ARE MORMONS READY FOR THE RISE OF THE PRIESTESSES?

Are Mormons ready for the Rise of the Priestesses? No. Of course they are not. That is not the question. The question is, are you and I ready as individuals? There has been a lot of commotion lately surrounding the issue of women as they are viewed in the Church. To be perfectly clear, it is not my intention to detract from the discussion within that context. Nor do I desire to discourage my sisters from acting on the spirit of equality that is stirring in the hearts of many these days. Any action taken to further the understanding of women and men as equals is valid and important in my eyes. What I want to do with my words here is to broaden the context to include not only the furthest reaches of prophecy but to take in the vital first steps of inner change that alone can ensure true and everlasting progress beyond the shifty, political moves that are presented to us as game-changers, when in truth they only perpetuate the boys vs. girls game of petty power struggle. The point I want to make is that men are wallowing in such a low and wretched state, spiritually speaking, that issue of equality between the sexes must, by definition start with an equal boosting of both men and women, together. So let me cut to the chase.

I read a post a while back at Feminist Mormon Housewives, written by a male guest author, Jared P., that was entitled A Kingdom of Priests. It is not so much my intention to critique it but to use its momentum to catapult some ideas to those Mormon priests and priestesses who are ready for real and royal Pre-Stood Power or at least an honest discussion on priesthood politics in the Church. The post does a good job of correcting the common conflation between “the full measure of our creation” and titles and offices. But the hopes and wishes expressed in this post for the actual fulfillment of the measure of our creation sound every bit as hollow, muffled and distant as the lightly lilting but Monsonotonous speeches of Thomas S. They ring with a little less conviction than the sexist sayings of Elder Voyd K. If one can not Pack half the punch that Packer does, then don’t count on much ever changing in your lifetime. To be fair I do not think for one minute that this was the author’s intention (to see positive change or real strides towards the fulfilling of humanity’s divine potential) but rather, he sought and succeeded in doing a little lip-service to ideals such as equality and peace. And that is fine. Let every man and woman go at his or her own chosen pace in accordance with the divine plan.

Jared most certainly speaks for the majority of his brothers and sisters and accurately communicates their affinity for warm fuzzy feelings – flufffilling over fulfillment. Indeed D&C 121 states plainly that “almost all men” cling to safety cushions which are stuffed by a staff of stiff pretend priests who place pillows with carefully crocheted clichés over the faces of their sleeping wives to stifle and suffocate them. Their so-called “priesthood position” stems directly from their “dis-position” as unrighteous dominant partners who think they can domineer the Pre-Stood Power and hog the fallsecurity blankets of a defiled marriage-bed. The bedspread or counterpane is described as a fantasy land by the poet Robert Louis Stevenson in his children’s classic, The Land of Counterpane. Here the overgrown, sick child imagines himself a giant among men, sending “ships in fleets…among the sheets” and sprawling “houses out…cities all about.” – such masculine and Masonic imagery. Stevenson’s other well known children’s poem, The Land of Nod is also a subtle nod to the vanity of this League of Just Men who leave women outside their inner prayer circle. It is the vain dream of the Church of (Cain) the Firstborn who goes about building the first City-State and naming it after his own firstborn, Enoch. This is the anti-zion or ante-zion, a false illusion that appears before the real City of Enoch and sets itself against that which the Lord blesses because it wrongly sees itself as having emerged first like Esau. But it was his mother who knew and understood that Jacob was to preside. Nephi and Joseph of Egypt were not the firstborn in their families. Even Adam, in his confusion, wrongfully assumed superiority over Eve, thinking that seniority if only by moments should always reign. But what does Adam know about that which pre-seeded his self? Being that he does not remember clearly anything that happened before his physical creation and seeing as how he was asleep during the physical formation of Eve, he can not be a credible witness. Why then do we unquestionably accept his authority as near absolute?

Are we satisfied to poo-poo and postpone indefinitely Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother’s deepest desire for us as Their Sons and Daughters? Even though the words of Paul to the Corinthians are quoted in the Feminist Mormon Housewives piece, there is no eagerness here to “put away childish things”. We can not preserve the Child-like/Christ-like qualities which Jesus told us were necessary to inherit the Kingdom of God, without putting away child-ish things. In modern American English the ending “ish” is frequently used to describe something that approximates or even copies a certain characteristic but nevertheless is not an authentic or full embodiment of that characteristic. If we need to become as little children to enter the Kingdom, does “child-ish” suffice? “Ish” is also used these days in many circles as a euphemism for “$#!+”. We know were falling short and even digressing away from our child-like natures when we resist change and assume the role of self-ish brats who should have been potty-trained long ago, but instead insist that our Heavenly Mom and Dad bear the responsibility for changing us out of the squishy ish-filled diapers we so proudly wear. Somehow I don’t think that “Wear Diapers to Church Day” can even be justified as the baby-steps that would be appropriate for “Infants on Thrones” as Joseph Smith described us in the King Follet Discourse. In many parts of the Afrikan Bush the children are diaper-free and fully potty-trained by a much earlier age than babies in modernized areas of the world. This is just a temporal example of a much deeper spiritual concept. By babying our spirits we do ourselves a great disservice.

We bask in the vainglorious flattery of the “Brethren” and the Relief Society Presidency as they remind us of the specialness of our generation. Like spoiled royal brats we throw temple tantrums and let Christ, our whipping boy, receive the lashes which in a just and fair society would go to us. Engl-ish culture has us fascinated by nannies with Brit-ish accents who claim to know precisely what it takes to raise up a righteous generation. But we’re no Angels, only Angel-ish. We do not live as the Angels in Heaven do, but make a mockery with our vain ideas of perfection. If we must turn to English literature in an attempt to understand angels, we can do no better than the writings of William Blake.

“It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only.”

Anglos are not angels and through all phases of our society from Victorian to today, we will hold to our place in this man’s world by cleverly putting the woman up on a pedestal which is nothing more than a glorified auction block.

In an address from last year’s October Conference Melvin Ballard Jr. speaks of being anxiously engaged (presumably in a good cause). But the title of his talk is more in line with the neural linguistic programming within its main body than with LDS Scripture and would be more accurately titled “Bee Anxiously Engaged.” In it Ballard compares “good church members” to honeybees. White men who imagine themselves on the top of the Pyramid or Hive are like bees.

Did you know that bees communicate with one another through a special dance? It is true. But what do those busy bees talk about with one another? Why, work of course. Like the majority of males living in any one of the many white male dominated nations of the earth, conversation is intrinsically centered around bzzzyness. Modern man is all abuzz with making cold contacts consisting of questions like “So, what do you do?” and “How much honey does that make?” In nature bees are constantly exchanging info about where to find more nectar. Karl Von Frisch conducted an experiment wherein a hive (Church or Government) was placed at the foot of a radio tower with an abundant food source atop (Heaven). 10 bees were “taken up” to the top and shown the food source like holy men who get a glimpse of the Order of Heaven. These bees were then sent off to tell the rest of the hive about their find. The message was conveyed via their non-verbal language which consists of a fixed set of signals for communicating location. The problem is; bees’ fixed signals all relate to horizontal distance only. They can not manipulate their system of communication to create a ‘new’ message indicating vertical distance. Von Frisch watched as the bees flew frustrated in all directions but were unable to locate the heavenly supply. Obsessed with accumulating more and more wealth and conceptualizing their souls to be solely de-fined by their finery, the swarms of working class, Christ-shun, Caucasian men who make the “world” go round are so completely convinced that they are the “Bees Knees”. Never pausing to bend the knee and confess their nothingness, with the tongue of angels.  Taking their capital and industry as evidence that they must be the representatives of the summit of society, they have no real concept of “up” and sadly; can not seem to devise one.

Very few W.A.S.P.s (White Anglo Saxon Protestants) ever transcend the worker-drone mentality of the Beehive and achieve the level of angels among us. If a white man grows his hair and beard out and adopts in his heart, the crazy idea of Jesus that Love Is All We Need, he will unfailingly be mocked by the “Big Boys” in General Conference no less. It took a year or two of frequent repetition from his faithful companion Yoko Ono, but once the truth finally sunk in, John Lennon put it succinctly and directly, plainly and preciously, as Nephi would say, into a song: Woman is the Ni**er of the World.

The so-called progressive mind-set that is gaining popularity these days within the religious realm can not be defended as truly progressing us towards a brighter future if it refuses to pull out our dark past and examine it in the light. In many deep-seated ways, the concepts of “priesthood” as well as “eternal progression” have been de-spiritualized since the early days of Mormonism. I contend that this is a major problem because, even though most will undoubtedly say that priesthood is not the issue, they grossly misunderstand not only me, but also the role that theology plays as an entry point for ideas that shape our world. Most Mormons wouldn’t recognize true Priesthood Power if it stepped up and slapped them across the face, which it wouldn’t because it operates on the principle of non-cohersion. But still, when they are dished a back-handed perversion of the priesthood, to the point of a spiritual (or even in some cases physical) slap across the face they rarely question the overall institution behind that force. Now before you say in your mind again that the question of priesthood is not even a real issue when it comes to the objectives of the women’s equality movement within the LDS Church today, remember to speak for yourself. And in as much as you feel more or less qualified to speak for your sisters remember that, while the problem may not be that most Mormons do not know what priesthood is, the lack of gender equality present is a direct result of mistakenly thinking that we do know what priesthood means.

So whether you see it as a women’s rights issue, more political in nature or just a case of making a few aesthetic corrections, plastic surgery to improve the Church’s image, that is all very well. But any of us who identify that a problem, or even just a need for change no matter how big or small exists, will have to be willing to connect the dots between the state of things today and the past roots. It’s either that, or we admit that we are phonies who have no serious goals for effecting positive adjustments into the future. Bandying about with band-aids and polite banter never changes policy, let alone hearts and minds. Changing hearts and minds has been given over to the jurisdiction of religion in countless ways. We may say that this is a personal domain between a person and God in an attempt to steer clear of sticky theological discussion. Then why even talk about it with others, what is the point of religion at all? I know many women and men who take an interest in this topic may honestly feel that it is wrong for them to pronounce judgment on another’s heart or mind. Regardless of the truthfulness of that principle, we do it all the time to varying degrees and like it or not, the teachers of religion in the very forum where we are seeing inequality to be an issue, are themselves, the worst offenders. So in the spirit of keeping ourselves honest, let’s explore, at least briefly, the roots of the problem.

We will start with some quotes from a past president of the Church. Not because I think the majority of people who read this are ready for such a revolutionary act as scrutinizing the main Church leadership. I for one, do not even believe that the real solutions require us to waste much time looking at anyone other than ourselves. But for those who are more interested in changing the Church to their comfort than in listening to the discontent inside themselves and hearing that pre-stood power that creates worlds without number speak to them about how they can transform their own world – I say, your solution should be simple and straightforward. From a legal perspective and although unseen, a spiritual standpoint, Thomas S. Monson is the one you want to talk to. If you think this would be unnecessary or even beside the point, I would tend to agree. But at least take a look at what you and your leaders have inherited. Or alternately admit the lack of true conviction behind your words and the pointlessness of the actions you take to supposedly establish some semblance of equality between men and women in the context of the LDS Church. Without further ado, here is the promised presidential prattle.

“It is much more difficult for wives to learn than it is for husbands, because women have not the degree of light and knowledge that their husbands have; they have not the power over their passions that their husbands have; therefore they have to suffer one for another until they get power over themselves like unto those that have advanced more fully in the knowledge of our God.” President Lorenzo Snow, (The Blessings and Privleges of the Saints—Obedience to Council Volume 5, pg 315)

Another gem from sweet old Lorenzo Snow given in the same talk in 1857:

“You very seldom find that husbands and wives are perfect; but perhaps it is very well that the husband is not perfect, because, if he was, he would be placed at a great distance from his wives. It requires a great exertion on the parts of wives to keep pace with their husbands.”

Oh but this is not the mood or attitude anymore, right? This type of thing is no longer a problem. Yeah, like racism is no longer a problem since Obama took office. While the problem of inequality by definition manifests itself in a variety of ways, this is not evidence that the morphed fruit is in no way connected to the lofty branches. I am of course applying the analogy of the wild fruit given in Jacob 5. If the roots are worth saving then we must disencumber the tree of the lofty branches. The very fact that these quotes have been tucked away is evidence that we have never even begun to deal with these issues. If I believe God wants me to be a racist I have no reason to examine racists behavior. If I believe God condemns homosexuals, I have no reason to examine my homophobia. If I believe God made men superior to women, I have no reason to examine my sexism. Once we take the opinions of man as God’s Will, life seems very simple. The problem is that God knows and deep inside we know we are embracing a lie. The more the lie becomes manifest in the world, the more frequently God will send the Father of Lies to shake up the faulty foundations upon which so-called Master Builders construct. The Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi 28:19, makes it clear that this shaking is necessary so that growth and progress might continue. Whether you see yourself as working for fair and equal treatment of women within the Church or you are actually seeking to exercise those latent, God-given powers within you, I think it is safe to say that some shaking will be necessary for all of us at one point or another.

I would like to dive in a bit deeper to examine the essence of Pre-Stood Power vs. man’s ideas on priesthood for the benefit of all my brothers and sisters, whether merely curious or truly desirous to more faithfully fulfill their life’s calling. I find it more helpful to use the term Pre-Stood as a reminder that the Powers of Heaven stood before and will stand long after the foundation and passing of the Earth. It is in essence, the essence, the Love, that which was before and that which remains, according to Jesus, Paul, Alma, Joseph and countless other teachers. The word Pre-Stood helps us to understand that all conferral of said power is not just an ordination but a re-ordination. All men and women have already been fore-ordained. If that is too much for some so-called priesthood holders to accept we can slightly adjust the wording to say that everyone ordained to the priesthood in this life received a pre-ordination. If you do not feel this to be true, then I would suggest that it is a personal problem and maybe you need a PPI (Personal Priesthood Interview) with God to determine whether perhaps there has been some mistake in issuing that which is sacred to you who through unworthiness can no longer sense the pre-ordination of the Great Ones which Father Abraham witnessed. The LDS acronym PPI is one that should be familiar to many Mormon men and women as well. It is an operation of what Dallin Oaks, J.D. referred to as the “priesthood line” of authority in a 2010 address. Oaks condescendingly cautioned against the perils of the “personal line” and placed it firmly under the jurisdiction of Church leaders. I wonder how many other Mormon men were left scratching their heads at this de-lineation and de-liberation of a supposedly continuous line of authority of which Christ Jesus freely gave and commanded us to freely give (Matt. 10:8). This obsessing over lines or lineage is nothing new. But confusion is compounded when one stops to consider that it is persons who hold the priesthood, hence the term Personal Priesthood Interview. So isn’t all priesthood personal? Indeed we may say, along with the apostle Paul, that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:4), but in practice we betray this trust He has placed in us by respecting priesthoodlums and their policy over eternal principle.

While it may very well be foolishness to seek Heavenly power from worldly men, it is arrogance to assume that you hold and magnify the pre-stood power if you are found mocking a movement for equality within the institutional church. All men who assume themselves worthy pre-stood holders and are not diligent in encouraging their own wives and even any misguided but honest LDS women who feel the Holy Spirit of change blowing through the rafters of a condemned Church and as thermal currents in their own hearts to magnify their female pre-stood power more fully; those men are not magnifying their own pre-stood but are letting it dwindle. If you can not see the differences between a movement for equal treatment of the feminine gender in the LDS Church and the ancient prophecies regarding the establishment of Zion then you are deeply confused about and unfamiliar with the order and powers of Heaven. Latter-Day Saints should prepare in their own hearts, minds and families for the Millennial Reign of Christ, for the Restoration of All Things and for the Rise of the Priestesses.

My letter to Prolife Christians about the HHS Mandate

Dear Pro-life Christians Against the HHS Mandate,

The Supreme Court has already decided that there cannot be a religious exception to a law that applies to all persons equally. They’ve already decided that while the Congress can’t legislate that you agree with abortion in your mind — they certainly have the power to legislate that you agree with abortion with your actions.

You might not remember it — but it was back in the 19th century when the LDS were deprived of their 1st Amendment right to freely practice their religion by the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act.  You probably don’t recall because you were too busy celebrating with the rest of the country that those pagan, polygamous Mormons “got theirs” for daring to insist that God wanted them to love more than one spouse at a time.

The church of jesus christ of latter day saints challenged it on the grounds that passing an anti-polygamy law is unconstitutional because consenting adults entering plural marriages was a matter of the religious practice and duty of a Mormon’s faith.

While the Supreme Court said it recognized that under the 1st Amendment, Congress could not pass a law prohibiting the free exercise of religion — it argued that a law prohibiting polygamy doesn’t fall under that prohibition.  And they said that although the constitution didn’t expressly define “religion”, they quoted a letter from Thomas Jefferson in support of drawing a hard distinction between religion as a matter of belief/the mind and one’s actions that might flow from religious belief.

It was their opinion that while a matter of belief lies solely between a man and his God — the legislative powers of the state can reach actions [just not opinions] — despite the fact that beliefs inform action, and all action is predicated upon a corresponding belief.

The court argued that if polygamy was allowed, someone might eventually argue that human sacrifice was a necessary part of their religion [plural marriages vs. murder — talk about “apples to apples”]:

So here, as a law of the organization of society under the exclusive dominion of the United States, it is provided that plural marriages shall not be allowed.  Can a man excuse his practices to the contrary because of his religious belief?

To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and, in effect, to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.  Government could exist only in name under such circumstances.

A criminal intent is generally an element of crime, but every man is presumed to intend the necessary and legitimate consequences of what he knowingly does.  Here, the accused knew he had been once married, and that his first wife was living.  He also knew that his second marriage was forbidden by law.  When, therefore, he married the second time, he is presumed to have intended to break the law.  And the breaking of the law is the crime.  Every act necessary to constitute the crime was knowingly done, and the crime was therefore knowingly committed.  Ignorance of a fact may sometimes be taken as evidence of a want of criminal intent, but not ignorance of the law.  The only defense of the accused in this case is his belief that the law ought not to have been enacted.  It matters not that his belief was a part of his professed religion; it was still belief, and belief only.

[Reynolds v. United States]:

What all this means is — that as soon as the Supreme Court decided that those who believe in practicing polygamy could no more be exempt from an anti-polygamy law than those who may wish to practice human sacrifice as part of their religious belief would be bound by laws against murder:

• religion as a matter of belief and religion as a matter of practice was legally dichotomized
• the state was given jurisdiction over your religion as a matter of action
• you lost your case against a mandate that employers provide contraceptive and abortive birth control as a part of the Affordable Health Care Act.

I’m sorry — but I hear the world’s tiniest violin playing, “My heart bleeds for you” whenever I hear Pro-life Christians complaining about how a healthcare mandate for employers to cover contraception and abortive procedures:  “trashes their freedom of religious expression.”

