Note: This was originally written as an explanatory tract for non-Mormons. I have left it almost intact, with very slight modifications, but added, as usual, something brand-spanking new. (Otherwise, what’s the point, right?)
Moses uttered the following prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:
The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)
The Christians believe this Prophet is Jesus Christ; the Muslims believe this Prophet is Mohammed; one of the Jewish rabbis teaches that this Prophet is Joshua, who succeeded Moses; and some Christians believe this Prophet is the Elijah/Elias who restores all things.
What do the Mormons believe? We believe that this Prophet is Jesus Christ. With this post I’m going to show why Jesus Christ fulfills this prophecy of being the Prophet who is like unto Moses, how all of this will be fulfilled and when it will be fulfilled. (Although Mormons and Christians both correctly believe that Christ is the Prophet Moses spoke of, I’m not sure that either group fully understands how Moses’s prophecy must and will be entirely fulfilled.)
A four-part prophecy
There are four parts to Moses’s prophecy: 1- That there will be a Prophet raised up in the midst of the house of Israel, of the house of Israel, who is like unto Moses, who will have the words of God in His mouth; 2- That this Prophet will speak to the house of Israel all the words that God will command Him to speak to them (which are the words of God); 3- That the house of Israel will hearken to (listen to and obey) the Prophet; and 4- That any individual who refuses to hearken to (listen to and obey) the words that the Prophet speaks to the house of Israel will be condemned by God.
Part One: A Prophet raised among Israel, of Israel, like Moses, and having God’s words
The first part of Moses’s prophecy reads:
The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me;…I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth;
It must be understood, first of all, that Deuteronomy chapter 18 is part of a sermon given to all the tribes of Israel by Moses, which begins in chapter 5:
And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. (Deuteronomy 5:1)
So, when Moses says in chapter 18, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,” he is talking to the entire assemblage of Israel, which were all the twelve tribes of Israel gathered around to hear his sermon. This prophecy, then, must be applied to the whole house of Israel, and not to just one part.
Okay, so Moses says that the Prophet will be raised up by God unto thee (the house of Israel.) In other words, this isn’t a prophet sent to the Gentiles, but to the house of Israel. This first point allows us to eliminate every prophet of God that is sent to a Gentile nation. None of such prophets are the Prophet spoken of by Moses.
Next, Moses says that the Prophet will be raised up by God from the midst of thee (the house of Israel.) This means that the man will be born and raised in one of Israel’s tribal lands of inheritance. He won’t be born in a Gentile nation, but in a nation of Israel. And he will be surrounded by others of the house of Israel, of whatever tribe the land happens to be. Again, this eliminates everyone that is born and raised in a Gentile nation.
Then Moses says that the Prophet will be raised up by God of thy (Israel’s) brethren. Now, the brethren of Israel are the twelve brothers who became the twelve tribes. These are the brethren Moses was referring to. For example, the brothers of the tribe of Gad are the other 11 tribes, and so forth. So, Moses doesn’t specify which tribal lineage the Prophet will have, but these words indicate that the man will have a tribal lineage of the house of Israel, and not merely be a Gentile born and raised in one of Israel’s tribal lands. This eliminates everyone who is not of the blood of one of the tribes of Israel.
To recap: this Prophet will be raised up by God to (or for) the entire house of Israel and He will be raised up from the midst of the house of Israel, that is, the Prophet will be raised up in one of the tribal lands of inheritance of Israel, and will be living in the midst of the house of Israel, being surrounded by other Israelites, and also He will be of the brethren of Israel, that is, of the twelve brothers (or tribes) that make up Israel.
Eliminated so far: Mohammed and the Elias/Elijah who restores all things
Thus far, with the facts we have established so far, the man Mohammed, who is proclaimed by Muslims to be the Prophet that Moses spoke of, is completely eliminated. He was born and raised in Mecca, which is not a tribal land of Israel, nor was he in the midst of the house of Israel. Instead, he was surrounded by descendants of Ishmael, not of Jacob through Isaac. The Muslims claim that the descendants of Ishmael count as the “brothers” of Israel, but they do not. The brothers of Israel are the twelve sons of Israel, who are the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob’s brother was Esau, not Ishmael. Jacob’s father was Isaac, who had a brother from another mother named Ishmael. This makes Ishmael several steps removed from the house of Israel. You have to go up the line two generations, then over to the other mother, then down. This is not what Moses was referring to. Moses’s prophecy is Israel-centric, dealing only with the house of Israel, and speaking only to and of the house of Israel. So, sorry Muslims, but Mohammed ain’t the Prophet Moses spoke of.
What about the Elias/Elijah who restores all things? Nope. It can’t be him, either. The Elias/Elijah who restores all things (Joseph-Nephi) will be of Gentile lineage, as well of the house of Joseph (both Ephraim and Manasseh) and also a descendant of Judah, therefore his lineage will be mixed. He will be raised up in a Gentile nation, as a Gentile, not knowing his Israel lineage (at first.) He will be surrounded, then, by Gentiles, and not by the house of Israel. Also, his mission isn’t Israel-centric, but encompasses both the house of Israel and the Gentiles, even the entire world. Also, this man won’t be a mere prophet, but a mighty miracle-working seer, which is greater than a prophet, so he doesn’t fit the profile, at all.
Who is not eliminated so far?
Joshua and all the other prophets of Israel who grew up in tribal lands and ministered only to the house of Israel. Given that at least one Jewish rabbi believes and teaches that Joshua is the Prophet, he is, as yet, not eliminated.
Part One continued: like Moses, and having God’s words
The Prophet will be like unto Moses. Now, the last words of the book of Deuteronomy say this:
And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel. (Deuteronomy 34:9-12)
These words altogether eliminate Joshua, despite the wisdom God gave him. The Prophet like unto Moses, then, would have to be a miracle-worker that knows God face to face. Elijah the Tishbite prophet was a miracle-worker, and thus might fit, except that Elijah wasn’t like Moses, at all. Moses was a law-giver, giving Israel a new law, even his “law of Moses,” which they had to follow from then on. All the other prophets that succeeded Moses merely told the people to repent and follow the law of Moses. Thus, the Prophet like unto Moses would have to be someone that also gave a new law, which the people would need to follow from then on. But no prophet of Israel did this, except for one: Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, in fact, not only claimed to have God’s words, but to be God’s Only Begotten Son according to the flesh. He claimed to be entirely divine. He claimed to know God the Father personally, just like Moses knew the Lord face to face. He claimed to have fulfilled the law of Moses and He gave a new law, even the law of Christ. Given all these facts, so far only Jesus Christ fits the entire bill.
Part Two: He speaks to all Israel
and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Now, here is where it gets a bit interesting. God says this Prophet will “speak unto them all that” God will command Him. Who is the “them”? It is the entire house of Israel, all 12 tribes, and not just a part of them. Jesus was raised up in the land of Jerusalem, in the tribal lands of Israel, and He was of the tribe of Judah, and He was surrounded by other Israelites, but by the time of His ministry, most of the tribes had already been led away and were lost from history. Only two tribes remained on the tribal lands: Judah and Benjamin. The bulk of the tribes was missing. Although Jesus made all the proper claims that would indicate He was the Prophet that Moses spoke of, and although he performed mighty miracles just like Moses did, and although He spoke the word of God to the Israelite people that were there in that land, those weren’t all of Israel. They were just a part. Moses’s prophecy is specific that this Prophet will speak to them (the house of Israel) and not just to a part of that house.
However, Jesus did say the following, as recorded in the gospel of John:
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:14-16)
Other sheep which are not of this fold? He will bring them and they will hear His voice? The other sheep and other fold(s) will be united into one fold with one shepherd? What a curious thing to say, especially given that Moses’s Prophet will be speaking to all the house of Israel.
Now, this great mystery has already been cleared up. By the Mormons. Or more specifically, by the Book of Mormon. After Jesus was resurrected, He visited the Nephites (who were a branch of the house of Israel) and said to them:
And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching. And they understood me not that I said they shall hear my voice; and they understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice—that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost. But behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me. (3 Nephi 15:21-24)
And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister. For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them. But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them. And I command you that ye shall write these sayings after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost, and also of the other tribes whom they know not of, that these sayings which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the Gentiles, that through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer. And then will I gather them in from the four quarters of the earth; and then will I fulfil the covenant which the Father hath made unto all the people of the house of Israel. (3 Nephi 16:1-5)
So, we see from this that Jesus ministered to the Jews in the land of Jerusalem, then later went to America and ministered to another branch of the house of Israel (the Nephites), and then later went to the rest of the tribes of Israel and ministered to them, too. And He gave all these many words to all the various tribes, as the new law of Christ they were to obey from then on. Thus, in this particular, Jesus Christ still fulfills the Prophet specifications.
There is only one problem with this scenario: God said, “and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” So, “all that I shall command him” means that all the tribes must receive all the words of the Prophet, even the words He gave to the other tribes. It’s not good enough for Jesus to visit each branch of Israel and give them words, they must also have all the words he gave to the other tribes. This, and this alone, fulfills Moses’s words.
Has this happened? Nope. Will this happen? Yep. These are the words that God gave to Nephi circa 600 BC:
For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written. For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it. And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews. And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the landsof their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever. (2 Nephi 29:11-14)
So, at some point all the words that Jesus spoke to the ancient Jews will be written and given to the modern Gentiles. And at some point, all the words that Jesus spoke to the ancient Nephites will be written and given to the modern Gentiles. And the modern Gentiles will share those words with the modern Jews and the modern Nephites, so that the modern Nephites will have all the words that Jesus spoke to the ancient Jews and to the ancient Nephites, and the modern Jews will have all the words Jesus spoke to the ancient Jews and to the ancient Nephites. And this process will repeat with the lost ten tribes of Israel, the Nephites and the Jews, so that every branch of modern Israel has all the words spoken by Jesus to every other ancient branch of Israel. When this happens, this part of Moses’s Prophet prophecy will be fulfilled every whit.
How will this second part of Moses’s prophecy be accomplished?
It will be through the ministry of Joseph-Nephi, the miracle-working seer who restores all things. He is the one who will bring all these ancient words back, restoring them, and he is the one who will give them to the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles they will go to every branch of Israel.
Concerning the Nephite records, we know that the words of Christ were written in the Book of Mormon, which contained a lesser part of the things He taught:
And these things have I written, which are a lesser part of the things which he taught the people; and I have written them to the intent that they may be brought again unto this people, from the Gentiles, according to the words which Jesus hath spoken. (3 Nephi 26:8)
So, Joseph-Nephi will re-translate the Book of Mormon and put those words into powerful language.
And we know that the words of Christ were also written on the Large Plates of Nephi, which contained the more part of the things He taught:
And now there cannot be written in this book even a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach unto the people; but behold the plates of Nephi do contain the more part of the things which he taught the people. (3 Nephi 26:6-7)
So, Joseph-Nephi will also translate the Large Plates of Nephi.
But neither the Book of Mormon, nor the Large Plates of Nephi, contain all the words that Jesus taught the people. These two records only contain “a lesser part” and “the more part,” not the whole proceeding. Fortunately, the Nephites were fanatical record keepers, and they had records that contained “all the proceedings” of their people, including the full ministry and teachings Jesus gave them when He visited them.
But behold there are records which do contain all the proceedings of this people; and a shorter but true account was given by Nephi. (3 Nephi 5:9)
Joseph-Nephi, then, will bring forth other Nephite records, which contain the whole ministry of Christ among the Nephites, and he will send these translations forth among the Gentiles.
Concerning the Jewish records, we know that there will be a Book of the Lamb of God brought forth at some point, but this book is apparently not a large record, containing less than what the plates of brass contained. And it will be similar to the plates of brass, covering the same types of things the plates of brass contain, except with additions by the twelve apostles. Will it contain the full ministry of Christ among the Jews? Probably not. So, we can expect something else to come forth, even more Jewish records to appear, which give the entire 3-year ministry of Christ among the Jews, from beginning to end.
Concerning the records of the Lost Ten Tribes, we know nothing. Joseph-Nephi will likely have to go to wherever these tribes have been placed, and get their records, bringing their records back to the Gentiles, in powerful translated forms. Once the Gentiles have all the words of Christ that were given to the Jews, to the Nephites, to the Lost Ten Tribes, and to any other scattered branch of Israel, then the prophecy of the Gentiles rejecting the fullness of the gospel can be literally fulfilled.
Concerning the Gentiles bringing these records to the Jews, to the Nephites, and to the Lost Ten Tribes and any other scattered branch of Israel, it shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish this feat for the Jews and the Nephites, but as for the Lost Ten Tribes, given they are hidden away somewhere, Joseph-Nephi may need to bring a group of Gentiles with him, who possess all these records, so that they can fulfill the prophecies and give them to the tribes.
The fact, then, that Joseph-Nephi will be traveling to where the Lost Ten Tribes are to get their records, and traveling back to where the Gentiles are, and then traveling with Gentiles to where the Lost Ten Tribes are, so they can give the other tribal records to the Lost Ten Tribes, and also the fact that at some point, when Joseph-Nephi will begin to gather the tribes together he will again need to go to where the tribes are, because the function of the keys of gathering indicate a need for him to personally lead the Lost Ten Tribes back to their original tribal lands:
After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. (D&C 110:11)
All of this indicates that Joseph-Nephi will have untrammeled access to travel back and forth, to and from the place where the Lost Ten Tribes are. For others it will be impossible to get to them, but not for him (and this special group of Gentiles he may bring with him.)
At any rate, none of this has happened, yet, since Joseph-Nephi is still in his weak phase and hasn’t even started working on his mission. Now notice that we are only on part two of Moses’s prophecy, and this part hasn’t been fulfilled, yet. Part one has been fulfilled, but the final three parts of Moses’s Prophet prophecy were always meant to be fulfilled during the end times.
Part Three: the house of Israel repents and obeys Christ
unto him ye shall hearken;
Once the whole house of Israel obtains the full words of Christ that He gave to every branch of ancient Israel, the whole house of Israel will repent and obey the law of Christ, as given in these new records Joseph-Nephi will bring forth. Also, Joseph-Nephi will have what the ancients called, “the convincing power,” therefore, he will use the miraculous power of God in him to convince the entire world that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Nephi wrote:
And as I spake concerning the convincing of the Jews, that Jesus is the very Christ, it must needs be that the Gentiles be convinced also that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God; and that he manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith. (2 Nephi 26:12-13)
Thus, these records and the convincing power in Joseph-Nephi will convince the entire world that Jesus is the Christ, and the whole house of Israel, all branches, will repent and come to Christ, thus becoming saved as a group (group-saved.) All of this will happen before Jesus comes back. This group salvation will apply to everyone who joins the true church and fold of God, which fold will be the now-penitent house of Israel. Joseph-Nephi will then proceed to gather and number the fold, disburse inheritances, etc. The Gentiles that repent will be group-saved by being put into the true church and fold of God, and they will be numbered with Israel, so that they won’t be Gentiles anymore. All of this happens during the ministry of Joseph-Nephi, for his ministry deals with the salvation of the group (group salvation), which is why God tells him:
I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)
Part Four: what happens to those who don’t repent
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Now, the words “I will require it of him” refer to being condemned in the day of judgment. It means that when Jesus returns, all those who refuse to repent and obey the words that Joseph-Nephi has brought forth in the new records, and who refuse to enter the true church and fold of God, who refuse to gather with God’s people, who refuse to be numbered with Israel, but instead are trying to fight Israel and destroy God’s people, these wicked, impenitent people will be judged and be brought under condemnation.
What is the penalty inflicted? Why, the death penalty, of course. This is why Nephi wrote:
And now behold, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you; for I, Nephi, would not suffer that ye should suppose that ye are more righteous than the Gentiles shall be. For behold, except ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall all likewise perish; and because of the words which have been spoken ye need not suppose that the Gentiles are utterly destroyed. For behold, I say unto you that as many of the Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not repent shall be cast off; for the Lord covenanteth with none save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of Israel. (2 Nephi 30:1-2)
Notice how others have cited Moses’s prophecy. Peter said:
For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:22-23)
So, according to Peter’s view, “I will require it of him” means that that soul will be destroyed.
Nephi quoted Moses’s prophecy in this way (and notice that Nephi identifies the Prophet as the Holy One of Israel, who is Christ):
For behold, the righteous shall not perish; for the time surely must come that all they who fight against Zion shall be cut off. And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people. And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute judgment in righteousness. (1 Nephi 22:19-21)
Again, getting “cut off” means temporal and spiritual destruction. So, the wicked of the end times will be burned up by the brightness of the Lord’s coming and will lose their souls. They will not be accounted as saved Israel. They will neither have individual salvation, nor group salvation.
When Jesus Christ visited the Nephites, he also referenced this prophecy and identified himself as the Prophet, using the same “cut off” wording:
Behold, I am he of whom Moses spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people. (3 Nephi 20:23)
Jesus also referred a second time to this same prophecy here:
Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant. (3 Nephi 21:11)
Some people think that getting cut off, or destroyed, or having the Lord “require it” of them, can occur before the Second Coming of Christ, but they are wrong. When the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith, Moroni began quoting scripture to him. One of the passages he quoted was the words of Peter in Acts, in which he identified the Prophet as Christ. Joseph Smith wrote the following about Moroni’s visit:
He quoted also the third chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely as they stand in our New Testament. He said that that prophet was Christ; but the day had not yet come when “they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people,” but soon would come. (Joseph Smith-History 1:40)
The day when this part of Moses’s prophecy will be fulfilled is the great and dreadful day of the Lord’s Second Coming. Malachi prophesied of this day as follows:
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1)
So, the wicked will be toast. Not a single one will survive. Nobody can reject the coming records, which will contain all the words of the Prophet (Christ), and remain neutral. God will destroy every last person who rejects His Son, the Prophet Christ, in that day.
One last thing, regarding John the Baptist being questioned about “that prophet”
In the New Testament we discover that the Jews of that time believed that the “prophet like unto Moses” had not yet appeared. How do we know this? Because they asked John, “Art thou that prophet?” (The passage in John 1:19-27 also shows that the Jews of that time did not believe that either Christ, nor Elias, had yet appeared.) Notice that when John the Baptist was asked if he was that prophet, he said he was not that prophet:
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,
Who art thou?
And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed,
I am not the Christ.
And they asked him,
What then? Art thou Elias?
And he saith,
I am not.
Art thou that prophet?
And he answered,
No.
Then said they unto him,
Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
He said,
I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Make straight the way of the Lord,
as said the prophet Esaias.
And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him,
Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying,
I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. (John 1:19-27)
The Joseph Smith Translation renders this passage even clearer, showing that John the Baptist actually identified Jesus Christ as the Prophet:
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him;
Who art thou?
And he confessed, and denied not that he was Elias; but confessed, saying;
I am not the Christ.
And they asked him, saying;
How then art thou Elias?
And he said,
I am not that Elias who was to restore all things.
And they asked him, saying,
Art thou that prophet?
And he answered,
No.
Then said they unto him,
Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
He said,
I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Make straight the way of the Lord,
as saith the prophet Esaias.
And they who were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him;
Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias who was to restore all things, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying;
I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he it is of whom I bear record. He is that prophet, even Elias, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose, or whose place I am not able to fill; for he shall baptize, not only with water, but with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. (JST John 1:20-28)
And..the church…had peace…save it were a few contentions concerning the points of doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets… (Hel. 11:21-22)
And it came to pass that after there had been false Christs, and…after there had been false prophets, and false preachers and teachers among the people… (Words of Mormon 1:15-16)
…and their mouths had been shut, and…all these having been punished according to their crimes… (Words of Mormon 1:15-16)
…there began to be much strife. But it came to pass that…many of [the] brethren who knew concerning the true points of doctrine, having many revelations daily, therefore they did preach unto the people, insomuch that they did put an end to their strife… (Hel. 11:23)
In other words, for this post, in addition to the scriptures, I’m going to use my own revelations to correct the errors promoted by false teachers currently found among the saints.
There have only been three known churches of Christ
The first church of Christ was founded by Alma Nephi, when he baptized Helam (and also himself) in the waters of Mormon, followed by the subsequent baptism of the rest of the group. This church was formed about 147–145 B.C. and began with about 204 people. The account of its establishment is found in Mosiah 18.
The second church of Christ was founded by Jesus Christ during his ministry among the Jews.
The third church of Christ was founded by Joseph Smith, Jun., which was organized and established in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, USA, with six people, on 6 April, 1830.
Three verses of scripture mention an ancient church
Here is the first part of the entry of “Church” from the Bible Dictionary:
From the Greek, Ecclesia, meaning “an assembly called together.” The church is the organized body of believers who have taken upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ by baptism and confirmation. To be the true church it must be the Lord’s church and must have His laws, His name, and be governed by Him through representatives whom He has appointed (3 Ne. 27:1–12; D&C 115:4).
This is true. God Himself must recognize it as His church, it must bear His name, have His revealed word as its foundational text, be built upon His gospel and rock, and possess His priesthood. Every latter-day saint understands this definition of the church. So far so good. Now let’s look at the next part of this Bible Dictionary entry:
In this sense, the church began with the days of Adam and has been on the earth among mankind whenever there were a group of believers who had the priesthood and revelations of heaven.
This is false. If you take up the Standard Works, and look at the Old Testament (whether you look in the King James Version, or in the Joseph Smith Translation, it doesn’t matter), you will find no mention of any church during that period of time. This is because there was no church of Jesus Christ during those times. Prior to the establishment of Jesus Christ’s church in the Old World, and to the establishment of Alma Nephi’s church in the New World, the laws and ordinances of God were administered to the people tribally. Continuing on with this BD entry:
The word church is used only twice in the four Gospels (Matt. 16:18; 18:17) but is frequently mentioned in Acts, the epistles, and Revelation.
This is true. This is because Jesus organized and established a church among the Jews and it continued after His resurrection under the direction of His apostles.
The Old Testament uses the term congregation for church.
This is false. The Old Testament uses the term congregation to mean “an assembly of persons” and more specifically, “an assembly of persons met for the worship of God, and for religious instruction.” An assembly of persons, belonging to a tribe or tribes, meeting together to offer sacrifice to their God (to worship God) or meeting in a synagogue for religious instruction is not a church. Nor does it constitute a church of Christ. Such assemblies need not have entered into any covenant with God, witnessed by baptism, nor received any laying on of hands, etc., to congregate and worship or to receive and give religious instruction. Thus, the Old Testament uses the term congregation, not church, for these gatherings. More of the BD entry:
The word kingdom is often used in the scriptures to mean the church, since the church is literally the kingdom of God on the earth.
This is false. The word kingdom means kingdom. (Duh!) A kingdom is “the inhabitants or population subject to a king.” The kingdom of God, then, are the people that submit to the law of God as administered by His priests, whether it is administered tribally, or via the church of Christ. Thus, in the Book of Mormon, we find that the Nephites, when they were established under kings—from the reign of first Nephi, who consecrated his brothers Joseph and Jacob as priests and teachers, all the way to the last Nephite king, Mosiah, who also had his consecrated priests—all Nephite kings had priests, for these patriarchal orders were patterned after the kingdom of God, and God Himself, who is the King of the Universe, has priests. And these priests, in pre-Alma days, or in pre-Jesus days, operated tribally, administering the ordinances and laws of God to the people under a tribal protocol. These tribal orders, then, were as much the kingdom of God as were the churches of Christ, which also had ordained priests to administer the gospel ordinances and laws. Kingdom, then, can apply to both the tribal and church protocols, and does not automatically mean or indicate that a functioning church of Christ is present.
Here’s more of the BD entry:
The Book of Mormon, as it speaks of Old Testament events, uses the word church (1 Ne. 4:26), and the Doctrine and Covenants speaks of the church in Old Testament times (D&C 107:4).
The first part is true and the second part is a supposition. It is true that Joseph Smith translated the Egyptian word found in 1 Ne. 4:26 into church, but this did not mean a church of Christ, but merely “an assembly of believers.” In other words, a “congregation of believers.” The Jews in the land of Jerusalem at that time cast out, killed by stoning and other means, or tried to kill all those who believed in this prophesied Messiah that would suffer and die for the sins of the world. They in no way, shape or form belonged to any church of Christ. But they certainly professed a belief in Moses and his law, and also the prophets (the ones that didn’t prophesy of Christ or of the Jews’ destruction, that is), therefore, this was a congregation of believers in Moses and the law and the prophets, but not in Christ, who attended the Jewish synagogue. Joseph translated it as church, for a church is an Ecclesia, meaning “an assembly called together,” and that’s what this congregation was. But this wasn’t a church of Christ, but merely a gathering under tribal authority and protocols. Here is the scripture in question:
And he spake unto me concerning the elders of the Jews, he knowing that his master, Laban, had been out by night among them. And I spake unto him as if it had been Laban. And I also spake unto him that I should carry the engravings, which were upon the plates of brass, to my elder brethren, who were without the walls. And I also bade him that he should follow me. And he, supposing that I spake of the brethren of the church, and that I was truly that Laban whom I had slain, wherefore he did follow me. And he spake unto me many times concerning the elders of the Jews, as I went forth unto my brethren, who were without the walls. (1 Ne. 4:22-27)
Now look at the Bible Dictionary entry for Synagogue:
A Jewish meetinghouse for religious purposes. The furniture was generally simple, consisting of an ark containing the rolls of the law and other sacred writings, a reading desk, and seats for the worshippers. Its affairs were managed by the local council of elders, who decided who should be admitted and who should be excluded (Luke 6:22; John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2). The most important official was the Ruler of the Synagogue (Mark 5:22; Luke 13:14), who was generally a scribe, had care of the building, and superintended the various services. There was also an attendant who performed clerical duties (Luke 4:20). The Sabbath morning service was the most important in the week and included a fixed lesson (Num. 15:37–41; Deut. 6:4–9; 11:13–21) and two lessons for the day, one from the law and the other from the prophets. A sermon was generally preached in explanation of one of the lessons (Luke 4:17; Acts 13:15). The existence of synagogues in every town in which Jews were living, both in Palestine and elsewhere, was a great help to the spread of the gospel, early Christian missionaries being generally able to get a hearing there (see Acts 13:5, 14; 14:1; 17:1, 10; 18:4), and the synagogue worship provided in many respects a model for early Christian worship.
Okay, so hopefully that explains the use of the word church in 1 Ne. 4:26. So now to address D&C 107:4. Here are the first four verses of that section:
There are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood. Why the first is called the Melchizedek Priesthood is because Melchizedek was such a great high priest. Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood.
The Bible Dictionary author supposes that this mention of a church in ancient days in “the Doctrine and Covenants speaks of the church in Old Testament times,” but that is just an assumption, a supposition, a mere guess. There is no evidence, whatsoever, that any church of Christ was found in Old Testament times, whether before Melchizedek, during his times (and he was a contemporary of Abraham, who likewise mentions no church), or after him. As the most ancient church of Christ established on this earth was the one formed by Alma Nephi on this American continent, this D&C verse may be speaking of Alma’s church. It need not apply to anything more ancient than that.
Stephen’s testimony in Acts 7 also mentioned a church in the times of Moses, but again, this wasn’t a church of Christ, but a congregation of the tribes. Non-KJV bible translations use assembly or congregation, instead of church. Here are his words in the KJV:
This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel,
A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron,
Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. (Acts 7:37-40)
So there you have it. There are only three verses in all of the scriptures that speak of a church in pre-Jesus or pre-Alma times, and two of the verses (1 Ne. 4:26 and Acts 7:38) are really talking of a tribal congregation or assembly, while the other passage (D&C 107:4) is speaking, in all likelihood, of either Alma’s church or Jesus’ church. That is the extent of all the “evidence” for the existence of a church of Christ before Christ and Alma.
Nonetheless, as latter-day saints know absolutely nothing about the gospel administered tribally, to deal with the apparent operation of God’s priesthoods in antiquity, they have taken the church model and protocols and applied them to the past. Even though there is no church mentioned or found in the ancient text, they, nevertheless, using their “church filters,” cause their eyes to see an ancient church everywhere, in every time period. “It’s there, in the word congregation! Or it’s over there, in the word kingdom! Lo! The church of Christ is everywhere! It has been here since the very beginning! This isn’t a restoration of the church of Christ that was established in Jesus’ day, but a restoration of the church of Christ from Adam’s time! Our religion is that ancient!” And so the sayings go.
