An appeal for Prayer and Fasting

Tom [an LDS blogger who was a frequent commenter at this, and other, blogs] sent me an e-mail over the weekend asking for some support in a personal matter of his.  I wanted to post his story and his appeal for fastings and prayers here — so anyone who regularly follows our posts can offer-up some spiritual support for Tom’s friend

Below is what he wrote me:

I’ve kind of disconnected a lot recently, but was wondering if I might be able to enlist your help in mobilizing some spiritual help — prayers, fasts, etc. on something happening with a very close friend of mine.

This Wednesday (05/02/2012) at 11:30 am MST — will be a court meeting for a friend of mine who is in desperate need of any prayers or fasts that anyone could offer-up and dedicate onto her and her sons behalf.

Her soon-to-be ex-husband has been molesting their 4-yr old son over an unknown length of time, and the court hearing on Wednesday (May 2nd)  is where the judge will be considering allowing the father (at the recommendation of a court appointed adviser) to have unsupervised, overnight visits with the son.

All the mother and son need — besides some obvious healing — is some additional time for both CPS and the local police to finish their investigations into the abuse allegations — but there’s a very real chance, based on the recommendation from the adviser, that the unsupervised visits will recommence following this meeting with the judge.

All I’m asking, if possible, is for you to send an e-mail blastout, post a message on Facebook or perhaps throw a little glib up on your blog — etc.

Hoping that the universe will intervene.

The request could be simple, leaving out most the details, but I would leave that up to you.  The more support, prayers, and fasts offered-up for the sake of this mother and son could perhaps help to turn the tide in their favor.

You may comment in reply to this post if you plan on participating — so that Tom may be able to see the support his friend will have.

To serve Him is to follow Him; that where He is, the servant may be found

In 3 Nephi 13, Jesus outlines five disciplines that characterize His disciples.  The “disciple” is “one who follows another for the purpose of learning from him,” and the “discipline” is “the instruction imparted to disciples“, and is thus antithetical to “doctrine”, which pertains to the doctor.  The latter being more concerned with abstract theory, while the former with practice or exercise.

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be…

“Where I am, there shall also my servant be…” — well where was Jesus to be found?  He was found doing alms, praying, forgiving, fasting, and denying Himself to seek after the kingdom of God.

Doing alms

Jesus said:

Verily, verily, I say that I would that ye should do alms unto the poor; but take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father who is in heaven.

Therefore, when ye shall do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you, as will hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; That thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father who seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly.

In Matthew 6, the Greek for the word “alms” is eleēmosynē, which signifies mercy or pity.  Thus, to “do alms unto the poor” means to do acts of mercy or acts that show mercy towards the poor.  It is often equated with giving money, though it is more than that.  King Benjamin defined “substance” as:

for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind

and thus, doing alms is something more than the giving of money:

I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.

Doing alms is about getting in there, getting your hands dirty, going through the dirt with someone – to feed, clothe, visit, and administer to them.  Legal tender doesn’t do these things.  Only people can.  This is doing alms.

Doing these acts openly is itself the reward, and nothing else will follow.  When alms are done anonymously, secretly, or without regard for being seen by others to be doing them – then heavenly Father will render reward for them.

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me…

…Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

The quickest way for an LDS to practice this discipline would be to stop filling out a donation form when they turn in their tithes/offerings in the envelope to the bishopric.  Those alms are not done in secret because a record is kept and is filed with the State.  It can also be done by connecting with other Christian ministry groups who do alms in the community [food shelters, prison ministry, protesting abortion clinics, etc.], as well as moving on some personal issue that moves your heart.

Prayer

Jesus said:

And when thou prayest thou shalt not do as the hypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.  Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.

After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

There is a common element between doing alms and praying – that of secrecy.  In both cases, that which is done openly to be seen of others carries with it its own reward, while that which is done in secret and seen by no one will be rewarded by our Father in heaven.

A hypokritēs is a stage-actor.  In the ancient Greek dramas, the hypocrite wore his mask [a "person"] and acted out his role, saying the right lines to portray the part.  Hypocrites are playing the part of a pray-er, aren’t saying a prayer at all.

A vain repetition is something that is said so often that it loses any meaning.  However, not all repetition is vain:

And [Jesus] spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying,

There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:

And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

A repetition is vain when the right-brain-heart is not broken/softened and the asker is unrighteous.  The prayer is vain because it will profit the pray-er nothing:

For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.

Unless one’s heart has been broken by the guilt of their own guilt before God, all prayer is a vain repetition.  Meaning, if this event has not taken place, the only prayer that is not vain is a prayer for a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  This is because a person with a hard heart:

doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.

Forgiveness

Jesus said:

For, if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you; But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The principle by which the atonement forgives sin is:

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Meaning that sin is not forgiven/punishment withheld because God effectively beat it out of Jesus on the cross or in Gethsemane.  Justice is not satisfied by punishing innocents.

will our law, which is just, take the life of his brother?  I say unto you, Nay.

The gospel [good news] is that Jesus can satisfy just accusers [those judging and condemning sin] and put an end to their demands.  He removes all accusers:

where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

The visual imagery of Jesus being:

filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice;

is that for an accuser to obtain [or “get to”] justice, they’ll first have to get through Jesus – who is standing there to present His suffering as evidence on a sinner’s behalf so justice will stop making its demands long enough for an appeal for compassion to be made by Christ.  His suffering was so great — not because that’s how much it takes for God to be happy with the sinners — but because the evidence had to be sufficiently moving to the entire created universe so accusers would stop making their just demands and drop all charges.  And where there is no condemnation [no demands of justice], there is no punishment.

Hell will be full of judgers, condemners, and withholders of forgiveness.  The kingdom of God will be full of those willing to forgo judgment, to withhold condemnation, and to forgive others.

Fasting

Jesus said:

Moreover, when ye fast be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face;That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, who is in secret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Jesus said, “when ye fast,” not “if ye fast,” or “ye should fast.”  It was assumed that His audience was a people who fast.   Again, as was the case with doing alms and praying, fasting is a discipline to be done in secret.  When done openly, fasting carries with it its own reward, but when done so that only the Father in heaven knows it is happening, He will be the one to reward.

Fasting is a part of the teaching of Jesus that:

Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Denying the “self” or the “ego” includes going without the food and water the body needs.  It’s saying to the self, “I know there is food within reach, but we’re not doing that right now.  We’re focusing on something more important.  You’ll get your food soon enough.”

Though fasting, in this context, refers to not consuming food or drink for some extended period of time [as a part of the denial of self] it can include Lenten fasts of a certain vice or favorite activity, Ramadan-esque fasts that are only during sunlight hours, or a myriad of others ways the “self” can be denied.

Simplicity

Jesus said:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.

And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words he looked upon the twelve whom he had chosen, and said unto them: Remember the words which I have spoken. For behold, ye are they whom I have chosen to minister unto this people. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith.

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.

Jesus lists three things we ought to “take no thought for”:

• Your life [what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink]
• You body [what ye shall put on]
• The morrow

As an example of what He means, Jesus teaches that:

• Fowls of the air do not sow, reap, or gather into barns – yet are feed by Father in heaven.
• Lilies of the field do not toil or spin – yet are clothed beautifully as they are.
• Today has enough to devote ourselves to without being anxious for the next day.

The time and energy that taking no thought for food, clothing, and the morrow frees up should then be devoted to the building up of the kingdom of God.  Many reverse the order of “seek ye first…and all these things shall be added…” – thinking that they will work to amass a nice nest-egg/surplus and then really be able to get to work serving in the kingdom of God.  Thinking that they shall obtain riches if they seek them with the intent to do good, but still forgetting that seeking the kingdom of God always comes before there are any riches:

Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.

But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.

And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good — to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

Anyone can rationalize all they want about how they pay tithing and a generous fast offering and are thus giving enough – so they will save the rest for themselves in the future, but the principle given in the scriptures is one of surplus [meaning anything that is above and beyond what you need to survive].  If you pay a full tithing and a generous fast offering, but still retain one penny of surplus, then you are coveting the drop and will be damned.

Under gospel law, riches [surplus] are never intended to be used by the wealthy [those with the surplus].  It is the intention that riches [surplus] be used by the needy [those who are less than poor, lacking sufficient for their needs] – so that both parties [the rich and the needy] become poor [have sufficient for their needs]. Any attempt to utilize surplus for the benefit of the rich or poor is wickedness.

