.
Read MoreRecommended Reading in the Scriptures
Old Testament = 1,184 pages = 48% of all scripture; New Testament = 403 pages = 16% of all scripture
Read MoreAstronomical Questions and Numbers
1. How many people have lived upon the earth? The Population Reference Bureau says 107 billion.
Read MorePit Bulls and Protections
Abby Farber and her missionary companion were serving in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It was a dangerous area in many respects
Read MoreHow the Wiegman Family Came to Be
As I scanned the list of 250 youth who will be going on the stake handcart trek, I was surprised to notice the names of two out-of-stake youth,
Read MoreWorld’s Most Blessed Man
I am 70 years old. At the age of 69, due to the changes I felt in my body, I became an old man. Yet I’m healthy.
Read MoreThe Law of Witnesses
The law of witnesses states: “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” (D&C 6:28).
Read MoreThe Fourth Dimension
Aaron gets excited about new ideas and new inventions that come to his mind. They’re generally on a level that my mind can’t come to grips with.
Read MoreAngels to Save Us In Our Sins
On fast Sunday an elderly sister went to the podium to bear her testimony. She felt compelled to tell about her inactive son in Montana
Read MoreAnd the Fairy Moved In
“James, I want you to make me a fairy house on your lathe,” Marjorie said.
“What does a fairy house look like?” I asked
Will a Man Rob God?
In 1974 I graduated from college, and we bought our ranch at the base of the Blue Mountains in Eastern Oregon.
Read MoreThoughts From Conference
Last Saturday (1 April 2017) found me in Salt Lake City with four of my grandsons (Samuel, Isaiah, Ammon, and Hyrum).
Read MoreTo Live Again With Thee
To be sung to the tune of “If You Could Hie to Kolob” – Oh, Thou who made us mortals, and decreed that life should be,
Read MorePsychoanalyst Wanted
I need to be psychoanalyzed. No one has dreams like mine. First you need some background concerning my recent thoughts and activities.
Read MoreBetter Than a Professional
When Marjorie was a 12-year-old girl she entered the Beehive class in Mutual. Each Beehive was encouraged to complete a number of requirements and skills
Read MoreLehi’s Seed
Last night I got into bed and began reading the Book of Mormon as I do every night. I read seven verses.
Read MoreMy Testimony
Garrin Bott is the first counselor in the bishopric of Baker Second Ward. As he conducted fast and testimony meeting today he presented a hypothetical situation,
Read More50 Years
Today is a banner day. Today (4 March 2017) is the 50th anniversary of my baptism. Fifty years ago I was relieved of all my sins,
Read MoreDivine Instruments
It strikes me that throughout scriptural history the Lord has provided mankind with a number of amazingly divine and miraculous instruments
Read MoreAfter the Manner of Men
Nephi was not a natural man. Neither was he an unnatural man. He might more properly be called a supernatural man.
Read MoreLightning Strikes
My friend, Hal Bunderson, a sealer at the Boise Temple, told this story:
When his father was 17 he got his first job.
Looking Into the Future
When I was 17, in November of that year (the 14th), I knocked on a woman’s door. She opened it. I announced that I was there to pick up her daughter for a date.
Read MoreComparisons
Thoughts at Aaron’s missionary farewell. 23 May 1999. When I was 19, I knew nothing about the gospel.
Read MoreOut of Captivity
About 600 years before the birth of Christ, Nephi had a most remarkable vision of events that would take place more than 2,000 years later.
Read MoreWhere Is Your Faith?
There was once a woman who DID NOT want to die. Nearly every Sunday she attended her Protestant church, but her real faith was founded upon science.
Read MorePilgrim Faith and Gratitude
The Pilgrims arrived in the New World in November 1620. Of the 102 who had set out from Holland and England, only half were still alive the next spring.
Read MorePerspectives on Forgiveness
We all come from different walks of life. Our perspectives are as varied as our experiences.
Read MoreThinking Outside the Box
Nothing steams me more than shirts with button-down collars. Why anyone would put buttons on a man’s collar is a mystery to me.
Read MoreTake Alternate Route
In my front yard are nearly three feet of snow. My neighbor, who has faithfully measured each snowfall, tells me that we have received a total of 63 inches.
Read MoreThere Was No Other!
I have just awakened from a troubling dream. It was a dream with a message.
Read MoreAre You Listening?
Dear Heidi, My morning has been very Holy Ghost because of you. I woke up at 4:00 with your painting in my head.
Read MoreTom Lorance Kerns
My father, Tom Lorance Kerns, was born 20 September 1910 to James and Lora Kerns on the family ranch on Gay Creek in Wyoming.
Read MoreRock Creek Branch
When I was a little boy, in the entire Haines area, from North Powder to Pine Creek, there were just five Latter-day Saint families.
Read MoreOther Ancient Records
The first few sections of the Doctrine and Covenants can be maddeningly tantalizing. Many of those sections talk about the translation of the Nephite record,…
Read MoreTemples
There have never been people in the history of the world more blessed than the Latter-day Saints.
Read MorePlainness
Joseph Smith made the statement that “the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, …
Read MoreThe Plan of Redemption
Before we ever came to earth, and before the world was even created, a plan was put into place by which every one of God’s children could be brought back into His presence.
Read MoreHis Birth Was On This Wise
Exactly two thousand years ago in the land of Judea there lived two families. They both probably lived in the town of Nazareth.
Read MoreComing and Going
Grandma Simmons lived the last years of her life with her daughter, Zelma, who cared for her.
Read MoreChristmas
Dear Matt, You asked for my Christmas ideas. Your mother is impressed with the concept pointed out by James E. Talmage…
Read More