CAIN & ABEL – DIE-IT & DIET

Cain was not Abel. His focus on this feeling of separateness induced by fore-bitten fruit caused the lousy sensation of jeal–lousy against and blocked any gell-ing with his brother. Cain did not play well with others. And this continued to the point of feeling himself consumed by this thought of not being Abel, thinking himself Un-Abel . Like all of us, C-a-I-n asked the question, “Can-I?” If he would have put the question to God, he would have had his doubt reversed from “Can-I?” to “I-Can!” Instead of asking God, Cain answered that question with his own (T)houghts determining in a negative belief wherein he said to himself, “I Can’T” Our forefather’s uncertainty in his own spiritual abilities caused him to give Forbidden Fruits of the Field (F.F.F. or 666) as an offering to the Lord. When it was rejected, it was because we can not fool ourselves by sacrificing something other than our sinful selves through humility and faith. The story of Abel’s sacrifice not only symbolically speaks of the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God but literally relates how he, himself was sacrificed. In a very real way, Abel was the first Christ. Unfortunately, Self Sacrifice is not well understood and much less the Savior(Him)Self. Mormon and Muslim scripture show us how Abraham broke with a horrible family tradition of fathers sacrificing their sons. The true man of integrity does not rely on pseudo-sacrifice and suppose that the practice will save his soul.

While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

God favors neither fruit nor flesh but rather He recognizes only the First-Fruits of the First-Born not the First-Killed. Cain was the firstborn but like Esau, he did not correctly understand his birthright. And as we will see, he too sold it for a “mess of pottage”. Genesis says that Abel became a shepherd of a flock, but Cain cultivated the land. The record does not say it was an orchard or vineyard but a field from whence Cain, “presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord” and a field to which Cain beckoned his brother with the plan to slay him. Fields which are naturally occurring do not yield anything that man’s stomach can handle without much prior processing. But sheep’s stomachs are made to process the grasses and the meat of grass-fed sheep and other ruminants like bison, venison and goats provided early man with much strength and nutrients. Even if a field is cleared with much toil and “sweat of the brow” to make way for strictly wheat or barely to be grown, grains are typically poisonous to humans until we grind them into powder and cook almost any remaining nutrients out of them.

Mineral deficiencies and birth defects are the legacy of grain based diets. You will remember, ‘pastel’ comes from an Italian word that literally means “material reduced to a paste” and is a diminutive form of the word ‘pasta’. Pasta is made from grains reduced to a paste. This is the same stuff used to put piñatas together. It tastes like crap and production is costly. The agricultural revolution brought us slave food, and since we are what we eat, it inevitably brought us to become slaves. Slaves are miserable and misery seeks company. But healthier humans do not become slaves of their own volition. The situation soon deteriorated All-Over (Oliver) the globe, from healthy hunter-gatherers to Twisted scenes wherein the human race is reduced to orphans begging oppressors, “Please Sir. Can-I have some more?” Seeds are nature’s microchips the original nano-technology. They will hold whatsoever information as is input and execute the same when planted. Ingestion of so many grains makes one more easily engrained by whatever spell the ruling class casts over the seeds that are then cast over the earth for a continued sowing and reaping of their cycle of death. Live by the sickle, die by the sickle. Eating sticky gruel or pottage everyday will produce a sickly populace with a pasty, pale complexion. And the robust Afrikan race may seem to have adjusted physically to a slave diet of cruel gruel. But on the inside, their spirits reject what they have been fed, urging their physical bodies to go against the grain. The effects are felt and it is no coincidence that Afrikan Americans are at highest risk for the blood disease called Sickle Cell Anemia. The mutation that causes all SCDs (Sickle Cell Diseases) originated in Cameroon, Senegal, Benin and other West African areas. This mutation causes haemoglobin to collapse in on itself occasionally. When enough haemoglobin collapses in on itself the red blood cells loose their natural holy torus shape and become sickle-shaped.

Silly Satan, Paste is for the Outside of the Body, Not the Inside of the Body.

