WEARETHEWEATHER – Pt. 2


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 calling from the Divine, and this, more than anything, because they fail to remember that a life calling like that of Joseph, is initiated by calling on the Divine 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.

Hinckley waves hanky at Santiago's Estadio Nacional

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.

Chilean Church members in the Estadio Nacional - Santiago Chile

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.

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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. Lorenzo Snow Reflecting

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 The Sistren, 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.

MOSIAH’S MESSAGE–METAPHYSICAL METEOROLOGY–MORMON MYSTICS

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 sickness shall 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 Son of Man would be “despised and rejected (aborted or ejected) of men,” as Abinadi quoting Isaiah reminds us later on in Mosiah 14:3?

Marcus-Mosiah-Garvey-Jr

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. christ's visit to the americas

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 stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity (inequality), and to the puffing them 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”.

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.

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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.
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The seeds of the powers of godliness


We are here on Earth in a temporal (mortal) existence to develop our faith as a principle of power by walking by faith. As an aid in that endeavor, we are offered the gifts of the Spirit.

Walking by sight

In our pre-mortal life, we walked by sight.  As we saw, so we did, imitating the beings around us, learning by copying what we saw others do.

Upon entering mortality as children, we bring this capacity to imitate others with us.  We imitate or emulate our parents, our brothers and sisters, our friends and associates, the celebrities of the day, etc.  Eventually we assimilate into whatever society we are born into.  Like the chameleon, we become what is around us.  A baby born in France, raised by French parents with French customs and language will soon feel and act like all other Frenchmen.  It is the same with every other culture.

While we resided in the heavens, we copied our perfect, heavenly Parents and their angels.  Here, we copy imperfect mortals.  Mortality, then, does not limit our ability to walk by sight.

Two principles of faith

The Lectures on Faith divide faith into two principles: one of action and one of power.

Regardless of which principle you use, all things are done by faith, though most everything in mortality is done by using faith as a principle of action.

Moving mountains

There are two ways of moving a mountain.  You can move it stone by stone with your hands, or by using shovels, bulldozers or other technologies, to force the elements that make up the mountain to move to another spot.  This would be faith as a principle of action.  Or, conversely, you can command the mountain to remove and it can obey you.  This would be faith as a principle of power.  The former uses coercion or force, wrestling with the elements to model them however you want them to be.  The latter uses agency.  The elements must voluntarily move themselves at your command.

Power faith is celestial

When we lived in the heavens, as all things were given agency, nothing that surrounded us there could be forced to do anything.  We could not even pick up a handful of heavenly dirt without its say-so.  Everything in heaven was accomplished “without compulsory means,” meaning that coercion, force, was (and still is) non-existent there.  In other words, we exercised faith only as a principle of power.  The elements around us obeyed us only insofar as they respected us and they respected us only insofar as we followed (imitated) the “grown-ups.”  There we learned to use faith as a principle of power by observing our heavenly Parents and the angels, for that is the only way that they operate.  They commanded the elements and were obeyed and so did we.

Action faith is earthly

Mortality is different. It is designed to allow faith to function under both principles.

Action faith is given to us a temporary crutch, as well as a test.  The elements that surround us here are commanded by God to allow us to push them around, regardless of our righteousness or lack thereof.  They voluntarily submit to His divine command and thus we can manipulate all the various earthly materials here.  If we desire it, we may never need to develop faith as a principle of power.  Mankind can survive on this planet (for a limited time, at least) solely on action faith.

Once we come here from heaven, we find ourselves in a fallen world.  Sin is rampant, both around us and in us.  Were the elements here operating like they did in heaven, everyone would immediately die.  We wouldn’t be able to even force air into our lungs, for the air would not allow itself to be forced into the lungs of a being it did not respect (a sinful being).  This would frustrate the design of God to prepare a world in which we could be tried and tested and in which would could develop faith as a principle of power.  So, as explained above, God commanded the elements that make up our temporal (mortal) existence to allow themselves to be pushed around by us, according to a specific set of laws that we term physics.

Imperfect memory is necessary for our test of power faith

If we had arrived here with our memory of pre-mortal life intact, we would remember how to use faith as a principle of power and would never sin, keeping our heavenly powers intact, as all things would continue to respect us and obey us.  But by the design of God, our memories are wiped clean and we become, as a result, unable to use faith as a principle of power (because we have forgotten how to).  The situation is okay, though, because we now can use faith as a principle of action, forcing the elements to sustain us.

Our limited memories serve another divine purpose.  As we cannot remember our past life in the heavens and we cannot see the future, plus the memory we have of our mortal lives is patchy at best, nothing is remembered perfectly and only bits and pieces remain in our minds to access at moments of recollection.  All of this is done so that we become blinded, so as not to instinctively walk by sight as we did in the heavens (and use power faith).  By limiting our memory (which is primarily a visual organ), we can only really see the present clearly.  The future is pitch black and the past is foggy.

Blindness required to walk by faith

In this state of blindness, we can be put on probation (tested) to see if we truly desire to use faith as a principle of power.  Whereas in the heavens we all learned to use faith as a principle of power, by walking by sight (because there was no other way to operate), here on Earth we can go our entire lives without ever using power faith, for action faith is available to us.  Thus, only those who truly desire to (re-)learn to use the heavenly powers will do so.  And so mortality becomes a test.

Additionally, mortality allows us to more fully develop our faith as a principle of power by walking by faith*.  There is no one to look at (imitate) to learn how to use the heavenly powers, nor can we access our memories to remember examples of how it is done.  When we walk by sight here we only learn to use faith as a principle of action, for this is the principle under which everyone here operates.  So, to use power faith we must walk by faith, or walk blindly, trusting in only the word of God and not the sight of Him.

(*Note: Although all things in heaven walk by sight, God walks both by sight and by faith.  In order for us to become like Him, then, mortality is given to us to develop this capacity.  I may have already explained this concept in the Faith of God series, but if not, I will, that is if I ever get around to finishing it.)

To re-iterate:

In the heavens we walked by sight, imitating the celestial beings we saw around us, copying what they did, and learned to use faith as a principle of power, for that is the only way that we saw them operate. We had no capacity to walk by faith, only by sight.

In mortality, we also walk by sight, imitating the fallen beings we see around us, copying what they do, and we thus learn to use faith as a principle of action, for that is the only way that fallen beings operate.  We are unable to exercise the power faith we previously had because we cannot remember (see) how to do it.

Being essentially blind, once we are presented with the word of God we are enabled to walk by faith and re-learn to use power faith.  Mortality is a test to see if we will choose to drop the crutch of action faith and start using power faith by walking by faith.

We must walk by faith

Mortality is the brief moment that God has given us to learn to walk by faith.  We are to walk by sight and use faith as a principle of action only until we are enabled to walk by faith.  Once we are presented with the word of God, we must let go of the crutch of action faith and re-enter the world of power faith.  We must stop walking by sight and start walking by faith.

