Stand up for Freedom!

Ezra Taft Benson Biography
For the past few weeks I have been reading the biography of Ezra Taft Benson. He was the 13th prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
He also served in Eisenhowers Cabinet as the Secretary of Agriculture for eight years. And during those years he was perhaps the most controversial man in America. As a clear thinking visionary he did more to stop the collectivistion of American Farmland than perhaps any other person in America. And because of his relationships and influence with other heads of state around the world, his influence and voice condemning Communistic tendencies was felt globally.
I read his biography every couple of years to recharge my liberty loving batteries. It was a timely experience to read this book once again, especially right before this key election, when we will learn what the American People have to say about President Bush’s foreign policy.
My own gut feeling is that “we the people” will resoundly vote in support of the President and staying the course in Iraq.
I also believe strongly that after the election things will settle down in Iraq. The terrorists know that all they have to do to prevail in Iraq is kill the will of the American People for this fight for Freedom. What they may not realize is that we are not the same people we were during the Vietnam years. And the internet has opened up the floodgates in terms of availability of information. Truth seekers can get the facts about any topic of interest to them.

I was so blessed to live on the earth when President Benson was the prophet. All during my growing up years President Bensons voice was in my ears. When I attended BYU in 1986, the choir I sang with was asked to sing during Commencement in the summer of 1986. As a choir member I was able to sit just a couple of rows behind the prophet, who was attending the commencement as a grandfather, to see the graduation of one of his grandsons. It was so thrilling to me to be that physically close to a great man, and to hear his words of wisdom as he spoke.
During my 11 months at BYU, the Prophet gave several key note addresses, a couple of which were made into pamphlets and sent out to the church members. His most controversial was a talk to the Mothers in Zion. Which created quite a bit of debate on campus and in the classrooms.

I remember two young husbands verbally duking it out in my religion class. One was a father of four, and the other was a man who had made the decision with his wife to pospone having children. The verbal gymnastics of their conversation let me know that this issue was a hot topic in young married mormondom, and true to form, President Benson did not hesitate to speak it bluntly and call the women of the church back home to raise their children.

Here are a couple of choice quotes from the talk:
“Tonight, at this fireside for parents, seeking the sweet inspiration of heaven, I would like to speak directly to the mothers assembled here and throughout the Church, for you are, or should be, the very heart and soul of the family.
No more sacred word exists in secular or holy writ than that of mother. There is no more noble work than that of a good and God-fearing mother.
This evening I pay tribute to the mothers in Zion and pray with all my heart that what I have to say to you will be understood by the Spirit and will lift and bless your lives in your sacred callings as mothers.
President David O. McKay declared: “Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother’s image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child’s mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security, her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the world.” (Gospel Ideals, p. 452.)
President McKay continues: “Motherhood consists of three principal attributes or qualities: namely, (1) the power to bear, (2) the ability to rear, (3) the gift to love. . . This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world.
She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, . . . deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God.” (Gospel Ideals, pp. 453-54.)
With all my heart I endorse the words of President McKay.

In the eternal family, God established that fathers are to preside in the home. Fathers are to provide, to love, to teach, and to direct.
But a mother’s role is also God-ordained. Mothers are to conceive, to nourish, to love, and to train. So declare the revelations.
In Section 132 of Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord states that the opportunity and responsibility of wives is “to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfill the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified” (D&C 132:62).
With this divine injunction, husbands and wives, as co-creators, should eagerly and prayerfully invite children into their homes.
Then, as each child joins their family circle, they can gratefully exclaim, as did Hannah, “For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: therefore also I have lent him to the Lord: as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:27-28).
Isn’t that beautiful? A mother praying to bear a child and then giving him to the Lord.
I have always loved the words of Solomon: “Children are an heritage of the Lord and . . . happy is the man [and woman] that hath [their] quiver full of them” (see Psalm 127: 3-5 ).
I know the special blessings of a large and happy family, for my dear parents had a quiver full of children. Being the oldest of eleven children, I saw the principles of unselfishness, mutual consideration, loyalty to each other, and a host of other virtues developed in a large and wonderful family with my noble mother as the queen of that home.
Young mothers and fathers, with all my heart I counsel you not to postpone having your children, being co-creators with our Father in heaven.
Do not use the reasoning of the world, such as, “We’ll wait until we can better afford having children, until we are more secure, until John has completed his education, until he has a better paying job, until we have a larger home, until we’ve obtained a few of the material conveniences,” and on and on.
This is the reasoning of the world and is not pleasing in the sight of God. Mothers who enjoy good health, have your children and have them early. And, husbands, always be considerate of your wives in the bearing children.
Do not curtail the number of your children for personal or selfish reasons. Material possessions, social convenience, and so-called professional advantages are nothing compared to a righteous posterity. In the eternal perspective, children–not possessions, not position, not prestige–are our greatest jewels.
Brigham Young emphasized: “There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles, now what is our duty?–To prepare tabernacles for them; to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked, where they will be trained in wickedness, debauchery, and every species of crime. It is the duty of every righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles for all the spirits they can” (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 197).
Yes, blessed is the husband and wife who have a family of children. The deepest joys and blessings in life are associated with family, parenthood, and sacrifice. To have those sweet spirits come into the home is worth practically any sacrifice.