Imagine the envy boiling the blood inside Cain as he sees his able-bodied brother, blessed with a life-energy that flowed to him almost effortlessly, without compulsory means (D&C 121:46). Perhaps Cain had tried his hand at sheep herding and found that the animals did not readily obey him as they did his sibling. Watching Abel, the Good Shepherd, Cain may have wondered in awe at his almost magical ability to be trusted and obeyed by the beasts. Protecting one’s flock and self from predators can drive a man crazy but even more maddening to Cain, would have been witnessing how Abel made it look so easy. How had he regained such oneness with nature in this post Eden existence? Eons later Arab slave drivers and white anthropologists would encounter the Masai tribe of North Africa with similar fascination and bewilderment.

Chiefly herders of cattle and goats, the Masai have lived primarily on dairy products, including milk and blood, with some meat, and with a varying percentage of fruit and vegetable foods. Like their progenitor, Abel, they continue blood sacrifice. They have found favor with the Lord through occasional blood letting which is acceptable in the Lord’s sight and does not require the same kind of slaughter called for under the Law of Moses. Anthropologists observe that in every instance these cattle people dominate the surrounding tribes who, in contrast to the Masai, are all agrarian. The Masai are characterized by superb physical development, great bravery and a mental acumen that makes it possible for them to dominate because of their superior intelligence. Dr. Weston Price writes:

“The Masai are tall and strong. In driving over the veldt we frequently saw one or two men or boys guarding an entire herd with only their spears. Their skill in killing a lion with a spear is one of the most superb of human achievements.”

The ‘Abel’ Bodied Massai

The Bible describes Cain as becoming “furious and downcast” that the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but did not for Cain and his offering. The Lord asks Cain why he is so upset and tells him: “If you do right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it.” The Septuagint version has an alternate translation which provides some insight. Here the Lord is recorded as saying: “Hast thou not sinned if thou hast brought it rightly, but not rightly divided it? Be still, to thee shall be his submission, and thou mayest rule over him.” It sounds as if God is explaining that He is not so much disapproving of Cain’s chosen livelihood but of the way he has gone about it. Is it possible that the Lord is giving some sound advice on how to balance his diet or prepare his meals in a healthier manner? Could the words “rightly divided” be referring to proper preparation or even to sharing his harvest with others according to the ways of a just and loving steward rather than insisting on  land ownership and later ownership of people which Cain’s agricultural revolution spawned? The Lord admonishes the vexed Cain to, “Be still.” “Calm yourself. You will get the hang of it if you only relax and put your trust in Me,” seems to be God’s message to Cain. Cain is told that his external environment will submit to him and he will rule it. But for this to happen he must muster up inner courage and master himself. Sadly, Cain does not heed the voice of the Lord. He allows himself to be overcome with resentment. Resentment turns to rage and he commits fratricide. An unspeakable evil was unleashed on the planet and the Curse of Cain has since spread and affected many the world over.

Additional text, not had in the Bible, is found in The Pearl of Great Price, Moses 5:31

“And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, and he gloried in his wickedness.”

Satan Crowns Cain

LDS theologians and Cain himself might very well say that he did in fact master something – the Devil himself. But all that happened here was that his failure to master the devil in his self resulted in an open portal through which evil could work and would flow for millennia to come. For this reason the title ‘Master Mahan’ was passed from Cain to his son Lamech and purity of the bloodline has been of utmost importance within the secret combinations ever since. The passing gene-rations must not feel or think themselves free to pursue their own lives in liberty and in this way they are not masters at all but puppets. To the extent that the dark half of our nature comes to rule our spirit, it causes our countenance to fall and our surroundings follow suit. This is why Cain could only gain anything through lies and the exercise of force, whilst Abel, who walked in holiness before the Lord, had no need of secrets or manipulation. This is the story of two men inhabiting the same physical dimension but operating from very different spiritual dimensions. One, a keeper of cattle, the other a tiller of the field – one was just that much closer to his hunter gatherer roots and the other, following new trends of faithlessness.

The Cry of the Little Peoples goes up to God in vain,
For the world is given over to the cruel sons of Cain;

From Richard Le Gallienne’s poem: Cry Of The Little Peoples

The Concept of Race, in the Gospel

I expect to hear much more about the priesthood ban the LDS church imposed on black Africans as the US presidential election gets closer.  And I’d expect LDS blogs to begin either defending the ban, attempting to explain it away, or talking about how the church needs to formally apologize for being racist and move on — [This recent one from Wheat & Tares comes to mind]

Brand-nu’s comments on the It maketh no matter to me, God accepteth no [one]’s person post got me to write out my view of human race — especially as it pertains to the racist doctrines of Cain’s mark and Canaan’s curse being the black skin of Africans and their enslavement by Europeans.