You’ve allowed the State already to declare its power to demarcate religion into the realm of “belief” and the “mind” [rather than a function of “practice” and of the “physical”] way back in the 1890’s.   Sorry — but this is a battle you’ve already lost when the Supreme Court upheld the right of the State to imprison LDS church leaders, confiscate their property, and terminate the church’s corporate charter — all because of the Mormon’s freely exercising their religion.

When all the other Christians sat back and applauded as the State passed laws prohibiting the free exercise of the Mormon religion — simply because of their hatred of men and women having plural spouses — the fate over this comparatively light matter of employers covering birth control in their health care plans was settled.

Sincerely,
A Mormon tired of hearing your whining

Talking to myself

This is me asking myself questions and then answering them. It is just an exercise, in which I take a text and interpret it, to see what I come up with. I’m posting it here because I found it interesting. You can read along and watch the process evolve, if you like, but please keep in mind that these are just thoughts. Don’t take any of this as gospel, except the quoted scriptures. My text is D&C 98:4-18.

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and now | verily | i say unto you |

concerning the laws of the land |

it is my will | that my people should observe to do all things | whatsoever i command them |

and that law of the land | which is constitutional | supporting that principle of freedom | in maintaining rights and privileges | belongs to all mankind | and is justifiable before me | therefore | i | the lord | justify you | and your brethren of my church | in befriending that law | which is the constitutional law of the land |

and as pertaining to law of man |

whatsoever is more or less than this | cometh of evil | (DAC 98:2)

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The laws of the land

Question: What is the will of the Lord concerning the laws of the land?

Answer: It is the will of the Lord that His people should observe to do all things whatsoever He commands them.

Q: Why does the Lord answer a question on His will concerning man-made laws with a direction to obey His heaven-sent (revealed) laws?

A: See the rest of this post.

The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights

Q: What is the will of the Lord concerning the U.S. Constitution?

A: It is the will of the Lord that only that part of the constitution which supports that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges is justifiable before him, and that His people are justified in befriending that portion of the Constitution.

Q: Which part of the constitution is He referring to?

A: The Bill of Rights. (See What the Lord has said about the Constitution.)

The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. (Wikipedia entry for United States Bill of Rights.)

A bill of rights is a list of the most important rights of the citizens of a country. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement. (Wikipedia entry for Bill of Rights.)

Q: Why does the Lord say that this part of the U.S. Constitution (the Bill of Rights) “belongs to all mankind”?

A: Because the Americans of that time viewed these principles as only applying to white men and the Lord was correcting this perversion by showing that the Bill of Rights protected all people in their rights and privileges, whether black, white, male, female, bond, free, American or non-American. In other words, God does not view the principles embodied in the Bill of Rights as limited in their scope of protection to only a sub-set of the human population of this planet.

Originally, the Bill of Rights implicitly legally protected only white men, excluding American Indians, people considered to be “black” (now described as African Americans), and women. These exclusions were not explicit in the Bill of Right’s text, but were well understood and applied. (Wikipedia entry on United States Bill of Rights.)

When the Lord states in His preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, “for verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men,” this includes all of His written words which are sent out among men under inspiration of the Holy Ghost, for all things written by the power (or under the inspiration) of the Holy Ghost and publicly published “belongs to all mankind,” therefore, this shows that the Bill of Rights, although penned by the hand of men, was inspired of the Holy Ghost. The Bill of Rights, then, cannot be applicable to only a subset of society, but must, of necessity, be applicable to all mankind, just as the revelations of God given to the Gentiles of this nation apply to the Gentiles of all nations*.

This also shows that the Federalists were not inspired of God, as is currently viewed by many LDS and Christians, for the Federalists were the ones who desired and created the U.S. Constitution and it was their intention to bring forth that document without a bill of rights.

And this shows also that the Anti-Federalists were inspired of God, for it was they who were against the U.S. Constitution and it was their insistence upon a bill of rights that allowed one to be created and attached to the constitution.

Q: Was the Bill of Rights the only inspired part of the U.S. Constitution?

A: Yes, the Bill of Rights was the only inspired part of the U.S. Constitution. This is why the Lord qualifies which part of the constitution is justifiable before Him. In other words, the only part of the U.S. Constitution that the Lord’s people are justified in befriending is the part that was inspired by Him.

Q: What about the other parts of the U.S. Constitution? Are we justified in befriending the other parts?

A: No, we are not, for the Lord categorically states, “Whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil.”

Q: Does this mean that the U.S. Constitution is evil, excepting only the Bill of Rights, which was inspired of God?

A: Yes, that is exactly what it means. It means that the devil inspired men to write the U.S. Constitution, and all other man-made laws, excepting only bills of rights. Bills of rights, which protect all people in their rights and privileges, are inspired of the Spirit of freedom, which is the Holy Ghost, and are justifiable before the Lord. Everything else is evil in the sight of the Lord.

*Because the Lord has approved of, or justified, the Bill of Rights, latter-day saints are fully authorized to include it as part of their scriptural canon. This is not to say that it is scripture, for it was not written by the power of the Holy Ghost, nor does it contain the revealed words of God, nevertheless, as an inspired and approved writing, it may be used to defend or safeguard one’s rights in a church setting.

To give a brief example, as to what I mean, let’s look at the sixth amendment:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

All of these enumerated rights apply equally in any church prosecution, for this justified, inspired text is inalienable property of all mankind, including the saints of God who stand accused within the church of God, and they can use it to keep ecclesiastical abuse at bay. In like manner, every single one of the amendments that make up the Bill of Rights is applicable in a church setting, for the word of God does not supersede these protections.

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i | the lord god | make you free | therefore | ye are free indeed |

and the law also maketh you free | nevertheless | when the wicked rule | the people mourn | wherefore | honest men | and wise men | should be sought for diligently | and good men | and wise men | ye should observe to uphold | otherwise | whatsoever is less than these | cometh of evil |

and i give unto you a commandment |

that ye shall forsake all evil | and cleave unto all good |

that ye shall live by every word | which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of god | for he will give unto the faithful line upon line | precept upon precept |

and i will try you | and prove you herewith |

and whoso layeth down his life in my cause | for my name’s sake | shall find it again | even life eternal | therefore | be not afraid of your enemies |

for i have decreed in my heart |

saith the lord |

that i will prove you in all things | whether you will abide in my covenant | even unto death | that you may be found worthy |

for if ye will not abide in my covenant | ye are not worthy of me | therefore | renounce war | and proclaim peace | and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers | and the hearts of the fathers to the children |

and again | the hearts of the jews unto the prophets | and the prophets unto the jews |

lest i come | and smite the whole earth with a curse | and all flesh be consumed before me |

let not your hearts be troubled | for in my father’s house are many mansions | and i have prepared a place for you | and where my father and i am | there ye shall be also | (DAC 98:3)

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The Lord makes us free

Q: What does the Lord mean when He says, “I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore, ye are free indeed.”

A: He is speaking of the atonement and resurrection that He Himself wrought, which through repentance and faith on the Lord has power to break every band and free every people, even from the devil’s spiritual bondage.

The law makes us free

Q: To what law is the Lord referring when He says, “And the law also maketh you free”?

A: He is referring to all those laws given by the Spirit of freedom (which is the Holy Ghost), which encompass all the revealed laws of God, which free us from the power of the evil one. The Bill of Rights may also be included, for they were penned by men writing under inspiration of the Holy Ghost and they help to maintain our God-given rights.

This “law that makes us free” has no qualifications for justification before the Lord, unlike the uninspired, man-made laws do, because this law is given under revelation or inspiration of heaven, and thus tends toward increasing one’s agency. Every other kind of law, whether commandments of men or doctrines of devils, tends toward bondage, and thus is inspired of the devil.

Wicked rulers

Q: What was the Lord referring to when He spoke of wicked rulers? Were these wicked political leaders?

A: The principle encompasses every area of life, whether political, social, religious, tribal or family, but specifically, He had view of the rulers of His church, meaning the priesthood leadership of His covenant people, for these are the only ones who have the law that makes one free indeed (meaning freed from the devil’s power of captivation), which are the revealed laws of God.

I refer back to the original question: What is the will of the Lord concerning the laws of man? To obey the law of God, that is His will concerning the laws of man. Over and over again in this and other revelations, the Lord stresses that all we are required to do is keep His commandments. Now, His commandments are found in the word of God, or the scriptures. And that word of God is His law. Therefore,

thou shalt take the things | which thou hast received | which have been given unto thee in my scriptures | for a law | to be my law to govern my church | and he | that doeth according to these things | shall be saved | and he | that doeth them not | shall be damned | if he so continue | (D&C 42:59-60)

i am the lord | thy god | and i give unto you this commandment |

that no man shall come unto the father | but by me | or by my word | which is my law |

saith the lord | (D&C 132:12)

And what does the Lord command concerning the laws of the land?

let no man break the laws of the land | for he | that keepeth the laws of god | hath no need to break the laws of the land | wherefore | be subject to the powers that be | until he reigns | whose right it is to reign | and subdues all enemies under his feet |

behold | the laws | which ye have received from my hand | are the laws of the church | and in this light ye shall hold them forth |

behold | here is wisdom | (D&C 58:21-23)

So we see that even here, where the Lord states, “let no man break the laws of the land**,” He still ties it into keeping the laws of God. This is because the only thing that is important to God is that His people keep His sayings. The Lord is not concerned with the laws of men. His only concern is His own law, which He has given to His people. In fact, it is His purpose to do away with all the laws of men and have only His revealed law lived by His people.

but | verily | i say unto you |

that | in time | ye shall have no king | nor ruler | for i will be your king | and watch over you | wherefore | hear my voice | and follow me | and you shall be a free people | and ye shall have no laws | but my laws | when i come | for i am your lawgiver | and what can stay my hand | (D&C 38:22)

So, again, what is the will of the Lord concerning the laws of the land? That we keep the law of God. His focus is always on the heaven-sent laws, for all man-made laws are corrupt, or come of evil, excepting only bills of rights.

For this reason, the wicked rulers that He is specifically referring to are those who cause the people to mourn despite them having the law that makes them free, which is His law. Thus, these wicked rulers are the leaders of His church.

**And what laws of the land is the Lord referring to here? Why, the only laws of the land that are justifiable before Him, namely, the Bill of Rights, for, think about it, if one keeps the laws of God then you cannot be infringing on the rights and privileges which are enumerated in the Bill of Rights. And this is the only meaning of the scripture. It does not mean that there will never be any corrupt, unjustified, man-made laws that will conflict with the laws of God. Of course, there will!  But as far as the Bill of Rights is concerned, there is no conflict between it and the revealed laws of God.

Seeking and upholding good men is, and is not, voting

Q: When the Lord states that we should seek and uphold good, wise, and honest men, is He not talking about the political process?

A: No, He is not talking about the political process, for what does the Lord have to do with the political process? The political process has jurisdiction over a corrupt set of laws, consisting of the commandments of men mingled with doctrines of devils. As the Lord sees the whole gamut of laws as coming of evil, excepting only the Bill of Rights, why would He desire His saints to become involved in such affairs? He has already said that He places the basest of men over the kingdoms of men:

this matter is by the decree of the watchers | and the demand by the word of the holy ones | to the intent that the living may know | that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men | and giveth it to whomsoever he will | and setteth up over it the basest of men | (Daniel 4:17)

That being true, it is a given that wicked rulers and man-made laws go hand in hand, therefore, it is not the place of the saints to attempt to make better (meaning less corrupt, but still, nevertheless, corrupt) man-made laws, or to select good rulers to administer in a better manner the corrupt, man-made laws, for the whole operation is doomed to failure.

No, the place of the saints is to obey the law of God, which is not corrupt, and to make sure that only good, wise and honest rulers are found in the kingdom of God, so that they can administer the good, wise and honest laws of God, that the top may match the root, because if this is not the case, despite the good laws of God, a wicked ecclesiastical ruler will make the lives of the saints a living hell.

Now, this is accomplished in the church of God by making sure that only honest men and wise men are called to the various church positions of authority and responsibility and by making sure that only good men and wise men are elected by vote. And this election is done by vote, by the raising up of the right hand, which is how such men are upheld, or sustained, it being a type of what was done to Moses’ hands.

So, yes, the Lord is referring to an election, even the calling and election of the leaders of his church, but He is not referring to any political election, nor to any political process.

Q: What does the saying, “whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil,” mean, as it concerns the wicked leaders?

A: It means that if the people of the Lord’s church allow wicked leaders to be over them, it with be through their own transgression. It means that the Lord’s people have the responsibility to elect only wise, honest people for the Lord’s church. They are bound to seek out and sustain only such people. If they knowingly sustain any other type of individual, they transgress the law of God.

It also means that the evil one’s strategy is to get wicked rulers into the Lord’s church, that the good laws of God may be ignored, misinterpreted, trampled upon, and perverted. The law of God presents a problem to the adversary, so he attacks the church individually, through individual transgression, or with church-wide effects, through the installment of a wicked ruler. The current environment of voting by rubber-stamp has already set up the conditions whereby wicked rulers may be installed in every level of the church. Nevertheless, the law of God is still there and in effect.

Forsake all evil, cleave to all good

Q: What is the context of the Lord’s commandment to forsake all evil and cleave to all good?

A: It is a commandment given to the saints of God, living within the jurisdiction of the gathered church of God, finding themselves in the midst of a congregation which is ruled over by a wicked ruler. What is a saint to do in such a situation? Well, they are to forsake all evil and cleave to all good. In other words, this is the test of the saints: to be put under covenant to obey the laws of God, to be placed within a congregation and to have wicked rulers placed over them. Now, obey the laws of God, despite the fact that that wicked ruler is going to oppose you. Obey the laws of God, anyway. That is your test.

Q: When the Lord then says to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, is this the same context?

A: Yes, the context is the same. The wicked ruler over the church of God, whether of a local or general jurisdiction, will speak words, orders, counsels, which will proceed out of his own mouth, to those who come under his jurisdiction. The Lord, then, says, “you are to live by every word that comes from God,” as opposed to the words coming out of that wicked man’s mouth. The words of God are found in the scriptures. The faithful, meaning those who exercise faith like unto the ancients, will also have more words given to them, precept by precept, by the Holy Ghost, visions, angels, etc. All these words of God, then, are what the saints are to live by. They are not to live by the words of the wicked church ruler.

After these instructions, the Lord then says, “and I will try you and prove you herewith.” So, again, this is the test. Will we keep our covenants and the commandments of the Lord, as written in the scriptures, and as delivered to us by God’s angels, the Holy Ghost, etc., as they come from the Lord’s mouth, or will we follow the wicked rulers placed over us? Will we do so even if it costs us our life? Hence the Lord talking of laying down our lives for His sake.

Who are the enemies?

Q: When the Lord, then, in these verses mentions enemies, when He says to not fear our enemies, who is He talking about?

A: This has broad application, for there are enemies both foreign (outside of the church) and domestic (inside of the church), but the specific context of these words is the enemy found within the church, namely, these wicked rulers. We are not to fear any of these enemies, but are to keep the Lord’s commandments, or as He puts it in this revelation, we are to “observe to do whatsoever He commands us,” and are to simply trust in Him. If we die, we will inherit eternal life. If we live, we still get eternal life. We win in either situation.

At some point in the future history of the church, the wicked church rulers will conspire to kill the saints within their congregations. They will be successful a certain number of times, fulfilling the prophecy about the blood of the saints crying from the ground against them. The Lord in this revelation is calming the fears of His saints, by telling them to stand for the right, no matter what the church environment is, or how bad it is going to get, to stay true to the covenants and commandments and to live by His words alone, and although blood will be spilled, it will still be well with them.

For all those others who will break their covenants and the commandments of God, by following a wicked church leader, they will be accounted as unworthy of the prize.

Renounce war and proclaim peace

Q: What of the renounce war and proclaim peace bit? Surely, that must be talking of the political process, right?

A: Again, these principles can be applied generally, but there is a specific context to the words, and that is within the context of the church. In other words, at some point the wicked leaders are going to create dissension and conflict, even war among the body of the saints, or a great division. We will see a repeat of the Book of Mormon times, where church members will engage in heated arguments with each other and exchange blows. Amalickiah comes to mind, who himself was a dissident member of the church of God. So, the Lord is beforehand telling them, or giving them the principles whereby they may be guided in wisdom’s paths, namely, that they are not to engage in such behavior. They are to stand for the right, but not to wage war, or encourage war, upon anyone. They are to always hold up the standard of peace, unless commanded by God to hold up the banner of war.

The hearts of the children and fathers

Q: What is the Lord referring to when He talks about turning the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children?

A: It refers to the dissension and division which will be among the church, father being divided against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, etc. The saints who live by every word of God will be seeking to mend this division among the church, by getting everyone back together, in a spirit of love, compassion and understanding. Those who break their covenants will be seeking to widen the divide.

Q: So, this passage does not refer to genealogical work and the temple?

A: No, it has reference to this prophesied division and the repair work that the saints of God will be engaged in.

The hearts of the Jews and the prophets

Q: What is the meaning of the saying about turning the hearts of the Jews and prophets to each other?

A: It has reference to the wicked church leaders, and the work of the saints in their midst of turning them back to the Lord, through the words of the prophets, both found in the scriptures and among the population, who will be prophesying, so that the Jews, or leadership, would repent of their sins and become clean again before the Lord. The saints, who will judge all things pertaining to Zion, will seek at that time, to recover the leadership, through preaching and prophesying, or will turn their hearts to the Jews (the leadership.) The Jews (the leadership), will likewise have their hearts turned to the prophets, those prophets who reside in their congregation and those of the scriptures, and will be recovered, at least, those who repent will be recovered, and the rifts mended.

All of these things, which will happen among the Gentile church, is a type or a shadow that will happen among the tribes of Israel, as well, for the Jews (the non-Gentile people of the Lord) will also have their hearts turned to the prophets, and their children and fathers turned to each other.

Let not your hearts be troubled

Q: This saying of “let not your hearts be troubled” appears to be a general theme of this revelation. Why is that?

A: It is because the revelation is a prophetic time-line. It starts out by saying that their prayers will be answered and that they need not fear. (See DAC 98:1.) Then it talks about the laws of man (the State) and a saint’s relationship to those laws, giving permission to befriend only the Bill of Rights. (See DAC 98:2.) Then it goes into what a saint must do when wicked church rulers are found within it. (See DAC 98:3.) Then it holds up the church at Kirkland as a contemporary example of wickedness and gives a warning of chastisement if they do not repent and obey the Lord’s commandments. (See DAC 98:4.) Next, it gives a promise that if the church obeys the Lord’s commandments, essentially every adversary will be turned away from them, including the very Adversary himself. (See DAC 98:5.) And this particular prophecy will be, in part, fulfilled by the wicked turning on each other. The next bunch of sayings (DAC 98:6,7,8,9) deal with anarchic laws of conflict, showing that by that time the Lord will have made an end of nations and people will have once again gone back into the tribes of the earth.