If we do not learn to walk by faith and re-learn to use faith as a principle of power, we will be in for a whole lot of disappointment in the afterlife.  This is because the orders given by God to the elements that surround us in mortality (in which they allow themselves to be pushed around by us) only apply to mortality.  In the afterlife, the former rules (agency) apply and once again it will be impossible to force the elements to do anything against their wills.  In other words, in the afterlife faith as a principle of action no longer works.  If we haven’t re-learned how to use faith as a principle of power here on Earth, we will be powerless in the afterlife.

The best gifts develop power faith

To that end, that we might re-learn how to use faith as a principle of power and that we might learn to walk by faith, God has given us the best gifts of the Spirit.

The best gifts of the Spirit are the seeds of the powers of godliness.  When all of them are possessed in their fullness, one becomes omnipotent, able to do all things.  Here on Earth we are not expected to achieve every gift in its fullness, but we are expected to seek for them continually.

The gifts given to the LDS Gentile church

The LDS Gentile church of God has been given 14 best gifts, with one gift given to presiding elders to be able to discern the other gifts and weed out imposters.  They are obtained by asking God to receive them.  Once one of the gifts are received, faith can be more fully developed, for the gifts only operate on the principle of power.  As faith increases, and petitions for additional gifts are sent up to God, He grants more of them to the individual.  Eventually, following this pattern, all gifts may be obtained.

Gifts are paired

There are seven pairs of gifts.

1st Pair – The gift of knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world. The gift of believing on the words of those who have the gift of knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.

2nd Pair – The gift of knowing the differences of administration according to the conditions among the children of men. The gift of knowing whether the diversities of operations are of God.

3rd Pair – The gift of the word of wisdom. The gift of the word of knowledge.

4th Pair – The gift of faith to be healed. The gift of faith to heal.

5th Pair – The gift of the working of miracles. The gift to prophesy.

6th Pair – The gift of the discerning of spirits. The gift to discern all best gifts.

7th Pair – The gift to speak with tongues. The gift of the interpretation of tongues.

Gifts are designed to be used in a church (group) setting, for the benefit of all

Only one gift is typically given to an individual.  For this reason, God has placed us into groups, or congregations, or churches.  If you have 13 individuals, each with a separate gift of the Spirit, each member of the group receives benefit from the 12 other people who have the lacking gifts.  If their individual gifts are fairly well developed, you can place this group of 13 people in any location, in any situation, and they will have power to do all things which are expedient to the Lord.

For example, place them among a foreign group or tribe who speaks an unknown language and the ones who have the gifts of tongues and interpretation would allow the other 11 members to communicate with the foreign tribe.  Or, place them among sick people and the one with the faith to heal would heal them all.  Or, have them deliver a message to an area of sickness and pestilence, of a highly contagious plague.  Who would be sent?  The one with the gift to be healed.  Place them among an ignorant people with no books or learning materials, whatsoever.  What would they do?  They would have the ones with the gifts of the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge start teaching the people.  And if the 13 themselves have no access to learning, these two individuals would immediately begin teaching the others of the group.  Or, just place the 13 alone, without any means of survival whatsoever, would they survive?  Of course, they would.  The one with the gift to work miracles would assure that.  Put them among a lying tribe and the one who discerned spirits would discover the lies.  Try to surprise them and it wouldn’t work, for the one with the gift to prophesy would have already seen that coming.  And so on and so forth.

Thus we see that by placing us in a congregation or church, the Lord has allowed all members to receive benefit from all the gifts which they may not have yet obtained.  If we were just baptized and told to go home and worship God on our own, we would not receive any benefit from the gifts we lack, until we ourselves finally reached the point where we obtained all the best gifts.  Also, being around others, who possess gifts we do not possess ourselves, makes it easier for us to obtain them.  The same principle of learning by sight, or imitating others, works with the gifts, too.

Perfection of the saints

In fact, the only reason we are commanded to meet together is to perfect ourselves and the rest of the saints assembled through the manifestation of the gifts.  Everything done at church can be done in a home (family) setting if the priesthood is found in the home.  But to obtain benefit from gifts we do not possess, we must assemble with others who possess gifts we lack.  Said Paul:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.  Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.  Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.  And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.  And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.  But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.  For the body is not one member, but many.  If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?  And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.  And if they were all one member, where were the body?  But now are they many members, yet but one body.  And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.  Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: and those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.  For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.  And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.  Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?  Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?  But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.  (1 Cor. 12)

Paul also said:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Order of the gifts in the church

The church in Paul’s day had an order to the best gifts:

And God hath set some in the church,

first apostles (gift of knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God),

secondarily prophets (gift to prophesy),

thirdly teachers (gift of the word of wisdom and gift of the word of knowledge),

after that miracles (gift of the working of miracles),

then gifts of healings (gift of faith to be healed and gift of faith to heal),

helps (gift of believing, gift of differences of administration, gift of diversities of operations, gift of discerning of spirits),

governments (gift of discerning of gifts),

diversities of tongues (gift of tongues, gift of interpretation). (1 Corinthians 12: 28)

Another of Paul’s lists can also be assigned gifts:

And he gave some, apostles (gift of knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God);

and some, prophets (gift to prophesy);

and some, evangelists (gift of tongues, gift of interpretation);

and some, pastors (gift of discerning of gifts)

and teachers (gift of the word of wisdom and gift of the word of knowledge);  (Ephesians 4: 11)

We see from these lists that church callings are to come according to the gifts a person has.  This is why the gift to discern the best gifts, which is given to the bishop and to the presiding elders, is so important.

Modern view of the best gifts

Modern LDS (the Gentile Mormons) typically avoid the best gifts.  It is unusual to find anyone prophesying or publishing revelations or performing miracles or speaking in tongues or raising the dead or instantly healing people, etc.

When LDS speak of the gifts that they have, they’ll perhaps mention piano playing as a gift from God, or being a good doctor or surgeon, or being a good athlete, or being a nice person, etc.  A certain percentage of Gentile Mormons believe that manifestations of the best gifts routinely happen, but are just never spoken of, since they are “too sacred.”  Stories of gift manifestations are usually hearsay.

“Someone once told me that when he was on his mission, he met a man whose companion had healed someone by…”, etc.

Another percentage of Gentile Mormons have downgraded the best gifts to fit into more acceptable administrations.  So, for example, the gift of tongues becomes going to the MTC for two months and learning the language.  Or, the gift of healing becomes going to medical school and becoming a doctor or surgeon.  Or, the gift to prophesy becomes gaining the title of President of the Church and being called “the prophet.”  In like manner, the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge are delegated to those who have enough money to study at a university.   And the working of miracles becomes the “happening of miracles” and every little unexpected thing becomes a “miracle.”  Etc.

None of the best gifts work this way.  You cannot use faith as a principle of action to activate a best gift.  They only work by faith as a principle of power.  To illustrate, let’s examine the gift of the word of knowledge.

The gift of the word of knowledge

And again, verily I say unto you, to some is given, by the Spirit of God, the word of wisdom.  To another is given the word of knowledge, that all may be taught to be wise and to have knowledge.  (D&C 46: 17-18; the gift of the word of knowledge is in bold type.)