The origins of associating Cain’s mark with having black skin – and then tying that together with Canaan’s curse of slavery – and then rolling it all in with the priesthood restriction pertaining to Pharaoh [through Ham] in the book of Abraham — all originate with Victorian-era, Western European/American attempts to justify the enslavement of Africans.

No group ever persecutes, enslaves, tortures, or murders another group without first justifying their actions by placing the subjugated group outside the moral community of all human-beings [by one means or another].

Cain’s mark:

The entire point of the YHVH-author’s writings in Genesis was to explain how the world at the present [the time at which he was writing] came to be that way.  Why does man labor to till the earth, why does woman labor to birth children, why do some people organize as separate family-units and wear clothing – while others organize as sexually-open tribes and wear little clothing, why do some people raise crops and flocks – while others roam the earth and hunt nomadically, why do humans speak different languages? – etc.

The story of Cain’s mark is that author’s attempt to explain the existence of the nomadic Sleb tribes of Arabia, which were contemporaries with the people who wrote the biblical text.  These people were qayin [the word translated as “Cain”], which means “workers in metal”.

Their own cultural traditions explain that they were nomadic because, “the ground does not yield fruit to them.”  Also, as a tribal group, they are known to take seven-fold revenge on a person who kills one of their own fellow-tribesmen.  In other words, they start to sound a lot like:

and Cain went into the field
and Cain talked with Abel
his brother
and it came to pass
that while they were in the field
Cain rose up against Abel
his brother
and slew him
and Cain gloried in that which he had done
saying

I am free
surely the flocks of my brother
falleth into my hands

and YHVH said unto Cain

where is Abel
thy brother?

And he said

I know not
am I my brother’s keeper?

and YHVH said

what hast thou done?
the voice of thy brother’s blood
cries unto me from the ground
and now thou shalt be cursed from the earth
which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood
from thy hand
when thou tillest the ground
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength
a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth

and Cain said unto YHVH

satan tempted me because of my brother’s flocks
and I was wroth also
for his offering thou didst accept
and not mine

my punishment is greater than I can bear
behold
thou hast driven me out this day
from the face of YHVH
and from thy face shall I be hid
and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth
and it shall come to pass
that he that findeth me will slay me
because of mine iniquities
for these things are not hid from YHVH

and I
YHVH
said unto him

whosoever slayeth thee
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold

and I
YHVH
set a mark upon Cain
lest any finding him should kill him

and Cain was shut out from the presence of YHVH
and with his wife
and many of his brethren dwelt in the land of nod
on the east of eden

Note there is no mention of priesthood – only that a mark and a different lifestyle would characterize Cain’s family from Seth’s family.

Ham’s curse:

To get from Cain’s mark to banning priesthood – we have to go through Ham:

and Noah began to be a husbandman
and he planted a vineyard
and he drank of the wine
and was drunken
and he was uncovered within his tent

and Ham
the father of Canaan
saw the nakedness of his father
and told his two brothers outside
and Shem and Japheth took a garment
and laid it upon both their shoulders
and went backward
and covered the nakedness of their father
and their faces were backward
and they saw not their father’s nakedness

and Noah awoke from his wine
and knew what his younger son had done unto him
and he said

cursed be Canaan
a servant of servants shall he be
unto his brothers

and he said

blessed be YHVH
god of Shem
and Canaan shall be his servant
god shall enlarge Japheth
and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem
and Canaan shall be his servant

Still no mention of priesthood restriction or black skin.  In fact, if this curse means anything about the rights of the priesthood [given the servant/minister role of priests], there’s a case to be made that Canaan was being given the priesthood [being a servant of servants, a servant to his brothers] — though I think it’s more likely that the priesthood isn’t even part of this story at all.

