Doug Tales 37: Do We Practice Principles of Light Daily?

Doug Mendenhall often stated that spiritual currency is made up of time and attention. He constantly shared the need to “pay the price” of time and attention to gain what God has to offer each one of us. Doug studied Kevin Trudeau’s teachings on diligence and spiritual currency, put them into practice in his own life, and shared what he learned in I See…Awake! (2015) on pages 25-26, 30-32, and 39-40:

There is a man, Kevin Trudeau, who I saw many times on TV selling all kinds of things. I always thought he was just a “huckster” or TV pitchman and not much more. Then I started hearing parts of his story, about how around the age of 16 he had been approached by some of the so called “elite” about becoming one of them. He asked them why they wanted him to join their associations since he was not of any “bloodline” and came from a poor family. They told him that his DNA vibrated at the right frequency. (Now that is an interesting concept.)

He went on to learn from mentors who taught him personally and gave him private access to ancient manuscripts in their private libraries. He made millions using their strategies and contacts. As he rose up the ranks, he realized that these were not nice folks. He and some of the other younger people he associated with decided to teach these principles to the general public in order to free up people’s minds so they could see how they were being manipulated. It cost him his freedom—he now resides in prison.

Nevertheless, the concepts he taught are sound, but they are “Master Mahan” principles for creating wealth. Someone sent me his program. It sat on my dresser for many months. Finally the Spirit told me to listen. Reluctantly I did so. Then I was told to listen again and take notes. I did that. Then the Spirit told me to apply it to the Gospel of Jesus Christ…

These concepts are foundational because they relate to how the Adversary operates so successfully. The Adversary will always take true principles and twist them for his purpose—to harm and destroy mankind. That is what he did with these concepts which are true and of light. “You can buy anything with money.” But more importantly, if applied to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they can help us reach what should be our ultimate goal, that of receiving Him and becoming redeemed from the fall…

Mr. Trudeau also taught what he called “The Training Balance Scale.” On one side is our thinking—thoughts, desires, dreams, goals, attitude, mental process, objectives, and the things which go on inside the mind. The things which go on inside the heart—is the vibration, intention, energy, motivation, and how we feel. Thoughts and emotions. (Yes, our heart does think, it has neurons just like the brains does.) This is the WHY.

The other part of the scale is the actions—physical movement, techniques, strategies, what you do, plans, and activities. This is the HOW.

The theory is you must have a balance between the two—the motivation (why) and the how. This is a myth that will make sure you fail.

The truth is that the thought/thinking part is 99% of it. Thinking and thoughts or the why is more important than the how. “When your attitude is right, the facts don’t count.” Because what you think are facts are mostly just people’s opinions.

About twelve years ago the Spirit told us to move to where we live now. Our daughter, Denise, had been out of the hospital several years, and we had lost everything through a bankruptcy and didn’t even own a car. We were driving our oldest daughter’s old “beater” car. It had come time to move. We had three days to move out and still no car. I had tried my hardest to get a car, any car, all to no avail. So I put it in the Lord’s hands. I told Him that I knew it was His wish we moved, and explained that we didn’t have a car and could sure use one. Our oldest daughter was staying up in Salt Lake until after Christmas, so we couldn’t use hers. So I dumped it on the Lord, giving Him the reasons WHY—the HOW was up to Him.

About that time a woman drove up to the house and asked to get our book, My Peace I Give Unto You. Before going inside our home, I noticed she had a “For Sale” sign in her van window. When I came out with the book, I asked her how much she wanted for the van.

“I’m asking $5,000 for it,” she replied.

“Would you take payments of $25 a month for the next two hundred years?” I asked.

“Well, actually the Lord told me to give you the car. I just couldn’t get over here until now. Here are the keys and the title. Can I get a ride home?” she announced.

I had focused on the WHY, forgetting the HOW and relied on the Lord. It works. Sometimes He will tell you the how, and then you do it. It is important to understand thoughts and what they are, and yes, you have to understand the how and the techniques, but you must focus your attention on the thought and thinking process and not on the how—that will come. People fail because they focus on the how. Thinking and thoughts are the spiritual process and are ultimately more important than the how. Like those lilies in the field, we should take no thought for the morrow, meaning the how.

The world would teach you “I need the money and techniques to get it done.” Wrong. When thoughts are right before God, the how takes care of itself. Your thoughts register themselves on the cells of your own body and affect those cells in a manner that harmonizes with the nature of those thoughts. When you understand this principle, you will understand what the Lord meant when He said, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)…

Many techniques and ideas will be discussed in this book. Some you may want to implement in your life. If these basic principles are followed then you will be successful in what you work on. They are based on natural laws and will work when applied. Evil understands this and uses them continually to accomplish what they desire. The god of this world would have you use these principles to obtain what many consider important—money and self-gratification.

The more I have studied, the more I realize that the evil forces practice every day—they don’t let up. Do we practice principles of light daily? Practicing righteousness and light is more than the check list of commandments. If we stop there and think we have arrived, then we stop progressing. In the meantime, evil knows how to control your mind, spirit and body, how to afflict you in ways you haven’t dreamed of, and basically controls this world. We have to live focused on the Savior in all we do. We cannot counteract something we don’t understand. It is up to us to understand how evil works and then to overcome it in our own life and help our family. It us up to us to receive Him and become redeemed and then translate ourselves. We must learn to live with a higher vibration, one that matches Enoch’s Zion when they return. If not, we will not be able to be in their presence. It will hurt! It is up to us to do this work for ourselves. Yes, the Lord will help, but following a man or men or an organization won’t take us to the necessary level. Read your scriptures. Only following men makes you a Telestial candidate or worse. (D&C 76:98-106)

Mr. Trudeau tells of a Shaolin Monk from China who lived in his home for a while. He was excited because he wanted the Monk to teach him some things about martial arts. The Monk did, and it was wonderful. He asked Trudeau to give him his best punch or kick. Afterwards, the Monk put out a flame on a candle from across the room with the energy from his kick.

Trudeau learned a very valuable lesson from the Monk: That is that there are not many secrets or laws that govern how to accomplish things, the key is to master those laws or concepts at an unconsciously competent level. That takes a lot of practice; the more practice, the higher level of performance.

The Monk told him, “I am not afraid of the 10,000 strikes you know that you only have practiced once each, but I am deathly afraid of the one strike you have practiced 10,000 times.” It takes time and attention—spiritual currency. Are we willing to put in the effort required to become unconsciously competent in the Lord Jesus Christ?