When Jesus said:

ye have the poor always with you

this was to be the case in Zion, where all are continuously giving of their surplus [thus are scripturally "poor"] and it is only this type of poor [the givers of surplus and those who desire to give of surplus] that are the meek who will inherit the earth.

If the Lord does “prosper the righteous” [by placing wealth into their possession by some miraculous means], it is only because He entrusts that person to distribute the wealth as He would see fit [meaning he/she gives it to the needy, thereby becoming poor again].  If an entire community practices this [and thus there are no needy among them], then a different law for handling a surplus would be required.

There is a reason why Jesus sent out traveling priesthood missionaries without purse [money] or scrip [food], instead relying on the mercies of the world to provide for their needs.  It’s because only the poor are intended to teach and preach the gospel, in order to prove [test or try] the world.  Instead, we have turned things upside-down by calling wealthy men to the positions of leadership.  The priesthood becoming an honor of men, as can only be expected.

Thus there are five disciplines that characterize disciples of Christ:

• Doing alms in such a way as to not be seen/recognized as doing them
• Praying in secret, real prayer — not babbling to the sky
• Judging not, condemning not, and forgiving
• Fasting in such a way as to not be seen/recognized as denying the self
• Living simplistically — taking no thought for storing up a surplus, or for getting food, drink, or clothing, or being anxious about the morrow

Next Article by Justin: The Garment, with additions

Previous Article by Justin:  Zion will not be Established by Unrelated Persons

The Will of God and Faith

Romans 9: 6-24 [English Standard Version]:

…it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”

And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad — in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls — she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written [in Malachi], “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

What shall we say then?  Is there injustice on God’s part?  By no means!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?  Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory — even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

The two historical cases:

Looking at Paul’s logic — because God chose one of Abraham’s spouses over the others, it follows that claiming descent from Abraham was not sufficient to make one an heir to God’s promise:

And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Further because God chose one of Rebekah’s twins over the other, claiming descent from Isaac was not sufficient to make one an heir to God’s promise.

And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.  And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord.  And the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

NOTE:  However, Rebekah was told that the older would serve the younger.  Given the Lord’s vernacular for presidency/leadership as voluntary servitude – perhaps this was a misunderstood revelation, and that misunderstanding led things to play out the way they did.  Just a thought.

The extrapolated case:

From these two historical cases, Paul theroizes that it is then likewise true that claiming to be “of Israel” cannot demonstrate that a person is right with God [or justified].

The implication made by using Abraham and Isaac as examples, is that being a justified believer is still a function of God’s choice [like choosing Sarah's son over Hagar's, and choosing one of Rebekah's sons over the other].   He either made you for glory or for wrath and you are in no place to dispute His choice for you.

This is the Calvinistic doctrine of “irresistible grace” — wherein they conclude that it is not possible for humans to have any role in justification — because how could we do anything more than God could do Himself?

What about faith?

However, Paul consistently stresses “faith” as the means of access to God and to a justified state with Him:

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.  Is he the God of the Jews only?  is he not also of the Gentiles?  Yes, of the Gentiles also:  Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

and

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

and

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.

and

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

and

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Faith = Word of God + Belief + the Spirit:

So, if humans have access to God by virtue of faith — then it must still be God’s irresistible choice as to who “gets faith” and who does not — right?  To answer this question, it requires one to look at Alma’s preaching on the subject of faith that is found in Alma 32:

Now, we will compare the word unto a seed.

Equating the word of God with a seed is also done in Luke 8: 11;  1 Peter  1: 23; Romans 10: 17; and Galatians 3: 2-9.  The farmer analogy is quite accurate.  The right-brain-hearts of humans are soil, which can be at varying degrees of receptiveness for the seeds, which are the various doctrines of God, the devil, and of men.  The faith that will justify a person with respect to God comes as the ever-good seed is allowed to germinate and grow in the right-brain-heart.

Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart,

This “place” is given in the right-brain-heart.  It involves the concept of yielding [Mosiah 3:19] or being lowly, humble, and teachable.  Broken soil [or a softened right-brain-heart] is a result of a person humbling him/herself — thereby having a broken heart or contrite spirit.  This is equivalent to being “poor in heart” — which Alma observed that the Zoramites were:

of whom were poor in heart, because of their poverty as to the things of the world.

In their case, worldly poverty had brought them to this “lowliness of heart” state:

And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?

Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed — yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty.

So, Alma describes two options for softening the right-brain-heart:  a person may wait for certain circumstances to bring about a state of humility [or soft ground], which will make him/her open and receptive to the word — or a person may exercise self-motivation by virtue of the power of the word alone [motivated by the promises of the Lord], and give place for that seed on his/her own.

Also, if a person’s circumstances do not cause him/her to be humble and they cannot seem to humble themselves before the Lord, then the Lord provides another tool for a man or woman to obtain the required humility:  fasting and prayer.

Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

This is how the ancients did it, because this is how it is done.

Continuing one with Alma’s preaching in chapter 32:

behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed,

The seed Alma spoke of was:

the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.

This is the ever-good seed.  Any seed that is planted and persuades a person to believe in and plant this ever-good seed, is also a good seed.  While any seed that is planted and persuades a person not to believe in and plant the ever-good seed, is not a good seed.  None of this has anything to do with religion or churches.  All seeds are judged to be good or evil by how they measure up to the ever-good seed and whether they point people towards, or away from, it:

For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.

Continuing on in Alma 32:

if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord,

Unbelief is equated by Alma with resistance.  Resistance requires effort or work.  It means to oppose with force. The opposite of resisting would be to bow, give in, submit, succumb, surrender, or yield.  All of these words imply a lack of effort or ceasing to work.

As belief is an entirely passive act, any effort whatsoever on a person’s part will stand as an obstacle or impediment to the formula for obtaining faith.  It is like someone pushing you and simply allowing yourself to be pushed — or being in a river that is pushing you downriver and allowing yourself to be carried along.  No effort.  This is belief.

The moment there is resistance [in the slightest degree] to that push, even to just change the direction of travel one inch, it will decrease belief — ultimately turning it into its opposite [disbelief or doubt], which is a state of resistance to the Spirit of the Lord.

behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves — It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

This is a formula — akin to a scientific equation or cooking recipe.  Following the steps with the outlined ingredients will always produce the same result.  If a person varies one step or another — or rationalizes that a certain step is not required — or puts in some of their own effort into the formula — anything different causes “user error” and faith will not result.

The desire to believe:

But what can a person a person do if he/she is having problems with the formula?  There are certain signs following them that believe.  The purpose of these signs is to give the professed believer [and also the church] a means to discern justified believers in Christ [saints, who possess faith] from non-justified believers in Christ [Christians, who do not possess faith] — this is the fruit by which you may know them.  If one finds that he/she is not able to:

In my name they shall do many wonderful works; In my name they shall cast out devils; In my name they shall heal the sick; In my name they shall open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf; And the tongue of the dumb shall speak; And if any man shall administer poison unto them it shall not hurt them; And the poison of a serpent shall not have power to harm them.

or

And these signs shall follow them that believe — in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover; And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth.

Then Alma advises that:

But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words

What will “awake and arouse your faculties”?  This was mentioned earlier in describing how to soften the soil:

• One could be compelled by circumstances to have a desire to believe.
• One could be motivated by virtue of the promises of the Lord in His word to desire to believe.
• One could fast and pray until a desire to believe stirs in his/her right-brain-heart.

Again, “let this desire work in you” is the same as being in that river of water that is pushing you downriver, and instead of resisting, just allowing yourself to be carried along.

God’s will is your faith:

God works according to the faith of the children of men — meaning according to the formula outlined above.  Thus, the doctrine of God saving people by virtue of His will and choice is true.  However, that He works according to our faith means that His “choice” cannot be outside the bounds of an agent’s faith.

There is no such thing as something operating solely according to the will of God without the context of our faith.  Things operate solely according to the faith of agents — and this is God’s will.  This is why, for example, when Alma and Amulek were beholding the destruction of the saints by fire — and Amulek says to Alma:

How can we witness this awful scene?  Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us [which power comes by faith], and save them from the flames.

we read that Alma replies:

The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand.

Because Alma and Amulek had the faith to stop the destruction — the Spirit needed to tell them that they should not use their gift because there was a wiser purpose in letting the saints die.  Should it be the case that God’s will can be done without regard for an agent’s faith — then there would have been no purpose in the Spirit telling Alma anything.  Alma would have just stretched forth his hand and watched as the flames kept on burning [Much like what many LDS experience with priesthood healings, etc.].