Regardless of where an enemy is found or of which phase of society a saint lives in, whether it is the civic government phase, the wicked church phase, the phase of the division in the church, or the tribal anarchy phase, the saints are told the same message: observe to do all that the Lord commands you, seeking reconciliation and peace, repentance and forgiveness, trusting in the Lord and His promises, doubting nothing and fearing no one (not even your enemies), and if you do this, it will be well with you.

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

THE MIRACLE OF FORGIVENESS & KIMBALL’S CADILLAC – Pt. 1

The crisp coldness of the Utah Valley winter air dominated my senses but clashed in competition with the rumbling warmth of an idling Cadillac engine. Soon I found myself side by side with my best friend, rolling, in silence, through a meandering suburban maze. By the time the humming motor took over the soundscape, my mind began to ruminate on the events that had led up to this unassuming moment. If I had allowed my mind to wander further back in time, I would have marveled at the stranger than fiction story-line that had brought two New Yorkers – one black, one white– to cross paths in Orem, Utah of all places. But, as it was, my subconscious and my conscious, seated side by side in my right and left brain hemispheres respectively, enjoyed a quiet, mutual appreciation, perfectly paralleled by the way Mike and I respectfully remained in our own private thoughts during these demure moments of reverie.

I thought back to only hours earlier, when we had made a midnight run for burritos at a popular 24 hours spot located in that no man’s land in between Orem and Provo. During my not so distant college days I had jokingly dubbed that area, “Orvo”. Although we were unaware, time and space had here converged in an “Ovum” pregnant with possibilities. Another brother from yet another mother, Brio Springford, would later explain to me the mystical significance of such intermediate states as midnight, dusk and dawn. Neither here nor there, this nor that, halfway between solid and gas, they act as a mystical mist or lubricant opening portals between the physical world and the realm of spirit. But, like I said, my conscious mind was not even traveling back that far into the strange and slow spiritual sojourn that had taken my brother and I along the paths of Muslim and Mormon to this current crossroads in Christ. Brio was, at this point, still just a Facebook acquaintance going by his first given name, Joseph. And all I remembered was the good grub and good conversation.

We had talked of many things; Mexican food and culture, U.S. culture, Mexican women, U.S. women. But mostly, Mike shared his enthusiasm for Cadillacs. This was my first time riding in one and I could see why he liked them so much. Comfortable and kingly, the ride evoked a classic coolness to transcend all trends. As he described the character of the car I could see, hear and feel the truthfulness of his report. This was an honorable vehicle. Even its functional flaws figured nobly into its proud performance –Honor on wheels.

This magnificent maroon colored machine now made its way to the freeway on-ramp and my thoughts moved forward to only minutes before we left the house. I had checked online and saw that the Facebook friend I mentioned earlier had invited me to join a group that called itself the Mormon Reconciliation Movement. Joseph explained in a message that the group’s goals were somewhat loosely defined but that they wanted to at least start a dialogue among people who desired a peaceful and happy society. Open to and in fact reaching out to those of all faiths and cultures, the group would however maintain as one of its focal points, a reconciliation, specifically between Mormons and Native Americans.

I was well versed in the lamentable history between LDS and ‘Lamanites’. Now as the little man in my mind accessed the file on dealings between Mormon settlers and Native tribes, I saw a vast library of information appear on my mental screen. There was Joseph’s referencing of the native population as modern descendents of the Lamanite civilization described in the Book of Mormon narrative. The commission to the overwhelmingly white converts of an early Mormon Church to join with the natives, rejected, and a precarious distance respected in Brigham’s Utah. My great-great-great-great grandfather and one of my guardian angels, Daniel Webster Jones’ statement that he had found, “more nobility of character among the Indians than what is common among many whites, even Mormons included,” echoed through my thoughts. Appalling accounts of treachery towards the Hopi that built the corrupt careers of Ernest L. Wilkinson and others were harrowed up from this dark data base. But perhaps most disturbing to me were the misguided notions of LDS Church President, Spencer W. Kimball. Most disturbing, because, this sweet old man with smiling eyes, had a love for the Navajo people, which seemed to be sincere, real. I guess Pres. Kimball was a product of the thinking of his time. But I found no comfort in this conclusion. That an old man with a good heart would allow the racism of his era to mislead his heart was extremely saddening to my own heart. The contrast between true love and false principles made me feel like puking. And speaking about “striking contrast,” as a product of ‘his era’, he pushed the painful irony deeper when, in a 1960 issue of a magazine called The Improvement Era, he said:

“I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today …. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation. At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter we represent, the little member girl—sixteen—sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents—on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather…. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.”

During this very visit to friends in Utah, my wife, Quiana and I, had witnessed firsthand, the soul-corroding effects of Kimball’s zeal for the Indian Placement Program. Long-time friends of Navajo descent, the Seschille Sisters, welcomed us to their home until they discovered that Quiana, by choice, no longer wore the LDS Temple undergarments. They seemed unable to feel the spirit of the ancestors sweeping the land, unaware of the blocks that had been placed between them and their kindred dead; while Quiana and I were unable to deny that same powerful spirit of Elijah. Just over a month prior, during the harvest time of year once celebrated by my Keltic ancestors as Samhain, now commercialized as Halloween and observed in Mexican tradition as Day of the Dead, we had been made keenly aware of the presence of those long passed. It wasn’t so much the resurrection of repressed ancestral memories, but a relaxed and naturally remembered ritual. There was a very ‘tuberous’ theme reminding us of our ‘roots’ that day. Modern-day Americans, of course, use pumpkins. But the Keltic Clans had used turnips, and they felt right at home with the anciently rooted Nahuatl custom, which made use of a closely related species –the refreshing jicama. Revived spiritual sensitivity along with an already sanctioned mix of Catholic and Mesoamerican holy days being observed locally by the general public, coincided to usher in an early thanksgiving, which had always been Quiana’s and my favorite holiday. It was really nice, because, whereas living so far from ‘living’ relatives made get-togethers extremely difficult, this simple openness that had snuggled up to our hearts gradually till this period of permeability in the veil between worlds, reminded us that distance itself was relative. And hence, distant relatives and even the spirits of relations of close friends and curious neighbors, graced our home with their visitation during this season.

But, I digress. This was not the warm climate of central Mexico. It was early December in Utah, and my train of thought was stopped cold in its tracks. I was contemplating the cruel confusion of this world that made a genuinely respectable man capable of hosting such degrading attitudes and perpetrating truly deplorable actions toward such a noble albeit abused race. As soon as the sick and twisted picture started to sink in, a feeling suddenly came over my heart and a thought rushed into my mind. I felt and thought that Spencer was truly sorry and repentant for his past transgressions. But who could know but the man himself and God, right?

Then, just as suddenly, my train of thought was completely derailed when Mike’s gruff voice broke the silence. “There’s this Caddy I peeped on KSL classifieds. I was thinkin’ of goin’ to check it out after we run these errands.” Oh, so not derailed but looped back to the original line of thought, “Cadillacs”. I listened while the enthusiast described the details of the vehicle for sale. It was located in American Fork –we were headed there anyway. It was a ’79 DeVille D’Elegance –we were riding in a 1980 DeVille. It was originally owned by Spencer Kimball. “Whoah, hold up. Did you say Spencer Kimball?” I asked. I had to consciously swallow the ‘W’ that my Babylonian upbringing was wont to automatically insert; as if the presentation of, first name–middle initial–surname, would grant the man some heir of worldly importance.  Mike confirmed that I had indeed heard him correctly. He said, “Yeah, I guess you know who he was. I wasn’t really familiar with that name but I gathered that he was a leader in the LDS Church.” As I marveled over the route of thought that had just completed a perfect closed circuit through my mind and Mike’s mouth, I told my friend that Spencer Kimball was the President who had finally changed the policy preventing black men from being ordained to the Priesthood in the Church. Mike’s eyebrows were slightly raised and his tone was somber as he said, “Wow. See, that makes me even more interested in this car.”

I too was seized with the desire to see this car and took it as a very material validation of the sweet spiritual assurance I had just received. Why should Spencer Kimball confess and speak to my heart regarding his personal conversion? Why should he want to offer this token and sign of his repentance? Why not? Our hearts were one on this issue. We all help one another as brothers and sisters through mutually uplifting heart to heart dialogue. One who is looked up to as a leader in any capacity knows that they can only retain respect in the eyes of their younger supporters through humility. Public confession was a very emotionally freeing way to keep families working well together in the early days of any Christian movement. The bold swallowing of pride by one of my elders, so long removed from the sphere of the ‘living’, but nonetheless indelibly impressed upon my mind from the earliest days of my childhood, caused my mind also, to be humbled. I understood that God’s forgiveness is infinite and that by continuing to judge someone based on the actions of their past, I could lose the opportunity of reaping beautiful blessings from the reconciliation that comes about through repentance. My mind could hardly believe what was happening but secretly I was excited by the prospect of participating in what appeared to be an inter-dimensional gift exchange transacted across time and space.

We went to see Kimball’s caddy. There she was, shinning in a partially iced-over driveway just off of 100 East; an impressive, Book of Mormon Blue, Mafioso looking ’79 Cadillac DeVille D’Elegance. The current owner came outside and shook our hands. We admired his scrap-metal artwork as he rummaged through drawers in his garage and finally produced the keys to the vehicle. We examined its spacious trunk, its plush, light blue interior. Between the seats, Mike found a clear plastic clip with worn adhesive material on the back, encasing a little slip of paper. “Yo, check this out.” He passed it to me. At the top of the paper it read: LDS Vehicle Service Center. Below it listed the details of a service check done in May of ’87. This being a ’79 model would have been issued to Spencer in September of the previous year, making it the same car which transported him the day of the historic announcement in general conference on Sep. 30^th of 1978. The man told us that he had hoped to sell it to someone who appreciated the car’s history. He said that shortly after placing the Cadillac on the market he was contacted by an old woman who wanted to purchase it as a collection piece for the very fact that it had belonged to President Kimball, who the lady described as her “favorite prophet”. But for some reason he felt impressed to not sell it to her and wait instead. I felt a warm sensation come over my heart. The feeling was fire and ice as Mike and the seller carried out the details of the transaction. I just stood there with sunbeams, like little golden children of God signing in my face and chills running up and down my spine, like the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from the song.

As we pulled out of that amiable young man’s driveway, Mike in Kimball’s Cadillac and I tailing him in the other Caddy, a quote popped up in my mind. From a crease in the grey matter right next to the memory accessed earlier that day, came a file containing a vaguely remembered, preferably forgotten piece of Church history which had no doubt been preserved for some wise purpose in the Lord. My happy heart was overwhelming my meticulous mind at this time and so I would have to look it up later to retrieve the corrupted file in all of its vainglorious corruption. Something about “Negroes and Cadillacs”, but this was no Snoop Dogg track. It turned out to be from a shameful speech given by apostle Mark E. Peterson, at BYU, August 27, 1954.

“Now we are generous with the Negro. We are willing that the Negro have the highest education. I would be willing to let every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the world. But let them enjoy these things among themselves.”

Later Peterson explains how he expects to find Negroes as his servants in the next life. I wonder what he did find there and if his hateful speech has since turned to a sad soliloquy delivered from some dark catacomb like Hamlet. To be so miserably mean is to be lonely and anguish to a human being’s soul. But, unlike the fictional character of Hamlet, “Not to Be” is not an option. As soul’s discover their own immortality they are ever faced with the same question “To be loving or to be damned?” Poor guy, I’m sure he’d love company. And perhaps Spencer in some other dimension was visiting his contemporary in his spirit prison cell. But in this space and time, Spencer W. Kimball was arranging the symbolic signing over of this prized possession through the veil.

I took it as a sure sign that I was to ordain Mike to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Oddly enough, the thought had occurred to me the last time I had visited and seen Mike in person, exactly one year earlier. But that December was full of other adventures and due to last minute family plans, we had been unable to spend more than a few hours with Mike. At that time Mike had seemed a little depressed and sort of distant. Apart from that, I did not really know how to bring it up. What was I supposed to say? “Hey bro. Why don’t you let me put my hands on ya head and pass you some priesthood?” No, like many other ideas and premonitions that came to me that year, it would have to wait. Wait for what? –For me to get over my fear to act on the promptings of the Holy Spirit for one thing. It would have to wait for me to stop drinking the Kool-Aid of LDS Cult-sure once and for all by desisting from my church attendance. It would have to wait for me to get out, by means of fear and trembling, from under the veil of unbelief I was born into. It would have to wait for me to “Gird up my loins,” which is biblical language for “Grow some balls”. It would have to wait for many things. And to be fair to myself, Mike had to do some personal soul searching in that time too. It would have to wait for everything to be just right. And as a matter of fact we would end up waiting about a month, till it felt like the perfect time to perform the ordination; although I told him later that same day and we were both agreeable to the idea. But, as I explained to my friend, this would not be a conferring of power so much as a symbolic act to unlock a power already inside each of us. It would not have to wait much longer as God hastened his strange work in these latter days.

The stars were literally aligning. Michael’s militant muse of Mars and my guiding star, Jupiter were prepping each other for resiliency in an upcoming adventure where we would need to be very daring. The adventure would take us over land and sea and be challenging but exhilarating. Exhilaration and sheer electricity was felt as I finally placed my hands upon the crown of his head and unlocked the priesthood power. In many ways, Spencer’s spirit helped set us up for what we needed to do in life. The ensuing experiences since December of 2011 have changed Mike’s and my lives forever. We are new people –Stronger, happier. We are grateful to God for the miracle of forgiveness which enables us to stop trying to outrun our pasts and be made free in Christ. And we are grateful to Kimball for the Cadillac.

BRIGHAM – THE BUILDER & THE BUTCHER pt.2

THE FUTURE

When Joseph tapped into the Holy Spirit of inspiration to interpret portions of Facsimile No. 2 in the Book of Abraham, he stopped short of explaining the image designated as number 8, saying that it contained writings which should only be had in the Holy Temple of God, which temple you are. Number 9, he said,ought not to be revealed at that time – numbers 10 and 11 also. But here the recorder inserts an interesting thought. He writes: “If the world can find out these numbers, so let it be. Amen.” Figures 12-21 were to be “given in the own due time of the Lord.” The facsimile is had and used by members of B’nai-Amen Israel under the name of the Theban Hypocephalus. It is known among them as one of the more complete forms of ancient Egyptian “head warmers”, or resurrection talismans, associated with the Book of Breathings. The two are almost identical but the Theban Hypocephalus comes with a complete translation. Number 17 in that key, gives one of the most beauteous and fullest, yet beautifully concise descriptions of the Plan of Salvation possible in the corrupt language of Englitch.

#17  In The Beginning Emerged A Seed, Firstfruits Of The Perfect; Followed By Hosts Of Others; Some Beloved, Some Rebellious.  The Beloved Creating through The Impotent Children Of Rebellion, A Cup Of Bitterness To Quench The Longings Of Joy Of The Children Of Light.  Becoming Drunk Then Sober; Being Lifted Again To The Place Of Origin, To Become An Origin Unto Themselves. Dwelling In A Perfect Society, Free Of Death And Disease.  The End Of Ends.

In the Journal of Discourses, President Young speaks extensively on the topic of resurrection as an ordinance. On August 24^th 1872, talking about those who have already received resurrected bodies he said:

“They will be ordained, by those who hold the keys of the resurrection, to go forth and resurrect the Saints, just as we receive the ordinance of baptism, then the keys of authority to baptize others for the remission of their sins.”

Referring to those who rise up in the morning of the first resurrection he said they would be, “ordained to organize matter,” to which he added:

“How much matter do you suppose there is between here and some of the fixed stars which we can see? Enough to frame many, very many millions of such earths as this, yet it is now so diffused, clear and pure, that we look through it and behold the stars. Yet the matter is there. Can you form any conception of this? Can you form any idea of the minuteness of matter?”

He then proceeds to expound upon the topic of quantum physics in a manner very ahead of his time. As an example he shows how, while the mathematical fractions used to represent the difference in age between two children born precisely one year apart grow smaller and smaller, the elder will always remain a-head of the younger.Using the example of a grain of sand, Young ‘breaks down’ the precept further to show that:

“You cannot divide it so small that it cannot be divided again—it is capable of infinite division. We know nothing about how many times it can be divided, and it is just so with regard to the lives in us, in animals, in vegetation, in shrubbery. They are countless.”

Not surprisingly, he relates the Universal Truth of Fractality to Temple work, which he supposed was reliant upon certain man-made factors such as genealogical records and research and construction of elaborate edifices wherein to perform such spiritual science. But GOD has no need of these things. When we come to walk in His courts and trample His temple, GOD has not required it of us. (Isaiah 1:12).  Paul asks in shock, “What? know ye not that your BODY IS THE TEMPLE of the Holy Ghost which is in you”  Subconsciously, Brigham understood this, everyone does. Reading page 139 of the Journal of Discourses with opened eyes and new ears we can clearly perceive the spirit of truth coming through his words when Brother Brigham declares:

“I am going to stop my talking by saying that, in the millennium, when the kingdom of God is established on the earth in power, glory and perfection, and the reign of wickedness that has so long prevailed is subdued, the Saints of God will have the privilege of building their temples (physical bodies), and of entering into them, becoming, as it were, pillars in the temples of God, and they will officiate for their dead. Then we will see our friends come up, and perhaps some that we have been acquainted with here……And we will have revelations to know our forefathers clear back to Father Adam and Mother Eve, and we will enter into the temples of God and officiate for them.”

If we take into account the fact that, at the time these sayings were uttered, there still was not an operational LDS ™Pull and would not be until 5 years later at the dedication of that stunning structure, shining like a ‘whited sepulcher’ in the desert sun of red St. George; we can see that the eternal sayings of the Lord are not saying the same thing that Brigham was probably thinking at the time.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites, PHARISITES! For you are like whitewashed tombs–beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people‘s bones and all sorts of impurity.” – Matt. 23:27

 But that was only the Bad Brigham. The butcher is balanced by the builder and vice versa. At least, that’s the idea, the standard we should strive to uphold, the banner we should wave to all the world. In truth, both do good and neither are evil unless they attempt to separate, the one from the other. The apostolic figure of Paul, was known for rambling topically from one theme to the next, like Brigham. But unlike Brigham, Paul also kept rambling on topographically from one land to the next as apostles have been commissioned to do. Brigham, Brigham, Brigham. Tsk, tsk, tsk! Did you feel daunted by your task, task, task? We know you fabricated Section 126 of the D&C. Three short self-congratulatory verses with a section heading reporting them as a revelation received by Joseph but in “the house of Brigham Young” telling you to rest from your labor of love? We ask you sincerely and tenderly, was the ‘House that Brigham Built’ a suitable resting place to your spirit? Are you forever content to haunt the halls of the Lion House or the Beehive House in Salt Lake City? I should imagine that you hold the whole area in contempt as you find it full of traces of your former glory. You can see your life’s work being used to uphold and promote things you were diametrically opposed to during your fleeting fifteen minutes of fame in the flesh.