How the false teachers use Abinadi and Alma
False teachers, working from the same false church-from-the-beginning reference point, have crafted a false narrative by superimposing the gospel as administered tribally upon the gospel as administered by the church. Specifically, the application of Abinadi’s prophecy to Noah and his priests and people, by false teachers and false prophets—who attempt to use it as an example that God can, and does, use outsiders to correct and call the ministers of His church to repentance—is a misapplication. Where these false teachers err is in their assumption that Abinadi and Noah and his priests and people were actually in any church of Christ. They weren’t. They weren’t living under church protocols, but under tribal protocols, which are different.
The only model that can be applied to the current church of Christ, founded by Joseph Smith, is a church model. In other words, you must use a church example, not a tribal one, to show how the church of Christ is supposed to function. So, we’ve got three churches: one founded by Alma the Nephite (the most ancient one), one founded by Jesus the Jew, and one founded by Joseph the Gentile of Ephraimite lineage. You can look at the Nephite church, which begins with the baptism of Helam, or at the Jewish church, which begins with Jesus’ church, and apply those to the Gentile church, but you cannot turn to Abinadi and Noah and his priests and say, “See? Abinadi wasn’t in the priesthood hierarchy and yet God used him to call them to repentance!” So what? There was a tribal protocol in place during that time that provided for that and Abinadi followed it precisely.
Tribal rights are passed on through literal lineage
Not all tribal functions have been revealed, as yet, but we do know a few things. For example, lineage played a part in tribal priesthood. Therefore, Aaron and his firstborn sons had (and still have) a right to the bishopric, by birth. That’s a tribal protocol which is currently found in the church of Christ. There is literal lineage (father to son) and priesthood lineage (priesthood father to priesthood son.) In other words, priesthood rights can be passed on tribally, through literal seed (father to son, or for Aaron and all his firstborn sons), and that is a tribal operation, but also they can be passed on via the laying on of hands, from one unrelated man to another unrelated man. The first man becomes the “priesthood father” of the second man, who becomes the “priesthood son.” Thus, this conferral of priesthood by the laying on of hands is spoken of as having a lineage and seed. So, I can trace my Aaronic “priesthood lineage” from the man who ordained me (who is my priesthood father), to the man who ordained him (my priesthood grandfather), and so on, back to Oliver Cowdery, and thus back to John the Baptist. And so forth with the Melchizedek priesthood.
An example of the two kinds of seed (literal and priesthood) can be seen from the following scripture:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations; and I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal. (Abr. 2:9-11)
Another example is of evangelical ministers, which is a tribal office that is currently found in the church (since we need it here until the tribal functions are fully restored) :
It is the duty of the Twelve, in all large branches of the church, to ordain evangelical ministers, as they shall be designated unto them by revelation—the order of this priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made. (D&C 107:39-40)
And again, verily I say unto you, let my servant William be appointed, ordained, and anointed, as counselor unto my servant Joseph, in the room of my servant Hyrum, that my servant Hyrum may take the office of Priesthood and Patriarch, which was appointed unto him by his father, by blessing and also by right; that from henceforth he shall hold the keys of the patriarchal blessings upon the heads of all my people, that whoever he blesses shall be blessed, and whoever he curses shall be cursed; that whatsoever he shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (D&C 124:91-93)
Not only were priesthood rights transmitted by birth under the tribal model, but so were gifts. In the Nephite society, it was the seed of Jacob, all the Jacobite sons, who had a right to the gift to prophesy. As such, any male Jacobite, filled with the Spirit, was duly authorized to preach repentance to anyone, including priests, teachers and kings. As they were Jacobites—their surname being Jacob-Nephi—they were within the Nephite tribal congregations, therefore they weren’t from the outside. Also, as they were Jacobites, they had a right to prophesy.
Abinadi was likely a Jacobite, descended from Abinadom. Thus, he was fully within his rights to call these people to repentance. The whole thing followed tribal protocols, but not church protocols, for under church protocols, we are not to command him who is at our head.
But thou shalt not write by way of commandment, but by wisdom; and thou shalt not command him who is at thy head, and at the head of the church; for I have given him the keys of the mysteries, and the revelations which are sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead. (D&C 28:5-7)
Also, the elders of the church are not to be taught by others, but are to be the ones who do the teaching.
Again I say, hearken ye elders of my church, whom I have appointed:
Ye are not sent forth to be taught, but to teach the children of men the things which I have put into your hands by the power of my Spirit; and ye are to be taught from on high. (D&C 43:15-16)
So, God will not use outsiders to call any of the church elders to repentance. God will only use church ministers to call them to repentance. (This means that if you’ve been excommunicated, repent and come back in. If you start calling any part of the church to repentance, that is evidence that you do not have the Spirit of God.)
Additionally, the record states that “there was a man among them whose name was Abinadi” (Mosiah 11:20), so Abinadi was actually a part of Noah’s people and kingdom. So, he was in no way an outsider.
An affront to the king’s right to judge
After Abinadi gave his prophecy to the people, they were livid, and when king Noah learned of his words, he also was fuming mad, and he said,
Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction? I command you to bring Abinadi hither, that I may slay him, for he has said these things that he might stir up my people to anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people; therefore I will slay him. (Mosiah 11:27-28)
The reason for all this anger was two-fold. The first reason was because, under tribal prototol, it was up to the kings to judge the people. King Mosiah later would say,
Therefore, if it were possible that you could have just men to be your kings, who would establish the laws of God, and judge this people according to his commandments… (Mosiah 29:13)
Also, when there was iniquity in the church, Alma went to the king to have him judge them, according to tribal protocol:
And he said unto the king:
Behold, here are many whom we have brought before thee, who are accused of their brethren; yea, and they have been taken in divers iniquities. And they do not repent of their iniquities; therefore we have brought them before thee, that thou mayest judge them according to their crimes. (Mosiah 26:11)
Secondly, it was the prerogative of the kings to call upon the prophets, priests, teachers and other leaders, as helps, in their mission of judging the people and establishing peace:
…behold, it came to pass that king Benjamin, with the assistance of the holy prophets who were among his people—for behold, king Benjamin was a holy man, and he did reign over his people in righteousness; and there were many holy men in the land, and they did speak the word of God with power and with authority; and they did use much sharpness because of the stiffneckedness of the people—wherefore, with the help of these, king Benjamin, by laboring with all the might of his body and the faculty of his whole soul, and also the prophets, did once more establish peace in the land. (Words of Mormon 1:16-18)
This was the tribal protocol for just kings. And in the whole history of the Nephite people, there had only been just kings. Jarom said, “our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the faith of the Lord; and they taught the people the ways of the Lord” (Jarom 1:7.) But Noah was an anomaly. He was an iniquitous king. In the case of an iniquitous king, judgment reverted to the LORD under tribal protocol, but this had never happened before, for Noah was the first wicked Nephite king.
This is why Noah’s question is two-fold: “Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction?” When Noah asks, “Who is Abinadi?” it isn’t because Abinadi is an unknown person, some passerby that happened to enter into the land, and it isn’t because Abinadi isn’t a part of the priests of Noah, like many of the false teachers like to assert. No, what Noah is saying is, “Is Abinadi king, or am I king? Who has the right to judge this people, him or me?”
Assuming that Abinadi was, indeed, a Jacobite (and if so, his name would have been Abinadi Jacob-Nephi), Abinadi had the right to prophesy, but this always happened with the king’s advance notice and approval, and under the king’s guidance, not out-of-the-blue, without any notification whatsoever to the reigning king. So, king Noah felt affronted.
Additionally, the prophecy of Abinadi went contrary to what the king and his priests were saying. They proclaimed celebration and prosperity, while Abinadi’s prophecy was of affliction and bondage. Noah assumed, therefore, that as the people appeared to be prosperous and content, and they gave their common consent to all he did(!), that he must be a just king, and therefore Abinadi must be the one out of sorts. Therefore Abinadi must be a false prophet. And also the name of “the Lord” that Abinadi invoked must not be the real Lord, but a false god. (This is why king Noah asks, “Who is the Lord?”) Abinadi, then, was the obvious guilty party, under tribal protocol (assuming a just king, that is.) And so he and his people did not believe the prophecy. They thought it was all made up:
And it came to pass that they were angry with him; and they took him and carried him bound before the king, and said unto the king:
Behold, we have brought a man before thee who has prophesied evil concerning thy people, and saith that God will destroy them. And he also prophesieth evil concerning thy life, and saith that thy life shall be as a garment in a furnace of fire. And again, he saith that thou shalt be as a stalk, even as a dry stalk of the field, which is run over by the beasts and trodden under foot. And again, he saith thou shalt be as the blossoms of a thistle, which, when it is fully ripe, if the wind bloweth, it is driven forth upon the face of the land. And he pretendeth the Lord hath spoken it. And he saith all this shall come upon thee except thou repent, and this because of thine iniquities. And now, O king, what great evil hast thou done, or what great sins have thy people committed, that we should be condemned of God or judged of this man? And now, O king, behold, we are guiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned; therefore, this man has lied concerning you, and he has prophesied in vain. And behold, we are strong, we shall not come into bondage, or be taken captive by our enemies; yea, and thou hast prospered in the land, and thou shalt also prosper. Behold, here is the man, we deliver him into thy hands; thou mayest do with him as seemeth thee good.
So none of this has anything, whatsoever, to do with Abinadi not being a part of the body of Noah’s priests, but this is how the false teachers would like to spin it.
Okay, so my point is that Abinadi acted under proper tribal protocols.
A brief aside
It is not my intention to fully expound this Abinadi episode, but I will point out a couple of things, before moving on to Alma’s actions.
First, Noah, priests and people were focused on the law of Moses, thinking that salvation came by it, and they discarded the Ten Commandments, whereas Abinadi pointed to the Ten Commandments, saying that those who obeyed those commandments would be saved.
The people essentially broke every single one of the Ten Commandments. They all “became idolatrous” (Mosiah 11:6-7.) That broke the Second Commandment. The king and priests spoke “vain words” (Mosiah 11:7,11) to the people. That might indicate that they broke the Third Commandment. The king and priests did not work, but were “supported in their laziness” (Mosiah 11:6.) That broke the Fourth Commandment. King Noah “did not walk in the ways of his father” (Mosiah 11:1.) That indicates that he broke the Fifth Commandment. The people “did delight in blood, and the shedding of the blood of their brethren” (Mosiah 11:19) and also they consented to the death of Abinadi. This broke the Sixth Commandment. They had “many wives and concubines” (Mosiah 11:2,4,6,14) and spent time with harlots and committed whoredoms. That broke the Seventh Commandment. They returned from war with the Lamanites, “rejoicing in their spoil” (Mosiah 11:18.) That might indicate that they didn’t just get their own stuff back from the Lamanites, but took (stole) additional things that the Lamanites possessed. That would break the Eighth Commandment. The high priests would “speak lying” (Mosiah 11:11) words to the people. That would violate the Ninth Commandment. Finally, king Noah levied a tax upon the people (see Mosiah 11:4,6,13.) This would violate the Tenth Commandment (per the post, Thou shalt not “covet”.)
Second, despite breaking pretty much every single commandment of God, notice that Abinadi does not say to them that their priesthood was now null and void, that they had no more keys, that because of their apostasy and sinful ways, the “church was no longer true,” etc., as the false teachers like to spin it, but instead, Abinadi continues to recognize the authority of these corrupt priests to the very end, ending his sermon in this fashion:
Therefore, if ye teach the law of Moses, also teach that it is a shadow of those things which are to come—teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very Eternal Father. Amen. (Mosiah 16:14-15)
So, this was not a case of “Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man!” that the false teachers would like it to be. Now, let’s look at Alma.
Alma, the priest of Noah
Alma repented of his sins, ran away when Noah tried to kill him, wrote the words of Abinadi, and then began preaching in private.
Keep in mind that the tribal protocols were still intact under Noah and his priests. But Alma couldn’t return, because they would just try to kill him again. He was now an outsider, but he still had priesthood authority. He was also under the obligation to teach the people the truth of Abinadi’s words. He couldn’t teach them tribally and then tell them to go back and submit to the tribal authority of Noah as believers in Christ, because once it came out that they believed as Abinadi did, they would likely be killed, as well. So, what was Alma to do?
The answer is that he used his priesthood to form a church of Christ. Noah and his priests operated under the tribal model, so Alma used his faith to have his converts operate under the church model. This would protect them from the oppressions of king Noah, for they could meet in secret, be baptized in secret and so forth. On the one hand, they would still participate in tribal functions, under Noah and priests, as well as in church functions, under Alma.
The church rises, the tribe goes away
But notice that once the church comes into existence, Satan inspires the king to destroy it, so they run away. Then they are found by the Lamanites and finally escape to king Mosiah. King Mosiah, a seer with his own tribal priests, seeing that Alma’s immense faith has caused a church of Christ to be formed before Christ had come to establish it(!), starts to set in motion the cessation of the priesthood within the tribal protocols. He turns the monarchy into a system of judges without priests, gives Alma full authority over the church and the ordination of priesthood, and hands all sacred items to Alma’s son Alma. Alma the younger then becomes first chief judge, high priest of the church, and all priesthood is now centered in the church. From this point on, the priesthood no longer operates tribally, but within the church of Christ, exclusively. The church of Christ has full sway over which ordinances are salvific, and which are not.
This pattern follows with the other two churches, too. The church established by Jesus had exclusive authority. The church established by Joseph Smith has exclusive authority. No ordinances are salvific without church authorization, for either of these three churches. All those who claim that they can baptize without church authorization, using Mormon priesthood, and that those baptisms are legitimately salvific in the Lord’s view, are wrong. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints possesses the keys over all the ordinances of salvation, exclusively.
Three published revelations given to me
Okay, hopefully that covers the Abinadi-Alma point that is always brought up by false teachers.
As the cry of false teachers and false prophets is always the same—the church is apostate, the keys are no longer valid, the practices of the church no longer conform to the revelations, etc.—I am going to use Abinadi logic to deal with these assertions:
And it came to pass that after Abinadi had made an end of these sayings that he said unto them:
Have ye taught this people that they should observe to do all these things for to keep these commandments? I say unto you,
Nay;
for if ye had, the Lord would not have caused me to come forth and to prophesy evil concerning this people. (Mosiah 13:25-26)
Joseph Smith organized and established the church of Christ on 6 April, 1830. I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 19__, at the age of nine. About a month before my baptism, I received a revelation from the Holy Ghost, in which the Spirit said to me:
“This [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] is the ONLY true church!”
This revelation was received while I was attending a Mormon church service for the very first time, and it was accompanied by a baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost. The meaning of the revelation was that the members of this particular church had valid ordinances of salvation. In other words, that their priesthood authority was the only priesthood which was valid and authorized by God.
Now, all those who say that this church is apostate, or that the priesthood is no longer here, or some of it is missing, or the ordinances have changed, or that the keys are not valid, etc., and point to any point of time between 1830 and 19__, the year I received this revelation, are in error. I say to them like Abinadi said to those priests:
Did the church become false at any time during this period from 1830 to 19__? I say to you,
No, it didn’t;
for if it did, the Lord would not have caused me to receive a revelation that the church was true in 19__.
Now, either the church was true in 1830, and then became false, and then was restored back to true by 19__, or it has remained true the entire time, from 1830 to 19__. As we have no record of any restoration that has occurred after Joseph Smith’s death, and, in fact, no such restoration will occur, except by the hand of the Josephite, then the church must have been true during this entire time.
So, that covers the period from 1830 to 19__, but what about the period since 19__? Could there have been an apostasy since then? Could the keys have been lost since the year I received that revelation?
No, because there is also this revelation, which I received in 2014:
Behold! Thus saith the Lord:
Thou shalt shut thy mouth, for none of my saints shall be authorized to speak against the leaders of my church, to criticize and correct them publicly, unless I send them. And thou shalt be sent, but the time is not yet, neither for thee, nor for any others, therefore, thou shalt heed these words and hold thy tongue.
Notice in particular that the Lord says, “the leaders of my church.” Again,
Did the church become false at any time during this period from 19__ to 2014? I say to you,
No, it didn’t;
for if it did, the Lord would not have caused me to receive a revelation that this was still His church in 2014.
So, this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is still the Lord’s church, as of 2014. And since 2014, there has been no indication from the Spirit, whatsoever, that the church has ceased being the Lord’s church, therefore, it’s still true, the keys are still here, the priesthood is still valid, and the Lord still recognizes it as His.
Anybody, then, who goes around saying this church no longer holds the keys, or is apostate, or does not have the priesthood (or not all the priesthood), or the ordinances have been changed or corrupted, or the Lord has rejected the church, and so forth—anyone who teaches such doctrine is a false teacher, because they go against these revelations of mine.
There is only one response that a false teacher can say to this, and that is, “These revelations are not true.” But they are true, and this can be demonstrated by anyone praying to God about them. God will tell any earnest seeker of truth that the above two revelations are true, and as they are true, these other phonies are false teachers.
Now, before I address the final point that false teachers always bring up, which is the fact that the practices of the church do not match the revelations of Joseph Smith in a great many instances, I will put up the third revelation, which is the tribal revelation, to show that this tribal doctrine and protocol, in which the kingdom of God was administered to the people tribally, is not something I made up on my own, but which was revealed to me by the Holy Ghost in 2010:
Be of good comfort, for verily, thus saith the Lord:
The priesthood existed before the organization of the church and is to serve both church and tribe. Although the tribes of Israel are not gathered, yet they are known to me, along with all the tribes of the earth.
For the Lord beholds no man alone, but sees the lineage of all families, of all the children of men, and of these lines form tribes.
I have yet to restore tribal functions,
saith the Lord,
nevertheless, the church ordinances of baptism, confirmation, administration of the sacrament, and priesthood ordinations, may be performed within a tribe, as tribal ordinances, under tribal authority or keys. Thus the priesthood may operate within a tribe, independently from the church, and within the church, independently from a tribe.
Nevertheless, thou shalt not substitute the church for the tribe, nor the tribe for the church.
Yet thou mayest establish thy tribe using these priesthood ordinances, and conform your tribal practices to the revelations of my servant Joseph Smith, Jun.,
saith the Lord.
¶ Because thou fearest to sin, thou shalt not administer of the sacrament at home to thy family, as a church ordinance, unless the bishop permitteth it.
For it is not meet nor right to establish a home church, apart from the body of the saints; nevertheless, thou art permitted to administer of the sacrament, as a tribal ordinance, to those that pertain to thy tribe.
For I require the saints of my church to meet together often, to worship me as a group, and thou shalt also worship me at all times, and the church is ordained and established unto this end,
saith the Lord.
Likewise the tribe is to worship me, as a group and individually. Wherefore, establish thy tribe, if thou wilt, using the priesthood, that ye may worship me as a group, in conformity to my revelations, given to my servant Joseph, that I may pour out my Spirit and gifts upon thee and thine, that thou shalt have no more cause to mourn and murmur concerning the meetings of my church. But take care not to go beyond the bounds I have set, until I have seen fit to reveal the tribal functions. Amen.
This shows that the priesthood “is to serve both church and tribe,” which means that before the churches established by Alma and Jesus, the kingdom of God was administered tribally, for that is what existed back then: tribes of Israel and tribes of the earth.
Two published revelations given to Joseph Smith
There are also two revelations which were given to Joseph Smith that show that the church still has all of its keys. The first is:
Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness. (D&C 13:1)
Those are the words of John the Baptist to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery when he gave them the Aaronic Priesthood. Notice that he says that that priesthood will remain on earth until the sons of Levi offer a sacrifice to the Lord in righteousness. Have the sons of Levi done this, yet? No, they haven’t. Therefore, this priesthood and all its keys are still here in the Lord’s church.
Here is another revelation of Joseph Smith:
Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—for ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. (D&C 86:8-10)
This does not refer to the literal seed, but to the priesthood seed and priesthood lineage and priesthood fathers. So, the fathers of Joseph and Oliver were John the Baptist and also Peter, James and John, and Joseph and Oliver were lawful heirs, according to the flesh, for these priesthoods were conferred by the laying on of hands, of flesh and bone people, therefore it was done “according to the flesh.” Some people go way out in left field and think this scripture is speaking of the literal seed, or that Joseph and Oliver had priesthood rights by birth, from their mortal fathers, etc., but no such imaginary scenario exists, for they were Gentiles and had no right by birth to the priesthood, but via ordination by the hand of these resurrected personages. And so the lineage spoken of here is not the literal seed of Joseph and Oliver, but their priesthood seed. For example, owing to my priesthood lineage, Oliver Cowdery is one of my priesthood fathers. And I am one of his priesthood sons. And so forth. I am a part of his priesthood posterity.
Now, this priesthood (which includes both priesthoods) was to remain “until the restoration of all things.” Again,
Has the restoration of all things occurred, yet? I say to you,
No, it hasn’t;
therefore, this priesthood and all its keys are still with the church.
There is no getting around these revelations, neither mine nor Joseph’s. If the false teachers are teaching correct doctrines, then both my revelations and also Joseph Smith’s are false. If Joseph’s and my revelations are true, then the false teachers are in error. It can’t be both ways. As all these revelations are true, everyone can expect these two priesthoods, and their keys, to remain in this church until the restoration of all things.
These are the keys
As for what keys they have, this is what the Lord says about that:
For unto you, the Twelve, and those, the First Presidency, who are appointed with you to be your counselors and your leaders, is the power of this priesthood given, for the last days and for the last time, in the which is the dispensation of the fulness of times, which power you hold, in connection with all those who have received a dispensation at any time from the beginning of the creation; for verily I say unto you, the keys of the dispensation, which ye have received, have come down from the fathers, and last of all, being sent down from heaven unto you. (D&C 112:30-32)
So, it is to the Twelve and First Presidency that we should look as key holders. Now, notice what they have done with their keys since the death of Joseph Smith:
The church is out of order
According to the law of expediency, the church leadership must operate according to what is expedient. In the absence of the revelations of a seer (Joseph Smith or Joseph-Nephi) they are to use this law and their keys, to keep the work moving forward, building up the church upon the foundation Joseph Smith laid, until the next seer (Joseph-Nephi) arrives to add to the body of revelation and restore the rest of all the things.
Because of hinderment, and especially if the hinderment is continual, things can quickly get out of order. So, let’s say you start with 10 numbered blocks, from 1 to 10, which Joseph Smith restored, and let’s say that there are, in total, 1000 blocks to be restored. Those 10 blocks represent the foundation of the restoration of all things, as well as the foundation of the church, which was accomplished by Joseph. The order is from 1 to 10, but even in Joseph’s time, there was hinderment, so, for example, the law of consecration and stewardship had to be put on hold, and we got a new revealed block, which was the law of tithing. After Joseph’s death, the leadership, holding the keys, had to move the work forward as best they could, under whatever inspiration they could get.
But again, hinderment comes, for Satan opposes this work, and maybe the order must be changed a little, so that there is no halt in the work. Maybe blocks number 4 and 5 get swapped. Later, there is more opposition, and the law of expediency requires that to keep the work moving forward, blocks 2 and 7 must be swapped. Maybe with so much opposition, block 10 must have its practice ceased, but the block must remain, so it is hid under block 9. And so on, as time goes on the blocks get more and more out of order. Yet they are all still there.
The uninspired man, and in particular the false teachers and false prophets, will say that this is not the true church, for look at all the blocks. They are out of order! They no longer conform to the revelations of Joseph Smith! But remember, these are uninspired, false teachers. They cannot see the hand of God if it was placed right in front of their blind faces.
And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in orderthe house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God; while that man, who was called of God and appointed, that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning. (D&C 85:7-8)
This prophecy cannot be fulfilled unless the house of God first gets out of order. This is really, then, two prophecies: one of the house of God getting out of order, and one of the house of God being set in order. Those who say: “That the house of God being out of order, or it not conforming to the revelations of Joseph Smith, is evidence that it is no longer the house of God” are false teachers, for this prophecy of Joseph Smith prophesies that the house of God will first get out of order, yet it still will be the house of God, for later on it (the house of God) will be set in order. It never ceases to be the house of God during this process. Therefore, all those who seek to “steady the ark of God” to restore order to it, are the ones who are uninspired. The house of God getting out of order is a state which conforms to the revelations of Joseph Smith. And the leadership, acting under the law of expediency, and getting this house more and more out of order, are acting under inspiration of God.
It was always the intention of God to have the house get all jumbled up, and then one day He had always planned that this guy, called a mighty and strong one, would come and set the whole mess right. So, if you want to follow a false teacher out of this church, do it with the understanding that these people haven’t got a clue as to the workings of the Spirit.
A key to discerning the time of apostasy
When did the most ancient church of Christ (the one established by Alma Nephi) go into apostasy and cease to exist? The answer is when God took away His twelve disciples. (Later, under Mormon, it was when He took away all of His disciples.) And when did the church established by Jesus among the Jews go into apostasy?
Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, concerning the parable of the wheat and of the tares:
Behold, verily I say, the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed; and after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign—behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness. (D&C 86:1-3)
Once again, the answer is when the apostles were taken away. (The tares had been sown in the church while the apostles were still ministering, but only when they were taken away did the tares become capable of choking the wheat and driving the church into the wilderness.) And in our day, when will the church go into apostasy?
Now, I say unto you, and what I say unto you, I say unto all the Twelve:
And again, I say unto you, that whosoever ye shall send in my name, by the voice of your brethren, the Twelve, duly recommended and authorized by you, shall have power to open the door of my kingdom unto any nation whithersoever ye shall send them—inasmuch as they shall humble themselves before me, and abide in my word, and hearken to the voice of my Spirit.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.
Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth,
saith the Lord.
And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth,
saith the Lord;
first among those among you,
saith the Lord,
who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house,
saith the Lord. (D&C 112:14,21-26)
Again, the answer is the same: the day of vengeance, wrath, burning, desolation, weeping, mourning and lamentation will begin first among the Twelve apostles. (And this day has not come, yet.) So, when the Lord removes the twelve Gentile apostles, that is the day when the tares, which are already sown among the wheat of this church, will begin to choke the wheat. But as long as we have the twelve apostles among us, the church is not apostate, it still has the priesthood, the keys are still here, the ordinances are still valid, and so forth. Even my prophecies concerning the breakup of the church and of the descent into wickedness (by the tares of this church) bear out this principle, for the church breakup and wickedness of the tares only occurs when the quorum of the Twelve are taken out of the picture. So, all of this shows that a key to know whether this church is still valid in God’s eyes, is the existence of the quorum of the twelve apostles. If that quorum exists, the church is still true. And since we do have the Twelve among us still, this (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is still the Lord’s church and believe it or not, all the expedient disordering that is being done with their keys is under inspiration of God. So, hopefully this post will do something to help shut the mouths of the false teachers who are spreading lies among the saints.
In 2009 I received a revelation which dealt with the doctrine of re-assignment of parentage. I told a few people privately and, as expected, no one believed it. Unfortunately, I also got kind of a backlash from its private release, in which some denounced it as “of the devil,” while others said I was just a lunatic.
After I received the revelation, I believed it at once—(for all my revelations are true)—but then, upon pondering it afterward, I decided to see if there was scriptural precedence for it. So I pulled out the scriptures and started searching. Sure enough, this doctrine was written all over the freaking place. In particular, this scripture stood out:
¶Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother,
Woman, behold thy son!
Then saith he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother!
And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. (John 19:25-27)
In this case, the disciple received a new mother, and the woman received a new son. Neither was biologically related, yet there occurred a re-assignment of parentage. I thought, “Okay, good. When I tell people this revelation, and when they inevitably refuse to believe it, surely they will ask me for scriptural ‘proof’ that the doctrine is sound, so I’ll just turn to this passage and expound the doctrine to them.”
