WEARETHEWEATHER


WHO IS THE RAIN MAKER?

We have looked at the intimate link between space and time and the deep connection between time and weather in, Introduction to the Thermodynamics and Eternodynamics of Desirepts.1 and 2 respectively. A review of those posts might be helpful to anyone wishing to gain insight from this post.

In the blockbuster sci-fi movie Looper, main character Joe and his future self combine their efforts on an action-packed adventure through time and space, trying to track down a mysterious killer called the Rainmaker who, if not stopped, is/will be responsible for the murder of the love of Joe’s life. It is an absorbing plot that mixes the element of weather control with the more cliché elements of time travel and crime underworlds for a surprisingly deep story of multi-generational cooperation and healing.

The movie takes place primarily in the vicinity of Kansas City, where Joe lives and works as a time traveling hit-man. When Joe finally does track down the Rainmaker on the outskirts of town, he finds that he is presently a child, but not just any ordinary child. This child is telekinetic to an extraordinary degree and can effect drastic changes in atmospheric pressure with his emotions. A part from being capable of affecting changes in the weather, the young boy can cause blood to rain out of the heart of a person who provokes him to anger. Joe recognizes however, that if the troubled youth were to be raised in a loving home with a tender mother and guiding father, he could avoid turning into a cruel killer.

Looper was rated R, and did not follow your typical feel-good formula for promoting family values. It will therefore not be likely to be seen by many mainstream LDS. And its message will unfortunately be missed by those Mormons who do view it. Nevertheless there are many messages contained in the film that directly concern not just modern-day man in general, but which could be specifically relevant to Latter-Day Gentiles. Satan has succeeded in diverting the gaze of many and those who do look to not look with eyes to see. But let us examine a few of the ideas which are more or less subtly presented in this movie, and put them into context for the real Latter-Day Saints of God out there, regardless of religious or non-religious affiliation.

HOME ON THE RANGE – WHERE THE SKIES ARE NOT CLOUDY ALL DAY?

First of all, the film’s setting of Kansas City, smack dab on the Kansas/Missouri border is something that should not escape anyone who has studied Mormon prophecy. The LDS movement in all of its numerous groups of course has extensive and ongoing history in the “Show Me State”. Jackson County, MO is the site of various holdings of the LDS Church and the RLDS Church and the area continues to attract many fundamentalist, as well as mainstream and even inactive members of the various Churches with some type of connection to the Restoration Movement. This, despite the fact that the western part of that state in particular is mentioned in famous prophecies via Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Orson Pratt which have been handed down among the Mormon people and which reference great destruction which will leave the land “swept clean” of its inhabitants (JD, 9:270, Prophetic Sayings of Heber C. Kimball to Amanda H. Wilcox. DEN, 8:265, October 2,1875).

Now I don’t know what all these many religious residents of Jackson County believe in regards to these prophesies. I know that I do not believe that things will play out quite the way that Brigham Young or Heber C. Kimball envisioned them happening. Still, it might be foolish to dismiss them entirely. And it might be especially dangerous to not take them into account along with various other forms of subconscious-to-conscious imaging by way of Hollywood prophets/profits. Apart from Looper’s subtle correlation between this general geographic location and extreme weather patterns, there is also the far less subtle targeting in The Day After – a graphic, disturbing TV movie originally aired in 1983, about the effects of a devastating nuclear holocaust on small-town residents of eastern Kansas/western Missouri. The Book of Eli, starred Denzel Washington as an obvious type for Moroni as a lone wanderer and bearer of a sacred record in the post-apocalyptic wake of a fallen civilization. The main character also draws some pretty clear parallels to Joseph Smith, since Eli purports to have been led by the voice of the Spirit to discover the book under a pile of rubble. And the stark – yet not as apparent to the less enlightened Ephraimite –  symbolism relating to Elijah Abel in the obvious links of name, skin tone, and Eli’s willingness to kill to protect the prophetic message of the book. The conflict and climax of this movie’s storyline take place midway along Eli’s journey from the east coast to the west coast – indicating the same Midwest area in question. And of course who could forget the Wizard of Oz, which firmly and forever highlighted the inter-dimensional aspects of the American drama – a historical vying for dominance by all manner of false zionists – in our subconscious with the line, “We’re not in Kansas anymore!”

Kansas City has also become the center of attention in a real-life debate surrounding plans for a NAFTA Superhighway which would link from Mexico to Canada, cutting straight through the U.S. and creating a special international inland container “port” in Kansas City, right on the eastern Kansas/western Missouri border. While modern-day Capt. Moronis like Alex Jones and fellow Texan taxpayers vehemently opposed construction of the portion known as the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC), Latter-Day Secret Combination (LDSC) members like Greg West were anxiously engaged in promoting the project. While admitting upfront that locating an international inland port in K.C. would provide terrorists with a conveniently located hub for smuggling and detonating a nuclear device, he went on to site words on the topic of Zion from early Church leaders and the silence of today’s Church authorities as support for his sly misleading. Of course the brotherhood of Zion felt across the continents will be the result of the Holy Spirit of God shedding itself abroad in the hearts of brave men and women, and not a building project undertaken by underhanded builders of Babylon. The only “superhighway” that will play a role in the establishing of Zion is that highway that will be miraculously “cast up in the midst of the great deep” as prophesied in Doctrine and Covenants 133:27.

Now don’t think that all this has nothing or little to do with weather. The casting up of this highway in the midst of the great deep is heralded in conjunction with immense changes in weather patterns upon the face of the land. The verses immediately preceding and proceeding verse 27’s reference to the highway speak of “barren deserts” and “parched ground” being suddenly quenched with “pools of living water”. They even mention flowing ice and trembling hills accompanying the arrival of the lost tribes from the “north countries”. For all of these things to occur together it is very apparent that a pole shift must take place. The pole shift being described here literally “turns on its head” the entire “body of evidence” collected in favor of the Eurocentric interpretations of these verses concerning the lost tribes typically applied by most Mormons. Even those few LDS who hold that Inner Earth beings resembling Nordic Gods will come to the rescue may want to do as Isaiah says and consider that which they have not heard (Isaiah 52:15). Isaiah says that many nations will be “startled” by this pole shift, but that is just one way of putting it. In the majority of Bible translations including the KJV it is not rendered as “startle many nations” but it is actually written that the Lord’s actions will “sprinkle many nations”. This is in perfect keeping with the thundering theme of this ancient weather forecast for the last days.

GETTING AT THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Long ago, thousands of years before Brigham & Co. spoke of a sweeping destruction along the western border of Missouri, Isaiah had already forecasted a “great forsaking in the midst of the land”. The word “midst” literally means “middle-est”, in otherwords, the most central point. If you take the U.S.A. to be the latter-day Egypt of which Isaiah is prophesying (with such undeniable correlations such as the same national bird flying over red, white, and blue symbolic colors of the civil union of one-time divided northern and southern kingdoms), and if you measure from the eastern most seashore to the other shining sea on the west coast, and from the northern border to the southern most regions; you really can not get any more dead center than Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. As far as precise prognostications go, the word of the Lord to Isaiah, the prophet’s prophet, is reiterated throughout the Bible, Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine & Covenants with the greatest confidence. The first section of the D&C invites us to: “Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled.”

To locate something in the midst of a specified space is not the same as identifying its presence as being merely among a collective group or mass. Using the word “among”, connotes a much more vague relation in comparison with the superlative word “amidst”.  So when Joseph, the latter-day scribe pens an echo to the resounding ideas of Isaiah 34, we can ascertain key truths if we will remember the specific function of the word – “midst”.

And the Lord, even the Savior, shall stand in the midst of his people, and shall reign over all flesh. (D&C 133:25)

And also the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in their midst, and shall come down in judgment upon Idumea, or the world. (D&C 1:36)

”Reign (rain) over all flesh”….“Have power over his saints” – why is it worded that way? The footnotes that follow the echo back to Isaiah are even more specific. Notice that the following verse uses the words “thee” and “thou” to refer to a singular “inhabitant” of Zion.

Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. (Isaiah 12:6)

The created universe is based on fractals. When the scriptures speak to our souls of momentous events in a place like the heartland of the United States of America, we would be wise to remember that first and foremost, they are speaking to us of the centrality of our own hearts within our spirit and physical bodies. The spinning sphere of the heart chakra, together with its physical component, literally play the central role in our bodies. As one unit they are responsible for harnessing the energies of our Telestial and Terrestrial Bodies. These two energetic bodies spiral out in vortices from the center-stake of our heart with the Terrestrial Vortex spiraling like an upright funnel cloud and the Telestial Vortex mirroring it below like an inverted cyclone. Inversion between the two can cause for some very stormy weather. But when energy flows more easily back and forth between the two layers they can merge together, forming what is known as the Merkabah Chariot, a kind of conical Star of David.