The principle is that God must act where there is faith, so the Spirit had to tell Alma not extend his hand [not to exercise his faith] so that the destruction would not stop.

Also, there are two examples from Paul.  In 1 Corinthians 14, he gives a command that members of the church who possess the gift of tongues refrain from using their gift in church meetings whenever a member with the gift of interpretation of tongues is not present:

…let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church;

No such instruction would be needed unless the gifts are available to be used at will by those who have faith.  If the gifts worked according to God’s will and choice alone, then the Spirit would simply not manifest tongues in cases when an interpreter was absent — and no one would need instruction from Paul.

Also, in Acts 21, we see Paul in a similar circumstance as Alma and Amulek.  Paul is told twice, through the gift of prophecy, not to go to Jerusalem.  In the wording of the Alma 14 story we could say:  ”The Spirit constraineth Paul that he must not go forth unto Jerusalem.“

And finding disciples, we tarried [at Tyre] seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.

and

And as we tarried [at Ptolemais] many days, there came down from Judæa a certain prophet, named Agabus.  And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.  And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

Yet, while Alma and Amulek chose to submit their faith to what the Spirit had told them — Paul chooses otherwise.  Exercising his faith — Paul feels it better to die at Jerusalem for the name of Jesus Christ.  When the people saw that Paul could not be persuaded, they acknowledged that:

The will of the Lord be done.

And His will is done — in these examples and in the example of exercising faith unto salvation.  It is God’s will that people work according to their faith — and His will is done when faith is used.  With respect to salvation, God chooses every person that He has the power to choose — and He only has power where there is faith.  Thus He “chooses” all those who have faith.

Next Article by Justin:

Previous Article by Justin:  The Tribal Church

See also:  The Faith of God Series, FPR post on LDS Cessationism, T&S post on LDS Cessationism, and W&T post on Alma 32

Introducing a new bartering currency—the first coin: 1/2 Troy oz pure silver .999 fine

For the past several weeks, the Spirit has been guiding me through strange paths.  It all began a week or two prior to November 1st…

Guidance Sought

A crisis was happening in my family which required a solution that I couldn’t provide.  As I analyzed the situation, it became apparent that I could not proceed further without guidance from the Lord.  So, I began to fast (no food or water for days) and to pray in earnest, even retiring to a local mountain to pray openly to the Lord at midday and evening hours.  In addition to the family crisis, though, the country’s economic situation was pressing upon my mind.  With these mental burdens, I asked for a specific solution to my family crisis and also a way to escape the economic bombs beginning to explode around us all.

(In case the reader is unaware of what is coming down the pike, I refer you to LEAP/Europe2020′s latest economic prediction along with their 27 other previous predictive announcements concerning the Global Systemic Crisis that we are currently in.)

Prophecy Received

My family, and especially my wife, were all getting nervous, as I had no solution to the family crisis and could only reply, “I am waiting for an answer from the Lord.”  Each day that went by I expected to receive an answer in one form or another, yet nothing came.  No dream, no vision, no whisperings, no angelic visits, no divinely-inspired human intervention, nothing.  In fact, not only were there no prophetic or revelatory dreams, but there were no dreams whatsoever.  I was receiving a complete blank, as if the heavens had closed themselves, yet the Spirit of the Lord had not left me and I was still full of faith and confident that the Lord had a solution to our family crisis.

Nevertheless, my poor wife had to endure day after day of me telling her that the Lord had not yet spoken to me and that we needed to wait a little longer.  And then, sometime during the last week of October, I suddenly received three prophecies from the Spirit, which had nothing whatsoever to do with solving our family crisis.  Yet, these prophecies confirmed to me that I was still right before the Lord and that I was going to receive an answer.  And so I patiently waited…

My Prayer Answered

On the 28th of October, a friend emailed me and out of the blue asked me a question concerning silver.  I hadn’t spoken to him about silver in a long time, so it was quite unexpected.  I called him back to answer his question and we talked at length about the silver situation.  During that conversation he said something that triggered a confirmation of the Spirit, meaning that as he spoke the words the Spirit indicated to me that I was to pursue a course that would focus all my time, means and efforts on silver.

After the telephone conversation, I breathed a sigh of relief and joyously told my wife the good news that the Lord had finally responded and that He was to going to direct me in a course that had something to do with silver.

The next day, I did some research, and made some additional discoveries concerning silver.  These discoveries were likewise learned with confirmatory manifestations from the Spirit.  Apparently, I was going to be guided step-by-step and day-by-day in what I was to do and where I was to go and was to be given a little bit here and a little bit there, with doors opening up miraculously when they seemed to be impossibly shut.  The Spirit plainly indicated that this was the Lord’s work, not mine.

Each day that went by, the strangeness of it all started to become clearer.  I found myself traveling south of the border several times, in search of silver.  To illustrate just how bizarre it all has been, let me mention one incident.  I had a married couple give great sums of cash money to me, as in three thousand dollars taped to my abdomen (in case I was robbed), to get silver for them in a foreign country.  How strange is that?  Who in their right mind would hand over 3 grand cash to someone and send them into another country to purchase silver for them?  Yet, despite the risk of dishonesty on my part and the risk of me being robbed by someone (either taking the money or taking the silver from me), they had implicit trust in me and in my abilities to get them what they wanted.  And by the grace of God I was successful.

A follow-up trip down south in search of silver came up empty, though.  As I walked down the streets, having nearly exhausted my places to search, I thought, “How is it the the Lord sends me here and doesn’t provide me with what I was told to seek?  He must direct me to its location!”  And as I thought these very thoughts, with a determination to continue looking until the Spirit revealed to me the location of the metal, I found myself at an establishment that caught my eye, which, upon entering and making the acquaintance of the owner, I discovered that he was the man that the Lord had provided for me to supply me with the silver.

And then over the next days, in my interactions with this man, I met another man, who had also been prepared by the Lord to provide me with something.  And this gift from this second man, upon looking it over, was the last piece of the puzzle that I needed to finally grasp what the Lord wanted me to do.  None of these people knew, or even now know, any of the others, yet they had all been prepared by the Lord to facilitate the way.

The Mission

After looking over the gift by this last man, the Spirit impressed upon my mind that I needed to create a silver-based bartering currency and that I had to do it with urgency.  That manifestation occurred on Saturday night, the 15th of November.  I decided to base the new currency upon the Zcoin designs, according to my memory of those designs (as that website is no longer in operation), with a few changes.  That night I scribbled down some quick designs and went to sleep, with the plan that on Monday I would seek a minting company.

Sunday the 16th of November I again took up the designs and made further modifications.

Monday the 17th of November came and I began to search and call many of the major mints in the nation.  I had planned on minting a 1/20 ounce coin initially, so as I called these places I discovered that virtually no one would mint such a small coin.  Then I started to call lesser-sized mints, leaving messages for people to call me back.  As evening approached, I told my wife that I couldn’t find an appropriate mint, but not to worry, as the Lord would provide one.  I still had the ever present sense of urgency from the Spirit and despite coming up with nothing, yet I was confident that the Lord was going to push this thing through.  A short time later that same day, one particular mint called back, and as we talked, it became apparent they were the mint that the Lord had intended all along to use.

Tuesday the 18th of November brought forth another man, also prepared by the Lord, whose advice caused me to change my initial coin size from 1/20 ounce to 1/2 ounce.  Like on other occasions, the Spirit indicated to me to follow this man’s advice.

Wednesday the 19th of November finalized the details with the mint, along with the revised 1/2 ounce images, and set a price for the creation of the dies.  It was more than I could afford. I told my wife, “We are going to tighten our belts and buy nothing but the bare necessities, while I seek out the money to create the dies.  I will use every spare dime we have and add that to whatever else I can obtain to get this thing started, as I am certain this is the word of the Lord and that I must perform this thing quickly.”  I set out that night to obtain the money and came back empty-handed.

On Thursday morning, the 20th of November, I set my mind to diligently doing everything I could to obtain the rest of the funds needed, even if I needed to work seven days a week for two straight weeks to accomplish the task, yet all the while with the understanding that the Lord wanted this begun now, not in two weeks.

Thursday evening I returned home with a 1 oz gold coin in my hand.  A donor had decided to give it to me to use to purchase the dies.  I never asked for it.  I merely recounted to this person many of the strange occurrences that had happened on a daily basis to me over the last three or so weeks.  The Lord did the rest.