Unfortunately, instead of hearing the revelation and then asking questions concerning it, about its doctrinal basis and so forth, people just got offended by it, passed judgment upon me, and not a single one of them ever asked me to expound it. Instead, they merely pondered it and then came to their own (unscriptural) conclusions based on their own false assumptions, without consulting with either the scriptures or myself. I suppose this was to be expected, as I have a tendency of convincing people of my way of viewing things if they reach for the scriptures to try to prove me wrong, so the unspoken rule is that the scriptures are never to be consulted whenever I’m involved in any controversy.
Anyway, so 6 years have gone by and I’ve never explained the doctrine to anyone. However, earlier this year I was contacted by email by one of the readers of this blog, who, after reading some of my writings about the Josephite restorer, was beginning to wonder whether this man might be himself. He detailed many interesting facts about his life in his emails to me, one of which in particular caught my attention. Now, I received his emails through my cupholder account, which I no longer have access to, so I’m just going on memory here, which might be off. If he still visits this blog and reads what I write, according to my memory, and if it turns out my memory is wrong, he can correct me. But, if my memory serves me right, I recall that he wrote in his emails that he was given a patriarchal blessing in which he was told he was of the tribe of Ephraim, but then he got an emendation of the blessing, and his tribe was switched from Ephraim to Manasseh.
I did not tell him of this revelation I received in 2009; but, as I have “two sets” of scriptures—the canon the standard LDS uses and my own personal “canon” of revelations—I could not help but compare what he told me to what the Holy Ghost told me in 2009. The switch from Ephraim to Manasseh is the re-assignment of parentage, from one father (Ephraim) to a different father (Manasseh).
Now, re-assignment of parentage is what the gospel is all about. Sin and death cuts us off (disinherits us) from God the Father, but, through the atonement and resurrection of Christ, and on condition of faith and repentance, we are allowed to become restored to the Father, through the re-assignment of parentage, Jesus Christ becoming our new Father. In this way, we still inherit the blessings we lost through death and disobedience.
If we continue to rebel against God, again we get re-assigned parentage, the devil becoming our new father. If we repent and exercise faith, we Gentiles get re-assigned parentage, Abraham becoming our mortal father, through whom we inherit the promises. And so on, with each of the 12 tribes of Israel. All of this is the doctrine of re-assignment of parentage.
Even in a contemporary setting, this doctrine plays out. For example, if we adopt children, who are not literally our seed, they may be sealed to us for time and all eternity, as if they were our literal seed. Thus they get re-assigned new parents, for this life and the next.
Okay, so recently I was thinking about what this man wrote to me about his switch from Ephraim to Manasseh, and I wondered about the Josephite, whether some kind of re-assignment of parentage would indeed take place for him, like what happened to this man. The lineage of the Josephite is of three kinds: Gentile, Lamanitish and Josephite. (My understanding is that he was raised as a Gentile, so I will count that as a “lineage.”) Then, I suppose, when he gets into the church of God (the Mormon church), the Lamanitish lineage would manifest. After all, the Nephites, when they self-destructed, were assimilated into the Lamanites (those Nephites who remained alive, that is), so they became Lamanites, and this Lamanitish lineage has stayed strong for more than a thousand years.
But then at some point this guy is going to have the Nephite part of him manifest, right? And when that part of him starts to manifest, might there not be a corresponding lineage switch? In other words, while he is still in “Lamanite-mode,” his parentage consists of these parents, but when he goes into “Nephite-mode,” his parentage changes to those parents. It all corresponds to the level of faith exercised. It takes a certain level of faith to go from unbelieving Gentile to believing LDS (re-assigned into the house of Israel as a “Lamanite.”) And it takes an even greater level of faith to go from a believing LDS “Lamanite” to a bona fide Nephite. When any of these levels of faith are manifested or exercised, God changes the lineage accordingly, to match that faith. Thus, the Josephite will journey from Gentile, to Abrahamic covenant (through baptism into the church of God), to Lamanite (starting to suspect his lineage), to Nephite covenant, as a full blown Josephite.
Thus, it seems to me entirely possible that we are going to hear of some kind of re-assignment of parentage from this guy, such as what this blog visitor wrote to me about, or perhaps like what happened to that disciple of Jesus.
P.S.
Do not ask me about the revelation. I am not going to release it in any form publicly.
Also, Sam’s wife, who was a daughter of Ishmael, and Nephi’s wife, who was also a daughter of Ishmael, were identical twin sisters.
As identical twin brothers, Sam and Nephi’s genetic code was the same. And as identical twin sisters, their wives’ genetic code was likewise the same. This made the children of Sam and the children of Nephi “like unto” each other, as if the entire group of children came from only two people, and not four. Additionally, Nephi and Sam were also spiritually similar:
Nephi…and Sam…were just and holy men. (Alma 3:6)
Thus, Lehi’s blessing of sameness between the two brotherly lines takes on a bit more meaning:
blessed art thou and thy seed
for thou shalt inherit the land like unto thy brother nephi
and thy seed shall be numbered with his seed
and thou shalt be even like unto thy brother and thy seed like unto his seed
and thou shalt be blessed in all thy days (2 Ne. 4:11)
Separate tribal numbering, in such a situation, is useless, because the posterity from one line is indistinguishable from the other line. (The use of -ites among the Book of Mormon people was for distinguishing one line from another. See the post, Book of Mormon surnames: the meaning of the -ites and “people of”. ) Everyone in Sam’s line, then, was numbered in Nephi’s line. And this is why there are no “Samites” in the Book of Mormon.
At least, this is the thought that popped into my head last Thursday as I was reading the scriptures.
Disclaimer: This thought is not my understanding or belief, since there is no way to arrive at this conclusion definitively from the scriptures and I did not get any corresponding manifestation of the Holy Ghost when the thought came upon me, letting me know of its truth. Nevertheless, I put it up here on the blog because it makes quite a bit of sense to me and I found it to be quite an interesting and novel thought. And it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if it turns out to be true.
Any time the Book of Mormon text uses the suffix “-ite” or “-ites” or calls a group “the people of” (so-and-so), it means that that designated name is part of the surname of that person or persons.
Lehi had six sons, and their full names (given name plus surname) were:
Laman Lehi
Lemuel Lehi
Sam Lehi
Nephi Lehi
Jacob Lehi
Joseph Lehi
Zoram and the family of Ishmael was also added to the group, making two more genealogical lines:
Zoram
the sons of Ishmael
The descendants of these 8 genealogical lines were called*, as their surnames:
Laman-Lehi, or just Laman, known as Lamanites
Laman-Lemuel-Lehi, or just Laman-Lemuel, known as Lamanites and also as Lemuelites
Laman-Ishmael, known as Lamanites and also as Ishmaelites
Nephi-Lehi, known as Nephites and including both Sam’s (2 Ne. 4:11) and Nephi’s lines
Nephi-Jacob-Lehi, known as Nephites and also as Jacobites
Nephi-Joseph-Lehi, known as Nephites and also as Josephites
Nephi-Zoram, known as Nephites and also as Zoramites
Thus, the Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites were also called Nephites or the people of Nephi, because they actually had the name of Nephi as part of their surname. And the Lemuelites and Ishmaelites were also called Lamanites for the same reason.
This custom of incorporating the name of the person whose path you followed into your surname was done throughout the entire Book of Mormon history. Only when a name was incorporated into the surname does the text use -ite or “people of.” Thus, those who believed in the teachings of Nehor are never called Nehorites or “the people of” Nehor. It is merely stated that they were of the order of Nehor, or of the order of the Nehors. This is because the name Nehor was not part of their surname. On the other hand, the Amlicites/Amalekites had incorporated Amlici’s name into their surname. The Amalickiahites did the same thing with the name of Amalickiah, and so did the Zoramites with the name of Zoram, and the Ammonihahites with the name of Ammonihah, and the Amulonites with the name of Amulon. In like fashion, the people of Morianton had Morianton’s name in their surname, and the people of Zarahemla had Zarahemla in their surname. Likewise also the Jaredites or people of Jared, and also the people of Nephihah.
However, there is no mention of Mulekites in the Book of Mormon. And why is that? Because the people of Zarahemla had Zarahemla in their surname, not Mulek. We ignorant Gentiles, not understanding the use of -ites and “people of,” routinely and erroneously call Zarahemla’s people “Mulekites.”
Now, the city of Lehi-Nephi was called Lehi-Nephi because it was founded by two men (instead of the usual singular man): a guy named Lehi and his son Nephi. Another city, called Ani-Anti, was also founded by two men: a guy named Ani and another guy named Anti. The founders got the privilege of having their names incorporated into the surnames of their descendants, who were the people that occupied the land or city.
When the Lamanite converts wanted a name to distinguish themselves from the rest of the Lamanite population, they consulted with Aaron, and came up with Anti-Nephi-Lehi. This took the surname of the descendants of Nephi and Sam (Nephi-Lehi) and incorporated the name of the founder or the leader (or the king) of their group, whose name was Anti, into it. The new leader (the king’s son), was called after his father, Anti, and bore the new surname, Nephi-Lehi. All who followed the king’s son, then, took his name as their surname, being called Anti-Nephi-Lehies. This, of course, made the surrounding Lamanites quite upset, since this was a decidedly Nephite designation. These “Lamanites” had lost their “Lamanitish-ness,” yet they were still residing in Lamanite territory. They had not only given up Lamanite ways, but had given up the Laman-Lehi, Laman-Lemuel-Lehi and Laman-Ishmael designations (Alma 23:17)! To the surrounding Lamanites, this appeared to be a Nephite invasion under the guise of preaching a religion.
The Anti-Nephi-Lehies, after they moved into Nephite territory, were called by the Nephites, Ammon-Nephi-Lehi, not Anti-Nephi-Lehi. This is why the text says they were called (by the Nephites), Ammonites, or the people of Ammon. The curse was lifted from these people (Alma 23:18), so their sons no longer had the dark skin and they fully identified as Nephites (Alma 53:16).
Dissenters from the Nephites always removed the name of Nephi from their surnames, replacing it with the name of a new man they followed. Zoram and the Zoramites (Alma 30:59 & 31:1-8) are a prime example of this. The removal of Nephi’s name from the surname was part of a curse put on Nephi’s enemies by God (Alma 3:17). Conversely, the addition of Nephi’s name to one’s surname allowed the Lord to bless that person as if he or she were Nephi’s people (Alma 3:17).
The information in this post may be important for a couple of reasons. First, anyone who wants to lay hold of the promises of the Lord to Nephi concerning those who are called by his name, need to do as the converted Lamanites did, and change their surname from whatever it currently is to one of the four Nephite designations: Nephi-Lehi, Nephi-Jacob-Lehi, Nephi-Joseph-Lehi or Nephi-Zoram. Or, at the very least, the name Nephi needs to be added to one’s surname, such as Nephi-Smith, Nephi-Cowdery, etc. Secondly, the appearance of the Josephite restorer may be a little easier to perceive if the man’s surname must be: Nephi-Joseph-Lehi.
Now, concerning that Josephite restorer, you will notice that Lehi said the following:
and his name shall be called after me
and it shall be after the name of his father (2 Ne. 3:15)
Now, the surname Nephi-Joseph-Lehi has both the names of Joseph and Lehi in it, so regardless of whether the above text is interpreted as Lehi quoting Joseph, or Lehi issuing his own prophecy, the surname fits, for Nephi-Joseph-Lehi is called both after Joseph and also after Lehi. One more thing—and I will use myself as an example—people are assigned two names: at least one given name and also a surname. My given name is the same name as the given name of my biological father. Our surnames are also the same. So, let’s say that my given name is Philip and so is his. If I were to change my last name to Nephi-Joseph-Lehi, then this prophecy might apply to me, for then my surname (Nephi-Joseph-Lehi) would be called after both Joseph and Lehi, fulfilling the first part of the prophecy, and the second part, which says,
and it [his name, meaning his surname] shall be after the name of his father (2 Ne. 3:15)
also is fulfilled because my (new) surname, Nephi-Joseph-Lehi, is now after the name of my father, for now my name is Philip Nephi-Joseph-Lehi, and Philip is the name of my father. A bit of clever word work, I admit, but it still makes the prophecy fit, which means that our usual interpretation of this passage, that it is always referring to a given name and not to a surname, may be incorrect. This is because in the Nephite tradition, being called after someone else could refer to either being given the same given name as that person (Helaman 5:6—Nephi & Lehi), or having that person’s given name incorporated into one’s surname (Helaman 5:6—Nephi Nephi-Lehi & Lehi Nephi-Lehi).
This opens up the possibility that the Josephite restorer may have any given name whatsoever, such as Richard, Harold, Stephen, etc. The only important thing is that his father also have the same given name and that his surname be Nephi-Joseph-Lehi, or, at the very least, Joseph-Lehi.
Now, having written all of this, everyone can now start the process of legally changing their surnames so that the prophecy of there being Nephites again in the land (2 Ne. 29:13) can begin to be fulfilled. 😉
The scattering of Israel has been the gospel topic du jour in my mind lately. I thought about the prophecy about the state of Israel ceasing to exist and its inhabitants being scattered and then my mind turned to the seed of Lehi on the reservations and I asked myself, “Can the Indians truly be considered in a scattered state if they are gathered onto reservations?” I then wondered if they, too, would be further scattered off of the reservations. My curiosity piqued, I then took up the scriptures to find out if there was any prophetic indications that the scattering of this land’s remnant (Lehi’s seed) was not yet over. Here’s what I found and how I ended up reading (interpreting) the text:
1 Nephi 22:7
Nephi, expounding Isaiah 49:22-23 to his brothers Laman and Lemuel, said:
And it meaneth that the time cometh that AFTER all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded, that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land; and by them shall our seed be scattered.
Now, notice the timeline of Nephi’s prophecy.
First, “all the house of Israel” will be scattered and confounded. That includes the current State of Israel. So, this prophecy is still future to us.
Second, only AFTER “all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded,” the Lord will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles. I have always been taught that we Americans, the citizens of the United States of America, are that mighty nation that scattered the Indians, but according to this new reading of the text, we are just a shadow fulfillment. After Israel ceases to exist as a State, I suppose we do, too. Then there will be another Gentile nation afterward upon this land, “a mighty” one, which the Lord God will raise up.
Third, it is this other Gentile nation, raised up by the Lord God on this land, after the USA has come and gone, that kicks the seed of Lehi off the reservations. The U.S. Federal government oversees the Indian reservations, so if there is no more federal government, there is no more federal protection for the Indians, and their land is, essentially, up for grabs. No one today dares take the reservation land from the Indians because it is essentially federal government land, and doing so would pit one against the feds, which is a no-win situation. But without the feds, the Indians, which truly are weak these days, are easy prey.
Helaman 15:12
Samuel the Lamanite prophesied the following to the Nephites:
Yea, I say unto you, that in the latter times the promises of the Lord have been extended to our brethren, the Lamanites; and notwithstanding the many afflictions which they shall have, and notwithstanding they shall be driven to and fro upon the face of the earth, and be hunted, and shall be smitten and scattered abroad, having no place for refuge, the Lord shall be merciful unto them.
Although it is true that the Indians have been moved off of their traditional lands, and thus scattered from these lands, the reservations can still be considered places of refuge. Only if they are kicked off of the reservations, and the reservation lands are occupied and inherited by the Gentiles (so that there are no more “reservations”), and the Indians are scattered among the Gentiles, only then can this prophecy of them “having no place for refuge” be literally fulfilled. This interpretation shows, yet again, that the scattering of Israel is not yet complete.
Mormon 5:9
And also that a knowledge of these things must come unto the remnant of these people, and also unto the Gentiles, who the Lord hath said should scatter this people, and this people should be counted as naught among them—therefore I write a small abridgment, daring not to give a full account of the things which I have seen, because of the commandment which I have received, and also that ye might not have too great sorrow because of the wickedness of this people. (Mormon 5:9)
There are two things about this prophecy: first, that the Indians will be counted (by the Gentiles) as nothing, and second, that the Indians will be counted among the Gentiles. In other words, they will be scattered off of their lands and assimilated into the Gentile populations. So, there will be no more Indian lands, no more Indian tribes, no more “Indian” anything. They will completely lose their identity and will incorporate into the Gentiles, yet the Gentiles will not view them as full persons. This reminds me of the 3/5 person accounting of slaves for direct tax apportionment, as written in the U.S. Constitution. If I had to venture a prophetic guess, I would say that the seed of Lehi, at this future point, will enter the Gentile population as slaves, which is why Mormon uses the term “naught” to describe how the Gentiles will count them.
Now, taking this further—for I will treat this interpretation as a prophetic mood, at this point, and see where it leads—if indeed they will enter bona fide slavery among the Gentile population of the new, mighty nation raised up by the Lord God upon this land, then the prophecies of the Book of Mormon which speak of them being brought down into captivity and being brought out of captivity will be fulfilled literally. So, although legal slavery has been abolished in this Gentile nation, the next Gentile nation to appear on this land will bring it back.
Three groups of captives; three divine deliveries
The Book of Mormon prophesies of three groups of people that will be brought down into captivity and then delivered by the power of God: a group of Gentiles, the saints of God and the remnant of this land. Here is an example concerning the Gentile group:
And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.
…
And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations. (1 Nephi 13:13,19)
And these scriptures show the captivity and deliverance of the saints and remnant:
And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a church which is most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity. (1 Nephi 13:5)
Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light—yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom. (2 Nephi 3:5)
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory. (1 Nephi 14:14)
Now, by way of explanation, this righteous branch that Lehi spoke of is the remnant of his seed in the latter days*. Jacob prophesied the following:
And behold how great the covenants of the Lord, and how great his condescensions unto the children of men; and because of his greatness, and his grace and mercy, he has promised unto us that our seed shall not utterly be destroyed, according to the flesh, but that he would preserve them; and in future generations they shall become a righteous branch unto the house of Israel. (2 Nephi 9:53)
It would appear then, according to these scriptures (and others that I will not get into), that prior to the final scattering of the remnant upon this land and their entrance into captivity (slavery), a great and abominable church must be in existence, one which brings the saints into captivity (slavery) and which, perhaps, is also responsible for the captivity of the aforementioned Gentiles (who go out of captivity) and the subsequent captivity of the remnant. The appearance of that great and abominable church is a prophetic marker, which indicates the final phase of the scattering. It should be fairly easy to identify the church when it is formed, since slavery (and other abominations) will be one of its tenets.
Mormon 5:20
Finally, Mormon also wrote this, concerning the scattering of the remnant of this land:
But behold, it shall come to pass that they shall be driven and scattered by the Gentiles; and AFTER they have been driven and scattered by the Gentiles, behold, THEN will the Lord remember the covenant which he made unto Abraham and unto all the house of Israel. (Mormon 5:20)
This means that the scattering of Israel begins with all the other tribes of Israel (they are the first to be scattered) and ends with the seed of Lehi (they are the last to be scattered.) And only after the seed of Lehi is finally and fully scattered, then and only then will the Lord remember the covenant that He made to all the tribes of Israel, to bring them out of captivity, gather them, restore them to their lands and to the knowledge of their fathers, etc. Then the last tribal branch that was scattered (the seed of Lehi) will be the first tribal branch that will begin to be gathered, and so on and so forth (first to last and last to first.)
*And when they repent and come to Christ, they shall take upon themselves the name of Nephi, calling themselves Nephites, which is a topic I might fully unfold in a future post. In the meantime, see here and here.
Initiates of the endowment ceremony which takes place in LDS temples accept a charge to:
“avoid all lightmindedness, loud laughter, evil speaking of the Lord’s anointed, the taking of the name of God in vain, and every other unholy and impure practice”
This charge is to be accepted by covenant “as it has been explained to you” but in reality it is never fully explained. It is assumed that we know what we are promising when we foreswear these things, but few ever bother to raise any questions as to what constitutes unholy and impure practices. Beside the fact that these oaths are to be made between a man and his maker, there have been more or less official interpretations put forth by LDS leadership in regards to taking God’s name in vain, and of course, evil speaking of the Lord’s anointed. But, although I am sure I am not the only one whom is struck a little strangely by the phrase “loud laughter,” rarely if ever have I heard any type of commentary offered by the clergy or the laity as far as what “loud laughter” entails and why it ought to be avoided.
For many it may seem a very straightforward phrase and spark neither uncertainty nor curiosity. Laughter is what people do when they think something is funny, and loud laughter is simply doing it at a volume of high decibels. But if that is the case then there can be no louder laughter than that of the crowd. The throng transforms the softest revelry issued as reverently and politely as possible into the loudest collective roar. The loudest laughter peals out like the laugh track that follows every one of Thomas S. Monson’s silly jokes, or like the obligatory laughter which Crown Prince Frederick Hoepnick queues from his court in the 1965 comedy The Great Race.
I am sure that the guys at Comedy Sportz in Provo, Utah aim to evoke the loudest laughter possible from their paying customers. Are they guilty of promoting covenant-breaking among the college students at B.Y.U.? If you are sure that you are complying with your oath to avoid loud laughter then I would ask you: what is laughter really? Can you explain it, or tell us why it happens?
LAUGHTER IS LANGUAGE
Laughter is a part of our native language, not the languages which we learn and inherit from our parents, but the native language of raw emotion which all humans speak fluently at birth, and which unfortunately gets suppressed and all but forgotten in favor of the limited language of the oppressor. What do I mean by “language of the oppressor”? It has been discussed in detail elsewhere on this blog, and bears repeating, that the priesthood of God is a language. Prior to the point where we are beseeched to avoid loud laughter, the temple drama introduces us to the rebellious character of the Devil in the form of a man wearing an apron. Adam as representative of mankind asks in his innocence and ignorance, what the meaning of that apron is and is told that it is an emblem of the Devil’s power and his priesthoods/languages. The Languages of Lucifer get placed over the holy garments of the endowment we receive from Heaven. Throughout the ceremony we are sure to always place the Devil’s Apron on top.
In life we do the same, insisting proudly on outward expression through the means of so much psychobabble in one or another of the many mixed up languages/priesthoods in use since the confounding and corrupting of man’s relationship to his fellow man in the days of Babel. That the Devil’s A-Pron representing his many languages/priesthoods takes A-Priori precedence in our symbolic, or spiritual manner of dress, can be clearly seen in the way we address one another. Laughter, though it certainly may stem from deep in our pre-conscious, is not randomly scattered throughout speech. For example, a speaker may say “What is that?…ha-ha,” but rarely, “What is…ha-ha…that?” For the most part, our laughter seldom interrupts the sentence structure of our speech. Rather it punctuates speech. Curiously we only laugh during pauses when we might typically cough or breathe. The occurrence of speaker laughter at the end of phrases suggests that a neurologically based process governs the placement of laughter in speech, and that different brain regions are involved in the expression of cognitively oriented speech and the more emotion-laden vocalization of laughter.
During conversation, speech tends to trump, and inhibit laughter. This is evidence of “the punctuation effect” – the tendency to laugh almost exclusively at phrase breaks in speech. This pattern indicates that worldly speech has priority over laughter which is a manifestation of the tongue of angels. Laughter is an unexpected resurfacing eruption of emotion, our first language. So laughter is in a sense a “speaking in tongues” in which we’re moved not by religious fervor but by a spiritual pre-conscious response to social and linguistic cues. Stripped of its variation and nuance, laughter is a regular series of short vowel-like syllables usually transcribed as “ha-ha,” “ho-ho” or “hee-hee.” These syllables are part of the universal human vocabulary, produced and recognized by all God’s people, the House of Israel, no matter where we find ourselves scattered across the diaspora of the world’s many cultures.
If emotion is the native language of little angels freshly arrived from Heaven and born into bondage where they must quickly adapt by adopting the language of their oppressors, then anyone with a genuine interest in establishing Heaven on Earth, or Zion as it is called, should be equally interested in the revival of the almost dead language of emotion. Note that as chaotic, unorganized, and broken as their attempts may be, still the meetings in which the gift of tongues most often manifests are called revivals. Dying languages among many indigenous tribes and cultures around the world today are a grave concern. But it is absolutely shameful, totally unacceptable, that all mankind become totally ignorant of and non-conversant in our first language – the language of the new-born – which connects us all as family. Feeling should not only come at the beckon call of words, our words should come as an answer to our feelings so that the two may share an egalitarian relationship. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings. If we let our native language of raw emotion die then we will be “past feeling”. The Book of Mormon warns against this and makes a direct correlation between spoken language and feeling.
“…and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words.” – 1 Nephi 17:45
It is not that languages like English, Chinese, Tagalog, or Arabic are inherently evil or serve no purpose in helping us to effectively reform and revolt till the world and its people are able to achieve Zion. However, to push certain communication skills over and onto the native language of human emotion is to enforce a backwards stereotype of superiority when it comes to the invader, and inflict a false burden of inferiority upon those meek ones whose birthright it is to inherit the earth. What we consider language may be a tool which is extremely effective, but without emotion it is not affective. Affective means – relating to moods, feelings, and attitudes. We cannot deliberately activate the brain’s mechanisms for affective expression. Try laughing on command, it is nearly impossible. To produce any authentic emotion on demand does not come naturally. Crying and laughing are usually considered opposites and thus are closely related, both audibly and emotionally. Mosiah 18:9 gives us the idea that we need to be “willing to mourn with those that mourn,” and other scriptures give the impression that we should also be willing to rejoice with those who rejoice in righteousness.
“Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” – Luke 6:21,25
Obviously Jesus is letting us know that laughter can be good or evil. There exists what we could call living laughter and there is also lying laughter. Laughter is a part of our native language, not the languages which we learn and inherit from our parents, but the native language of raw emotion which all humans speak fluently at birth, and which unfortunately gets suppressed and all but forgotten in favor of the limited language of the oppressor. True laughter is not a learned group reaction but an instinctive behavior we carry intact with us from Heaven for the preservation of the Heavenly Family during our sojourn here on Earth. Most people think of laughter as a simple response to comedy, or a cathartic mood-lifter. After more than 10 years of research on this little-studied topic, Robert Provine, PhD. concluded that laughter is primarily a social vocalization that binds people together. It does this bonding through the pre-learned heavenly order of humor and sacred play. True and pure laughter is an energetic ripple that runs through and cleanses the DNA strands. Were they to remain filthy the very links of our own DNA would pull us down to hell like the chain which the Devil is seen holding in Moses 7:26.
“…and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced.”
‘Cachinnation’ is a word that long ago fell out of use. It means “loud laughter”. It comes from Latin ‘cachinnationem’ – “violent laughter, excessive laughter,” a noun of action from the past participle stem of ‘cachinnare’ – “to laugh immoderately or loudly.” The word is of imitative origin, meaning it is a type of onomonaepia, a word which imitates the sound of the thing it describes. Its oldest root is in the Sanskrit word for ‘laughs’ – ‘kakhati,’ from where the English word ‘cackle’ as well as the modern “ha, ha, ha!” ultimately derives. People often laugh using words like “Ha!” or “Hee hee!” Long ago, followers of geloscopy as a divinatory art believed the word you used to laugh revealed part of your personality. People who said “Ha!” when they laughed were considered to be honest but undependable, while people who said “Hee!” were considered to be sad or simpleminded, while people who said “Huu!” were supposed to be untrustworthy. People who said “Ho!” were thought of as brave and generous. That is why “Ho, ho, ho!” is the slogan of Santa Claus and the Jolly Green Giant – both products of the false prophets of a propaganda machine whose intent it is to coax mankind into giving life to the evil spirit of consumerism till it has consumed everything in its path. Remember to watch other people carefully when they laugh. Researchers have found that if a person is really laughing, he will close his eyes for a moment. If a person laughs without closing his eyes, he’s faking it!