Ammon possessed the word of knowledge

The Book of Mormon contains an example of the gift of the word of knowledge in action:

And it came to pass that when they had established a church in that land, that king Lamoni desired that Ammon should go with him to the land of Nephi, that he might show him unto his father.

And the voice of the Lord came to Ammon, saying:

Thou shalt not go up to the land of Nephi, for behold, the king will seek thy life; but thou shalt go to the land of Middoni; for behold, thy brother Aaron, and also Muloki and Ammah are in prison.

Now it came to pass that when Ammon had heard this, he said unto Lamoni:

Behold, my brother and brethren are in prison at Middoni, and I go that I may deliver them.

Now Lamoni said unto Ammon:

I know, in the strength of the Lord thou canst do all things. But behold, I will go with thee to the land of Middoni; for the king of the land of Middoni, whose name is Antiomno, is a friend unto me; therefore I go to the land of Middoni, that I may flatter the king of the land, and he will cast thy brethren out of prison.

Now Lamoni said unto him:

Who told thee that thy brethren were in prison?

And Ammon said unto him:

No one hath told me, save it be God; and he said unto me—

Go and deliver thy brethren, for they are in prison in the land of Middoni.  (Alma 20:1-5)

Ammon had knowledge that his brethren were, at that moment, in prison.  No one but God gave him this knowledge.  He then communicated the information to others, namely Lamoni.  This wasn’t knowledge of a spiritual thing, but of a physical fact that could be verified: Aaron, Muloki and Ammah were in prison at that very moment.  So, this was knowledge of something physically happening in the present.  It didn’t deal at all with anything pertaining to the future.  Nevertheless, no one but God told Ammon this fact, so, although it was knowledge of a physical thing that could be verified with one’s own two eyes, it was communicated via spiritual means.  This is, essentially, what the gift of the word of knowledge is all about.

The Savior mentioned the word of knowledge

Another example from the Book of Mormon comes from the Savior’s visit. Speaking to the Nephites, he said:

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. (3 Ne. 16: 4; the gift of the word of knowledge is in bold type.)

Contrasted with the gift to prophesy

Notice how the gift of the word of knowledge contrasts with the gift to prophesy.  Again, an example from the Book of Mormon:

And it came to pass in the eleventh year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, on the fifth day of the second month, there having been much peace in the land of Zarahemla, there having been no wars nor contentions for a certain number of years, even until the fifth day of the second month in the eleventh year, there was a cry of war heard throughout the land.  For behold, the armies of the Lamanites had come in upon the wilderness side, into the borders of the land, even into the city of Ammonihah, and began to slay the people and destroy the city.

And now it came to pass, before the Nephites could raise a sufficient army to drive them out of the land, they had destroyed the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, and also some around the borders of Noah, and taken others captive into the wilderness.

Now it came to pass that the Nephites were desirous to obtain those who had been carried away captive into the wilderness.  Therefore, he that had been appointed chief captain over the armies of the Nephites, (and his name was Zoram, and he had two sons, Lehi and Aha)—now Zoram and his two sons, knowing that Alma was high priest over the church, and having heard that he had the spirit of prophecy, therefore they went unto him and desired of him to know whither the Lord would that they should go into the wilderness in search of their brethren, who had been taken captive by the Lamanites.

And it came to pass that Alma inquired of the Lord concerning the matter. And Alma returned and said unto them:

Behold, the Lamanites will cross the river Sidon in the south wilderness, away up beyond the borders of the land of Manti. And behold there shall ye meet them, on the east of the river Sidon, and there the Lord will deliver unto thee thy brethren who have been taken captive by the Lamanites.  (Alma 16: 1-6)

In this case, Alma the younger had the spirit of prophecy, in other words, he had the gift to prophesy, and so he inquired of the Lord and received a prophecy of the future.  The “Lamanites will cross the river Sidon” (a prediction of the future), “there ye shall meet them” (another prediction of the future), “the Lord will deliver unto thee thy brethren” (a third prediction of the future).

Similar gifts

Prophecy does not deal with knowledge of things present and past, it deals with things pertaining to futurity: what will or shall happen.  On the other hand, the gift of the word of knowledge deals only with what has happened (the past) and what is happening (the present).  Both gifts, though, come through the manifestation of the Spirit.  Or as Ammon put it, “no one hath told me, save it be God.”

So, prophecy and the word of knowledge are almost the same gift, except for this one division: facts revealed of the present or past correspond to the word of knowledge, whereas words pertaining to the future correspond to prophecy.

All best gifts obtained by faith, not by study

All gifts of the Spirit are obtained by faith.  The healing gifts are called “faith to heal” and “faith to be healed” (see D&C 46: 19-20), but all the gifts could be worded the same way.  In other words, faith to speak the word of wisdom, faith to speak the word of knowledge, faith to prophesy, faith to work miracles, faith to speak in tongues, faith to interpret tonges, etc.  Without faith, none of these gifts are obtainable.

And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.  (D&C 88: 118)

The above scripture speaks of wisdom and learning (knowledge).  Wisdom and knowledge are two gifts of the Spirit, but the only way to obtain them directly from the Spirit is by having faith.  However, because not everyone has faith to speak the word of wisdom and faith to speak the word of knowledge, we are instructed to seek words of wisdom and learning out of the best books and teachers by study.  Wisdom and knowledge obtained by studying the best books and teachers should not be confused with the gift of faith to speak the word of wisdom and the gift of faith to speak the word of knowledge.  These gifts come by faith, not by study.

Nevertheless, the Lord is saying in this verse that those who do not possess the gifts of wisdom and knowledge, can still obtain wisdom and knowledge through those who possess these gifts.  In other words, the two gifts of wisdom and knowledge are for the express purpose “that all may be taught to be wise and to have knowledge.”  Those who possess these two gifts of the Spirit are to be the teachers that “teach one another words of wisdom” and “learning.”  They are to be the ones who write “the best books” in which are found “words of wisdom” and “learning.”  Their wisdom and knowledge does not come to these teachers through study, but by faith, directly from the Spirit, for they are spiritual gifts.

Confusion of the gifts

Modern LDS often confuse the obtaining of knowledge or wisdom through study and life experience as gifts of the Spirit.  If we find a man who is possessed of great knowledge or wisdom, and who seems to be a God-fearing righteous man, we are apt to believe he possesses the gift of the word of wisdom or knowledge.  He may or may not possess those gifts.  It all depends how he obtained his wisdom and knowledge.  If it was through studying at a university and life experience, then he doesn’t possess the gifts.  If it is through the revelations of the Spirit, (“no one hath told me, save it be God”), then he possesses these gifts.

How the best gifts work

“No one hath told me, save it be God” is the standard to determine whether a best gift is operating or not.  Regardless of the gift, for it to be a legitimate operation it must be by faith as a principle of power, meaning that if you speak words of wisdom, you must have gotten those words from God and no one else; if you speak words of knowledge, you must not have learned it from anyone but God; if you heal the sick, the healing power must not have been learned at medical school but must have come solely from God; if you work miracles, it must be a work done by you (such as Jesus turning water into wine) and not mere happenstance; if you prophesy, it must not be an educated guess based upon others’ speculations or statistics, but must be a prophecy you received solely from God; if you speak in foreign or unknown tongues, it must not have been learned through study; etc.