What do stars and hearts have to do with weather patterns and the fulfillment of prophecy through time? The answer becomes surprisingly clear upon examining latter-day scripture, though not largely appreciated or accepted by Latter-Day Saints. Sadly, one of Joseph Smith’s revelations most overlooked and ridiculed by LDS and non-LDS alike is that of the partially interpreted Theban Hypocephalus better known as Facsimile No. 2 in the seriously misunderstood, disputed, and derided Book of Abraham. fac2Yet the concept of a governing star/planet called Kolob mentioned in the facsimile, has captivated the imagination of writers who have included it in hymns, television series, and novels. The word Kolob has very old roots similar to the Arabic triliteral root KLB which is pronounced like “Qalb” and means “heart” or alternately “star”. For the ancient Egyptians the concept of a centrally located, universal, heart-star was associated with the measurement of time as well as distance or depth and was represented by drawing a human heart as the bob on a cosmic plumb-line. But notwithstanding this extremely ancient precedence, from beer breweries to Broadway musicals, the idea of a shining star by the name of Kolob has been “made light of”. Those who make a serious study of Kolob as an astronomical reality have sometimes stumbled upon their own seriousness and faltered equally along with those who esteem Kolob lightly. Both camps are imbalanced and, for the most part, totally miss the literal and intellectually enlightening rays of this bright star. The light that Kolob liberally offers all men can only be fully received through an understanding of Kolob as a cosmic heart of the universe.

the-plumb-line
One of those serious (Sirius?) scholars, Hugh Nibley, has written on ancient Khemetic ideas about the “hypocephalus as a preserver and transmitter of light and heat between the worlds”. Indeed this strange and wondrous artifact which comes to us from the Egyptian Book of Breathings is a type of resurrection talisman that was commonly known as a “head warmer”. But alas, most people’s heads will not accept the reality that light and heat and by extension weather, are simultaneously physical and spiritual manifestations of the endless intercourse between chronological and spatial principles. And because, as the Yoruban proverb says: “Spirit cannot give what head won’t receive”, this Pearl of Great Price has been cast before smart but selfish swine. A head stuffed with worldly knowledge must be occasionally submitted to Kolob’s purging emanations, so as to refine that knowledge into wisdom. Even Nibley has much to learn from beyond the grave because his accumulation of knowledge was so wrapped up in apologetics on behalf of a pride-ridden institution, that his mind was veiled from learning the “greater things”. But mingling with gods Nibley can finally take a break from nibbling incessantly at the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of this and that. He is now free to focus on the Oneness.

Another of those so-called serious scholars was W. Cleon Skousen. Straddling, as he had his whole life, the line between God and Mammon, Church and State, science and fiction, his split loyalty left Cleon floating somewhere between Clingon and Peon. But his heart was good. The heart of man is technically the first physical structure to begin formation during his embryonic gestation – the brain following closely as a tiny bundle of nerve endings beyond the already forming heart. This falls in line with Joseph’s interpretation of the Kolob hieroglyph as “signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God” and being “First in government”, but “Last pertaining to the measurement of time”. In similar fashion, Smith was purported to have said, and Skousen supported the theory, that Kolob was in fact the birthplace of our planet Earth. The idea that the earth was formed elsewhere and then migrated to her current orbit is not so difficult to accept if one looks to the fractal nature of the created universe and realizes that the planet is equipped with its own inner-sun and in many ways may not be so developmentally separate from the Sun we see so relatively close to us in outer-space. The fractality continues when, reflecting on certain anomalies of the precession of the equinox, we consider that the Sun may very well be in a binary relationship with a second sun hurling through deep space.

The Kolobian concept validates this progressive heart to heart connection perfectly. In the Book of Abraham’s explanation of Facsimile 2 there are many stars/planets listed as receiving and passing on light originating from Kolob. The whole immense and intricate light-sharing process is performed via revolutions. Pulsars in space are rapidly spinning neutron stars. Our hearts do not merely pump blood; they put a spin on it. They say money makes the world go ‘round but emblematic sounds pulsing from the City of Brotherly Love during the 70s set the spinning record straight with the Stylistics classic – People Make The World Go ‘Round. While the daily revolutions and yearly course of our planet may be more set by the Kolob of this solar system acting as a portal for the power of other Grand Governing Creations leading back to the Kolob closest to the Throne of God, we should be very clear that the Times and Seasons of what happens in this world, as well as how, and when it happens is completely a matter of the personal revolutions of our mini kolobs/hearts. The Kolobian concept invites us to discover the loving bond between astronomy and anatomy, and to put it to good use. Meteorological phenomena reflect the cooperative or non-cooperative interaction between humans and their gods. If we are unhappy with the current conditions we need to focus on the revolving our hearts. Turning our hearts back to the Lord is crucial at this time if we are to reach out beyond the false gods that writhe and churn like deadly gases in the atmosphere, raining blood and terror down upon our heads.

EARTH MOTIONS = ENERGY MOTIONS = E-MOTIONS

Remember the young boy in the movie Looper who could in some tentative future become the vengeful killer known only as The Rainmaker? He was able to manipulate the weather using only his raw emotion. Weather control is essentially a question of emotion control. Whoever controls the emotions controls the weather. Don’t believe me? Then why do you believe that Jesus was able to so calmly command the wind and waves in the storm while his companions were so emotionally out of control? Did he really not care if his disciples perished? The calm that existed in the heart of Jesus and the calm that He was able to manifest on the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a raging storm have a direct correlation to one another.

Humanity has placed itself in great peril by allowing religion to disregard the true lessons of the Master Teacher. Devious doctrines appeal to our hardened hearts and put the sayings and doings of Jesus outside our vain, restricted realm of accepted ability or responsibility. We don’t have the nerve to brave the billowing waves. We don’t have the nerve to abandon Babylon in favor of acting on the deepest desires of our hearts. But somehow we have the nerve to fault God for not seeming to care enough to be moved by the suffering of innocents in the world we have created. And we have the nerve to quickly ascribe the destructive effects of our schizophrenic society upon the earth to some punitive god who apparently (judging from S.E. Asia Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, Haiti Mega-quake) does not like poor and humble people. Well, honestly, what do we expect, when all of our worship is entirely based around the concept of a poor humble man dying so that the world might live on? But this kind of utterly misguided worship/warship has run amok for so long now that the words “Jesus Christ” have come to be synonymous with the words “Status Quo”. We need to start remembering and reviving the Status Quo Ante Bellum – the state in which things were before the war. For, as it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end.

People like to talk about the signs of the times but no one wants to point to the fact that time moves through space and the friction between the two generates the very stirrings they see as signs being sequentially checked off of some mystery god’s grand agenda. The less you concentrate on trying to figure out that mystery god, the more the mysteries of the True and Living God unfold to you. As we divest our worship out and away from the god of this world we come to know and have faith in the God of not only Heaven, but Heaven and Earth together. If you ever find yourself wondering why god doesn’t move to bring about solutions to the suffering in the world, you should stop and wonder why you worship the wrong god – a god who is not in alignment with the righteous desires of your heart. If God is the one who situated our hearts in space, dangling as it were from divine plumb-lines, then we need only follow our hearts for direct encounter with God. The problems which plague us are completely atmospheric. Low lying cloud cover created from eons of distracted thinking makes for blockages which interfere with and scatter both incoming and outgoing signals to and from the beating pulsars and quasars of heart-star systems.

I do not want to give the false impression that meteorology is only a metaphor for emotion or visa-versa. When we mentally break up reality into so many unrelated arenas we have a REAL problem. I stand in solidarity with inspired restorationists of long suppressed truths, like Joseph Smith and Clarence Smith. Both of these men were inspired of Heaven to take valuable knowledge and revelation to those whom such things had typically been denied. Two experiences, from each of their lives respectively, show the importance of continuing these great men’s missions of delivering this message to the poor and working class, to the youth and to the disinherited.

Joseph Smith, opened this dispensation by disclosing many secrets from Free-Masonry, Kabbalah and Gnostic Christianity, and adding to them “new” wisdom extracted personally from the eternal mind of God. Neither the established religious cults nor the state governments liked his maverick spirit and he was eventually assassinated. During his life, he once led a group of men known as Zion’s Camp in an attempt to recover stolen lands in the aforementioned area of Jackson County, Missouri. When mobs of misinformed men came, intent on annihilating Zion’s Camp, a flash storm suddenly rolled in on a big black thunder cloud and blew rain and hail upon them till they had to retreat. The would-be attackers were unable to even cross the Missouri river as it rose approximately 40 feet in a matter of hours. When a black woman had first come and notified the camp that many white men in the area meant to do them harm, some members of the camp wanted to take up their guns and fight. But, Joseph told them, “Stand still and see the salvation of God”, and later he let them know “God is in this storm.”

Most people do not know the exact details of Clarence Smith’s official excommunication from the Nation of Islam where he had studied under Malcolm X, who in later years would also become disillusioned with the religion. In any case, Clarence Smith took the things he had learned from this American branch of Islam, Kabbalah and Free-Masonry and built upon them with additional revelation and insights. Before taking his lively message to the streets, he was a quickly advancing priest in the ranks of an inflexible organization. But like the young Jesus, Clarence agitated the religious heads of that institution while teaching at Temple #7 in Harlem, New York. He was teaching a class of young men from one of the Nation’s 120 lessons – the specific lesson which deals with a religio-scientific break-down of such forces of nature as rain, hail, snow, and earthquakes. Clarence was teaching outside of the manuals and approved lesson materials and he bore witness to those youth that all of these things were caused by man. A visiting authority by the ironic title of Capt. Joseph sat in on the class and did not like what he heard. Like Joseph Smith, Clarence Smith was eventually assassinated for his controversial message. But before FBI agents could kill him, he succeeded in teaching many youth, from New York to Chicago; that men could become gods. His message lives on today in underground Hip Hop music and culture. But, despite the noble efforts of Hip Hop’s poor righteous teachers who adhere to Clarence’s teachings, and in spite of government surveillance, this neglected reality of man’s involvement with the weather patterns on the planet stands in need of more attention and deeper comprehension.