Fake or disingenuous laughter is about the worst sound I can think of, yet it is all too common in today’s society. Having been subject to it from the earliest days of our childhood, on T.V. and in person, we are very susceptible to falsehoods. False laughter has the opposite effect of pure laughter. It will firm up the grasp that Satan has on us via that chain of our biological and fallen natures. Whether our laughter enforces or corrects the false traditions of our fathers comes as a revelation as to what we find funny. What we find funny is a revelation as to who is holding onto the other end of that long line of linkage that is our DNA make-up. Whether it is God or Satan in whom we place our trust and honor, either way, laughter can strengthen those bonds. Both Plato and Aristotle were concerned with the power of laughter to undermine authority, however – in the case of defying the general claim of authority that Satan lays to this world – this could be a very useful tactic. Diabolical laughter has the effect of paralyzing which is a type of binding spell. But on the other hand, righteous laughter invites to bind together freely, willfully, in love and cooperation. And this makes laughter by far the best banishing spell one can use when threatened, taunted, or tempted by the devil. So apparently laughter is a two-edged sword, and we will have to view it in the same way that C.S. Lewis, a Pentecostal, explains the phenomenon of glossolalia (the gift of tongues) – as something natural, in some instances pathological, at other times an organ of the Holy Ghost.
LAUGHTER IS LIGHT
If laughter is language, then laughter is light. On the day of Pentecost, not only is the gift of tongues manifest but also tongues of flame above the affected participants in that group gathering. The two major Semitic languages, Arabic and Hebrew, are both said to have been born of flame. John explains the link between language and light when as a special witness he says that “The Word” was with God in the beginning and was God – then goes on to say that “The Word” contained life, and “The Life” he contained was “The Light” in men. This light, we are told, shines in darkness, but the darkness “comprehended it not” (John 1:1-5). The verb ‘comprehend’ comes from the Latin words, ‘com’ – meaning “together, with” and ‘prehendere’ – meaning “to catch hold of, to ignite.” Thus, to comprehend means literally to catch fire, or to light together with a counterpart. This, the darkness failed to do, at least so far. But as an all-loving, all-wise father, God has his ways to cause capitulation to occur. He may preside above all creation, but he is not above tickling his children till they double up in laughter and confess that they are at his mercy. It is said that the laughter of little ones lights a home. This textual imagery may be more literal than we think.
A phosphene is a phenomenon characterized by the experience of seeing light without light actually entering the eye from any external source. The word ‘phosphene’ comes from the Greek words ‘phos’ (light) and ‘phainein’ (to show). Phosphenes are flashes of light, induced by movement or sound. These are what we see when we say we are “seeing stars”. Deep in our darkest moments the tickling movements of the Hand of God may provoke sudden sounds of laughter from us, which release in turn shows us the light we had stored inside us all along. Such light shows are divine displays that may be enhanced and more fully comprehended through consecrated use of psychedelics in concert with meditative practices and other reverent, but pro-active work within our temporal temples. Laughter can be a very healthy way of releasing the light within us. Giggles possess the power and potential of gigawatts if harnessed properly. Perhaps it is the proper mode of harnessing the latent and sacred spiritual voltage in laughter to which the officiator at the temple altar is referring when he tells LDS patrons to avoid loud laughter. “Loud laughter” in terms of volume would translate to “bright light”. Could it be that we are to avoid the flashy lights of this world, and turn our life’s focus toward true enlightenment, like Carl Jung said, by “making the darkness conscious”? If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matt 6:23, 3 Nephi 13:23) We live in a jail called “Liberty”. The life of a prisoner can wear the spirit down, so to keep our minds sharp and clear, we should do as Joseph wrote to us from the confines of Liberty Jail, in Missouri. If our souls are going to get worn down while on this Prison Planet, let our lives at least not be a waste. Instead of drowning in misery, “we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven.” (D&C 123:13)
Laughter can light up our life. Used appropriately it can make us more aware of our surroundings. Used inappropriately it can actually leave us more delirious than ever, unconscious of the truth of our dire situation. Laughter as light may seem a ridiculous concept at first glance. But looking at the science we will see that laughter is much more visual than we Foolish Virgins tend to be aware of. As anyone who has ever laughed at the sight of someone doubled over can attest, laughter is contagious. Since our laughter is under minimal conscious control, it is spontaneous and relatively uncensored. Contagious laughter is a compelling display of homo sapiens, and we are a social mammal. Laughter strips away our veneer of culture ie. the false traditions/creeds of the fathers which have been riveted upon the hearts of the children (D&C 123:7) and challenges the hypothesis that we are in full control of our behavior.
From these synchronized vocal outbursts come flashes of insight into the neurological roots of human social behavior and speech. And from the same area of origin of humankind’s mitochondrial matriarch comes some possible insight into the revolutionary roots of the real Zion movement, and how we might cause it to spread like a contagion of hope from Ethiopia’s outstretched hands to the ends of the earth. Consider the extraordinary 1962 outbreak of contagious laughter in a girls’ boarding school in Tanzania. The first symptoms appeared on January 30, when three girls got the giggles and couldn’t stop laughing. The symptoms quickly spread to 95 students, forcing the school to close on March 18. The girls sent home from the school were vectors for the further spread of the epidemic. Related outbreaks occurred in other schools in Central Africa and spread like wildfire, ceasing two-and-a-half years later and afflicting nearly 1,000 people.
The irresistibility of others’ laughter has its roots in the neurological mechanism of laugh detection. The fact that laughter is contagious raises the intriguing possibility that humans have a neural circuit in the brain that responds exclusively to laughter. Scientists speculate that it may be triggered by auditory means, (similar to the way they think contagious yawning may involve a process in the visual domain), but I feel that there may be more than meets the physical eye in the case of laughter, (and possibly more meets the ear in the case of yawning). Spiritual ears to hear and eyes to see aside, what is clear is that once triggered, the laugh detector activates a laugh generator, a neural circuit that causes us in turn to produce laughter.
But how do we harness the power of the gigglewatt? How do we direct the laughter-laser so that it might work for the good of Zion? The awkwardly obvious answer presents itself in the form of our neighbors, our fellow beings. After all, Dr. Robert Provine’s research concluded that laughter is primarily a social vocalization that binds people together. And his work is corroborated by the findings of Dr. Robin Dunbar, another investigator in the field of geloscopy (the science of laughter). He suggests that social laughter, relaxed and contagious, is like “grooming at a distance,” an activity that fosters closeness in a group the way one-on-one grooming, patting and delousing promote and maintain bonds between individual primates of all sorts. In other words: it is a ritual that cleans our spirit bodies and promotes unity. God’s goals for Zion are achieved through this kind of laughter, not the tyrant’s cackle or the “polite titter” of awkward conversation. When we laugh, we’re often communicating playful intent. So laughter has a bonding function within individuals in a group. It’s often positive, but as we have seen, it can be negatively used as well. There’s a difference between “laughing with” and “laughing at.” People who laugh at others may be trying to force them to conform or casting them out of the group. Zion is Heaven on Earth, Zion is inclusive, not exclusive. If we want to establish Zion, one thing is for sure: we need each other.
For the Word to be made flesh it is necessary for the Light and the Dark to comprehend, or activate and discharge in harmony with, one another. Light made material manifests in many hues. Hue-manity is just that – the many hues of mankind in the flesh. For Mormons, the gathering of the 12 Tribes of Israel is a necessary precursor to the establishment of Zion and the return of Christ. In color theory there is a family of only 12 Original Hues, the purest and brightest, which form the basis for all the Many Colors which decorate the Coats of Man. White is not one of them, and neither is black. But there is no such thing as a truly black person or a truly white person. These are only general expressions which do not come close to describing the endlessly nuanced beauty and variety within the Hue-Man race.
Hue is a physically perceptible product of the dominant wavelength of light as it “shineth in darkness.” White Light can only be produced by combining all twelve tribes in spirit. What does the combining or gathering of the Twelve Tribes look like on a literal level? Black is the Color resulting on a physical level from an equal combination of all the 12 Tribes. The concept of one perfect pigmentation is a lie, and those who view themselves and others in terms of a gradient of glory somehow determined by pigment wallow in a pig–mentality. To admire one look above another is to add mire to the trough of racist thought which causes God’s black and white pearls alike to go unnoticed and unappreciated by swine and by their very selves. The only thing that will finally end this war between tints and shades is a mixing of the Twelve Tribes, which does not make an end of either side but simply ‘tones’ down the tension by adding both black and white.
When only white paint is added to a mixture it produces what we call pastel colors. ‘Pastel’ is derived from Italian ‘pastello’ – a word that means “material reduced to a paste” and is a diminutive form of the word ‘pasta’. A person who has a very light skin tone may be described as “pasty” and likely comes from multiple gene-rations of people who have subsisted off of a grain-based diet. (In Cain & Abel, Die-It & Diet, I cover the connections between the Mark of Cain and the grain-based diet) So-called white people live in a culture which in modern times has developed a serious addiction to sweetness. They pride themselves on their knowledge of good and evil obtained from years of rigorous scientific taste-testing of that forbidden fruit while seeking for a way to isolate and separate the bitter from the sweet. Their “pasty” European forefathers advanced the art of “pastry” with their nutrient-low, bleached flour that tries to pass itself off as “enriched,” aristocratic, and enlightened even. Glazed over in icing, their collective voice clearly and coldly says: “Let them eat cake!” And masses of modern mankind are born sugar addicts under this white supremacy. The sugar, they claim, is “refined”. Granulated or Powdered, Crack or pure Cocaine; it has the same physiological affects, only on a much more subtle and devilishly delicious level.
The elements of art and design provide us with an excellent likeness of our cultural identity. Art can therefore help us dissect our own heads and heart to analyze and hopefully overcome the faulty phrenology of our schizoid social constructs and our relish for pseudo-sciences that segregate rather than integrate the spirit with the flesh, man with his fellow man, and mankind with their God. Within the context of art, we see the fraternal feeling makes itself known with bold strokes that strew the surreal landscape of a soft sororal sentiment with quasi pornographic classical Greek torsos and bloody foot prints leading away from abandoned pedestals where lesbian ladies of liberties once stood. It may not be a pretty picture, but seeing the canvas dripping with our true hues – blood red, washed out whites, and deep delta blues; allows us to come to terms with this Guernica of a dying Age of the Gentiles. Look upon it!
24 And when that day shall come, shall a remnant be scattered among all nations;
25 But they shall be gathered again; but they shall remain until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
26 And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth.
27 And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity (inequity) shall abound.
28 And when the times of the Gentiles is come in,a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fullness of my gospel;
29 But they receive it not; for they perceive not the light, and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men.
30 And in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
31 And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sicknessshall cover the land.
32 But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die.
33 And there shall be earthquakes also in divers places, and many desolations; yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword, one against another, and they will kill one another.
D&C 45:24-33
The Devil is laughing loudly indeed as the Time of the Gentiles nears its inglorious end, but most do not seem to hear him. They are too busy laughing loudly themselves, mocking others from within that great and spacious building which has been condemned and is slated for destruction. Their laughter is Lucifer’s laughter. Among those who do hear it, many find themselves petrified with fear. They fail to realize that, just as in the movies, if the villain is “monologuing” it only means that he has not yet done what he says he will do. As the enemy gloats over his successes to this point, the real heroes always take the opportunity to act and change their fate at the last minute. We can overcome the Evil One and be Saviors on Mount Zion if we will but pull ourselves together – first individually, then collectively. To this end, we have at our disposal the underrated but valuable bonding agent of pure laughter. Long has laughter been used as a weapon in the hands of the wicked. And no doubt we will be laughed to scorn like the Sons of Mosiah should we seriously propose unification as those brave souls sought with their dark-skinned Lamanite brethren despite the ridicule of their fair-skinned Nephite brethren at Zarahemla (Alma 26:23). But, as promised by Jesus, we will surely have the last laugh.
HUE-MOORING HUE-MANITY
All these scattered points of light need not be lost to the New World Order. We shall use the pure laughter of children as hue-moorings with which the 12 Hues of Israel in the House of Israel may draw themselves in from the ocean of emotion and anchor themselves to the land. It may sound like some corny line from a Care Bear cartoon, but truly, laughter links us together by building rainbow bridges. We have to be hue-moored with this rainbow-rigging – spirit bodies to mortal bodies, and one to another in a Zion network. Rainbows show up frequently in folk traditions from Yoruban to Celtic, from Taiwanese to Nordic, as the bridge we must pass to reach together with our ancestors the perfect world of the New Earth. We need no more rearranged orders of this world, always doing “that which has been done in other worlds.” We want the New Heaven and New Earth that the New World could never give us. The “rainbow connection” between body and soul, ka and ba, is welded tight with an arc of light. Luminous laughter can send an electrical connection surging up through our kabod. The medium, by which the gap is bridged between dense darkened bodies of dirt and dazzling bodies of light, is water from the emotional body. That is the way of the ancients whereby the perishable will clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality as per 1 Corinthians 15:53. Through mystical mists of emotion a person’s aura can be seen to adorn him or her like a “coat of many colors”. But it takes both sunshine and rain to make a rainbow. The rain is our emotion, the sunshine our eternal spirit.
The appropriately named Japanese energy scholar, Dr. Emoto showed through his experiments how human emotion has an effect on the molecular structure of water. His work specifically illustrates the energetic link between light and sound through language, and the role that water plays as a resonance retainer for any energy emoted at it. It should be understood that E-motion is nothing more or less than energy in motion. Laughter, being essentially erratic displacement of air, can bubble or burst through the watery current of emotion and affect its flow and direction. It can let the world in, or it can let Zion out. The fluidity of emotion makes it a difficult thing to map but that has not stopped many from trying. Theorists have come up with both somatic and mental models for attempting to locate the causation of emotion. But emotion washes over both body and mind and does not originate nor meet an end with either side. It is not easily managed by either side, neither is it unidirectional. E-motion is simply energy in motion and it is meant to flow like water. Positive and negative energy waves push and tug at the body, upwards of 70% of which is composed of water.
Like any body of water, the emotive body can become polluted with debris lodged in it. These emotional contaminants block energy from flowing smoothly and are felt as concomitants accompanying unpleasant emotion. In reality the movement of energy is neither good nor bad, but changes in bodily sensations can greatly alter our initial perception and experienced intensity of E-motion. Biofeedback between the brain and the rest of the body is all that can be tracked or explained by neuroscientists, but the cortex is only a middle-man (Dr. of chemistry Francoise Tibika likens it to a traffic cop) that can either function as a dam or an open gate for the constant tide of energy-motion forever flooding to and from mind and matter. In the case of laughter, which is generally associated with positive energy flow, the mind can unfortunately play the role of a party-pooper, or an outright tyrant. Mindful cherubim may see themselves as honorable life-guards along Life’s Beach who keep vigilant watch and prevent us from drowning in emotion, when in fact they are blocking the pearly gates and barring entrance into the Kingdom just like Jesus accused the Scribes and Pharisees, religious leaders in his day of doing. Sometimes we have to do as Brigham Young taught in his quote which is still repeated today at the veil in LDS temples. That is, we must slip past the “angels who stand as sentinels there” and dive in with joy and laughter. You will recall that the research reveals we only laugh during pauses when we might typically cough or breathe. Is it the laughter which threatens to drown us, or the stifling, and choking back of emotion that poses the real danger to our souls?
In the LDS temple endowment session we are admonished to avoid “lightmindedness” lest we judge lightly the things of the Lord. But that directive in no way ought to interfere with Christ’s command to “be of good cheer”. Lightheartedness should never be prohibited, for it is according to our hearts that we are judged at the pleading bar, as depicted on ancient temple walls. Those whose hearts are as light as a feather are granted entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, those who’s hearts exceed that weight are judged too heavy for the Land of the Light. Laughs are like gasps for fresh air – the spirit of freedom – which fill our lungs and our heart with love and light that then shoots out to surrounding brothers and sisters like so many delightful sparks.
From a purely physical standpoint, hue-man laughter evolved from the panting behavior of our ancient primate ancestors. Apes laugh with a panting sound in the same conditions in which human laughter is produced, like tickle, rough and tumble play, and chasing games. From a spiritual standpoint, the laughter of hue-mans is capable of lighting the sky like fire-works. Light laughter is like a safety flare that can attract good spirits to our aid and ward off evil spirits. Remember I said laughter was an excellent banishing spell, and laughter coupled with colorful light is even better. Many are familiar with Holi, the Hindu springtime festival also known as festival of colors, but not many may be familiar with its origins. Holi celebrations start with a Holika bonfire on the night before Holi where people gather, sing and dance. The next morning is a free-for-all carnival of colors,where everyone chases and plays with each other, throwing brightly colored powder and colored water. One of the chief scriptural bases for this ancient celebration comes from a story in the Bhavishyottara Purana.
The legend says that there once was a good king named Raghu who was endowed with all good qualities, a kind speaker, and deep read in the Vedas. He treated his subjects as if they were his own children and during his reign there was neither famine, nor sickness, nor any iniquity, nor departure from the precepts of religion. So the man was a perfect picture of the LDS temple initiate who strives to live up to every covenant made within those hallowed walls, supposing he knows what it is to truly be of a regal caste. But despite his exceeding righteousness, one day a female demon appeared and started terrorizing the people, especially the little children of his kingdom. The demon could not be driven out by charmed bracelets, or magic garments; not even with water, olive oil, or by holy home teachers skilful in exorcisms. When the report came from the people to King Raghu, he consulted the Muni Narada. Narada replied:
“I will tell you by what means the fiend is to be destroyed. This day is the fifteenth of the light fortnight of Phalguna; the cold season has departed, the warm weather will commence with dawn. Let the people, freed from terror, laugh and sport; let the children go forth rejoicing, like soldiers delighted to go to battle, equipped with wooden swords. Let also a pile of dry wood and stones be prepared, and let it be lighted according to rule, while incantations are recited destructive of wicked fiends. Then let the people, fearless, thrice circumambulate the fire, exclaiming, ‘Kila, kila!’ (Flame, flame!) and clapping their hands. And let them sing and laugh, and let every one utter, without fear, whatever comes into his mind. In various ways and in their own speech, let them freely indulge their tongues, and sing and sing again a thousand times, whatever songs they will. Appalled by those vociferations, by the oblation to fire, and by the attahasa (loud laughter) of the children, that wicked Rakshasi shall be destroyed, and thenceforth the festival of the Holika shall be renowned among mankind.”
In Sanskrit ‘hasa’ means laughter, ‘atta’ means loud…‘attatta’ means very loud. So perhaps only ‘attattahasa’ – very loud laughter – was to be avoided in ancient times. Or perhaps more likely the moral of the story is that: even loud laughter has its appropriate time and place. Superstition and false traditions will over time attract and even create devastating demons which can be difficult to root out using the same religious dogma and social order that attributed to their being in the first place. The Church would have us guard against every unholy and impure practice. But while we are attending to all the do’s and don’ts, administering in complete righteousness like King Raghu, and avoiding the appearance of evil, then evil itself will sneak in and reek havoc – particularly among our poor children. I include this story, not only because of the striking use of the word ‘attahasa’ meaning “loud laughter,” plus various other more subtle parallels to Mormon culture, but to call attention to the observance of and credence given superstitions in the broader context of our cherished Christ-Shun cult-sure.
Attahasa is somewhat commonly used in India as a boy’s name as it is another name for Lord Shiva in Hindu religion. But of course, a good Christian must assume that Lord Shiva is the name of a pagan god, and possibly even one of the many titles of the Devil himself. There was a group of religious fanatics circulating a rumor recently on the internet; that when one types the letters ‘L-O-L’ they are really typing “Lucifer Our Lord” and thus unconsciously evoking the Lord of Darkness. Most people of course considered the idea humorous and took it and ran with it as a joke. I do not think that usage of this common communication trend is tantamount to summoning Satan. But like many things in the drama of life, while the practice may not be insidious, there is a comedic side, as well as a tragic side to it.
NO LAUGHING MATTER
The acronym LOL stands for “Laughing Out Loud” and is used online or in text messages to express the feeling or at least the idea of amusement. While thousands of people are prone to use this internet slang item multiple times weekly or even daily, of the countless occasions where one might type ‘LOL’ only a small number of those occasions are likely to actually involve any real laughter escaping the vocal cords. The initialism has crept into even our face to face speech in this spiritually dull digital age which is chock full of meaningless exchange. Is feeling going to become completely taken over by banality? If the Christian fanatics were right, then the irony for LDS would be that Lucifer actually helped them to stay true to their temple covenant not only to avoid loud laughter but to virtually avoid laughter altogether. LOL! Even though Jesus in the Book of Mormon explicitly states that anything more or less than his simple doctrine of believing on his name, repenting, and being baptized, comes of evil, still, going above and beyond is what Latter-Day Stains excel at as members of the broader scheme of Christ-Shun culture. Laughing in silence is just another extreme, every bit as unholy and unhealthy as laughing too loudly.
While these matters of silly superstition are surely to be laughed at with lighthearted laughter, I would hope we might simultaneously take the opportunity to reflect with a sober mind on the deterioration in the quality of feeling among men in today’s world. This deteri-oration is a detour-oration, an onslaught of empty speech steering us away from our hearts and our emotions. The coldest, longest emotional winter is setting in upon us with each passing year. It may be felt more harshly in some places than others but it is, on the spiritual plane, a bona fide ice age that calls for the ritual igniting of bonfires, bond-fires to ensure the survival of the huddling hue-man race. These cold days upon us have been prophesied for many centuries now. In Christian scripture it is known by the general title of the Last Days. Mormon scripture more specifically calls it the End of the Time of the Gentiles. And Old Norse prophecy gives it the name of Ragnarok – Final Fate of the Gods of the Nordic Peoples. All of these speak of the love of man “waxing cold.” In the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá goes into gory detail and tells us that:
“Brothers will fight and kill each other, sisters’ children will defile kinship. It is harsh in the world, whoredom rife – an axe age, a sword age – shields are riven – a wind age, a wolf age – before the world goes headlong. No man will have mercy on another.”
Stanza 46 of the same Scandinavian scripture states that the “Sons of Mím” are “at play” while “fate burns”. Though no further information about these “sons” has survived we can understand the reference to mean those mortals whose personalities correspond to the symbolic attributes of that god. Mímir is Old Norse for the “The Rememberer”. Mimir’s head is stuffed with knowledge, for which he is renowned and sought after. But, he ends up loosing his head, literally, in a battle; after which Odin carries it around with him and it recites secret knowledge to him whenever he seeks counsel. When the individual becomes enamored with the knowledge he amasses and the intellect he dispenses, then the head can easily become severed from the rest of the body. The “Sons of Mím” are the intelligentsia of our day. Whether they are the college educated fools, the YouTubeversity graduates, or the intelligence gathering NSA, and CIA agents on the other end – The Book of Mormon slams them all saying:
“When they are learned they think they are wise…their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.” (2 Nephi 9:28)
Nephi’s doomsday prophecy often goes overlooked as simply hyperbole by the Mormon “Sons of Mím” who function in life as headless bodies, and who serve as bodyless heads in various Church and State positions. When Nephi tells them that “it profiteth them not” they know very well that he is not speaking of profit in the sense of money. But their heads are so immersed in the world of business, and so anxiously engaged, gainfully employed in the world of business that there there develops a detri-mental disconnect between so-called religious life and so-called real life. Neither realm is real in this derangement. For most Mímirs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints either their dismembered body is “at play” while the head is “at work” or their haughty heads are play while their bodies slave away. Nephi continues in verses 29 and 30…
“To be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God. But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world.”
Some may think it is unfair and even inaccurate to make a particular case for these things against the LDS people, however there is undeniable corollary. When Nephi says: “Wo unto him that has the law given, yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us” (2 Nephi 9:27), when Nephi says: “Wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world” he is specifically addressing the LDS who are rich as to things of the world, not anyone else. If God arranges for your voice to cry from the dust through the words of a book entitled with the name of Mormon, then it is because your message is especially for Mormons. Mormons have for many years been numbered among the rich and today they are even to be found in no small representation among the elite ranks of the super-rich. And, contrary to Zeezrom Daft Benson’s eleventh point in his 14 Fun-dumb-mentals for Following the Profit, we’re not talking about ex-mormons or even inactive members here. The rich and super-rich LDS are our very own Snake Presidents and Area Fauxthorities. 3 Nephi 6:12 further establishes the connection between the learned and the rich. It says that:
“The people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning; yea, some were ignorant because of their poverty, and others did receive great learning because of their riches.”
So a societal portrait of the false god Mím begins to emerge with the working class as his body and the educated elite as the talking head. This specifically applies to Mormondom because from Brigham Young to Gordon B. Hinckley the Mormon people have placed a very high value on receiving a college education. Hinckley expressed it most succinctly when he said:
“The world will in large measure pay you what it thinks you are worth, and your worth will increase as you gain education and proficiency in your chosen field.”
Hinckley knew that we the people are classified by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning, just like the Nephites were only a few chapters before the pending destructions, and he honored that dishonest social order. He established the Perpetual Education Fund and in so doing, he put the money where the mouth is, where the hungry head and the mouth of Mím is. Hinckley’s Perpetual Debt-U-Cation Fund is undeniably poised to feed the rich while offering better training to the poor as their servants. In 1964 the Church established the Benemerito school in Mexico. In 1999 Church News referred to it as the “BYU of Mexico”. But by 2013, just over a decade after the PEF had been founded, the Church decided to discontinue the education of all the students of Benemerito to convert the facility into what the Church Office had determined to be the more lucrative venture of another missionary training center. What Hinckley meant when he said:
“You belong to a church that teaches the importance of education.”
was more explicitly expounded by J. Craig McIlroy as president of the BYU Alumni Association in his commencement address given to graduates on April 26, 2007. He prefaced the main body of his remarks with these words:
“Might I suggest that you consider wealth creation as a commodity made up of financial, human, and intellectual capital. Business people know that they must spend 70 to 80 percent of their time growing assets. In families, growing the human and intellectual assets is often overlooked. The members in the family are the human capital.”
Then McIlroy referenced the founder of the secret combination known as the Illuminati:
“Mayer Amschel Rothschild understood that two important elements of a family’s wealth are its human and intellectual capital. He saw to it that all family members were well educated and that they worked. He also provided specialized mentorship opportunities as his sons entered the workforce.
Like the Rothschild children, you have been given a figurative loan, if you will, in the form of a financial subsidy of your tuition by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You represent the human and intellectual capital of your own families and, in a broader sense, of the Church.”
Hinckley himself was in attendance when these words were spoken, along with Vice President Dick Cheney. The presence of the Profit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at that commencement ceremony, his actions while there, as also his inaction, speak volumes, and voluminously. In short it said:
“You BELONG to a CHURCH that teaches the impotence of education.”
It is all a big joke. It’s okay to laugh. They are certainly laughing at you, and LOUDLY!
All of this ties in strongly with Ragnarok – The Final Fate of the Gods of the Nordic Peoples in many ways. Firstly, the Gods of the Nordic Peoples are just that, they are the Gods of Nordic people. They could be land and riches, or whatever else people of Nordic descent idolize. They could be the various names of the Old Norse pantheon, Odin, or Thor, or Mím (who we have discussed in detail here). But most importantly, they are the Nordic people themselves. We all have our heavenly counterparts dwelling in dimensions high above us. Something similar to the basic plot for the 2012 film, Upside Down – they live an existence of relative luxury while we struggle to survive here below in the lone and dreary physical world. For now we, like the characters in that movie who were inhabitants of “Down Below”, scavenge for bits of “inverted matter” from that better world overhead to warm our furnaces during the dead of winter.
The Bible foretells the day when Heaven and Earth will be rolled together as a scroll. It says that the stars will fall as they are shook from the sky. Literally this will come about as a result of a reversal of the Earth’s poles. Inter-dimensionally and spiritually speaking, this means that the hosts of Heaven will have to come down from their high places. If there are spiritual powers of wickedness in high places as Paul warned, and we do not struggle against them, then those forces will take us over as they fold into us, their mortal counterparts here below. I’ve written of the Lorentzian Manifold in What Makes the Book of Mormon a L.I.T.M.U.S. Test? pt. 2, and in We Are The Weather about the pole shift set to occur for this planet. Eurocentric interpretations of verses describing the Lost Tribes of Israel as returning from the “Countries of the North” will be shook. Even those few LDS who hold that Inner Earth beings resembling Nordic Gods will come to the rescue may want to do as Isaiah says and consider that which they have not heard (Isaiah 52:15). They can start with considering what ancient Norse prophecies like the tale of Ragnarok have to say about these matters.