Let’s say that I prophesy that during this month of September (2010) that there is going to be a massively destructive earthquake in California that will turn the financial markets upside down.  Let’s say that I am the only one saying this and that I am claiming that no one has told me this, save it be God.  Let’s say that others believe me and then they also go around saying that in September there will be a great quake in California, as if it were their own prophecy. Then, along comes some date in September and lo and behold, a moment magnitude 9.0 quake strikes, sinking California’s economy and plunging the nation’s finances into the worst mess ever seen.  In which of the individuals would the gift to prophesy have been manifested?  In me or in the others who parroted my words?

The answer is only in me. Since I received the prophecy from no one, save God, the gift was manifested in me only.  The others benefited and repeated the same message, as if it came to them directly, but they didn’t have the gift.  Just because you repeat a real prophecy doesn’t make you a prophet.

In the same manner, just because some obtain words of wisdom and knowledge (through study and schooling) or ability to heal people (through study and learning) or language learning ability (through study) doesn’t mean they are possessors of these best gifts.

Some personal experience

I have had some limited experience with the various gifts. In the vast majority of the manifestations, if not all of them, I have been left totally perplexed. To the rational mind, it all appears insane.

For example, I once received a prophecy whose fulfillment was a distinct possibility. Then conditions changed and it became totally impossible for its fulfillment. But, I was sure that as crazy as it sounded, it would come to pass. So I simply waited for the conditions to change. Eleven years later conditions miraculously did change and the prophecy was fulfilled every whit.

On another occasion, I was praying for guidance on what to do and a manifestation of the word of wisdom occurred (the only time that has ever happened to me). I was told what would be the wisest course of action to take but it was the absolute craziest thing I had ever heard. But I knew this was from the Spirit and so I did it. In hindsight, I see that it really was a word of wisdom.

On yet another occasion, I remember, I was at work when the Spirit came upon me and told me that a friend of mine was in great danger. Who gave me this knowledge? “No one, save God.” As soon as I was able to, I made the phone call to my friend and sure enough, the Spirit was right.

Each manifestation I’ve received over the years has caused my logical, rational mind to protest. Yet, I have continued to ignore it. In fact, as time goes on, the revelations, prophecies and manifestations seem to be getting even more illogical and bizarre, at least to my rational mind. So, based upon my own experience, I don’t believe that we should expect to rationally understand the manifestations that may come. After all, the natural man cannot comprehend the things of God. In other words, it doesn’t really matter what the manifestation is, the only really important thing is that the manifestation comes from God.

Gifts are unscientific

Recently I commented on a blog by posting a link to The Split-Brain Model of the Gospel post. The blog’s owner replied,

“I will allow the link, but please note that I do NOT accept the proposed model therein as either good science or good theology.

A significant problem with “split-brain” popularizations is one of going far beyond the data into the realm of wild speculation. Readers of such popularizations should beware.”

The reply is interesting because it beautifully shows the reaction of the logical, rational, intellectual left-brain-mind to something written from the right-brain-heart (my post). I especially enjoyed reading that the model was considered unscientific.

Gifts are intended to engender and develop faith

Taking the gift of the word of knowledge again as an example, we should understand that even this gift, which appears to be based upon science (after all, it is knowledge, right?), is primarily designed to develop faith, not impart knowledge. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Let me explain.

Knowledge communicated by the Spirit through this gift is fact, not fiction, nevertheless, it is information that may not be readily verifiable.

For example, when Lehi stated, “I know that Jerusalem is destroyed,” this was the gift of the word of knowledge working in him. It was a fact. Jerusalem was destroyed at that time. This could be verified with one’s own two eyes if one could visit Jerusalem and see it for oneself. However, the Nephites could not visit Jerusalem, so they could only take Lehi’s words on faith.

Ammon’s word to Lamoni also were verifiable fact, but Lamoni could not verify them at that moment, so they had to be taken on faith.

So, the word of knowledge is a gift that imparts knowledge of present and past things that cannot immediately be verified using secular means, to the end that the listeners can develop their faith. The knowledge imparted is not of eye-witness accounts, but is a revelation from the Spirit.  The only way to immediately verify it is by another witness of the Spirit.

To illustrate, let’s say a group of 200 people are congregated and a man stands up and says that there is an army of 50,000 men in Cuba making preparations to attack Florida. Who told him this? “No one,” says he, “save it be God.” The man is not an eye-witness. The knowledge is received through spiritual means. Can it be verified? Sure, if one could be transported to Cuba. But as one can’t, it must be taken on faith.

Now let’s say that 5 other people in the group stand up and say that the Spirit has just told them the same thing. Does this add to the credibility of the first man? Not really, as none of them are eye-witnesses. There is nothing scientific about this. Yet, this is how the gift of the word of knowledge functions. It is designed to engender faith, not mere knowledge. Is this good science? Nope. Is this good theology? Yep.

Now let’s say 6 other people stand up, having just come from Cuba and they state they are eye-witnesses and can corroborate that indeed, Cuba is getting ready to invade Florida. Is this good science? Perhaps, if the witnesses are reliable. Is this good theology? Not really.

Don’t avoid the best gifts

I’ll be the first to admit that the best gifts take some getting used to, like an acquired taste. But again, we shouldn’t have an expectation that the things of God are going to be like the things of men.

The current trend in the church is to mainstream our image. As a result, I largely see LDS avoiding the best gifts. But this is a dangerous mistake, one which will lead to widespread deception among the membership.

The gifts are to avoid deception

The Lord said, “that ye may not be deceived seek ye earnestly the best gifts” (D&C 46: 8). Any man or woman who possesses one of these gifts and actively uses them will be protected from the deceptions of the day, whether they be “doctrines of devils, or commandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils” (D&C 46: 7).

Nephi prophesied that the Gentile churches “which are built up, and not unto the Lord” will “deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men; behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work.”  (See 2 Nephi 28: 3, 5-6.)

Sound familiar? We are well on our way to fulfilling this prophecy, as LDS blindly follow their leaders, trusting that the leading brethren will not deceive them and relying upon their mortal guidance, without earnestly seeking and manifesting the gifts.

The gifts are no more

Among the majority membership, most of the best gifts are no longer manifested. The first two gifts are still among us: knowing Jesus Christ is the Son of God and believing that He is. But the rest of them are all but gone. At church, where the gifts are supposed to be manifested for the benefit of the congregation, no one prophesies, no one knows the diversities of operations, no one knows the differences of administration, no one teaches words of wisdom and words of knowledge, no one heals, no one is healed, no one works miracles, no one discerns spirits, no one speaks in tongues, no one interprets tongues, and none of the leadership discerns the gifts, for there are hardly any gifts manifesting which need discerning.