We realize that some women, through no fault of their own, are not able to bear children. To these lovely sisters, every prophet of God has promised that they will be blessed with children in the eternities and that posterity will not be denied them.
Through pure faith, pleading prayers, fasting, and special priesthood blessings, many of these same lovely sisters, with their noble companions at their sides have had miracles take place in their lives and have been blessed with children. Others have prayerfully chosen to adopt children, and to these wonderful couples we salute you for the sacrifices and love you have given to those children you have chosen to be your own.
Now, my dear mothers, knowing of your divine role to bear and rear children and bring them back to Him, how will you accomplish this in the Lord’s way? I say the Lord’s way, because it is different from the world’s way.
The Lord clearly defined the roles of mothers and fathers in providing for and rearing a righteous posterity. In the beginning, Adam–not Eve–was instructed to earn the bread by the sweat of his brow. Contrary to conventional wisdom, a mother’s calling is in the home, not in the market place.
Again, in the Doctrine and Covenants, we read: “Women have claim on their husbands for their maintenance, until their husbands are taken” (D&C 83:2). This is the divine right of a wife and mother. She cares for and nourishes her children at home. Her husband earns the living for the family, which makes this nourishing possible. With that claim on their husbands for their financial support, the counsel of the Church has always been for mothers to spend their full time in the home in rearing and caring for their children.
We realize also that some of our choice sisters are widowed and divorced and that others find themselves in unusual circumstances where, out of necessity, they are required to work for a period of time. But these instances are the exception, not the rule.
In a home where there is an able-bodied husband, he is expected to be the breadwinner. Sometimes we hear of husbands who, because of economic conditions, have lost their jobs and expect their wives to go out of the home and work even though the husband is still capable of providing for his family.
In these cases, we urge the husband to do all in his power to allow his wife to remain in the home caring for the children while he continues to provide for his family the best he can, even though the job he is able to secure may not be ideal and family budgeting will have to be tighter.
Our beloved prophet Spencer W. Kimball had much to say about the role of mothers in the home and their callings and responsibilities. I am impressed tonight to share with you some of his inspired pronouncements. I fear that much of his counsel has gone unheeded, and families have suffered because of it. But I stand this evening as a second witness to the truthfulness of what President Spencer W. Kimball said. He spoke as a true prophet of God.
President Kimball declared: “Women are to take care of the family–the Lord has so stated–to be an assistant to the husband, to work with him, but not to earn the living, except in unusual circumstances. Men ought to be men indeed and earn the living under normal circumstances” (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 318 ).
President Kimball continues: “Too many mothers work away from home to furnish sweaters and music lessons and trips and fun for their children. Too many women spend their time in socializing, in politicking, in public services when they should be home to teach and train and receive and love their children into security” (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 319).
Remember the counsel of President Kimball to John and Mary: “Mary, you are to become a career woman in the greatest career on earth–that of homemaker, wife, and mother. It was never intended by the Lord that married women should compete with men in employment. They have a far greater and more important service to render.