Ah, the flesh! –That which you enjoyed so thoroughly in certain ways but failed to esteem as one in all its infinite variety. You miss it don’t you – the sex– always for procreation never recreation of course. But ‘wreck creation’ is what the destroyer has done to so much of your greatest work. I am personally well acquainted with one of your direct descendents –Adam Redford Young. His family shares your passion for health and wealth. They have penetrated many secrets of science through righteous diet which have enriched their lives and others and have even saved souls from the clutches of cancer. But they find themselves bound by government regulation on many fronts. And their monogamous life-style has killed something inside them to the point where, my dear friend has found himself unable to get married in his 35 years of physical existence. His parents union was threatened by infidelity and possibly preserved by money and comfort on many levels. I do not deny that there is love, as it is the only thing that keeps this family unit from deteriorating into a complete shamily unit, but there is much confusion on the home-front due to the yarns that you knit. Why did you deny women and black people the same pleasures you prized so highly? Your title has been taken and given to another in this generation. Ask millions world-wide, “Who is the Lion in Zion?” and they will answer unhesitatingly, “Bob,” not Brigham. The Marley family enjoys close-knit ties that keep them all prospering, thriving while striving in a good cause. They “band” and stick together while decrying the secret combinations, relying on family for protection as they preach healthy habbits, self-sufficiency, love and praise of the Most High. You have a professional football player among the fruit of your loins. So does Bob Marley. It is a large portion of the very same spirit that pulsed through your veins which has fueled Bob Marley to foster a large, royal and loyal posterity. A man after your own heart, he adopted many children and begat many more. Every woman who he ever touched was satisfied in body and soul. Your descendants lie scattered, selfishly pursuing their own interests. On the topic of the Order of Enoch, you said “If I had charge of such a society as this to which I refer, I would not allow novel reading” Now you have a best-selling novelist who was born into your bloodline on August 24, 1951, exactly 78 years to the date from when you tried to explain the metaphysics of resurrection to your people and to yourself. Do you begin to see how God plays a Card of justice against bullies in the game of life. Not to mention the Army Brigadier version of yourself who bullied the oppressed other sheep of the Filipino fold of the Good Shepherd before giving up the ghost on what would have been your 118^th birthday. And what of the ‘Young’ man who inheriting the murderous idiosyncrasies which went unchecked in the paranoid regions of your mind, acted out the self-righteous concept of ‘blood atonement’ on a poor daughter of God who, although precious in God’s sight, was viewed by your grandson as a dirty prostitute on the streets of New York City? Feel, feel, FEEL for your FAMILY!

Brigham the Biggot would supposedly follow Joseph to the ends of the earth, but could not abandon his misguided Methodist and Masonic mix of mind control long enough to grasp the vision of unity between the races and sexes that is necessary for the restoration of all things in these latter days. As many European immigrants and American settlers heard the glorious fanfare of the opening of a new and final dispensation, it was decided by their Collective Caucasian Consciousness, that those angelic horns were best enjoyed from a distance –kind of like blues and jazz music. Whereas Joseph welcomed communion between angelic beings and humanity; his overwhelmingly white audience, once excited by the possibilities, soon sided with the Anglos over Angles. Brigham the Bully embodied the thoughts of so many of his time and emerged as the naturally elected spokesman for the vox popular. A hub for the spokes of those wagon wheels which bore a peculiar people who would endure persecution stoically but stubbornly refuse to identify with long persecuted peoples like the Afrikan and Native tribes of this land.  Once, the renegade religion of God’s revolution, they would eventually capitulate pitifully. Larsson became Larson, Jansson became Jenson. Scandinavian became European, European became American. American became White and White came to be thought of as Blank. From pioneers to peons, the blond haired, blue eyed Britts and Swedes underwent the most severe case of cultural Stockholm syndrome ever witnessed. Farrakhan, who’s separatist political leanings do not begin to compare to the frightful foaming of Brigham’s hateful speech, is a prophet called into conception to answer the universe’s call for balance. His use of the term ‘White Devil’ is a very specific course correction in comparison with the wildly general reckless racism spewed by Big Mouth Brigham through such remarks as:

“Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so.”

– JoD: vol.10 p. 110 (March 8, 1863)

And…

“The Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.”

– JoD 7:290-291 (October 9, 1859)

Dear Brigham, during your lifetime you expressed two great fears. Your words still echo faintly in the eerily volatile air that whips up amid the cold stone banks, business buildings and malls of downtown Salt Lake.

“The worst fear that I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and his people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth; and yet they have to be tried with riches, for they will become the richest people on this earth.”

- Brigham Young: The Man and His Work, 4th ed., p.128-129

“I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful that they settle down in a state of blind self security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purpose of God in their salvation. . . Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.“

- Journal of Discourses 9:150

At this very moment money is exchanging hands, secret pacts are being made and Mormons are slipping deeper into darkness than ever before. The corporation sole called the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has taken over and the self-identified LDS who believe in upholding and sustaining the laws of the land do not even know that, legally speaking, they are not members of anything; especially not the Lord’s Church. Your worst nightmares are coming true. Are you turning in your grave? Turn, Turn, Turn to GOD and LIVE!

Today, September 2^nd, 2012 marks the 135^th remembrance cycle of the burial of Brigham’s body. The Holy Spirit is one, but the gifts are many. That Holy Spirit which is in all of us moved me to start typing this document only a few days ago on the 29^th of August, the day of Brigham’s death. The Holy Spirit is the Life Force which can be contained and dwell within the True Temples of God, even our Tabernacles of Flesh. Whether the flesh becomes corrupted over time or is suddenly and brutally brought to destruction, at the moment which we call death, the vivacious substance of spirit is released freely into space. It is for this reason that, when you sign a waiver, the language is spookily similar to the words we speak at the veil during temple work.

“utilize my name, voice and likeness in any and all manner and media **throughout the universe in perpetuity.**”

This output happens all the time. It is the nature of these energetic WAVES granted us by God Himself. It needn’t be counted as loss. And neither must it be relinquished and handed over exclusively to any one entity, as corporations seek to trick us into doing with WA-I-VERS. Everyone who has watched T.V. has noticed how the commercials are quite a few decibels louder than the regular programming. If you have been endowed in one of the LDS Temples, you may have been noticed how the usual sleepy sequence of the ceremony is similarly interrupted at one key spot by the slightly louder volume at the mention of the Church’s official moniker. This is a neuro-linguistic branding tactic which makes you, the targets, more likely to live up to an oath to

“consecrate yourselves, your time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed you, or with which he may bless you, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth and for the establishment of Zion.”

Given another 50 years or less, I would not be surprised to hear that last stipulation, which states that the Church is supposed to use donations to build Zion (not shopping malls) uttered in the super speedy audio version of fine print addendums which we hear tagged onto the final moments of T.V. and radio advertisements for fast food specials, medications and political campaigns (diet, injections and injunctions).

Monstrous life forms, restrained to lower wavelengths, are bottom feeders who literally subsist off of the energy we give them just as we subsist off of the energy Heaven sends us. The Powers That Be know the Powers That Be-low. The lower-archy of fallen angels who rule Hell with Lucifer form a Quorum of the 70 (72 to be exact) known as Goetia in the occult. They are balanced by 72 Ascended Masters who work for the good of humanity from behind the scenes. Which of these two unseen groups deserves the credit for inspiring Harold B. Lee, Boyd K. Packer and Thomas S. Monson, among others, in a newly formed Church Correlation Committee in the early ‘60s to think they could map out the mind of God with 72 “important ideas” written on index cards and pinned to an office wall? Original Mormon theology shows us that the act of creation and the free giving of free will are one and the same, that man’s intelligence is coeval with God. You will recall that Brigham Young in an aforementioned quote said that the “lives in us, in animals, vegetation, and in shrubbery….are countless and capable of infinite division.” Joseph Smith, to whom Brigham cried out with his dying breaths on his deathbed, stated plainly that:

“There is one principle which is eternal; it is the duty of all men to protect their lives and the lives of the household, whenever necessity requires, and no power has a right to forbid it, should the last extreme arrive.”

- History of the Church 6:605

There is only one sure way of preventing evil forces from usurping and slurping up your Life Force to use for their infernal purposes. That is, by means of your WILL. Not your so-called last will & testament but your Eternal Will and Testimony of Christ. Aligning our will with that of the Father ensures that our life’s work go towards the greater good. But there is always spillage which the Gadianton Robbers will pillage. From the supposed King of Rock –Elvis Presley to The King of Pop –Michael Jackson, and more recently, Diva Whitney Houston, the evil ones have learned to amass capital and cash in on the masses’ channeled celebration of life through tightly controlled celebrities. Even, and especially the King of Kings –Jesus’ passionate performance in that perfectly done death scene in the Never Ending Play was and will forever be, an infinite free for all of kinetic and frenetic energy! In the section of “Spiritual Gift Giving & Receiving” entitled:“Turn Shopping Lists Into Swapping Lists – Sharing With The Stars” and in the warning immediately preceding it, we will find words that may be of much worth to us and our families in seeking to understand this supernatural phenomenon. Upon release, the plosive vibration can be felt as a “plop” a “Pop” or a “POW!” depending on the momentum with which one has invested his talents throughout life. This is why it may seem a little harsh to hear Jesus’ parable condone such severe condemnation of the little man who, after all, was only trying to “play it safe” with that with which he had be entrusted. But with the clear and bright light that is breaking forth upon the minds of men today we can see that the Lord is just. The Lord is just trying to explain to us, the way His justice just is.

Those of us who grew up in the covenant with the peer pressure slogan of “Return With Honor” resounding in our ears, must now allow our children the liberty to rewrite and restore plain and precious truths with a revamped refrain along the lines of “Go Big Before Going Home.” And those of us inducted prior to 1990 must humbly admit that we were born into covenant which was more like a Coven-Ant or ant coven. Observe ants in their colonies and you will see that if one does not follow the rules the others will decapitate their fellow. Were the oaths and penalties associated with the Coven-Ants of the LDS Temp-pulls the strong cords of love which we ought to use to bind our loved ones to us as sealed, Forever-Families? As LDS we have got to shake the beehive mentality of the Insect-In-Us lest we become insensuous –not pertaining to, affecting, or addressing, the senses– in other words insensitive or “past feeling.” Think back to 89 when Boyd K. Packer spoke of the connection between the physical and spiritual senses. Let past feelings be unto you a “psst!” feeling; almost a still small voice from offstage, providing needful reminders and feeding you the right lines at the right time in the very moment when the antagonist would try to confound you. If the LDS do not listen up, if they remain PaST feeling; they should not be surprised when the SPiriT of the Lord is “offended and withdraws” feeling pissed. You “temple workers” should know by now –GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED. Feel and heal or feel his wrath!

“Ye are swift to do iniquity, to perpetuate inequity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, but now ye only will see things from your angle, which is not even your own vantage-point in truth, but is one fed to you by mass media. False traditions handed down to you by liars/lawyers, legislators, reporters/repeaters and wizards which peep with Googley eyes and mutter by way of NSA NaySAyers. Your presidents and duly elected officers are soothsayers and truth forsakers, every one. Forked-tongue fakers have replaced the voice of God within you. He spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he WILL now speak unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which doth cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder.”

– 1 Nephi 17:45

Admit it….you are evil. For, unless you know of your capacity for wickedness you will remain blind to the evil you participate in every day. Admit it….you are GOOD. For, unless you feel your inner purity you will be unable to rise to the occasion and fight on the side of Christ. Do not suffer these phonies to make you feel like you need to partake of their refreshments, tid-bits of food set out on a small table off to the side of the main speakers as you come to hear their spiel, like one of those meetings we’ve all been invited to, trying to CONvince the attendees to invest in a time-share or multi-level marketing pyramid scheme etc. Do not partake of their cookies and Kool-aid. Their spiel is a spell. When life gives you lemons you can make lemonade and this is spelled with an “a-d-e”. But ‘Kool’ aint ‘Cool’ and their Kill-aid is to aid the enemy in killing your soul. Stop drinking it!

From the Collective Caucasian Consciousness rose the perceived need for the formation of a Church Correlation Committee and from there we have gone to the construction of City Creek Center, a multi-billion dollar shopping mall. Literally, it was Packer and Lee’s “missions” among the Native American peoples that convinced them that such Corral-ation was necessary. Both Ephraimite and Lamanite share in the same sad fate of the Navajo and Hopi people who got sucked into and suckered by those LDS Bishops who acted as if they would or could succor them. Indeed it will require the strength of both Ephraim and Manasseh. But the Navajo who has traded his birthright and accepted a false self-CON-cept of “Nada-Joe” in the BYU Indian Placement Program will have no place in Zion, any more than the Gentile who assumed that the brave sons of Apache and Lakota had to be numbered among the LDS instead of the other way around. We can sit back and watch the curvature of the CCC vortices continue until forming a 666 or we can decide to withdraw our spiritual energy today and let the whirlwind pass over like the destroying angel. We must understand that the separation of wheat from tares does not only take place among individuals. It begins within the individual. When you hear the ominous warning, “Upon MY house shall it begin!,” you should take it PERSONAL. Liken the scriptures unto yourselves. Pay close attention to the parable. The wheat does not remain in the church no matter how dark things get, but is gathered out from her. The tares are those who remain faithful to and active donating their time and talents in the Church to be set ablaze in the last day.

In the virtual world of the internet there is a virtual frenzy of information emerging from the history of the Mormon Church and swirling in the air. The wicked who fight against Zion have seized on the strong spirits of iconic figures like Joseph Smith and Brigham Young in order to help themselves to their charisma and charms in preying upon the sheep. The wicked shepherds, as the Lord calls them in Ezekiel 34, are wolves in sheep’s clothing. If we will take the Lord’s warnings seriously we will understand that sheep do not wear clothing and thus the wolves become a symbol for other entities who appear as fellow brothers and sisters, but are anything but members of Christ’s fold of the human family. In the April Sessions of this year’s Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Stains, quotes and references to Spencer W. Kimball shot up to well over double the average as recorded over the last decade. Everywhere throughout Utah a group known as LDS Liberty is plastering the words of Pres. Kimball on billboards designed to call into question the war-like ways of the modern American. But nowhere will you hear “The Brethren” use Kimball’s words to seriously challenge the status-quo. The “Children of This World” have been just as Jesus described them, “wiser, in their generation, than the Children of Light.” But, just as boys eventually catch up to girls of their same age group in terms of mental and physical maturity, we, the Children of Light are NOW coming into our OWN to fight the NWO.

We know that prophets are not infallible and in fact make many mistakes. That is the risk one takes when investing his or her talents in service of the Master. We take a risk whenever we employ our agency. Praise be to Jesus for his Eternal At-One-Ment which rewards our risk by taking our faith and faithfulness in a few things and making us lords over many things. I have said to you, that Good and Evil are the ultimate opposites. Or is it Male and Female, Mother and Father?  Whosoever will not accept The Son, as the union of those extreme opposites is doomed to fall out of balance with the Holy Family. If I bear bold witness to you of the nature of spirit and its holy relationship to the flesh, declaring the repentance and purification of past Presidents of the Church; it is not to convince you of my specialness but of your own. We are all the great and noble ones who Father Abraham beheld in vision. It matters not whether we view ourselves as sinful creatures, worthy of whipping with a few stripes or as superior to our brethren, with that type of thinking we should all go to Hell. Jesus will not engage us in this sick role play of bondage and submission. But the Devil is more than happy to. Stop obsessing over these ringleaders with their CTR (Choose The Right) slogan. Start using your RTC (Right To Choose) or you will never have the guts to tell them to shut their gaping jaws of Hell.

We have got to learn to be prophets and prophetesses ourselves or we will not detect the false zion until it has overtaken us. I know I am not alone in the things I have seen in dreams and visions. Cities with pristine grounds-keeping, after the manner and feel of expensive University Campuses, where the “chosen” dwell, attending Temple and glorying in the things of this world, while on the outskirts, the poor struggle in slums. Troops in the streets, earthquakes, destruction and starvation, innocent children sacrificed, many of us have been shown this vision of the future over the last few years and we know that it is the vision that the secret combinations have devised and set in effect.

“The visions and blessings of old are returning,” as the hymn says. But we have got to learn to interpret them and to trust in God more than man. A return missionary in the Fresno, California North Stake by the name of Marc Bordner had been attending the Temple every day for a couple weeks when one day, unexpectedly, a vision of bright light broke upon him while in the dressing room. Over the next couple of days he had a series of visions at home and in the Temple. He could not decipher much of the meaning of many of the strange and wondrous signs he saw. Then he had a dream of the future in which severe food shortages threatened to devastate America. He said that the Bishop’s Storehouses of the Church became one of the only places where one could obtain food so they were converted into grocery stores. Logically these grocery stores generated immense amounts of revenue for the Church. Then Brother Bordner said that he saw, in his dream, a dollar sign with two strokes  and he watched as the two lines became one ($). Then Marc said that the Church founded a bank. And he saw the name of the bank and it was “THE BANK OF ABRAHAM”.

In contrast to the visions he had received, Marc seemed to be very clear on the meaning of his dream. To him it seemed very literal and he felt it was his duty to inform “The Brethren”. He spoke with his bishop who was very afraid when Marc started to tell of the visions he had seen in the Temple. The bishop interrupted Marc and told him that he should speak with the Stake President. An appointment was set up and when the Stake President heard Marc tell him about the visions and the dream, the Stake President became very upset with Marc. He told Marc to repent and to never speak of those things which he had seen to anyone. Marc at first was so impressed by the feelings and sensations accompanying his visions, that he did tell a few people. But since that time he has ceased talking about them and has begun to doubt them. He says he now thinks that he should just repent and forget about the whole thing. But how do you repent of receiving revelation? Why?

A few weeks before Marc confided in me about his personal revelation, I received an email from Daymon Smith a friend who worked in the Church Office Building. He told me that he had a contact who told him that the Church was piloting a new program in the Yucatan, that phased out Welfare, and substituted a more liberal lending policy (with interest) under GBH’s PERPETUAL DEBT-U-CATION FUND. Since I and much of my family were living in Mexico at the time, Daymon wanted to know if we had seen or heard any such things down there. We had indeed seen posters on bulletin boards and heard multiple invitations from local leaders to any and all interested youth, to attend meetings where the law of tithing would be discussed and where they could enroll in the programmes the Church offered them for funding their education. By the time that Daymon made this inquiry, however, none of us were attending regular Church meetings and had not for almost 4 months. The taboo of breaking away from the religious system was a strong force and we felt, at first, the need to not openly advertise the fact that we were “inactive”. But within a short time spiritual manifestations began to unfold before us and the whole family began an adventure in the spirit that continues to lead us to further light and knowledge. When our friend, Daymon, later asked us to help him out with an anthropological study he was doing, we had to politely decline to take precious time to interview Mexican Mormons. But the things our eyes and ears did take in were astounding to us. Almost like the servant of Helaman, who discovered and intercepted Kishkumen in his murderous objectives, we found ourselves open to information that would have normally been concealed from us. Our good friend, who owned a restaurant in a major port city, informed us of the visit of a “Mormon leader with his many wives and bodyguards.” We knew this man was not from the Salt Lake faction and later discovered that he had come from Colonia Juárez. Established in 1886, the colony was one of many colonies in Mexico settled by Mormon pioneers. This colonization was part of the larger LDS campaign to establish the State of Deseret while evading the anti-polygamy Edmunds Act of 1882. Mormon colonies outside of the U.S. proved financially important to the LDS Church during this time when the U.S. Federal government had confiscated much of Church holdings. There are many descendants of these colonies that have attained prominence in both countries, including Mitt Romney. In my younger years, in a history class in high-school, I felt the Spirit witness to me that the Roman Empire was a very literal representation of the “beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Revelation 17). John Lennon spoke the truth when he said “Today America is the Roman Empire.” If Mitt is admitted into the presidency it is because the Unholy Union of Church and State is finally complete. It is a good cop/bad cop routine, of which even the Devil himself is growing weary. He is anxious to expose himself so that we may worship him more fully. But if the two are merging before our eyes it is only our perspective which has changed. The divisive effects of the forbidden fruit upon our psyche are beginning to wear off. When we come to, we will no longer see double but with a new clarity we can see the devil.