We have replaced a reliance upon the gifts with a reliance upon our leaders (the Brethren), setting up the fulfillment of Nephi’s prophecy. Instead of going to church and being spiritually uplifted and edified by participating in the manifestations of these gifts, we are lulled into a deep slumber and security. Our meetings are largely spiritually dead. The Holy Ghost has all but left the LDS Gentiles.

But two gifts left

The day that the last two remaining gifts are taken away from us will be the day when no one will join this church anymore. People currently join the church because the Holy Ghost manifests that the message is true. But the day fast approaches when the Holy Ghost will stop manifesting even that. When that occurs, the church (or churches, as it will be), will need to change their proselytizing methods. No more will it be, “ask God if these things are not true” but “come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins” and other wicked enticements to enter the church.

At that point, the wo pronounced by Moroni to the Gentiles will come to pass:

And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth—that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief. And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God. And wo unto them who shall do these things away and die, for they die in their sins, and they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God; and I speak it according to the words of Christ; and I lie not. (Moroni 10: 24-26)

The return of the gifts

The good news is that although at some point the gifts will be lost to the Gentiles, He will send more messengers who will be manifesting these same gifts. Unless you, yourself, as an individual, have developed one or more of these best gifts, and have come to recognize the manifestation of the gifts that you do not have—by being around people who have them (a congregation)—you will, like the majority member, be deceived into rejecting the new messengers sent from heaven. You cannot recognize bona fide best gifts of the Spirit unless you have experience in them. We must all then become familiar with these gifts, lest we perish at their re-appearance.

The future use of the best gifts

There is a great work to be done in the future, using these seeds of power, before the advent of the Lord. Everything mentioned in the scriptures that was done by them will be done again, with additional, new uses. Everything done before is but a precursor to what lies ahead.

To give an example, we are told that the Nephites had power to move mountains, that the brother of Jared moved mount Zerin (sounds similar to Zion, doesn’t it?), that the Savior told his disciples that if they had faith as a grain of mustard seed, they could move mountains.

Why all this mentioning of moving mountains by power faith? What is so important about it? Why do we need to learn this power? The obvious answer is that at some point in the future, prior to the Second Coming, mountains will need to be moved to fulfill the prophecies. Previously on this continent, the Nephites (and the brother of Jared) moved mountains. It may be that those mountains will have to be removed (or moved back) to their original locations at a future time.

There will not be the time nor the means to accomplish this using action faith, so we must learn to plant and engender and develop these seeds of the powers of godliness that the Lord’s plans may be fulfilled through us. If we do not develop these gifts, someone else will and it will be he or she who fulfills the prophecies, while we are cut off from the privileges we might have had.

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Apathy is not a problem, it’s a symptom and a solution


Almost all of my posts are directed to LDS who are not in leadership positions.  But with this one post, I want to talk about, and perhaps even to, the leaders.

Apathy is not a result of bad members,
it’s a result of uninspired leadership

Apathy in the church is a manifestation of a problem with the leadership, not the members.  Inspired leaders do not preside over apathic congregations.  Take Ammon and his brethren:

And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.  (Alma 23: 6)

The converts of Ammon (and his brethren) remained 100% active throughout the rest of their lives.  Apathy never became an issue.  Why?

Wherefore, I the Lord ask you this question—unto what were ye ordained?  To preach my gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth.  And then received ye spirits which ye could not understand, and received them to be of God; and in this are ye justified?  Behold ye shall answer this question yourselves; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto you; he that is weak among you hereafter shall be made strong.  Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?  And if it be by some other way it is not of God.  And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?  If it be some other way it is not of God.  Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth?  Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.  And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness.  (D&C 50: 13-23)

Ammon preached to the Lamanites by the Spirit of truth, which resulted in the edification of both parties.  In other words, he preached by the gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost and the (non-member) Lamanites who eventually converted received the word he preached also by the gifts (see D&C 46: 14) and powers of the Holy Ghost. They continued this same process and no one became apathetic.  But no one can receive the word by the Spirit of truth unless it is preached by the same Spirit.  Therefore, uninspired leadership alone is to blame for apathy in the church.

Ah, but surely the receivers carry some of the blame, too, right?

Wrong.  We are talking of members of the church, not non-members, so these are people who have already received the word and who are already willing to receive more of the word.  They believe in the word, they believe the word will be at church and they go to church to receive it.  They expect and believe their leaders will give them the word in the Spirit of truth, meaning that it will be dispersed “according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy,” by the gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost, “the power of God working miracles in them”, just as Ammon spread the word.  If, though, after they go and listen to their leaders, they remain apathetic, it is entirely their leaders’ fault.  The leaders are uninspired.  Period.

Without the manifestations of the Spirit, boredom sets in

Anyone who has experienced manifestations of the Spirit knows that any “religious” experience in which the Spirit is not manifesting itself is not really a religious experience.  It is just going through the motions.  When the Spirit is present, a religious gathering can last all day long and one still can’t get enough.  Without the Spirit, boredom quickly sets in and ten minutes becomes an eternity.  Many will say that it is up to the members to bring the Spirit to a meeting, in other words, that you get what you put into it.  This, though, is a cop-out to try to remove the responsibility of the leaders from ministering the gospel as the scriptures direct: in the Spirit of truth.

In other religious denominations, in which pastors are paid, the members do not simply suffer through boredom-filled meetings.  If the pastor does not bring the Spirit, they either fire him or the members go elsewhere, to a pastor that they feel does possess the Spirit. Not so with the LDS.  We do like the Puritans and consider it saintly to suffer through week after week of boredom.  (See The Title of Insufferable, Self-Righteous Prigs.)

Motivation is not the issue

The typical tactic used by uninspired leaders is to try to motivate the members to do their duty, as if motivation were the problem.  For example, not a single Sunday will go by without an elder’s quorum president striving to remind, encourage and motivate his quorum to do home teaching.  Success stories will be drawn from talks of GA’s and such, showing that home teaching is important and effective.  Week after week the elders’ ears will grow more and more weary with hearing the broken “home teaching” record play.  In one ward that I was a part of, one of the elders got so tired of hearing it that when the bishop sent one of his counselors to deliver a special bishopric message to our quorum of elders, and it turned out to be about home teaching, this elder stormed off in anger and didn’t return again to the quorum until he was finally coaxed gently back.

Member missionary work is another area that is treated like a motivation problem.  Members generally are excited about the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and do not need motivation.  They do, however, need inspired leadership.  Bringing a non-member friend to a boring meeting is not something everyone is willing to do.  If the leadership is inspired and the gathering of the saints are occasions in which the Spirit is poured out and manifestations are regular, members naturally spread the word.  This is true of all cultures and religions.  For example, in the Catholic religion and regions of the world, when someone has witnessed a virgin appear somewhere, word spreads like wildfire and everyone goes to see what Spiritual manifestation is occurring.  The miraculous is widely held as a sign of the divine working, or as the Savior puts it, “the works of the Father.”  If you remove the works of the Father from any church, even one that carries the name of Christ, you are left with a church of man.  So, “the power of God working miracles in” leaders is very important.