There’s nothing about the rights of the priesthood until we get to Enoch’s prophecies:

and again YHVH said unto me

look

and I looked towards the north
and I beheld the people of Canaan
which dwelt in tents
and YHVH said unto me

prophesy

and I prophesied
saying

behold the people of Canaan
which are numerous
shall go forth in battle
array against the people of Shem
and shall slay them that they shall utterly be destroyed
and the people of Canaan shall divide themselves in the land
and the land shall be barren and unfruitful
and none other people shall dwell there
but the people of Canaan
for behold
YHVH shall curse the land with much heat
and the barrenness thereof shall go forth forever
and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan
that they were despised among all people

and it came to pass
that YHVH said unto me

look

and I looked
and I beheld the land of Sharon and of Enoch and of Omner and of Heni and of Shem and of Haner and of Hanannihah
and all the inhabitants thereof
and YHVH said unto me

go to this people
and say unto them

repent

lest I come out
and smite them with a curse
and they die

and the record of Abraham:

now this king of egypt
was a descendant from the loins of Ham
and was a partaker of the blood of the Canaanites by birth
from this descent sprang all the Egyptians
and thus the blood of the Canaanites was preserved in the land

the land of egypt being first discovered by a woman
who was the daughter of Ham
and the daughter of Egyptus
which in the Chaldean language signifies egypt
which signifies that which is forbidden
when this woman discovered the land
it was under water
who afterward settled her sons in it
and thus
from Ham
sprang that race
which preserved the curse in the land

now the first government of egypt was established by Pharaoh
the eldest son of Egyptus
the daughter of Ham
and it was after the manner of the government of Ham
which was patriarchal

Pharaoh
being a righteous man
established his kingdom
and judged his people wisely and justly all his days
seeking earnestly to imitate that order
established by the fathers in the first generations
in the days of the first patriarchal reign
even in the reign of Adam
and also of Noah
his father
who blessed him with the blessings of the earth
and with the blessings of wisdom
but cursed him as pertaining to the priesthood

now
Pharaoh
being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of priesthood
notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah
through Ham
therefore my father was led away by their idolatry

The assumption is that Noah’s curse of Canaan is the curse pertaining to the priesthood mentioned in Abraham’s record.

However, that blessing/cursing was given to Pharaoh:

Pharaoh
being a righteous man
[…]
and also of Noah
his father
who blessed him with the blessings of the earth
and with the blessings of wisdom
but cursed him as pertaining to the priesthood
now
Pharaoh
being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of priesthood […]

and we do not have any scriptural record for what Noah said to Pharaoh.

Cain/Ham/Canaan have nothing to do with black Africans:

In summation:

• Cain’s mark mentions nothing about rights of the priesthood or about having black skin [because his descendants were Arabians]
• Ham/Canaan’s curse [although mentioning the rights of the priesthood] is said to pertain to Egyptians [who aren’t black, but are Arabians]

Any appeal to Cain’s mark or to Ham’s curse is completely irrelevant with respect to black Africans and the priesthood because neither of them were black Africans.  Cain and Ham would be the ancestors of Arabian people.  Even though Egypt is technically in the continent of Africa [geographically-speaking] – Egyptians are Arabs [cultural/genetically-speaking].

Furthermore, even if it were possible to assert that the historical character named Cain [and/or Ham], is the forbearer of black Africans – to associate that with a priesthood-ban on them [by lineage], one would then have to demonstrate something that would be equally impossible to assert – i.e., that their lineage is also found in no other human-being on Earth.

You see, every generation back we go in time, the number of forebearers a person has increases at an exponential rate [2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 g-grandparents, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and so on].  So as a bit of mental exercise – let’s wind the clock back to 1400 AD [~30 generations].  At this point, the number of potential ancestors you would have (2³⁰) is two-times what the world population was at that same time.

When we re-wind the clock back to biblical time-periods [588, 1700, 2300, or 4000 BC] and ponder not only the exponential number of forebearers one will potentially have – but also how they have been scattered across the globe by things like the flood of Noah, the tower of Babel, the scattering of the 10 tribes of Israel, war, famine, persecution, etc. – it gets pretty silly to start talking about the odds that each-and-every African person alive today does not have even one of the “righteous” in their family tree and that each-and-every European person alive today does not have even one of the “cursed” in theirs?.