Friday the 21st of November (today), I sent off the check to the mint and finalized all the details so that they could start making the dies and also begin receiving pre-orders from people who desired to mint this currency.

My current understanding

The Lord still hasn’t revealed to me everything concerning this work, but I believe, based upon the revelations and experiences I’ve had in the past 3-5 weeks, that He intends to use this bartering currency to monetize silver and to set up a way to frustrate the secret combination’s attempt at destroying the people by destroying the government currency.  Although it does appear that the Lord is going to allow the secret combination to destroy the government currency, their plan of making it so that there will be no viable alternative (non sc-controlled) currency whereby people can transact will be frustrated by the introduction of these silver coins.

It appears that this currency will remain hidden from the view of the secret combination until they make their move to utterly destroy the dollar, at which time it will come to their attention that these silver coins are being used by people to barter and that a portion of the population is totally independent from their monetary control and power.

I foresee that the distribution of these coins will ultimately lead to the opening up of silver mines in America again, perhaps because it will be profitable to monetize the silver taken from the mines.

I foresee the time coming when the minting company will no longer accept dollars in payment of their minting operations, but will ask a percentage of the output as payment, just like me.  This will allow them to remain in business while other mints around them close their doors.  It will also make it cheaper for someone to mint coins.

The currency will ultimately be expanded to include various sizes and more than one private mint.

It may be that this is the currency that will fulfill the prophecies concerning money found in the Doctrine and Covenants.  (See The Root Cause of the Current Financial (Monetary) Crisis and Its Solution.)

That is about all I can see forward, so far.

About the Currency and How to Get It

[Updated Info: To see more photographs of the coins, visit the blog post, Bartering Currency Pictures.] Here is what the 1/2-oz coin looks like:

[Note: The "AN" is the mint mark of the American National Mint.  Both the American National Mint and The Collector's Mint are divisions of the same company: The Money Company.]

Obverse of a Proof Condition Silver 1/2-oz Bartering Currency Coin - Contrast Increased

Reverse of a Proof Condition Silver 1/2-oz Bartering Currency Coin - Contrast Increased

You’ll notice that I’ve got an anarchy symbol there (after all, I am LDS Anarchist!)  I put that symbol there so that people understand that this currency can function with or without an existing government (a State.)  Also, as it is my understanding that we are slated to be brought into tribal anarchy, I wanted that symbol to serve as a reminder to those using the currency to remain in anarchy, so that if ever the temptation to re-establish a State enters the mind of man, a glance at the coins may cause them to think twice about it and change their minds.

You can obtain the coins by ordering minting runs.  Just contact the following mint:

The Collector’s Mint

Tarzana, CA

Email: moneyco1@aol.com

Phone: 818-609-7666

Ask for Nancy or Richard

(Tarzana is in the Los Angeles area.)

When you call them up, tell them you want to “strike coins using the bartering currency dies.”  They will explain to you their striking prices.  They will also explain that the cost of using the bartering currency dies is that the die owner (me) gets one hundredth of the output.  This means that if you strike 100 coins, 1 of them gets set aside for me.  I will use this hundredth part to repair the dies if they ever break or need repair, to create new coin sizes and for other purposes.

You can bring your own .999 fine silver to the mint or you can purchase .999 fine silver from them.  They get silver at something like 15 cents above spot, so it is really cheap.  Also, you can strike coins for as low as $2.00 a coin.  For larger orders (5,000 or above), you can strike at an even cheaper price.  You can pick up your order yourself or you can have them ship it out to you.  Shipping is extra.  If you have silver, but it isn’t .999 fine, they will take it, but they must assay it and refine it, which are additional costs.  It takes about 1-2 days to strike coins, once they have the silver and planchets needed.

They will accept pre-orders now, meaning that even though it will take two weeks from today (the 21st of November) for the manufacture of the dies to be completed, anyone can call them up today and order a minting run, locking in today’s spot price of silver, and when the dies are ready, production of your order will commence.

It’s Cost-effective and Wise

If you plug in the numbers, it costs nearly the same price to purchase a 1 ounce .999 silver bullion coin as it does to mint two of these 1/2 ounce bartering coins, if you buy the silver from the mint and pick up the coins yourself.  If silver is at $10 an ounce spot price, because of its scarcity these days, you may find it sold at $14 or $15 or even more per ounce.  If you mint two of the 1/2 ounce .999 silver bullion bartering coins, you pay $10.15 for an ounce plus two $2.00 minting fees, bringing your total cost per ounce to $14.15.  Now, that is not subtracting the cost of the hundredth part which is taken out of your output, but even taking that out, were you to mint 100 pieces (ending up with 99 because of the hundredth part taken out), your total cost per ounce would still only be $14.29, which is still pretty close to the cost of a 1-ounce piece.

1/2-ounce pieces are better than 1-ounce pieces because they can purchase smaller items.  If ever we need to use this currency as actual money, smaller denominations will always be more useful than larger denominations.

Currently, in this country, you would be hard-pressed to find any silver bullion coins in the 1/2-ounce range.  Not any more, though, as I’m now introducing this first piece to the LDS public.  Use it as you wish.

As for me, I’ve accomplished this first part of the mission given me of the Lord.

Updated Info (updated on 2 Dec 2008 )

I’ve changed the above wording to reflect a hundredth part taken out instead of the original tenth part taken out as payment for use of my dies.  This makes the currency competitively priced to any 1-oz or 1/2-oz bullion silver coin.  I made this change after talking to an individual (who will remain nameless) and learning of the capitalistic endeavors being promoted now that the economy is tanking.  Although I commend them for trying to introduce silver-based money into society, and wish them the best of luck, hearing how “everybody had to get their cut” didn’t sit well with me.  The Spirit again rested upon me and gave me a great sense of urgency, so, although they invited me to participate in their scheme, it became clear that these dies must follow a different, less profit-motivated path.

So, effective immediately, with the die payment changes I’ve made, the bartering currency is now the best-priced 1/2-ounce piece in existence and can also compete with any 1-oz bullion coin out there, either beating their price, matching their price, or coming really close to matching it.  Here are the new numbers:

Minimum order = 100 coins
50 oz produces 100 1/2-oz coins
$2.00 minting charge per coin
100 coins times $2.00 = $200
50 oz of $10/oz silver = $500
1/100 of produced coins = 1 coin (this goes to the die owner)
99/100 of produced coins = 99 coins (this goes to you)

Equation: Total Minting Cost ($200) + Total Silver Cost ($500) divided by 99/100 of produced coins (99) = Total Cost Per 1/2-oz Coin ($7.07). This means that two 1/2-oz coins = $14.14 per oz (at $10/oz silver.) This is a very good price as normally two 1/2-oz coins would cost you $10 per coin with premiums, or $20 total per ounce. (For comparison to another 1/2-oz bullion coin, see how much it costs you to buy a 1/2-oz Mexican Libertad. Use a currency converter to convert pesos to dollars. Also, remember to factor in an exchange commission. You’ll see that the bartering coins are the better deal.)

Production costs are always higher for smaller denomination coins. Keep this in mind so that you don’t compare apples to oranges. Nevertheless, even comparing these 1/2-oz coins to 1-oz bullion coins, you can see that they are competitively priced. For calculations using other silver prices, see the following:

$5/oz silver = $9.09 per oz.
$6/oz silver = $10.10 per oz.
$7/oz silver = $11.11 per oz.
$8/oz silver = $12.12 per oz.
$9/oz silver = $13.13 per oz.
$10/oz silver = $14.14 per oz.
$11/oz silver = $15.15 per oz.
$12/oz silver = $16.16 per oz.
$13/oz silver = $17.17 per oz.
$14/oz silver = $18.18 per oz.
$15/oz silver = $19.19 per oz., etc.

[November 6, 2010 Update: Anyone can now purchase these coins from the mint in rolls of 25 coins, instead of having to strike 100 coins.  This should make it easier for people to obtain them.]

Next Anarchism/Anarchy article: Bartering Currency Pictures

Previous Anarchism/Anarchy article: The Root Cause of the Current Financial (Monetary) Crisis and Its Solution

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

My extended fast journal

After writing about the physical benefits of extended fasting, I decided to try it myself. As I’ve never engaged in an extended fast, this is my first foray into Moses, Gandhi, Alma and Jesus territory. I am seeking both spiritual and physical blessings with this fast and will report what I learn.

My goal is to fast at least 30 days and maybe reach the golden number of 40 days. But I’ll be happy with 30.

I started my fast Sunday night, April 6th, 2008. Here’s a quick recap.