Governments around the world have always been interested in managing what we think and how we feel. Oppressive regimes have always known that there are incredible amounts of power in the energy that comes through the hearts and minds of the people, and throughout history they have been careful to provide safety valves and complex canal systems for conducting this energy into programs which produce the outcomes they want. In recent years we have reached a place in the cycle of time where we have given over such complete control to Church and State that they have found ways to reliably rile up specific weather conditions. We say that God controls the weather but today we have been taught to forsake the God of Nature, and we have neglected to comprehend that God can only work “his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men” (D&C 46:15). So, if the preponderance of our thoughts, feelings and actions from hour to hour, day to day, are conditioned by circumstances set up for us by Church and State, then who is this god who we say controls weather conditions? It ought to be painfully obvious at this point in time exactly who is behind these unnatural disasters in diverse places.

The U.S. Government-run military arm known as SOUTHCOM was running a planned exercise based on the scenario of a catastrophic event in the capital of Haiti the day before the 7.0 earthquake struck Port Au Prince on Jan. 12, 2010. This is suspiciously reminiscent of the FEMA and NORAD drills so conveniently scheduled for Sep. 10, 2001, the day before 9/11. But ironically the group known as Scholars for 9/11 Truth proved themselves unable to handle or at least uninterested in the truth of what is really happening in the world today. The group, which had formerly championed BYU professor, Steven E. Jones in his valiant exposition of scientific truth, calling for a questioning of the causes behind the collapse of the Twin Towers, now joined the “Lord’s University” in distancing their selves from him and turning their back on him in disdain. Brother Jones had gone too far in pursuit and publishing of truth by illustrating how technology developed back in 1898 by inventor and futurist Nikola Tesla could be used to trigger earthquakes. Prof. Jones also brought forth evidence which indicated that the U.S. Government might be testing and perfecting this technology at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lost lives and destroyed homes.

simulacro

The Mexican Government was “kind” enough to put out a flyer beforehand notifying residents of the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas of their plans for an “Earthquake Simulation” to take place on March 20, 2012 at precisely 12 o’clock noon. The fact that they avoided loss of life to their human live-stock does not make the Mexican Government any less damnable. The evidence provided by their public announcement is very damning in that it reveals not only their intentions but the accuracy with which they are able to achieve tremors within .5 units of the projected magnitude. U.S. President Obama happened to be in Mexico at the time attending the G-20 summit along with other heads of state that are implicit in this murderous secret combination that reigns with terror across the globe. The Walmart Corporation showed itself to be in league with the pantheon of false gods looking down on humanity and laughing devilishly at our suffering. Within minutes of the violent quaking, Walmart.com.mx sent out a message on twitter that read: “Now we got the other stores shaking in fear of our prices.” Bob Marley’s paraphrasing of Proverbs 10:15 speaks powerfully to the evil feats of these gods of Babylon.

”Destruction of the poor is poverty. Destruction of the soul is vanity.” – Wisdom by Bob Marley

In the same song Marley says that those who have eyes to see will see. Tesla told us:

“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena; it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”

You can not study non-physical phenomena without possessing spiritually open eyes to see. But lamentably, it seems that the ones who serve spiritual wickedness in high places have taken Tesla’s advice more seriously than those who claim to be Christian Soldiers engaged in spiritual warfare against dark forces. Even without spiritual eyes or ears we now have information being proclaimed from the rooftops that is leaving everyone from evangelicals to agnostics without excuse. H.A.A.R.P. stands for High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, and has become the catch-all term for those technological advancements which are being blamed for inhuman deeds from earthquakes and hurricanes to mind-control. There is a certain type of angel that plays this H.A.A.R.P., and it is not the kind that works with Father to serve mankind. Although it is shrouded in speculation, what is clear is that it is a research project funded by both the U.S. Air force and Navy whose purpose is to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the physical processes that occur when a targeted region of the ionosphere has been excited.

LESS FEARS – MORE SPHERES

The ionosphere is a region of the upper atmosphere, from about 53 to 370 miles altitude, and includes the thermosphere (where UV radiation and auroras occur) as well as parts of the mesosphere (roughly 28 to 53 miles altitude) and exosphere (beginning somewhere around 310 miles above the earth’s surface and extending to interplanetary zones). It is distinguished because it is ionized specifically by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere (outermost regions of Earth’s magnetic field). Underneath all of these, we find what is called the troposphere (the lowest portion of Earth’s atmosphere where the majority of day-to-day weather occurs).
layers-of-the-atmosphere

A secular, scientific view offers us a schema of concentric spheres encircling the planet. What could our spiritual eyes show us when looking at all of these spheres? The Doctrine & Covenants speak on the topic of spheres of influence and tell us:

All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence. (D&C 93:30)

Yes, we’re independent to act for ourselves, but notice that these selves of ours, though expressed in plurality, also form, in their independence, what we would call individual bodies. There are selves and there are cellves. The latter is alluded to in D&C 93:30 with the word “truth” and the former correspond to the word “intelligence” as used there. Truth would be analogous with the flesh and intelligence could be used interchangeably with the word light. Justin explains these two as, “Earth [my life here as a physical collection of atoms bumping into other collections of atoms according to the laws of physics] with Heaven [my innate desire for meaning, purpose, value, and order that emerges from and endures beyond what I’m doing here as a collection of particles moving around in space and time]”. That explanation renders the mystery of the self very self-evident. We all know that we are composed of elements that are subject to decomposition. But, we are also aware of something much more. According to scripture, these two parts of our life may be independent; however, nowhere is it implicit that they are completely separate or unaffected by each other.

Paul tells us that there are celestial bodies as well as bodies terrestrial (1 Cor.15:40). He says that the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another. From there he proceeds to compare them to the Sun and stars respectively. It should be realized and remembered that the Sun is a star and the stars are the same as Suns, only appearing to vary so drastically from this, our limited vantage – or should we say disadvantage – point. But then, a third is suggested as an intermediary glory comparable to the Moon. Joseph Smith Jr. recognized the importance of this triune, and since a name for the intermediary glory was conspicuously missing from the New Testament, he shifted the title “terrestrial” over to that middle ground and invented the term “telestial” to designate that state which is most distant from the celestial. This additional commentary on the idea of degrees of glory on the part of Joseph, has been chided by a few and understood by even fewer, but it is at least consistent with the Old Testament in that it does not make the mistake of conflating this “lone and dreary world” with the true earth.

The true earth, wherein the Lord God is truly exalted is a physical place that is in harmony with true spiritual precepts. When these precise conditions occur there is a full fusion of truth with intelligence, flesh with spirit, the natural with the supernatural. In What, on Earth, are you doing, for Heaven’s sake? Justin starts off with another excellent break down by offering a non-traditional translation of Matt. 6:10. Here the Savior is teaching the people how to properly pray, and he says we should use the words:

may your will be done
in the earth
as it is in the sky

We are brought back again to a closer observation of earth and sky. And since we are commissioned with the combining of both earthly and heavenly regions, our focus must necessarily settle on that place where the two meet – the troposphere. The word troposphere derives from the Greek: tropos for “change”. It is a layer where friction with the Earth’s surface influences air flow. Atmospheric flow is good and a thing to be desired, cherished, and maintained. However, a fearful, fretful moving about, here and there, busily doing, is death. To be is to live and it is necessary from time to time to be still and “know that I am god” as per the instructions of the well known line in Psalms 46. But, in addition to that first half, there is a lot of meaning that is missed in that verse. Verse 10 continues and concludes the idea by proclaiming: “I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in the earth.” This is no conqueror’s song as some who feel so chosen based on worldly evidence might suppose. This is a mutual choosing between the God of all the Earth and the meek and lowly earthlings who have been judged as heathens but who know the God of Heaven much better than those who find a false sense of security in their riches and their religion

Now, Jesus’ main message to the weak things of this world was repeated over and over again: FEAR NOT! Meekness has the ability to transmute weakness into strength, but an abundance of inner-fears only inter-feres with this process. Dangers do not create fear. Fear creates dangers. The less fears one has, the greater access one has to more spheres. Jesus admonishes us to “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (Matt. 10:28). And Paul tells us in his letters to the Ephesians that “we struggle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Those high places which should be most guarded are our own heads atop our fortresses of flesh and blood. But where are the high places from whence emanate these attacks against which we should guard or even struggle? Certainly it is not a political power struggle or even a protest against world leaders, since such would fall under the category of struggling against flesh and blood. But what’s up with those high places, like the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere?  Can someone please explain why it is that in nearly every other translation of the Bible verse in question, minus the King James Version, it is not translated as “high places” but as “heavenly places”, “heavenly realms”, or simply “heaven(s)”? That puts a slightly different spin on the atmospheric flow, doesn’t it? If we will look, we can easily see a stark difference between the Kingdom advocated by the Lord’s Prayer (Thy Kingdom Come), and the power behind the throne of a man like King James.