Uninspired leaders are not sanctified

The Lord has made it plain that all leaders are to be sanctified.  If they are not sanctified, they are not to be leaders, or “teachers” of the word.  (See Scriptural Discussion #5: Teachers—Must Be Sanctified.)  Sanctified leaders possess the spirit of prophecy and revelation, yet, how many leaders have actually prophesied in the church?  How many leaders have actually received a revelation, not just inspiration, but the type that can be written down?  Go and ask your leader if he or she has ever prophesied or ever received a revelation from the Lord and see for yourself.

Unsanctified leaders are more like managers than leaders.  No one wants to be “managed.”  Heck, no one wants to be led, either, unless the Holy Ghost is doing the leading, then everyone wants to be led.  Unless a leader is sanctified and thus possesses the guidance, gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost, those who follow his leadership are being led by just a man.

Apathy is a good thing

If you touch a hot iron, you feel pain.  That pain may seem like a bad thing, but it really is a good thing as it alerts you to the danger of the hot iron so that you can remove your hand and avoid further damage to your body.  All symptoms of illness, then, although they don’t feel good, are but signals to us that there is a problem.

Leadership will often see apathy not as a signal that there is a problem, but as the problem itself. The apathy itself is then addressed, not its cause.  The members will be preached to and made to feel guilty for not doing their duty.  They will be encouraged and motivated and every other trick in the book to get them to do something that they would naturally do anyway, without any external influence, if only they heard the word preached to them in the Spirit of truth.

An argument could be made that uninspired leadership should not be encouraged by acting on it.  Only inspired leadership should be acted upon.  After all, if the membership acted upon uninspired leadership and brought their friends to boring church meetings in droves, what would be the result?  However, such an argument is not necessary because man, by nature, negates uninspired leadership with the solution of apathy.  Apathy, therefore, is not a problem, but a solution to uninspired leadership. It is an apathetic membership which should inspire the leaders to sanctify themselves and obtain the powers, gifts and fruits of the Spirit with which to minister in righteousness among the Lord’s people.  Only the Spirit can cure apathy, or enliven a sleepy body.

How to encourage leadership to repent: inspired, intentional apathy

If your ward or stake leaders are uninspired and you notice that your ward or stake is full of apathetic members, the answer is not to fight them or call them to repentance.  The Lord will take care of His leaders and will chastise them in His own due time.  It is not the duty of the membership to steady the ark.  We members did not call them, although we did sustain them through our vote. And that (sustaining) is the key.

Sustain inspired leaders and withdraw support from uninspired leaders

The proper, scriptural way that the Lord has set up whereby membership can “modify the misbehavior of the leadership” is by withdrawing a sustaining vote.  Most people feel that once a vote is cast, it must remain cast until the end of the term of office.  The election of California Governor Schwarzenegger should have put an end to that line of thinking.  Just as the Lord giveth and taketh away, so the membership has the power to sustain and withdraw support.

I might suggest a couple of important things to keep in mind when withdrawing support from an uninspired leader.  First, this is not a way to punish him, but to encourage him to sanctify himself so that he may again have your support.  And second, keep firmly in mind the difference between what are the commandments of God and the counsels or petitions of an uninspired man.  As long as you continue to keep the commandments of God, you will remain on safe ground.

For example, having entered baptism and made a covenant with God, we are to partake of the sacrament each week.  So, not attending a ward that has an uninspired bishop is not an option.  However, just attending the portion in which the sacrament is passed, partaking and then skipping the rest of the meeting, might be.  On my mission, many baptized members did just that, as they had covenanted to partake of the sacrament each week, not listen to every talk given in that meeting.

During sustaining votes, especial care might be taken as to who you vote for, or even if you vote at all.  (See Is our procedure for sustaining a rubberstamp?)  Just as there are many ways to sustain a leader, there are probably as many ways to withhold support.

Inspired apathy is a solution

Inspired apathy can be a great tool in the hands of those who wield it with a proper understanding of its effect on leadership.  Although apathy is often seen as a thing to be avoided, a bad thing, it can be a means of generating humble leaders who are guided by the Holy Ghost and not just by their egos.

Next Common Consent article: The voice of the people signifies a majority

Previous Common Consent article: Anarchy in action: congregational nullification

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The faith of God, part ten: The relationship of faith to agency (power)


Continued from part nine.

Faith is not power

In part two, I erroneously wrote “faith is power” in one of the sub-headings. After catching the error, I decided to leave it up as a teaching point.

Many people equate faith with power, just as they equate faith with hope. Part two explained that faith is not hope and that hope comes after one has faith. The present article (part ten) seeks to likewise explain that faith is not power and that power comes after one has faith.

Two types of power

Free agency is one of the two types of power. Agency is the ability to act and not to be acted upon. (See 2 Nephi 2: 26.)

The other type is the ability to act upon something/someone against its/his/her will. There is no scriptural name (that I know of) for this kind of power, but we use descriptive words such as coercion, compulsion, force, enslavement, control, domination, manipulation, captivation, enchainment, etc., to describe its exercise. I suppose it can be termed “anti-agency” as it is diametrically opposed to an individual’s agency, but I will refer to it as coercion.

Coercion and agency both accomplish work or get things done, but free agency is only obtained through faith, whereas coercion is experienced in the absence of faith or with the permission of the free agent.

Another purpose of this article

When I wrote The role of free agency in political systems, I talked about the link between faith and agency (power) in two small paragraphs, which I hope to expound upon in the present article:

The precursor to agency is faith, another gift of God. It is faith that allows agency to be possessed, even faith centered in God. The more faith we possess, the more agency is granted, the less faith possessed, the less agency. If we lose all faith, we lose all agency and thus become like Satan, who is devoid of both faith and agency. If we gain all faith, we gain all agency, and thus become entirely like God.

Faith and agency are heavenly principles and the entire kingdom of God operates on them. This is why all things are done (the action or power to do being agency) according to the faith of men and why God works (the action or power to work being agency) according to the faith of the children of men. (The role of free agency in political systems)

However, before talking of faith, I must expound upon agency.

Free agency alone is the power of God

One of the common misconceptions among LDS is that God, our heavenly Father, uses the principle of coercion to accomplish certain things, such as punishing the wicked. The truth of the matter is that he doesn’t. Coercion is the power under which Satan operates. Free agency alone is the type of power that God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost use.

There are scriptures (see D&C 19: 1-20 and especially verse 7) that conjure up visions of God forcing men to do certain things that they don’t want to do, but these scriptures are written “more express to work upon the hearts of the children of men.” For example:

Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; and he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. (Moses 4: 3-4)

LDS are often quick to point out that Jesus (the Father’s Only Begotten) was the champion of free agency, whereas the devil wanted to destroy it and force us to obey his will, but they don’t bat an eye when they read the above scripture and think that Jesus used the satanic principle of force to cast Lucifer down out of heaven. As a people, we have conditioned ourselves to believe that coercion is okay if God does it, but evil when used by Satan. In other words, that force is merely a tool, it is neither good nor evil, but can be used for good in the hands of God and for evil in the hands of Satan. They will often quote the following scripture with emphasis on the words in bold:

That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man. (D&C 121: 37)

Had the verse merely said, “in any degree” there would have been no further discussion, but as the modifier “of unrighteousness” was added, many LDS think that this means that when it comes “to exercising control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men,” there are both righteousness and unrighteousness degrees. Therefore, by their interpretation of this scripture in this way, there is a way to righteously exercise dominion, compulsion and control upon men.