Monday night, April 7th. I completed a 24-hour fast. Whoop-dee-doo. I do this every month. No biggie. I can handle this.

Tuesday night, April 8th. I completed a 48-hour fast. Wow. I’m impressed. I don’t think I’ve ever gone two days without a bite to eat. Strangely enough, I have no temptations and hardly any hunger. Piece of cake. I can easily reach 30 to 40 days.

Wednesday night, April 9th. Most of the day was fairly easy, though my sense of smell has gone up a notch or ten in sensitivity. I can smell every dish being cooked up from a block away. For most of the day, it’s no biggie. This evening, though, hunger hit hard. Maybe it was me watching episode after episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel, which I regularly record, that set me off on a hungering after non-spiritual physical things. I don’t know. As I don’t normally watch television, other than Bourdain and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (another Travel Channel show), I didn’t think it would hurt to keep watching my favorite shows during my time of fasting.

I was wrong.

Although my mouth normally waters while watching Bourdain stuff himself with things I have only dreamt of eating, this time I got an epiphany. My childhood dream of becoming a chef hit me again. Not that I want to change careers and work at a restaurant of my own or of another. Heaven forbid. No, but suddenly, this man who doesn’t ever cook (my wife being the chef of the house), suddenly found himself desirous to both cook and eat. Everything. Who cared what it was. But especially the good stuff. I saw my culinary experience as very limited and realized that I had to catch up. What if I died tomorrow, or on the 30th day, fasting, and never got to eat any of the good stuff? No, I now know without a shadow of a doubt, that on that 41st day will begin my newfound second profession of cook. And not just any cook, at that. I plan on making my mark on the culinary world by creating my own personal dishes, unique in all the world. Thank you Bourdain and thank you fasting.

Okay, so, now it’s the middle of the night, technically April 10 (Thursday) and I’ve somewhat gotten over the starvation I earlier experienced. Will I make it through this fast? Will I make it through tonight? Or will my strong will see me through it? I’m betting on my strong will (as I really want the spiritual and physical blessings that supposedly come from this.) This blog post will document my new journey. Anyone who wants to leave encouragement or even tell me what a stupid thing I’m doing is welcome to do so. (If I get the latter, it’ll make it all the more pleasurable to say “Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!” to the scoffers and naysayers as I recount my improved physical state and enhanced spiritual powers with a demonstration that my will is stronger than theirs.)

Note: the only thing I am ingesting during this fast is lots of water and some sea salt. I’m also ingesting a special clay, mixed in water, to help clean out the intestines.

Thursday night, April 10th. I have completed a four-day fast. Today was easy. I don’t know why.

Friday night, April 11th. I’ve got a five-day fast under my belt. I had no temptations today, whatsoever. I did feel a little tired in the late afternoon, but it didn’t last long. My wife decided this morning she would also fast to clear up some physical conditions that have not responded to medical treatment. She lasted until this evening. She says she’ll try again tomorrow. The 6th or 7th day is when the body switches signals. I look forward to finding out what this feels like.

Saturday night, April 12th. I’ve now completed a six-day fast. Still no temptations, however, I went to bed kinda early last night and overslept today. I was exhausted pretty much the whole day, with sporadic bursts of energy in between. I took a two-hour nap in the afternoon, which helped to restore energy. I hope that tomorrow I’ll be past this stage. For those who attempt an extended fast, I recommend that you time it so that your sixth or seventh day lands on a non-work day, such as the weekend, so that the fatigue doesn’t cause problems. I don’t know how long the signal switching lasts, but I’m ready for it. My wife, on the other hand, apparently has a food addiction. She tried to fast again today and lasted about 4 hours. She has now ditched the fasting idea, which is too bad, as her conditions constantly afflict her.

Sunday night, April 13th. I’ve completed a seven-day fast. It appears my appetite has completely switched off. The sight and smell of food causes no reaction. My strength has returned, too. My stomach still feels weird at times, though, from being continually empty (hunger pangs), but I have no desires to eat. I wonder if the hunger pangs will go away eventually. Today was also kind of weird as I partaking of the sacrament, as I realized I couldn’t partake of the bread, only the water. Hopefully, Heavenly Father understands the situation and blesses me according to the desires of my heart, despite partaking of a partial sacrament. It should be smooth sailing from now on until the “wolf’s appetite” arrives after the 30th day. I’ll deal with that when it comes.

Monday night, April 14th. I have completed an eight-day fast. Today was a piece of cake, or should I say, a piece of nothing? Had I known that extended fasting was this easy, I would have done it along time ago. All one has to do is get through the 3rd day and the 6-7th days and it’s easy sailing until the end. I weighed myself on a scale this morning and found that I have lost 13 pounds during this fast! I had no fatigue whatsoever today, only energy and calmness.

Tuesday night, April 15th. I now have nine days under my belt. Red areas are starting to break out in certain parts of my body. It’s not quite a rash, more like dermatitis. It doesn’t itch. In fact, I wouldn’t have known it was there until some one pointed it out to me. It is not extensive, just one or two very small spots. As the skin is an eliminative organ, this doesn’t phase me. I had plenty of energy today, no fatigue, drank lots of water, etc. Tomorrow will make the ¼ mark. Maybe I should throw a celebration or something, without the cookies and milk.

Wednesday night, April 16th. I’ve completed a 10-day fast. So far, so good. I dreamed I went to a restaurant last night and chewed a morsel of an orange, only to realize that I was fasting and attempted to spit it out, but some went down the hatch. I had a Herxheimer effect tonight for a few hours due to another healing modality I’m using, but it passed. No fatigue, plenty of energy, etc. 20 – 30 days left of this fast.

Thursday night, April 17th. 11 days down, 19-29 left. My stomach has been queasy on and off today. I trace it to that “other” healing modality I did yesterday. The red areas are not spreading, but have become more noticeable. They are drying out with small scabs. I expect they’ll fall off eventually. The bad thing is some of these areas are on my face (forehead and cheek) so people are probably going to think I’ve got some contagious disease. At least it appears to be in its “out” phase.

Saturday afternoon, April 19th. Tonight will make 13 days into this fast. 17-27 days left. The queasiness of my stomach has steadily decreased over the last two days, but occasionally I still feel it. Smelling foods and being around foods seems to help get through the days. Smelling a lemon removes queasiness temporarily. According to a friend of mine, smelling food imparts the food’s energy to the body. My 13-day experience seems to indicate that this is correct.

As I’ve been thinking a lot about food lately, I ended up inventing a novel way of serving a simple sandwich: peanut butter and jelly. Make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, pour some cold milk in a bowl, place the sandwich in the bowl so that one side soaks up the milk. Pour more milk if necessary until the one side is saturated with milk to overflowing. Flip the sandwich over using a spatula. Pour more milk until the second side is saturated. Cut the sandwich into small squares and serve immediately with a spoon. I tried it out on my youngest son. I also prepared a second peanut butter and jelly sandwich (the normal way.) He ate both. Afterward, I asked him which he preferred. His answer was the one soaked in milk.

There has been no fatigue, etc., so far. Nevertheless, I am anxious to get to the 40 day mark so that I can finally start eating again. The red spots have turned dark and dried out. I don’t know when they will fall off, but I expect it to happen soon.

One last thing: I probably won’t be writing any more original articles on this blog until this fast is over. Although I have already noticed a significant improvement in mental clarity, I’m trying to bathe as little as possible in the radiation of a computer monitor as I can. But I may still comment on posts from time to time and I will definitely continue to update this journal.

Monday night, April 21st. No I haven’t keeled over and died. However, my wife did save my life Saturday night. (It was nothing fasting related.) As I have saved her life on an occasion, which I thought would forever put her in my debt, she has now repaid the favor, so we are now even. Now back to the regularly scheduled fasting updates…

I’ve completed a 15-day fast. I am at the half-way mark for a 30-day fast. There are 15-25 days left. I feel fantastic. No loss of energy, no temptations, though I think about food constantly. I’ve even invented other culinary dishes much more complex than the simple BJM sandwich (peanut butter and jelly with milk sandwich.) The queasiness of my stomach, which was due to a accident with another healing modality that I did, has finally left. Thank goodness! I can handle hunger, but constant nausea without vomiting was driving me up the wall. My skin blotches have not entirely gone away, yet. I got a call from a good friend today to find out if I was still alive. His assessment, based upon our conversation, was that I had more energy than ever before. He’s right. I do.