Racial distinctions in the gospel:

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

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

[god] hath made of one blood
all nations of men

and

there is neither jew
nor greek

approach to associating a state of righteousness or a cursed state to any of the races of human-kind that are around today.  Because if we allow ourselves to be guided by a race-based rendering of something like:

the order of this priesthood was confirmed
to be handed down from father to son
and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed
to whom the promises were made

the sword of judgment cuts both ways.  Personally, as a literal descendent of Scottish/Irish forebearers, who [as far as our scriptures tell us] received none of the “original promises” themselves – I’ll end-up cutting myself out too.

But to attempt to include myself as a European by saying something like the scattering of the lost 10 tribes would be sufficient to “count me in” to the blessed lineage — would also likely allow for the inclusion of a whole host of other races and nationalities that someone might be trying to separate themselves from in the first place.

[God] hath made of one blood all nations of men:

All races were [at one point] a single race — the family of Adam and Eve.  The division into separate races has been a story of adaptation to unique human conditions, meaning all that we currently call “race” is a form of the miraculous human ability to adapt to the environmental conditions they find themselves in.

As a part of the restoration of all things — the gospel will be taken to every tribe, nations, kindred, tongue, etc. on the earth.

for behold
I say unto you
that Zion shall flourish
and the glory of YHVH shall be upon her
and she shall be an ensign unto the people
and there shall come unto her
out of every nation under heaven

As a part of the gathering of the people of the Lord – these human races will be brought back into the one, single human family.  Meaning that since Zion will not be established by unrelated persons — every nation under heaven will become connected by and will b be engaging in inter-racial marriages.

Race is purely conventional – and has no application of eternal significance.  The main component of what we use for racial distinction is skin color, which is composed largely of just two things:

• Melanin, which is produced in the skin as a response to oxidative stress of UV light
• Blood, which is visible through the skin in the vascular system

Now, a resurrected body has no need for protection from oxidative stress, and it will also not quickened with hemoglobin.  Thus, the skin color will not appear as any mortal human on the earth has ever looked.

When the scriptures say that resurrected persons will come forth in either the resurrection of just or the resurrection of the unjust:

and [they] shall come forth
they who have done good
in the resurrection of the just
and they who have done evil
in the resurrection of the unjust

it is saying that there will only be two discernible groups [what we could call “races”] of human beings after the resurrection from the dead:  the just and the unjust.

All those who come forth in the resurrection of the just will have a new body, patterned after the body of Christ, which is patterned after the body of God [meaning we’ll all have the same “genes”] – thus the color of their skin will all look exactly the same.

The fleshy-body that is sown in the earth upon death will arise as either wheat or tare [just or unjust], and this is according to the spirit that possessed that body at the time it died:

you do not sow the body that will be
but you sow bare grain
and it may chance be of wheat
or of some other grain

What makes a person “just” or “unjust” is not merits, nor lineage — but solely the state of the person’s right-brain-heart and their faith in Jesus Christ.  God looks only upon the right-brain-heart of mankind, which is something that has nothing to do with their genetic lineage or any supposed curses on black Africans.

So, given a future state in which no resurrected bodies will be colored by melanin and hemoglobin, and given that God has made of one blood every nation of mankind from the beginning, and that, as far as the gospel is concerned, “there is neither Jew nor Greek” – any race-based exclusion from the gospel [or from the priesthood] based on such flimsy ground as being related to someone who lived over 5,000 years ago makes a pretty poor “hill-to-die-on”.

Next Article by Justin:  The Written Records

Previous Article by Justin:  Deep Waters:  Having their Hearts Knit Together in Unity and in Love

In Search of a New Church Home:  Part II — Unitarian Universalism

Cheerfully Doing All Things

In the beginning, there was man — and for a time, it was good.  But humanity’s civilization soon fell victim to materialism and covetousness.  Then man made a System in his own likeness — man becoming the architect of his own demise.  But for a time, it was good.

The Cynics were a philosophical group in Greece and Rome around two to three centuries before and after Christ.  They were named, by their critics, after dogs [The Greek kynikos] because of their shameless rejection of conventional manners, mores, and values.  They were a group of indifference towards the normality enforced by Luciferian control systems.  They were known for eating with hands, going naked and having intercourse in public, walking barefoot, sleeping outside, etc.  As dogs, who have a very discerning nature, they could recognize as friends and receive kindly those ready for their teachings and lifestyle – while they would drive away any unfitted or unfriendly.