The world tree Yggdrasil shudders and groans. The gnomes groan by the stone doors which are entrances to their inner earth dwellings. Rocky cliffs open and the Jötunn women sink. All this may seem like very strange and foreign imagery, but a side by side comparison between the legend of Ragnarok and Christian/Mormon scripture and even modern American news documents should serve to clarify. First of all, Yggdrasil is the World Tree of Norse mythology. In What Makes the Book of Mormon a L.I.T.M.U.S. Test? pt. 2, I make mention of the simple and universal concept of the Axis Mundi, and I endeavor to emphasize that this fractal fact applies not only to the planetbut to individual people too. When the Old Norse legends tell us that the World Tree will shudder and groan, they are testifying to the same truth that the apostle Paul spoke upon in Romans 8. For, said he:
“I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For we know that the Earth and all creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Crying and Laughing are parts of that vibratory language which can not be uttered with words. These actions cause our sides to shake and our personal axis to align with the Spiritual North. This allows for smooth assimilation of the spirit body which is, esoterically speaking, the Nordic Man. Until perfect alignment is achieved, there is an unequal distribution of power between the world of the Fathers and that of the Children. The prophet Elijah was sent to remedy this injustice, and set things straight. Perhaps you will recall that the prophet Elijah laughed loudly in the faces of those priests of Baal when, in a showdown against the God of Israel, they failed to produce fire with which to light the sacrificial altar. We have apparently forgotten the power of the One God, and have subscribed to dumb idols who deny us that heavenly flame we all need. Under these present circumstances, as it says in D&C 123:7…
“The whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity.”
Gnomes are also heard to groan at the onset of Ragnarok. There are good and bad gnomes. Gnomes are creatures which hide treasures deep in the Earth, either by placing them there, or by preventing those treasures naturally contained within Her from surfacing to see the light of day. They work in huge underground halls, away from the eyes of the world, but very much affecting events upon the face of the earth on a geological plus geopolitical scale. Many major cities have underground catacombs and some of these are very extensive and elaborate. There is a subterranean network of halls and rooms known to exist underneath the streets of Salt Lake City. It is also no secret that the Church has immense cavernous vaults in the mountains where they hide many treasures.
And speaking of mountainous country, according to the Norse eschatology, rocky cliffs are to open and the Jötunn (pronounced Yotun) women will sink. The Jötnar are a race of frosty, gluttonous, man-eating giants who live in Jötunheim. But why would their women specifically take such a hard fall during this apocalyptic scene? I believe that one reason has to do with the schemes of the Evil One in these last days which are specifically targeted at young women. The strange sounding name of the World Tree in Norse Mythology – Yggdrasil – may hold the answer to the mystery. Though its etymology is disputed, its pronunciation is indubitably known to be – ɪɡdrəsɪl. Without removing or adding any letters to the word, and by reversing the sequence of the first two letters, then flipping the third and fourth around, we get – ɡɪrdəsɪl – nearly an exact phonetic match for “Gardasil”, the Merck manufactured vaccine against HPV, the cancer-causing human papilloma virus. Gardasil received FDA approval in the summer of 2006, and by 2008 had been accepted in 41 states of the U.S. The vaccine garnered a great deal of controversy from the start. It was thought to be the cause of many cases of illness and several deaths even when it was first released and marketed for females ages 9 to 26. Since that time it has been shown to damage young girls’ ovaries to the point of being rendered useless, and causing premature menopause.
Within the first two years after the vaccine was introduced, the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, run by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, collected 8,000 reports of problems after Gardasil shots, including paralysis, seizures and miscarriages. Earlier this month, national talk show host Katie Couric featured a woman on daytime TV who was the mother of the first girl whose life was claimed by this vile vaccine. Jessica Ericzon, 17, collapsed dead in her bathroom on Feb. 22, 2008. On the advice of her family doctor, Jessie had taken a series of three Gardasil shots. Seeing such uncanny parallels between Yggdrasil and Gardasil, it is chilling to note that the blond-haired, blue-eyed honors student bore the most famous and common Scandinavian surname of all time. And even more eerie is the fact that she died on Feb. 22nd, the last day of the feast of Jolablot, the third of a series of tri-annual feasts celebrated by the Vikings. This is also the date when experts in Norse mythology estimate that Ragnarok will begin. The first two feasts of the Viking calendar – Sigrblot and Vetrarblot – happen to coincide with the summer season and harvest time. Jessica Ericzon got the first injection in July 2007 followed by her second shot in September. Her mother, Lisa, said she complained of a pain in the back of her head which would subside after some time, but grew progressively worse with each injection.
In Utah, the controversy over Gardasil takes on very Mormon moralistic overtones which aren’t always distinctly addressed by members of the medical establishment poised to make decisions related to the issue. Utah’s Southwest Health Department says Gardasil is too expensive and questions its effectiveness while the Utah Scientific Immunization Advisory Committee pushes for its implementation state-wide. However, the generally conservative public does not particularly like the idea of issuing a vaccine designed to counter sexually transmitted disease to girls so young. They fear that it might reflect poorly on their morals. But this defense does not truly have the young women of Utah’s best interest in mind or at heart, nor does it truly provide for their safety and well-being. The LDS people are very open to the idea of vaccines as they are led by men who laud the so-called modern miracle of western medicine. As soon as the cunning doctors of death can find a presentation for their poison more in keeping with the people’s Victorian ideals, they will administer it and the Utahn/Jötunn women of the land in the mountains will fall.
Descendants of Scandinavians settled in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. There are about 2 million Americans of Danish descent. Like other groups of Americans of Scandinavian descent, many of them are Lutherans. However, they contrast with Norwegian and Swedish Americans in that a large percentage of them are Mormon converts who settled in Utah and southeastern Idaho. Early Mormon missionaries were particularly successful in Denmark, but there are also many families in Utah with Swedish ancestry. Nordic blood runs through the veins of many Utahns. What might be the effects when the blood of the slain Norse gods runs through their vain brains in the form of false traditions passed down from their fathers? Shall all of their “work for their dead” in Valhalla, the Hall of the Slain, amount to nothing more than “dead works” in defiled temples when their false gods finally die?
In 2010, former member of the 3rd Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Hans Mattsson and his wife Birgitta made news when they came forward and expressed serious doubts and dismay about the history of the Church and how it has handled faithful and honest members who have questions. Many Swedish Mormons including a stake president then also opened up about their feelings and formed a group to discuss the faith crisis they were facing. This group seriously alarmed Salt Lake and a special “emergency” fireside was held for local leaders. Church historian Elder Marlin Jensen and his assistant Elder Richard Turley were sent from Salt Lake to Stockholm to attend the meeting and deal with the “problem”. It can not be denied that major stirrings are awakening many of the Scandinavian people. Whether they are stirred up to anger or to spiritual strength and liberty remains to be seen.
Vikings believed that as a prelude to the Ragnarok apocalypse, three freezing winters would follow each other with no summers in between. In The Thermodynamics and Eternodynamics of Desire – Continued, I touch on the elementary connection between temperature and time. In We Are The Weather pts. 1 & 2, I try to explain the spiritual, multigenerational and multidimensional facets of weather phenomena. Time cycles and weather patterns mirror each other, and can offer clues to those who know what to look for. Last year Utah experienced its coldest winter temperatures since 1978. Now as winter sets in again official statements from Salt Lake echo that time when the Church altered its policy on priesthood regarding non Caucasian males. Of course the Saltican city is only trying to keep in step with the Vatican city as they vie for publi-city. Their statements do not represent repentance in the present and therefore have no effect on the past. As for the future, the forecast looks grim.
What bitter winds blow from Angel Moroni’s horn? And do they portend a similar fate for European emigrants as that signaled by the blowing of the mythical Gjallerhorn said to herald the approach of Ragnarok? Solar activity as recorded by astronomers has entered a period of freefall, always a precursor to a cooling cycle, and scientists say 2014 could be the harbinger of a mini or even a full-scale ice age. Europe’s Little Ice Age was a period of cooling that took place between 1550 and 1850 AD. It brought about catastrophic consequences for peoples all across the European continent but was most drastic for the Vikings who suffered much death and total loss of their holdings in Greenland. Today people may not think that they are as susceptible to death and disease due to changes in the weather, but despite our modern lifestyle, the environment still has a way of adversely affecting our health by stealth.
In some accounts of Ragnarok it is foretold that: the soil and the sky will be stained with poison. As the spirits of deceased warriors gather on the ethereal battlefield, we see the militaristic and industrial forces of mortal men take to the sky in planes spilling mass amounts of poison which affects and infects not only the air quality but also the soil. Swedish parliamentarian Pernilla Hagberg has stood up and voiced growing concern over chemtrails on behalf of her constituents. She personally vows to do all she can to put a stop to the spraying of tiny particles of aluminum and barium chaff in the skies over Sweden. The U.S. military admits that “cloud seeding” as they call it has been going on since the late 90s. The expanding program was launched with the purpose of creating “clouds of microscopic computer particle all communicating with each other to form an intelligent fog that could be used for various purposes” according to a research paper produced for the U.S. Air Force. As chemtrails rapidly grow ever more prevalent in the skies over Utah, the Mormon people below would do well to review their scriptures and read in Mosiah 7:30 where the Lord says:
“If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the chaff thereof in the whirlwind; and the effect thereof is poison.”
Norse legend and Chrisian lore both tell us that an angel in heaven shall sound the trump. The sons of Odin are called to the battlefield, the whole of earth and creation anxiously awaits the manifestation of the sons of God. Apocalypse simply means revelation, and that which is to be revealed is our own future form. John 3:1-2 reminds us….
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
After the gloom and doom comes light and life! After the death of the Norse gods, after the Time of the Gentiles is finished, then a new and glorious earth will emerge.
THE SIDE (SPLITTING) EFFECTS OF LAUGHTER
Yes, Zion will E-merge, but before the new Heaven-N-Earth energy merge is possible, the world will be submerged in cataclysm, and all worldly creatures will be divided by multiple schisms. Mankind will be split into various opposing sides. Laughter plays a significant role in this societal side-splitting. This should be no surprise after examining its dual nature as a tool for simultaneous connectivity and corrosiveness. The charge to avoid loud laughter should make us aware of the powerful electromagnetic charge inherent in laughter. And with a basic understanding of electromagnetic principles we ought to recognize its potential for repelling as well as attracting, energizing as well as zapping. If we would tap into laughter’s healing properties and potential we have to be aware of the delicate nature of this spiritual technique.
Laughter is an energetic activity that raises our heart rate and blood pressure, but these physiological effects are incompletely documented and their medicinal benefits are even less certain. Lennart Levi, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, reported that comedy activates the body’s “fight or flight” system, increasing catecholamine levels in urine, a measure of activation and stress. Lee Berk, DHSc, of the Loma Linda School of Medicine, countered with a widely cited study that reported that laughter reduced catecholamines and other hormonal measures of sympathetic activation. This reduction in stress and associated hormones is the mechanism through which laughter is presumed to enhance immune function. Unfortunately, Berk’s studies show at best a biological response to comedy. His reports included only five experimental subjects, never stated whether those subjects actually laughed, and were presented in only three brief abstracts. Does a sense of humor or a lighthearted personality add years to your life? Not necessarily.
A large-scale study by Howard Friedman, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of California at Riverside, found optimism and sense of humor in childhood to be inversely related to longevity. This may be because people with untempered optimism indulge in risk-taking, not so much believing, but thinking that the system of slavery we live under in this present physical reality will somehow not affect them adversely. And ultimately, not loving and valuing their souls enough because of long-term abuse, they do not care if their brash rebellious reaction does effectively free them or not. Of course the parable of the talents, if anything, teaches us that risk taking is crucial. But to indulge in untempored emotion is not in line with the scriptures which warn us to bridle our passions so that that they can be to us, tempered tools with which to build Zion. The warning against defiling one’s garments with “untempored mortar” was very prevalent in freemasonic teachings during the early part of the nineteenth century in the United States, and this provides a very accurate analogy and important lesson in regards to “loud laughter”. It is not good for building, and certainly not fit for building the type of familial bonds necessary to sustain Zion.
Pain reduction is one of laughter’s promising applications. Rosemary Cogan, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Texas Tech University, found that subjects who laughed at a Lily Tomlin video or underwent a relaxation procedure tolerated more discomfort than other subjects. Humor may help temper intense pain. James Rotton, Ph.D., of Florida International University, reported that orthopedic surgery patients who watched comedic videos requested fewer aspirin and tranquilizers than the group that viewed dramas. Humor may also help us cope with stress. In a study by Michelle Newman, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at Penn State University, subjects viewed a film about three grisly accidents and had to narrate it either in a humorous or serious style. Those who used the humorous tone had the lowest negative affect and tension. A problem with these studies is that none of them separate the effects of laughter from those of humor. None allow for the possibility that presumed effects of laughter or humor may come from the playful settings associated with these behaviors. And none evaluate the uniqueness of laughter by contrasting it with other vocalizations like shouting.
Loud laughter, similar to copious amounts of alcohol, might drown out pain entirely, in which case we are sure to miss the pricking effects of the Holy Spirit upon our soul. Loud Laughter could well be classified as laughter which solidifies a lie, rather than gently helping us cope with reality while we work to change it for the better. Laughter was developed in our species as it was adopted from heavenly helpers for beneficial bonding between brothers and sisters. It is not to be used as a drug. Yet this has become its primary usage in today’s society. The larger the group gathering these days, the louder the laughter – and we are not speaking in terms of mere volume. The more recreational our bouts of laughter, the less reconciliatory it becomes in its effects. A purely wreck-creation-all approach to laughter, like most of modern medicine, often ignores the side(splitting)effects. It only re-creates a false atmosphere of comradery by forcibly inducing mass release of endorphins. If we use comedy as a pill to mask the symptoms of social ills, then, like an anti-depressant with a 99% success rate, 1% of the time the built-up depression will suddenly erupt from the unconscious mind in violent fits as we have seen with the alarming, and growing frequency of infanticide and suicide in the U.S. lately, where a very high percentage of cases involve some kind of anti-depressant medication.
Mass media promotes laughter as medicine, and it certainly is. But today’s decadent culture does not promote responsible use of powerful medicine. Print and broadcast reporters produce upbeat, often frothy stories like “A Laugh a Day Keeps the Doctor Away.” A best-selling Norman Cousins book and a popular Robin Williams film Patch Adams amplified this feel-good message. But left unsaid in such reports is a jarring truth: Laughter did not evolve to make us feel good or improve to our health. Certainly, laughter unites people, and social support has been shown in studies to improve mental and physical health. But the presumed health benefits of laughter may be coincidental consequences of its primary goal: bringing people together. Bringing people together as family must be our focus. Without this focus, laughter is improperly used, and sorely abused to keep people from feeling sorrow for the sins of the world. Since laughter was intended to hold the human race together then any other use can eventually lead to condemnation in the spirit. This condemnation is hastened in our day by a new trend: Laughter as a carelessly administered vaccine or drug.
Laughter, in many ways, can be observed to behave similarly to a virus. A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of other organisms. Laughter can be highly contagious. In a study conducted by Dr. Robert Provine and associates, 1,200 people were observed laughing spontaneously in their natural environments. The results of their study surprised them because they suggested that the critical stimulus for laughter is not a joke, but the presence of another person. While we usually think of laughter as coming from an audience after a wisecrack from a single speaker, contrary to expectation, the speakers observed laughed almost 50% more than their audiences. The study also showed that laughter mostly follows comments which are not particularly clever or comical. Only 15% of laughter followed anything joke-like. Excluded from the study were all vicarious social effects of media (television, radio, books, etc.). The direct social nature of laughter was striking: Laughter was almost 50 times more frequent in social than solitary situations. In fact, a person laughing alone is sometimes judged to be mentally unstable. We’re much more likely to talk to ourselves or even smile when alone than to laugh. However happy we may feel, laughter is a signal we send to others and it virtually disappears when we lack an audience. Like a virus, the ripples of laughter can only ripple-cate themselves in other living organisms.
Just as live viruses are used in many vaccines, laughter is used similarly in modern social media. Earlier I mentioned that laughter has the potential to let the world in, as well as bring Zion out of us. In appropriate doses one’s external environment should be let in for purposes of building a spiritual immunity, but always through the filter of laughter, never taking in quantities that would prove lethal. For this reason we are told to avoid loud laughter and be prudent in our use of this potent practice. Most people these days do not go to God for their laughs. They go to mass media, and here laughter is isolated and mass produced like the active ingredients in most modern medicine. Technologically triggered mini-epidemics are produced by television laugh tracks. Laugh tracks have accompanied most television sitcoms since September 9, 1950. At 7:00 that evening, “The Hank McCune Show” used the first laugh track to compensate for being filmed without a live audience.
Canned laughter may sound artificial, but it coaxes TV viewers to laugh as if they were part of a live audience. Lying laughter promotes disconnection from our fellow man. Not only have live audiences become extremely rare, but viewing of live performances, up-close and in person, have become largely a thing of the past in today’s virtual world. We can see this same trend leading away from life-promoting laughter towards increasingly dead forms of social interaction in the area of LDS ritual. Live temple sessions are extremely rare, and dead works are rampant. Of course we may say that laughter seems completely inappropriate to us in such a sacred setting. I admit that laughter has been conspicuously absent from any temple session I have ever attended, but I am not entirely certain that this is as it should be, or as it was intended. God’s people are always infamous for missing the point of God’s teachings.
Joseph Smith’s sense of humor comes out very strongly in the lines of the original temple drama which has been slowly but significantly edited over the years. Joseph’s sense of humor reflected his sense of humanity. Here, through the symbolism of the Adam and Eve story, Joseph addresses the spiritual and physical beginnings of humans. Comical characters like the Preacher play along side the Lucifer character that constantly spews forth wickedly witty lines. We sit in complete silence, many of the audience members, from the geriatric to the youthful; experience acute drowsiness in the darkness of the theatre while watching the viral program which is projected on the video screen many times a day in temples throughout the world. Up till recently the Church had two temple “vids” catering to a corrupted race dominated by males who are in turn dominated by “visual” stimulation. Initiates basking in the soft glow of the video screen, illuminated by illusion, were offered the options of blonde or brunette to appeal to their vain and false sense of individuality. So-called individuals have been reduced to Indy-Visuals who are not independent, nor are they capable of seeing truth.
One truth that the temple drama was originally intended to convey was that humanity, as in physical mankind, can become separated by our minds from the spirit of humanity. Or in other words, humanity as a heavenly attribute may be either attained and expressed or suppressed and lost through cultural practices. The temple drama, like life was meant to rotate with the Prayer Circle of Life, not remain rote and mechanical. Once upon a time in humanity’s distant past, all the performers, including the witness couple, formed one interactive whole with the audience members. The whole point of RITUAL is to en-RICH-YOU-ALL! In the beginning, the ancient temple drama was infused with LIGHT and LIFE! Call and response chants, and raw animated acts kept the participants from simply “acting” as we see the practically emotionless figures do in the previously used LDS temple movies, or in the pretend emotion portrayed by the actors of the new temple film. I don’t know which is worse, but I know there is a more excellent way, and so do you.
When dealing with laughter our minds must remain sober if our hearts are to be freed. We need to always retain a remembrance of laughter’s sacred purpose – to connect human beings to one another. In his post, Connecting With Pixels, Justin explains that pornography addiction is so prevalent in this age, especially in places like the U.S., and it reaches its highest rates in the Mormon state of Utah. Justin says that pornography’s prevalence in latter-day culture is a question of technology making it so readily accessible and even pushed. And he identifies pornography addiction as a symptom of larger underlying social problems – namely: “poor socialization by parents on sexuality, unaddressed childhood abuse, an addictive personality, or feelings of insecurity.” LDS men may acknowledge pornography as a plague, they may even take measures to restrict online access and guard against such images, but sadly, for the most part it is their pre-dis-position to remain locked into and tied down by various aspects of the bigger pornographic picture projected by Satan onto humankind as they sit like a captive audience in Plato’s Cave. Sports, military service, and even manual labor are highly addictive hero-porn for the body. Schooling, political debate, and even reading can all be forms of intellectual porn for the mind. Church and temple attendance is religious porn for the spirit. Porn in all of its forms channels real energy into fake settings, encourages complacency, and replaces authentic human exchange of energy with holographic projections – hollow graphics dancing provocatively across the walls of our private porn prison cell.
Porn, like anything else, can be imp–properly used to prop up imp–personal personas. Our persons are poisons, and should be used with a certain degree of precaution. But the point is not to imagine that we may cast them off permanently, or cover ourcellves and our sins with pretentious priesthood garments of our own make. They may be more holy for a time, but over time they also may become more holey, moth bitten, and vain than the Emperor’s New Clothes – vain because of vanity, and vain in their ridiculously failed attempt to cover our nakedness. Holy and protective layers of being “may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover” up…then we are not sealed as Heaven’s own but are left to ourselves (D&C 121:37). Why do we revel in a con-sealing when we could strip down to the bare-naked truth of all things as revealed by the see-through robes of the Holy Ghost? True success is never achieved by outward means, and herein lies the real power to protect and strengthen. Focus on outward appearances will only bring us suck-cess, and will forever be susceptible to spiritual and physical sickness. King Benjamin tells the people:
“And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.” – Mosiah 4:29
But through shifting our awareness into the all-encompassing true order based on the first-born flow of the inward being, we are able to not only justify, but purify and eventually sanctify every action, and everything around us.
Ancient life-affirming ways have been hacked by a wedge shaped virus that is perverting sacred r-i-t-u-a-l into v-i-r-t-u-a-l reality. Virtue is lost in the present virtual reality, and the people are not even aware. Mankind and males in particular are spoken of as predominantly unaware beings in the Doctrine & Covenants section 121 in the succinct lecture on the rights of the priesthood that falls between verses 36-40. Why is man not aware when it comes to his inimical, enemy stance towards God? Man is not aware because he is not man enough to be. The simple and eternal truth is hidden from us behind the etymology of the word ‘man’ and the word ‘virus’. Although not “aware” in literal terms, literary examples from Anglo-Saxon writers in the 5th to 12th century show us that, in Old English, a ‘man’ was a ‘wer’. ‘Wer’ meant man, and from this word we get the modern English word werewolf (literally man-wolf). From the Old Norse – verr, through the Caucasian Mountains to the Ossetian – ир (ir), and Latin – vir, on back to its Proto-Indo-European root – wiHrós, and all the way back to the original Sanskrit cognate – वीर (vīrá); earlier linguistic roots all held the same simple meaning. And this ancient root word for man or male can be found today in the word ‘virility’, meaning manhood, or masculinity. It can not be ignored that it is also part of the word ‘virus’. The Latin word ‘virus’ means poison, venom, or slime. Its more ancient roots lie in the Sanskrit – विषम् (víṣam), which means “anything active” but has the connotation of “anything actively pernicious” such as poison, venom, or bane. विषम् (víṣam) is only a masculine a-stem declension of विष (víṣa), meaning ‘servant’.
Following a similar trail as the linguistics from the Indian subcontinent to the Mediterranean culture of ancient Palestine, Jesus, the greatest/least Master/Servant Teacher of all, brought us wisdom and presented us with the concept that:
“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.” (Matt. 6:24)
If a man is aware, Christ is awareness. Awareness is a virus. A virus spreads. It can spread in one direction or another. If a virus is aware of its self as awareness it knows it has the power to save or it can ravish, but it can not do both simultaneously. It can not serve God (All) and Mammon (Some/$um). Complete companionship with the Christ means at-one-ment, true enlightenment, or lightening the load rather than weighing one’s self down with more and more of “that which doth canker”. The difference between a lifestyle driven by the principle of seeking the Kingdom of Heaven first and a deathstyle driven by the habit of taking care of bu$ine$$ before tending to things of the spirit, is the same as the subtle yet decisive difference between all, and most. All/Most knowing God does not count. Mankind can either identify its self with God or it is an enemy to God. We are either fully aware or else we are at least partially unaware of the extent of our actions. From moment to moment in time we are either being human or we are acting as poison. There are of course varying degrees in either direction, but generally speaking, when we are acting as poison we are acting prideful and we tend to Euro-neously call Original Hue-manity slime and despise it when we “see” it. The truth is we can’t see humanity for what we are while in the service of Mammon. Only while in the service of our fellow man are we in service to our God, like King Benjamin taught in Mosiah 2:17. PathoGen-tiles who remain unrepentant have a deadly effect on the Blood of Abraham, and they act as a scourge upon the House of Israel wherever they are found throughout the Earth. The extreme damage that an unaware man is capable of is truly devastating.
“Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints, and to fight against God.” – D&C 121:38
“Kicking against the pricks” paints the picture of a person whose awareness has become numbed to the point of not feeling the pain caused by his actions in either direction. Unwittingly fighting against one’s own creator and the sustainer of all life is a sign of a very pathogenic pathos. Unaware human beings are virulent in their emotional illiteracy. Father may forgive them, for they know not what they do. But when there is willful ignorance and a conscious acceptance of falsehood over real emotion, then those germs will be utterly eradicated in their physical form by the Mother’s immune system.
The modern phrase “going viral” has no greater consummation than the Biblical prophesy of Christ’s ultimate sovereignty, that: “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess.” In fact this scripture (Romans 14:11) is an expression of the viral nature of Truth. Like an unstoppable live Virus of Veritas, the Lord sayeth:
“As I live, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
And the preceding verse talks of the futility in resisting the Virus of Veritas, the True and Living Church of the Firstborn. In it Paul asks:
“why do you judge your brother? Why do you regard your brother with contempt?”
When one stops seeking his life, he then finds it (Luke 17:33). As soon as he succumbs to the Christ, the Virus of God, he instantly recognizes that there is no difference between his brother and his self. Through Christ we become aware that self does not end where our skin begins. When we awaken we abandon our destructive vices. We join as part of King Benjamin’s greater audience. His audience was surely wrought upon by a spiritually viral epidemic of conversion. Envision it; a whole huge crowd spontaneously crying out with one voice, and suddenly feeling “no more disposition to do evil” (Mosiah 5:2). We will no longer behave like vicious virions for we are at one with our environs. The Love of God exceeds even the speed of light and it completely takes us over as it explodes from our hearts and assimilates all creation. But until that moment when one feels and understands his unique position in the universe, then he is literally dis-positioned towards unrighteous dominion and all manner of evil. This is the unfortunate state of almost all men in the world as a study of D&C 121 will tell you. The study of viruses is known as virology and it has revealed to us that viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most abundant type of biological entity.If man’s nature tends toward that of a vile, havoc-wreaking virus how then are we to be redeemed from our toxic attitude? What could possibly reconcile a man’s violently torn soul? Well, another hallmark of those who are found possessed of the Love of Christ in these latter days is recorded in Doctrine & Covenants 84:71, also known as the Oath & Covenant of the Priesthood.
“If any man (vir) shall administer poison (vir) unto them it shall not hurt them”
The Bible also testifies to the divine protection and immunity experienced by God’s servants. Harriet Tubman, who not only led over a thousand slaves to freedom at great personal peril, but also administered to Civil War soldiers who lay sick and dying with dysentery and small pox, was unafraid of death in any of its forms because she was on the errand of the Lord and stayed busy about her Father’s work. She acquired quite a reputation for her skill in curing dysentery with a medicine she prepared from roots which grew near the waters that gave the disease. She never once suffered even the slightest symptom of the diseases she was treating and it was said of her that the Lord was with her. The Hevajna Tantra contains several verses referring to men and their relationship with poison. On page 93 we read:
“With the very poison, a little of which would kill any other being, a man who understands poison would dispel another poison.”
Then on page 107 it says:
“If he drinks strong poison, the simple man who does not understand it, falls senseless. But he who is free from delusion with his mind intent on the truth destroys it altogether”
One more reference on page 117 delivers what it calls, “the profoundest secret of the beauteous purifier of existence”….
“Useless is a gem uncut, but once cut, it gives forth its brilliance. Likewise this gem of the saṃsāra (continuous flow), possessed of the properties of the five desires (five carnal senses), becomes like poison in its unpurified state, but when purified it becomes ambrosia (food or drink of the gods).”
