One Good Man

*Editor's Note: The Top of the Morning Staff has been waiting for director Christian Vuissa's (Errand of Angels and Baptists at our Bar-B-Q) next film to be released. Originally titled A Father in Israel, the movie is scheduled for release October 9th, 2009 under the title One Good Man with a subtitle of Life as a Latter-Day Dad. The movie has already won film society awards and accolades as a rich, authentic look at Mormon life. We hope you enjoy this film clip and spend a few moments reviewing the official One Good Man movie website for more details about this wonderful new addition to Mormon cinema. Christian Vuissa is fast becoming the source for high quality, artistic, heart-warming movies. We haven't seen the movie yet, but if it comes close to Errand of Angels we'll give it four stars and be tempted to go all the way to five. We'll let you know once the movie is released later this year.

Today, Like The Days Of Noah

Editor's Note: A talented creator of LDS YouTube video favorites, davidkat99, has produced another powerful short in Today, Like the Days of Noah. The video compares the faith required to build Noah's ark on dry ground to the trials of modern-day discipleship. All the quotations and voice overs in the video are from General Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In the short discussion below, the creator of this video explains additional insights that led him to develop this presentation. The Top of the Morning staff, after a rather long summer vacation, is back in the Top of the Morning offices, and gosh, golly, jeepers, does it feel good to be back, ready for another year of our very best. Thanks for joining us for our yearly journey featuring videos, in-depth articles and of course, more on the Book of Mormon. We're getting back into "school" with this artistically rich, and prophetically thought provoking video from davidkat99.

From the Director, davidkat99:

It's been sometime since I have felt inspired to create another video. To tell you the truth, it has been nice to have a break and focus on family, reading, church and work. But I have felt strongly the need for this video to be created. A friend of mine, Karen Boren, a wonderful author and researcher found the quotes which prompted me to create this video.

There was only one time in history, where men were given in marriage to men, and women given in marriage to women. Want to venture a guess as to when? No, it wasn't in Sodom and Gomorrah, although that was my guess. Homosexuality was rampant there, of course, but according to the Talmud, not homosexual marriage. What about ancient Greece? Rome? No. Babylon? No again. The one time in history when homosexual marriage was practiced was during the days of Noah. And according to Satinover, thats what the Babylonian Talmud attributes as the final straw that led to the Flood.

"The generation of Noah was condemned to eradication by the flood because they had sunk so low morally, that, according to Midrashic teaching, they wrote our formal marriage contracts for sodomy and buggery--" Leviticus Rabbah 18:13. Quote from "Jewish Bioethics," Dr. Fred Rosner and Rabbi David Bleich, Ktav Publishing House, Israel, December 1999, page 219:

It is interesting that we are experiencing all of the same things that happened in the days of Noah. Same sex marriage laws have been passed recently in Connecticut and Iowa. Vermont and Maine will honor same sex marriage in September and New Hampshire in January 2010.

But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man; For it shall be with them, as it was in the days which were before the flood; for until the day that Noah entered into the ark they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. JST Matthew 41-43.

Now this video is not about same sex marriage, but rather about the need we have to prepare both spiritually and temporally for what is to come.

__________________________
Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

Lives, Fortunes & Sacred Honor

Editor's Note: All of us here at Top of the Morning hope you enjoy this piece about the signers of the declaration of independence. May we all have similar courage and hold sacred our honor as did these patriots who, with us, across the span of two centuries, still stand for liberty in the face of government tyrrany.

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over his home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The Redcoats jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” They gave you and me a free and independent America.

The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn’t fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn’t, not in the face of modern government tyranny. Take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday to silently thank these patriots, and then decide to stand with these uncompromising men of liberty and refuse to let tyranny destroy the gift of a republic they bequethed us with their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.

__________________________
Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

The Great Mormon Novel

by David G. Woolley

*Editor's Note: In a column titled Great Novels Need Doubt as Vantage that appeared in the Deseret News Mormon Times, religion editor Jerry Johnston lamented there would likely never be a Great Mormon Novel because he has, "known some marvelous Mormon wordsmiths. But being a Mormon is not like being Catholic or Jewish. There is precious little wiggle room for devout LDS writers. There aren't a lot of gray areas to explore."

Here at the Top of the Morning, author David G. Woolley suggests that the great Mormon novel will take the broken, first step stories and make them complete. And why not? If Mormonism is the fullness of the gospel, then shouldn't Mormon novelists be the ones who bring that fullness to storytelling? Here is David's response to columnist Jerry Johnston.

June 10, 2009

Dear Jerry:

The Great Mormon Novel is possible. It will happen. It will be faithful, uplifting, and embraced by those in and outside of the church for the very reason that it completes the now incomplete definition of the great novel by mending our broken stories where evil is personified as good, and completing our incomplete dramas where good is lampooned as evil.

The great Mormon novel won't chart new territory or break new ground as much as it will lead the reader to rediscover the storytelling path to our fullest mortal potential--the path that is lost in so much secularization.

The great Mormon novel will reacquaint men with the divine. It will celebrate the demands of gospel centeredness. It will rediscover what has been lost. It will restore faith in men, reverence for God and it will uncover the revelatory connection between heaven and earth. It will find joy in the work of building the kingdom. It will portray the shedding of one's ego and ambitions. And it will find its voice, not in the surrendering of one's ideas as you suggest in your article, but by celebrating the divine creativity that flows from discovering that the will of God is an infinitely more holy road than is the dead-end of half way back authorship. The community of great Mormon novelists isn't limited to Mormons who leave the fold and come half way back to the church. There is a more complete ending to every story than coming half way back.

The literati of our time celebrate redemption in the half way back story. The world finds comfort in those first redeeming steps. There is a certain worldly familiarity in the Aaronic Priesthood approach to redemptive storytelling, and since all storytelling is about redemption, the great Mormon novel will plumb the depths beyond those first preparatory steps and carry the reader into the restored fullness of the redemptive human drama.

The great Mormon novel will be a Melchizedek novel that takes redemptive storytelling through to is fullest, most complete, entirely natural dramatic high point. A temple climax set in the figurative tops of the mountains. It will give us hope that men are that they might have joy. Divine. Eternal. Joy.

The great Mormon novel won't be the investigator turned convert King Lamoniesque story. It will be the disciple, final stage, Enosesque story. The story of an active, bishop-like, tithe-paying, Relief Society President-like, moral, obedient, humble, temple-going, ecclesiastic supporting soul, who finds redemption not in the preparatory steps of coming back into the fold, but in the sanctifying graces of the life of discipleship, adopting God's will as his own. Isn't that the message of the restoration? Restoring an understanding, not of the first principles and ordinances, but of the divine potential in each of us? The great Mormon novel will give the reader a glimpse of their divine end while they are yet living in the earthly pages of their mortal beginnings.

It will happen Jerry. New wine will be poured into new bottles. The great Mormon novel will be written. The old rules of literary critique will be discarded for new ones. The old ways of viewing a novel will become new. The world will unwrap our literary gift left under the tree and know us better. The pages will be salted with inspired inklings and prophetic foreshadowings and when the reader arrives at the last page, she will close the book and say, "I knew it was going to end like that." And by knowing us better, the world will know that though the end is foreshadowed in the beginning, the satisfying climax isn't in the first steps of coming half way back along the narrow way or the opening scene of chapter one, but in enduring to the sanctifying conclusion. Which is, as in all great stories, The End.