In this line of thinking, if God or his servants are doing it, it is righteous. If Satan or his servants are doing it, it is unrighteous. The rules of English grammar do, in fact, allow this interpretation and as long as you eliminate the following verse in the same section, it might make sense:

The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever. (D&C 121: 46)

However, when the two verses are taken together, they paint a proper (and different) picture, namely that the righteous dominion of God is based upon free agency, not coercion, whereas unrighteous dominion is based upon control or compulsion. Leaving mortal humans out of the equation, who routinely compel their fellows and/or allow freedom of choice by turns, and addressing only God himself, the Father’s everlasting dominion flows unto him without any compulsory means. In fact, the very reason why the scepter of God is righteous is because no one is compelled to obey him. All are given free agency. So, as it applies to God, there is no such thing as righteous compulsion. That would be a contradiction in terms.

God uses free agents

When Nephi was commanded to slay Laban, the Spirit said to him, “The Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes.” Yet, who slew Laban, Nephi or the Lord? Nephi did. And also the Lord, vicariously, through Nephi, one of His free agents. Did Nephi have to slay Laban? Was he forced to do it? Of course not. The Lord gave Nephi the law written in D&C 98: 23-32, which has a spare clause: “and then if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for thy righteousness; and also thy children and thy children’s children unto the third and fourth generation” (verse 30). Nephi chose to use his free agency to justifiably slay Laban, but he could have equally spared him.

The power of Jesus Christ is free agency

In Moses 4: 3-4, quoted above, when the Lord says, “by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down,” the power being referred to is free agency. Jesus used free agency to “cast Lucifer down.” He did not use coercion or force. Jesus, like the Father, both has free agency and also works through free agents.

When LDS hear the words “cast down” they envision a forceful banishment, using coercion. But D&C 121: 37, quoted above, states that exercising compulsion causes “the heavens ” to “withdraw themselves.” It doesn’t state that it causes the individual to be banished from the heavens. Yet, the heavens moving or changing location, from where you are to a location above and beyond your reach, has the same result as if you were cast down or fallen from heaven. Again, these scriptures are written more express.

All of the saints and prophets of God are free agents of Jesus Christ. They voluntarily obey his will. As does all the spirit and physical matter that make up the created universe. It is through free agency and free agents alone, that Jesus accomplishes his work.

The power of the Holy Ghost is free agency

The power of the Holy Ghost, likewise, is free agency. The Holy Ghost forces no one to convert to the Lord. The Holy Ghost forces no one to believe. Those who desire to believe on the word of God invite the Holy Ghost to come and deposit the gift of belief. Those who believe on the word of God invite the Holy Ghost to come and deposit the gift of faith. Those who exercise that gift of faith invite the Holy Ghost to come and deposit other gifts and powers, such as sanctification, purification, justification, wisdom, knowledge, visions, prophecies and the like. Nothing is ever forced. Everything is done according to the desires of the children of men, according to their beliefs, according to their faith, they being free agents capable of choosing to invite the Spirit in. When faith is manifest, the Spirit brings additional manifestations of its power, meaning that the individual receives greater free agency. Remember, the scriptural definition of free agency is the ability to act and not to be acted upon, therefore, for example, a person with the gift of tongues has an additional ability to act (greater free agency) than one who doesn’t possess that gift. The same can be said of all other gifts, powers, fruits and signs of the Holy Ghost. They are all abilities to act and not to be acted upon in certain ways, meaning, they are all manifestations of greater free agency (the power of God) bestowed upon the individual.

Faith determines agency

Again, keep in mind that agency is the ability to act and not be acted upon. The greater your agency, the more ability you have to act and also the less you can be acted upon by others. It is the amount of faith you possess that determines how much agency you possess. If one has sufficiently great faith, nothing can act on you without your say so. The following scriptural examples demonstrate this principle.

Ammon could not be acted upon—due to faith

Now Ammon seeing the Spirit of the Lord poured out according to his prayers upon the Lamanites, his brethren, who had been the cause of so much mourning among the Nephites, or among all the people of God because of their iniquities and their traditions, he fell upon his knees, and began to pour out his soul in prayer and thanksgiving to God for what he had done for his brethren; and he was also overpowered with joy; and thus they all three had sunk to the earth. Now, one of them, whose brother had been slain with the sword of Ammon, being exceedingly angry with Ammon, drew his sword and went forth that he might let it fall upon Ammon, to slay him; and as he lifted the sword to smite him, behold, he fell dead. Now we see that Ammon could not be slain, for the Lord had said unto Mosiah, his father: I will spare him, and it shall be unto him according to thy faith—therefore, Mosiah trusted him unto the Lord. And it came to pass that when the multitude beheld that the man had fallen dead, who lifted the sword to slay Ammon, fear came upon them all, and they durst not put forth their hands to touch him or any of those who had fallen; and they began to marvel again among themselves what could be the cause of this great power [which is agency], or what all these things could mean. (Alma 19: 14, 22-24)

Alma and Amulek could not be acted upon—due to faith

When the saints were being burned by fire in front of them, Amulek turned to Alma and said something remarkable:

And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God [which is free agency] which is in us, and save them from the flames. (Alma 14: 10)

Amulek’s words indicate that he knew he and Alma had power to act (agency) to save the saints. Alma’s words also indicate that he knew he had such power:

But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; (Alma 14: 11)

In addition to ability to act, Alma and Amulek also had the ability not to be acted upon. After allowing the Amalekites to afflict them for many days, they finally decided to use their agency and stop their persecutors from acting upon them.

And it came to pass after they had thus suffered for many days, (and it was on the twelfth day, in the tenth month, in the tenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi) that the chief judge over the land of Ammonihah and many of their teachers and their lawyers went in unto the prison where Alma and Amulek were bound with cords. And the chief judge stood before them, and smote them again, and said unto them: If ye have the power of God [which is free agency] deliver yourselves from these bands, and then we will believe that the Lord will destroy this people according to your words. And it came to pass that they all went forth and smote them, saying the same words, even until the last; and when the last had spoken unto them the power of God [which is free agency] was upon Alma and Amulek, and they rose and stood upon their feet. Alma cried, saying: How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance. And they broke the cords with which they were bound; and when the people saw this, they began to flee, for the fear of destruction had come upon them. And Alma and Amulek came forth out of the prison, and they were not hurt; for the Lord had granted unto them power [which is free agency], according to their faith which was in Christ. (Alma 14: 23-26, 28 )

You know the rest of the story. The chief judge, teachers and lawyers all thought their power of coercion (forcibly imprisoning Alma and Amulek and torturing them) was greater than the power of agency. It wasn’t. Agency is a greater power than coercion, but agency only exists where there is faith.