Again President Kimball speaks: “The husband is expected to support his family and only in an emergency should a wife secure outside employment. Her place is in the home, to build the home into a haven of delight.
“Numerous divorces can be traced directly to the day when the wife left the home and went out into the world into employment. Two incomes raise the standard of living beyond its norm. Two spouses working prevent the complete and proper home life, break into the family prayers, create an independence which is not cooperative, causes distortion, limits the family, and frustrates the children already born” (Spencer W. Kimball, San Antonio Fireside, Dec. 3, 1977, pp. 9-10 ).

Finally President Kimball counsels: “I beg of you, you who could and should be bearing and rearing a family: Wives, come home from the typewriter, the laundry, the nursing, come home from the factory, the cafe. No career approaches in importance that of wife, homemaker, mother–cooking meals, washing dishes, making beds for one’s precious husband and children. Come home, wives, to your husbands. Make home a heaven for them. Come home, wives, to your children, born and unborn. Wrap the motherly cloak about you and, unembarrassed, help in a major role to create the bodies for the immortal souls who anxiously await.
“When you have fully complemented your husband in home life and borne the children, growing up full of faith, integrity, responsibility, and goodness, then you have achieved your accomplishment supreme, without peer, and you will be the envy [of all] through time and eternity” (Spencer W. Kimball, San Antonio Fireside, Dec. 3, 1977, pp. 11-12).
President Kimball spoke the truth. His words are prophetic.”

Hatch Children 1997
It is difficult for me to put into words the impact this talk had on my mind and my heart when I first heard them. I was only 19, and had made many plans for myself in terms of a career on the stage, perhaps one of the most unfriendly professions in terms of family life, a mission for my church, and a degree in edcation, so I could become a high school theatre teacher.
All of those plans and goals just melted away as I listend to this talk and others like it during my year at BYU, and I am so grateful for a prophet who had the guts to tell it like it was during those confusing years of the 80’s when my generation of young women was being propagandized in feminist thought and behavior to such a degree that when I decided to marry my sweetheart and immediately start our family, many people assumed I had lost my marbles.
I have no regrets about spending my twenties bearing our first four children and doing the difficult and rewarding work of nurturing them and being a stay at home mother.

Yesterday I watched Oprah because she had a show on Moms around the world. It was an interesting hour of television. And true to form she shoved the socialistic scandinavian countries on her viewers as being the “best place to raise a family”. Why? Well, they have universal health care, and they get guaranteed time off, and they get paid to stay home with their babes, and they get to have cash to pay for nannies when they go back to work. Etc Etc Etc…
The underlying theme of the show was that Big Government and Socialized government is the answer to the worlds problems in terms of Mothers having what they need to take care of children. I wish, when she was sharing the stories of African Mothers, that she would have had the courage to link the dreadful march of communism across the African Continent with the current problems and traumas being experienced by families in the various African Nations. Marxism has had a deadly impact on the families who have lived under its iron fist, yet like most Progressives, Oprah chooses not to accept the realities of the past, the abysmal failures of other socialized and collectivised societies, and the horrifying impact this has had on family life.
Instead she chooses to shove her view of what will make things better for mothers on her television audience, and gives no thought or time to the other side, the conservative and traditional republican values of less government, lower taxes, free markets, and strong national defense.
So many of the women, especially those in the poorer nations, said the dream that had was to simply come home from the workplace and raise their children.
The question is: How do we turn our topsy turvey world into a place where mothers and babies thrive and the husband is able to provide for his own?
The principles outlined in the various materials shared in this post, written by and about Ezra Taft Benson hold the key. They are as relevant and important to our day as at any time in our nations and our worlds history. I would challenge my readerst to take some quality time to read and then ponder the messages of President Benson.
Jenny Hatch

Out of deep respect for President Benson, and in an attempt to further educate my readers, here are a series of quotes, links, and books that Ezra Taft Benson wrote during his very fruitful years as a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator.
His Personal Creed:
I am for freedom and against slavery.
I am for social progress and against socialism.
I am for a dynamic economy and against waste.
I am for the private competitive market and against unnecessary government intervention.
I am for national security and against appeasement and capitulation to an obvious enemy.

God, Family, Country, our three great loyalties
The Constitution, A Heavenly Banner
Cross Fire: The eight years with Eisenhower
The Red Carpet
An Enemy hath done this
Amazon Links
Google Links

A man of Character
Wikipedia