Sincerely,

David G. Woolley
LDS Novelist

__________________________
Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

The Four Most Caring Words (Part I)

by David G. Woolley


Editor's Note: We promised part III of the Language of Nephi and we still plan to deliver. We're just building suspense and maybe some bad will. Sorry. Check back in a couple of days for what we think will be a very interesting post. Until then, please indulge us our economic view from the fiscal desk.

In this initial The Four Most Caring Words post we examine our current economic crisis by looking at some spending numbers. Then in Part II and Part III we'll have a look at similar economic booms and busts from the Book of Mormon. There really is some hard economic data in the Book of Mormon on nearly all the economic principles driving the current crisis. In the final post of The Four Most Caring Words series we'll detail the recommendations in the Book of Mormon for getting out of this kind of economic mess and how to avoid it in the future by adopting the heaven-ordained economic mind-set. Hope you enjoy our newest series The Four Most Caring Words. And don't forget to check back for our continuing series on the Language of Nephi. So many series, so little time.

According to Elder Robert D. Hales in a discourse given during last weekend's LDS General Conference we can't afford it are the four most caring words you can speak. Here at Top of the Morning we agree. Have a look at our video clip above which graphically illustrates our point. Debt has far too much power to trash free agency and when you get into the subtle and nuanced business of depriving your brothers and sisters of their free agency you're planting your feet solidly on evil territory. It’s no wonder the prophetic council for our day is to get out of debt and stay out of debt. Sadly, during the past fifteen or twenty years of economic plenty, households spent far too much on wants, over-extended their credit, and saved less than any other generation in the history of financial record keeping. It was a collective miscalculation that the good times were gonna keep rolling. We ignored the most caring words and told ourselves not to worry, we could afford it.

If debt is bad for households, can it still be a good idea for, say, the people who print the money? We don't think so. In fact we think that the only difference between micro household debt and macro national debt is the number of people it enslaves by removing their freedom to choose, essentially limiting their free agency, removing the path to self reliance and making large segments of the population dependent upon government dole. We're of the opinion that this massive spending is potentially satanic in the sense that it has the potential to enslave an entire country and possibly the entire globe by threatening the freedom to be self reliant, self determining and free. Permit us an adjusted-for-inflation dollar chat in support of our opinion.

The Bear Sterns bailout last October 2008 came in at around 29.5 billion dollars, give or take a few bonus compensation packages. Compared to the cost of building the Panama Canal at $790 million dollars or the Hoover Dam at $78 million dollars, that one bailout alone could buy Americans a Panama Canal for every state in the union with water to spare. That's a lot of waterway transportation infrastructure. Likely too much. If you add the $97.2 billion to bail out Bank of America and another $97.4 billion for the Chrysler and General Motors bailouts you've got the equivalent of about 350 Panama Canals. That's enough canalary for every river, stream and donnybrook on the planet. And that doesn't even include the $112 billion dollars for AIG. The AIG mess alone is almost as much as we spent on the entire Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after WWII which cost us $115 billion inflation adjusted dollars.

Most of you may not have noticed the day the US government handed over $139 billion to General Electric. The CEO, Mr. Immelt, is on the President's economic advisory team which makes that bailout just a little questionable. It’s the sort of economic back scratching that has been the foundation for strong, healthy secret combinations since the day Cain slew Able. If you include the $235 billion dollars for Citigroup the running total reaches $710 billion dollars for big banks and corporations and we're just getting started.

The $300 billion for home owners who can't pay their mortgages is just slightly below the entire cost for World War I which came in at a whopping $324 billion. That's the entire cost. Them. Us. And every warring nation in between. Thankfully it’s not as much as the $400 billion handed to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last month. Those are the two government owned and operated lending firms that pretty much precipitated this entire mess and no one blinked an eye when congress last week passed out $220 million dollars in bonuses to the Fannie and Freddie people who recklessly approved loans to borrowers they knew could never pay them back. We were likely too busy being angry about the $218 million dollars in bonuses that went to AIG people to get mad at congress for slipping $220 million dollars of bonuses under the table to their friends at Freddie and Fannie. Or maybe we were just so inundated with bailout burnout to keep track any longer. But I can't help keeping track. The secret combinations just keep piling up.

These government spending numbers are ginormous. Anyone of these programs or packages would rank among the largest spending programs in US history. In fact, each one, separately, qualifies as record breaking for any spending program since the beginning of time. Nothing compares to this. Ever. Each spending program approved by congress and signed into law by our president, by itself, is right up there with the entire New Deal that totaled $500 billion in spending. Yes. The entire fifteen years of New Deal dole.

Now add to these spending programs the TARP money (Troubled Asset Relief Program) at $700 billion dollars and don't forget the $787 billion dollar stimulus spending package--that thousand page bill congress never read, and you end up with a grand total of codified into law, already spent 4.3 trillion mind-boggling dollars to date and that's only four months into this mess. That's eight times the cost of the New Deal and it even beats the all time record holder, World War II at 3.4 trillion inflation-adjusted dollars.

Unfortunately that isn't the end. Our president and congress have committed to spend up to 7.8 trillion more dollars in new programs over the next 8 years. That's new dollars, above and beyond what it would take to operate the government each year had we kept with our previous budget projections. Add it all up and you get a whopping 12.2 trillion dollars. That's twenty-four times the cost of the New Deal and we managed to spend it in four months not fourteen years.

With a budget like this we could Panama Canal across every land mass on every planet, orbiting moon, and asteroid in the solar system. Water or no water. There's simply no way to raise this kind of money. We don't produce enough goods and services in America to tax our way out of this spending predicament so our government has made the precarious decision to borrow from our increasingly wary creditor. China.

When all these Chinese debts come due, the US will likely be forced into some kind of bankruptcy. But since there is no such thing as a federal bankruptcy, and there’s no way on earth we can work our way out of this kind of spending morass, our money becomes worthless. We can't buy anything. We can't sell anything. We can't convince anyone in the world to loan us money or ship us goods, or food, or oil. It is a perfect economic storm of our own making. For years our government muted the four most caring words, and now those excesses of spending on too many things we wanted but didn't really need has precipitated a crisis, we are beginning to regret our collective political silence.

Or are we?

We know we can't afford all this spending. The government knows we can't afford it. And the government knows that we know we can't afford it. But still we passively persist in the engorgement of government through unprecedented debt on the fear that our propserity will collapse when we really should be tightening our collective spending belt. Really tight. Painfully tight. Budget-reducing, program-reducing, benefit-reducing, entitlement-reducing, lean-on-your-family, your-food-storage, and your-faith-in-God tight.

In our Top of the Morning opinion, the only solution, and it is a solution available to us through a narrow time-window of likely ten or twelve precious-short months before we pass the spending point of no return, is for government to stop spending now and repeal much of the obligations signed into law over the past four months. That or we may end up paying what I can only articulate as the dreaded double tax.

The government can't tax dollars we've earned, paid taxes on and put securely away in savings. At least not by the current tax code. So what do they do with those trillions of dollars Americans have earned and placed in savings accounts or taken out of the stock market and placed in safe haven financial instruments during the past six months of financial panic? They make your money worthless. That's right. The government does it by printing new dollars. Lots of new dollars without borrowing the value of those dollars from a creditor through the sale of US Treasury Bonds.