WHO’S RAISING WHO HERE?

In order to be effective against principalities, against the authorities, even general authorities, against the so-called “powers that be”, it is necessary to virtually ignore the meat puppets dangling before us and follow the spiritual strings upwards, so we may directly target the cosmic powers of darkness presently presiding over our world. This is a significant game-changer because we have been led to think of these “higher spheres” as completely and unquestionably benevolent, and the beings which inhabit them as perfect. Certainly the “goodie goodie” son who lingered above in his father’s celestial mansion way on high, believed himself superior in terms of worthiness to his prodigal brother who, having hit rock bottom, labored under no such illusions of grandeur. They may be “perfect” alright, but some beings in those royal realms are perfectly evil at this point. If it were otherwise, then there would be no evil down here in this sphere. The axiom, “as above, so below” is perfectly scalable to this imperfect power structure, right down to personal relationships between parents and children. Home can be a Heaven on Earth, but if there is a War in Heaven then what does this do for our home? Right here, at the sacred and sacral level of home, is where the real heart of the struggle is.

To struggle with someone or something is to provide the other party with energy. In truth it is a loving act. Just like when Jacob struggled with God and prevailed, the purpose of struggle is always to see ourselves more clearly in the light of love. To resist not evil means to not provide energy to it, but rather to focus on the good and nurture it with love. We do this until the evil outgrows that stage and, turning towards our love, eventually turns into love itself, like a child learning to do better. Evil is simply love that does not know itself. So we let our lights so shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven (Matt. 5:16).

Do we think it was sheer coincidence that Jesus went directly to those souls that were in the darkness of spirit prison, plus made a detour to see Mary, all before going to His Father? Do we think that His resurrection was a gift from the Father (to whom He had not yet ascended) in order for the Son to bring light to those who were trapped in the dark abyss? Isn’t it obvious that His work there in the abyss was what resulted in His resurrection, which was a two-way gift exchange originating from the Son Himself, extending to the lost substance of fragmented souls sequestered in prison, and returning the favor from grateful captives, swirling out of the control of dark energies, now liberated into light? We hear the Son say, “Glory be to the Father,” only because, until He had been to the Father, His body could not complete that glory. But Jesus obviously knew where it was at – the troposphere – where the precipitation of mourning Mary made climate change possible. God in Heaven gets the glory, but as we strive to climb through the climes do we stop and consider where He gets it from?

Any well-meaning and wise man or woman will look to the younger generation which is in their care, and wonder, “Who is raising who here?” – even and especially in those poignant moments when the little ones are behaving, as grandma might say, like “little devils,” rebellious and spirited. Only fallen angels really get the gospel. Fallen angels are earth angels. In the 1950’s classic, Earth Angel, the lyrics tell a touching tale of love:

I fell for you, and I knew the vision of your love, loveliness. I hope and I pray that someday I’ll be the vision of your hap, happiness.”

“Happy” and “Happen” have the same root. Happiness comes from knowing how we can make good things happen. Down here on the ground is the most happening place there is.

As fallen angels, we are given the all-important task of waking up the gods and keeping them awake to reality. In D&C 132, verses 16 and 17, it speaks of the marriage of heaven and earth and describes this glory in terms of a “far more…eternal weight” Through us they are enlarged and exalted. In a detached state, floating singly around in the heavens as a mere idea, they can become just as lonely as one here in the lone and dreary world. The gods have two choices before them. They can tell Luciferian lies to their selves and remain there afraid of falling from great heights. Or they can take the leap of faith and allow themselves to dive deep into a much fuller love and joy. The first option is motivated by fear. It is a lie and they know it.

Anything that remains stubbornly in the mind of god without coming into action down here will eventually be cast down for its own good. But as the saying goes, the harder they come the harder they fall. The more difficulty one has in taking the fall of faith, the more difficulty one has in waking up from the concussion incurred from such a hard-headed and hard-hearted impact. Learning how to ascend and descend consciously as angels in the body of Christ is best accomplished with humility, and it is best not to be compelled to be humble. Alma the Younger is clear on this point when speaking to the poor and despised among the Zoramite people in Alma, chapter 32. But he is also quick to recognize that the down-to-earth people he is addressing were likely not all of them compelled to be humble but rather would choose humility regardless of their circumstances. As the gap between the rich and the poor grows wider in this modern-day Zoramite culture, the Great American Hero hiding timidly within each of us will have to learn the ironic life lesson that; flying is always easier than landing. The earth is spoken of in scripture as the Lord’s footstool, something that one must set foot upon if they desire to elevate themselves. This makes the earth the launching pad from which gods can be made real, but they have to get over their inverted vertigo if they are ever to master the art of a smooth landing.

and behold
the angels of god ascend and descend upon it

Genesis 28:12

 

you will see the sky open
and the angels of god ascending and descending

John 1:51

 

Notice the order always starts off with ascending, then descending. Jacob’s ladder is set upon the earth, and from here is how we get to heaven, not so much by jumping or reaching but by simply starting at the bottom. Kids “know” less and therefore have more faith than their adult counterparts. Lofty branches, with their high ideals, get cut off. They cut themselves off by separating themselves into caste systems with “gods” up top and workers down below. Celestial beings that remain in this state never learn. The ancient Aryan race set things up in this way on the Indian subcontinent during the Vedic Age (roughly between 1700 and 500 BC). And then, thousands of years later, the haughty “gods” of the Aryan people proved they had not learned humility at all, and were in fact irrationally inflated by the time the Nazis of WWII Era Germany sought to awaken those warring gods for purposes of world conquest via a supposed “master race”. All the while, the purer, truer aspects of the original Aryan race lived on in the down-trodden Hindus and Roma Gypsies of brown and olive complexion as they patiently worked towards the completion of a great work and a glory.

I feel to echo the sentiments of Austin Osman Spare, who said: “Myself, I have not yet seen a man who is not God already.” And I would add to them Justin’s words which provide some helpful specifics. In the aforementioned What, on Earth, are you doing, for Heaven’s sake?, Justin said: “God” is to be found in being under the most, serving the most, and being connected to the most [instead of the other way around].” By this standard the indigenous Zapatista freedom fighters who populate the very area targeted by the Mexican federal government’s 7.4 “Earthquake Simulation” are more godly than any blue-blood or contented Christ-Shun church-goer. The man whose name they are known by, Emiliano Zapata, was just as much of a Christ as Jesus. The two men are on the same team, and as team captain, Jesus has never been a ball-hogging, show-off player. Zapata Christ said that until every last person in Mexico was free, then there was no freedom in Mexico. By recognizing that this is a universal struggle, the way that true Christians like the Zapatistas do, one connects to all humanity. If these indigenous peoples along with their adoptive gentile brothers and sisters can carry that awareness of connections between beings over to the flora and fauna sectors of God’s Kingdom, they will find some major allies in the universal service they perform. And if this sense of alliance and selfless service can cross into the plant and animal Kingdoms, then why not into the elemental realm of mountain moving and the so-called non-contact forces of nature? One good thing to come from the Aryan race is a Vedic scripture that says: God sleeps in stone, breathes in plants, dreams in animals, and awakes in man.

The great gods of Babylon may seem “high and mighty” but they are only high-maintenance. Those destructive deities remained in constant contact with their earthly servant, Adolph Hitler and the highest ranking Nazi leadership. The so-called Illuminati have always served these lofty beings, so they become lofty branches themselves. They are infamous for rejecting the root in favor of worshipping impressive beings of light – beings of light that are imp-pressive only in that they are imps that press. But when you know what’s real, you aint so easily fooled. In the immortal words of Bob Marley on his smash hit, Get Up, Stand Up: ”Most people think great god will come from the sky…But if you know what life is worth you will look for yours on earth…So, now you see the light, you better stand up for your right!”

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW – BETWEEN JOY&PAIN, SUNSHINE&RAIN

Speaking of seeing the light, Carl Gustav Jung is quoted as saying:

“There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

In the above quote Jung was using the word “imagining” in the way it has come to be used typically in the modern westernized world; to mean believing in something untrue or unreal. At best, this verb is usually used to describe the forming of a mere mental image for pleasurable or practical purposes which limit themselves to either the realm of fancy or figuring. But Jung, like Lennon, knew that true imagination is actually an underdeveloped and atrophied organ in the spirit-body of man. The imagination is a powerful faculty which the Nazis of Jung’s time and place and the Capitalists of Lennon’s lifetime were determined to control, monopolize, and maim in others. Men and women, free-thinkers of these modern times would find themselves more in line with the beliefs of the prophetic and persecuted Sufis before and during the dark times of the Middle Ages. Avicena, Suhrawardi and other men inspired of heaven wrote about the imagination as the culmination of all spiritual senses which pre-seed and are above the 5 senses of the natural man, and are therefore supernatural and able to perceive/conceive supernatural things.