The profound truth in all these scriptures, LDS, Christian, and Buddhist, is that a man of god may partake of the same things which an impure man does, but the effect will not be the same. One of the great mysteries of God is how holy men and women arrive at consecration and subsist by purifying themselves, by purifying poison. Transmutation is the key.
It may sound weird to hear the Word of God-to-Man articulated in terms of the Virus. But think of it; a virus is an active strain of DNA-altering particles and “As man is, God once was, as God is, man may become”. Even if Lorenzo Snow, who coined that phrase, and was in many ways a prideful product of his gene-ration, never considered it; the fact remains that at some point the agent that offers to take him from manhood to godhood is going to require some altering of those prideful genes. On April 6, 1844, Joseph Smith preached to a congregation of 20,000 saying:
“Here then is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God the same as all Gods have done before you” (JOD 6:4; TPJS p.346)
Of those who have gone before us, few ever thought to attain to godhood, and of those few even fewer obtained it. I believe this is because, like the Founding Fathers, they too died holding firmly to a freemasonic belief in the “pursuit of happiness” which is perhaps the main lie underlying all of the Devil’s false doctrine. God suffers us to conduct experiments with life and liberty, hoping and trusting that we will one day tire of experimenting and desire now to enter his presence. From the Colonial English of the U.S. Constitution to the Latin of the Magna Carta, we should remember that in Old English ‘Wer’ meant ‘Man’, and “We the People” being a vir-us, must remember that our ancestors were-us and we are them. This is the real meaning of priesthood lineage.
Until we succeed in bringing past and future gene-rations into alignment the present will remain a perpetual prison to us. That is the curse with which the earth is to be smitten if not for the Spirit of Elijah. Only a turning/tuning of the heart signals of the Fathers to the heart signals of the Children and visa versa will result in the meeting in the middle which is necessary to eliminate the phase effect of sometimes constructive and other times destructive interference that varies with frequency, giving a series of peaks and troughs in the frequency response of the god-man system which in general do not occur in a harmonic series. Such are the uneven and troubled waves of spirit produced by the dis-positioning of all-most-all-most-all men, or the patronizing pattern-all pattern lamented in D&C 121:39 where it speaks about the patriarchal passing of priesthood. But there is hope. For, as verse 33 says:
“How long can rolling waters remain impure?”
Whether surface water waves, sound, or light; the ripples of laughter can be grasped to displace air waves which essentially help us begin to freely ripple-cate ourselves as children of the Divine rather than children of the Matrix. There is a way for us to dial in our hearts, and sync the radio receiver of mind. A way to shift our physical body to resonate in harmony with the high and low pitches of the Yahweh frequency as it goes, “EEAAOOAAEEAAOOAAEEAAOOAAEEAAOOAAEE.” In audio engineering the technique is known as flanging. Flanging is done by taking the original signal and adding a uniform time-delayed copy of itself, which results in an output signal with peaks and troughs which are in a harmonic series. The flange effect was developed in the days of tape reels at EMI’s Abbey Road Studio. And it was first featured in the recording of the symbolically titled Beatles track, Tomorrow Never Knows from the album Revolver, which was recorded on April 6, 1966. This is symbolic of what Joseph Smith had proclaimed precisely 122 years prior to the date. He said that we have got to learn how to be Gods ourselves, and to be kings and priests to God the same as all Gods before us. He said that eternal life is here, now. It requires direct action in the present, or else you will be forever stuck in the revolving doors. As the Beatles sing; “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
THE LAST LAUGH
If tomorrow never knows then certainly the past is equally ignorant. The present is the true point of origin and the ultimate destination of all beings. The first shall be last and the last shall be first, and he who laughs last laughs best. We are all the same, age means nothing. Life’s pilgrim-age is cyclical like the Haj of the Muslims who come from far and wide to Mecca only to run in circles around a big black cube with a piece of meteorite in it. This metaphor extends to (or from) the center of the galaxy. The galactic center is a dark void from our perspective. Around it spin stars and star systems, billions like (or unlike) our own. All of life, in this way, is a-void-dance – a dance around a void. But within the dark abyss is God. Light within dark, surrounded by swirling light enshrouded in more darkness, and so on and so forth, this is the fractal nature of reality. This cosmic dance around the throne of God is repeated throughout the Universe, and is addressed in the book of Job.
Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
And thou sayest, How doth God know? Can he judge through the dark cloud?
Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
Job 22:12-14
This was the laughable reasoning of earlier empires upon the face of the earth in the time of Noah. They laughed at Noah for counseling with an inner voice. But that global network of civilizations was cut off right at its peak. It was not the first time this had happened and would not be the last, but as far as the Earth’s cycles go, we are told that: As it was in the time of Noah, so shall it be in the end (Matt 24:37). Today we hear the loud laughter of the wicked, but who will have the last laugh?
Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:
Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?
Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
Job 22:15-19
Our persons are our people self-replicated over time. Those fathersfarthest removed from the present into our past are those most closely acquainted with our future. Our people are the peep-hole through which per-ception filters as per the con-ception of each individual being, who in turn subjects his or herself to new and everlastingin-ception of old ideas and revolving IDs which have been changed to protect The Innocent children; perSONS and perDAUGHTERS of the G.O.D.s in the whirl-P-O-O-L of consciousness which is one big L-O-O-P-whole of eternity and reality. We could liken it to a donut with a jelly-filled center of plasma discharging simultaneously in arc and dark mode. It is to that center that we must go if we wish to comprehend the whole configuration. Joseph Smith once likened it to a ring. Said he:
“I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man-the immortal part, because it has no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues one eternal round. So with the spirit of man.”
Being only a fraction of divine mind, the psyche of man sometimes suffers a fraction in its perception of the eternal round. To help us stay centered we can do as the Book of Mormon advises:
Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.
Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.
Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies.
Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all righteousness.
Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.
Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.
But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.
Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.
Alma 34:20-27
Laughter is intimately linked with crying. Of course the verb crying is used in these passages to mean vocalize out loud and not necessarily to cry as in shed tears. Still, the point is to pray with emotion and out loud whenever and wherever possible. The last verse above deals with what we should do when it is not possible to cry out and it is a perfect description of Zen Buddhism. Zen Buddhist Thích Nhất Hạnh says:
“The moment of awakening may be marked by an outburst of laughter, but this is not the laughter of someone who has won the lottery or some kind of victory. It is the laughter of one who, after searching for something for a long time, suddenly finds it in the pocket of their coat.”
The reason why the wicked, whether in times past or times to come think that God is ignorant of their evil deeds, is because they themselves are not present to the fact that God exists in the midst of everyone and everything. They never think to look inside. They are convinced that there is nothing there in the dark pockets of life. Well, not exactly convinced, but the fear of the unknown keeps them from penetrating that cloud under which they go about in circles like the Israelites in the desert region around Sinai, afraid of their own God and unable to enter the Promised Land. Moses beckoned them, but they preferred to keep God at bay, and opted to obey Ten Commandments written on their stone hard hearts instead. Until we jump into the thick dark clouds mentioned in Job 22 and connect with God, our obedience is abeyance. We avoid the void and thereby keep God in a state of suspension, in a state of dormancy, in a state of uncertainty, up in the air. It is a classic case of the childish notion that: If I can’t see him he must not be able to see me. Oh, but he CAN judge through the thick dark cloud! It is only we who fool ourselves as we walk round and round in the circuit of heaven.
To testify of Christ is to be a prophet (Rev. 19:10). When we speak as prophets we have to understand that in many or most instances along this big spinning people-WHEEL one functions simply as a SPOKES-person for and in behalf of the ante-sensors (ancestors) as well as the un-born. I can’t expect people to always listen or even understand what I am saying until they actually disregard “me” altogether and look/listen past me, beyond the messenger to get the message its self. Alma 26:23 tells us that the Sons of Mosiah were laughed to scorn by their brethren back home. So, to all those who are or have desires to be traveling teachers of the gospel, I say: Be of good cheer. Learn to love and laugh at yourself, and when you have learned that all is self, you will laugh and love your way through life. Job 5:22 makes this grand promise:
“At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.”
I’m sure you have heard it said that God has a sense of humor. The figure of the Laughing Buddha is fairly well known. The Laughing Christ portrayed so often in the Gnostic Gospels, which were never admitted into our censored and perverted bibles, may be less well known; nevertheless we must come to know this laughing Christ. The name Isaac means ‘laughter’ and his character and back story in the bible reveal much about the Love/Laugh of God. Upon first hearing of foretelling of Isaac’s birth, both his parents’ first reaction is to laugh. Surely the idea of begetting a son in their extreme old age tickled their souls. Genesis 17:17 says that:
“Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?”
In the book Arcana Coelestia, Emanuel Swedenborg – a Swedish philosopher, theologian, chemist, anatomist, and visionary whose writings had a profound influence on the mind of Joseph Smith Jr. – wrote the following commentary on this bible verse.
“[…and laughed] That this signifies the affection of truth, may be seen from the origin and essence of laughter, for its origin is nothing but the affection of truth, orelse the affection of what is false, from which come the gladness and merriment that in laughter display themselves in the face, which shows that the essence of laughter is nothing else. Laughter is indeed an external thing that belongs to the body because to the face; but in the Word interior things are expressed and signified by exterior things; just as all the interior affections of the mind are expressed and signified by means of the face, interior hearing and obedience being signified by the ear, interior sight or understanding by the eye, power and strength by the hand and arm, and so on, and in the same way the affection of truth by laughter.”
Swedenborg, who influenced Joseph Smith, was himself influenced by Ibn Sina aka Avicenna, author of Canonica Medica and The Book of Healing, to whom I make extensive reference in my Making SENSE of it All series. Each of these men did not rely solely upon the words or his predecessor for an understanding of these heavenly secrets, but were inspired by one another’s works to “experiment upon the word” in a direct, and personal, spiritually scientific manner as Alma advises and as all true men and women of God do. Remember we are talking about the curious and wonderful relationship between spiritual and physical, immaterial and material, being and form, and so these things are very literally a matter of life and death. In the previous section we looked at life and death on a microbial level and determined how spiritual intent begins to manifest on the physical plane at that microscopic level. It is wisdom to know the essentially viral nature of all things so that we may be conscious and choose either to operate for good or evil, to be one with God or an enemy to Him. Avicenna illustrates this in his Treatise on Love:
“Every being which is determined by a design strives by nature toward its perfection, ie., that goodness of reality which ultimately flows from the reality of the Pure Good, and by nature it shies away from its specific defect which is the evil in it, ie., materiality and non-being. Therefore, it is obvious that all beings determined by a design possess a natural desire and an inborn love, and it follows of necessity that in such beings love is the cause of their existence. For everything that can be signified as existing belongs into one of these three categories” (i) either it has arrived at the specific perfection, (ii) or it has reached the maximum of defect, (iii) or it vacillates between these two states with the result that it is essentially in an intermediate position between two things….Beings in the real sense, then, are either such as are prepared for the maximum of perfection or such as are in a position intermediate between a defect occurring by reason of some cause and a perfection existing in the nature itself. Therefore, no being is ever free from some connection with a perfection, and this connection with it is accompanied by an innate love and desire for that which may unite it with its perfection.
This becomes clear also from another aspect, that of causality and the “why”; since (i) no being which is determined by a design is devoid of a perfection specific to it; since (ii) such a being is not in itself sufficient cause for the existence of its perfection, because the perfections of the beings determined by a design emanate from the per se Perfect; and since (iii) one must not imagine that this Principle from which perfection emanates intends to cause a loss to any one of the particular beings….”
I want to interject here and demonstrate how Avicenna’s treatise is in alignment with the teachings of Father Lehi. I also intend to show how Lehi’s words borrow from the Asian tradition with which the Lord had brought him into contact along the way to the Americas, and how that ancient wisdom corroborates the new discoveries we have made here in our study of laughter as a poison which must be administered expertly – neither too much nor to little will do. Avicenna is firm on the point that all real beings must be determined by a design. Lehi reiterates this fact as he attempts to explain his Grand Theory of Unified Opposition in All Things. He says:
“Wherefore, the ends of the law which the Holy One hath given, unto the inflicting of the punishment which is affixed, which punishment that is affixed is in opposition to that of the happiness which is affixed, to answer the ends of the at-one-ment— For it must needs be [so], that there is [be] an opposition in all things. If not so….righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been nopurpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.” – 2 Nephi 2:10-12
When Avicenna defines real beings as: “such as are prepared for the maximum of perfection or such as are in a position intermediate between a defect occurring by reason of some cause and a perfection existing in the nature itself,” the “cause” to which he alludes and ascribes blame for the intermediate position, or “opposition” as Lehi calls it, between Per-Fect and De-Fect, is in fact poison and more specifically its mode of administration. We could identify it as “forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter” for so does Lehi a little later in verse 15 of 2 Nephi chapter 2. We might suppose that the ‘bitter one’ is the forbidden fruit and comes from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and we could suppose that the ‘sweet one’ is the Love of God and comes from an entirely different tree – the Tree of Life. However these things are supposed to have played out in physical reality, the lesson is ONE, one of deadly poison and its anecdote. The “only way” we really have of discerning between the two is by noting the key difference between hurting and healing.
Thus we come to know the “Sun of Righteousness with healing in his wings” that is referred to in Malachi 4:2. And we may see that the rendering of this bible verse with the word “Sun” not “Son” purposely points back to the trunk of the Tree of Theology, the religion of ancient Egypt based on a firm understanding of the “Aten” sometimes called the Winged Sun Disc. Ancient Egyptian religion having stemmed from a deeper, Sub-Saharan root system of sacred regard for the interaction between the bright Sun and the dark Soil, it is vital to The Restoration of the health of hue-manity that we continue digging and reaching where the Prophet Joseph left off when his life was taken at Carthage. As Latter-Day Saints we take upon ourselves a vow more sacred than the Hippocratic Oath, to do no harm, but to build up Zion. Let us no longer mock God with hypocritical oaths. Let us compare the latter-day scripture of the Doctrine & Covenants side-by-side with the ancient teachings of Afrika, India, China, Scandinavia, Ancient America, etc. to discover just how long these devils have been doctoring covenants with malfeasance and priest craft.
Avicenna continues his treatise with these words:
“It is a necessary outcome of His wisdom and the excellence of His governance to plant into everything the general principle of love. The effect is that He thus indirectly preserves the perfection which He gave by emanation, and that He thus expresses His desire to bring them into being when they are absent, the purpose being that the administration [of the universe] should run according to a wise order. The never-ceasing existence of this love in all beings determined by a design is, therefore, a necessity. If this were not so, another love would be necessary to preserve this general love in its existence, to guard against its non-being and to retrieve it when it has lapsed, anxious lest it might disappear. But one of these two loves would be superfluous, and the existence of something superfluous in nature – which is divinely established – is impossible. Therefore, there is no principle of love other than this absolute and general love. And we can conclude that the existence of every being determined by a design is invariably accompanied by inborn love.”
Laughter and love are much more closely related than we may typically think, even at the basest of levels. Studies found that in cross-gender conversations, females laughed 126% more than their male counterparts, meaning that women tend to do the most laughing while males tend to do the most laugh-getting. Men seem to be the main instigators of humor across cultures, and this usually begins in early childhood. Think back to your high school class clown – most likely he was a male. Typically, women seek men who make them laugh, and men are eager to comply with this request. In 3,745 ads placed on April 28, 1996 in eight papers from the Baltimore Sun to the San Diego Union-Tribune, females were 62% more likely to mention laughter in their ads, and women were more likely to seek out a “sense of humor” while men were more likely to offer it. When Karl Grammar and Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt studied spontaneous conversations between mixed-sex pairs of young German adults meeting for the first time, they noted that the more a woman laughed aloud during these encounters, the greater her self-reported interest in the man she was talking to. In the same vein, men were more interested in women who laughed heartily in their presence.
We may not always know why we laugh. Certainly there is a deep mysterious quality to the way in which our facial and abdominal muscles react to the unification of outward and inward stimuli from this world and the spirit world. But if we are in tune with the love of God then our laughter will have an uplifting effect. Laughter, like orgasm, should not be faked or forced. It should not be used to elicit self effacing techniques; rather it should come from a free heart shared in love. Laughter is a pressure valve and can let things in or out. When we laugh we are made vulnerable to higher powers and impregnable to seeds of faith. At the same time, some part of us is energized and empowered by the forceful release of raw emotion which pours out of us almost uncontrollably. Some knowing and confident presence deep inside us consoles and comforts us when we confront fear with faith. It is hard not to laugh when we feel our power, which is the power of love and goodness God has planted in our hearts. It is hard not to laugh when we realize the stupidity of society and its dictatorial die-wreck-tors. As it says in Psalms 37:13….
“The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.”
May those who find themselves in a situation similar to Job – who complained that “Children despise me and laugh when they see me” – find comfort in knowing that after these Gentile brat oppressors which Isaiah spoke of have all died from off the face of the Earth, then will the laughter of children born to you during the glorious millennial reign of Christ fill your ears. From God the Father embedded like a seed of light within clouds of darkness, followed by the starry whirlpool of the Milky Way, then pro-seeded by more ominous darkness, etc. – the pattern is a playful one, and energy moves along best through the lovely vehicle of holy laughter.
“The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General
at the expense of the Particular, quoth Frater
Perdurabo, and laughed.
But those disciples nearest to him wept, seeing the
Universal Sorrow.
Those next to them laughed, seeing the Universal Joke.
Below these certain disciples wept,
Then certain laughed.
Others next wept.
Others next laughed.
Next others wept.
Next others laughed.
Last came those that wept because they could not
see the Joke, and those that laughed lest they
should be thought not to see the Joke, and thought
it safe to act like Frater Perdurabo.
But though Frater Perdurabo laughed
openly, He also at the same time wept secretly;
and in Himself He neither laughed nor wept.
Nor did He mean what He said.”
RETURN TO OZ – RETURN TO US – RETURN OF THE LAND OF ZION
Have we come full circle, across the rainbow and back again to Kansas, without even recognizing the shift? Not to worry, such has been the case with many a traveler. We have learned much concerning the far-reaching links between
1. Space(s)–especially centers, heartlands, or heart-stars–the multidimensional Kansas
2. Time(s)–past or future only as extensions from the present–multigenerational Kansas
3. Season(s)–the passage of time through spiritual/physical topographies-current Kansas
The name Kansas itself is connected with the idea of “wind”. The Kansa tribe was known as “the people of the south wind” (In the original Oz books, Glinda was the Good Witch of the South). Wind is a current and weather can be seen as a spiritual connective flow circulating throughout all creation. The state of Kansas that we know is only one meaty chunk toward the tip of a penetrating Kolob Kabob. Revolutions toward the top base of the downward pointing skewer are spinning in a much wider compass. As those same motions swirl lower and lower, the cosmic funnel cloud eventually touches down, like a tightly wound tornado on the temporal plane of this central plain. Great stirrings seem to be going on in current-day Iran (seasonal), where medieval Muslim mystics once wrote in visionary travel-logs (temporal) of the “emerald cities” – Jabarsa and Jabalqa, which are said to exist respectively in the oriental and occidental regions of that interworld isthmus of Na-koja-abad (spatial). But peeking beyond the physical veil covering this globe of dirt, might we uncover some dirt on these globalists running the show from Tehran to Topeka? What exactly is behind the Arab Spring, is it a synthetic season we are witnessing in the middle-east? What exactly is behind the recent outbreak of tornadic activity during late spring of this year in the American mid-west, was it manufactured meteorological madness? Both boisterous occurrences are boastfully broadcast via modern weapons of mass distraction in the media. But remember, poet/prophet Gil Scott-Heron told us, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised!”
A reverent long-time student of the Afrikan divination tradition known as Ifá writes:
“Those who try to control Nature are inviting a disruptive encounter with Esu the Divine Trickster. I have seen my teachers alter the weather. They were not making a demand, they were making a request. There’s a difference.” – Falokun Fatunmbi
Oh how vitally important it is for us to learn to recognize the real gods from the fake ones, to distinguish clearly between the proper usage of power and the abuse of it. We must stop dividing the universe into two forces, one of good and another evil and admit that it is all one power; so that man and his gods, the hearts of the children and the hearts of the fathers may finally be reconciled and so that peace can again reign. Only by confronting and deconstructing the false gods we have fashioned and empowered can we ever hope to bring again the real city of Zion. When we bring Her on down it will simultaneously “bring down” the Wicked Witch of the West. On that glorious day, when we activate the wind-power of our inner Door-o-Thee Gale, we, along with Glinda the Good Witch of the North Countries (Lost Tribes), can say: “Be gone with you, before someone drops a (Zion) house on you!”
The synchronous symbolism linking Mormon teachings regarding Zion and the story of the Wizard of Oz is copious and very particular but at times not so obvious to the eyes of the world. I would like to point out a few interesting coinciding instances (coincidences) running through Salt Lake and Hollywood. Hollywood’s most recent work based off of L. Frank Baum’s Oz book series is a 2013 Disney production called Oz the Great and Powerful. The movie focuses on Oscar “Oz” Diggs, a womanizing con artist, stage magician, and barnstormer who is part of a traveling circus in the midwest. Even when Oscar gets whisked away to the magical land of Oz, where to his surprise his arrival is seen by the inhabitants as the fulfillment of prophecy and he is heralded as a great wizard, still he is eventually accused of being intimately involved with multiple witches at the same time. In this regard, the movie’s main character is meant to reflect Joseph Smith.
The first person Oscar meets after running for his life and somehow ending up in this strange new world, is Theodora, the naïve witch of the west who eventually turns into the most wicked of all. Theodora is a type and shadow of the naïve group which was entrusted with a theology that was once restorative, collective, all-inclusive, liberating and ever developing in the light of truth; but who’s intellectual, emotional, spiritual sloth and ever growing pride has condemned the group to lie under a lost legacy/labor of love. Jesus is commanded by the Father to speak plainly unto the Nephites and by way of them unto the Latter-Day Gentiles in 3 Nephi 16:10.
“And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them.”
The words He speaks in this verse aptly apply to American gentiles in general, but it must be remembered that the Savior’s words recorded in the Book of Mormon are most specifically speaking to and of the Mormons. As this prophecy fulfills itself we see the Church deteriorate. Those who inherit Joseph’s role as religious leader have openly admitted that they have never matched his ability as a prophet. They have not received their callingfrom theDivine, and this, more than anything, because they fail to remember that a life calling like that of Joseph, is initiated by callingon theDivine in faith, “nothing wavering”. And though the issue is more complicated than one might suppose at first glance, it is clear that the Church Presidents have, on various levels, been shams, not only in the eyes of critics but in the eyes of the Lord.
It matters not at all what the world thinks, because the Lord is no respecter of persons. But it does matter what God’s children think of themselves, because their thoughts will either make or break the relationship they have with their Heavenly Father. In Oz the Great and Powerful, Oscar Diggs has a self image that is anything but great and powerful. In the opening scenes he expresses to a love interest, his desire to do great things. She has more faith in his ability to be a great man than he does in himself. This is the real conflict of the plot and what the magician/trickster has to overcome to finally release the greatness from his heart and through his mind. In this regard, the movie’s main character is meant to reflect Gordon B. Hinckley.
Art is never accidental; it is always on purpose, even and especially when that purpose does not originate in the conscious mind but is rooted in the preconscious. The film is said to take place in the same time period in which Gordon Bitner Hinckley was born, but the plot of course crosses over boundaries of time and space once Oscar Diggs finds himself over the rainbow. Oscar reflects Hinckley in many subtle and yet succinct ways. The two are interested in magic and can be seen waving their iconic white hankies in front of the people. As men with a deep and enduring belief that is sadly besieged by secrets both Oscar and Gordon feel and know that in many ways they are being frauds. They nonetheless have a mission which involves many other people yet can only be performed by them. At first, Finley the Flying Monkey is the only one who knows Oz’s secret. Oz confides in Finley that he is not a real wizard, but of course reality is mostly a matter of perception and that can change with a little faith.
Finley the fantastical character in this movie is a representation of Thomas J. Finley from the Talbot School of Theology. In 2002 Finley wrote a highly critical article entitled, “Does the Book of Mormon Reflect an Ancient Near Eastern Background?” in a publication called The New Mormon Challenge. This article was used in many other books and pieces attacking the authenticity of the LDS Church’s claims. Gordon, had always been a masterful P.R.iest and P.R.eacher, but those holding master’s degrees in the field of theology felt jealous and threatened by the advances the Mormon President had made with his P.R. skills and sought to pull the rug out from underneath him. Hinckley knew that the concept of public relations is only more powerful than theology because it a step closer to the true source of power – i.e. the public or the people themselves. No one can use theology to control the masses unless they can first succeed in getting the masses to accept, embrace and embody that theology. Gordon B. responded to the The New Mormon Challenge with his own Book of Mormon Challenge for the LDS Church members. Latter-Day Saints world-wide, both of the wheat and tare caliber, engaged in a sort of scriptural chug-a-lug contest, trying to down the entire Book of Mormon within a period of 5 months. The grand majority of members, who qualify as the Drunkards of Ephraim foretold by Isaiah, drank condemnation down “straight” like high-school scripture “chasers” in LDS Seminary. There were those of us who may not have completed the leader’s challenge exactly as it was put to us, but who nonetheless made wise use of the intake of strong “spirits” to strengthen our own spirits. In the end, mistakes do not matter once the purifying power of the Holy Spirit is applied.
HINCKLEY MAKES A SPRINKLEY
Speaking of Hinckley and the subconscious symbolism linking his life to the main character in the 2013 prequel to the Wizard of Oz series, there is a word which that character uses repeatedly throughout the film – “Prestidigitation!” Prestidigitation means sleight of hand, which is what Oz uses in his tricks. President Hinckley was known for his frequent and deliberate hand gestures when performing before large crowds. But how about conjuring up large clouds? Is there something to be said for the connection between sleight of hand and weather manipulation besides the fact that the words prestidigitation and precipitation sound vaguely similar? Well, towards the climax of the movie Oz puts his tricks to good use in defense of the oppressed people of the land by creating a big cloud upon which he projects a hologram of his face to scare the wicked witches into retreat. But all of that was only special effects.
On the 26th of April, 1999, President Gordon B. Hinckley addressed an audience of 57,500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Santiago, Chile. This was roughly 10% of the country’s total LDS population. The event still holds the record as the Church’s largest-ever gathering of members in one place at one time. His remarks were rather brief but the entire occasion was heavy with water symbolism. The attendees came from other outlying areas as well, but local Santiago residents and travelers alike found the skies to be heavy with rain clouds on the morning of the President’s arrival. This was significant since the area had been suffering a pretty severe drought. As one full-time missionary in attendance noted, “Usually a rainy day means low attendance levels at the wards and branches around here, but in this case everyone was so excited to see the prophet.” That electric excitement filled the air and a light drizzle started to fall. When the meeting officially commenced the light drizzle ceased and the entire throng listened intently as their guest of honor spoke.
Gordon expressed his love for the Chilean people and reminisced about a visit to Chile he had made 30 years earlier almost to the date. Back in 1969 there had been a drought even more severe than this one. President Hinckley said: “There had been no rainfall for a very long time, and I was here to dedicate a chapel in La Cisterna. [Cisterna is Spanish for Cistern which is a large receptacle for catching and storing rainwater.] During the prayer of dedication I prayed and pleaded with the Lord for moisture.” President Hinckley quoted the words of Robert Burton, who was serving as a mission president in Chile in 1969: “The day after Elder Hinckley’s visit, the rain began to fall in southern Chile. Gradually the rain clouds moved north, bringing welcome moisture to the entire country.” President Hinckley then continued: “That was not my doing. That was the work of God our Eternal Father in behalf of the people of this land. I believe that it was an answer to the faith and the prayers of the Latter-day Saints, then few in number, whose very presence and whose very faith came to bless the entire nation.”
Upon closing his remarks in the name of Jesus Christ, the multitude uttered the typical “Amen” and then Hinckley suddenly turned back to the pulpit and leaning towards the microphone, he said, “Let it rain!” The translator, taken off guard, hurried back into place to provide the Spanish translation for Hinckley’s tag-on declaration and the multitude then sang a closing hymn, followed by a benediction after which the clouds overhead burst. Happy faces could be seen everywhere as faithful Latter-Day Saint families scurried under the downpour back into the busses, cars and metro trains that had brought them to Santiago’s National Stadium that day to hear a man who they considered a mouthpiece for the Lord.