The government took the first step toward the double tax a few weeks ago when the FED announced they were monetizing the debt, essentially cutting the tie between the printing of money and the borrowing of the value of that printed money in the form of a government IOU, what money people call the purchase of government debt by the FED without tying that purchase to any debt instrument like selling bonds to foreign governments. Mainly to China. The initial result of monetizing the debt to fund the printing of money rather than funding debt through taxation sent gold prices soaring nearly $80.00 an ounce in less than ten minutes of trading. The second knell in this death march was more subtle than the intial monetization. Over the past three weeks the government has had a rather difficult time selling bonds. No one wants to buy them unless we twist their arm. American debt has become a rather high risk venture so the interest rates we pay to China have soared along with the price of gold. You can't blame China. Can a government that borrows from itself, essentially writing itself an IOMe, still be taken fiscally serious by any intelligent creditor for very long?

Likely not.

The more deadly result of all this printing of money and monetizing of debt kicks in when all those dollars are passed out and begin flooding the economy at the mall, the gas pump, and the grocery store. Inflation. Too many dollars chasing too few goods and services. This is not your normal annually adjusted, warm fuzzy, when-I-was-a-kid-a-candy-bar-cost-ten-cents inflation. Which is followed immediately by loss of faith in the dollar. An inflation induced panic. At the current rate of government spending, inflation could reduce the buying power of your savings in half, or a third or an eighth of its current value. Or worse. That’s what economists mean when they say the current level of government spending has the potential to wipe out family savings and make large segments of the population dependent on government dole. What no one is talking about is that may be precisely the aim of all this spending: to make you dependent on government programs rather than providing you with the tools and the freedom to become self reliant. And you thought the government couldn’t tax the money you stuffed under your mattress. Wrong.

We can't afford it. These are the four most caring words you can utter and you may want to make sure your government leaders hear them from you again and again until they begin to understand the terrible consequences of debt powerful enough to enslave all of us in a free-fall from economic free agency into an the abyss of economic dependency. For the remainder of our lives.

Join us for our next post in the Four Most Caring Words series when we examine similar boom and bust dilemmas in the Book of Mormon, beginning with the ancient economic principal that has been at the root of all heaven-ordained economies. Thou shalt not covet. That command, or the lack of abiding by that edict, reiterated by Elder Boyd K. Packer in last week's LDS General Conference Priesthood session, is at the root of all the ancient economic data coming out of the Book of Mormon. The hard numbers are in that restoration scripture if you know where to look. And we plan on taking a very hard look.

Until the next post, Top of the Morning to you.

__________________________
Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

The Language of Nephi (Part III)

Editor's Note: We've been verifying all sorts of complex linguistic and archaeological data with important Book of Mormon accounts for part III of the Language of Nephi. That's our excuse for not posting part III sooner. The Top of the Morning staff is really excited about our next installment and we're nearly complete. Check back in the next twenty four to forty eight hours for what we think will be a fascinating look at the Language of Nephi, the City of Nephi and exactly how Mosiah's spoken tongue and written language likely mixed with the language of the Mulekites at Zarahemla, three centuries after Lehi arrived in the New World. Thanks for your patience.

New Book of Mormon Epic Movie

Editor's Note: Despite the economic downturn, the Top of the Morning staff is still on track to release a new Book of Mormon epic by the end of the year. Unlike previous attempts we've spent millions on casting just the right actors in every major role. The sets, special effects and costume design are academy award quality. And our on-location filming is worthy of top cinematography honors.

The script is one of the finest to grace the silver screen, but we're not blind enough to think we can overcome the most difficult obstacle in an epic project like this. The book is always better than the movie. Take a look at our Top of the Morning trailer and let us know what you think of our casting selections, special effects and award winning set designs.

We hope you agree that we've got a winner, but we need your feedback. Thanks for watching and thanks for posting a comment.

The Language of Nephi (Part II)

by David G. Woolley

Editor’s Note: The staff here at Top of the Morning is excited about our second installment on the Language of Nephi. You can read Part I of this series right here. Thanks for joining us for another look at the Language of Nephi which we believe you'll enjoy even more if we sub-titled it the alphabet included logographic system. Don't worry. We'll explain.

The Book of Mormon mentions two languages, the Language of Nephi and the Language of the Egyptians. Were they related? Was one used by the Lamanites and the other by the Nephites? Or were they different names for essentially the same language? Were they a collection of written characters or a spoken tongue? To understand the obsession Book of Mormon scribes had for their language you may want to view language as they viewed it, as an almost exclusive reference to written characters. For ancient Nephites and Lamanites the spoken tongue was another matter, but it likely wasn't considered their language or what today linguists define as a system of symbols for communicating ideas.

Written language doesn't evolve as quickly as the spoken tongue, but changes do occur over time, influenced almost entirely by the more volatile changes in the phonetic language. Once the Nephites were established in the New World, the term Language of Nephi was a logical distinction for their evolving written language. Moroni’s declaration that their reformed Egyptian characters were influenced by changes in the spoken tongue is an authentic expectation of the written Nephite language evolving in geographic isolation from the mother script.

What we usually refer to as Egyptian hieroglyphics began as a collection of characters, each one representing a whole concept. Symbols were later developed to represent the sounds in the spoken language, what we call an alphabet. Instead of discarding the hieroglyphic characters for the newly developed alphabet, Egyptians combined the two by inserting letters from the alphabet alongside hieroglyphic characters. The result is what scholars refer to as the alphabet included logographic system. For three thousand years the Egyptians wrote in a jumble of phonetic and pictographic characters. Writing was a difficult skill to acquire and the ancient Egyptian school children fortunate enough to afford an education were schooled in the difficult skills of letters.

Egyptian children weren't the only students. Around 610 BC, Egypt reached its pinnacle of influence across the ancient world. Similar to the Lamanite educational experience, the written language of choice in Lehi's day was tied to economics. English in our modern world won that same enviable status. An understanding of Egyptian script carried with it the possibility of wealth and every Phoenician, Assyrian, Greek, Arab, and Babylonian clamored to learn the language of prosperity. Egyptian teachers found employment in the homes of wealthy Hebrews, Assyrians, Ethiopians, and Greek businessmen where they taught the language of commerce—the Language of the Egyptians. The Book of Mormon begins with a very authentic reference to the education of the sons of Lehi. Though Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi spoke Hebrew, they were instructed in the written characters of Egyptian origin.

Chinese scripts, like the ones pictured above, and Mayan scripts pictured below, are further excelent examples of alphabet included logographic systems. In order to read the scripts you must first learn the meaning of hundreds of characters. It's a difficult challenge. It’s also considered an achievement. The difficulty inherent in these complex writing systems makes the spread of literacy in the general population difficult, but the numerous benefits include a sense of multilingual capacity. Chinese and Japanese speakers can't communicate orally, but since both groups use the same characters they can write to one another. Educated peoples of the ancient near east followed the same pattern. They spoke different languages, but they shared the same written characters.

Nephi spoke Hebrew, but wrote using Egyptian characters. A thousand years later it’s likely that Moroni knew nothing of Hebrew. In fact his name, Moroni, is a Jaredite name likely from the Zoquean/Olmec language spoken along the Atlantic Gulf Coast north of the narrow neck of land. It means one from Moron, the ancient Jaredite Capital and also the general location from which his father Mormon migrated to Zarahmela. Nephi's Hebrew tongue was swallowed up by the lingual tide of the much larger Meso American populations speaking the dominant dialects of the Pacific coastal highland regions. If spoken Hebrew survived all the way down to Moroni's day it was preserved among very few in the royal ruling class of Nephites--a difficult and highly unlikely preservation of a linguistic artifact that required a thousand years of vigilance. Throughout history the spoken tongue of the smaller population is nearly always lost in the language of the larger, dominant population and it’s likely that Moroni, if he were to meet Nephi, would not have been able to communicate orally. However, by using the alphabet included logographic system of the Language of Nephi, Moroni could have written to his prophet colleague.