BETTER BRIGHAM

In parting, I have a few words to say to the wicked who fight against Zion. In parting truth from error I am under no illusions. I know that the two are related. We used to say “The Church is true”. Many of those who we once sustained as leaders labored for you, whether knowingly or unknowingly. The day after the ribbon cutting ceremony for the City Creek Center Shopping Mall, you released a movie called ‘The Hunger Games’ as a sneak preview of your awful plans and to garnish the power of the emotions and subconscious of the public. In it, you depicted a glistening city in the mountains called “The Capitol” where the ruling class brought poor youth (ages 12–18) from the surrounding countryside (divided into 12 districts) to compete in a gruesome televised battle to the death during the 74^th Annual Hunger Games. Anyone with eyes to see will notice the dilapidated handcarts strewn about the poverty stricken scenes. It requires little imagination to understand that you are targeting the Mormon people. You dressed the youth in washed out colors and styles vaguely similar to the FLDS but crossed with a preppy 1950s look. The looming grey stone buildings and the huge video screens broadcasting a not so fictional Pres. Snow’s address to the people. The 74^th Annual General Conference in April of 1904 was when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints finally capitulated once and for all to the demands of the Washington.

You proponents of the False Zion that was, and is not, and yet is to come, seem to take great offense when we lift up our voices to preach against unrighteous dominion. But the corporation is without feeling, so we know that we need not act as if we must spare its feelings. You have used the past transgressions of past Prophets, Presidents and other overly reverenced men, to convince us to lend support for the False Zion now sprawling across the landscape. But if the Salt has lost its savor then Salt Lake City turns to False Fake City Utah. Repentance is rethinking. Repentance is time travel. The Lord remembers Brigham’s sins no more. So, that which you fools are working for no longer matters nor does it exist. It is an illusion, a mirage, glaring on the road ahead of you and blinding your eyes. Upon arrival you will find that it has already been disassembled. We, the Children of Light, are realizing that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us, like Willow Ufgood and his fellow travelers upon arriving at the fabled kingdom of Tir Asleen, only to find it has been cursed, in the movie Willow.

The future only looks to be undetermined. The HOR-I-ZON is a place where the wHORe of Babylon and the ZONe of GOD appear to coincide in an eternal struggle. But the ((I)) of individual choice and agency stands between the two and is the One God who pronounces final judgment with the concept on the right hand and the CONcept on the left. You whorish workers of inequity appealed to our desire for community with the concept of “We The People” but we now realize that “w – e” were divided by the wHORe in the first place. A whore is someone who sells the CONcept of “Love for Money”. Such a transaction is impossible. After we have bought into that scam we do not like to admit to being duped. Thus you have been suck-cess-full in leading us in a soulless chorus of corporate sound-bites. This has been music to your ears. But we are changing our tune, and the ZION-NOIZ will be excruciating to your egos. In the chapel we sang “Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven.” In the office we said that “There’s no ‘I’ in t-e-a-m.” But there is a ‘ME’ in there. As we invest ourselves fully in the right side, we find that the ‘I’ remains intact as part of the ZION of Our God.

I have said that repentance is time travel. We saints press forward still, but we have now discovered the more full range of movement that the at-one-ment grants us. With truly forward thinkers like the Prophet of the Opening of this Last Dispensation, we are free to also move backwards. Through our repentance we have undone your chains of false unity. When we prevail it will be for you as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion. (Isaiah 29:8) So much for your 10 year and 100 year plans. While among us in the flesh, Brigham seemed to be under the impression that God only could “organize and build” whereas the Devil’s “whole study was to destroy” (DBY, p. 69). This misunderstanding has been exploited by Zion’s enemies. 10 years after Packer’s mischief, lawyer, Dalin H. Oaks, pulled a fast one over the pulpit. He quoted B.Y. and then added, “Whatever builds people up serves the cause of the Master(?), and whatever tears people down serves the cause of the adversary. We support one cause or the other every day, by our patronage (“Powerful Ideas,” General Conference, Oct. of 1995). Powerful ideas indeed! But the Holy Trinity is more than a Father & Sons Construction Company.You lack a full understanding of the Godhead! If you want your version of zion, don’t worry, you shall have it. Go ahead!  Have joy in it while you can. But be aware that afterwards we will bring up the rearward and your evil will be rewarded with evil. Generator Operator Destroyer (GOD) lives inside us. So make sure you stay on our good side. Stay out of our way we will stay out of yours. Paul, the original badass apostle, stated clearly that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” So we have stopped fighting bodies – especially our own. We feel the kingdom of God within us and we know if we stand in its way then we will be swept aside in the destruction. You should know that the same goes for you, you den of vipers. Do not forget the second part to Paul’s words. We DO fight against the rulers, against the authorities, even general authorities, against the powers, the cosmic powers over this darkness presently filling the world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, yea the spiritual wickedness in high places. Those “high places” are first and foremost in our own heads atop our bodies. We call power down from the higher to the lower chakras to serve God’s purposes. From there, the stone rolls forth into all corners of this sphere as we invoke the spirit of Capt. Moroni to pull down power.

“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.”

-     Matt. 15:13

So to all my enemies I say, “PLUCK YOU!” Pluck all the phony friends of Zion out by the roots. All the plants from the CFR, FBI, CES, COB, BYU……pluck em! These are the words of Brigham Young to modern-day Mormons and Masons, and to the whole world. Oh how I loved dancing in my day. DANCE, my people! Dance with the Devil to his downfall! It is all a dance. The battle is the Lord’s. Let us then dance onto the battle field rejoicing like the Israelites under King Jehoshaphat. Let us be carried away in the righteous rhythm that beat in the indomitable hearts and pumped through the veins of the stippling warriors; who did not doubt what their mothers knew. But the time has come to transcend even our dear earthly biological mothers if necessary – to answer the rallying cry of The Son to the defense of our goddess our HEAVENLY MOTHER EARTH. We have the honor of being numbered among the remnant and assisting in the building of a true Zion. Make no mistake, those who consider themselves our enemies are coming out of the woodwork. These enemies in secret chambers seeketh your lives. You hear of wars in far countries, and you say that there will soon be great wars in far countries, but you know not the hearts of men in your own land. I know of whereof I speak. We say of Brother Joseph, and it is true, that, mingling with gods he can plan for his brethren. Well, mingling with Masons one may also plan for his brethren. Shortly the wickedness of men will reveal these things unto you by their wickedness, in a manner which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder than that which shall shake the earth; but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear. Fear not the devil worshipers. In setting one manifestation of God above all others, the Luciferians make the same mistake that most of these Sectarians do. The joke is on them. For, though they suppose themselves in the service of Satan, they will one day see that the devil himself works for Almighty God.

WATCH OUT BITCHES…… BRIGHAM’S BACK!

BRIGHAM – THE BUILDER & THE BUTCHER pt.1

THE QUESTION

This is not just an exposé on Brigham Young. It is not just an exposé on Masons or Mormons. It is an exposé on you and me.

In Hollywood insider Cecil DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, there is a scene where Moses speaks to the Egyptian who he later slays. He poses a poignant question, from one Mason to another, which illustrates perfectly the fine line between good and evil; not only among us collectively but within us, as potential creators and destroyers. He asks:

“Are you a master builder or a master butcher?”

THE SITUATION

The traveling mystic miracle men or, as they were called in the middle and far-east, fakirs, have been replaced with fakers; apostles with apostates. Moroni tells us that the lack of supply in the department of miracles is a set up scene of false scarcity, meant to produce a demand for false prophets and the false security they sell.

“And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.”

Mormon 9:15

“Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved? Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.”

Moroni 7:36-37

This then, is not just a case of market manipulation, rather mammon itself is placing the minds and hearts of men under a magical spell. When a P-R-O-P-H-E-T starts to crack up or break down over profit or under pressure, there are two ways he can go. He can become a P-O-E-T, or if not, all that is left to him is to become an R-P-h (Registered Pharmicist). A prophet without a prophecy is nothing more than an apothecary. If you think that this is merely a clever analogy and is in no way literal, then please, hear the words of Boyd K. Packer in the General Conference of the Church, Oct., 1989. In his discourse entitled Revelation in a Changing World, he identifies himself and his comrades with “those ordained as Apostles, as prophets, seers, and revelators.” (italics added, capitalized ‘A’ in ‘Apostles’copied as is from the official transcript) Boyd took this opportunity to slyly and masterfully direct the substantial spiritual power generated by the collective honor and belief of his vast audience into backing the drug industry. Observe…

“Our physical body is the instrument of our spirit. In that marvelous revelation, the Word of Wisdom, we are told how to keep our bodies free from impurities which might dull, even destroy, those delicate physical senses which have to do with spiritual communication…Addiction has the capacity to disconnect the human will and nullify moral agency… Agency is too fundamental a doctrine to be left in such jeopardy…

It is my conviction, and my constant prayer, that there will come through research, through inspiration to scientists if need be, the power to conquer narcotic addiction through the SAME MEANS which cause it…”

If you don’t see the double speak here it is because your eye is not single. If you feel uneasy or confused by Packer’s message, I ask you to study in your mind and ponder in your heart this short paragraph sandwiched between the alternating truths and lies of his talk…

“Things of the Spirit need not—indeed, should not—require our uninterrupted time and attention. Ordinary work-a-day things occupy most of our attention. And that is as it should be. We are mortal beings living in this physical world.”

Since this spell was cast over the pulpit in ’89, Perscription Drug Abuse has skyrocketed  as the fastest growing addiction in the nation. Utah in particular came to lead this trend in terms of percentages. Carbon County in Utah has the second highest rate of deaths from prescription drug overdose in the nation. 8 other counties in Utah are above the national average for deaths from prescription drug abuse. From 2008 to 2009, more than 10% of all fatalities were from overdose of pharmaceutical drugs. In the first seven years since graduation from high school in Springville UT, resident Cameron Teeples watched as an average of one former schoolmate per year died from overdose of legal drugs. All this only speaks to the levels deemed as abuse and the fatal results stemming from that abuse. The bulk of the dangerous iceberg lies with the simple fact that antidepressant drugs are prescribed in Utah more often than in any other state, at a rate nearly twice the national average. Utah’s rate of antidepressant use according to a study in 2002 was twice the rate of California and nearly three times the rates in New York and New Jersey.

Playing the role of Hierophant, Packer put his trust and prodded the faith of others into scientists who are in fact zionists. Just like the Jewish people as a group are plagued by an infestation of certain misguided yet highly motivated souls who have conglomerated to lend credence to a corrupted version of the idea of a promised land; the Mormons contain an element that craftily substitute the ideal of Zion with an artificial abomination. Such self deception does not quarantine itself to only the inside minority group within, but spreads from mind to mind like germs on the wind. Without a healthy immune system, one will soon turn to vain hopes of fighting off the vile infection with chemical substances like those produced by the zionist scientists “through the SAME MEANS which cause it.”

Brigham Young himself warns against the pitfalls of trusting your life to doctors rather than to God.

“Now the cry is, “Send for a doctor.” If you have a pain in the head, “Send for a doctor;” if your heel aches, “I want a doctor;” “my back aches, and I want a doctor.” The study and practice of anatomy and surgery are very good; they are mechanical, and are frequently needed. Do you not think it is necessary to give medicine sometimes? Yes, but I would rather have a wife of mine that knows what medicine to give me when I am sick, than all the professional doctors in the world. Now let me tell you about doctoring, because I am acquainted with it, and know just exactly what constitutes a good doctor in physic. It is that man or woman who, by revelation, or we may call it intuitive inspiration, is capable of administering medicine to assist the human system when it is besieged by the enemy called Disease; but if they have not that manifestation, they had better let the sick person alone. I will tell you why: I can see the faces of this congregation, but I do not see two alike; and if I could look into your nervous systems and behold the operations of disease, from the crowns of your heads to the soles of your feet, I should behold the same difference that I see in your physiognomy —there would be no two precisely alike. Doctors make experiments, and if they find a medicine that will have the desired effect on one person, they set it down that it is good for everybody, but it is not so, for upon the second person that medicine is administered to, seemingly with the same disease, it might produce death.”

Brigham Young – Journal of Discourses Vol. 15, pg. 225

It is stunning to witness the clarity with which Young speaks of the personal relationship each and every body has with the God of Nature and yet hear him in the same breath, speak with such a bullying tone to push his personal religion/medicine on families far and wide. At what point did this man slide from the position of appointed caliph and protector to become a pointed phallic protractor, plotting and planning his polygynous pimper’s paradise? Where did he make the wrong turn from builder to butcher or were the two extremes always present within him? Was he more self-appointed than chosen?

THE HISTORY

After the death of Joseph Smith Jr., the Mormons suffered a succession crisis, similar to that of the Muslims after the death of Mohammed except more immediate and divisive. Alpheus Cutler, James J. Strang, William Smith, Lyman Wight, James C. Brewster, Charles B. Thompson, Sidney Rigdon and David Whitmer, to mention only a few, each had followers numbering from 100 to several hundreds. So how did Brigham end up with such a sizable following? Actually, he didn’t, at least not at first. Of an approximate 30,000 who identified as members of the Church of Christ (later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) in 1847, only about 2,000 initially came across the plains with Brigham Young to Utah. Of course, over the next few decades converts would pour in to a total of almost 70,000. The ignorance with which mainstream LDS consider themselves to be the original and true Mormons, not to mention their arrogance in proclaiming  themselves to be the “Only True and Living Church Upon the Face of the Earth” is similar to the laughable manner in which Super-Bowl winners snatch the self-important title of “World Champions” when only U.S. teams ever compete. Today “Brigham’s Boys” can barely refrain from boasting about their current numbers, even though these do not always reflect reality. It is true that the LDS Church has a significant presence and influence in many regions of the world.

“What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”

-  Luke 16:15

Brigham’s success in terms of succeeding Joseph as President had something to do with being a member of the prestigious Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Where you find apostles you will surely find apostasy. The Great Apostasy, which necessitated a Restoration Movement in the first place, begins with the twelve men who Jesus ordained to be traveling teachers and commissioned with the task of giving as freely as they had been given. The moment they started to have disputations among them and to require Gentile converts to adhere to Jewish customs, apostasy set in. The issue is never one-sided and the blind leaders, as well as the blind followers, end up in the ditch. But let us be clear. As soon as apostleship goes to the head of the original quorum members, becoming some kind of exclusive club, the countdown to complete corruption begins.

Opposites are special relationships; two things so close that they are intimately linked in one. Good and evil are the ultimate opposites. And so it is that, anyone who will not accept Christ, the Son, as the union of opposites is doomed to serve one master while hating the other. The one master which they serve is Master Mahan (Master Destroyer) and the great secret is not kept by them but from them as they gather on either side of the conflict. That secret being: that contention is of the devil. So even as they choose the side called good they forget that “only one is good.” So if you’re seeing double, your eye is not single and that’s not good. Apostles seem to forget their heavenly orders too easily. They fail to find the face of God and can not, therefore, help others. They quote scripture which says that God’s house IS a house of order but they do not actually believe it is already so and hence their uncontrollable urge to steady the ark without setting in order their own house. They play as if they would usher in the King of Kings from the House of David. But it’s more like the Fall of the House of Usher. You know what they say about a house divided.

Never at any time have things fallen apart faster than in the dawning of this dispensation. The Lord had already made the definition of His church perfectly clear, through spiritual dictation in first-person to Joseph as His mouthpiece in 1828, two years before registering the church as a legal entity recognized by the state of New York. It was simple.

“Behold, this is my doctrine: whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church: whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me, but is against me: therefore, he is not of my church.”

Book of Commandments 9:17

This revelation later came to be listed in Doctrine & Covenants, Section 10:67-68. In verse 54 the Lord clarifies that His intentions are to “build up my church” and not to “destroy my church.” Once again, everything is delivered in first-person format. Nowhere do apostles appear. All remains simplistic, quite informal and fluid as a living movement must, until late in 1829 when a suspiciously ‘official’ sounding document titled “Articles of the Church of Christ” comes from Oliver Cowdery. The first line reads:

“A commandment from God unto Oliver how he should build up his church & the manner thereof—”

Oliver claims that God gave it to him through revelation but it is not written in first-person voice – not in the name of the Lord nor from the perspective of Oliver himself. Who is the mysterious entity who is uttering these words what is the church it refers to with the possessive pronoun ‘his’, which we can see is conspicuously devoid of any capitalization as would be typical, especially of that time period when referring in writing to the Lord. Is this for the building up of the Church and all-of-her saints or for the establishment of the Church of Oliver saints?

Brigham was not the only Apostle vying for the position of president after the martyrdom of the prophet. There were also others of the Quorum who presented themselves as candidates for the coveted office. These 12 “brethren” were at least in agreement on one thing, and that was supremacy of their elite group. The membership records of Philadelphia, which was as that time the largest branch of the Church in the eastern states, reveal a rampage of excommunications ramping up to the year of the prophet’s murder. 95% of those excommunications recorded occurred in the three years proceeding that tragic day. Every last instance was for charges of rebellion against the authority of the Quorum of the Twelve. In all, just under half of the entire membership in the Philadelphia Branch were kicked out for their opposition to the Quorum of the Twelve’s insistence on a system of apostolic succession.

However, power plays by the high and mighty Quorum of the Twelve were not enough to ensure the fierce level of devotion demonstrated by the pioneers who faithfully followed Brigham &Co. into the desert of Deseret. Something more, a spiritual manifestation would be necessary to provide men and women with the motivation to follow Big Brigham with some level of zeal. Some would eventually take that zeal to the point of excusing the slaughter of innocent men women and children in the infamous Mountain Meadow Massacre. My intent is not to draw this piece out with information regarding that incident. Many a book has been written on the topic and the reader will find no shortage of material to aid in arriving at some kind of personal conclusion regarding Brigham Young’s involvement, whether it was direct or indirect or however one should choose to view it. Time will tell. I wish only to shed a new light on some of the events surrounding Brigham’s meteoric rise/fall to fame. What was this strange, magical effect he had on the Mormon people as a leader?