Those witnesses to this amazing event spoke of it for weeks to come. But I would say that they did not really think about what had happened. I write of it now to review the circumstances and reveal a few of the “magician’s tricks”. First of all, through his reference to past events in a 30 year time cycle (tiempo in Spanish means both time and weather), Gordon B. Hinckley was careful to point out in the words of his talk, that he alone was not responsible for the rainfall. He could perhaps take humble credit as a facilitator of faith. But it was God ultimately who did it, and God works by faith.
A precedent for this type of thing was set in this era by Church President Lorenzo Snow. The appositely named apostle, Snow, brought forth desperately needed rainfall for the drought stricken people and land of Utah around the turn of the century. How did he do it? Simple, he aligned a physical action (giving tithing) with the spoken word (a conference talk wherein he made a prophetic promise to the people) and linked the two with a specific desire (rainfall). Desire is itself a combination of the eternal elements of thought and feeling. God has thoughts and feelings, man has thoughts and feelings. It is the mixing of mudras with mantras, gestures with spoken word, which serve to align the thoughts and feelings of man with those of the gods.
Notice who Hinckley was addressing when he said, “Let it rain!” – the faithful people who filled that stadium. And it was they who were most responsible for the cloudburst. The water was trapped up there in heaven, ready to fall, and awaited only action on the part of the people on earth. Even the greatest magi of all times, Jesus of Nazareth, was quick to remind those to whom he extended His healing hands of the details of the process by which the individual’s faith brought forth the blessing. In multitudes of thousands or much smaller settings, the process between giver and receiver is instantaneously personal and collective. God is the giver and God is the gift, however if God is not perceived as the receiver too, then the flow of faith can be somewhat limited.
WEATHER HAPPENS WHETHER OR NOT WE CHOOSE TO BE MIRACLE MAKERS
So, if faith is such a powerful tool why is it not used to do greater things on a consistent basis to correct the awful situation of the violent and cruel world of today? The answer is simple but terrifying to most and therefore largely ignored. As alluded to in previous sections, the faith of the people is what makes the world go ‘round. And, every 24 hours of that world-go-round, faith is actively used, mostly for evil. Channeled through ideology and idolatrous institutions, the faith of individuals gets sucked dry daily in order to “make it rain” for false gods atop Mount Olympus. The devil tries to tell people he does not exist, but alas, we do not believe him when he speaks this profound dark truth, only when he tells us flattering light charged lies. He is, after all, an apparition of the vain imaginings of men.
This is the reason why the same colossus arena that hosted Hinkley’s Sprinkley was the site of mass murders under conservative leader, Augusto Pinochet. And it is a well documented fact that the phenomenal growth of the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints since those years has a direct correlation to the violence instigated by the state against the humble people of Chile who President Hinckley tearfully thanked for their devotion. So, while the coffers of the Church fill with tithing funds, the neighborhood of La Cisterna (The Cistern) in Santiago, where Elder Hinckley prayed for rain so many decades ago, remains a poor run down ghetto full of hard-working people making a meager living and dying in squalor, in vain. While the coffins of “The Brethren” are watered by the tears of adoring church-goers, unnoticed fall the tears of TheSistren, as the Rastas would call them – strong and stoic sisters of the darker races of this earth who stand in stark contrast to the rich white males who run the religious/political institutions of the world.
Dead men tell no tales. A portion of the spirit identified by millions as Gordon B. Hinckley wants to now, posthumously release his inner wizard. Mingling with gods, he and Joseph, and countless heavenly hosts of others desire all to receive it – the key of power. The key comes not a second to soon, as, in the words of clueless Church Authority, Lance B. Wickman, or at least the words of his writers, “we are swept along in great events that we can neither fully understand nor control.” That’s a convenient cop-out for people like Elder Wickman and Elder Robert Oaks who have spent their entire lives taking their marching orders from both the Imperial Armed Forces and the Unholy Church. They appeared alongside Elder Voyd K. Packer and others in a 2008 video which shared the title of Packer’s 1991 book reissued in 2010, and twisted Jesus’ message of “Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled” into one of perverted peace, or Pax Romana.
Perhaps the weather patterns in which we are “swept along,” according to Wickman, would not be so impossible to “fully comprehend [or] control” if we would simply acknowledge that the G.P.O. (Great and Powerful Oz) works with the same writers as the G.O.P. (Grand Old Party). They are all false prophets and fakirs, proponents of the false Oz, a fake Zion. Recently, weather patterns in the Mammon controlled mass media shifted when Cumulus Media, the second biggest broad/forecaster in the country, announced it is planning to drop talking heads Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh from its stations at the end of the year. Taking his lead from the LDS Church, Hannity, told his listeners: “Business has never been better thanks to all of you out there. Let not your heart be troubled. There are forces at work here that I will explain in due course, I promise. I just can’t really explain it now. I’m not trying to be mysterious here but it’s something that is unfolding and I am frankly excited about it all and we’ll keep you up to speed as soon as I can, I promise.” This at least sounds like much more of a promising message than the hollow and helpless rhetoric of Elder Wickman. Hannity continued, “We have about 540 radio station affiliates on the Sean Hannity show. And there’s a report out this morning that a group that has 40 of them may drop Hannity and Limbaugh, Limbaugh and Hannity… blasphemy. And, I can only tell you, that there are many options in many markets, are there not?… The point is that, you know, if that’s what somebody chooses to do then that’s their choice. Everyone has free will, free choices in life, but I can very confidently tell the audience that I am confident… let their hearts not be troubled.”
Dropping code words like “business” and “blasphemy,” the false prophets of this age seek to lead away the hearts of the people. And in order to do this it is crucial for them that we let not our hearts be troubled to the point of waking up and investing our trust in the True and Living God by exercising our “free will” against the “forces at work” in this wicked world. This LNYHBT mantra is used several times in the Book of John. Sean hi-jacked it and has been using it on air since 2008 – the same year that the Church released a video by the same title. The two sides of supposedly separate institutional platforms are mirroring each other closely. Between conference talks by Quentin L. Crook of the Quorum of the 12 Apostates and U.N. addresses by pushers of Agenda 21, we hear the exact same talking points. As Moses wished, God’s true people should all be metaphysical meteorologists, prophets and prognosticators, and should all be watching the word magic of the secret combination of Church & State very alertly.
In The Thermo Dynamics & Eternodynamics of Desire – Continued, I made brief mention of a literary and oral technique employed by the forked tongue elite priest class who once ran ancient pre-Colombian societies, literally, into the ground. Difrasismo is a term derived from Spanish that is used in the study of certain Mesoamerican languages, to describe a particular grammatical construction in which two separate words are paired together to form a single metaphoric unit which may carry a meaning completely separate from either of the words when used independently. It is therefore fitting that the term difrasismo, while referring to a dichotomy of phrases, also happens to resemble the Spanish word for disguise – disfraz. An example of this linguistic disguising of meaning is found in the Nahuatl expression “cuitlapilli ahtlapalli” or “in cuitlapilli in ahtlapalli”, literally “the tail, the wing”, used in a metaphoric sense to mean “the people” or “the common folk”. Another example would be “tēmōxtli, ehecatl”, that literally means “dust, wind” but appearing together would take on the secret meaning of “sickness”.
We find this strange grouping of the ideas of dust, wind, and sickness in the Book of Mormon. In Mosiah 7: 30, King Limhi addresses his people.
And again, he [the Lord] saith: If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the chaff thereof in the whirlwind; and the effect thereof is poison.
I always read this scripture and found it quite odd since, in our language, we don’t typically relate the idea of a whirlwind with poison. But upon making the correlation with the common practice of difrasismo in ancient American writings, it makes more sense. When this thing was first made known to me, I was struck by two startling revelations. It was sort of an A+B=C, difrasismo effect stemming from the very discovery of the Nahuatl phrase: “tēmōxtli, ehecatl”. When I found out that the words “dust” and “wind” coupled together meant “sickness”, I instantly had the horrifying thought of airborne disease. From there my mind was led to discover further links between these ideas in the scripture and modern day prophecy of the calamities that await those who sow filthiness upon this American continent. The modern day revelation I speak of is not limited to sources of truth thought to be monopolized and distributed by dutiful LDS service(s). It deals with atmospheric pressures as they flow through inter-dimensional wind tunnels and move over multi-generational Mosiahs.
The third mystery veiled by our unwillingness to recognize the relationship between two supposedly separate things – like the Church & State, Mesoamerican tradition and Book of Mormon verses, between dust and wind, or airborne toxins and Latter-Day Gentiles – can be unveiled by the spiritual identification of import inside these secret-combinations of outwardly different things. We had once foolishly supposed “opposition in all things” to mean some sort of necessary eternal conflict (except of course in cases of Church sustainings when no one with a “clean” heart ought to oppose, right?). We vainly hoped to lock ourselves into the “Lord’s side”, never realizing in our pride that these opposing forces were naturally engaged in a creative relationship, creating and spreading evil unhindered all across the face of the land (the troposphere). But now, as metaphysical meteorologists with spiritually opened eyes we see the potential for good and evil in all things. Will we accept, with spiritually open arms, our personal responsibility not only as weather reporters, but real weathermen and weatherwomen? Or, will we shun shamanism and cling to carnal security like some scared-stupid suckers in Satan’s sick and twisted cyclone of death and destruction?
Since many labor under the false impression that membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints provides them with some kind of virtuous brownie points in the eyes of the Lord, it is necessary that I write a bit more before giving the plain, simple truths which are at once spiritual as well as temporal in their relevance to us. Because these white guys in ties, LDS propped-up puppets are not always so reliable as prophets, we should not make the mistake of thinking they are the quorum of 12 apostles called by the Lord to be His special witnesses in any given time period. There are not so much as 2 true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ among that prideful bunch. But from Jesus Christ Himself by way of the record keeping of Mormon and Moroni, and also through the receptive mind of Joseph Smith, we receive the reality. It is a reality that spells doom for the Gentiles’ time of authority in general, a reality which only leaves the possibility of escape for those true disciples, be they proven and purified remnant or genuinely repentant Gentile.
And in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sicknessshall cover the land.
But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die.
D&C 45:30-32
Well may we ask ourselves: “Where are the Lord’s true apostles? Where are the Lord’s true disciples? And, where are the Lord’s true holy places?” The ultimate answers to all these questions and more can only be true if they are all found in one place…YOU!
The name/word môšiac (pronounced moe-shee-ah and transliterated as Mosiah) is a word peculiar to Hebrew, a “word invariably implying a champion of justice in a situation of controversy, battle or oppression” according to John Sawyer in an article from the Old Testament journal Vetus Testamentum published in 1965. A BYU Maxwell Institute article fleshes out the details of this Hebrew word:
“Apparently the form of the word Mosiah is a “hiphil participle” in Hebrew. It occurs in the Hebrew in Deuteronomy 22:27; 28:29; Judges 12:3; Psalms 18:41; and Isaiah 5:29—texts that in all probability were on the Plates of Brass. This word, however, was not transliterated into the English by the King James translators, and thus the Hebrew would not have been known to Joseph Smith. It was, however, known and used as a personal name in the Book of Mormon, as well as by people in the Jewish colony at Elephantine in the fifth century B.C.”
Sawyer’s exhaustive studies led him to conclude that the term applied to a particular kind of person or role and was sometimes a title designating “a definite office or position.” Typical of this office are the following traits:
1. The môšiac is a victorious hero appointed by God.
2. He liberates a chosen people from oppression, controversy, and injustice after they cry out for help.
3. Their deliverance is usually accomplished by means of a nonviolent escape or negotiation.
4. The immediate result of the coming of a môšiac was “escape from injustice, and a return to a state of justice where each man possesses his rightful property.”
5. On a larger scale, “final victory means the coming of môšicim [plural, pronounced moe-shee-eem] to rule like Judges over Israel.”
The Book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon is then aptly titled as it is an account of many living examples of God’s greatness in the form of men who accepted the role of deliverer for their people. Like Hinckley before him, LDSAnarchist has speculated about the divine attributes inherent in the name/term Mormon. While Mormon may very well mean “More Good”, as Mormon was indeed a man who gathered and embodied the “more righteous” parts of his people, still, God is bigger than Mormon. God is not LDS. God has foreordained and will continue to call Moshim among all people in all times and all places.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. was one such man, a Moshiah among Moshim. Born the 17th of August, 1887 in Jamaica, Marcus Garvey was a prophet with a message of empowerment for what, in many ways, is the most downtrodden people on the planet in this dispensation. 3 Ne. 29:8 admonishes us to:
“not any longer hiss, nor spurn, nor make game of the Jews, nor any of the remnant of the house of Israel”
In this century, propaganda has induced the killing of many cultural Jews, and propaganda has hyped up the suffering of European Jews under the 3rd Reich for the purposeful blinding of the world to the more intense and ongoing suffering of billions in Asia and Afrika and America. Holywood Jews fund periodic propaganda films to supposedly remind the world not to repeat the cruel history of “The” Holocaust, meanwhile genocide and holocausts are in turn funded through support of the U.N. created state of counterfeit Israel.
The Afrikan Diaspora is scripturally a closer match than most groups who publicly proclaim to be the literal blood of Israel scattered far and wide upon the face of the earth today. Who else so literally fulfills scripture by being forcibly “removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt”? (Jer.24:9) The Diaspora of Scots-Irish from the 1820s till the mid 1940s, and the current immigration of Hispanic people, particularly Mexicans, into all parts of the world could be said to have been to their hurt. Certainly they’ve endured their fair share of taunts and have been called “Dirty Micks” or “Dirty Spics”. However, these people left their poverty-stricken homelands to pursue job opportunities they were not “removed”. What other group more fully fits this scriptural description of a “reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse”? Years of colonization in their own motherland has caused many Afrikans to view their dark skin as a curse to be remedied with the use of chemical bleaching. Who other than black people have more visibly and valiantly fulfilled that role of a people to be “afflicted, and to be slain (lynchings from as far back as the 1800s to as recent as the 1980s), and to be cast out from among them, (segregation) and to become hated by them (violent and silent forms of racism), and to become a hiss and a byword (the infamous N-word) among them in all places” (from South Carolina to South Africa), all exactly as stated in 3Nephi 16:9?
Did you happen to see George W. Bush wiping his hand off on Bill Clinton’s neatly pressed shirt after clamoring Haitian youths had reached out and touched it? The very fact that those afflicted young people of Haiti (the poor man’s Afrika in more ways than one) responded so enthusiastically to the visit of Gringo Gadiantons, neglecting to see the greatness in their own bright black spirits – which in times past were responsible for the first seeds and fruits of the freedom revolution in the Americas – is a symptom of their acute amnesia. A god-like people who have forgotten their identity, Deut. 28:37 describes them as “an astonishment”. Indeed it is nothing short of astonishing to see the Spirit of God Almighty descend so low into Forgetfulness (Menasseh), to take on the image of man (human form), as per the words of Abinadi who stated clearly in Mosiah 7:27-28 that “it should be the image after which (hue)man was created in the beginning (ab-original)” long before the younger brother Ephraim (Was Fruitful). In some West Afrikan dialects, including Yoruba, Abi is an extremely common prefix used in names and it means “to be born”. Ironically, in some Native American dialects from the Southeast, including Chickasaw and Choctaw, Abi means “to kill” or “to abort”. Abinadi’s name is assumed to be of Hebrew origin and thus would translate to something along the lines of: “My Father is Present with You”. Is it not astonishing, or at very least ironic, that the SonofMan would be “despised and rejected (aborted or ejected) ofmen,” as Abinadi quoting Isaiah reminds us later on in Mosiah 14:3?
Marcus Garvey spoke to that matter of esteem and knew that it started with self, since one can neither love God nor neighbor if he loves not himself. Marcus said: “Christ the crucified, Christ the despised, we appeal to you for help, for leadership… Why should we be discouraged if somebody laughs at us today? Did they not laugh at Christ, Moses, Muhammad?… Then why not see good and perfection in ourselves?” In several verses in the Old Testament the despised and scattered House of Israel is referred to as “a proverb”. The image of Afrikan people standing in chains on auction blocks, being whipped and bloodied on plantations in the New World is the most explicit and urgent “proverb” that the entire human race needs to hearken to and comprehend. They are a proverb that tells us that mankind is in bondage, that humans have become slaves to devilish entities and now is the time for us to get off our knees and rise to remembrance of our glory as children of the gods.
Garvey sparked a movement specifically aimed at inspiring those of Afrikan ancestry to “redeem” Afrika. His was and is an aggressive preparation for revolutionary and real redemption of the dead, true temple work. Afrika and Afrikans represent the roots of humankind, the original people on the planet, and the first we find in the early history and pre-history of any place on the globe – including the promised land of the Americas. Long before Lehi & Co. arrived this land was inhabited by black skinned people. That’s why the first time that the Book of Mormon mentions the so-called “curse” on those people who were branded with the general term Lamanites, it describes it with the phrase “a skin of blackness” (2 Nephi 5:21), but later in the record the skins of Laman and Lemuel’s mixed posterity are described simply as “dark” (Alma 3:6). From at least as far north as the Mississippi River Valley down at least as far south as Brazil, there is archeological evidence in the form of skeletal remains which testifies to the widespread presence of Negroid races. The civilizations appear to have spread out from a point in-between those two latitudes, from the eastern shores of Central America, where the young Marcus felt led to travel between the years of 1910 and 1912.
As a black man, Garvey was a servant of the Lord pushing for one more, last-ditch effort to save all the trees of the Vineyard by preserving the original roots of the original tree. In the Jacob 5 analogy, well-known to Mormons, it becomes apparent to the Lord and His Servant that, in order to save the trees of the Vineyard, it will be necessary to disencumber them from the lofty branches which are taking all the strength unto themselves and rejecting the roots. The lofty branches represent the most recent development in the upward growth of the tree, but the Lord has decreed that they will have to be pruned and burned. The message of the Messiah as well as that of His Mosiah does not sit well with the G.O.P. (Grumpy Old Pretenders) who lead the Church. Thus, you will not hear any talk of the “overflowing scourge” among them, as they choose to keep the focus of the flock on things that make themselves look good. Dead Presidents speak louder than Living Profits in this bizarre masquerade. I don’t think there is much truth to be gleaned from Pres. Woodruff’s suspect claims of having been spoken to by past presidents of the United States. But like the true Lion in Zion, Prophet Robert N. Marley told the world, there is a “natural mystic floating through the air”. If you listen carefully now you will hear dead Church president, George Albert Smith, leaking deadly secrets like a G.A.S. To continue quoting from Marley’s song: “This could be the first trumpet, might as well be the last…Many more will have to suffer, many more will have to die. Don’t ask me why.”
It should be painfully obvious by this point that the time of the Gentiles is coming to a quick close. The how, what, where and why, as well as the who of the massive destruction of this Gentile empire can be revealed clearly to those who read the scriptures with a broken heart and contrite spirit. The scriptures give us many consistent clues. How will it come? – “Speedily!” What will it look like? – “A whirlwind!” (D&C 112:24) And that is just the beginning, we are told. Where will it start? – “Upon my House” (D&C 112:25) Why will it happen? – “The kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains.” (2 Nephi 28:19) Who will bring this mass destruction about? Well it is typically assumed that it is the Lord who will do it, but what exactly does that mean to a people who know not the Lord? The Lord works in this realm via willing servants. Remember in Mosiah 7: 30, the Lord, via Limhi, said:
“If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the chaff thereof in the whirlwind; and the effect thereof is poison.”
Marcus Mosiah Garvey showed himself to be a worthy and willing servant of the Lord when he said:
“If death hath power then count on me to be the real Marcus Garvey I would like to be. If I may come in an earthquake, or a plague, or a pestilence, or as God would have me, then be assured that I shall never desert you and let your enemies triumph over you.”
The Lord certainly inspired his servant when he said:
“Look for me in the whirlwind or a storm, look for me all around you, for with God’s grace I shall come back with countless millions of black men and women who have died in America, those who have died in the West Indies and those who have died in Africa to aid you in the fight for liberty, freedom and life.”
“And they that kill the prophets, and the saints, the depths of the earth shall swallow them up, saith the Lord of Hosts; and mountains shall cover them, and whirlwinds shall carry them away, and buildings shall fall upon them and crush them to pieces and grind them to powder.”
2 Nephi 26:5
“Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them.”
Alma 26:6
“And now, whoso readeth, let him understand; he that hath the scriptures, let him search them, and see and behold if all these deaths and destruction by fire, and by smoke, and by tempests, and by whirlwinds, and by the opening of the earth to receive them, and all these things are not unto the fulfilling of the prophecies of many of the holy prophets.”
3 Nephi 10:14
The first prophecy of the Book of Mormon scriptures listed above was recorded by founding father, Nephi, circa 559–545 B.C. And although it greatly pained Nephi to behold the loss of life among his people in the distant future, he exclaimed that God was “fair” in his dealings with the “fair ones”. The second prophecy was uttered by Ammon around 90–77 B.C. Ammon was rejoicing in the righteousness of recent converts to the Lord who were assumingly dead and long gone by the time that Nephi, son of Nephi and grandson of Helaman, records the terrible calamities that took place about A.D. 34–35. What “storm at the last day” is Ammon claiming these souls have avoided if the long foretold destruction did not come about till over a century later when we would suppose that those people Ammon was speaking of would have been unaffected by the storms described by Nephi at the virtual end of the Nephite and Lamanite civilizations?
Of course the divisive classification of Nephites and Lamanites would only take a brief hiatus of 200-240 years before resuming. And the eyes of some will see that the Nephite survivors were never in fact willing to fully take upon them the name of Christ to the divestment of the name of Nephi. Instead they chose to repeat the pride cycle. In their minds they were insistent that the name Nephi meant “good” and by default, Laman had to be “bad”. This is not the godly and productive “opposition in all things” which Father Lehi tried to explain to his contentious sons. The name Nephi was derived from the Egyptian word nFr which as an adjective means “good, or “goodly” and as a noun denotes “goodness.” But if Nephi was such “good” guy, acquainted with the “goodness” and the mysteries of God, maybe he ought to have listened more to his “goodly” parents, who desired good things and unity for all their posterity, and not to have perpetuated a national story which painted himself, Sam and Jacob as favored saints while casting Laman and Lemuel as cursed heathens.
There is nothing wrong with seeing goodness or even perfection in one’s self, just as Marcus Garvey encouraged, but how real is that goodness, yea how great is that darkness if your supposed light is not even bright enough to let you see the same good in others? Are we guilty of doing the same thing with the name of Mormon? No, this would be a continuation and therefore aggrandizement of the pride of the fallen self-righteous Nephite culture. We are not making the same mistake, but rather are doing it the way everything is done in America, “bigger and better”! Nephi means “good”…Mormon means “more good”…I sense a storm brewing. In 3 Nephi 5:20 Mormon identifies himself as a “pure descendent of Lehi”. As the forces of evil attempt to whip up a race war, it will be key for anyone who identifies on any level with the name Mormon, to notice that what Mormon seems to touting as something special are the promises through Lehi not necessarily limited to Nephi. Let us not be guilty of ignoring or neglecting God’s prophets as the Nephites, even the “more righteous” Nephites, did with Samuel. And because the Lord told Mormon that the “greater things” which He personally taught to a select group of ancient American inhabitants would be withheld from those who read the Book of Mormon without an eye of faith, it is then most important to realize that the crucial part of that phrase, “pure descendent of Lehi” is the word “pure”. Racial purity does not equate to spiritual purity.
Now, to bring my comments back around to the topic of weather, that subject to which humanity seems to turn as an international default in casual conversation. I believe that weather is a constant expression of eternity, and like Clarence “13X” Smith, I believe that it results from and reflects mankind’s use or misuse of the raw emotion and will power which GOD has granted us. Whether the weather is “good” or “bad” is not only a matter of perspective but a matter of how we choose to grapple with, glide through, or gripe about the weather. I know that weather is closely related to the passage of time, and that by observing it, we may identify many cycles from which we are meant to learn. I firmly believe that the development of time does not just follow a straight linear path. Therefore I see these time cycles as spiraling out from a central point or eye, in a similar pattern to that which we see tropical storms take.
From founding father Nephi’s prognostication of foreboding weather to the tumultuous events in the days of 3rd Nephi was a cycle of roughly 500-600 years. The eye of that slow building, spiritual-to-physical storm could theoretically be located at around 250-300 years into the cyclone from its periphery. That periphery penetrates through the outer edge of another coming cycle as these storms spiral out in almost a Mandelbrot style, making exact time calculation according to man’s reckoning almost a complete waste of time. Focusing inward has always been the secret message of the prophets, because in this way one becomes Christ Centered and able to endure life’s storms. This is literally shown to be sure if we will measure the approximately 250 year span of time from the beginning stages of the Nephite/Lamanite storm system to its opposite outer edge and find ourselves smack dab in the calm eye of the next stage in this raging storm. This proverbial “calm before the storm” is centered around Christ’s actual visit, and that number 250 pops up again as the approximate time frame for perceived peace after Christ’s visit to that people.
One of the key elements that is most often missed by observers of these time-storms is the multi-gene-rational theme. It is as if the passing of DNA spirals sends our heads spinning in a spiritual swirl when, in reality, it could just as easily be the other way around – the upper vortex perpetuating the lower “through all gene-rations of time, and throughout all eternity.” There is really no need for any upheaval unless it is to correct unequal distribution of energy from the upper and lower vortices of our Merkabah Chariots. But we can find our peace to be short lived when Satan has “great power, unto the stirringup of the people to do all manner of iniquity (inequality), and to the puffingthem up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world,” as was the case when the tempests and tremors preceding Christ’s visit in the Americas were rapidly approaching (3 Nephi 6:15). Only 13 short years after the Nephites had supposedly fixed all their governmental problems, the church was broken up into classes in all the land “save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord,” (3 Nephi 6:14). Hmm…sounds like the same Lamanites of whom Ammon had said: “Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them,” (Alma 26:6). This could not be the same group of Lamanites in the flesh unless the group to whom Ammon was referring were all newborn babies at that moment and set to all live to a minimum age of 120 to be able to witness, let alone survive, the storm at that last day. 120 years is ironically the maximum age limit supposedly placed on man by the God of the Old Testament.
Ammon must have been speaking multi-gene-rationally, but what then is the role that past gene-rations play in current day weather patterns, and what is “their place” in which it is said they “shall be gathered together….that the storm cannot penetrate to them”? Where are the Lord’s true disciples? And, where are the Lord’s true holy places?” The ultimate answers to these questions and more can only be true if they are found to be gathered together in one place. And that place is YOU! You alone can serve as the Temple of the Lord, a pivotal palace wherein Heaven and Earth combine, hopefully in harmony. When this is the case then there is balance in the external and internal worlds. Inequality is inequity which breaks up Christ’s Church in the way that Christ’s Church, New Zealand has been consistently broken up by earthquake after earthquake on a certain curious time cycle. Equality must start with balance between the individual and his or her ancestors. This is why only the Spirit of Elijah bonds the Fathers to the Children via their Kolob Heart-Stars. And this bond with our ancestors alone prevents the whole Earth from being smitten with a curse and utterly wasted. Well did Marcus Mosiah Garvey say:
“Our union must know no clime, boundary, or nationality… to let us hold together under all climes and in every country…”
And throughout all gene-rations of time, we might add. The type of multi-gene-rational power that is needed in the world is not to be found in paperwork from the LDS Family History programmes and it can not be found in any dead works or “work for the dead” as LDS like to call their self-important temple rites. The symbols are there, and in a million other cultural/religious practices scattered across the globe. But symbols must be charged with sufficient spirit if they are to work their multi-gene-rational magic.