Henri Corbin coined the phrase imaginal, as opposed to imaginary, to denote the original imaginative faculty of the Spirit. Corbin hypothesized that the proper and true meaning of the term imagination would, “of necessity be lost and leave room only for the imaginary if something like a secularization of the imaginal into the imaginary were not required for the fantastic, the horrible, the monstrous, the macabre, the miserable, and the absurd to triumph.” Well that would certainly explain a lot of what is happening in today’s world, wouldn’t it? Psychology generally fails to acknowledge the value of communication with Spirit and considers the manifestation of this phenomenon to be a projection of the “imagination”. In my experience pure imagination can be used as a bridge between selfishly generated images and real messages from Spirit. And it appears that this bridge is a rainbow bridge, which shouldn’t be surprising since the imagination as we typically speak of it, deals primarily with visual images and colors.

Rainbows show up frequently in folk traditions from Yoruban to Celtic, from Taiwanese to Nordic, as the bridge we must pass to reach the perfect world of the ancestors, the pure land of Buddhism, or the earth in its paradisiacal glory imagined in Mormonism. Rainbows serve as a heavenly path leading to the greatest treasure of all. Two things are needed to make rainbows – sunlight and water. The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth’s atmosphere. As a far more “exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (D&C 63:66, 132:16), the troposphere contains approximately 80% of the atmosphere’s mass and 99% of its water vapour. It is deeper in the tropics, up to 20 km (12 mi), and shallower near the polar regions at 7 km (4.3 mi). In the tropical areas of the Earth we find high concentrations of “poor” people with generally “warm” hearts. What would happen if the good people along Earth’s equator were to cast off the yoke of the non-egalitarian regimes which currently weigh them down, suddenly and unexpectedly switching places with their frigid but nonetheless feisty and freedom-loving brothers in the north countries? What type of weather patterns is that type of total inversion likely to whip up? What magnificent rainbows of promise would we see shining down on Inuit and Icelander? And what splendid aurora borealis would we behold breaking forth from the newly relocated continent of Afrika? Can you imagine it?!

When Paul was at Thessalonica, he and his comrades were joined by many god-fearing pagan Greeks and others who Latter-Day Stains would classify as non-members. They were however accused by the local True Blue Jew church membership of being instigators of treason against the state, and decried as “these that have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). Indeed, if it were true that the one holy God entered humbly into the world in the person of Jesus, then Paul was boldly broadcasting the utter upending of the commonly held worldview and the whole hierarchical world order. If God became human so that he might confer divinity upon the creature, then it follows that the last must be first, that the poor are blessed. Now imagine, once the full import of these glad tidings sink into the hearts and minds of the oppressed masses, what is to stop the spiritual pole shift from transitioning into physical reality?

Drawing from the oldest spiritual traditions known to man born out of central Afrika, we can know that pure imagination is truly a “rainbow connection” capable of uniting man’s physical self with his spiritual self. The medium by which the gap is bridged between dense dark bodies of dirt (ara) and dazzling bodies of light (iponri) is water from the emotional body (egbe). Through mystical mists a person’s aura can be seen like a “coat of many colors” adorning them. This most plain and precious wisdom from sub-Saharan Afrika migrated to Egypt then met with further complication from the stubborn Hebrews; who were, for the most part, unable to penetrate the Kabod of the very God that led them  because they were unwilling to penetrate their own KaBodies or Spirit Bodies, as Latter-Day Saint Sunday School classes would call them. The Semitic triliteral root of KBD can be translated as glory, importance, honor, or even as interior, entrails, liver, but its most literal meaning is to “be heavy“. So when we see the word Kabod used, we should not relegate our thoughts to ethereal images of light, but also remember the “far more…eternal weight” mentioned in D&C 132, verses 16 and 17, where it speaks of the marriage of heaven and earth, spirit-body and flesh-body.  Justin points out that there is a “disconnect between the rule and order of our Heavenly Parents’ kingdom in the sky — and the rule and order of humankind on this planet.” Ancient Afrikan wisdom teaches that alignment with our Heavenly Parents is only possible if there is alignment between the physical, emotional, and spiritual self.

Just as water and sunlight come together to reveal rainbows, so the baptism of water and of fire reveal the way for us to realign Heaven and Earth. Emotions, like tidal waters, run high on both sides.

and the gods also said

let there be an expanse
in the midst of the waters
and it shall divide the waters
from the waters

and the gods ordered the expanse
so that it divided the waters which were under the expanse
from the waters which were above the expanse
and it was so
even as they ordered

Abraham 4:6-7

So we have waters below and waters above. If the troposphere contains 99% of the water in the air, then this means that the expanse spoken into existence by the gods must be very close at hand – nestled somewhere between the earth’s solid surface awash in seas, lakes and rivers, and the low lying layer of the troposphere. That mystery sphere is here. It’s us! Think about it. If all truth is independent as all intelligence also in that sphere in which God has placed it – If the celestial heaven is one sphere and the earth or telestial kingdom with all of its inequality and inconsistencies is another – then from where is God doing the placing? This can not be classified as merely a top-down operation. That type of explanation will only get us so far, and tends to let humanity and their gods off the hook for so much wickedness. Where is this place of balance and perfection if it is neither to be found in the highest nor the lowest of these two war-torn spheres. The answer is that it is NO-Where. It is not technically a place, but is a placing. It can not be situated on our maps but is situational.

Long before Joseph Smith ever spoke of infinite intelligence, spirit bodies, angelic visitations, or distinct degrees of glory, Persian visionaries were in the midst of restoring and revealing many great and wondrous things, like jism mithali – the “resurrection body,” and the “eighth climate,” also known as na-koja-abad – the “land of nowhere.” They spoke of things corroborated by the experiences of Isaiah, Paul and Mohammed before them. The ramp-up to the latter-day restoration of some of these truths had practically nothing to do with characters like Martin Luther or Wycliffe, and more to do with occultists like Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, and scientist/mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, who never started religious movements but definitely paved the way for that of the LDS. And it was no thanks to the stiff-necked British and Scandinavian Victorian era converts that rushed into Sydney’s (Oops! I mean Joseph’s) new church; only to cut the short-lived restoration movement off at its base and be led by Brigham into a spiritual and topographical wasteland some 166 years ago (Happy late July 24th, Pioneer Day to all you Utahns). The point is, we ought to do as Joseph and study out of the best of books. But we would do well to remember that no amount of book-smarts and theology can ever substitute for direct and personal experience with the spiritual phenomena discussed in those books.

If the scriptures do not inspire and activate your imaginative faculty, arousing it to experiment upon the word, then the words on the pages spell death to your soul. All “people of the book” before us have condemned themselves in large numbers, because, as our Book of Mormon warns, “the law hath become dead unto us” (2 Nephi 25:25) Pure imagination is crucial because, in the “eighth climate” – from whence the light of the law shines in powerful beams – in that realm consciousness and its object are ontologically inseparable. So if we are following the light beams of law out to their dead ends we are headed, deeper and deeper, straight for outer darkness. Instead of following the laws, we ought to look to their source. For, for this end was the law given (2 Nephi 25:25), to guide us to our heavenly home where they always leave the light on for us.

The active imagination is the organ by means of which that migration occurs – the return with honor from the exterior to the interior. It is not by the senses of the natural man nor is it by means of the pure intellect but it is that intermediate power which functions as the preeminent mediator. The spiritual imagination is the organ that permits the transmutation of internal spiritual states into external states, into vision-events symbolizing with those internal states. Henri Corbin poses the following question:

“If we are no longer capable of speaking about the imagination except as “fantasy,” if we cannot utilize it or tolerate it except as such, it is perhaps because we have forgotten the norms and the rules and the “axial ordination” that are responsible for the cognitive function of the imaginative power.” – Mundus Imaginalis

Moroni puts it to us in a similar but more sobering tone:

“Has the day of miracles ceased? Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time [weather] shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof [troposphere] to be saved? Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.”  – Moroni 7:35-37

King Noah and the Redemption of Zion


This is an elaboration of a comment I left on this blog on October 17th, 2012.

Making sense of Noah

One of the most confusing aspects of the Book of Mormon is the account of king Noah and his people, all of whom went from a state of righteousness to exceedingly great wickedness seemingly overnight. This mystery, though, can be quite easily explained and cleared up if we just make two little assumptions: 1) that the land of first inheritance (the land of Nephi) given to Lehi’s descendants was the very land of Zion [see Footnote below], meaning the land upon which, and round about where, the city of New Jerusalem (Zion) would be built by the descendants of Lehi—in other words, the area known to us as Independence, Jackson County, Missouri—and 2) that the people of Nephi were aware of this fact.

This post takes that premise and runs with it, to explain the motivations behind the actions of Noah, his priests, his people and also Abinadi and Alma.

The land of Lehi-Nephi (the land Bountiful) = the land of Zion (Independence, Missouri)

Jesus told the Nephites:

but if they [the gentiles] will repent | and hearken unto my words | and harden not their hearts | i will establish my church among them | and they shall come in unto the covenant | and be numbered among this the remnant of jacob | unto whom i have given this land for their inheritance | and they [the gentiles] shall assist my people | the remnant of jacob | and also as many of the house of israel as shall come | that they may build a city | which shall be called the new jerusalem | (3 Ne. 21:22-23)

When Jesus made this statement, He was standing upon the land Bountiful, near the temple that was built there. This was the land given to the remnant of Jacob (that He was speaking to) for their inheritance. It is on that spot of land (their land of inheritance) that the remnant of Jacob will build the New Jerusalem.