On August 8, 1844, six weeks after the Prophet Joseph Smith’s martyrdom, a meeting of the Saints was held in Nauvoo, Illinois. Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, and several other Apostles had just returned from missions. The purpose of the meeting was to determine by vote who had the right and responsibility to lead the Church. Sidney Rigdon, First Counselor in the First Presidency, argued that there could be no successor to the deceased prophet and that he should be made the “Protector” of the church. Brigham Young argued for the right of the Quorum of the Twelve to lead, with himself conveniently positioned at the head of that organization. In the course of the two meetings held that day, many in attendance received what they interpreted as a divine witness that Brigham Young was to be the next leader: some Saints specifically state that as Bro. Brigham addressed the congregation he sounded and appeared remarkably like Joseph Smith, others simply say that the “mantle of Joseph” or “of the prophet” rested on Brigham Young. This occurrence is not easily ignored as there are over 121 personal testimonies given of this extraordinary phenomenon.

“When Brigham Young spoke it was with the voice of Joseph himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which was heard, but it seemed in the eyes of the people as though it was the every person of Joseph which stood before them.”

George Q. Cannon, October 29, 1870

“Now when President Young arose to address the congregation his voice was the voice of Bro[ther] Joseph and his face appeared as Joseph’s face & should I have not seen his face but heard his voice I should have declared that it was Joseph.”

George Laub, 1844

“Brother Brigham Young said, “The keys of the Kingdom are with the Twelve Apostles. They are the ones to lead the people.” He looked just like Brother Joseph and spoke like him. Surely the mantle of Brother Joseph has fallen on him. I never had a doubt. I knew Brother Brigham was the man to fill the place of our beloved Prophet. I knew that Brother Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God and was the mouthpiece of God to the people, and that Brigham Young was his lawful successor.”

Talitha Cumi Garlick, 1844

“But their [Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith's] places were filed by others much better than I once supposed they could have been, the spirit of Joseph appeared to rest upon Brigham.”

William Burton, May 1845

“But as soon as he spoke I jumped upon my feet, for in every possible degree it was Joseph’s voice, and his person, in look, attitude, dress and appearance; [it] was Joseph himself, personified and I knew in a moment the spirit and mantle of Joseph was upon him.”

Benjamin F. Johnson, 1928

The second-hand memory of this supernatural event survived for a long time, even as the Church ventured across that invisible line, into a time where the dangerously low levels of faith which Moroni warned us of really began to take hold of the hearts and minds of the Mormon people. In the October 1898 General Conference, Heber J. Grant reported:

“There are those that think the Latter-day Saints are a mistaken people, that they are deluded and that they have no faith in the supernatural; but I say here today that I know the mantle of Joseph Smith fell upon the Prophet Brigham Young. I know it, and I am willing to meet the testimony that I bear. How do I know it? I know it because of my mother, a more honest woman than whom never lived, a more devoted Latter-day Saint can not be found; because she and scores of others have told me that they saw the Prophet Brigham Young when he spoke with the voice of Joseph Smith; when he looked like the prophet Joseph; and I know that these people are honest.”

 

Upon examination, we find many common themes and a few variations from one testimony to the next. If we analyze the matter, we will find that, often the people testified to having seen and heard this transference of energy from Joseph to Brigham. But without exception, those testimonies which are detailed enough to recount the physical sensations taken in by the witness at that moment, always emphasize the sound. Remember that Packer, while promoting poison pushers, simultaneously provided us with a nourishing nugget of wisdom denoting the vital connection between the physical senses and spiritual communication. Even the willful Wilford Woodruff, who, when told by the Spirit to wait on the Lord, grew impatient and so became a patient of imps, suffering death by poisoning at the hands of members of the Bohemian Club, who promised him what he most desperately wanted – namely, the resuscitation of the Church as a financially profitable corporation, and thus; having directly defied the Lord’s personal and institutional council to him, as recorded in his meticulous journal keeping, became, as a prophet, unable to procure the Church’s spiritual or even “temporal salvation,” which issue Wilford claimed was keeping him up at night in a journal entry dated precisely 47 years later to the date from the mysterious happenings of August 8^th, 1847; speaking of the occasion in question, publicly said:

“If I had not seen him with my own eyes, there is no one that could have convinced me that it was not Joseph Smith.”

Deseret News, Mar. 15, 1892

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

In this world there are believers and there are non-believers. But to believe is to LEAVE BE. He who possesses wisdom will see that when a man identifies himself as a so-called believer, he believes or leaves be things of which he has no understanding. For example, the LDS Church is allowed to function financially with zero disclosure because people believe blindly. The government is allowed to continue with its covert activities because people believe that they can and must only work for positive change through the political process and within legal ramifications set by the very system they know to be corrupt. Speak to them of the nature of reality, through prophecy and with the tongue of angels. They will not listen. Their belief is disbelief. Their understanding is misunderstanding. When a man chooses to identify himself as a so-called non-believer in regards to any matter, this does not mean he is not a firm believer in other ideas and instances. He simply refuses to believe in things he does not think he understands. A little belief would bring much understanding for such an individual. But in leaning to his own limited understanding he simply blocks things which he labels “too good to be true” from being true in his life.

I believe that there was a transfiguration that happened to Brigham. I believe that it was a portion of the spirit of Joseph Smith that came over Brigham Young. Indeed ye may say I believe all things. But I also believe there are details regarding this transfiguration that you and I have overlooked till now. And I believe that both Joseph and Brigham want to make these details known at this time for our enlightenment and understanding.

In the Book of Mormon we read about how Nephi and his brothers return to Jerusalem on a mission to obtain certain records from a man named Laban. It is made clear that this man enjoys great power and not only has access to genealogical records and scripture but also has close ties to the religious hierarchy. Laban refuses the band of brothers’ requests and even rejects an offer to purchase the records. He causes them to flee by calling them thieves and sending guards after them; thereby cheating them out of their goods. At this point in the story Nephi decides to go back into the city by himself, trusting completely in the voice of the Holy Spirit to guide him. He finds Laban drunk and passed out on the street. The Spirit of the Lord constrains Nephi to slay Laban and after some contemplation he does. From there we read how, after smiting off Laban’s head, he takes his clothes and sword and dons them. He goes directly to Laban’s treasury and encounters a servant of Laban who supposes him to be his master. After obtaining the records the servant accompanies Nephi to the city limits, talking to him several times and all the while thinking that he is actually Laban. In verse 23 Nephi tells us:

“And I spake unto him as if it had been Laban.”

When Nephi’s brothers see him coming they believe that it is Laban and start to run away in fear. What are we to understand from this strange story? The words that Nephi uttered to Laban’s servant were not some concocted story to try to persuade him or even tell him that he was Laban. But the servant was convinced because Nephi spoke as if he were Laban. Shadow and costume could account for Nephi’s passing for Laban visually. But the human voice is a unique marker like a thumbprint and is very difficult to falsify. What is happening here? Nephi appears to take on the mantle of Laban.

If the auditory and visual effects of the transfiguration of Brigham seem to match up with that of Nephi, what other common elements may there be to the experiences of both of these men? Slaying as a conscious act with a purpose in mind will endow the slayer with the qualities of the slain. The would-be warrior hunts the lion, not for food, but to gain bravery. If the hunter eats his prey he also incorporates physically and subconsciously many aspects of it. You are what you eat. Jesus commanded his disciples to eat of his body and drink of his blood. Of course, that was symbolic. But then again, everything is symbolic, even and especially, those things that we call literal. It’s all about INtention and INteraction.

We have no definitive evidence pointing to Brigham as a guilty party in the killing of Bro. Joseph. But there is one smoking gun which makes him in one way, if not as responsible as the mob who came to Carthage Jail that fateful day, at least as, or more responsible than any other member of Joseph’s circle. It is a natural law observable throughout history, that man-made structures are never brought down solely from without. The coup de gras is always delivered from one within the inner circle. Jesus and Judas, Caesar and Brutus, Dr. King and Jessie Jackson, Malcolm and Farrakhan, Sampson and Delilah, Biggie and P. Diddy, Pac and Shug, Jericho and Rahab, The Twin Towers and Cheney – It would not have been the first time that a close confidant to the Christ figure stood to benefit greatly from his absence and played a part in selling his friend out. It would not be the last time that Brigham Young was involved in a scenario that ended up costing people their lives. That the murders occurred at a remote distance from him does not diminish the major role President Young played. When Joseph was heading out of Nauvoo to lay low and avoid capture at the hands of his enemies, what was it that caused him to turn around and go like a lamb to the slaughter? What would make him say, “If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself.”? He read a letter filled with self-righteous rhetoric aimed at persuading Joseph to go to jail for trumped up charges and face an unjust legal system because it might give the public a better image of the Church; basically bating him into a place where assassins could be sure to find him. Who was the “friend” who wrote that letter?

THE BAD NEWS – THE GOOD NEWS

If the gospel is the Good News, then its counterpart (in truth) or counterfeit (viewed separately) would be the Bad News. When we are approached by someone bearing both we usually opt to hear the bad news first. There is an eternal principle in that.

A professor of the Queen’s English might tell you not to confuse the prefixes ‘ante’ (meaning before) and ‘anti’ (meaning against). But a teacher of Englitch will respect your intelligence and free your mind by pointing out that they both stem from the same Greek word, ‘antí’ and before that, the Sanskrit word ‘ánti’ (meaning opposite). Opposites are special relationships. We covered this before, but it bears repeating. Opposites are two things so close that they are intimately linked in one, and THE ONLY WAY to learn about one half is to learn through the other. Good and evil, evil and good must be comparable, must become ‘pair-able’ in our minds or we can never comprehend the parable of life. Religions or ways of life are meant to re-league estranged enemies and re-pair im-paired souls.

There is a riddle which illustrates this secret very well. A man comes to a fork in the road of life. Down one path: life eternal; down the other: certain death. Of course, at the gate to the path leading to Heaven, there sits a Man of Holiness who always tells pure truth. And at the gate to the path leading to Hell sits a Trickster who always tells lies. Both gates and both gatekeepers look exactly the same. So the traveler must be wise. If he asks one of them, which is the way to Heaven, that one will say “Lo, here” (Matt. 24:23). If he asks the other he will get the same response. Should he inquire which of the two paths leads to Hell, both men will tell him, “That one there.” After some thought the man realizes that the only way to know which is which, is to talk to both, but ask each about the other. Not only must he separately interrogate one gatekeeper about what the other would advise and vice versa, but he must also pay close attention to the response. Because; if he asks, “Which path will he tell me leads to life eternal?” then he must be prepared to select the opposite of that path which would be indicated by both sentinels; since the Liar would designate his own path and the Truth Teller would point to that same path. And this would mean that the path indicated was not the path to eternal life, but rather the path to certain death. If he were to ask, “Which path will he tell me leads to Hell?” both the Holy Man and the Trickster would signal towards the same path. And yet, that would be the path to Heaven.

False prophets and false christs signal the coming of the true. The thing we need to realize about the Anti-Christ is not just that he fights against the Lamb but that he comes before and literally clears the way for Him. If God says He will gather Israel then you can bet that the United Nations, with their U.N. Holidays which are Unholy Days, has made up an unholy country that people think is real and call Israel but isn’t. Same goes for the U.N.ited States of America. The States are not really u-n-i-t-e-d but u-n-t-i-e-d. What the U.N.does, God undoes. Jewish and Mormon zionists are the same. Understand that anti means against, as in the wicked who fight against Zion. Ante means before and the false Zion precedes the true. Know that the holy three letter word G.O.D. stands for Generator, Operator, Destroyer. If the prototype does not function properly, then the D-stroyer in the G.O.D.Head reserves the right to trash it. The Protocols of the Learned Elder’s of Zion will not stand. No, I am not speaking of the suspected anti-semitic hoax. I am talking about the interplay of superiority and inferiority complexes which spring from such ideas whether published by Nazis or Niceys. The Learned “B.Y.U.ppie” attitude of the affluent and arrogant Provo pricks and the “B.Y.Me?” attitude of {misplaced} groveling gratitude of the Latino undergrad enrolled and embroiled in Hinckley’s Perpetual Debt-U-Cation Fund both share the guilt in the iniquity of inequity.

Not to confuse the reader, but the Book of Mormon provides us with a further unfolding of the multi-layered meaning of this ‘ANTI’ matter. In Alma 23:17we find the case of the Lamanite group who took on the name Anti-Nephi-Lehies. Here ‘Anti’ refers to the Reformed Egyptian reflex of an ancient Khemetian (Egyptian) word ‘N-T-Y’ which is used grammatically to connect a relative clause to an undetermined antecedent. It would translate as “One With”, “One Of” or “One who” depending on the relative clause which followed. As Egypt started in ancient Ethiopia and in modern times Ethiopia has made its mark on Jamaica; it can be aptly compared to the way in which Afro-Jamaican Patois uses ‘One’ instead of ‘A’ as the indefinite article. But this is similar to many Latin-based languages where the words for ‘One’, ‘A’ and ‘An’ are very similar. More grammatical crossover can be heard in Reggae’s rich vocal tradition, where it is common to hear the phrase, “The one called” before introducing one’s self on the track. It translates as “One With”Opposites are two halves of the same whole. “If ye are not one ye are not mine.” (D&C 38:27) Or we could say if ye are not “One With” the U‘n’I-verse ye are NoTYet mine. This author is not anti-mormon. I am only “one with” understanding granted me from on high. I be-for Zion mon! De spirit ah Gaad like a fyah is burnin’ up de wicked mon! The more righteous paart is again-stirrin’ like a pot. De Laad ah Laads and King ah Kings, Conquerin’ Lion ah de Tribe ah Judah soon come. One Love!

 

Just before the glorious First Vision burst upon Joseph, he felt “ready to sink into oblivion” in the grasp of some evil being from the unseen world.“After the dark arrives the sweet dawn,” writes the righteous revolutionary singer/song writer Lauryn Hill. Alma the Younger describes his prior pains and consequent joy as equally exquisite. (Alma 36:21) “No hay mal que por bien no venga,” sings Gloria Estefan. There is no evil that from good does not come. The Devil only operates on the power and principles that the Almighty gives him. All dead filth is given over to the care of Lucifer and his Fallen Angels. This is why, even the Lord of Lies is only Lord o Flies. First will be Last, Last will be First – will be the flow of eternity. When you follow God’s established order, you start to lose track of things like beginnings and ends and it all blends into one ‘Begending’. In D&C 29: 31-33, the Lord tells us:

31 For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things both spiritual and temporal—

32 First spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, first temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work—

33 Speaking unto you that you may naturally understand; but unto myself my works have no end, neither beginning; but it is given unto you that ye may understand, because ye have asked it of me and are agreed.

So we go, Spiritual, Temporal, Temporal, Spiritual – S,T,T,S,S,T, – st-st-stuttering like Moses, the ‘Slow of Tongue’ mouth-piece of the Lord. One second we are ST-arting our engines, the next thing we know, starting line becomes finish line. A steady course of First, Last, Last, First – F,L,L,F,F,L – takes us on a time-traveling adventure like Marty, with a fully functioning FLux capacitor.

If we stick to the gospel tradition of Bad News, Good News, Good News, Bad News, then the simple sound of our “BuGaBuGaBoo!” will ward off the buzzing flies of Beelzebub who would try to bug us. Should we think we can put the ‘G’ before the ‘B’ we will get the “GoBBle, GoBBle!” sound of the Global Elite Goblins who eat everything and everyone in their path. Operating out of Great Brittan, adorned in royal GarB in this age, the Oppressor has spread his infectious GarBage to us in the U.S., since King George W. Frederick to George W. Bush, they are never without their entourage of wicked priests. Lt. George Bush could never have used the LGBT rights issue (of which the secret combinations make a loveless mockery) so astutely to seduce the LDS into political prostitution, without the aid of a very priestly but beastly Gordon B. Hinckley (GBH). This P.R.iest even received his training in the haughty cult-sure of Great Britain. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – All are alike unto God. But the Prideful always insist that they are all Good, and they put themselves first. Still, they always end up Bad. In the ‘last days’ of their mortal lives, they may nervously admit that there are some things which they do not know, just as Gordon B. did. But if they were completely honest with themselves they would borrow a line from ‘Chill’ Bill Murray in Ghost Busters, who, when told that he must never “cross the streams” because “it could be bad,” responds truthfully and wisely, “Alright, I’m fuzzy on this whole Good/Bad thing.” The world leaders and worldly followers do not realize, until it is too late, that their “Could be Bad” philosophy, phonetically matches the dangerous incantation of “Good be Bad” which their vain minds keep muttering in the trance induced by that White Magic Scapegoat Spell de-scribed in the Bible when Isaiah speaks woefully unto them that “call evil good, and good evil.” To the pure, humble followers of Christ, all things are pure. And they use their humility for converting evil into good, whereas those proud followers do not posses the clarity/charity necessary for such a feat, and instead entertain themselves with the cheap trick of perverting good into evil.

To give Pres. Hinckley the benefit of the doubt, we could say that he thought it best to deny the saints meat in favor of prepping their palettes with milk. But then it begs the question, “Have ye done all this? And have ye taught this people that they should do all these things?” Abinadi, an unpopular prophet of old, would say, “Nay, ye have not.” Mosiah 12:28, “And they said: We teach the law of Moses.” But you will have to do better than your Mormon Yom Kippur if you want to keep pure. The Day of Atonement, ‘Yom Kippurim,’ as it is written in the Torah, is directly related to the idea behind the word ‘Pūrim’- The Day of Deliverence. But ‘Pūrim’ split up and turned around is ‘Impūr’. Those who were mercifully kicked out of Babylon, now embrace her. The resulting American Religion has fashioned itself the perfect idol in Mitt Romney. And false prophets like Glenn Beck, talking out of the side of his GliB Neck, have successfully bid for Salt Lake to become the new cult center for the worship of false Godvernment.  If GBH understood the scriptures or had the spirit of prophecy, he would know that the milk which he ad-minister-ed was tainted with BGH (Bovine Growth Hormone). Maybe Hinckley did have the gift of prophecy. If so, that would make him not just a false prophet but a Prophet of Falsehood.

If we want to hear the ‘Good News’ so Badly that we reject the ‘Hard Sayings’ of Jesus, then we will remain in denial, saying, “All is well in Zion, Yea, Zion prospereth” when in reality, Zion is not to be found anywhere on the face of the earth. But, “the earth travails, like a woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; the Day of Deliverance. But when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” – John 16:21. Isaiah 62:1 – “Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch!” May this be our gathering freedom cry. Give us the bad news then. BRING IT ON!

If we absolutely must defer dessert till after this dinner in the desert then so “bee” it. For, we shall soon make the Red Land of the Egyptian DSRT flow with honey.

“And should we die before our journey’s through;

Happy day! All is well!”