Tuesday night, April 22nd. 16 days down, 14-24 days left. No changes, other than that the dry blotches are still slowly falling off. I think and talk about food constantly and need to smell all food odors around me. I am haunted by its memory. I weighed myself yesterday morning and I had lost a total of 18 pounds so far. There are still more areas where poundage can come off, so it will be interesting to see what my final weight will be. My wife said to me tonight that she will attempt a fast starting tomorrow. We’ll see.

Wednesday night, April 23rd. 17 days down, 13-23 days left. They don’t call this the hunger cure for nothing. I get really hungry at times, but without any appetite. I know it sounds like a contradiction in terms, but those who have gone through this before will understand what I’m saying. It’s a very strange sensation. My wife has fasted all day today. We’ll see if she sticks with it tomorrow.

Thursday night, April 24th. 18 days down, 12-22 days left. My skin is clearing up more and more each day. No problems, no temptations, no appetite, no loss of energy or strength, etc. My wife completed a two-day fast tonight. I’m proud of her, though she is suffering tremendously with a hungering appetite. If she can last past three days, her appetite will switch off and it’ll be much easier. We’ll see if she makes it. what4anarchy is now considering doing an extended fast, too.

Friday night, April 25th. 19 days down, 11-21 days left. It’s amazing to think I only have three weeks left of this. My wife’s will broke down this morning. She ended her fast two and a half days into it. She says she’ll try it again. The first three days really is the hardest part. No changes as far as I go. We went to a church function tonight, which, off course, had food. I hated seeing people leave food on their plate. I wanted everyone to eat every last bite. Fasting gives one a new perspective on just what a blessing food is. Also, the starving people around the world have been on my mind. I can’t bear to see food go to waste.

Saturday night, April 26th. 20 days down, 10-20 days left. About a year ago I broke my big toe in a crush injury. I have never had full mobility in it since, but I now, since fasting 20 days, have full mobility with no pain, at all. I was told that I would probably develop arthritis in the joint. If it did develop, it’s gone now. The last I checked (yesterday), I had lost a total of 19 pounds since starting the fast. My skin seems to be noticeably improving all over my body.

Monday, April 28th. 22 days down, 8-18 days left. Tonight I will complete 22 days. The last few days I’ve felt nausea. I can deal with hunger, but constant nausea drives me up the wall. I found that a broken cinnamon stick right under the nose so that I am continually smelling it takes away the nausea. Today, I’ve had minimal nausea. It appears to be going away. Also, there is a bump or inflammation in my throat, at the back of my mouth. It’s been there for days. It feels like a hair stuck there. Again, it is driving me crazy, but it, also, is diminishing. I want to clear my throat constantly. The red blotches have all turned very dark and are starting to lighten up to match the color of the surrounding skin. They are no longer dry or flaky or scabby, as all of that has fallen off, leaving only dark “stains” which each day lighten more and more. It still looks like I got some vile skin disease, though, as they are in a very noticeable area (the forehead.)

I broke my big toe last year (a crush injury) which prohibited me from full mobility and what little mobility I had was with some pain. Some were of the opinion that arthritis would develop in the toe and I would always have pain and limited mobility. The other day, though, I noticed I had full mobility with no pain, whatsoever. If I did have arthritis, it appears to be gone. [Tue 29 Apr '08 update: I didn't realize I had written this same thing last Saturday. Sorry for the redundancy.]

The miracle of the toe has inspired my wife and mother to try a seven-day fast, to see if their symptoms improve any. If improvement is noticed, they will continue longer. They started last night. We’ll see how long they last.

One piece of advice to any who wish to start an extended fast: the bowels should be purged first before beginning the fast. The best way to purge bowels is through squatting.

Tuesday, April 29th. 23 days down, 7-17 days left. Still going strong. I’ve learned that the nausea is caused by the lymphatic system dumping an overabundance of toxins into the liver, which then delivers bile to the stomach to attempt to get me to vomit it out. In other words, this is a detoxification symptom. Though less today, there is still some nausea. I’ll just have to wait it out.

Thursday, May 1st. 25 days down, 5-15 days left. Tonight will make 25 days on this fast. It’ll take me at least 10 days to get off of it gradually. Will I make it to the magic number 40? I am anxious for the end to come, but very curious as to when the “wolf’s appetite” will hit. Spiritual benefits have already been manifested. A couple of nights ago I received a prophetic dream which woke me up. About 45 minutes later the prophecy was fulfilled. (Unfortunately, it wasn’t a “good” prophecy.) At any rate, though, it is good to know that extended fasting does work as promised to increase one’s faith so that spiritual gifts already possessed are enhanced or new spiritual gifts are obtained. My skin blotches are now nearly faded away. My wife lasted but one day on her fast, but my mother, who it turns out started her fast last Saturday afternoon, is still going strong. She has a surgery scheduled for next month (a replacement) that she is hoping to avert by curing her condition with fasting, so she is a bit more motivated than my wife.

Friday, May 2nd. 26 days down, 4-14 days left. Tonight will make 26 days on this fast. Two weeks left, unless I decide to go for a record. (Highly doubtful.) A mystic intellectual (strange mix) friend of mine thinks I have sufficient mental and spiritual constitution to go past the “wolf’s appetite” phase and just live on the Spirit. She may be right, but my goal in this fast is just to clear up certain physical ailments and to gain more spiritual powers. When those physical ailments are gone, I will stop. The next time I do this—and there will be a next time, as I now see that faith is rapidly increased on an extended fast, and I desire even greater faith—it will be a strictly spiritual fast, to obtain the spiritual gifts that I do not yet have and to obtain the higher manifestations of the gifts that I do have. I’d also, one day, like to get to the point of Moses, who apparently went 40 days and 40 nights without food or water. That requires living on the Spirit from the get go. My mother is still going strong on her fast, too. (Almost six days now.) Oh, yeah, and I weighed myself today and have lost a total of 23 pounds on this fast.

Monday, May 5nd. 29 days down, 1-11 days left. Tonight will make 29 days on this fast. It looks like I’ll be going at least 40 days on this fast. Although one of the two conditions I was hoping to clear up appears to be completely gone, the other condition is not, yet, entirely eliminated, even though each day it gets better. I will fast until the second ailment has entirely disappeared. If, though, it disappears and the “wolf’s appetite” hasn’t struck, I’ll wait until my appetite comes, then stop. If the appetite strikes and the condition is not completely gone, I’ll ignore the appetite until the condition is gone, then stop. That is my plan. I don’t care if it takes 40 or more days. I suppose all the medications I took as a kid (steroids, etc.) have accumulated in my cells and my body is now scouring every last nook and cranny, trying to get rid of all foreign substances. This is, in fact, what happens with extended fasts. The first part all the “obvious” poisons are gotten rid of, the second half of the fast is dedicated to removing the junk from all “hidden” spots. Each day you extend it, more garbage is found and thrown out. Eventually, I’ll be completely clean of the medications. I believe it is the medications, as I’ve been a fairly good eater pretty much all my life.

This is not to say that the fast is easy. It is not. It is very hard. It takes guts to go cold turkey like I’ve done. Usually, fasting experts suggest you build up to long fasts with short ones, using juice fasts, etc. I don’t recommend doing what I’ve done unless you’ve got what it takes. I am extremely motivated, though, so I don’t mind passing through 40 days of absolute hell and boredom. On other news, my mother lasted almost nine days on her fast and today she decided to wean herself off of it. She experienced lightheadedness, dizziness, nausea, weakness, etc. She will go through with her surgery, even though a slew of ailments she has always had have disappeared in the last nine days, including the limp she used to have.

Wednesday, May 7th. 31 days down, 9 days left. Tonight will make 31 days on this fast. I was just about ready to throw in the towel last night. The last few days my salivary glands have been overactive, salivating constantly. Plus, I have had to expel phlegm continuously. Not the green or orange stuff, but even though it is white, I know it is toxic because after clearing my throat and spitting it out a few times, I’m left with a putrid taste in my mouth. I’ve got to brush my teeth often to get the taste out of my mouth. This has become quite an inconvenience as I need to spit all the time and it has been affecting my work. I was left with a decision: continue on and have my work disrupted or discontinued (for a time) or stop before the body had cleared out everything. Initially, I decided in favor of work and putting food on the table. But then I reconsidered. The Lord has always provided for us, even miraculously in the toughest of times. I’ve made it a practice to try to always live by faith. Why change now, right? So, I’m pushing on. Still no appetite. Yesterday I weighed myself and found that I’ve lost a total of 26 pounds, so far. There are a few more areas of stored fat that can be melted away, so I expect to lose even more. Even so, I look extremely skinny. Not skin and bones, but muscle, skin and bones, as I’ve lost none of my muscle fiber. However, the muscle is now lean muscle, not fatty muscle, and I can finally see clearly just how much actual muscle tissue I have on my body. The last few days I’m having a hard time getting water down the hatch. Water gives me the chills. Also, I’m unbelievably cold all of the time. I need to wear layered clothing all the time. Go figure with all the insulating fat I’ve lost. One other thing, I now have times of lack of energy. I need to take rests often. My mystic friend says the last ten days of a 40 day fast is the hardest part. She says to keep in mind that I am on “nature’s operating table” and to take it easy. Whatever is happening in my body must be radically altering every part of the organism.