I share, with the Cynics, a similar understanding of how happiness is attained in mortal life:

• The goal of life is happiness, or joy – which is to live in harmony with Nature.
• Happiness depends on freeing yourself from influences such as wealth, fame, materialism, or power – things that have no value in Nature.
• Suffering is caused by assigning value falsely – striving after the wrong things leads to negative emotions and vicious character traits.

Paleoanarchism, or Anarcho-primitivism, is a critique of the origins and progress of human civilization.  As I studied human history I noticed a common trend, the shift from hunter-gatherer tribes to sedentary agrarian communities gave rise to the social stratification, coercion, and alienation from God, fellow humans, and Nature that have been the main reasons behind every success Satan has had with the human race.  Anarcho-primitivists advocate a return to non-“civilized” ways of life thru deindustrializing society, abolishing the division of labor, and abandoning large-scale organization power into states.

Satan’s first success story with using a mortal to alter conditions on earth was Cain.  Notice that Cain brought forth “of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord,” signifying his lifestyle of sedentary agrarianism.  He was the first to “build a city,” thereby establishing a rule of statism over his posterity.  His family initiated the first secret craft guild societies when they became “instructors of every artificer in brass and iron.”

This continued beyond the deluge in Noah’s time – with the great amalgamating power represented by Nimrod’s Babel.  As any statist, Nimrod was working to concentrate all power and knowledge at the top of his pyramid –archie.  Had the Lord not gone down and encrypted the human language, either Nimrod or someone following in his footsteps, would have succeeded.

Today, were are nearing that point again.  Babylon has brought all nations and people,

“to bow down with grief, sorrow, and care, under the most damning hand of murder, tyranny, and oppression, supported and urged on and upheld by the influence of that spirit which hath so strongly riveted the creeds of the fathers, who have inherited lies, upon the hearts of the children, and filled the world with confusion, and has been growing stronger and stronger, and is now the very mainspring of all corruption, and the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity.”

Her “iron yoke” and “strong bands” represent the “very handcuffs, chains, shackles, and fetters of hell.”  The innocent are murdered by this System – and we, as the ones awakened to it – have an “imperitive duty” to “work with great earnestness” – even “that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness.”

Babylon has entrapped us to an unbelievable extent.  There is no way to be truly pure in the world today.  Babylon provides all who suck at her breast a simulated sameness that removes humans from the natural cycles of life.  Our planet has boasted extraordinary longevity because she has been allowed to go thru the cycles of waxing and waning, decay and renewal.  These cycles are necessary for humans too – for the rejuvenation of our cells.  However, we are provided food produced in industrial factories without respect to seasons, water on tap at any time without respect to seasons, housing at the same temperature and amount of light without respect to seasons – but everything comes at a cost.  Urbanization and industrialization of human life has resulted in persistent stress, rampant responsibilities, less sleep, less play, less sunlight, creation of new environmental toxins, new pathogens, and reduced fertility.

We have falsely assigned value to monogamy, body modesty, consumption of things, “cheap” food, allopathic medicine, statism, hierarchies, and public education [Note that in that last link, LDS are half as likely as the general population to homeschool].  These manifestations of the Luciferian control system are intended to entice and derail the energies of the saints – until we come to lose agency and consciousness.  Humans are only truly happy when we embrace that which is designed into our constitution and nature – this means rejection of all things that are the result of convention or earthly –archies.

I believe firmly that if we “cheerfully do all things that lie in our power” – we can then “stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.”  In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers gathered in that upper room — they immediately got up, left the room, and went to work.  Likewise, let us not focus on preaching to the choir, but instead focus on creating a little anarchy in the local congregations each of us has been placed into by the Lord [Examples of this can be found here, here, and here].

All things that lie in our power, which can restore humanity’s natural order, include:

• Declaring the words of Christ [Not Gentile LDS Missionary Work™]
• Using silver bartering currency
• Paleolithic nutrition
• Tribal relationships
• Bradley birth method for homebirthing
• Lactational Amenorrhea Method as a form of natural birth control
• Homeschooling
• Using the priesthood for everything
• Asking for every gift
• Tribal worship services

 

Previous Article by Justin:  The World I See

Next Article by Justin:  Seeking the Good of Others

See also:  Zo-ma-rah’s Week in Faith October 17, 2010, comments at Tom’s Church Finance – Part III, and D&C 123: 7-15, 17

Is the topic of “secret combinations” taboo in the LDS church?