It appears that the characters in the Language of Nephi were likely used by speakers of different tongues which would explain the fundamental lack of any reference for the need of interpreters as the Nephites governed what became a multilingual nation no later than 130 BC and likely as early as Nephi's inland migration from the Pacific coast to the highlands at the City of Nephi. This early multilingual diversity among Nephi and his people recalls the account of Sherem, an outsider who likely learned the phoenetic Hebrew tongue and the pictographic written Nephite script and used his acquired skills to study the Laws of Moses and his oral skills to counter the doctrines taught by the Prophet Jacob.

Ancient Meso Americans contemporary to the Nephite Civilization (580 BC to 400 AD) are refered to by archeologists as pre-classic Mayans (550 BC to 450 AD) living in southern Mexico and Guatemela. The overlapping time periods for the rise of these civilizations are identical and evidence from both cultures suggest their language systems were similar if not the same. The Mayans spoke hundreds of dialects in four major language groups. Quiche, Chol, Yucatec, and Tzeltal. We know that the Nephite and Lamanite civilizations, taken together, spoke at least three dialects. Nephite, Lamanite, and Mulekite. The Book of Mormon also hints at multiple spoken dialects among the Lamanites. And Alma's mission to the out-post city of Amonihah high in the Pacific Coastal mountains in the extreme northern territories of the Nephite Kingdom may have been, for him, a foreign language mission. Its likely that the larger Lamanite population spoke many languages. Despite their lingual diversity, Book of Mormon civilizations and Mayan civilizations used a similar alphabet included logographic system which may explain why Book of Mormon scribes remain silent about any need for translation when Nephites encountered Lamanites. It also explains the fascination for Lamanite scribes for teaching the written Language of Nephi throughout the Lamanite kingdom as a means to breakdown language barriers between multilingual subjects, improve communication, expand trade, and increase wealth.

The alphabet included logographic system of writing is beset with exponential ambiguity. Take the Egyptian character for Lotus flower. It’s also the character for the numerical concept of a thousand. And then there is the sheer problem with language capacity. Ancient scribes couldn't create pictures for every expression of thought. When they determined that the number of characters didn't begin to match the countless ideas requiring expression or the ever-expanding lexicon of words in the spoken language, Chinese, Mayan and Egyptian scribes did what Nephite and Lamanite scribes likely did. They assigned different meanings to the same characters. It was a formula for confusion and to fix the increasing number of ambiguities additional characters were placed alongside the characters of double meaning. It's a classic case of determinative modifiers. The additional characters provide the context, essentially requiring the reader to read the entire phrase in the text to understand the intended meaning of a single character or risk serious misunderstanding. Speed reading was next to impossible. Moroni was likely referring to this determinative modifier frustration when he very authentically recorded that wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words. (Ether 12:25)

Mayan writing lacked the same precision that elicited Moroni's complaint. Linguist Sir Eric Thompson informs us that, "the reader had to have a good background of mythology and folklore to comprehend the texts." It’s that same idea Nephi was trying to convey when he tells us that a background in Jewish culture was needed to understand the context of Isaiah's writings(2 Nephi 25: 1-2,5).

In Part I of this series I pointed out that Hebrew words, grammar and the conceptualization of Hebrew ideas has been identified in Mayan writing like the glyphs you see pictured below. That makes sense to readers of the Book of Mormon if indeed it was Hebrew speakers who introduced the new communication tool of a written language into a multilingual population already living in the Land of Nephi when Lehi and his family arrived. What has not been identified in Mayan writings is any Egyptian word or phrase. The lack of any Egyptian word would suggest caution on the part of researchers unless, of course, you consider the entire alphabet included logographic system of the Mayans nothing less than the prodigal son of the Egyptian mother language.

Join us next week for Part III of this series, the Language of Nephi, when we take a closer look at the beginnings of the Mayan Language at Kaminal Juyu in highland Guatemala around 550 BC and why, among many other factors, those Mayan glyphic writings like the ones you see pictured to the right, led Book of Mormon scholars to suggest this location as the original City of Nephi. The language that disseminated from this location was the civilizing force that catapulted Mayan culture into the most advanced civilization of the ancient New World. Is it possible that the Language of Nephi influenced the only ancient American culture between Alaska and Tierra Del Fuego to develop a written language? Join us next week when we explore the language artifacts surrounding the City of Nephi.

__________________________
Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

The Language of Nephi (Part I)

by David G. Woolley

Editor’s Note: The Top of the Morning staff is pleased to introduce the first in a four part series on the Language of Nephi and its influence on the rise of an Ancient New World civilization. We’re also happy to be back after a three week hiatus. Top of the Morning went private after we decided that maintaining our beloved blog required far too many resources in research and writing time for such a small audience. However, due to communications received from previously unknown readers, we’ve decided to return to the blogosphere on a provisional basis. Please let us know you’re reading by leaving a comment, signing up as a follower, or by telling your friends about Top of the Morning so we don’t make the same mistake again.

What exactly was the Language of Nephi? A spoken tongue from an oral tradition? A written language? Did it adhere to the modern dictionary definition of a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs or was it something completely different? Was it like modern English or Spanish or French where each written letter represents a sound in the spoken tongue? Or was it more like the flowing, artistic Chinese logographic characters with no connection to the sound in the oral language? How was the Language of Nephi related to the reformed Egyptian characters Moroni tells us were passed down and altered over the centuries? (Mormon 9:32)

Nephi tells us he made his record in the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians. What did he mean? He spoke Hebrew in Jerusalem's market place and over the dinner table with his brothers and sisters. He spoke it traveling the trade route across Arabia and in the New World. Despite the possibility that he may have learned one of the many dialects of the four major Mayan languages spoken across Meso America, he likely continued speaking Hebrew throughout the remainder of his life.

When Nephi mentioned the learning of the Jews in the opening verses of the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 1:2) he was likely referring to all things Jewish. Religious observances. Belief. Home schooling. Private education. Merchant trade. Theft. Perfumes. The Laws of Moses. Robber bands. Weaving. Music. Agriculture. Olive harvest. Wine harvest. Grain harvest. Robbery. Prophets. Architecture. Dancing. Blacksmithing. Bartering. Conspiracy. Prophecy. Carpentry. Sorcery. Milling. Baking. Corruption. Money changing. Taxation. Military tactics. Graft. Financial loans. War. The collection of debt. The fishing industry. Stone cutting. Government opression. Irrigation. Soothsaying. Reading. Writing. And arithmetic. In essence, the depth and breadth of Jewish ways. The learning of the Jews was what today we would likely call ancient Jewish culture.