                                              – Come, Come Ye Saints 

                                                    by William Clayton

“Blessed are those who struggle.

Oppression is worse than the grave.

Better to die for a noble cause

Than to live and die a slave.”

                                         – Blessed Are Those Who Struggle

                                                   by The Last Poets

Why should we fear? The wicked who fight against Zion shall surely be smitten at last. The first has been last and now the last shall surely be first. The righteous rise in the morning of the first resurrection. THIS IS OUR TIME!

The Written Records

Jesus didn’t write any scriptures.  The apostles didn’t write the gospels down as things were happening.  They didn’t sit in that upper room during Pentecost, making sure they got everything written down so they could go out and organize the church of Christ based on the authority of their scriptures.

The point with written scriptures is that they must be understood as the product of believers in Christ organized as his church – not what believers in Christ need to use to become organized as his church.  The written records are the trail that’s left behind – not the hand guiding us through.

The scriptures are just printed ink on processed wooden pulp.  Destroy every copy of the written word of God – and it wouldn’t do a thing.  Because a group of believers in Christ would just produce more scriptures.  Only dead congregations, who have no real connection with God through the spirit of prophecy and revelation, would be scrambling – because they lack the ability to produce anything new.  They can only re-tell the stories they’ve inherited from a by-gone generation.

It’s essentially idolatry [see, Making an Image out of God] – to look at the image that’s pointing and cling to and serve it, rather than to Look, Follow, and Live [see, ...and the labor which they had to perform was to look...].

The church of Jesus Christ is not established on scriptures:

A book cannot authenticate itself.  It takes an outside authority to do that.  Written records become “scripture” when the church of Christ covenants to be bound to that written record by common consent.  That means that the 66 books that make up the King James canon have authority as “the Bible” by virtue of the Catholic Church’s word alone – not by virtue of them simply being “the Bible”.

Further, you accept the English word-choice of the King James translation by virtue of the word of the Church of England alone – God did not dictate the creation story to Moses, or the epistles to Paul using 1611 English words.

The reason the King James text is also known as “The Authorized Version” is because, prior to its commission – there were many attempts by English commoners [i.e., not clergy or royalty] to translate the Bible into English [the language of the unlearned common-folk].  This threatened the power of the elites – who believed that the translations of the commoners did not, “conform to the ecclesiology and reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its beliefs about an ordained clergy.”

So, a new state-sanctioned English translation was commissioned that would render phrases in such a way as to justify and legitimize the hierarchical authority of the crown and of the church.  And it would be the only one “Authorized” by the state and the church for use.

Joseph Smith’s view of the bible:

• It can be ambiguous,

“The teachers of religious understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.”

This ambiguity in the meaning of revelations happens when interpreters make false assumptions about the Bible and then just start guessing away at the correct interpretation.

They’ll assume the scriptures are cryptic [that they’ll say “A”, when they really mean “X”], are relevant [that all the narratives can be applied as personal lessons], and are perfect [that there are no contradictions, missing pieces, or extraneous material].  Their guessing either takes place horizontally [applying the past to the present] or vertically [applying the physical to the spiritual].

The meaning of the word of God should not be guessed at in this way.  Guessing is what Laman and Lemuel did.  Guessing is what Judeans did with Jesus’ parables.  Guessing is what the brethren at Jerusalem did [see, And they understood me not, for they supposed].  The meaning of scripture [in a gospel context] has only one signified attached to it.  And there is only one way to “figure out” what it means –to ask God what it signifies.

• irrelevant,

“The Bible contains revelations given at different times to different people under different circumstances.”

The blessings promised in the scriptures pertain to the people to whom they were spoken.  The laws outlined in the scriptures were tailored to the conditions under which they were given.

For example, at Wheat & Tares I commented on the definition that “hot drinks” in D&C 89 means “tea and coffee”.  The standard interpretation used by the church in regards to verse 9:

and again
hot drinks are not for the body
or belly

[D&C 89:9]

says that Joseph and Hyrum Smith all told members that “hot drinks” meant “tea and coffee”.  Sounds pretty straight-forward.

But – so what if Joseph or Hyrum in fact did say that “hot drinks” meant “tea and coffee” to this-or-that member back in the 1830’s?  That’s all well-and-good because that’s what the saints were in the habit of drinking hot at the time the revelation was given.  Brigham Young reasoned:

I have heard it argued that tea and coffee are not mentioned [in D&C 89]; that is very true; but what were the people in the habit of taking as hot drinks when that revelation was given? Tea and coffee. We were not in the habit of drinking water very hot, but tea and coffee — the beverages in common use.

Now – to follow his reasoning – if the saints ended-up falling out of the habit of drinking tea and coffee hot and started drinking other things hot or started drinking tea and coffee cold — then the revelation still calls us to be guided by the general concept of avoiding the habitual drinking of hot liquids [rather than be bound to the specific conceptions of tea and coffee per se].

The revelation meant “tea and coffee” for them [because that’s what they were in the habit of drinking hot] — but it does not necessarily mean that for us today [if we get in the habit of drinking other liquids hot or drinking tea and coffee cold].

When the Lord said “Don’t drink hot drinks,” Joseph/Hyrum rightly took a look at what the saints were in the habit of drinking hot at that time — and they concluded that it was tea and coffee — so the leaders rightly taught the people to not drink tea and coffee.  But the interpretation of “tea and coffee” pertains to them – given under conditions where the people were in the habit of drinking tea and coffee hot.

• transmitted erroneously,

“I believe the Bible as it came from the pens of the original writers.  Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, and designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors.”

If our understanding of some particular point of doctrine is based on a scripture that is the translation of a translation of a translation – that was taken from a copy of a copy of a copy – and somewhere along the line [there are centuries between the original and what we have extant, in many cases] a rendering was screwed-up [whether accidentally or maliciously] – then it may well reveal how weak some of our beliefs could be.

Our centuries long history and traditions of scriptural interpretation, some of Joseph’s wording choices in the Book of Mormon, and much our the temple endowment ceremony are all based on the scriptural renderings common at the time [taken from the King James English text].

I’ve heard people say that:

You’ve got to believe that God created the universe in six 24-hour periods because it says it right there in Genesis, ‘And the evening and the morning were the ____ day.’  The Bible clearly says ‘day’.

When, in reality, the Bible clearly says “yohm”, as it was recorded in Hebrew.  That’s a word that could mean a variety of things in English.

And even getting back to the original Hebrew can be more complex than it might seem at first.  The Meru Foundation found that the origin of the Hebrew characters lie in a series of ritual hand-gestures — or sign language.

Also, the Chronicle Project has found an alternate system for how the written Hebrew characters work, and publishes alternate, “original meaning” renderings of the Hebrew scriptures.

• and incomplete.

“Much instruction has been given to man since the beginning that we do not now possess […] to say that God never said anything more to man would be claiming a new revelation – because such a thing is nowhere said in that volume by the mouth of God.”

In The Concept of Race, in the Gospel, I wrote:

The best thing to do is to take it as granted that the current scriptural record we have in the Bible is a pretty incomplete picture concerning the affairs of God throughout the whole human race.  The Bible is the book that’s come by way of the Jew and is their record — and so we find that it deals primarily with Arabians [go figure].

Until the scriptural record is more complete — until we receive the prophets of the other nations, tribes, and people, with their prophetic records that will come forth from Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific Islands, etc. — we cannot speak with certainty of how God has dealt with the other races and if there are promises made to them that we know that of.

Now, I’m not trying to say that we can draw no good lessons from our historical translations and traditions.  I’m not saying all current Biblical teachings should be repudiated.  Rather – it’s that any explicit meaning we’re going to gather from them ought to be accepted with the understanding that it comes skewed.  That the scriptures come to us as time-and-space artifacts of a particular culture – given in their language and suited to their circumstances.

What we have is just what we have.  It’s better to be honest about what we’ve got with our scriptural record — rather than try to pedestalize it into something it’s not meant to be.

Religions become concerned with ethical behavior and doctrine, and using the scriptures as an all-encompassing moral rule-book – instead of being concerned with changing people’s minds/hearts and how they view/experience their world, using the scriptures as a collection of stories that motivate believers to go live-out their own stories.

The problem with approaching religion as though it were a method of relaying ethics and doctrines from “the Good Book” is that ethics only teach us how to live as though you were one with your neighbor.  You learn the modes of action that imply a compassionate relationship with another person.  It offers you incentive to act in a certain way – but it cannot generate the genuine feeling of it.

While there may be certain ethical implications of having made a covenant with the fundamental Reality of existence – such things neither add to or subtract from current pool of human ethical wisdom.  It is not the domain of religion to lay down specific “hither thou shalt come and no further” guidelines for human behavior that transcendent time, space, culture, and circumstance.

Rather, religion is about providing the environment for people to experience the miraculous works of God and manifestations of the spiritual gifts.  Because once the experience is had – the very way in which a person approaches and experiences human problems/decisions will be altered.

The gospel is about that transcendent experience of a direct connection with God — one that smashes a hardened, left-brain sensation of being separate and opens a person up the fluid, right-brain awareness that all creation is a continuous and connected event that we are all a part of .

Next Article by Justin: The Revelation of God in Jesus Christ

Previous Article by Justin:  The Concept of Race, in the Gospel

(What R. U. Scared Of ?)

Deep Waters: Having their Hearts Knit Together in Unity and in Love

DISCLAIMER:  This post has been tagged Deep Waters because is discusses human sexuality.  

I personally do not believe avoiding the topic of sex or that teaching sex-negative messages is advisable.  I think the hope is that doing so can keep people from having sex — but all that it appears to have done is keep people from having good sex:  From asking questions about it, from communicating with their partners about it — and from being fulfilled by it.  

I also think avoiding it or teaching a negative/shame-based view of it blurs the line between sex and rape by making all human sexuality this one, undifferentiated mass of “bad”.  If we’re taught to repress ourselves sexually, it doesn’t just go away.  The “uncontrollable” horny boy and the “good girl” syndrome are all caused by our current approach of teaching young men and women about sex.  It leads to either rampant breaking of the law of chastity — or depression and unhappy sexuality within marriage [which is why an LDS couple wrote And They Were Not Ashamed], both of which are exactly what Satan wants us doing.

In any event — there’s the disclaimer, so now I’ll start.

The unity of marriage:

Adam and Eve were married before they were ever aware of their nakedness or their sexuality [see, Intimacy as the Opposite of Sin].  The marriage union was in response to loneliness – not lust.

The sexual union is the chief means of physically expressing an existing connection of Love between two people.  Sex for both procreation and pleasure is not unique to being human — it is common to all other animals.  Our unique experience in sexuality is the bonding or social adhesion between two people.

When acting as animals, we may experience the two dynamics common to all life [procreation and pleasure], we conceive children and it can feel good – but only when acting as humans may be partake of the third [or ideally all three at once].

Reproduction and sexual union are distinct events:

The genitals have three distinct purposes:

• Urination
• Reproduction
• Unification

Thus, they may be considered as conduits of three things:

• Nitrogenous waste
• Reproductive gametes
• Social adhesion

These three are all physiologically distinct from each other.  Sexual union and reproduction are considered just as separate from each other as reproduction is from urination.

• The testes and the ovaries/uterus [reproductive organs] are not the ones involved in the sexual union
• Just as the urethra is not the organ involved in producing new life

The pleasure of sex arises entirely within one’s own body.  This is why the pleasure of it can be generated in solitude.  Thus, this aspect is better considered as the sequel to a sexual union, or the end-result of one.

Disconnected the pleasure from the union:

Often, a person who is going out for a “hook-up” is said to be “lookin’ for a woman” or “out to get a man”.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

A woman is exactly what a man like that does not want.  What he wants is the pleasure for which a woman happens to be a desirable apparatus for obtaining.  If a bona-fide union with the other person is not the end you are seeking – then he/she is just the means to the end you’re really seeking, your own pleasure [just as if you were producing the pleasure in solitude].

This is not Love.  Actual union did not take place.  The other person will be regarded about the same as a drug addict would regard the used syringe after he is done injecting.

and Amnon said unto Tamar

bring the food into the chamber
that I may eat from thine hand

and Tamar took the cakes which she had made
and brought them into the chamber
to Amnon her brother
and when she had brought them unto him to eat
he took hold of her
and said unto her

come lie with me my sister

and she answered

nay
my brother do not force me
for no such thing ought to be done in israel
do not commit this folly
and what of me?
whither shall I cause my shame to go?
and as for thee
thou shalt be as one of the fools in israel
now therefore
I pray thee
speak unto the king
for he will not withhold me from thee

howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice
but being stronger than she
forced her
and had sex with her

then Amnon hated her exceedingly
so that the hatred wherewith he hated her 
was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her
and Amnon said unto her

arise
be gone

[2 Samuel 13:10-15]

Union is a “sacred-act” — or “sacrament”:

The “sacrament” of sex arises from the fact that, in Love, we are not merely our Self anymore.  We become representatives or proxy of the universal Male and Female.  In the temple, we are considered as if we were Adam and Eve.  In the pagan mysteries, the man acts in the role of the Father Sky-god and the woman the Mother Earth-goddess.  All that is masculine and feminine in the whole universe – all that exerts and all that yields – all form and matter, all spirit and element – is momentarily focused and present in that singular event [see, Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender].

The word “naked” originates as the past tense of the verb for peeling or stripping – meaning it referred to something that had undergone a “naking”.

In this sense, each of us are more our Self when we are dressed.  The naked person is not one who has abstained from wearing clothing – but is one who [for a specific reason] has undergone the specific process of removing clothes.  Nudity emphasizes the common human image we all bear [or would that be bare, pun intended].

Like the story of Inanna descending to the realm of the dead, passing the seven gates, removing an article of clothing at each [or Mary, being freed from seven spirits] – we strip off all that it means to be our Self, and put on nakedness as a ceremonial robe to re-enter the garden as the universal He and She [Adam and Eve] to re-enact the drama of creation.

Sacred symbolism in LDS temple liturgy:

In BiV’s post at Wheat & Tares, The Sacred Embrace as Five Points of Fellowship, she describes how [before this aspect of the ceremony was removed] the initiates were not allowed to enter the presence of the Lord until they had conversed with Him embraced in the Five Points of Fellowship.  The closeness symbolized in that act was to represent our oneness with God — a complete embrace of our Self into Him — and was presented as the way through which we all passed from death into celestial Life.

The Five Points of Fellowship were described as:

• inside of right foot by the side of right foot
• knee to knee
• breast to breast
• hand to back
• mouth to ear

In Wicca, there is a ritual of the “Fivefold Kiss”, which is another form of the Five Points of Fellowship.  The ritual involves kissing five parts of the body — each kiss accompanied by a blessing.

• Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways
• Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar
• Blessed be thy womb / phallus, without which we would not be
• Blessed be thy breasts, formed in beauty / breast, formed in strength
• Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names.

Greeting or saluting [aspazomai, "to draw into one's self"] with a “holy kiss” was an early Christian practice referenced in the epistles of Paul [Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20, 2 Cor. 13:12, 1 Thes. 5:26].

And not only did the Five Points of Fellowship get cut from the LDS temple ceremony — but so did the complete ritual blessing of the naked body done part-by-part:

• The head, ears, eyes, nose, lips, neck, shoulders, back, breast, solar plexus, arms and hands, genitals, and legs and feet.

The ritual established by Joseph Smith was performed in a bathtub — washing with water and spiced whiskey [strong drink for the purpose of ritual washing, D&C 89:7] and anointing with olive oil:

Oliver Cowdery gave even more detail about one of these temple preparation meetings, noting how the Latter-day Saints followed Old Testament patterns in washing and anointing priests for temple service.

Oliver wrote that he met with Joseph and others at the Prophet’s house:

“And after pure water was prepared, called upon the Lord and proceeded to wash each other’s bodies, and bathe the same with whiskey, perfumed with cinnamon. This we did that we might be clean before the Lord for the Sabbath, confessing our sins and covenanting to be faithful to God. While performing this washing with solemnity, our minds were filled with many reflections upon the propriety of the same, and how the priests anciently used to wash always before ministering before the Lord.”

Admittedly, these acts were obviously cut from our temple rituals because participants felt uncomfortable with the intimacy they suggest.  This was especially the case for women — who were not allowed to have priestesses ministering at the veil ritual for them, but had to be received by a male priest to whom they were not married.

Much like the intimacy suggested in the ritual washing and anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary [without which He was not prepared for His death and burial] …

then Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard
very costly
and anointed the feet of Jesus
and wiped his feet with her hair
and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment

[John 12:3]

and did wipe them with the hairs of her head
and kissed his feet
[...] Jesus said

seest thou this woman?

[Luke 7:38, 44]

she hath done what she could
she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying
amen I say unto you
wheresoever this gospel shall be preached
throughout the whole world
this also that she has done
shall be spoken of for a memorial of her

[Mark 14:8-9]

… many felt some “indignation within themselves” when presented with such ritual acts that were quite sexual in nature.

The reason these sacred acts were removed:

These rituals are inherently intimate in nature because they express the unity between men-and-women, humanity-and-God — that the gospel is designed to achieve.  Zion requires great intimacy and connection among the body of believers who comprise it.  The church currently lacks this intimacy and connection — so these rituals felt strange for most of the people who participated in them.

However, the leadership addressed the genuine feelings of discomfort in the wrong way.  Instead of getting at the reason why we all still feel like strangers at church and are not comfortable with the level of intimacy required to be comfortable in the temple rituals — they just axed the intimate parts out of the ceremony.

The only way to achieve Zion, or even a Zion-like atmosphere at church, is for the men and women to all be connected to each other through covenants.  As it stands, we are connected to Christ through covenants, but not to each other.  As long as we remain unfettered by covenant relationships with each other, we will never achieve Zion and our conversations [and actions] will never approach the level of intimacy and sharing required of that ideal.

Knitting the estranged back together:

The experience of ecstasy [ekstasis, "to stand outside yourself"], the complete unification of two people expressed through the sexual union — is what exists beyond the concepts of separateness, beyond the concepts of God-and-humans, Self-and-neighbor, man-and-woman, or any of the other this-and-that’s we might split existence into.

This is the transcendent “mystical experience” present in nearly every religion or spiritual path.  One might immediately think of the New-Agey, Eastern religions [Zen, Yoga, Hinduism, etc.], but even the big three Abrahamic faiths have their own ecstatic, mystical sects [Kabbalah, Sufism, Gnosticism].

The fervor for which some Christian writers have described being given over to the ecstatic worship of God border on the sexual:

Only in God is everything pure, beautiful, and holy; fortunately we can dwell in Him even in our exile!  But my Master’s happiness is mine, and I surrender myself to Him so He can do whatever He wants in me.

[Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity]

I saw an angel beside me toward the left side, in bodily form. I saw in his hands a long dart of gold, and at the end of the iron there seemed to me to be a little fire. This I thought he thrust through my heart several times, and that it reached my very entrails. As he withdrew it, I thought it brought them with it, and left me all burning with a great love of God. So great was the pain, that it made me give those moans; and so utter the sweetness that this sharpest of pains gave me, that there was no wanting it to stop, nor is there any contenting of the soul with less than God.