Jesus also stated, while standing upon that same land:

verily | verily i say unto you | thus hath the father commanded me |

that i should give unto this people this land for their inheritance | and then the words of the prophet isaiah shall be fulfilled | which say |

thy watchmen shall lift up the voice | with the voice together shall they sing | for they shall see eye to eye | when the lord shall bring again zion |

break forth into joy | sing together | ye waste places of jerusalem | for the lord hath comforted his people | he hath redeemed jerusalem |

the lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations | and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of god | (3 Ne. 16:16-20)

This is the same scripture that the priests of Noah quoted to Abinadi. It speaks of “bringing again Zion” and deals specifically with the land of Zion and the prophecies concerning the building of the New Jerusalem or city of Zion. When the priests of Noah quoted it to Abinadi, though, they were standing upon the land of Nephi.

Prophecy: history in reverse

The Nephites desired to know what would happen to their seed upon the land of promise, so they exercised faith:

for because of faith and great anxiety | it truly had been made manifest unto us concerning our people | what things should happen unto them | (Jacob 1:5)

and, according to their desires, God told them their future history by giving new prophecies:

and now | behold | i would speak unto you | concerning things which are | and which are to come | (2 Ne. 6:4)

The prophecies about the land of Zion, its redemption, the redemption of the people who would inherit and inhabit it (the seed of Lehi), and the holy city of God that they would build there were promises (prophecies) given to Lehi’s seed that would be fulfilled literally, not just metaphorically. Jacob taught that

the promises | which we have obtained | are promises unto us according to the flesh (2 Ne. 10:2)

So, the Nephites were blessed with a very full canon of scriptures and prophecies, brought from the Old World, in the form of the plates of brass, a kind of Bible on steroids, which the Nephite prophets fully expounded from the time of Jacob onward and they also had more scripture, pronounced by these same prophets:

behold | ye know | that i have spoken unto you exceedingly many things | nevertheless | i speak unto you again | for i am desirous for the welfare of your souls | yea | mine anxiety is great for you | and ye yourselves know | that it ever has been | for i have exhorted you with all diligence | and i have taught you the words of my father | and i have spoken unto you concerning all things | which are written | from the creation of the world | (2 Ne. 6:2-3)

This means that the Nephites possessed a whole lot more information than we do about the prophecies.

Restored knowledge

The revelation, then, that God gave to Joseph Smith about the New Jerusalem and the land of Zion, was, like everything else in this dispensation, a restoration, or restored knowledge. It was had anciently among the Nephites. They knew where the land of Zion was and they knew where the city of Zion or the New Jerusalem would be built. The city of Zion would be built by them because it was going to be built on their land of inheritance.

Now, the promised land of inheritance given to the seed of Lehi has never changed, nor will it. This is why the scripture says:

zion shall not be moved out of her place | (D&C 101:17)

zion cannot fall | neither be moved out of her place | (D&C 97:19)

The New Jerusalem can and will be built only upon the land of Zion and only by the seed of Lehi (with assistance from others.) There is no other appointed spot because the Lord has made irrevocable promises to Lehi and his seed.

The land of their “first inheritance” was the land of Zion

Zeniff wrote:

i | zeniff | having been taught in all the language of the nephites | and having had a knowledge of the land of nephi | or of the land of our fathers’ first inheritance | (Mosiah 9:1)

The land of their first inheritance would also end up being the land of their last inheritance, according to the principle that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, in all things.

Now, this land of Nephi was the same land that Nephi escaped to after Laman and Lemuel sought to take away his life. Nephi wrote:

and it came to pass | that the lord did warn me | that i | nephi | should depart from them | and flee into the wilderness | and all those who would go with me |

wherefore | it came to pass | that i | nephi | did take my family | and also zoram | and his family | and sam | mine elder brother | and his family | and jacob | and joseph | my younger brethren | and also my sisters | and all those who would go with me | and all those | who would go with me | were those | who believed in the warnings and the revelations of god | wherefore | they did hearken unto my words |

and we did take our tents | and whatsoever things were possible for us | and did journey in the wilderness for the space of many days | and after we had journeyed for the space of many days | we did pitch our tents | and my people would | that we should call the name of the place nephi | wherefore | we did call it nephi | (2 Ne. 5:5-8)

The land of Nephi, then, was the area which is now known to us as Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. The people of Nephi lived in this land from the time of Nephi until the time of the first seer Mosiah. Amaleki wrote:

behold | i am amaleki | the son of abinadom |

behold | i will speak unto you somewhat concerning mosiah | who was made king over the land of zarahemla |

for behold | he | being warned of the lord | that he should flee out of the land of nephi | and as many | as would hearken unto the voice of the lord | should also depart out of the land with him into the wilderness |

and it came to pass | that he did | according as the Lord had commanded him | and they departed out of the land into the wilderness | as many as would hearken unto the voice of the lord | and they were led by many preachings and prophesyings | and they were admonished continually by the word of god | and they were led by the power of his arm through the wilderness | until they came down into the land | which is called the land of zarahemla | (Omni 1:12-13)

From Mosiah onward, the Nephites lived in or around the land of Zarahemla, while the Lamanites took possession of the promised land (the land of Zion, which was the land of Nephi, or the land of first inheritance.) Nevertheless, it was the desire of every Nephite to return someday to that land and to redeem it, in order that the promises and prophecies be fulfilled.

Polygamy (Zarahemla) and monogamy (Nephi)

I suppose I ought to mention, at this point, that the people of Zarahemla, who were brought to the New World by Mulek, son of Zedekiah, king of Judah, had been given no monogamy restrictions by the Lord. As descendants of Jews, polygamy would have been their way of life.

After Mosiah discovered them and the two kingdoms were united under one banner, with Mosiah becoming king of both groups, they remained as a distinct group living a different set of laws. In other words, the people of Zarahemla lived the law of Moses, which allowed and even under some circumstances, commanded polygamy, whereas the people of Nephi lived the law of Moses which was modified by Lehi, their founding seer, which law allowed only monogamy, or which commanded the seed of Lehi to have only one wife and no concubines. To be even clearer, the commandment of monogamy given to Lehi’s seed was only applicable to the seed of Lehi. It had no application, whatsoever, to any other lineage. So, there were polygamists and monogamists living together under one national banner.

Much later on the people of Zarahemla would become numbered with the people of Nephi, meaning that they called themselves Nephites, or the children of Nephi, and adopted the law given to Lehi, which was monogamy. But from the time of their first landing, to the time of Mosiah discovering them, and finally to the time when they became numbered with the Nephites, polygamy was allowed for them. This is why we find that at the time of the numbering, the people of Zarahemla were more than double the population of the people of Nephi.

Now, I mention this here because if Noah, son of Zeniff, was born in Zarahemla and spent some of his childhood there, he would have grown up in that environment and would have noticed that the people of Zarahemla lived the unmodified, or more ancient form, of the law of Moses, which allowed polygamy, whereas the people of Nephi lived the modified, or more recent innovation of the law. But even if Noah did not grow up in Zarahemla, he would have been aware of these historical facts about the people living in Zarahemla.

Zeniff’s two trips to reclaim the land

Two expeditions to reclaim the land were made, as recorded by Amaleki:

and now | i would speak somewhat concerning a certain number | who went up into the wilderness to return to the land of nephi | for there was a large number | who were desirous to possess the land of their inheritance | wherefore | they went up into the wilderness | and their leader | being a strong and mighty man | and a stiffnecked man | wherefore | he caused a contention among them | and they were all slain | save fifty | in the wilderness | and they returned again to the land of zarahemla |

and it came to pass | that they also took others | to a considerable number | and took their journey again into the wilderness | and i | amaleki | had a brother | who also went with them | and i have not since known concerning them | and i am about to lie down in my grave | and these plates are full | and i make an end of my speaking | (Omni 1:27-30)

Zeniff was among both expeditions. He was the cause of the contention of the first expedition and he was the leader of the second expedition, which was successful in occupying the land.

Zeniff “redeemed” the land by bloodshed

The unnamed leader of the first expedition wanted to redeem the land of Zion by bloodshed, by attacking the Lamanites. Zeniff, though, wanted to enter into a treaty with the Lamanites and possess the land peacefully. During the second expedition, he did just that, but later the Lamanites reneged on their agreement and the Nephites who now possessed the land of their first inheritance ended up having to shed Lamanite blood anyway. It is, in this sense, that the land was “redeemed” by the shedding of blood.

Each Nephite king was (assumed to be) a prophet or seer or revelator

now | it was the custom among all the nephites to appoint for their chief captains | save it were in their times of wickedness | some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy | therefore | this Gidgiddoni was a great prophet among them | as also was the chief judge | (3 Ne. 3:19)

This custom likely also applied to the time when they had kings.

Now, the Nephite king Mosiah was a seer. The Nephite king Zeniff, who led his expedition back to the land of Nephi after Mosiah had brought everyone to Zarahemla, was also a man of God, for he led his people in the strength of the Lord against Lamanite aggression and the Lord heard his prayers.