Nephi grew up in Jerusalem. He observed the performances and ordinances of a people living under the rule of the Law of Moses. He understood their traditions. He celebrated the Passover and the harvest feasts. The metaphorical symbolism of their holy days was as natural to him as drinking water from Jerusalem’s ghion spring. Shepherds herding sheep were a common sight. Listening to temple priests reading the law from the steps of the temple was required religious education. He likely heard the shofar horns at the temple and knew the aroma of frankincense sold in the market. He'd felt the dry heat of a Jerusalem summer and the taste of oil olive cultivated and pressed in the surrounding vineyards. All of this was part of the learning of the Jews. And from those experiences he understood the metaphors and poetry of Isaiah. It isn't surprising that Nephi insisted that an intimate knowledge of all things Jewish was necessary to understand the writings of Isaiah (2 Nephi 25:5). He'd seen with his own eyes the things of the Jews. He understood the writings of the prophets in a way his Meso American children, unfamiliar with Jewish culture, could not. It was a carefull balancing act. Nephi wanted his children to understand Isaiah, but he was careful to hold back cultural knowledge he believed had the potential to introduce the sins that contributed to the destruction of the Jews. Nephi understood the need for cultural awareness in order to fully understand the writings of the prophets in the same way that Meso American linguist Sir Eric Thompson understood how best to interpret Mayan writings. According to Thompson the reader, "had to have a good background in mythology and folklore to understand the texts."

A number of Hebrew linguistic patterns have been identified in the translation of the Book of Mormon text including the transliteration (the preservation of pronunciation of a word during translation) of Book of Mormon names from their original form into English. Mayan linguist Dr. David H. Kelley of the University of Calgary believes he's identified the first Hebrew words adopted into the Mayan dialect and preserved in the names of three of the twenty days making up a Mayan month. One of the day names on the Mayan calendar is k, pronounced k-eh, which means hand. The Mayan glyph used to communicate the name is the picture of a hand and it corresponds to the Hebrew letter k pronounced kaph which also means hand in Hebrew. The very next letter in the Hebrew alphabet is lamed and the next day on the Mayan calendar is lamat. The Mayan day immediately following lamat is mulu which means water and the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet after lamed just happens to be mem which also means water. It is a sequence of three Mayan days which correspond to three sequential letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

Despite this evidence and other influences of ancient Hebrew words and grammar on the Mayan language, there continues to be no evidence of Egyptian in any Mayan word or linguistic pattern. Or is there? Nephi thought in the conceptual framework of an Israelite from an authentically Jewish culture. He normally spoke and wrote in Hebrew and there is little doubt that he kept his records, at least conceptually, in Hebrew. So what did Nephi mean when he said he wrote his record in the language of the Egyptians? Centuries later Moroni essentially reaffirmed Nephi's statement when he wrote that, "we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech" (Mormon 9:32). It seems rather confusing unless you understand exactly what was meant by the Language of the Egyptians. Its a complex puzzle that researchers are finally unraveling and a more complete mosaic authentically places the Book of Mormon into its ancient New World setting.

Join us next week for Part II of this series, the Language of Nephi, when we take a closer look at the Language of the Egyptians and how it may have influenced Mayan writing like the glyphs you see pictured above which had their beginnings around 550 BC near the likely location of the City of Nephi. Today the ruins, burried underground and pictured to the right (click to enlarge), are known as Kaminal Juyu and the language that disseminated from this location was the civilizing force that catapulted Mayan culture into the most advanced civilization of the ancient New World. Is it possible that the Language of Nephi influenced the only ancient American culture betwen Alaska and Tierra Del Fuego to develop a written language? Join us for our next weekly logographic post as we decipher the Language of Nephi.

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Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

God Bless President Obama

by David G. Woolley

I didn't vote for President Obama. And if the election were held again today I wouldn't vote for him. But I happily, and with all my heart say, "God bless President Obama."

I disagree fundamentally with President Obama's social and economic agenda. Printing billions of yen on a printing press and flooding the economy with those yen did absolutely nothing for the Japanese economy. It was a decade of failed government bail out philosophy aimed at turning the tide on terrible recession.

It will do nothing for the United States.

I am no fan of government regulation, but despite that conservative view, I favor changing the rules on banking and bringing the entire global economy under stiffer regulation including hedge funds which are in the category of too-big-to-fail. That's where Obama should focus his economic recovery efforts: changing the monetary policy of not just the US but of countries across the world with an emphasis on not allowing any financial institution to become too big to fail and prohibiting financial institutions from taking risks too large for their balance sheets to cover.

I am concerned that President Obama will cripple the free flow of ideas, money, and entrepreneurship across state and national borders, in favor of taking steps towards monolithically slow, cumbersome, unwilling-to-change government-run institutions in not only the financial sectors, but other industries as well. I fear we will wake up one morning and say, "Woe is me, they have taken away our innovation, our creative ideas, and our economic freedom and left us with a society of waiters.” Waiting in line for everything from milk to money.

I wish President Obama would put aside ideology in favor of the economy. He has asked conservatives to give on government regulation issues as they pertain to financial institutions, but he has not asked Liberals to satiate their appetite for government intervention and spending when it clearly is not the answer and has proven time and time again to do nothing but ease our pain in the near term while prolonging the suffering over the longer term.

President Obama is clearly not willing to give up the liberal spending ideas, but he is asking conservatives to back off on government regulation.

I didn't like then candidate Obama’s economic approach in July. I was more concerned about it in October. I do not support President Obama’s economic plan in January.

That's why I wouldn't vote for him if the election were held today.

And then there are all those nasty, emotion-packed, social agenda issues that tell us much more about a person’s private morality than they ever have power to socially engineer our country toward some sort of conservative or liberal utopia. I don't agree with nearly all, if not all, of Obama's social agenda. I think it stinks.

That said, I can honestly, and with all the hope in my heart ask God to bless President Obama. No matter what your political persuasion, you can only hope that he will have the humility to hear the wisdom echoing down through the centuries from inspired founders and have the desire to be, like them, inspired of God and follow the divinely revealed lead in the unchanging principles enshrined in our constitution—something the news media decried in George Bush, but may laud in President Barack Obama.

So I say again, God bless President Obama.

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Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

My Rocket Scientist Friend

by David G. Woolley
My friend, Scott, happens to be a rocket scientist. Everyone should be so lucky to have at least one rocket scientist friend. The guy is a genius. And his four sons are little geniuses in waiting. Just ask his wife Diana. Or the grandparents.

After chasing a Ph.D. all over the country Scott settled down at ULA. I don't know what that means exactly. It has something to do with rockets, terrorists, the CIA, and home teaching. This week he sent out an announcement about a rocket launch. Lucky for me I haven't been banned from his family email group. Yet.

It went something like this:

For those who are interested, a Delta IV Heavy rocket (our biggest rocket and the one that I work on) will be launching from Cape Canaveral tomorrow (Jan 13) evening at around 7:49 pm EST. Our boys enjoyed watching the last ULA rocket launch, so I thought I would pass along this info in case your kids (or possibly even you) might be interested. This rocket will be launching a National Reconnaissance Office satellite in support of the military's national defense mission. In other words, this satellite will be taking pictures of you as you mow your lawn in your back yard, as well as pictures of Osama Bin Laden building nuclear weapons in Afghanistan.

Didn't I tell you this guy is brilliant? But he's this average Joe like, well, me, except that I'm not bald and my emails lack any evidence of formal schooling. So its pretty hard to believe that he actually does what he claims he does. I responded to his email with this:

Cool photos Scott. Where did you get the real-life looking flames and the menacing background sky? Does it come with the kit? The ones at wal-mart do. I'll bet you and the boys have a lot of fun chasing it down after the parachute opens.

I hope you're not like some of the nut cases I run into here. These wanna-be brainiacs show up at the park with their I'm-so-cool rocket launchers while the rest of us are trying to enjoy the park. Don't they know its not safe? I chased one self proclaimed rocket scientist right back to the parking lot. He was launching like five ULA IV Heavy Rockets right in the middle of the play ground. Can you believe that? What a jerk.