[Saint Teresa of Avila]

A common monoplot in all human myth is this sacred act of the interplay between the aspects of God considered as a man and as a woman.  Their interplay manifested in:  Birth, Puberty, Marriage, Sexual Union, Death — cycling back to New Birth [or Resurrection].  It has been considered in various ways across human culture:

• YHVH and His covenant people Israel
• Christ, the bridegroom and His Beloved, the church
• Jesus and Mary Magdalene
• Sky-God and Earth-Goddess
• Inanna and Dumuzi
• Isis and Osiris
• Yin and Yang
• Shiva and Shakti
• Krishna and Radha
• Pan and Selene

But right now – The Father and Mother are estranged. The exalted Man sits up in the sky upon the throne. While the Woman is locked away in the tower.  As such, they can never be friends.

The Mother is nature and all of the physical elements – but that’s become everything we are supposed to deny in order to be “holy”.  Most religions go about separating the very things that is the purpose of religion to bring together – body and spirit, man and woman, sexuality and holiness, humanity and divinity.

I think people are scared of natural because it doesn’t seem as “self-sacrificing” — like the Catholic priest who feels his life of sexual restriction is “more holy” than a family-life.  Or a Buddhist who would run away to “find himself” on a mountain top, leaving anything “worldly” behind.  Or the monogamist who would insist that a polygamist ought to “deny their natural man” and get with one-on-one monogamy instead of a natural state of polygamous families.

But “natural” and “supernatural” need not be considered as separate things.  Let us bring back together the things that shouldn’t ever have been separated in the first-place – or perhaps it would be to realize that they were never separate in the first-place.  Just that a hardened mind, conceived in sin, perceives this-and-that, good-and-evil, heaven-and-earth, mental-and-physical, spirit-and-flesh, gods-and-humans, etc. as these separate and exclusive things – and our minds just need to be soften, or broken.

Next Article by Justin: The Concept of Race, in the Gospel

Previous Article by Justin:  Intimacy as the Opposite of Sin

[When Things Get Broken ...]

Paul and the church at Judea

I was reading through the resurrection narratives in the four gospels, thinking about writing something about Mary Magdalene because of some comments I wrote on a Wheat & Tares post by Mormon Heretic [Smearing Mary Magdalene].

I was writing down the order of appearences made by Jesus after he resurrects from the grave, as given by each of the four witnesses that we have canonized currently.

The four gospel narratives:

Mark

• Mary Magdelene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils
• two of them as they walked and went into the country
• the eleven

Luke

• Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with him
• two of them on the road to a village called Emmaus
• Simon
• the eleven

Matthew

• Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
• the eleven

John

• Mary Magdalene
• the disciples
• Thomas

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

Though we think of Paul as coming later in chronology — in terms of historical dates for the written records — the authenticated letters of Paul are the earliest written Christian documents of the bible.  In other words, what got written down into [e.g.] Corinthian epistles was physically put to paper before the words that got written down as the Mark, Matthew, Luke, or John narratives.

1 Corinthians 15:5-8, then, gives what is the earliest [historically-speaking] written account of post-mortal appearances of Jesus, given as testimony that he did indeed resurrect from the grave.  Paul writes the appearances in this order:

• Cephas
• the twelve
• over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present but some are fallen asleep
• James
• all the apostles
• Paul himself

Of interest in Paul’s list is that the order is unlike anything seen in the four gospel narratives.  The risen Jesus is seen by Peter first — not Mary [she's not there at all].

Then he is seen by “the twelve” — not the “eleven” [implying Judas was not counted out of the number of the quorum].

Then there is a large event where over 500 men see him at one time.  This would have undoubtably been a miraculous account, if only our canon contained it.  Paul was obviously using that appearance to lend the most verifiable credibility to his own testimony — because he makes it a point to mention that many of those men are still alive today — as if to say to the readers, “You can go ask them if you doubt me, they’re still around.”

Then James is mentioned separate from “the twelve” — presumably because this is “James, the Lord’s brother“, rather than the apostle who was John’s brother.  Also it is interesting to note that Peter, the twelve, and James are all mentioned as separate from “all the apostles.”  This suggests that what Paul considered an “apostle” is different from the Quorum of twelve male key-holders that we currently think of when we use that word:

salute Andronicus
and Junia
my kin
and my fellowprisoners
who are noteworthy apostles
who also were in christ before me

[Romans 16:7]

Paul’s bound-less concept of the gospel:

I was thinking of some reasons why this would be.  Paul seems to have thought about the church of Christ in terms that were broader in scope and more “bound-less” in understanding than did the brethren at Jerusalem.  It was his radical idea that if it is indeed true that every one is justified, sanctified, and purified by faith in the blood of Christ alone — then:

there is neither jew nor greek
there is neither bond nor free
there is neither male nor female
for ye are all one
in christ
Jesus

[Galatians 3:28]

… a message of a gospel of uncircumcision — egalitarian tribal anarchy — or complete liberty in Christ.

Paul, in fact, did not seem to quorum with the twelve at Jerusalem and Peter at all.  He makes it a point in his letter to the Galatian church to state that the gospel he delivered to them was given to him straight from the mouth of Jesus — and not from the oral tradition and records of the men at Jerusalem:

Paul
an apostle not of men, neither by man
but by Jesus christ, and god the father, who raised him from the dead
unto the churches of Galatia
I certify you
brethren
that the gospel which was preached of me
is not after man
for I neither received it of man
neither was I taught it
but it came by the revelation of Jesus christ

but when it pleased god
to reveal his son in me
that I might preach him among the gentiles
immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood
neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me
after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter
and abode with him fifteen days
but I saw none of the other apostles
save James the Lord’s brother
I was unknown by face unto the churches of Christ in Judea

[Galatians 1]

Paul also describes how Peter acted with “stiffneckedness and unbelief” [3 Nephi 15:18]:

when the brethren at Jerusalem saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me
as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter
[...]
and when James, Cephas, and John
who seemed to be pillars
perceived the grace that was given unto me
they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship
that we should go unto the gentiles
and they unto the circumcision

but when Peter was come to Antioch
I withstood him to the face
because he was to be blamed
for [...] he did eat with the Gentiles
but when they were come [from Judea]
he withdrew and separated himself fearing them which were of the circumcision

but when I saw that they walked not uprightly
according to the truth of the gospel
I said unto Peter before them all
if thou, being a jew, livest after the manner of gentiles [...] why compellest thou the gentiles to live as do the jews?
[...]
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law
but by the faith of Jesus christ
even we have believed in Jesus christ
that we might be justified by the faith of christ
and not by the works of the law
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified

[Galatians 2]

In fact, the undisputedly authentic letters of Paul [Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, and 1 Thessalonians] are never addressed to:

• “Bishop So-and-so, of the church at ______”

or to

• “The elders of the church at _______”

etc.

But are always addressed to just “the church”, as a leaderless body of equals who gather together for worship.  It’s not until the disputed letters of Paul [1 and 2 Timothy and Titus] that you start to see a leadership hierarchy being given direction that they are to pass on to the lay-members.

The church of Christ in Judea went through all three stages of the church of God:

It started in stage one, built on the miraculous works of the Father:

and when the day of pentecost was fully come
they were all with one accord in one place
and suddenly there came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind
and it filled all the house where they were sitting
and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire
and it sat upon each of them
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost
and began to speak with other tongues
as the Spirit gave them utterance

[Acts 2:1-4]

The church of Christ multiplied greatly, the word of God was preached with authority and power, the community of believers lived as Zion, etc.

By the time we get to the time at which Paul begins writing his letters [~40-50's AD], the church of Christ has entered the stage two, built on the works of men.

The church in Judea governs according to their Judean culture, instead of the purity of the truth of the gospel alone.  The “stiffneckedness and unbelief” that Jesus mentioned to the Nephite church began to exert itself until manifestations of power began leaving the church.

The church of Christ begins to solidify into a hierarchy of religious brokers — who see themselves as having the jurisdiction over who experiences Jesus and how.

In the gospel of Mary Magdelene, it reads:

When Mary had [told the twelve what Jesus taught to her], she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her.

But Andrew answered and said to the brethren:  ”Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.”

Peter answered and spoke concerning the same things.  He questioned them about the Savior, saying:  ”Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us?  Are we to turn about and all listen to her?  Did He prefer her to us?”

Then Mary wept and said to Peter: “My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?”

Levi answered and said to Peter:  ”Peter you have always been hot tempered.  Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries.  But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her?  Surely the Savior knows her very well.”

Finally the history of the church of Christ passes through stage three [built on the works of the devil] — where at some point, it is wholly rejected by the Lord and ceased to have any power or authority.

Next Article by Justin: Intimacy as the Opposite of Sin

Previous Article by Justin:  Spicing up your church experience: Women’s edition

What’s the recipe for healing?

Group worship in the church of Christ

Group worship prior to the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

The pattern for communal/group worship of God before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was outlined in the law of Moses.  It was the system of offering sacrifices and burnt offering [Mosiah 2:3], called the “observances of the law”.

It was expedient that these outward observances were performed:

and inasmuch as it shall be expedient
you must keep the performances and ordinances of God
until the law shall be fulfilled
which was given unto Moses

[2 Nephi 25:30]

And the people of God were strict in observing them because they were the very word of the Lord to his people:

they were strict in observing the ordinances of God
according to the law of Moses

[Alma 30:3]

until they reached the point where the law would be done away, when adhering to its observances was no longer expedient.

This pattern for worship was done away in Christ:

behold
I say unto you
that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses
behold
I am he that gave the law
and I am he who covenanted with my people
Israel
therefore
the law in me is fulfilled
for I have come to fulfill the law
therefore it hath an end

[3 Nephi 15:4-5]

The time came when it was no longer expedient to keep the law of Moses, as had been prophesied:

I say unto you
that it is expedient that you should keep the law of Moses
as yet
but I say unto you
that the time shall come
when it shall no more be expedient to keep the law of Moses

[Mosiah 13:27]

and

yea
and they did keep the law of Moses
for it was expedient that they should keep the law of Moses
as yet
for it was not all fulfilled
but notwithstanding the law of Moses
they did look forward to the coming of Christ
considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming
and believing that they must keep those outward performances
until the time that he should be revealed unto them

[Alma 25:15]

The commandments of the Father for the church of Christ:

It became expedient instead to keep the “commandments of the Father”, instead of the “law”:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law
or the prophets
I am not come to destroy
but to fulfill
for amen I say unto you
neither one iota nor one serif has passed away from the law
but in me it has all been fulfilled
and behold
I have given you the law
and the commandments of my Father
that ye shall believe in me
and that ye shall repent of your sins
and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit
behold
you have the commandments before you
and the law is fulfilled
therefore
come unto me
and be ye saved
for amen I say unto you
that except you shall keep my commandments
which I have commanded you at this time
you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven

[3 Nephi 12:17-20]

Jesus gave two things:

• The law
• The commandments of his Father

In him [that is in his birth, life, suffering, death, and resurrection], the law is fulfilled – therefore all that remains “before you” are the commandments of the Father, which are:

• Believe in Christ
• Repent of your sins
• Come unto Christ with a broken heart and a contrite spirit

Therefore, choose the commandments of the Father over the law — and be saved.  To choose otherwise goes against the doctrine of expediency — and leaves a person damned.

Group worship after the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

When Jesus visited Lehi’s descendents and ministered the gospel among them, they were taught the new, expedient pattern for how to gather for communal worship now that the law had been fulfilled in him:

And it came to pass
that Jesus commanded his disciples that they should bring forth some bread and wine unto him
and while they were gone for bread and wine
he commanded the multitude that they should sit themselves down upon the earth
and when the disciples had come with bread and wine
he took of the bread and brake and blessed it
and he gave unto the disciples
and commanded that they should eat
and when they had eaten and were filled
he commanded that they should give unto the multitude
and when the multitude had eaten and were filled
he said unto the disciples
behold
there shall one be ordained among you
and to him will I give power that he shall break bread
and bless it
and give it unto the people of my church
unto all those who shall believe and be baptized in my name
and this shall you always observe to do
even as I have done
even as I have broken bread and blessed it and given it unto you
and this shall you do in remembrance of my body
which I have shown unto you
and it shall be a testimony unto the father that you do always remember me
and if you do always remember me
you shall have my Spirit to be with you
and it came to pass
that when he said these words
he commanded his disciples that they should take of the wine of the cup and drink of it
and that they should also give unto the multitude that they might drink of it
and it came to pass
that they did so
and did drink of it and were filled
and they gave unto the multitude
and they did drink
and they were filled
and when the disciples had done this
Jesus said unto them
blessed are you for this thing which you have done
for this is fulfilling my commandments
and this doth witness unto the Father that you are willing to do that which I have commanded you
and this shall you always do
to those who repent and are baptized in my name
and you shall do it in remembrance of my blood
which I have shed for you
that you may witness unto the Father that you do always remember me
and if you do always remember me
you shall have my Spirit to be with you
and I give unto you a commandment
that you shall do these things
and if you shall always do these things
blessed are you
for you are built upon my rock.

[3 Nephi 18:1-12]

In this pattern of group worship, described by Jesus, and commanded of the church of Christ — we are to:

• Bring forth bread and wine
• Sit down upon the earth
• Have one man set-apart among the group to break the bread, bless it, and give it to the group in remembrance of the body of Jesus
• Eat the bread until filled
• Have the one ordained man take the cup, bless it, and give it to the group in remembrance of the blood of Jesus
• Drink from the cup until filled

This should be done “always” to witness to God that we always remember Christ – and if we do always remember Him, then we will always have his Spirit to be with us.

The revelations given to Joseph Smith describe this same pattern:

it is expedient
that the church meet together often
to partake of bread and wine in the remembrance of the lord Jesus
and the elder or priest shall administer it
and after this manner shall he administer it
he shall kneel with the church
and call upon the Father in solemn prayer
saying

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

the manner of administering the wine
he shall take the cup also
and say

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

[D&C 20:75-79]

The Nephite church’s example in practicing this pattern of group worship:

In the first couple generations after Christ visited the descendents of Lehi, they observed these commandments, even as he had shown them, and therefore lived as a Zion-like community of believers:

behold
the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about
and as many as did come unto them
and did truly repent of their sins
were baptized in the name of Jesus
and they did also receive the Holy Ghost
and it came to pass
that the people were all converted unto the Lord
and there were no contentions and disputations among them
and every man did deal justly
one with another
and they had all things common among them
therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free
but they were all made free
and partakers of the heavenly gift
and it came to pass
that there still continued to be peace in the land
and there were great and marvelous works wrought by the disciples of Jesus
insomuch that they did heal the sick
and raise the dead
and cause the lame to walk
and the blind to receive their sight
and the deaf to hear
and all manner of miracles did they work among the children of men
and in nothing did they work miracles save it were in the name of Jesus
and they were married
and given in marriage
and were blessed according to the multitude of the promises which the Lord had made unto them
and they did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses
but they did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord
and their God
continuing in fasting and prayer
and in meeting together oft
both to pray and to hear the word of the Lord
and it came to pass
that there was no contention among all the people
in all the land
but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus

[4 Nephi 1:1-13]

This religious community was alive with the miraculous works of the Father and the signs following them that believe.  And even when the people fell into general wickedness a couple centuries later, a segment of the people still remained gathered as the church of Christ and kept the commandments Jesus had given their ancestors earlier:

and after they had been received unto baptism
and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost
they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ
and their names were taken
that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God
to keep them in the right way
to keep them continually watchful unto prayer
relying alone upon the merits of Christ
who was the author and the finisher of their faith
and the church did meet together oft
to fast and to pray
and to speak one with another
concerning the welfare of their souls
and they did meet together oft
to partake of bread and wine
in remembrance of the lord Jesus
and their meetings were conducted
by the church
after the manner of the workings of the Spirit
and by the power of the Holy Ghost
for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them
whether to preach
or to exhort
or to pray
or to supplicate
or to sing
even so it was done

[Moroni 6]

The church of Christ “meets together often” to:

• Fast
• Pray
• Hear the word of God
• Speak about the welfare of each other’s souls
• Partake of the bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus
• Preach
• Exhort
• Pray
• Supplicate
• Sing

“Often” does not mean every Sunday – it doesn’t even mean once a week.  To determine ahead of time how “often” or on what days the church will meet prevents it from being conducted by the workings of the Spirit.

These “meetings” happened as often as they were desired to happen or as often as they were needed to happen among the various congregations of believers in Christ.

Also, no one did anything unless the power of the Holy Ghost led them – or in other words, they followed the principle of:

if ye receive not the Spirit
ye shall not teach

[D&C 42:14]

– meaning nobody spoke a word unless the Spirit of prophecy and revelation came upon them and led them to speak that word.

Doing this makes the discernment of a dead congregation [a group without the Spirit] easy because, in practical terms, what that means is that unless members are cleansed from all sin and therefore can be moved upon by the Holy Spirit – the meeting will be dead silent.

Approaching group worship backwards:

There is a problem when we approach this pattern backwards — when we work at keeping people coming to church — as a way to make them feel the Spirit.  It’s backwards.

People aren’t stupid — and it doesn’t take long for an interested investigator to realize that the Joy they feel in spontaneous meetings with missionaries lacks in our church meetings.  The Spirit that manifests while studying the gospel in a more intimate setting with missionaries is not repeated in the meetinghouse.

This “deadness” happens when the religious experience is approached as something that can be brokered by some all-male merchant-class who deal in religion and religious paraphernalia.  It’s all image and no Life — because the Life’s been suffocated by the Box we’ve put Her in.

Our current practice of assigning everything before church meetings [for example] — the songs, sermons, etc. — is based on the doctrines and commandments of men and not the commandments of the Father that Christ gave to his church — which is why there is no one prophesying or healing or speaking in tongues, etc. during our meetings. The commandments of men are not accompanied by any manifestations of power [just good advice, nice music, etc.]

To get back to a reliance on the Spirit, in which it is the Spirit that directs and guides the conducting of our meetings [and not any man or group of men], we would need room for that spontaneity because that’s how She works.

The church of Christ, when it meets [not when it "has meetings"], should select no one beforehand to say prayers, or prepare talks, or prepare musical numbers, or be given sermon topics, or be given material from which to base a sermon on, etc.

The scriptures say that if the Spirit is not given to a person, then they should not speak.  And the scriptures say that everything must be done at the very moment, which means spontaneously, as the Spirit directs.

Without the pervading presence of the Holy Spirit, a congregation has no “spiritual gravity” drawing the converts together — keeping them gathered in a body of the church of God.  Hence, we see a scattered group of strangers we just happen to meet at the same place at the same time every week.  We get dismal “activity”-rates because “activity” flows out of a person [and thus out of a body of gathered persons] spontaneously or naturally — it can’t be something “stuffed” onto a dead body.

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