The assumption may have been, then, that each Nephite king was a man of God, capable of receiving revelations, prophecies and the like. The people of Noah would have looked at him with this same perspective.

Noah’s new revelation: the restoration and redemption of Zion

The reign and ministry of king Noah, son of Zeniff, was one of departure from what his father did. The easiest way to understand this departure is that Noah received a new revelation.

Now, it may have been a pretended revelation, thought up all by himself, for these Nephites kings were expected to be men of God, capable of receiving the word of God and that is a lot of pressure to be under. Noah may have wanted to leave a legacy behind him, as one who obtained something new from God for the people, therefore, he may have simply conceived of this himself.

Another possibility is that he got a revelation from the devil, or at least inspiration from the devil.

Whichever was the case, the result was the same. This new doctrinal idea went forth from him, first to the priests—and when the priests of his father would not accept his revelation, he interviewed other men who did accept it, and then ordained them, releasing his father’s priests from their callings—and then to the people, and it was accepted wholeheartedly by his people.

Noah also put himself out as a restorer, restoring the people to a proper worship of God, using the pure law of Moses without any of the additions of the doctrine of Christ, which was preached by Nephi and others of the Nephite prophets, nor any of the modifications made by Lehi (of monogamy.) The end result was very old school theology mixed with new school theology, with the stuff in the middle tossed out.

The gospel of Noah

The good news that Noah was giving his people was this: that the land of Zion had been redeemed by his father, by the shedding of blood, and that now they were the children of Zion, the ones who would fulfill all the prophecies of the prophets concerning this very special promised land. The land had been sanctified by the shedding of blood, and as it was redeemed, so were they, who lived upon it, redeemed, and they could now rejoice, for the great Millennial day was upon them and they would prosper in the land forever more. The promised day in which all things would come together in one was upon them and they would build and inherit and multiply in the land and be blessed by the Lord.

And so, to get on with the multiplying, a multimale-multifemale mating system was set up, where men took wives and concubines and also visited with harlots, that every available female in the land would do her part to conceive and bear redeemed children to live upon the already redeemed land of promise. Whereas the former commandments limited the number of Nephites, so that they remained small compared to the Lamanites, this new day of redemption called for a much larger population of redeemed souls, for they wanted to bring as many children as they could into their new paradise on earth.

That may have been the surface reason, given to the people, for why this new gospel of procreation was going around. Secretly, Noah may have realized that there was strength in numbers, for they were surrounded by an innumerable host of Lamanites. Therefore, this new revelation made much more practical and strategic sense than the previous ones that demanded the Nephites stick to monogamy, and thus small numbers.

As this was the land of Zion, which had the promises concerning the building of the city of Zion, Noah set about to construct many elaborate and spacious buildings, for Zion must be beautified. Again, the land of Zion was redeemed, as were the people living upon it, therefore their task was to build it up, to build up a city that would be worthy of the fulfillment of the prophecies. So, although Noah exacted a heavy tax from the people, of one-fifth of all they possessed, there wasn’t so much as a peep of a complaint from any of his people. They all saw eye to eye on this project, for they were building Zion, and Noah was the man God raised up and inspired to accomplish this task.

Now, the former priests, consecrated by his father, were not in the habit of telling people how good they were, but instead they were in the habit of admonishing the people for their sins. The new priests consecrated by Noah, though, understood his new gospel and revelation, which was quite literally good news, namely, that they were all redeemed of the Lord. “No more need to repent, just enjoy the blessings of the Lord that he has bestowed and do your part to build up the land.” In other words, everyone was now to be proud of their heritage and birthright, as heirs of the promised land. Pride was no longer a sin, but was the very gospel preached, for they were redeemed.

These priests began to practice idolatry—for whenever a people develop prideful hearts and come under the control of the devil, he introduces them to idolatry—and the priests then taught the people to also be idolatrous. In the minds of Noah, his priests and his people, they were already living the Millennial day, which was, as Joseph Smith wrote, “a time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest” (D&C 121:28.) The priests of Noah had taken the liberty to divulge the “truths” that were to be revealed, namely that there be many gods, even idols, and they flattered the people into divulging in these sinful practices.

(There was, again, a hidden practicality to their practice of idolatry. Idolatry and excessive sexuality go hand in hand and the kingdom law was to procreate, so idolatry would only increase the number of pregnancies in the land.)

Regardless of the contrariness of Noah’s gospel to former commandments, none of that applied to these people, for they were now in a new dispensation, a time of redemption of both land and people, and the former constraints and commandments did not apply. New dispensations come with new commandments and revelations, and Noah’s reign was to be noted in history as the beginning of the children of redemption. They were the ones who did what others could not, because they were not, yet, redeemed.

Noah took for patterns what he found in the scriptures. For example, to get around the Lord’s prohibition on polygamy, he turned to Jacob’s words which actually presuppose that at some point the Lord would lift the ban on multiple wives and concubines for the seed of Lehi:

for if i will |

saith the lord of hosts |

raise up seed unto me | i will command my people | otherwise | they shall hearken unto these things |  (Jacob 2:30)

All he needed to say was that the time had finally and fully come, in which the Lord would lift the polygamy ban, using an Official Declaration, such as the following:

Aware of the promises made by the prophets and [kings] of the [Lord’s people] who have preceded us that at some time, in God’s eternal plan, all of our brethren who are worthy may receive [a plurality of wives], and witnessing the faithfulness of those from whom [multiple wives have] been withheld, we have pleaded long and earnestly in behalf of these, our faithful brethren, spending many hours in the Upper Room of the Temple [built by our father Nephi] supplicating the Lord for divine guidance.

He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man [of the seed of Lehi living in this blessed land] may receive [additional wives, and concubines, too.]

The prophecies concerning the building of a great tower he thought to fulfill literally and built two of them, one near the temple (for the city of Lehi-Nephi) and one on a historically significant hill (for the city of Shilom.)

He read about vineyards and so he planted vineyards. He read that there would be a temple in Zion, but since Nephi had already built a temple there, he instead restored it and beautified it with all manner of fine workmanship to make it match more precisely the Solomon temple. Everything that seemed to indicate what would happen in the day of Zion’s redemption, he sought to do, that his reign would go down in history as the fulfillment of these prophecies.

It was all about the redemption of Zion

The basis for all this iniquity was that the prophecies concerning the redemption of Zion had already taken place, for their fathers had inherited the land, then had to leave it, then had come back (with Zeniff), fulfilling the prophecies of its redemption. Since the land had been redeemed, that meant that they themselves had also been redeemed. Their redemption was tied to the redemption of the land. As evidence of such redemption, all could see that they were prospering like crazy in the land. Also, because of their victory against the Lamanites, under the leadership of king Noah, the people believed that the strength of the Lord was still with them, which was more evidence of Noah’s inspired reign.

The truth of the matter, though, was that they had achieved that victory without the Lord’s strength, for He had retained it, and so when they began to boast that a small number of them could slay thousands of Lamanites, that was the final straw for the Lord and it was time to set them straight by sending another prophet to prophesy evil against them.

Abinadi’s teaching that redemption was tied to Christ

When Abinadi started preaching, he was seen as a disturber of the peace, for everyone was enjoying the high life, and he brought everyone low again with his “repent or be brought into bondage” sayings. Then, his sayings concerning the king really got on everyone’s nerves since everyone thought of king Noah as an inspired man of God, who had done marvels in his time as king, making the people happy and prosperous. Abinadi was like the cop that knocks on the door of a midnight party to tell the people in the house the noise is too loud and everyone needs to go home and stop partying. He was a total downer.

Noah had begun a gospel (good news) celebration based upon a perversion of the doctrine of redemption, and it had the unintended consequences of making them all weak, meaning that the Lord had removed His strength from them. They were literally on their own and were very soon to be brought into unbreakable bondage by the Lamanites. Abinadi was sent to get them to repent so that they could stave off the coming captivity.

The people’s reaction to Abinadi’s words, of anger and seeking to kill him, is understandable when one considers that they truly believed that what they were doing was the will of God, that their king and priests were men of God, that these (perverse) teachings had come down the proper and approved channels, that all that Noah and priests had taught had been confirmed by signs of peace, prosperity and (supposed) strength of the Lord, that there was no indication, whatsoever, that God was not blessing the people according to His promises, etc. Abinadi had no leg to stand on, in their view, but was slandering the entire population and making people feel bad about themselves, breaking the law himself (disturbing the peace) and speaking false prophecies. They, the people, were acting in righteousness in seeking to shut the mouth of this obvious false prophet, by killing him. Had not the ancients done the same?

Now, Abinadi was countering this redemption perversion by saying that they were not redeemed, at all, for all this evil he prophesied upon them could not come to pass on a redeemed population. Such evil could only befall sinners. The fulfillment of his prophecies, then, would be proof positive that Noah and priests were liars, and their doctrine was either of men or of the devil; and that the redemption of Zion had not yet come, nor would it until some other future day; also that redemption does not come from the land, but from Christ.