Friday, May 9th. 33 days down, 7 days left. Tonight will make 33 days on this fast. Although I am encouraged that I only have a week left to complete 40 days, the last few days have been absolute hell on earth and very discouraging, to say the least. First of all, my appetite still hasn’t returned. When will it, I wonder? What if the 40th day comes and still no appetite? Should I still push on until the body has completely cleaned itself? How long will this fast have to last? Then there was (and still is, to some extent) the horrendous experiences of the last few days. Imagine the worst tasting medicine you’ve ever had to ingest. Now imagine tasting that medicine 24-hours a day for days at a time. This is what I’ve been going through. I was nearly brought to tears yesterday by this purging process. Granted, yesterday was not as bad as the day before yesterday, meaning that that the taste was not as strong, but it was nonetheless constant with no solution in sight other than waiting out the purging of these synthetic chemicals embedded in my organism. I remember being sick all the time as a kid—I was the boy in the bubble, just like John Travolta, except only in the hospital “oxygen bubble bed,” nine times before the age of nine due to pneumonia—but I had no idea until a couple of days ago when I asked my mother that I had received pharmaceuticals from the get go, from birth onward. She had attempted to limit the amount of medications the doctors wanted to administer to me, but I still got a fairly decent dosage on a daily basis, year after year after year. Now the “miracle” of modern medicine is being purged out of my system and I am suffering to an extent I had not anticipated. Hopefully today and subsequent days will not be as bad as the last few days.

Tuesday, May 13th. I completed a total of 34 ½ days, ending the fast on Sunday, May 11th. I came up about 8-10 hours short of completing a full 35 days, or seven weeks. The medicine taste was too much for too many days. So, I decided to cut the fast short. As it is, I’m still detoxifying (spitting up toxic goo and poisoned saliva).

Alma, Jesus, Moses and the other saints in former ages never had it quite like we do. Unlike them, we are totally surrounded with chemicals, from pesticides and herbicides in our plant foods, to chemical leakage into our water tables (yes, even trace pharmaceuticals are found in our water supply), to deodorants, air fresheners and disinfectants sprays in the air we breath (inside), to smog and other air pollutants (outside), to chemically treated and laundered clothes that we wear against our bodies all day and all night, to all the chemicals we use to clean things with, including our own bodies. Then, of course, there are the chemicals (pharmaceuticals) that we partake of when sick. This environment is so polluted with artificial substances that it is virtually impossible to escape it. Even getting your own piece of land and growing your own food doesn’t guarantee that the ground underneath you is not polluted to some extent. You’d have to start with new, clean soil (such as Square Foot Gardening) and purified water (using something like a Berkeley water filter) to begin a new, clean cycle, which is not something everyone can do.

When faced with such pollutions, it is only natural that the body’s natural defenses to cast out the bad and keep in the good would eventually be overrun. Especially since none of us are even taught the proper way of expelling the bad (squatting), which causes us to keep it in, compacting it and making ourselves a toxic breeding ground. It is only logical, then, that our bodies contain embedded poisons accumulated over years of bad living, or even just living in a polluted environment, compounded by direct injection of those same chemical poisons in the form of pharmaceuticals under the guise of medicine.

The saints in former ages never had to deal with this. Their extended fasts were purely spiritual feasts. Detoxification wasn’t an issue. Their water, food, clothing, air, soil, and environment didn’t contain the pollutions ours does. Although they may have ate an improper diet, according to some modern researchers, as they squatted and did other anatomically proper movements, their bodies were more or less able to get whatever bad was in, out. Thus, their fasts were not for physical benefits, though undoubtedly, they experienced physical benefits. And I highly doubt they experienced detoxification like I have been going through.

When one’s body is detoxifying in such an extreme and rapid manner, such as what I experienced, it becomes a bit more difficult to focus on the spiritual aspects of the fast. All your mind can focus on is: when will the suffering end? This is not the right environment for spiritual fasting. Nevertheless, I have grown spiritually on this fast.

I’ve also grown in knowledge about the body in general, especially about my own body. I now realize that I have more embedded synthetics (chemicals) in my body than I realized. 35 days was not enough to clear them all out. I needed more time. Perhaps as long as 10 or more days. I now believe I understand to a greater degree the underlying causes of the two physical conditions I had hoped to clear up. Although certain raw-foodists will cry out: Cooked food is poison!, the truth of the matter is, what came out of me, that put me in hell for days on end, was not cooked food, but pharmaceuticals. Cooking food may change the chemical composition of the foods, but in no way or not to the same degree as synthetics. Chemicals are the real poison. The body can deal with many cooked foods. It cannot deal with chemicals. I see this clear as water now.

One of the two conditions I had appears to be gone, however, as I did not complete the entire duration of the fast—as my appetite never came back, because I was still detoxifying and my body still had stored energy that was not used up—I am going to assume that possibly it did not fully get cured and that it may still return. The other condition was clearing up, but not fully cleared up, either. So, what this means is that I will have to perform yet another fast of extended duration and this time take it to completion.

However, before I attempt this again, I will take some time out to try to detoxify using other means as much as possible. Luckily, there are other means available that don’t require one to taste medicine continuously.

All in all, this was a successful experiment, I’d say. I’ve learned much, gained more faith, am definitely healthier and now know for sure that going without food for 35 days does not kill a man, as long as he is drinking water. I’ve lost a lot of weight, but I expect to gain it back. This time, though, it will be healthier flesh than what I lost. Not the toxin-loaded cells that I discarded.

I’ve got about one more week to wean myself off this fast. As of today, I’m drinking pure, fresh-squeezed juice. My appetite is beginning to really (finally!) open up, too.

Thursday, May 15th. I was supposed to start eating yogurt today but instead had a cup last night with chopped strawberries mixed in. It sat well, but began producing gas in the intestines. Today I’ve continued with the yogurt with fresh, whole, chopped (and also liquified) fruits mixed in. The gas continues to bubble in there, but it is not uncomfortable or painful. I chose to use whole milk yogurt from cows that aren’t treated with growth hormone (and that have probiotic cultures, etc.) It is just plain yogurt which I sweeten by the fruit. To be truthful, normally I don’t enjoy plain yogurt sweetened by fruit. But for some strange reason, it now tastes good to me, or at least, I can eat the whole thing without complaining. It is also really filling. I’m also drinking straight water now, lots of it, with no more medicine taste and no more need to put lemon juice in it (to overpower the taste of the medicine.) My salivary glands have completely calmed down, too. I no longer need to spit or clear my throat of saliva. All in all, I’m feeling fantastic, though I do look really skinny.

Friday, May 16th. This will be my last update. Tonight marks 40 days from when I first started this fast. I feel fantastic. I have successfully transitioned into eating a normal diet now. I want to mention and link to a free, online book written by Arnold Ehret called Rational Fasting: Regeneration Diet And Natural Cure For All Diseases taken from this page. It is in the public domain so anyone can download and read it. It contains an interesting theory as to why fasting works to cure so many illnesses so quickly. It also goes into the fact that all those who worked miracles were ascetics, who fasted much, whereas today we have many preachers who pray much and preach much but who do no miracles, as they fast very little. I had originally intended to wait maybe year before attempting another extended fast, however, as I was not able to fully cleanse my body, I plan on waiting some time, gaining strength, weight and experience, and then engaging in another extended fast, which I now think I should be able to easily go through to completion, as my understanding of how and why the body works, and how to control it, has been enlightened tremendously. When I perform the next extended fast, I will be sure to write another public journal on the experience. In the meantime, I plan on doing short fasts of one or two days from time to time. This is still a new experiment for me, but the results produced, despite the period of suffering I went through, were well worth the time, effort and diligence required. As I said, I feel fantastic. Everything tastes wonderful. I feel like much has been cleared out, but not everything. My confidence is soaring. My mind is sharper than ever before. My faith has grown stronger. All things considered, this has been a marvelous experience and I recommend it to everyone.