Abinadi could not be acted upon—due to faith

And now when the king had heard these words, he said unto his priests: Away with this fellow, and slay him; for what have we to do with him, for he is mad. And they stood forth and attempted to lay their hands on him; but he withstood them, and said unto them: Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell; therefore, God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time. But I must fulfil the commandments wherewith God has commanded me; and because I have told you the truth ye are angry with me. And again, because I have spoken the word of God ye have judged me that I am mad. Now it came to pass after Abinadi had spoken these words that the people of king Noah durst not lay their hands on him, for the Spirit of the Lord was upon him; and his face shone with exceeding luster, even as Moses’ did while in the mount of Sinai, while speaking with the Lord. And he spake with power [which is free agency] and authority from God; and he continued his words, saying: Ye see that ye have not power to slay me, therefore I finish my message. Yea, and I perceive that it cuts you to your hearts because I tell you the truth concerning your iniquities. Yea, and my words fill you with wonder and amazement, and with anger. But I finish my message; and then it matters not whither I go, if it so be that I am saved. (Mosiah 13: 1-9)

Although the text doesn’t specifically say that Abinadi obtained the Spirit of the Lord through faith, other scriptures teach this principle. (For example, see D&C 42: 14.) Despite having the power to resist these men, Abinadi later allowed them to slay him.

Now Abinadi said unto him: I say unto you, I will not recall the words which I have spoken unto you concerning this people, for they are true; and that ye may know of their surety I have suffered myself that I have fallen into your hands. Yea, and I will suffer even until death, and I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you. And if ye slay me ye will shed innocent blood, and this shall also stand as a testimony against you at the last day. (Mosiah 17: 9-10)

Jesus could not be acted upon—due to faith

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. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power [which is free agency] to lay it down, and I have power [which is free agency] to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (John 10: 14-17)

All, therefore, that happened to Jesus was allowed by him to happen, as he had a fullness of free agency and thus none could act upon him unless he allowed it.

Enoch and Melchizedek could not be acted upon—due to faith

Now Melchizedek was a man of faith, who wrought righteousness; and when a child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire. And thus, having been approved of God, he was ordained an high priest after the order of the covenant which God made with Enoch, it being after the order of the Son of God; which order came, not by man, nor the will of man; neither by father nor mother; neither by beginning of days nor end of years; but of God; and it was delivered unto men by the calling of his own voice, according to his own will, unto as many as believed on his name. For God having sworn unto Enoch and unto his seed with an oath by himself; that every one being ordained after this order and calling should have power [which is free agency], by faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up waters, to turn them out of their course; to put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers; and this by the will of the Son of God which was from before the foundation of the world. And men having this faith, coming up unto this order of God, were translated and taken up into heaven. (JST Genesis 14: 26-32)

Translation is the ultimate manifestation that great power not to be acted upon (free agency) has been bestowed, due to one’s faith, as the coercion of death itself is broken. Not every prophet or saint that reaches that level, though, is translated. Some, like Abinadi, choose to allow themselves to be killed, to seal up their testimony in the blood of the innocent.

The Three Nephites could not be acted upon—due to faith

Others choose translation. No matter how much coercion the wicked used against the Three Nephite disciples of Christ, it had no effect on their agency, because of their faith.

Therefore they did exercise power [coercion] and authority over the disciples of Jesus who did tarry with them, and they did cast them into prison; but by the power of the word of God, which was in them, the prisons were rent in twain, and they went forth doing mighty miracles among them. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles, the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word. And they did cast them into furnaces of fire, and they came forth receiving no harm. And they also cast them into dens of wild beasts, and they did play with the wild beasts even as a child with a lamb; and they did come forth from among them, receiving no harm. (4 Nephi 1: 30-33)

And they were cast into prison by them who did not belong to the church. And the prisons could not hold them, for they were rent in twain. And they were cast down into the earth; but they did smite the earth with the word of God, insomuch that by his power they were delivered out of the depths of the earth; and therefore they could not dig pits sufficient to hold them. And thrice they were cast into a furnace and received no harm. And twice were they cast into a den of wild beasts; and behold they did play with the beasts as a child with a suckling lamb, and received no harm. (3 Nephi 28: 19-22)

Agency is the supreme power, which trumps or frees one from the power of all other things, including the power of death, if one’s faith is sufficient. This is one of the reasons why it is called free agency, because it gives you freedom or liberates you from the power of coercion. It gives you the power to choose life (translation and exaltation) or death (physical and spiritual death.) Those who obtain enough faith, are given by God the agency to overcome all things, including death, meaning that nothing can act upon them without their say so.

And now behold, as I spake concerning those whom the Lord hath chosen, yea, even three who were caught up into the heavens, that I knew not whether they were cleansed from mortality to immortality—but behold, since I wrote, I have inquired of the Lord, and he hath made it manifest unto me that there must needs be a change wrought upon their bodies, or else it needs be that they must taste of death; therefore, that they might not taste of death there was a change wrought upon their bodies, that they might not suffer pain nor sorrow save it were for the sins of the world. Now this change was not equal to that which shall take place at the last day; but there was a change wrought upon them, insomuch that Satan could have no power over them, that he could not tempt them; and they were sanctified in the flesh, that they were holy, and that the powers of the earth could not hold them. (3 Nephi 28: 36-39)

How this relates to God’s faith

The scriptures teach that agency alone is the power of God; that coercion is the power of the devil; that agency is greater or more powerful than coercion; that agency is granted only when faith is present; that agency and coercion cannot co-manifest in the same circumstance, either coercion exercises its power to the reduction of agency (or with the permission of the free agent who chooses not to exercise his agency), or agency exercises its power to the elimination or reduction of coercion; that agency is linked to faith; that faith precedes agency; that agency comes of faith; that the amount of agency possessed is determined by the amount of faith possessed; and that if one loses faith, agency is also lost (see Matthew 14: 25-31 for Peter’s faltering faith.)

As we know that God is omnipotent (all-powerful), meaning that he has a fullness of agency, he must have gotten his agency through the only mechanism given in the scriptures for obtaining it: faith. And as God remains almighty, he must not have lost one iota of his faith, for to do so, according to the scriptures, would remove a portion of his agency. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude, based upon these scriptural evidences and teachings of the relationship of faith to agency, that God does, indeed, possess faith.

Next Faith of God article: The faith of God, part eleven: Why knowledge doesn’t save

Previous Faith of God article: The faith of God, part nine: the ingredients of faith

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Scriptural Discussion #7: Afflictions—Can Be Swallowed Up In Joy Of Christ


AFFLICTIONS—CAN BE SWALLOWED UP IN JOY OF CHRIST

Alma said, “O Lord God, how long wilt thou suffer that such wickedness and infidelity shall be among this people? O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities. For I am infirm, and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul. O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people. O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me—yea, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and also Amulek and Zeezrom and also my two sons—yea, even all these wilt thou comfort, O Lord. Yea, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ. Wilt thou grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them because of the iniquities of this people.” (Alma 31: 30-33)

Mormon said, “And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith.” (Alma 31: 38 )

Alma said, “And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen.” (Alma 33: 23)

Discuss.

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