Instead of replying with some of his infamous wit, or a dash of sarcasm he sends a methodical, calculated, emotionless, detached, hum-drum, almost aloof, but all too expected rocket scientist email like this:

Unfortunately, the launch has been postponed. The new launch window is Thursday, Jan 15, 7:41-11:41 pm EST. Prior to filling the rocket tanks with liquid hydrogen and oxygen, the tanks are purged with gaseous nitrogen, because the extremely cold temperature of the liquid propellants would cause the water in the air to condense. A gaseous nitrogen relief valve was not working properly, necessitating the delay of the launch so the valve could be fixed.

This is the first time in the 17 launches we've had since I joined ULA that the launch has been delayed on the day it was scheduled. It, of course, had to happen the one time that I email family about the launch. Sorry about the delays.

That was it. A memo-like response. No self depreciating rocket scientist humor. So I fired this email off without considering any of the consequences:

I don't mean to burst Scott's fantasy rocket scientist bubble, but here's a quick glossary of terms and phrases that may help you understand his recent launch emails:

1. Launch has been postponed.

Translation: Diana (Scott's wife) made me and the boys stay inside and clean our rooms

2. New Launch Window.

Translation: We tried sneaking out the backdoor.

3. Purge tanks with gaseous nitrogen.

Translation: Before we sneaked out the back door I made the boys use the bathroom.


4. Cold temperature of liquid propellants causes the water in the air to condense.

Translation: Spray Lysol when finished purging.

5. Necessitating a launch delay to fix the valve.

Translation: Where is that plunger?

6. The first time in 17 launches since I joined ULA that a launch has been delayed.

Translation: We got busted going out the backdoor.

7. It happened the one time I emailed my family.

Translation: Mom and Dad, can you please have a talk with my wife?

There you have it. The complete guide to understanding emails from a self proclaimed rocket scientist. Lets hope that rocket launches today or this could get ugly.

So what are the rest of you doing these days? Not that I would twist your words or your world around or anything.

Just curious.

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Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

TOTM Celebrates New Year at Disney Land

Editor's Note: Mickey Mouse and executives at Disney were so excited about the completion of our first year of publication at Top of the Morning they've dedicated the entire 2009 New Year to the TOTM Blog featuring informative, entertaining and uplifting commentary and opinion with special installments dedicated to the fascinating history, archeology, and Book of Mormon writings that inspired the publication of four works in the Promised Land historical fiction series and continues to inspire the writing of four more. Author David Woolley and the TOTM staff were left without words.

View this video and you'll understand why we're speechless. If you look closely you can find David G. Woolley in the video clip over the left shoulder of the announcer. He's wearing sunglasses and his patented under cover gray t-shirt. Did you find him? What an honor for all of us at TOTM to be part of the Disney celebration. Its our first and happiest new year so far.

To each and everyone of our TOTM readers we wish you the happiest of New Years in 2009. Join us for twelve months of uplifting posts we hope will lighten your load, lengthen your stride, and make walking the narrow path a little more enjoyable. Thanks for the company.

Happy New Year everyone.

Merry Christmas

After all the Christmas Eve meal preparations were finished and right before enjoying a wonderful evening holiday feast I bit my tongue. Not just a little. Clean through. Ouch! Sometime in the next few days I will swallow again and end this pain-induced fast.

I don't recommend tongue surgery as an annual Christmas Eve tradition to move the focus off all that (healthy) food and think about the blessings that come from the birth of Jesus Christ, Savior of the World, but it worked for me. May you have a wonderful and joyous Christmas.



We're on holiday at the Top of the Morning if you hadn't noticed. Until the New Year when we plan to release a number of posts dedicated to a happy 2009, all of us here at TOTM wish you and yours the very best and a warning during this festive holiday banquet season.

Chew with care.

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Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

Birth of a Christmas Carol

by David G. Woolley

—London, December 13th, 1837
The first day of Christmas

“I have a debt to pay.”

I untied my scarf, unbuttoned my winter coat and quietly voiced my request without letting the anger at my present financial troubles boil over in the presence of my editing partner, Jacob Marley, or any of the typesetters and inkers in the printing office of Bentley Publishing House, home of the weekly London Dispatch. Marley would consider shameful the pecuniary details of so much lavish entertaining. Months of parties for London’s privileged did not fall within his monetary rules governing wise social investment feted as my guests were with Cornish lamb, Liverpool hams, London roasted chestnuts, imported French wines, fancy biscuits, coach and driver, riverboat dancing on the Thames, perfumes for the ladies, and hats for the gentlemen. It was an imprudent debt without the guarantee of a shilling in return.

I said, “I’ve come up short.”

“And a Merry Christmas to you as well, Charles.” Marley raised an eyebrow of certain disdain over my social expenses and my disregard for his holiday cheer.

“I’ll have none of your nonsense this winter morning. Entertaining is good for business. They buy what we print.”

“For two shillings? That’s hardly a sound investment.”

“What am I to do? I have no means to cover this encumbrance.”

“You’re a serialist at this newspaper. An editor in this house, no less.” Marley lowered his pen and stepped away from his writing table. “You have what? Three novels to your credit and—

“Two, Jacob. Oliver Twist didn’t do nearly as well as Pickwick Papers.”

“Balderdash. They were both a smashing success. Neither has gone out of print and I doubt they ever will, sir. Have you nothing to show for it?”

I shook my head, unable to bear the sound of my own voice attesting to such folly. What had I done? I leaned in closer. “My creditors have turned the debt over. Will you have me end up like my father?”

John Dickens, my father, a well-paid clerk in the Navy Pay Office disposed to entertaining nobles and elites well beyond his means, was jailed at Marshalsea Debtors Prison with my mother and seven siblings while I at twelve years was removed from private studies at William Giles School in Chatham and sent to labor for my family’s freedom at Blacking Warehouse on old Hungerford Stairs. It was a crazy, tumble-down old house abutting the river. Its wainscoted rooms, rotten floors, broken-down staircase, the dirt and decay of the place, and the old gray rats swarming down in the cellars, and the sound of their squeaking and scuffling coming up the stairs at all times, rise up visibly before me, as if I were there again. My work was to cover the pots of paste-blacking shoe polish and tie them round with a string.

“Ball and chain, Charles.”

What an odd thing for Marley to say. “They don’t use those anymore.”

“Each iron link welded on the counting tables of greed.” Jacob circled round me, like a ghost at haunting. He grinned. He said, “Lashed to the borrower’s ankle.”

“You mock my monetary pain with far too much glee, sir.”

“The burden of your deeds you carry about like a ball and chain with only the fragile hope of salvation laid upon the mercies of a merciless creditor who—

“Thank you fondly for your fiscal cheer.”

I closed the door to the front office, shutting out the pungent smell of ink from the press and the thought of Blacking Warehouse of former years. The memory of childhood should be a pleasant recollection, devoid of the past ghosts of my father’s debts, the present spirit of Jacob Marley circling about me, and the future phantom of my own recklessness certain to visit my due upon me, all of which rise up to haunt my soul like the present smell of printers ink and the memory of paste-blacking.

I said, “I need an advance. I’m good for the balance. Nicholas Nickleby is scheduled for typesetting first thing after Christmas.”

“When have we ever…?”

“Never. But I had hoped you would consider it."

“Write me some hope. I’ll see that it’s printed in the midweek run of the Dispatch before Christmas and you’ll have your advance.”