The End

(until the next extended fast journal, that is)

Previous Fasting article: Extended fasting: a cure for all spiritual AND PHYSICAL ailments

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Extended fasting: a cure for all spiritual AND PHYSICAL ailments

Fasting is a faith amplifier or multiplier. By voluntarily reducing our bodies’ reliance upon food, we increase its reliance upon Spirit. We can then increase our portion of the Spirit by coupling it with prayer and righteous living. This can lead to a greater probability of receiving whatever spiritual blessing we are seeking.

Spiritual blessings are essentially spiritual remedies for spiritual ailments. For example, the spiritual gift of belief cures the spiritual condition called doubt. The spiritual gift of charity cures the spiritual condition known as fear. And so on and so forth.

When we are afflicted with spiritual ailments, sometimes mere prayer, scripture study, and other typical activities of LDS are simply not enough. However, the Lord, in his mercy, has given us yet another tool, fasting, to use in our search for healing.

When the scriptures talk of fasting, they say that the saints of former dispensations “fasted much and prayed much” and “fasted often.” But these are relative terms. How often is “often?” How much is “much?” Different people will give different definitions. Proper frequency and proper length will vary according to person and circumstance.

One thing we do know is that the most spiritual people ever to exist on this planet engaged in extended fasting. For example, Moses engaged in a fast of 40 days and 40 nights without any food or water. (See Ex. 34: 28 and Deut. 9: 9.) Jesus likewise engaged in a fast of 40 days and 40 nights. (See Matt. 4: 2 and Luke 4: 2.) And Alma said that he fasted “many days” to gain the spiritual gifts he ended up possessing. (See Alma 5: 46.)

It is instructive that of the three persons mentioned above, two of them ended up getting translated. If translation isn’t evidence of how far advanced your spiritual state is, then I don’t know what is.

We LDS are accustomed to think of fasting as producing spiritual blessings, but physical blessings also accompany its practice. In fact, the Lord has given us at least three means to overcome physical ailments: the gifts of healing, herbs and mild food, and extended fasting.

Think about it. Whenever you get sick, your body’s first or initial reaction is to reject food. You stop eating because fasting is a mechanism of healing. What most people, including LDS, don’t know is that extended fasting heals just about anything. To demonstrate this principle, I quote in its entirety a newspaper article on the healing effects of extended fasting:

Soviet Cure-All: Eat Nothing for 30 Days

By Murray Seeger

Times Staff Writer

MOSCOW—Vladimir Leshkovtsev had the flu and was sore all over. The doctors he saw told him he had infectious metabolic polyarthritis.

The doctors treated Vladimir for six weeks but he felt no better. He decided to be his own doctor and to follow a radical course of treatment he had only heard about.

For 45 days, Vladimir ate nothing. He drank lots of water, but had no solid food. He lost 44 pounds and got rid of his arthritis. And he has not seen a doctor for the last 10 years since then.

The experience of Vladimir Leshkovtsev, a physicist and writer, is only one of thousands of cases of remarkable recoveries claimed in the Soviet Union for what advocates call the “hunger cure.”

Besides arthritis, advocates claim controlled starvation will cure almost everything from eczema to hardening of the arteries. It is recommended for some cases of gallstones and pancreatitis.

The method is used to treat schizophrenic patients and others with less serious neurotic afflictions—fears of crowds, darkness, strangers, infections and sharp objects, and it is effective for people who only think they are sick.

“Leshkovtsev was in great danger of becoming an invalid,” Dr. Yuri Nikolayev of the Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry observed. “The experiment conducted by him is one of the most successful cases of healing.”

The Soviet Union, which has one of the largest and best organized systems of public health protection in the world, has several clinics devoted to research and practice of the hunger cure.

In the clinic he heads, Dr. Nikolayev specializes in using controlled starvation to treat mental disorders. Another clinic at Patrice Lumumba Friendship University has used the same method to treat psoriasis and at the First Medical Institute hunger is prescribed to cure other skin disorders.

Other Soviet doctors have written papers on their successes in treating metabolism, disorders, bronchial asthma, hypertension, gallstones, tumors, pancreatitis and early forms of artery hardening.

“There is a German saying that ‘the illness which cannot be cured by fasting cannot be cured by anything else,’” Dr. Nikolayev said in a statement in the Moscow News.

The physician traced the origins of hunger therapy to ancient Egypt, Greece and India. Starting in the 18th century, Russian doctors at Moscow University experimented with the treatment, beginning a series of case histories that is still being extended.

“Our innovation,” Dr. Nikolayev said, “is that we initiated the use of controlled hunger for the treatment of psychic disorders, primarily sluggish forms of schizophrenia.

“Particularly good results have been obtained in the treatment of hypochondriac conditions when patients are over-anxious about their health, are likely to greatly exaggerate their existing ailments and believe they are suffering from diseases which they do not have.”

Dr. Nikolayev cautioned that the hunger treatment should be administered only under carefully controlled conditions. The patient and his relatives must approve the procedure and the patient is thoroughly examined before the treatment starts.

Food intake is not halted until the physicians are sure the patient will not have a negative reaction. He receives no drugs during the treatment which lasts from 20 to 40 days.

“Before the commencement of abstinences, the patient’s intestines are purged,” Dr. Nikolayev said.

“He is given a great deal of water, a hydro treatment every morning, general massage and baths. Our patients spend most of their time in the open.”

A patient’s appetite disappears in the first three to five days and he no longer reacts to the sight or smell of food or the rattling of dishes, he said.

“However, pleasant memories of food persist, particularly if the patient is not distracted from such thoughts,” Dr. Nikolayev continued. “This is when the experience of the doctor and psychotherapy help.”

The crisis for the patient comes on the sixth or seventh day of treatment. He begins to feel heavy because his body is switching signals to start consuming stored fat.

After a few more days, the patient passes the crises and gains a feeling of euphoria. The patient’s symptoms begin to disappear and he feels very good, until the stored energy source is consumed.

This occurs after about 30 days, the doctor said. By that time, the patient’s tongue is clean, his skin color is a healthy pink, bad breath disappears and he develops a “wolf’s appetite.”

“This is when the most important process commences—the process of rehabilitation,” Dr. Nikolayev asserted.

Food is reintroduced to the patient slowly. First, he is given diluted fruit juices, then whole juices and grated fruit mixed with yogurt. These are followed by cooked vegetables and boiled cereals. Near the 40th day, normal eating is resumed.

Meanwhile, the patient has lost 15% to 20% of his body weight. If the patient’s ailment is obesity, the weight loss can be even greater.

“For instance, some time ago, two brothers applied to our clinic,” Dr. Nikolayev recalled. “The elder of the two weighed 210 kilograms (462 pounds) and the younger 175 (385 pounds). They could hardly pass through the door.

“Having taken the hunger cure, both patients lost half of their original weight and both feel quite well now.”

The doctor said the hunger treatment gives the entire nervous system and the brain a rest. The body is cleaned of poisons and the tissues and glands renovated.

Resting the brain “forms the basis for the treatment of neuropsychic disorders,” he added.

Why is self-imposed starvation healthful when involuntary starvation is harmful? The difference, Dr. Nikolayev asserted, is that under involuntary starvation the body dies from poisons contained within itself.

“In our case, we try by all means to withdraw endotoxins from the body as soon as possible,” the doctor said.

“Altogether, we have treated some 7,000 patients at our clinic. Our extensive experience enables us to broaden the range of application of this method and to take up the treatment of cases formerly considered hopeless.”

The doctor recalled one patient who was starved for 50 days in order to achieve a cure. Leshkovstev, who starved himself for 45 days, joined the ranks of the “record setters,” the doctor observed.

Since taking the tough, self-imposed cure, Leshkovstev has maintained his health by careful dieting and annual fasts of eight to 10 days.

Dr. Nikolayev acknowledged the success of Leshkovstev’s experiment, but recommended against others trying the same method “without any medical control.”

“A cure by fasting is a very complicated method connected with a profound reorganization of the organism.”

Mon. Apr. 3, 1972

Los Angeles Times

Fasting resources

You can read a free, online book called Fasting, Hydropathy and Exercise by Bernarr Macfadden or you can go to www.fasting.com to obtain extended fasting programs. You may also read my own extended fast journal.

Next Fasting article: My extended fast journal

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