Symbols become stifled if not connected to that which they signify. And symbols seen as specific to a certain sub-set of humans must eventually lead to the more ample and richer repertories of symbols from other cultures with which they are naturally linked. That is what Marcus meant when he said we must “know no clime, boundary, or nationality”. A man who was very familiar with symbolism’s spiritual power was the beloved LDS Church President, David Oman McKay. While viewing possible plots for an LDS Temple in New Zealand, Pres. McKay vetoed them all. Searching the countryside further with his executives, David came across a piece of land which spiritually spoke to him. His executives said that they had also considered that area but that it was sacred land of the Maori Elders and they were unwilling to sell or grant rights to build there. President McKay told his executives to take him there early in the morning hours, just before sunrise. David climbed the hill and at the hour of sunrise he instinctively raised his arms to the square (Earth) and to the sky (Heaven) and supplicated the One God. When he had finished the ritual he came down the hill and to the hut of one of the main Maori Elders. The Elder was waiting for him with others. They said they had known of his coming in a dream and when they saw him use that particular mudra (arms raised to the square and to the sky) they knew he was in tune with the traditions of their ancestors who also used to employ those exact gestures in spiritual practice. The practice has lost much of its spiritual power and is only known among the younger gene-rations of the Maori as a mere dance move called the “Haka”.
Lingering in this magical area of the planet for yet a while longer, we find a New Zealand based company called Inertialess Drive Technologies Ltd. Their invention known as the inertialess drive rotor is a single piece gyroscopic rotor that dual-rotates in two planes at 90 degrees to each other. The Earth and Her spiritual plane are rotating at 90 degrees difference to one another. This gives more meaning to the squared arm symbolism common to many priesthoods the world over, and also explains the alternating alignment between current pole positions and areas along the present-day equator. It may very well be that most of humanity are operating with their physical bodies in a plane at 90 degrees to their spirit-body – the latter generally waking and “getting up” when the former is sleeping or “laying down”, and visa-versa. Certainly this special relationship of 90 degrees can be easily visualized when thinking of Kolob rotating in one plane with each of our hearts rotating at exact right angles to that sphere, set as they are at the ends of straight rays which emanate out like plumb-lines from there. Earlier we took a look at D&C 93:29-30 where it says that: “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also.” Now note the continuation of this idea… “Otherwise, there is no existence.” This does not mean that there is no such “thing” as “nothingness”, or that there are no actual circumstances that currently allow for the “co-existence” of existence and “no-existence” – just the opposite in fact. The one is not without the other.
Modern Mormons are taught and teach that the Spirit World is split into two territories – Paradise & Spirit Prison. Spirit Prison as it is called in Mormon tradition, or The Abyss as it is known in other circles, has been described by those with more Knowledge as a sort of whirlpool. This whirlpool is said to spin in two directions simultaneously, toward its center, and toward its periphery. So, perhaps it is best visualized as this dual mirroring cyclone configuration we have been describing. Or perhaps it is more easily seen as a sphere within a sphere. Either way, the lost substance of fragmented souls is only seemingly sequestered there, or guiltless spirits, whole and holy, kept there awaiting resurrection day by the only means that can ever limit creations of an Almighty God – that of self perception. If conscious energy there sees its self as connected to everything else in creation it will tend to spiral inwardly, tightening the sense of connection. If it feels hopelessly cut off from God and fellow conscious beings throughout the cosmos, the result is an outward spiral nearing the very edge of being and eventually passing into total unconsciousness, non existence, no-thing-ness.
LDS Church founder Joseph Smith gave the world the Book of Mormon, from which LDS Church members have taken the phrase, “It must needs be, that there be opposition in all things” out of context. In his post, Deep Waters: Lehi’s Model of the Universe, LDSA has beautifully cleared up the confusion resulting from reading this passage as if there were no comma in it. With the comma, we are invited to look to the bigger picture being described by Lehi, and make the connection between two “opposing” states. For Father Lehi’s Grand Theory of Unified Opposition in All Things says:
“Wherefore, the ends of the law which the Holy One hath given, unto the inflicting of the punishment which is affixed, which punishment that is affixed is in opposition to that of the happiness which is affixed, to answer the ends of the atonement—for it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.” (2 Ne. 2:10-11)
And LDSA explains the happiness half of this divine set-up thusly:
“…the innermost location of the light sphere, the most holy place or the holy of holies, where God resides in the midst of his creations (the created universe.) It is the central location of the light sphere, being opposite in all ways to the outermost location, (the ends and outer darkness.)”
Do we see how the Mormon concept of the Spirit World, with its happy place and its place of suffering, is really just a fractal model of all worlds in this universe and beyond? So in the 1830s Joseph Smith gave the world the Book of Mormon, a collection of ancient wisdom to hopefully enlighten our understanding of the uni-versal, bi-directional whirlpool we find ourselves in. And in the 1930s Dion Fortune offered the world additional insights with her book, The Cosmic Doctrine, which explained things in terms of a creative, a destructive and a binding ring. But in order to fully appreciate the spinning vortex of a ride that is God/Love, I have to be as it says in the 1940s classic, That Old Black Magic – “Loving that spin I’m in,” and loving that spin/opposition that is in me, in all things. Existence and nonexistence are everywhere meeting in sexual union. Boundaries are bonds of life and death that bend as well as blend in love.
In all ancient Hebrew writings intimacy is equated with know-ledge. Daath means “Knowledge“. In early Kabbalah, Daath was a symbol of the intimate union of Wisdom (Chokhmah) and Understanding (Binah). The book of Proverbs is a rich mine of material on the nature of these three qualities. For example, Proverbs 3:13 tells us:
“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding….She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he founded the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew”
The preceding verse takes Lehi and LDSA’s explanations of happiness to a poetic place that would be considered borderline pornographic by prudish Christ-Shuns if they “knew” what was really being laid out. Of course if they “knew” God then they would not mind at all, but would revel in joy, the type of joy that men and women are meant to have, the type of joy that produces Christ caliber children. If only they “knew” God (Mother+Father, Chokmah+Binah) and the Son who they have sent, Jesu, who has been called the Joy of Man’s Desiring. Why, then, that verse would be music to their ears.
As pornographic as they may seem to some, I personally prefer the poetics to this political and punitive God who everyone rushes to blame when weather becomes violent. This irresponsible and incorrect view of the God of Nature is nothing new. There was the recent tornado outbreak that made international news when the largest tornado in recorded history ravished the town of Moore, Oklahoma, In the aftermath, I watched as many Mormons – who had previously been discussing and deconstructing the idea of a violent and vengeful God in Sunstone forums – turned on their heels and expressed various levels of faithlessness. To be fair, what they were expressing came from fear, sadness, and a falling back onto traditional hollow cries of “signs of the times!” Of course it is a sign of the times. The times & seasons are what we commonly call weather. These saints had only just begun to deconstruct their false tradition/false god when that gruesome god lashed out with fear and destruction, in fear of destruction/deconstruction at the hands and in the minds of those who had created him and continued his existence and reign in this world from gene-ration to gene-ration.
It may be unreasonable to expect that the LDS people, who claim to be members of the only True & Living church, as stubborn and prideful as they are, would develop their faith in the True & Living God into a “perfect knowledge” as counseled to do in their favorite chapter in the book of Alma. Oh no! That would require watering and nourishing the seed of faith which God planted in their hearts, and such activities would detract and distract from “Church Activity”. Alma 32:32 cuts straight to the chase and tells the Mormons that: “If a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away.” As the Bible says,“MY PEOPLE PERISH for LACK of KNOWLEDGE.” To my fellow Mormon brothers and sisters I say, “NOW is the TIME to OBTAIN KNOWLEDGE!”, if not a perfect knowledge then something that will at minimum get your faith rooted enough to survive the windstorm which rapidly approaches.
Watch yourselves, and your thought-forms, and your affirmations, and your physical actions. O man, remember, and perish not! (Mosiah 4:30) Remember that time/weather is cyclical. The Oklahoma tornado outbreak of May 8–20, 2013 followed along on the same cycle as the May 2–8, 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. Also in 1999, on Aug. 11th, a very unexpected tornado ripped through downtown Salt Lake. Killing and injuring people at the Outdoor Expo held at the city’s commercial center and making a b-line for the construction site of the newly begun Church Conference Center. And here we are again, in Aug. of 2013. Please take a look, with discerning eye, at the documented events of an August long ago in the year 1638. John Taylor – no not the LDS Church President – an adventurer, propagandist, Royalist, and sometime overseer of the Company of Watermen in London, published the following:
New and Strange News from St. Christophers, of a tempestuous Spirit, which is called by the Indians a Hurry Cano, which happeneth in many of those Islands of America, or the West-Indies, as it did in August last the 5. 1638. Blowing downe houses, tearing up trees by the rootes, and it did puffe men up from the earth, as they had beene Feathers, killing divers men.
Note Taylor’s language in depicting a tempestuous Spirit which does puffe men up. Sounds an awful lot like the depiction of the Spirit of Satan as it is found puffing men up with pride in 3 Nephi 6:15. Taylor considered hurricanes a form of divine punishment intended not just to punish sinners but to bring heathens and the barbarous to a state of “Civility and Christian Liberty.” The true Spirit of God however, speaks to us in our heart of hearts and tells us that such is not God’s Nature. But in our spiritual immaturity, our falseness and our fear, we prefer to enlist natural phenomena in moral, religious, and political agendas, even today.
In a very real way, these forces have been used for religious/political agendas by false gods and us, their false worshipers, accomplice creators of terror. Hinckley may have been a false prophet in certain moments and certain ways, but he was also a true prophet on other occasions and at heart. He was very specific and tricky with his words. We should expect the same of ourselves in these days and times. We have been exhorted to be peaceful as doves but wise as serpents. And we would be wise to review Hinckley’s words carefully, not necessarily in the same type of careful spirit that they were originally delivered but in the Spirit of the Holy One of Is-Ra-El, so that we may glean deeper understanding from them. Shortly after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Hinckley was sure to publicly specify the recent catastrophic event as other than the work of God. Only through a caring heart and curious mind would anyone who heard that public statement expend the necessary energy to follow its reasoning and link to the deeper implications. If the almighty being inhabiting the imaginations of the vast majority of Hinckley’s audience had nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina, according to the message of the chosen mouthpiece, then what indeed happened?
There was the T.V. docudrama, Oil Storm, which aired in early June of 2005 and accurately anticipated the domino effect of “real-world” events shortly to come to pass starting with Katrina. And there is the fact that the storm had officially reduced to only a category 3 by the time it actually made land-fall. Aside from these evidences, there is the very revealing fact that the landed gentry of New Orleans tried to make it illegal for any returning so-called refugees to move back into their old neighborhoods. They attempted to pass legislation that said only those whose families owned land titles in the area could move back in. The Lower Ninth Ward is almost 100% comprised of black people and not a single one of them or their families own titles to the land. Such blatant gentrification is just one of many forms of separation that is prominent in the false zions which blotch the land today. To be sure, there is a true type of separation which is based on mutual respect for choices of varying groups and plays out through dimensional barriers. But forced separation between rich and poor is part and parcel with the false unity that gets promoted in the false church’s which cover the land like a cancer.
God tells us that such a faulty foundation will be shook and broken up to liberate captive mind’s and bodies, and to prepare the way of the Lord of Hosts. All prophets, whether more true or more false, actually corroborate the shaping of these storms. Whether we reap the positive or negative effects of the coming whirlwind is up to us. The famous Double-Slit Experiment showed to quantum physicists and the whole world, that on the quantum level, the form that something takes is defined by the observer. When we admire the beauty of the sky, our attention becomes a catalyst for Sky’s awareness of itself, which in turn, sparks our own self-awareness. Nature is waiting for us to wake up to this, and the beings of Nature are calling us to draw closer to them through our hearts and attention. The spirited, sacred potential of weather is responsive in its nature. Weather manifests its particular forms in response to how it is called down, which is key to any active relationship with weather. We can make that relationship conscious or we can remain in various levels of spiritual death unable or unwilling to speak to the spirits of “the dead”. When a storm approaches, who do we address, and how do we speak? If Mormons will allow themselves to become mystics, or women and “men inspired of heaven” as it says in the Book of Mormon, then we will open up a fuller communication – not only with recent pioneer ancestors who came across the plains like a listless, weak wind – but to that ancient ancestral wisdom of all humanity which reminds us that; everything in Nature is alive and has consciousness and is therefore capable of observing and participating in the creation of ordinary reality.
May we grasp on an intellectual level the scientific works of Dan Winter, Stan Tenen, Doc Childre, and others who attempt to convey to our minds the importance of “embedding in the tornado” a harmonic heart resonance which is capable of cohering with our brothers and sisters around the world. And may we grasp on an emotional level the work we are called to do as Saviors on Mount Zion, so that Mormon Mystics may be grafted in with the ancient ordinance officiators of humanity’s past. I call upon my true Latter-Day Saint brothers and sisters to come and contribute their balanced emotion and intelligence to consecrated efforts of pre-stood power on behalf of both the “living” and the “dead”. It is my earnest prayer that we may endure the storm, that we be “gathered together in [our] place, that the storm cannot penetrate to [us]” in the words of Ammon. And in the name of Jesus Christ, I say: So let it be, Amen.
When YHVH, the God of heaven and earth, organized for Himself [from among the tribes of humankind] a family-based nation state to call “His Own” — those 12 tribes were given the word of God [now called “The law of Moses“], written on stone tablets, and later on papyrus, to be their customary mores and their common tribal law. Thus, were any group today endeavoring to establish a gospel-based tribe unto the Lord, that group should use the written “Law of Christ” to build upon. This is because, when all is said and done, how closely a tribe conforms to the scriptural patterns will be the key variable for determining its long-term success.
The Lord’s people are always judged by the written word:
It is the he written nature of the word of God that makes it what we’ll be judged by. Meaning, there is a difference between what is spoken and what is written. And the Lord judges us most according to the words that are written, not spoken. The first thing Alma did when he escaped from king Noah’s court was writethe words of Abinadi. Why? Because once written, they became a scriptural canon [or “measuring stick”] by which the people could now be judged. When the same Alma was again confronted with iniquity in the church — he inquired of the Lord and received a revelation, which he wrote down so that he could judge the people by them [Mosiah 17:4 and Mosiah 26:33].
Nephi wrote:
wherefore
for this cause
has YHVH god promised me
that these things which I write
shall be kept and preserved
and handed down unto my seed
from generation to generation
that the promise may be fulfilled unto Joseph
that his seed should never perish as long as the earth should stand wherefore
these things shall go from generation to generation
as long as the earth shall stand
and they shall go according to the will and pleasure of god
and the nations who shall possess them
shall be judged of them
according to the words which are written
for I command all people
both in the east
and in the west
and in the north
and in the south
and in the islands of the sea
that they shall write the words which I speak unto them
for out of the books which shall be written
I will judge the world
every person according to their works
according to that which is written
for behold out of the books which have been written and which shall be written shall this people be judged
for by them shall their works be known unto others and behold
all things are written by the father
therefore out of the books which shall be written
shall the world be judged
And finally — in the fifth book of Moses, it is written:
and it came to pass
when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book
until they were finished
that Moses commanded those of the tribe of Levi
who carry the ark of the covenant of YHVH
saying
take this book of the law
and put it beside of the ark of the covenant of YHVH
your god that it may be there for a witness
against you all
These sayings show that all people, all nations, the entire world — and more especially the people of the Lord — will be judged by the written word of God. For this reason, any tribal group should use only the scriptures as their template. We cannot look to the current, generally-accepted church practices for structure, guidance, and conformity. Creating a scaled-down version of the same thing that exists in the larger church should not be our goal — rather it should be something that significantly different, yet still totally grounded in the word of God.
Now this doesn’t mean that every tribe that establishes itself according the written word will operate in the same manner or have an identical structure. Because the gospel is a framework that allows all people within it to exercise their agency in righteousness. So although it has bounds and limitations, there is a lot of leeway given so that each group can have the variety and diversity required to suit all the conditions and circumstances unique to each tribe. As long as a tribe stays within the framework of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it will be operating under the principles of righteousness — even though it may function quite differently than another gospel-based tribe.
Following the scriptural patterns is much more important in establishing a gospel-based tribe than following the customs of the modern LDS church today or the country in which you live. In other words, no one will be judged after death according to how closely they were conforming to what “the Church” was doing and teaching in their day — or by what was “legal” or “illegal” in their day. Rather, all will be judged by how closely they were conforming to what is written in the scriptures, and what was written on their heart/conscience. And this principle is the same whether we’re talking about the individual or for the tribe as a group.
In Romans 14, Paul writes:
receive any one who is weak in the faith
without having doubtful disputations
for one believes that he may eat all things
and another
who is weak
will abstain from eating meat
do not let the one who eats meat despise the one that doesn’t
and let not the one who chooses to not eat meat judge him that does eat for god receives both
who are you to judge another man’s servant
it is by their own master alone that everyone stands or falls
and each shall be upheld
for god is able to make everyone stand
one person esteems one day above another
another esteems all days alike
let everyone be fully persuaded in their own mind the one who regards the day
does so unto YHVH
and the one that doesn’t
is doing that for YHVH too
he that eats meat
eats it unto YHVH
for he gives god thanks for it
while he that doesn’t eat abstains for YHVH and gives the same god thanks
for none of us live unto ourselves
and none of us die to ourselves
for whether we live
we live unto YHVH
and whether we die
we die unto YHVH
whether we live or die therefore
we belong to YHVH
to this end
the messiah died
rose
and was revived
that he might be the lord of both the dead and the living
but why would you judge your own sister or brother?
or why would you disregard your brother or sister?
for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of the messiah
for it is written
as I live
saith YHVH
every knee shall bow to me
and every tongue shall confess to god
so then everyone of us
shall give an account of own self to god let us not
therefore
judge one another anymore but judge this rather
that no one put a stumblingblock
or an occasion to fall
in the way of another
I know
and am persuaded by our master
Yeshua
that there is nothing unclean in and of itself but to the one that esteems a thing to be unclean
to that person it is unclean
so if your brother is grieved by the eating of meat
walk charitably
and do not destroy a person for whom the messiah died
just because of your diet choices
let not your good be evil spoken of
the kingdom of god is not food and drink
but righteousness
and peace
and joy in the holy ghost
anyone who serves the messiah
in this things
is acceptable to god
and approved among others let us therefore
pursue things that make peace
and things wherewith one may edify another
matters of practice
like food choices
do not destroy the works of god all things indeed are pure
but it is evil for someone who would do something
that would offend their conscience
it is good
to not eat meat or drink wine or to abstain from any other thing
whereby your neighbor would stumble
be offended
or be made weak
do you have faith?
then have it to yourself before god
happy is the one who does not condemn himself
in the things he allows himself to do
it’s the one who doubts that will be damned
if he partakes
because he’s not acting with faith
because whatsoever is not of faith is sin
avoiding certain foods or drinks (or eating/drinking whatever)
are not matters that pertain to our walk with God. Where we will be judged is in our actions towards others (how we acted towards them) and how we acted in relation to our own consciences.
Saints of God may legitimately disagree on certain particulars of religious devotion and on the exact physical form that a life that’s been turned-over to God is “supposed” to take. The proper response to that variability among believers is not judgement or self-righteously rubbing one’s own divergent practices in the faces of the others — but it is accept that variation with patience and charity and to do all things that foster edification and joy among the differing groups.
“Gospel-based” tribes:
So — when I write about the “GEMTAM” as a model of gospel-based, egalitarian, multihusband-multiwife anarchical tribes — I don’t mean to equate “gospel-based” with “LDS chruch-based”. And the “anarchy” means that each tribe should be free to work out the details of their own tribe and make modifications to the model as they see fit and as suits their circumstances suit them best.
The main chapters of the GEMTAM book will be written so as to give the principles of the model in a concise manner using the letters in the acronym “GEMTAM” — and to show how each letter is scripturally-grounded.
However, I’d say that the principles of the gospel [upon which an enduring tribe should be based] need not be “LDS church”-principles. Rather, they’ll be the principles of the gospel upon which any deist, humanist, or non-theist could see the value in:
honesty
forgiveness
love
patience
meekness
kindness
fairness
sacrifice
etc.
And even then — one is still free to build a tribe that is not based on gospel principles if they are so inclined [and I’m sure they’d have success because the other principles like egalitarianism, marriage fidelity, plural kinship bonds, and common consent have such strength that they’d still see success] — it’s just that it’s the establishment of righteous tribes, established on the foundation which is Christ, that we desire for everyone — because I feel that only those such tribes will be everlastingly enduring.
Cain was not Abel. His focus on this feeling of separateness induced by fore-bitten fruit caused the lousy sensation of jeal–lousy against and blocked any gell-ing with his brother. Cain did not play well with others. And this continued to the point of feeling himself consumed by this thought of not being Abel, thinking himself Un-Abel . Like all of us, C-a-I-n asked the question, “Can-I?” If he would have put the question to God, he would have had his doubt reversed from “Can-I?” to “I-Can!” Instead of asking God, Cain answered that question with his own (T)houghts determining in a negative belief wherein he said to himself, “I Can’T” Our forefather’s uncertainty in his own spiritual abilities caused him to give Forbidden Fruits of the Field (F.F.F. or 666) as an offering to the Lord. When it was rejected, it was because we can not fool ourselves by sacrificing something other than our sinful selves through humility and faith. The story of Abel’s sacrifice not only symbolically speaks of the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God but literally relates how he, himself was sacrificed. In a very real way, Abel was the first Christ. Unfortunately, Self Sacrifice is not well understood and much less the Savior(Him)Self. Mormon and Muslim scripture show us how Abraham broke with a horrible family tradition of fathers sacrificing their sons. The true man of integrity does not rely on pseudo-sacrifice and suppose that the practice will save his soul.
While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
God favors neither fruit nor flesh but rather He recognizes only the First-Fruits of the First-Born not the First-Killed. Cain was the firstborn but like Esau, he did not correctly understand his birthright. And as we will see, he too sold it for a “mess of pottage”. Genesis says that Abel became a shepherd of a flock, but Cain cultivated the land. The record does not say it was an orchard or vineyard but a field from whence Cain, “presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord” and a field to which Cain beckoned his brother with the plan to slay him. Fields which are naturally occurring do not yield anything that man’s stomach can handle without much prior processing. But sheep’s stomachs are made to process the grasses and the meat of grass-fed sheep and other ruminants like bison, venison and goats provided early man with much strength and nutrients. Even if a field is cleared with much toil and “sweat of the brow” to make way for strictly wheat or barely to be grown, grains are typically poisonous to humans until we grind them into powder and cook almost any remaining nutrients out of them.
Mineral deficiencies and birth defects are the legacy of grain based diets. You will remember, ‘pastel’ comes from an Italian word that literally means “material reduced to a paste” and is a diminutive form of the word ‘pasta’. Pasta is made from grains reduced to a paste. This is the same stuff used to put piñatas together. It tastes like crap and production is costly. The agricultural revolution brought us slave food, and since we are what we eat, it inevitably brought us to become slaves. Slaves are miserable and misery seeks company. But healthier humans do not become slaves of their own volition. The situation soon deteriorated All-Over (Oliver) the globe, from healthy hunter-gatherers to Twisted scenes wherein the human race is reduced to orphans begging oppressors, “Please Sir. Can-I have some more?” Seeds are nature’s microchips the original nano-technology. They will hold whatsoever information as is input and execute the same when planted. Ingestion of so many grains makes one more easily engrained by whatever spell the ruling class casts over the seeds that are then cast over the earth for a continued sowing and reaping of their cycle of death. Live by the sickle, die by the sickle. Eating sticky gruel or pottage everyday will produce a sickly populace with a pasty, pale complexion. And the robust Afrikan race may seem to have adjusted physically to a slave diet of cruel gruel. But on the inside, their spirits reject what they have been fed, urging their physical bodies to go against the grain. The effects are felt and it is no coincidence that Afrikan Americans are at highest risk for the blood disease called Sickle Cell Anemia. The mutation that causes all SCDs (Sickle Cell Diseases) originated in Cameroon, Senegal, Benin and other West African areas. This mutation causes haemoglobin to collapse in on itself occasionally. When enough haemoglobin collapses in on itself the red blood cells loose their natural holy torus shape and become sickle-shaped.
Silly Satan, Paste is for the Outside of the Body, Not the Inside of the Body.
Imagine the envy boiling the blood inside Cain as he sees his able-bodied brother, blessed with a life-energy that flowed to him almost effortlessly, without compulsory means (D&C 121:46). Perhaps Cain had tried his hand at sheep herding and found that the animals did not readily obey him as they did his sibling. Watching Abel, the Good Shepherd, Cain may have wondered in awe at his almost magical ability to be trusted and obeyed by the beasts. Protecting one’s flock and self from predators can drive a man crazy but even more maddening to Cain, would have been witnessing how Abel made it look so easy. How had he regained such oneness with nature in this post Eden existence? Eons later Arab slave drivers and white anthropologists would encounter the Masai tribe of North Africa with similar fascination and bewilderment.
Chiefly herders of cattle and goats, the Masai have lived primarily on dairy products, including milk and blood, with some meat, and with a varying percentage of fruit and vegetable foods. Like their progenitor, Abel, they continue blood sacrifice. They have found favor with the Lord through occasional blood letting which is acceptable in the Lord’s sight and does not require the same kind of slaughter called for under the Law of Moses. Anthropologists observe that in every instance these cattle people dominate the surrounding tribes who, in contrast to the Masai, are all agrarian. The Masai are characterized by superb physical development, great bravery and a mental acumen that makes it possible for them to dominate because of their superior intelligence. Dr. Weston Price writes:
“The Masai are tall and strong. In driving over the veldt we frequently saw one or two men or boys guarding an entire herd with only their spears. Their skill in killing a lion with a spear is one of the most superb of human achievements.”
The ‘Abel’ Bodied Massai
The Bible describes Cain as becoming “furious and downcast” that the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but did not for Cain and his offering. The Lord asks Cain why he is so upset and tells him: “If you do right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must masterit.” The Septuagint version has an alternate translation which provides some insight. Here the Lord is recorded as saying: “Hast thou not sinned if thou hast brought it rightly, but not rightly divided it? Be still, to thee shall be his submission, and thou mayest rule over him.” It sounds as if God is explaining that He is not so much disapproving of Cain’s chosen livelihood but of the way he has gone about it. Is it possible that the Lord is giving some sound advice on how to balance his diet or prepare his meals in a healthier manner? Could the words “rightly divided” be referring to proper preparation or even to sharing his harvest with others according to the ways of a just and loving steward rather than insisting on land ownership and later ownership of people which Cain’s agricultural revolution spawned? The Lord admonishes the vexed Cain to, “Be still.” “Calm yourself. You will get the hang of it if you only relax and put your trust in Me,” seems to be God’s message to Cain. Cain is told that his external environmentwill submit to him and he will rule it. But for this to happen he must muster up inner courage and master himself. Sadly, Cain does not heed the voice of the Lord. He allows himself to be overcome with resentment. Resentment turns to rage and he commits fratricide. An unspeakable evil was unleashed on the planet and the Curse of Cain has since spread and affected many the world over.
Additional text, not had in the Bible, is found in The Pearl of Great Price, Moses 5:31
“And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, and he gloried in his wickedness.”
Satan Crowns Cain
LDS theologians and Cain himself might very well say that he did in fact master something – the Devil himself. But all that happened here was that his failure to master the devil in his self resulted in an open portal through which evil could work and would flow for millennia to come. For this reason the title ‘Master Mahan’ was passed from Cain to his son Lamech and purity of the bloodline has been of utmost importance within the secret combinations ever since. The passing gene-rations must not feel or think themselves free to pursue their own lives in liberty and in this way they are not masters at all but puppets. To the extent that the dark half of our nature comes to rule our spirit, it causes our countenance to fall and our surroundings follow suit. This is why Cain could only gain anything through lies and the exercise of force, whilst Abel, who walked in holiness before the Lord, had no need of secrets or manipulation. This is the story of two men inhabiting the same physical dimension but operating from very different spiritual dimensions. One, a keeper of cattle, the other a tiller of the field – one was just that much closer to his hunter gatherer roots and the other, following new trends of faithlessness.
The Cry of the Little Peoples goes up to God in vain,
For the world is given over to the cruel sons of Cain;
From Richard Le Gallienne’s poem: Cry Of The Little Peoples
LDS Anarchy 
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