“Who reads of Christmas spirit any longer? The traditions are dying out. It’s a lamentable waning, but trust me, sir, it will not sell. I know a good story.”

“You’re a Scrooge, Charles.”

Scrooge? What a strange name to call a friend.

“Come now, tell me you haven’t wondered at the accountant who works in the third floor counting room,” Marley said in answer to my quizzical stare. “The man pinches every shilling. One piece of coal for the fire every third hour, no matter how cold. He hasn’t time to comment on the weather or bid any good day. He’s far too busy counting money.”

“So it is with the whole of London. There is something of Scrooge in each of us these days.”

I reminded Marley of the poet Thomas Hood’s commentary in the Sunday Times this week past, wherein the renowned poet argued that Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs, its social and charitable observances, were all in decay.

Marley said, “You see only what you want to see, Charles.”

He went off, bemoaning my predisposition to indifference and reciting his reading of the Times, quoting the famous poet who, Sunday last, rightly so had asked, if all London had forgotten the babe born at Bethlehem who had borne our grief and carried our sorrow. Was there no interest among Londoners in honoring the birth of Him who was bruised for our iniquities? Had noble and commoner alike forgotten we were healed with His stripes? Was there no hope for redeeming the winter holiday?

Marley said, “There is hope.”

“Humbug, Marley. The poet said nothing less than that Christmas is in decay. HIs words underscore the inevitable loss of a venerable tradition.”

"Peace is hardly a tradition." Marley didn't offer a further word of retort beyond his quiet comment and in the awkward, seemingly defeated silence, and me far too willing to jump on the moment and drive my point home, "There is no peace on earth," I said. "For hate is strong and mocks the song, of peace on earth good will toward men."

"That is the nightmare within the Christmas carol." Marley voiced his reply in ghostly quiet words. “As nightmarish as was your Christmas passed at Blacking Warehouse down by the river.”

“Please, Marley. Must you dredge that up?” I laid my coat over my arm, fitted myself into the angle of Marley’s writing chair, and set my boots upon the hardwood table top, which, on a twist of irony, were in terrible need of blacking-paste and a good going over with a polishing cloth. “It is a most horrible ghost story of a past I am loathe to recall.”

“You escaped your nightmare.”

“Only for the kindness of an aunt who with an inheritance reached out from a silent grave and paid my father’s debt, redeemed us from our terrible state, and won for me release from that dreadful place. And I beg of you, as a friend these many years, to never take my mind back there.”

“I would wager that the poet Hood's words are not the first time you've been transported back, Charles.”

“He penned not a word of shoe polish.”

“Blacking paste or no blacking paste, at least in Hood there is one author in London who hopes to save the waning holiday before we celebrate our last.”

“You can’t save society from itself, Jacob. If they are done with Christmas, then they are done with it. Only an act of God could divert the Thames from running its natural course.”

"The act of God is already done." Marley found a well-worn copy of the Holy Bible on his reading shelf. “The debt is paid, my good debtor friend.” He leafed through to Isaiah the fifty-second chapter, third verse where the ancient penned that we have sold ourselves for naught and yet we shall be redeemed without money.

Marley said, “Write me a story of Christmas hope without keenness for money and you’ll have your miracle of Christmas spirit for yourself and for the whole of London.”

I leaned back in Marley’s chair. There was a story in this debt of mine that brought me to Marley’s office this morning and to my senses. And there was a story in the debt my aunt paid those many years ago, doing for my father and my family what we could not do for ourselves, redeeming me from the hell of Blacking Warehouse. Are not we all debtors? Is it not the Christmas spirit that honors the birth of Him who paid our debt?

Still I said, “Marley, a story of hope is hardly good business in this, the dawning day of the cynic.”

Marley placed a counseling hand on my shoulder. He said, “Mankind should be our business.”

I thought to leave Marley to his work, but he unrelentingly followed me in silence past the press, round the stacks of typesetting bits and hammers, through the anteroom and to the front doors of Bentley House. I said, “Could you be so good as to hold the Dispatch until Christmas Eve?”

Marley opened the door and wished me well, but in a manner all but lacking of his usual Christmas cheer. He said, "What reason have we to hold the press twelve days?”

“A ghost story.” I winked and laughed a merry laugh, then tied my scarf and buttoned my coat. And before heading out into the wintry London snow I said, “A Christmas ghost story.”



Copyright December 2008 ©. Thou shalt not copy, paste, or digitally transmit this story for any purpose without the express written permission of the author.

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Historical Notes

Prior to writing A Christmas Carol, which was originally titled A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, Charles Dickens was saddled with debt. Despite his successful publication and subsequent sale of Oliver Twist and Pickwick Papers as well as many well-received serialized stories in London newspapers under the pen name Boz for which he was renowned for endless cliffhangers, he was unable to pay the debt. It was under these indebted circumstances, with the traditions of Christmas waning terribly, that Charles Dickens set out to write his first of many Christmas tales.

When Charles Dickens was twelve years old his father was arrested and imprisoned at Marshalsea Debtors Prison. His wife, Elizabeth, and seven children joined him in prison. Charles was removed from private school at William Giles at Chatham and sent to work to pay off the debt at Blacking Warehouse on old Hungerford Stair overlooking the river. Of his time at Blacking Warehouse Dickens wrote:

The blacking-warehouse was the last house on the left-hand side of the way, at old Hungerford Stairs. It was a crazy, tumble-down old house, abutting of course on the river, and literally overrun with rats. The counting-house was on the first floor, looking over the coal-barges and the river. There was a recess in it, in which I was to sit and work. My work was to cover the pots of paste-blacking; first with a piece of oil-paper, and then with a piece of blue paper; to tie them round with a string; and then to clip the paper close and neat, all round, until it looked as smart as a pot of ointment from an apothecary's shop.

The poet Thomas Hood, after reading Dicken’s work, A Christmas Carol in Prose, wrote: “If Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs, its social and charitable observances, were in danger of decay, this is the book that would give them a new lease.”

Author's Note: This short story is dedicated to my family and friends who have shared with me, in abundant measure, the spirit of Christmas. May you each enjoy a Merry Christmas and may the Spirit of the season remain with you throughout the year.

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Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

Birth of a Christmas Carol

*Editor's Note: The Top of the Morning staff would like to apologize for the unanticipated week-long silence. Author David G. Woolley took a rather serious tumble last weekend and we've been awaiting the recovery of his head.

All is well and we're pleased to announce that the fall knocked some sense into him along with an idea for a historical fiction short story titled Birth of a Christmas Carol.

Join us this weekend when author David G. Woolley shares his Christmas short story with Top of the Morning readers.

Merry Christmas to all.

TOTM Top 10 Movies?

Editor's Note: Before the Top of the Morning staff begins releasing our top ten movies, we want to make sure we haven't missed any. So tell us TOTM readers, what movies do you think should be on our list? You can nominate LDS movies here. We have one we think is deserving, but we'll be sponsoring a top ten LDS movies list in the near future so you may want to limit your LDS suggestions to your favorite pick.

The big screen Dolby Digital City clip above makes you feel like you're hunkering down for a great show. So pop some corn (without butter and some sea salt of course) and tell us what movies you think should be on our list. What movies bring you to your feet in the comfort of your own home?

TOTM Top 10 Movies: Seabiscuit (#5)

Editor's Note: The Top of the Morning (TOTM) staff is pleased to bring you one of our top ten movie clips from our TOTM list of movies that inspire, movies that ennoble, and movies that bring you to your feet in the comfort of your own home.

Today's movie pick is Seabiscuit (#5), a depression era movie that follows the lives of three down and out men, an abandoned teen jockey, a cowboy whose wild west frontier disappeared in the wake of the industrial revolution and a millionaire car dealer who lost part of his fortune and all of his family. When they find Seabiscuit, a washed up race horse, and turn the thoroughbred into a champion their passion for racing brings them together and changes the lives of all three.

Please enjoy this three minute theatrical trailer which also includes one of our top ten movie lines of all time (#3). We think its one of the best lines that captures the idea of Christ's atonement for all of God's children:

"You don't throw a whole life away, just 'cause its banged up little."

Tom Smith (Chris Cooper)
Horse Trainer



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Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.

Don't Fake It

by David G. Woolley

Editor's note: This post continues a Word of Wisdom look at the food we eat. With the holiday season upon us, what better time for a gut check? Today its artificial sweeteners.

She was a soccer mom and a dental hygienist. For the sake of privacy let's call her Sandy. An exercise nut. She maintained a vigorous weekly routine. Three days at the gym with her husband, Brad. On the off days she biked, walked or jogged. She had four handsome sons. All athletic. Physical activity was part of their lives so it was a shock to everyone when Brad got a call from Sandy's dental office. Her hands were numb. She couldn't feel her left arm. And when she went to take a break she walked into a wall. She was losing motor control quickly and could Brad come over to the office ASAP?

Sandy took some vacation time to deal with the symptoms. She saw a few doctors and took a battery of tests. A general practitioner. A neurologist. A psychiatrist. An internist. The tests were negative. No one knew what caused her symptoms. The numbness. The pain in her muscles. The inability to control her fingers. The tripping over curbs. The poor mobility. The falling down. The frustration. Some of the symptoms indicated multiple sclerosis (MS) and none of the doctors wanted to scare her with a prognosis of early stage Parkinson's Disease. They settled on a diagnosis of inconclusive and asked her to consider spending $60,000 plus for a month of testing in a neurosurgeon's office. That's when they called and asked me what I thought.

I said, "So Sandy, what's your diet like?"

She said, "The usual. You know, what everyone eats. Normal food. We eat out of a can a lot."

Turns out the usual included a lot of processed foods and junk food. Not a lot of fresh fruits or vegetables. And then there was this culprit:

I said, "Do you drink any diet sodas?"

She said, "I love Diet Coke." She had one nearly every day.

Sandy's symptoms were like millions of others who consume artificial sweeteners. They go after the nervous system. Destroy the myelin sheath around the neurons, essentially rendering them useless. Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel, Spoonfuls, DiabetiSweet). Saccharin (Sweet'N Low, SugarTwin). Acesulfame K (Sunett, Sweet One). Sucralose (Splenda). They've been accused of carcinogenic bad deeds, but the link to cancer is inconclusive (there's that word again).

What isn't so inconclusive is their association with MS-like symptoms, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's Disease, ADHD, Depression, and the list of neurologic disorders grows longer every year. Millions are affected, but little is done because the law requires food additives be physiologically inert. Once artificial sweeteners got the coveted inert status, the FDA relinquished oversight. They made the GRAS list (generally regarded as safe) and are now considered by government authorities as harmless as flour, raisins or cinnamon. The history of FDA approval of aspartame is an education in food additive law. Its also a wake up call to carefully monitor the processed foods you eat.

I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist. It makes great fiction and terrific movies but often bad science. The data is usually inconclusive (once again). Conspiracies are harder to nail down in real life. Aren't people generally concerned about the health and welfare of others over, say, profit? Likely not when there's piles of money at stake. Take a look at this Fox News report on FDA approval of aspartame and see if you don't agree that some food additives, if not most, qualify as a consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days (Doctrine & Covenants 89:4):



I said, "So Sandy. Why don't you let me take you and Brad to the grocery store. A few changes to your diet and we can get this under control."

The next day I got a call. Sandy decided to go with the neurosurgeon's office. I couldn't blame her. She was scared. Things weren't getting better.

After thirty days and a $60,000.00 medical tab I got another call. The doctors still didn't have a diagnosis and no recommendations for treatment. The symptoms were getting worse. They were ready for a trip to the grocery store.

We spent a hundred dollars and then went to their home and cooked up all sorts of recipes. She had to re-learn how to prepare meals without all those processed foods. I threw out her supply of Diet Coke and Sandy promised to stay away from it.

Within one week the numbness was gone. In two weeks her balance and motor control returned. The headaches disappeared. The fatigue gone. The pain was out of her life. She went back to work and five years later, she's still happy, healthy and symptom free. She's also a much healthier eater. Not too many desserts. Few processed foods. No Diet anything.

Aspartame is the most widely used artificial sweetener. It’s that chain of elements floating in the glass featured in the photo above. A synthetic compound made up of Phenylalanine and Aspartic Acid held in a chemical bond by Methanol (its that lower left hand branch of the chemical chain in the photo), which breaks down into Formic Acid, Formaldehyde and Diketopiperazine (DKP). It's the DKP that’s associated with brain tumors.

Aspartame breaks down more quickly with heat so the risk is higher in hot drinks like hot chocolate or in soda that has likely been out in the sun at some point in its journey to your fridge, the vending machine or the convenience store cooler. If you've ever tasted a diet drink that didn't taste sweet the aspartame has broken down into one of these three neurotoxins (nerve poisons).

Aspartame toxicity produces all sorts of nasty symptoms like migraines, depression, seizures, attention deficit disorder, angry rages, joint pain, muscle spasm, even obesity by signaling to your brain to expect carbohydrates that never reach the stomach. So what does your body do? It sounds the hunger alarm and you experience some pretty powerful food cravings. Its hard to resist over-eating when you think you're responding to a natural, God-given urge to eat. In the case of aspartame there's nothing God-given. Its all fake. Aspartame also mimics diseases like MS, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson's Disease, and fibromyalgia. Migraines may appear quickly in some people, while in others there may be no symptoms for some time. Biochemical individuality plays a role in how quickly and severely you're affected.

If you or someone you care about has any of these symptoms, get rid of aspartame in their diet. I did that for my parents. I wish I'd done it much sooner. My dear sweet mother is a Parkinson's Disease sufferer or at least the symptoms mimic the disease. The doctors aren't certain. They treat her with medication prescribed for Parkinson's Disease. Some days she can hardly shuffle along. The disease cripples and twists her body. The frustration is palpable. The futility terrible. The hopelessness almost unbearable.

I wonder if she could have avoided the loss of mobility, the numbness, or the on again off again paralysis that twists her left foot under and pulls her head down if we'd only been more proactive many years ago. In Sandy's case we removed the cause and reversed the damage before it was permanent. My mother wasn't so lucky. The doctors tell us there's no treatment. The tests remain inconclusive. Sound familiar?

If I appear somewhat passionate about your health, maybe even a little over the top, I'm not. Listening to the council of the Lord when he advises us to avoid a lot of the unhealthy additives in processed foods and enjoy the fruit of the vine in order to enjoy good health just makes sense. There's no doubt Satan wants to limit your free agency. That's His plan. Its been that way since before the foundation of the world. And what could be more limiting to your free agency than loss of nervous system control? There's nothing inconclusive about that.

May your holiday eating be filled with healthy foods. And if you're considering having a little something sweet, which I don’t recommend unless its a Christmas orange, at least do the smart thing.

Don't fake it!

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Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.