What Comes From Reading Good Books

If you've known me for very long, you know that a lot of my conversations start with "I'm reading this really cool book and...."
I am!  I really am reading a cool book.  I love books that make me think and have things become clearer.
It's called "Temples of the Most High".  It's a compilation by NB Lundwall of some of the writings of early church leaders that deal with temples-- buildings and bodies.  It has the dedicatory prayers from the first few temples.  I heard about the book from someone who mentioned reading from it that Brigham Young said the mountains around St. George, UT are filled with the spirits of Gadianton robbers.  What, what, what?! as my Grandpa Hunter was fond of saying in his Minnesotan accent.  I've got to find out more about this!  I am mostly through the section of the book that covers 'Pre-Mortal, Mortal and Post-Mortal Existence and Intelligence of Spirits'.  It's really cool!  This is what I've gathered from reading:
I'm going on the premise that we all know that the spirit world is here on earth, we just have a veil in front of our eyes, stopping us from seeing the spirits.  Not only are there the spirits of all the people who have ever lived on earth walking unseen in our midst, but the 1/3 of the hosts of heaven which were cast out are also here.  Creepy.  The thing that I learned is that the spirits that dwell in spirit heaven are busy doing work.  They go about teaching the gospel.  They go about trying to help and influence us. They are busy.  We've heard a little bit more about this lately-- Richard G Scott's talk a few conferences ago was excellent. 
The other spirits are busy as well.  It kind of seems like they are like the delinquents we think of here on earth.  They lurk about in their favorite hangouts.  They do what they did on earth, only they don't have bodies.  Sometimes they stand beside us like invisible Iagos prompting us.  Those are just the spirits who once had bodies.  Satan's minions work overtime on us.  "Whisper, whisper.  You're not good enough for the atonement.  You are ugly.  No one could love you.  Everyone is doing it.  This way is easier.  Whisper, whisper."  More men than Joseph Smith had encounters with actual spirits who physically sought to overcome them, to kill them.
Why are there Gadianton robber spirits 'living' around St. George?  Because that's where they spent their lives and most probably where they died.  Why do we have great centers of a specific wickedness on earth?  (I'm thinking Las Vegas and San Francisco-- but it could be anywhere and none of these areas were specifically mentioned) We have these locations because it's happened there before; there are spirits that exist there who are busily influencing the living, either because they don't know any better or because they definitely know better.  Creepy.
Now I'm getting to where this involves me today.  I've developed the attitude lately that I just want the second coming to hurry up and get here.  Let the world fall apart around me.  It won't be my fault.  I'll just watch it happen.  We already know the outcome.  How will my little bit do much to change anything?  To a certain extent, that's true.  I don't have any control over anyone else.  However, I most certainly can't sit idly by.  It will be my fault if I don't try to paddle upstream as hard as I can.  I can't give up.  None of us can.

It has become increasingly hard to be on Facebook or on the computer, period.  I get suckered into reading comments that I shouldn't (what's that little Iago?).  I have learned things about people that make me sick to my heart-- even people that I thought knew better.  I'm not saying that I'm perfect.  No.  I just recommitted again for the 1000th time that I will not get angry anymore and that's just the sin I was thinking about at the time, not the rest of my weapons of rebellion. 
Next time you hear people say, or read something where someone says "Why should my beliefs constrict what others do?  They just want to be happy.  It's their right to be happy.  It won't take anything away from me to let them have this right." think about whom they are literally (seriously, literally) welcoming to the party.  As I was reading some of the essays, I was thinking about J K Rowling's dementors circling above London unseen by the muggles, but there just the same, spreading feelings of despair and degradation.  I don't think that description was far off from what it can become like when we allow sin of any kind to become normal and commonplace.  People go where they are comfortable-- living or dead.  People like to get others to think like they do to validate their beliefs-- living or dead.  If we think that what we allow into the room/home/neighborhood/town/city/country won't affect us, we are wrong.  It will affect us.  It will affect our children.  It could cause us to lose our children to those whispered words. 
That's why I love the gospel-- the pure unsmorgasborged good news of Jesus Christ!  I know the plan.  I know who will win this fight!  I know that I have the strength to cast out spirits that don't belong anywhere near me or my family.  I know that I can do this by doing all of those simple, redundant tasks that we are given by every prophet and general authority.  I know that I can do this by strengthening my testimony and by allowing the Spirit to convert my heart to a point where I don't want to do what is wrong and that I can set this example for my children so that they, too, know where to find this strength.  Oh, how I love this gospel!  I love learning and I love it when the Spirit speaks to me and helps me to remember what I knew before.
Oh!  I forgot to mention a bit of wisdom that Heavenly Father gave me during conference in a nice little soundbite:  My nothing is something to Satan.
And that's why I can't sit back and wait for the world to end.