This was the question posed to Abinadi by one of the priests:

what meaneth the words | which are written | and which have been taught by our fathers | saying |

how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him | that bringeth good tidings | that publisheth peace | that bringeth good tidings of good | that publisheth salvation | that saith unto zion |

thy god reigneth |

thy watchmen shall lift up the voice | with the voice together shall they sing | for they shall see eye to eye | when the lord shall bring again zion |

break forth into joy | sing together | ye waste places of jerusalem | for the lord hath comforted his people | he hath redeemed jerusalem |

the lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations | and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our god | (Mosiah 12:20-24)

In the eyes of Noah, his priests and his people, Noah was the one whose feet were beautiful, for Noah (and his priests) were bringing good tidings of good and publishing peace and salvation. Noah was the one saying to Zion—for, remember, they were living in the very land of Zion—that their God reigns. Noah had watchmen upon the tower. Noah’s people sang with the voice together and everyone saw eye to eye. Zion had been brought again, or it had been redeemed. The waste places of this new Jerusalem were being built up again. It was a time of comfort and joy and redemption, all because of Noah (and his father.) This is why the priest asked Abinadi about this scripture, for they all believed that it was fulfilled by Noah and they held it up as proof of his divine calling as their king.

If you read through Abinadi’s sermon, you will see that he mentions “redemption” 18 times, all pointing to the fact that it is God that redeems:

“…for they understood not that there could not any man be saved except it were through the redemption of God.”

“For behold, did not Moses prophesy unto them concerning the coming of the Messiah, and that God should redeem his people?”

“I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people.”

“And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men…having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice.”

“…all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins…are the heirs of the kingdom of God.

“For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions.”

“For O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people…”

“For were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people, which was prepared from the foundation of the world…all mankind must have perished.”

“They are raised to dwell with God who has redeemed them; thus they have eternal life through Christ, who has broken the bands of death. “

“And thus the Lord bringeth about the restoration of these; and they have a part in the first resurrection, or have eternal life, being redeemed by the Lord. “

“But behold, and fear, and tremble before God, for ye ought to tremble; for the Lord redeemeth none such that rebel against him and die in their sins…“

“Therefore ought ye not to tremble? For salvation cometh to none such; for the Lord hath redeemed none such; yea, neither can the Lord redeem such; for he cannot deny himself; for he cannot deny justice when it has its claim. “

“Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. “

“And then shall the wicked be cast out, and they shall have cause to howl, and weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth; and this because they would not hearken unto the voice of the Lord; therefore the Lord redeemeth them not. “

“Thus all mankind were lost; and behold, they would have been endlessly lost were it not that God redeemed his people from their lost and fallen state.“

“But remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God. “

“Therefore, if ye teach the law of Moses, also teach that it is a shadow of those things which are to come—teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very Eternal Father. Amen.”

Redemption through Christ is the topic of Abinadi’s sermon because these people believed they were already redeemed, through the redemption of the land of Zion, without the necessity of believing in Christ, etc.

The result: captivity

After they killed Abinadi—and sought to kill the sole convert among the priests, who was Alma—and the Lamanites came in, subjecting them to bondage, affliction and death, they were faced with the realization that they were not the redeemed children of Zion, and that they had misunderstood the prophecies, putting them in the wrong context and breaking a host of the Lord’s still-in-force commandments. Essentially, these people had their hopes completely dashed to pieces and had to start from an exceedingly humble place.

Now, this people fell into these grave errors because they put their trust in their leaders, even their king and priests, trusting that they interpreted the prophecies correctly, instead of searching the scriptures themselves and coming to their own, God-inspired conclusions. Had they done the legwork of searching the scriptures and obtaining the gift of the Holy Ghost for themselves, neither Noah nor his priests could have deceived them with false revelations. As we know, it turned out that Noah and his priests were wrong in their interpretations on the prophecies, so wrong in fact that it resulted in death, destruction of property, bondage, humiliation (the Lamanites treated them like dumb asses) and general misery. This shows that misinterpreting a prophecy can have disastrous results.

It also shows why Alma was so emphatic in the teaching that he gave to his people of trusting no one:

trust no man to be a king over you | and also trust no one to be your teacher | nor your minister | except he be a man of god | walking in his ways | and keeping his commandments | (Mosiah 23:13-14)

Don’t mess with the land of Zion

There appears to be a blessing and a curse upon that land. Those who live upon it, who have the laws of God, must live them, otherwise, captivity and destruction will be their lot. This may be one of the reasons why Mosiah left that land, and also why eventually Alma and Limhi left, to preserve their people from destruction. It requires a righteous people, otherwise, nobody can be established there as Zion.

The unconverted Lamanites, and now also the non-Mormon Gentiles, who currently live there, appear to be the temporary care-takers of the land, and it might be wise to leave it that way, until such time arrives that the Lord specifically and plainly commands and leads His people to return and redeem it.

This might be an important point to keep in mind, since what Noah and his priests did upon that land may be repeated in the future with another group of unauthorized persons, that attempts to “redeem Zion,” with the same (or even more) disastrous results.

Gentiles upon the land of Zion

Here are the Lord’s words regarding the establishment of Zion, given to the Nephites while He stood in the land Bountiful:

and verily i say unto you |

i give unto you a sign | that ye may know the time | when these things shall be about to take place | that i shall gather in | from their long dispersion | my people | o house of israel | and shall establish again among them my zion |

and behold | this is the thing | which i will give unto you for a sign | for verily I say unto you |

that when these things | which i declare unto you | and which i shall declare unto you hereafter of myself | and by the power of the holy ghost | which shall be given unto you of the father | shall be made known unto the gentiles | that they may know concerning this people | who are a remnant of the house of Jacob | and concerning this my people | who shall be scattered by them |

verily | verily i say unto you |

when these things shall be made known unto them of the father | and shall come forth of the father from them unto you |

for it is wisdom in the father | that they should be established in this land | and be set up as a free people by the power of the father | that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed | that the covenant of the father may be fulfilled | which he hath covenanted with his people | o house of israel |

therefore | when these works | and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter | shall come forth from the gentiles unto your seed | which shall dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity |

for thus it behooveth the father | that it should come forth from the gentiles | that he may show forth his power unto the gentiles | for this cause |

that the gentiles | if they will not harden their hearts | that they may repent | and come unto me | and be baptized in my name | and know of the true points of my doctrine | that they may be numbered among my people | o house of israel |

and when these things come to pass | that thy seed shall begin to know these things | it shall be a sign unto them | that they may know | that the work of the father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant | which he hath made unto the people | who are of the house of israel | (3 Ne. 21:1-7)

Now, the meaning of these words it this: when the establishment of Zion commences in the land of Zion (Independence, Jackson County, Missouri area), there will be Gentiles established upon that very land and living in anarchy, gathered there by the miraculous power of the Father. They will then receive additional records, which they will share with the remnant of Jacob. When these events occur, that will be the sign to the remnant of Jacob that the fulfillment of the covenant the Lord made with their fathers has commenced.

This true gathering of Gentiles upon the land of Zion will be attended by the miraculous works of the Father and will fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: “The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations,” or Gentiles. However, prior to that true gathering, there may be false gatherings of Gentiles, which are not attended to by the power of the Father. Jacob prophesied:

but behold | this land |

said god |

shall be a land of thine inheritance |

and the gentiles shall be blessed upon the land |

and this land shall be a land of liberty unto the gentiles |

and there shall be no kings upon the land | who shall raise up unto the gentiles |

and i will fortify this land against all other nations |

and he that fighteth against zion shall perish |

saith god |

for he | that raiseth up a king against me | shall perish | for i | the lord | the king of heaven | will be their king | and i will be a light unto them forever | that hear my words | (2 Ne. 10:10-14)

These words are speaking of the same establishment-of-Zion event. The land in question is the land of Zion (Independence, Jackson County, Missouri area.) These prophecies have shadows, of course, but the literal and last fulfillment concerns a specific spot of land and a specific group of Gentiles. The other Gentiles, or other nations, as it is written—for the text could have also been worded this way: “and i will fortify this land against all other gentiles”—will raise up, or attempt to raise up, kings, contrary to the commandment of God, and these other groups of Gentiles will perish, for they misunderstand and misinterpret the prophecies, which brings disaster upon them.

So, there will be no kings raised up unto one group of Gentiles, while another group (or groups) will raise up king(s) and will perish. This latter group (or groups, for this prophecy may be fulfilled multiple times), will be those who gather upon the land of Zion and attempt to establish Zion and fulfill the prophecy without being authorized or directed by the Lord, just as king Noah and people did thousands of years earlier.

Mormon put the account of king Noah and his people in his book because it would be especially applicable to our times, for these same tactics inspired by Satan, of false gatherings upon the land of Zion and forcing the fulfillment of the prophecies about Zion, would be repeated.


Footnote: If Independence, Jackson County, Missouri currently does not match the pre-destruction descriptions of the land of Nephi, it does not matter, because after the death of Christ, Mormon tells us:

and there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward |

but behold | there was a more great and terrible destruction in the land northward |

for behold | the whole face of the land was changed | because of the tempest | and the whirlwinds | and the thunderings | and the lightnings | and the exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth | (3 Ne. 8:11-12)

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