Over the years, any time I’ve ever mentioned the words “secret combination” in a dialogue among LDS, inevitably I am asked, “You’re not one of those conspiracy theory nutcases, are you?” This topic appears to be taboo. Why this is, I’m not sure, but it may be due to our desire for acceptance among the mainstream populace. Perhaps it is just the membership in my locality, and yet, in talking with what4anarchy, who lives in another town, he also comes across the same response.

Try this experiment, if you get a chance. In a conversation with other LDS, ask the group whether anyone thinks there’s a secret combination set up today, and, if so, could they identify it? You’ll probably get responses ranging from “No, there aren’t any” to “Yes, there are. They are organized crime gangs, such as the Mafia, Yakuza and street gangs of all sorts.” It is doubtful that anyone will say that there are secret combinations larger than the Sicilian and Japanese mafias. I’ve found that most LDS are simply not interested in this topic and look at you weird if you broach it. Of course, I find their reaction to the subject even weirder than the subject itself, due to our conspiracy-based scriptures.

Conspiracy-Based Scriptures

That’s right. Our latter-day scriptures, the three non-biblical books, are full of conspiracy theories, which are presented as conspiracy fact.

In the Book of Moses (Pearl of Great Price) we learn that Cain started the first secret combination, becoming the Master Mahan. From that point on, there always existed a secret combination, which had the express purpose of murdering, obtaining riches (through plunder) and power (ruling over men) without consequences. (See Moses 5: 29-31, 51; 6: 15.)

In the Book of Mormon we learn of the Gadianton Robbers, a secret combination started by Gadianton, who received the secret combination plans directly from Satan himself. (See Helaman 6: 26-30.) This band of Gadianton Robbers plagued the Nephites throughout their history, eventually causing their entire destruction. (See Helaman 2: 13; Ether 8: 21.) We also learn that Nephi saw that there would be secret combinations among us in the latter-days. (See 2 Nephi 26: 22.) In addition to the (plural) secret combinations that Nephi saw in vision among us, we learn that Moroni saw that there would be a (singular) great secret combination among us in the latter-days, one that particularly would seek “to overthrow the freedom of all lands” and that “bringeth to pass the destruction of all people.” (See Ether 8: 23, 24.) The Book of Mormon also explains that the Jaredites had a secret combination among them, the plans of which were written in their records and put into action by Akish at the instigation of Jared and his beautiful daughter. (See Ether 8: 7-18.) This jareditish secret combination eventually destroyed the Jaredites. (See Ether 8: 21.)

The Doctrine and Covenants also mention secret combinations. Section 38 explains that “the enemy is combined” (v. 12), that there is a “thing which is had in secret chambers, to bring to pass even your destruction in process of time” (v. 13) and that “the enemy in secret chambers seeketh your lives” (v. 28.) Section 38, in fact, contains instructions on how to “escape the power of the enemy” (v. 31). The law of the church (section 42) was also given “for this cause” (v. 32.) The Word of Wisdom, section 89, was also given “in consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days.” (See D&C 89: 4.) Secret combinations are also mentioned in D&C 42: 64 and in D&C 117: 11 (the Nicolaitane band.) Additionally, Joseph Smith writes in D&C 123: 13 that the LDS should expose all the secret combinations had among us, specifically, his words were that “we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them.”

We have the charge, so why the taboo?

Our latter-day scripture is filled to the brim with details about both ancient and modern secret combinations, what they consist of, how they operate, what their goals are, and how to combat them and Joseph Smith himself gives us the charge to reveal all the secret works, so that they are no longer secret (which is their real power), so why is this such a taboo subject?

A New Category

As a result of this charge, I am creating a new Secret Combinations category. The articles posted in it will be my attempt to fulfill Joseph Smith’s charge of “bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness.”

Next Secret Combinations article: “And Thus They Did Obtain the Sole Management of the Government”

Previous Secret Combinations article: Are there Clergy Response Teams in the LDS church?

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist